Weds 6th Oct for 3/4 team
Thurs 7th Oct for 1/2 team.

We look forward to welcoming back our existing members; experienced Korfballers from other clubs; and also anybody wishing to try out the sport for the first time.

Training will run every Wednesday and Thursday through to Spring 2011 (with a break for Christmas). In the month of September, the training sessions will be geared in particular to helping beginners learn to play Korfball. Beginners just need to bring themselves in sports shorts/skirt, t-shirt and trainers. After training you are invited to join us in the arena bar for the ‘warm-down’!

NOTTINGHAM WILDCATS ARENA
Greenwood Road, Bakersfield, Nottingham. NG3 7EB

There will be matches that beginners can play in throughout the year, but we will tell you about these nearer the time.

If you are new to the sport - visit the our handy guide to korfbal

And if you are a Nottingham resident you can use your Nottingham CityCard via our Nottingham CityCard Offer

We are disappointed to announce that Andy has since made the decision not to continue coaching the team this season due to family commitments.  This leaves the club in a position to advertise an exciting opportunity to coach the potential league champions.  With established England international players from last year’s squad joined by new faces and returns from injury and playing overseas, the team will be aiming to go one place better than last year’s result.

We are looking for an experienced and committed coach to work alongside Richard Buttinger to lead this team to victory through the HSKL season, the EKA cup and the Europa Shield.

In return we will offer a coaching contract which will assure renumeration and expenses, and clearly set out expectations and guidance.

If you are interested in this opportunity please contact Nottingham’s coaching co-ordinator, Sam Whittaker, by Friday 13th August 2010.

Email address: pres@nottskorfball.co.uk

Notts started the game with three key players missing: Sara Roberts away on international duties with the England U23 team, Alex Wright suspended and Editha van Loon being unavailable. Anna Jordan stepped up to join Esther Knight-Terlouw, Jam Trubridge and Connor Rowden in attack. The four started brightly, with Esther in particular recycling the ball well under the post, but a lack of shooting accuracy meant that chance after chance was wasted. Meanwhile, in defence, the revamped section of Sam Whittaker, Jess Rowden, Andy Redfern and Rahul Desai were giving nothing away to a relatively weak Castle attack. Jess was incredibly strong in the defensive rebound position, whilst the boys snaffled loose balls to disrupt Castle’s possession.

The strong defence gave the attack the time they needed and Connor finally opened the scoring with a well-taken medium length shot. Jam soon added another, but it was nearly 15 minutes before the teams swapped ends. Sam banged in a goal from distance with the new attack’s first shot, but the defence at the other end could not keep up the pressure and conceded soon after.

Jam’s division returned to the attack and were still unable to find their rhythm, and their frustration at the ball not finding the basket turned into unforced errors. The remainder of the half continued in the same vein, with Notts going into half time only 5-1 up.

The second half started a lot better for Notts with Jam returning to form and scoring straight away. When the ends swapped both Jess and Sam made the most of their girls’ lack of concentration, and put away running-in shots after Rahul had rebounded well. Notts began to up their scoring rate as their shooting improved, but so did Castle as their boys got their eye in and took advantage of some sloppy defending. The final score was 15-8 to the home side.

No-one on the pitch or the side line would have described the game as a thriller, but Notts ground out another win to remain unbeaten. There is definitely work to be done before the crucial games against Warriors, also undefeated, but there were some bright points including a much stronger 2^nd half attacking display and solid performances from the regular 3rd team players.

Scorers

Jam (5), Sam (4), Jess (2), Connor (2), Esther (1), Andy (1).

Directly following that game Nottingham 2 provided Nottingham 1 with raucous support to try and upset the home advantage of London side Mitcham. Although the supporters were hoping for a goal fest, they were to be disappointed. Nottingham and Mitcham are currently in the top 4 teams in the country, but neither team was able to show their dominance or produce much structured korfball play.

Nottingham relied heavily on Charlie Vogwill, who has been on fine shooting form this season, and Ross Bower was given the unenviable task of defending him. However the most interesting entertainment for spectators was that of Alistair Knight (Nottingham) and Dean Woods (Mitcham) who battled under the post throughout the game.

The score line was close throughout, with Helen West contributing key goals for Mitcham, but with just 2 minutes to go Mitcham went one goal ahead and must have thought the win was theirs. But Nottingham equalised and went one ahead, through a long shot scored by Alistair Knight next to Nottingham’s supporters who went wild, with just seconds on the clock. A defended call for Natasha Dawson rather than a possible penalty for Carina Lamelas from referee Ian Buckle meant that Nottingham held their brief lead and knocked Mitcham out of the EKA Cup.

The female match-ups looked to be the most interesting to watch. As well as the Turner vs Dawson battle, Sammi Bedford was pitched against the rapid Hannah Lorrimer, with Nottingham’s female international duo side by side for the first time this season. It was the boys though that provided the early goals as Chris Lanting hit from the sidelines, after Liam Kirby, captain for this fixture, had put the home side ahead.

Seven minutes in and the teams were showing why they were in the top 3 with the score at 3 – 4. A missed penalty from Lanting would have made it more and a missed sitter from under the basket from Dawson let Kingfisher off the hook twice in quick succession.

Nottingham were recycling ball convincingly with long multi-shot attacks as Kingfisher’s lack of height was being exposed. Lorrimer ended the spell of pressure with a drop off shot as Bedford covered the front of the basket to stop her assisting. In contrast, Kingfisher’s attacks were direct and short as they could not retain the ball from the first shot. Nottingham extended to 3-6 with a goal from Helen Buttinger.

Charlie Vogwill puts on a shooting display for Kingfisher

The scoring rate had slowed noticeably though: it was the 20th minute when Vogwill hit his third to give the often-decisive 4 goal lead. Kingfisher were starting to look under pressure; for the first time this season they looked unsure of themselves as they were not shooting well or controlling their attack. Morgan Neale reduced the deficit to 3 and the Kingfisher attack of Saskia and Hidde de Jaeger, Kirby and Morgan started to organised enough to create multiple chances. Three reasonable chances came their way but none were converted.

The improved organisation allowed Kirby to work more out front which paid dividends in a running in shot that ended in the fifth goal from the penalty spot. Vogwill would feel unlucky to have conceded with minimal contact trying to recover the situation, but good movement by Kirby created the opportunity.

The most interesting battle now was Kirby vs Vogwill as Nottingham attacked. The speed of Vogwill was being pitched against the height and agility of the Kingfisher captain. Vogwill was shooting with precision and scoring regularly from open play.

Kingfisher’s section of Turner and Bedford was easily the more productive with Turner working hard to earn a penalty for 6 – 7. In the other end defence was doubled on Vogwill which was sending more shooting chances in Wright’s direction which was suiting Kingfisher better. At half time Kingfisher trailed by only 1 goal.

Usual starter Rob Mann replaced Wright during the break after arriving straight from a long haul flight. A bold decision, but it resulted in better recycling as Kingfisher had adjusted to Wright’s early work.

Bedford featured for the first time 10 minutes into the half as she capitalised on the too-frequent aerial defence from Lorrimer but Nottingham were shooting superbly from mid range and kept the two goal lead. 20 minutes to go and Nottingham were definitely ahead in score and confidence.

Wilkins good work with Lanting was rewarded as he was amongst the late goals as Nottingham lengthened their lead. This was an uncharacteristically lack-lustre performance from Kingfisher and a very good shooting display by Nottingham who had used that simple ability to help them secure second place going into the Christmas break.

Kwiek kept pace though and made life as difficult as they could for Nottingham, however an ankle injury to Kieron Hicks saw him replaced by James Woolmer after only 20 minutes and it visibly affected the travelling side’s form.

Nottingham looked be in charge of the match at half time, pleased to keep the hot shooting Kent side to 4 goals in the first half, leading 9 – 4 at the break. The quality of the second half was not that of the first as the pressure caused an increase in handling errors; chances were spurned by both sides as Kwiek looked to get back in the game.

Kwiek pulled back the goals they need to make the difference and then Rebecca Clements had an opportunity from the free pass but didn’t convert. Kwiek’s athleticism was winning them ball back from the home side but unusually they were not converting possession into goals, adding only a further 2 goals to their total as Nottingham ended on top 11 – 8.

Nottingham will be happy with the win, but still have a lot of work to do to produce a full 60-minute performance. Kwiek will be hoping that the injury to one of their top scorers does not put him out for long as they face an in-form Nomads next week.

The 2nds knew it was going to be a tough game and a bit of a nervous start led to Jam Trubridge’s first goal being equalised by Leeds. The attack of Alex, Fro, Sara and Sam, however, recycled the ball well and were able two open up a two goal lead after Sam turned her girl in the feed and Alex converted a penalty. At this point Notts were playing their best korfball and Jam, Rahul, Esther and Ali returned to the attack and continued the patient play to add a further two goals. The match up of Jam and Andy Kirwan was a spectator sport in itself, with Jam gaining the upper hand as he consistently ran around his player. In defence Fro’s long arms caused big difficulties for the Leeds attack, and this combined with the girls’ defence work around the post meant that Leeds were unable to gain any real momentum in attack.

15 minutes into the first half and Notts seemed to lose their heads somewhat, giving away penalties and losing the fluidity of their attacks. This allowed Leeds back into the game and the half finished 6-4.

Notts used half time wisely to regain their focus and returned to the pitch all guns blazing, and a quick goal from Alex settled any nerves that had re-appeared. Despite their noisy support Leeds could not get back into the game and Nottingham again produced some excellent korfball. Some strong defence allowed the attack the time it needed to add goals. In particular Esther kept the high-scoring Shirley Uittige-Willige extremely quiet, Fro neutralised the danger of Rob Wust and Sara shut down the potential threat of Nicola Harrison. Ali gained in confidence and sank two long shots, Alex could not miss around the basket and Rahul added a trademark booming long shot, as well as providing some excellent defensive support work.

Leeds could only add one goal to their half-time total, whilst Nottingham scored a further 9 goals leaving the final tally 15-5 to the visitors, who take a well-deserved position at the top of the league table. Next up Manchester!

Team:

Alex (5), Fro (2), Sara, Sam (2); Jam (3), Rahul (1), Esther, Ali (2).

Nottingham soon rallied and Al Knight stormed past his defended to win a penalty, which Charlie Vogwill majestically converted. Tasha Dawson brought the scores level at 2-2 with a well taken running in shot. Hannah Lorrimer took Nottingham into the lead with a trade mark free pass and quickly followed this up with confidant shot moving away from the basket to bring the score to 2-4.

Mitcham fought hard to stay in the game and Carina Lamelas soon burst through the Nottingham defence, only to be reverse blammed by Lucy Sillitto. Paul Jeans awarded a penalty, duly converted by Mitcham’s Ross Bower. Dawson soon gave Helen West the slip again to score another running in shot. Lucy Sillitto extended the Nottingham lead to 6-3 with a long shot but Ross Bower quickly brought the gap back to 2 with a well taken shot from distance.

Carina Lamelas continued the come back with her own shot from down town. Dean Woods then took advantage of another defensive mix up to score an easy drop off shot. Hannah Lorrimer helped Nottingham to regain the lead by converting a second free pass before Bower scored a penalty to bring the score level at 7-7 going into the break. At half time Heather Ikwuemesi replaced Helen Bigley and the Mitcham line up remained unchanged.

Mitcham came out of the half time with a renewed vigour and long shots from Ben King and Dean Woods, as well as a 2nd goal from Carina Lamelas helped the Greens to build up a 4 goal buffer. Charlie Vogwill brought the deficit to 3 with a long shot of his own, before the Nottingham coach called a time out to rally his troops.

The coach’s inspirational words obviously had an immediate effect on his players and the comeback started with a clinical ally-oop style goal from Charlie Vogwill; a goal that had the travelling fans in raptures. Cris Lanting, Nottingham’s new Dutch signing, scored a spectacular long shot before Ben King took the Mitcham lead to 12-10 with 10 minutes remaining in the game.

A Natasha Dawson free pass and a Charlie Vogwill mid range shot brought the scores level with not much time remaining. Mitcham attacked desperately in the closing moments, but it was Nottingham who made the break through when Hannah Lorrimer converted yet another free pass before Lanting made it 2 goals in 2 shots to give Nottingham enough of a lead to see the game out.

Nottingham’s 1st team have enjoyed a mixed start to the season.  An emphatic 21-10 win in their first game over last season’s new boys Norwich Knights sent out a clear message to the other league teams.   Newcomers Tash Dawson and Chaz Vogwill, both regulars in the England line-up, announced their arrival with 12 goals between them.  However, at home to league leaders and arguable favourites Trojans, Nottingham couldn’t match their opponents’ shooting and lost 15-12.  It was a tense battle with some entertaining player duels, notably England’s Hannah Lorrimer matching the speed of Carly Holness to score 3.  The away trip to old enemies Bec ended in a 16-16 draw after Notts raced to a 5-0 lead at the start of the game, leaving the white and reds in third place in the table behind Trojans and Kingfishers.

The squad now face another trip down south to take on rivals Mitcham who are hot on their heels in fourth place, equal on points.  Nottingham are still adapting to the loss of coach Nick Donovan and face a tough game against one of the old power houses of English korfball.  Nottingham traditionally play well in this away fixture, and will be looking to take advantage of a much-changed Mitcham line-up.  The experience of Nottingham players such as Rob Mann, Al Knight and Lucy Sillitto will surely count against what is a relatively young team.

The 2nd team got their season off to the best possible start with a 13-8 win over last season’s league champions Birmingham, despite a shaky 1st half.  New boy Nick Wilkins, gained from Birmingham over the summer, punished his old team by top scoring with 4 goals, and Nottingham have laid down the gauntlet to the other challengers for the league title.  They have also made their mark in the EKA Cup competition.  A 10-5 win over Bristol, with coach Jam Trubridge top-scoring with 3 goals, was a good warm up for the highly anticipated tie with Croydon, relegated from the premier league at the end of last season.  Croydon fielded a very experienced team including former international superstar Dave Butters, but Nottingham had their own depth of experience including the Dutch female duo of Editha van Loon and Esther Knight-Terlouw.  Nottingham out-played their opponents in an edgy encounter to win 9-7 and progress to the next round.

The team must surely be favourites for this weekend’s tie at Castle, who are firmly at the bottom of the table after having played two games.  In last season’s fixture Nottingham romped to an early 4-0 lead in a game cut extremely short by an injury to a Castle player, and they will be looking to repeat that form on Sunday.