The Dutch game 'korfball' for dummies.

A popular and typical sport. It is known in multiple European countries but in the Netherlands it is popular and the Dutch korfball team is the number one of the world. Nice fact, the Netherlands have won each world championship since 1978 except the one of 1991 where the Netherlands were runner-ups.

Korfball in Dutch ‘korfbal’ is one of the few mixed-gender sports. In every squad there should be four females and four males. On the lower levels of korfball for youth it is allowed to have one or two players two play as other gender, so a boy could play as a girl and the other way around.

Obviously, the goal of korfball is to score more points than your opponent. It is played indoors and outdoors, from October on the competition is indoors and in April outdoors matches are played. The court consists of two halves, both a square from 20 by 20 meters.

Four of each team, two girls and two boys, start off in each halve. The first attacking four will score at one side of the pitch and the first defensive four will defend the korf  and prevent the opponent from scoring. After two goals, the attacking and defensive four will switch sides, so the attackers will become defenders and the defenders will try to score.

 

A point is scored when the ball goes entirely through the korf, this can be done by a shot or by the typical korfball-run called a ‘doorloopbal’. It could be compared with a lay-up from basketball but it is slightly different. You take the balls in your hands, with your hands under the ball and you swing it gently up the korf. You should try and gently lay it in. 

Korfball is a real team sport, you are not allowed to walk with the ball so accurate passing and positioning is required. Another thing is the defence, a shot or doorloop could be defended by putting your hand up in the direction of the ball. If you are within one arm-length of your opponent who shot, the shot is defended and the defensive side my try and take the ball to the attackers.

Just as any other sports fouls are not allowed, we have fouls as travelling, kicked ball violation and other intentional fouls like illegal blocking, which is for example blocking from behind. There are three different kinds of punishments for the attacking team. First of all there is a “spelhervatting”, the ball is given to the team on which the foul is made and they have four seconds to bring it back into play, this is also used when the ball is out of bounds. Further more korfball knows the “vrije bal” or free ball, which is on 2½ meters away from the korf and the ball has to be passed first. The hardest punishment is the “strafworp” or penalty-throw. From 2½ meters one member of the team may shoot without any defense.

I hope you now understand a little bit more about korfball! It is fun and intense, it’s imago has degraded which is a shame. I think everyone should at least have tried it or have seen it on the telly or in real life. 

Winning streak for Activitas B1 brings them four wins.

It is Activitas B1 who are to face Kesteren B2 at Kesteren, can they defeat a strong opponent with a lot of supporters boosting Kesteren’s play? Let’s find out!

Activitas started in the following formation, which gave them three wins earlier:

• First attacking four: Bente Stellaard, Christa Winkelman, Chiel Stoop and Rens Stellaard.
• First defensive four: Sharona van Elst, Marleen Honders, Jelmer Florie and Ron Quint (Captain)

Rens is playing instead of Cas, Rens also a member of B1 played just one match and now conquered a starting position. The Stellaard Family is due to move house within three weeks so Bente and Rens both get full playing time.

It was a solid defensive game, another way to say that the first attacking four failed horribly and it turned out that Rens Stellaard had a really off-game. Every shot he took landed on the front-side of the korf which made it almost impossible to catch the shots. Every possession was lost due to Rens and if he wasn’t to move houses he would have been substituted.

After this short notice, let’s focus on the scores.
It was Activitas B1 to open the score two times, the defense of Activitas was solid as a house and they didn’t do anything wrong. Chiel Stoop and Bente Stellaard were allowed to score twice with a shot bringing the 0-2. After changing, which is obligatory after two goals, it was the first attacking four who failed horribly in their defensive game. It was Rens Stellaard who allowed a shot and after that it was Jelmer Florie scored for activitas. With just four goals in one half.

Activitas was hoping for some new hope, and it seems like a tradition that Activitas plays much better in the second half. And indeed, they lived up to this expectation. Compared to the first half they played much better but compared to previous matches they played awful. The captain got a penalty shot from 2½ meters which he missed, but he got another chance with he scored. Jelmer Florie scored as well. It was Ron, however, who got a shot against. (2-5) Jelmer Florie scored the last goal and brought the score to 2-6.
An awful game, just six goals is very minimum and it was a real off-game due to sloppy passing and short possessions. However, the most important fact is that Activitas got their two points, bringing their total to eight and giving them the top spot of the League.

Third consecutive win for Activitas B1

3^rd of November, ‘Sinterklaas’ is over two days, can Activitas secure another nice present?

Activitas receives SGV from Culemborg at their home court, can they come away with another W.?

• First attacking four: Bente Stellaard, Christa Winkelman, Cas Tetteroo and Chiel Stoop.
• First defensive four: Rens Stellaard (playing as female), Marleen Honders, Jelmer Florie, Ron Quint (Captain).

Rens Stellaard plays instead of Sharona van Elst who has to stay out due to a horrible fever.

The ball is underway and Activitas shows some solid defence, no shots were taken and Activitas’ offensive four had enough chances but none were put on the scoreboard. Cas Tetteroo is the first to score, he makes the so-called ‘doorloopbal’ which could be compared to a lay-up in basketball. SGV counters the score with a shot of their own which makes it 1-1. Jelmer Florie on a nice assist of Ron puts Activitas in front with a shot. A few minutes later it is again Jelmer Florie who scores, 3-1. SGV puts the 3-2 on the scoreboard. Bente Stellaard also cashes in with the ‘doorloopbal’. With 4-2 Activitas and SGV go to the tea and half-time is a fact.

SGV has a flying start and scored the 4-3. Jelmer Florie, who was on fire, scores the 5-3, a shot from deep down court. Chiel Stoop is allowed to score two times by some nice shots and gives Activitas a 7-3 lead. Jelmer Florie, a shot from deep, gave Activitas a five point lead. After many misses during the match it is finally Ron Quint who stopped his missing-spree with a fade-away shot. Substitution, Cas Tetteroo is replaced by Jelle Konings. Jelle Konings takes his first shot of the match which he scored and made it a 10-3 lead. SGV tried to struggle up but 10-4 was too much for them to handle. Last but not least, it was Jelmer Florie with a ‘doorloopbal’ to put the final score up the scoreboard, 11-4.

Activitas has three consecutive wins and has claimed the top-spot in the competition.