Habif is likely to be a familiar name on the Argentina team sheet for a few years now. Florencia Habif won her first national cap in 2010, and she was followed into the national squad two years later by her elder sister Agustin.
At 21 years of age, Florencia already has a host of titles and medals to her name. Now, sitting alongside her 2012 Olympic silver medal and her brace of Champions Trophy gold medals, is the award for FIH Rising Star of the Year.
With more than 100 caps between them (Florencia has 77), the Habif sisters are promising to be the stars of the so called ‘New Generation’ of Las Leonas.
Where Agustin is a player who is making a name for herself as an attack-minded defender, Florencia herself is a different type of player: “I'm a pretty defensive player, my strength is to try to make good tackle, although I can make some incisive runs up the pitch.”
Talking about the award as Rising Star, Florencia said: “Winning this award is a real honour for me. It was an honour just to be nominated, so it is even more special to win it. I am far from the finished product though, I’m a young player and I have a lot to learn yet.”
When you are surrounded by players such as eight times Player of the Year Luciana Aymar and Las Leonas legends Carla Rebecchi, Silvina D’Elia and Delfino Merino, it is difficult not to keep learning. Florencia pays tribute to these players: “It is inspirational. It is an honour and a pleasure to play alongside great players. You learn a lot seeing them or playing with them as partners.”
Like the remainder of her teammates, Florencia also appreciates the value of a passionate fan base. She smiles at the memories of the capacity crowds that cheered the blue and white team to victory in the recent Champions Trophy in Mendoza: “I think the tournaments in Argentina are very exciting. We play with the stadium full and the people are so encouraging. They are really fans of hockey.”
That win in December went some way to erasing Argentina’s disappointment at the World Cup in The Hague where they finished in bronze medal position. Speaking about that time Florencia says: “All the team felt better in the Champions Trophy than in the World Cup. I think we went through a lot of changes last year which disrupted us. This year those changes are beginning to take affect and now we are better as a team. We want to continue to the top of the podium. We will train hard for what is coming.
“We have a lot of faith in our coach Santi (Capurro). Santi is a person who already knows the team and we know that, despite his young age, he has enough experience. He is a coach who proposes new things and we like that.”
For the next few months the team will be training hard in preparation for the World League and the Pan-American Cup, but for the immediate future Florencia is looking forward to celebrating her award, “with a delicious barbecue with my family and friends.”
