As we left Nijeveen early on Saturday morning in the DOS ’46 Toyota convoy, our host families and club mates were preparing for the Rommelmarkt in the afternoon and the big play off against OVVO in the evening, not to mention the small matter of a round of games for most of the club’s 24 senior and junior teams as the ‘field korfball’ season moves into full swing.
For our first game of the day against England we started well and held our higher ranked opponent to 2-2 early, with Chelsea and Alice both on the end of good attacks to make our goals. At that point we were certainly on equal terms and could easily have been ahead. Gradually, though, England increased the intensity and we were not able to keep pace, becoming frustrated and dropping back into old habits. By half time the score was 5-2. While we were still in it, we had work to do to make up the difference and needed to start the second half with vigour and intent. Unfortunately it was our opponent that stepped it up after the break, taking the game away with good control in what was their best showing of the tournament so far. For us it was a step back and, after the gains we had made yesterday, felt like a missed opportunity. Since we ended up on the wrong end of the final score by 13-3, though, maybe against a team that has access to much more frequent international korfball than us, those expectations had been unrealistic.
Against Catalonia we needed to pick ourselves up from the disappointment of the first game to try to recover our enjoyment and sense of purpose. After a tense start the players responded well to coach Mark’s instruction to channel our emotion positively and, after Story scored an excellent goal, we enjoyed our best spell of the tournament so far, matching a team whose senior korfballers finished fourth at the 2011 World Championships, watched by master coach Jan Sjouke van den Bos, who was sitting on the tribunes to see how much of his work with us on Tuesday had come to fruition. At half time we were down by 7-4, and just within touching distance. In the second half, we continued to push our higher ranked opponent, maintaining their respect, scoring a few more goals, though not managing to cut down their lead to finish at 11-6.
Going into our third game we were able to build on those positives to keep our structure and maintain pressure against Romania, which had lost all its previous games at the tournament. Younger and on an even steeper learning curve than us, we understand Romania’s players have had minimal korfball prior to this weekend. Sometimes games like this can be difficult, though we managed to retain our shape in attack and our defensive intensity to score regularly throughout the first half, earning a lead of 9-0 at the break, with Jakob in particular scoring well. As coach Mark went to his bench, Stella and Kiana entered the game and were both able to score their first international goals. In the end we had a comfortable 16-3 victory.
What that means is that tomorrow we will contest places nine to 12 in the tournament’s final rankings, competing with China, Czech Republic and Brazil.
Once again, we were humbled by the backing that we received from the many people who are in the sports hall, some from long distances, with flags, banners and cheers to encourage us. Alongside the many messages on social media, this fantastic support helps us greatly in our mission to achieve the highest ranking possible, and adds to the fun we are having.
Back to Nijeveen from Leeuwarden, we prepare to become supporters ourselves, as our host club, DOS ’46, plays its most important game for the past few years in the second leg of the semi-final play off to determine the final place in the 2015/16 Korfball League. It promises to be an exciting evening at De Eendracht.
Tot morgen
Rob and Bevan
For our first game of the day against England we started well and held our higher ranked opponent to 2-2 early, with Chelsea and Alice both on the end of good attacks to make our goals. At that point we were certainly on equal terms and could easily have been ahead. Gradually, though, England increased the intensity and we were not able to keep pace, becoming frustrated and dropping back into old habits. By half time the score was 5-2. While we were still in it, we had work to do to make up the difference and needed to start the second half with vigour and intent. Unfortunately it was our opponent that stepped it up after the break, taking the game away with good control in what was their best showing of the tournament so far. For us it was a step back and, after the gains we had made yesterday, felt like a missed opportunity. Since we ended up on the wrong end of the final score by 13-3, though, maybe against a team that has access to much more frequent international korfball than us, those expectations had been unrealistic.
Against Catalonia we needed to pick ourselves up from the disappointment of the first game to try to recover our enjoyment and sense of purpose. After a tense start the players responded well to coach Mark’s instruction to channel our emotion positively and, after Story scored an excellent goal, we enjoyed our best spell of the tournament so far, matching a team whose senior korfballers finished fourth at the 2011 World Championships, watched by master coach Jan Sjouke van den Bos, who was sitting on the tribunes to see how much of his work with us on Tuesday had come to fruition. At half time we were down by 7-4, and just within touching distance. In the second half, we continued to push our higher ranked opponent, maintaining their respect, scoring a few more goals, though not managing to cut down their lead to finish at 11-6.
Going into our third game we were able to build on those positives to keep our structure and maintain pressure against Romania, which had lost all its previous games at the tournament. Younger and on an even steeper learning curve than us, we understand Romania’s players have had minimal korfball prior to this weekend. Sometimes games like this can be difficult, though we managed to retain our shape in attack and our defensive intensity to score regularly throughout the first half, earning a lead of 9-0 at the break, with Jakob in particular scoring well. As coach Mark went to his bench, Stella and Kiana entered the game and were both able to score their first international goals. In the end we had a comfortable 16-3 victory.
What that means is that tomorrow we will contest places nine to 12 in the tournament’s final rankings, competing with China, Czech Republic and Brazil.
Once again, we were humbled by the backing that we received from the many people who are in the sports hall, some from long distances, with flags, banners and cheers to encourage us. Alongside the many messages on social media, this fantastic support helps us greatly in our mission to achieve the highest ranking possible, and adds to the fun we are having.
Back to Nijeveen from Leeuwarden, we prepare to become supporters ourselves, as our host club, DOS ’46, plays its most important game for the past few years in the second leg of the semi-final play off to determine the final place in the 2015/16 Korfball League. It promises to be an exciting evening at De Eendracht.
Tot morgen
Rob and Bevan