Christchurch Airport at 9am on Thursday 26 March 2015. The NZ U19 Korfball Team reports for duty with family to farewell us with their handshakes, hugs and photos. Eventually the 18 of us who are travelling make our way through the departure lounge and off to Singapore!
This trip, we have worked out, is geographically the longest that any korfball team can have made to compete in an international tournament. Until a korfball pioneer visits Antarctica and a team of penguins learns the finer points of defending ‘within a beak-length of your opponent,’ and how to make a ‘waddling-in’ shot, no other team will make a longer journey.
For many this was their first long-haul experience, sitting in economy class for first ten, then 13 hours remained a surreal experience. As with any New Zealand korfball squad, we attract a lot of attention when travelling in uniform. Usually this involves the standard “What’s Korfball?” questions from other bemused travellers and airport staff. No doubt the team will have their explanation perfected in no time at all.
At Changi Airport we have a six-hour layover, including receiving $40 vouchers each to spend in the airport’s vast expanses of retail. Some shop while others catch the skytrain between terminals to swim under the Singapore stars in the outdoor pool. Tropical humidity and the water make a pleasant change from an airline seat and air-conditioning. With her ever present smile Lara attracts a young admirer who spends the remains of his complimentary airport voucher to present her with a Furby, who might well become a second squad mascot, after Koru the kiwi, who has gone ahead with Bevan to take his place as the mascot of all New Zealand international korfball teams.
As we depart for Amsterdam, our body clocks are telling us it is close to midnight and we all attempt something approximating sleep. It is not easy, however, as this flight is quite turbulent. One or two of us suffer motion sickness, though nothing too serious, and by the time we arrive at Schipol everyone is excited.
Arriving at the crack of dawn we were greeted by one of the friendliest ever customs officials and the realities of being in the Netherlands. He knows what korfball is and for once we don’t have to explain ourselves! He mimes a long shot, stamps our passports in record time and sends us through with a smile. Boris introduced the team to the famous Dutch chocolate milk ‘Chocomel’ and we catch the train to Amsterdam Central station.
As we left the station, wrapped in our cold weather gear, North Holland experiences its worst power outage since 1997, disrupting train travel throughout the country. As the locals endured this chaos, we took in a canal boat tour of the historic city centre and wandered some of the streets, consistently being a little surprised by the sights and smells of the city. The lunch bill also gave us a little surprise, 57 euros for table water!
Back to the station to catch the train to Meppel. We were due to meet up with Mark and Bevan at Amsterdam Central but there was no chance of this with the train disruptions. Bevan, who was arriving from Rome, made his own way to Meppel in advance. With some help from DOS ’46 players Milanne and Koen Buiten, the team caught a train to Meppel with Koen, while Rob stayed behind with Milanne to meet Mark and Boris, who had spent the day with his Dutch family.
A very weary team arrived in Meppel to be greeted by Bevan bounding down the platform like an excited child and the smiling faces of our host families. Unfortunately, we were minus one bag with a passport inside which had been left on an earlier train! (We can now report at the time of writing the bag and passport have been recovered, phew!). There was a short welcoming reception at the club in Nijeveen where everyone was paired up with their hosts and departed to the gezellig village of Nijeveen.
What a crazy and amazing start to this journey it has been! Tomorrow, after a much needed sleep, the team will be up early to help the club collect items for the annual flea market which is the biggest fundraising event on the DOS ’46 calendar. We will also watch some local korfball and support our hosts as they play an important match for promotion back to the Korfball League.
Tot morgen.
Rob and Bevan
This trip, we have worked out, is geographically the longest that any korfball team can have made to compete in an international tournament. Until a korfball pioneer visits Antarctica and a team of penguins learns the finer points of defending ‘within a beak-length of your opponent,’ and how to make a ‘waddling-in’ shot, no other team will make a longer journey.
For many this was their first long-haul experience, sitting in economy class for first ten, then 13 hours remained a surreal experience. As with any New Zealand korfball squad, we attract a lot of attention when travelling in uniform. Usually this involves the standard “What’s Korfball?” questions from other bemused travellers and airport staff. No doubt the team will have their explanation perfected in no time at all.
At Changi Airport we have a six-hour layover, including receiving $40 vouchers each to spend in the airport’s vast expanses of retail. Some shop while others catch the skytrain between terminals to swim under the Singapore stars in the outdoor pool. Tropical humidity and the water make a pleasant change from an airline seat and air-conditioning. With her ever present smile Lara attracts a young admirer who spends the remains of his complimentary airport voucher to present her with a Furby, who might well become a second squad mascot, after Koru the kiwi, who has gone ahead with Bevan to take his place as the mascot of all New Zealand international korfball teams.
As we depart for Amsterdam, our body clocks are telling us it is close to midnight and we all attempt something approximating sleep. It is not easy, however, as this flight is quite turbulent. One or two of us suffer motion sickness, though nothing too serious, and by the time we arrive at Schipol everyone is excited.
Arriving at the crack of dawn we were greeted by one of the friendliest ever customs officials and the realities of being in the Netherlands. He knows what korfball is and for once we don’t have to explain ourselves! He mimes a long shot, stamps our passports in record time and sends us through with a smile. Boris introduced the team to the famous Dutch chocolate milk ‘Chocomel’ and we catch the train to Amsterdam Central station.
As we left the station, wrapped in our cold weather gear, North Holland experiences its worst power outage since 1997, disrupting train travel throughout the country. As the locals endured this chaos, we took in a canal boat tour of the historic city centre and wandered some of the streets, consistently being a little surprised by the sights and smells of the city. The lunch bill also gave us a little surprise, 57 euros for table water!
Back to the station to catch the train to Meppel. We were due to meet up with Mark and Bevan at Amsterdam Central but there was no chance of this with the train disruptions. Bevan, who was arriving from Rome, made his own way to Meppel in advance. With some help from DOS ’46 players Milanne and Koen Buiten, the team caught a train to Meppel with Koen, while Rob stayed behind with Milanne to meet Mark and Boris, who had spent the day with his Dutch family.
A very weary team arrived in Meppel to be greeted by Bevan bounding down the platform like an excited child and the smiling faces of our host families. Unfortunately, we were minus one bag with a passport inside which had been left on an earlier train! (We can now report at the time of writing the bag and passport have been recovered, phew!). There was a short welcoming reception at the club in Nijeveen where everyone was paired up with their hosts and departed to the gezellig village of Nijeveen.
What a crazy and amazing start to this journey it has been! Tomorrow, after a much needed sleep, the team will be up early to help the club collect items for the annual flea market which is the biggest fundraising event on the DOS ’46 calendar. We will also watch some local korfball and support our hosts as they play an important match for promotion back to the Korfball League.
Tot morgen.
Rob and Bevan