Today we allowed everyone to have a bit of a sleep in, so we didn't have to meet up until 11:00am. We biked over to the Sports Hall by the Outdoor Fields that belong to DOS'46. The plan for today was to focus on team building and having fun. We played some games, starting off with Kings Kubbs and doing some other silly stuff.
After the fun, we did a more serious session, looking into elements of Sports Psychology and reminding ourselves of the power of the mind and the importance of self-belief and positive thinking.
After the fun, we did a more serious session, looking into elements of Sports Psychology and reminding ourselves of the power of the mind and the importance of self-belief and positive thinking.
Game 2: NZ v DOS'46 - Pre-Tournament
There was time to rest, before needing to meet back at DOS'46 HQ at 6:15pm in preparation for our 7:00pm game. We warmed up in our new training shirts, which were gifted to us by Nico Stam from his business, Nieuwekeuken.nl, which installs new kitchens into homes. We were playing against predominantly the DOS'46 U17 team, with a few extras from the second tier U19 team. We made friends with them yesterday at training, but now it was time to see them as the opposition.
We played the game in 15 minute quarters. Right from the first whistle we were again startled by the speed of the game and the constant movement by the players, and the ball, around the korf. Although the majority of these players were younger than us, it was very obvious they had been playing all their lives. We were impressed, and intimidated by their incredible shooting accuracy and by the physicality of the game. There is no easy way to say this, but we were just not up to the challenge in this game we were not able to match them.
Before the beginning of the fourth quarter the team rallied together and reminded each other that this was the last 15 minutes of Korfball that they would play before the tournament.Following this, our players found some inspiration and motivation to come out firing and the final quarter was much more evenly matched.
The biggest upset of the evening, despite the disappointment in our performance on court, was the injury to our young gun Sam Coldicott. In the third quarter Sam went to put up a long shot and landed poorly on his foot. He was removed from the game in a fair bit of pain. We later have found out that Sam has a fracture in his foot and will not be able to take part in the tournament. We are all really feeling for Sam, as we have all been so impressed with his dedication, commitment and hard work and he has become a fantastic asset to our team. We will definitely miss him on court this weekend.
Overall, we walked away feeling somewhat disheartened and disappointed in the evening's events. However, we all still felt very grateful and privileged to have been given the opportunity to play against a top Dutch side and we learned a lot about ourselves and about our game which we all know will make us a better and stronger team when we come to play on Friday at the OEKC.
1st Quarter score: 11-4
2nd Quarter score: 18-8 (7-4)
3rd Quarter score: 29-12 (11-4)
Final score: 36-17 (7-5)
Points scored by: Talesha (1), Matt (1), Juliet (1), Calib (1), Kennedy (1), Ned (1), Chelsea (1), Sam B (3), Boris (7).
We played the game in 15 minute quarters. Right from the first whistle we were again startled by the speed of the game and the constant movement by the players, and the ball, around the korf. Although the majority of these players were younger than us, it was very obvious they had been playing all their lives. We were impressed, and intimidated by their incredible shooting accuracy and by the physicality of the game. There is no easy way to say this, but we were just not up to the challenge in this game we were not able to match them.
Before the beginning of the fourth quarter the team rallied together and reminded each other that this was the last 15 minutes of Korfball that they would play before the tournament.Following this, our players found some inspiration and motivation to come out firing and the final quarter was much more evenly matched.
The biggest upset of the evening, despite the disappointment in our performance on court, was the injury to our young gun Sam Coldicott. In the third quarter Sam went to put up a long shot and landed poorly on his foot. He was removed from the game in a fair bit of pain. We later have found out that Sam has a fracture in his foot and will not be able to take part in the tournament. We are all really feeling for Sam, as we have all been so impressed with his dedication, commitment and hard work and he has become a fantastic asset to our team. We will definitely miss him on court this weekend.
Overall, we walked away feeling somewhat disheartened and disappointed in the evening's events. However, we all still felt very grateful and privileged to have been given the opportunity to play against a top Dutch side and we learned a lot about ourselves and about our game which we all know will make us a better and stronger team when we come to play on Friday at the OEKC.
1st Quarter score: 11-4
2nd Quarter score: 18-8 (7-4)
3rd Quarter score: 29-12 (11-4)
Final score: 36-17 (7-5)
Points scored by: Talesha (1), Matt (1), Juliet (1), Calib (1), Kennedy (1), Ned (1), Chelsea (1), Sam B (3), Boris (7).