FIBA referee working in hospital during pandemic

By Fatih Erel

ISTANBUL (AA) - FIBA referee Esperanza Mendoza has been working as a nursing assistant in Spain during the coronavirus pandemic instead of preparing for a game to officiate.

The Spanish referee has not officiated a game for over a month due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Mendoza has been busy as ever, working as a nursing assistant. Every day, instead of preparing for a big game in the Spanish Liga Endesa or planning ahead for a FIBA tournament, she wakes up and travels 15 minutes to a care home that has been turned into a hospital, not far from her home in Salamanca," FIBA said in a statement on Tuesday.

Spain has the highest number of virus cases -- over 208,000 -- in Europe, and its death toll of more than 21,700 is just behind the U.S. and Italy.

"Until I had been inside the institution, I wasn't 100 percent aware of the situation," Mendoza said.

"I'm shocked by the aggressiveness of the virus, by how it acts with the infected hardly realizing it. You feel helpless because there is nothing you can do to help the elderly."

Noting that the nursing assistant job is demanding, both physically and emotionally, she said: "It is the intensity... We only have five minutes to go to the bathroom in the entire day."

"And with the safety protocol that we have to follow, going to the bathroom means taking everything off, disinfecting it, going to the toilet, coming back, putting everything on again. You don't even think about drinking water, because you're wearing the masks and you can't. It is eight hours, but with an intensity that seems to take 12. It is non-stop," she added.

The 36-year-old has been a full-time referee in Spain since the 2017-18 season. She refereed last summer at the FIBA Women's EuroBasket in Serbia.

"Her husband, Saul Perez, is a referee in Spain too, working in the men's fourth division and the women's second division. Perez, also a postman, is working as a nursing assistant in the same care home-turned-hospital as his wife during the health crisis," FIBA said.

Revealing that she was equipped to work in a hospital, Mendoza said: "I did a nursing assistant course 18 years ago. I did work for two months in a care home a very long time ago. As a social educator, I have worked in shelters, but since becoming a referee of the ACB, and internationally, I stopped working [in that capacity]."

She said that experience as a referee has helped her in her work at the hospital. "As a referee, you're used to withstanding pressure, thinking quickly, empathizing, and overcoming adversity. This game is the hardest I have refereed but I am sure we will win it."