2014 Tournament Reports
Didcot tournament, August 30th 2014 - Position 15th of 16
Scorers: Debbie, Venetia, Max, Katherine & Chiya
Relocated from the usual venue due to weather concerns, this year's tournament was held at Harwell village recreation ground. Unfortunately down on boys, we had to borrow players for all of our matches though the other teams were really accommodating especially Bearsted, who lent out players for several of our games.
We played eight matches across the day, and despite losing all eight many of the scores were close and could easily have gone our way. The team played well and fought hard against strong opposition (Highbury, Southampton, Abingdon, Bristol, Oxford City & Cardiff) with good defence and many shots put up in attack. Towards the end of the day, energy levels were dropping and tiredness set in though we kept up the pressure on the opposition right to the end.
All in all it was a well played tournament and our position in no way reflected the new found dynamism of the team. Plus the weather held to provide dry and overcast conditions, ideally suited to Korfball. A good end to the summer tournaments and start to the forthcoming match season. Andrew Sunderland
Oxford City tournament, August 2nd 2014 - Position: 16th of 20
Scorers: Claire 3, Paul 2, Max, Umar
The setting, a smooth sward, with modern conveniences near at hand. There were so many teams booked, twenty, so there were five courts. The soft rain, like silk on my upturned face, kept us cool, for, thankfully, we were not overcome by the heat. Truly, I was thankful, for with blue sky and sun, korf is a killer, and only good for encouraging beer drinking. When it poured I refereed covered by a simple effective waterproof, and the teams were so sportsmanlike that I had to applaud them.
It is wonderful to be part of such a team. Tournaments are delightful for the mixture of more, and less, experienced players who get a chance to play against some experienced teams, as well as some of a similar ilk. The camaraderie bound us.
Overall, considering that there were some rather excellent teams playing, we did well, for out of eight games we lost five. Losing nobly against Bearstead was expected. The afternoon games were difficult as the ball by then was heavy with water. Still, the sky did clear, and it did become dry for the later games.
Scorers were Claire, Paul and a helpful Umar, and, oh, I got one lucky one. These korfs were only possible due to Andrew, Marcus, Debbie, Annaliese, Katherine, Mary, Venetia and Simon, and the borrowed few. Martin encouraged us with his perceptive coaching. We hope he gets fully well soon.
I was impressed by the costumes for the evening event. I genuinely hope that Ox City Korf run a similar event next year for the standard of korf was stimulating and delightful. Forward then, to Didcot, we happy few, we band of friends. Max Parsonage
Nitra Tournament, Slovakia, July 12th - 13th - Position: 8th of 9
When I first heard about the Nitra tournament in Slovakia, despite my lack of competitive Korfball experience, I knew I had to go. A chance to see a new country (with Martin as the native guide), play against some very good teams (Dutch and Belgians) and have a go at beach Korfball - I couldn’t say no!
So it was with more than a few nerves that the Oxford University team (made up of 5 past and present members of the Oxford Uni Korfball club plus a former Isis player and myself) walked onto the pitch underneath Nitra’s castle for our first match, against the combined Belgian and Dutch team Floriant & Neerlandia. Talk about a baptism of fire! We played well, especially in defence, but their goals just kept on going in. The final score was 17 - 2, but considering they were the eventual overall winners of the day, it could have been a lot worse!
We more more prepared (if rather more hot and sweaty) by our second game against home team Nitra. I seem to remember that the girl I was marking was great at getting into position - she was either in feed or collect, and kept turning round to do one or the other. Definitely a trick I’m going to try next season.
As there were only seven teams in total playing, it was now time for lunch. By this point it was rather hot, something which the very nice chicken soup didn’t help with. Still, with cold pints of Slovakia's answer to Coca Cola, Kofola, we got our energy back for the afternoon. Next came a shoot out competition with a boy and girl from each team taking it in turns to do a penalty, running in shot, 3 long shots and one ridiculously long long shot. Bernard and Laura kindly ‘volunteered’ themselves and scored a very respectable two goals.
Things improved for us after lunch, with a very close game against Nitra B. They had clearly played together as a team a lot before, but our close defending and taking opportunities did us well. The final score was 7-6 to Nitra, after they sneaked in a goal at the end, but it was great to see how much we’d improved since the morning.
The final match of the day was against our good rivals Abingdon. More than anything this was the game we wanted to win, and perhaps it was the fact that we had finally worked out how to play as a team, but we won 6-0! This meant that we finished 8th out of 9, and above Abingdon. Hooray!
After the prize giving we went back to our rooms and relaxed before going out in town for a well deserved meal. There was a social arranged in a local bar, so we turned up there and put the other clubs to shame by staying on the dancefloor all night, with Martin showing off his classic dance moves (sadly there’s no photographic evidence of this).
The next morning, all feeling slightly the worse for wear (more the dancing on tired Korfball legs for us than the alcohol, I promise!), we turned up to the beach Korfball tournament which was held at the local park/outdoor swimming pool. Walking onto the sand which was already pretty hot at half 9 in the morning, I realised just what a ridiculous sport beach Korfball is. Running is near impossible and for obvious reasons bounce passes are worth avoiding.
The rules were interesting - one korf in the middle of a square, 4 corners marked out with flags and 4 players (2 boys, 2 girls). When the ball went to the other team you had to get it back to one of the 4 corners before you could start attacking again. If you scored from the corner (a considerable distance), it was 2 points. As fewer players were needed per game, we fielded a Oxford Uni team and, putting our rivalry aside, a combined Oxford/Abingdon team.
Beach Korfball looked hard to play, but it was even more difficult and tiring than I had imagined. Each half was only about 5 minutes, but that was more than enough! The best thing to do was just to shoot and hope for the best. Even Martin, who shouts if you go anywhere near the post without a collect, told us not to worry about it. The matches were all a bit of a blur to be honest, but we managed to win against the Belgians (A.T.B.S) 5-4.
Half way through the day we sneaked off to the pool while Abingdon were playing, and had a very greasy but tasty lunch of Slovakian food and beer. Around this time I somehow managed to pick up my first ever Korfball injury - a not very glamourous bruised toe which saw me limping around for the rest of the day. Our last joint match was against the Dutch (Atilla) and amazingly we beat them 5-4. After wondering how that had happened, it was then time for the obligatory group photo and saying our goodbyes to the other teams.
After the tournament most of us headed off to Bratislava for a well earned meal, drink and to watch the World Cup final. We then had a few hours to look around the capital before flying back home. Although I was rather nervous about going to Nitra, I had a brilliant time - playing lots of Korfball, eating some great food, and spending it with some great people. I’d really encourage more people to go. Sure, you play some rather hard matches, but it’s all a bit of fun, and who knows, you might even be able to say that you beat the Belgians and Dutch like we did! Roll on next year! Venetia Lipscombe
Oxford University team: Vicky, Laura, Serena, Tamika, Bernard, Chandu, Venetia (coach: Martin)
Teams: Oxford University (UK), Floriant & Neerlandia (Belgium & The Netherlands), KK SPU Nitra (Slovakia), A.T.B.S (Belgium), BKK Kekvolgy (Hungary), E.S.K.V Atilla (Netherlands), Abingdon Atoms (UK)
When I first heard about the Nitra tournament in Slovakia, despite my lack of competitive Korfball experience, I knew I had to go. A chance to see a new country (with Martin as the native guide), play against some very good teams (Dutch and Belgians) and have a go at beach Korfball - I couldn’t say no!
So it was with more than a few nerves that the Oxford University team (made up of 5 past and present members of the Oxford Uni Korfball club plus a former Isis player and myself) walked onto the pitch underneath Nitra’s castle for our first match, against the combined Belgian and Dutch team Floriant & Neerlandia. Talk about a baptism of fire! We played well, especially in defence, but their goals just kept on going in. The final score was 17 - 2, but considering they were the eventual overall winners of the day, it could have been a lot worse!
We more more prepared (if rather more hot and sweaty) by our second game against home team Nitra. I seem to remember that the girl I was marking was great at getting into position - she was either in feed or collect, and kept turning round to do one or the other. Definitely a trick I’m going to try next season.
As there were only seven teams in total playing, it was now time for lunch. By this point it was rather hot, something which the very nice chicken soup didn’t help with. Still, with cold pints of Slovakia's answer to Coca Cola, Kofola, we got our energy back for the afternoon. Next came a shoot out competition with a boy and girl from each team taking it in turns to do a penalty, running in shot, 3 long shots and one ridiculously long long shot. Bernard and Laura kindly ‘volunteered’ themselves and scored a very respectable two goals.
Things improved for us after lunch, with a very close game against Nitra B. They had clearly played together as a team a lot before, but our close defending and taking opportunities did us well. The final score was 7-6 to Nitra, after they sneaked in a goal at the end, but it was great to see how much we’d improved since the morning.
The final match of the day was against our good rivals Abingdon. More than anything this was the game we wanted to win, and perhaps it was the fact that we had finally worked out how to play as a team, but we won 6-0! This meant that we finished 8th out of 9, and above Abingdon. Hooray!
After the prize giving we went back to our rooms and relaxed before going out in town for a well deserved meal. There was a social arranged in a local bar, so we turned up there and put the other clubs to shame by staying on the dancefloor all night, with Martin showing off his classic dance moves (sadly there’s no photographic evidence of this).
The next morning, all feeling slightly the worse for wear (more the dancing on tired Korfball legs for us than the alcohol, I promise!), we turned up to the beach Korfball tournament which was held at the local park/outdoor swimming pool. Walking onto the sand which was already pretty hot at half 9 in the morning, I realised just what a ridiculous sport beach Korfball is. Running is near impossible and for obvious reasons bounce passes are worth avoiding.
The rules were interesting - one korf in the middle of a square, 4 corners marked out with flags and 4 players (2 boys, 2 girls). When the ball went to the other team you had to get it back to one of the 4 corners before you could start attacking again. If you scored from the corner (a considerable distance), it was 2 points. As fewer players were needed per game, we fielded a Oxford Uni team and, putting our rivalry aside, a combined Oxford/Abingdon team.
Beach Korfball looked hard to play, but it was even more difficult and tiring than I had imagined. Each half was only about 5 minutes, but that was more than enough! The best thing to do was just to shoot and hope for the best. Even Martin, who shouts if you go anywhere near the post without a collect, told us not to worry about it. The matches were all a bit of a blur to be honest, but we managed to win against the Belgians (A.T.B.S) 5-4.
Half way through the day we sneaked off to the pool while Abingdon were playing, and had a very greasy but tasty lunch of Slovakian food and beer. Around this time I somehow managed to pick up my first ever Korfball injury - a not very glamourous bruised toe which saw me limping around for the rest of the day. Our last joint match was against the Dutch (Atilla) and amazingly we beat them 5-4. After wondering how that had happened, it was then time for the obligatory group photo and saying our goodbyes to the other teams.
After the tournament most of us headed off to Bratislava for a well earned meal, drink and to watch the World Cup final. We then had a few hours to look around the capital before flying back home. Although I was rather nervous about going to Nitra, I had a brilliant time - playing lots of Korfball, eating some great food, and spending it with some great people. I’d really encourage more people to go. Sure, you play some rather hard matches, but it’s all a bit of fun, and who knows, you might even be able to say that you beat the Belgians and Dutch like we did! Roll on next year! Venetia Lipscombe
Oxford University team: Vicky, Laura, Serena, Tamika, Bernard, Chandu, Venetia (coach: Martin)
Teams: Oxford University (UK), Floriant & Neerlandia (Belgium & The Netherlands), KK SPU Nitra (Slovakia), A.T.B.S (Belgium), BKK Kekvolgy (Hungary), E.S.K.V Atilla (Netherlands), Abingdon Atoms (UK)
