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

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.

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.

Wales, Scotland and Ireland travelled out to the EuroBowl (West) competition in Luxembourg, knowing that a top 3 finish would guarantee them a place at the European Championships 2010, a huge incentive for all the teams.

The tournament started with a scrappy match between Luxembourg and Scotland, with Scotland eventually pulling through 7-4. Next up were Wales and France, and Wales quickly showed their superior organisation and discipline, moving the ball calmly and maintaining possession until the right shooting opportunity arose. France, in contrast, played at a furious pace, making numerous interceptions and always looking dangerous, but they seemed to lack any clear game plan and struggled to capitalise on their speed. The third match, between Sweden and Ireland, was an extremely low scoring defensive battle, with the teams deadlocked at 3-3 for much of the game. Both teams had players in their line ups who play regularly in the Netherlands, and were looking to these players to score goals, but the defence was equally focused on shutting down these danger players. Eventually Ireland were able to eke out a small lead to win 6-3.

With every team now having seen all the other teams in action, the coaches were better able to prepare their teams for ensuing gmes, and there was a noticeable pick up in quality as a result, as the defence looked to shut down key players, while in attack teams set out to capitalise on their strengths.

Wales took on Luxembourg in what proved to be a slow tactical battle, though Wales’ superior control meant they eventually won out 9-6. Next up was the highest scoring match of the tournament, with Scotland shutting down the leading Swedish goal scorer, Juliette de Gooijer-Stam, and producing an incredible long range shooting display themselves, to defeat Sweden by 20 goals to 8. Ireland were able to use their experience to contain the speedy French players and defeated them relatively comfortably 11-5, with only top French goal scorer Ludovic Bancel able to create scoring chances with any regularity. A slow game between Luxembourg and Sweden suddenly kicked into life 5 minutes before the end, with both teams level at 9-9 and the spectators anticipating the first golden goal of the tournament, although young Selena Dinsbach, another Swedish player living and playing in the Netherlands, managed to score the winning goal from under the post in the dying seconds.

The game between Ireland and Wales had been widely anticipated as the key battle of the weekend, but in the end this proved not to be the case, with Wales again able to maintain possession for long periods until a goal scoring chance appeared, all the time pressuring the Irish into taking rushed chances. Dave Buckland and Kevin Jones led the scoring, with Wales eventually finishing 8-3 winners, virtually guaranteeing them a top 3 spot and qualification for the European Championships.

Few spectators were left in the hall for the final match between Scotland and France, though this was unfortunate as it proved to be one of the most exciting games and one of the big upsets of the tournament. Both teams played at a furious pace, and traded goals throughout the first half. France had struggled to convert their long shots all day, but in this game managed to score with virtually every shot, though the Scots responded each time with some good goals of their own. The lead changed hands several times throughout the second half, but the French players’ speed won them a couple of crucial penalties in the final minutes and they ran out deserving winners 14-11, despite a serious injury to one of their girls late in the game.

This left the tournament wide open going into the second day, with all the teams theoretically still in with a chance of a top 3 spot. The first game on Sunday morning between Luxembourg and Ireland was a convincing victory for the Irish 12-3, with the Luxembourg team struggling to contain the speed of the young Irish boys. The second match of the day was another thriller, with the patience and shooting accuracy of the Swedish team, spurred on by their supporters on the drums, eventually rewarded with an 11-7 win over the much faster and fitter French team. Scotland then succumbed to a heavy defeat against Wales 18-5, with the Welsh showing no loss of focus and the Scots unable to break down the patient Welsh attack. This meant that Wales now had an unassailable lead in the tournament, and would retain the trophy they won two years ago.

Another low scoring match between Luxembourg and France brought the hosts their first win of the tournament 6-4. The penultimate game, the battle for second place between Scotland and Ireland, proved to be the final highlight of the tournament. With both teams now certain to have qualified for the European Championships, this game was all about pride, and Coaches Tom Brady for Ireland and Beth Bennett for Scotland, opted to give starting places to the younger members of their squads who had not enjoyed as much game time, including Amy O’Neill and Jessica Rowden for Ireland, and Duncan MacLachlan and Karen McClymont for Scotland, all of whom did their countries proud and played with full commitment and passion.

There were some fantastic one on one battles, particularly between Mike Brayne and Seadna Quigley at one end, and Matt Warren and Ian Buckle (and then Shay Conroy) at the other end. . Scotland scored first, but Ireland then went ahead to go into half time leading 3-2. In the second half Scotland fought back to level at 4-4, and edged ahead, with Naomi Reid for Scotland making the most of every chance under the korf. Ireland made three substitutions, but these were too late to change the momentum, which had started to swing in Scotland’s favour, and three late long shots from the Scottish boys finally sealed the game, despite two penalties won by Ireland in the final minute. The final score was 10-8 to Scotland, a thrilling finish to an excellent game for the spectators, who included Jan Fransoo, IKF President.

The final game of the tournament between Wales and Sweden was not going to affect the final standings, but almost turned out to be the biggest upset of the weekend, with Sweden leading Wales throughout the first half. However, Sweden started to tire in the second half, and Wales had enough in reserve to win 12-6. This meant that Wales were unbeaten and deserving winners of the tournament, Scotland finished second, and Ireland third.

The two teams that finished first and second did not contain any players with experience of playing in the Netherlands, and indeed the male and female top scorers in the tournament were Nick Wilkins (Wales) and Naomi Reid (Scotland). The most noticeable feature of the tournament was the progress made by both the Welsh and Scottish squads, with both reaping the benefits of having players competing regularly in domestic competitions within England, Scotland and Wales.

Story courtesy of englandkorfball.co.uk

Croydon took the lead early on and it wasn’t looking good for those in the famous black and white shirts as the Londoners led 5-3 at the half. It went from bad to worse as the 2nd half started, Croydon got the next goal to lead 6-3 with 15 minutes of the 20 minute half remaining.

Notts 2 over the past season and a half have a tendency to play their best korf in the 2nd period and once again we needed to deep dig to rescue this one.

Dig deep?

Notts 2 turned on the magic to bombard Croydon with 6 joyous goals from all over the pitch without reply! A late consolation from Croydon made the last couple of mnutes interesting but the damage had been done and Connor Junior could start the celebrations by throwing his toys on the pitch, what a come-back!, what a team!

The only question that remains is who else dares face the Notts 2 army as we continue our winning ways, 3 from 3 this season, bring on Castle in a couple of weeks!

… can all 2nd teamers please put Sunday 20th December in your diaries as that’s the date for our next adventue in the EKA Cup

Players: James Trubridge, Andrew Barkwith, Alex Wright (Captain), Connor Rowden, Alistair Knight, Ann Leigh-Browne, Editha Dowding, Esther Knight-Terlouw, Sara Roberts, Samantha Whittaker

Match report written by: Jam Trubridge

Other articles on this match: Croydon match report

[Show as slideshow]

Photos (c) Croydon Korfball Club (thanks)

Croydon 7 - 9 Nottingham 2

Both teams started off slow and it took 5 minutes for the first goal scored by trojans they then managed to take a 3 nil lead. At this point Nottingham started to get into gear and with a strong performance in defence from Rob Mann, RIchard Buttinger, Heather Ikwuemesi and Hannah Lorrimer this provided Nottingham attack Charlie Vogwill, Al Knight, Helen Bigley and Tash Dawson the opportunity to catch up.

The game started to come alive with both teams working very hard to break the other one down but it was Nottingham who seem to be creating the chances but just not able to convert, while Trojans seemed to struggle at times but reliably able to count on Dave Brooks for his goal scoring ability.

The second half followed much of the first with the teams trading goals and trojans hanging on to a 1 or 2 goal lead, Nottingham made there first substitution of the game when Lucy Sillitto came on for Helen Bigley and immediately made an impact with a trade mark down town shot, this seem to lift Nottingham and the fight back started here! Coach Nick Donovan made another change Nick Wilkins coming on for Richard Buttinger who had kept Matt Brooks quite for most of the game, as the fight back continued with around 10 minutes to go it was 10-10. However, an injury to Rob Mann (torn muscle) meant another change for this section and disrupted Nottingham’s fight back. Despite strong defence Trojans scored two decisive long shots to take the game beyond Nottingham and the final score was 12-15 to Trojans. One thing that did catch the eye is that Trojans only had one boy sub and no girls…what will happen if they lose any to injury? do they have the strength in depth? and were are the rest of trojans players?? and If Nottingham want to challenge this year they really do need to start putting the finishing touches to all there hard work!.

Nottingham took advantage of Norwich’s tendency to foul which led to numerous free passes and penalties. In addition Norwich were unable to deal with Nottingham’s strong defence which resulted in them chasing the match and having frequent one shot attacks as a result of weak collect positions.

The 1st team are looking forward to the 1st big match of the season against current EKA champions, Trojans, at Nottingham’s new venue at the Jesse Boot Arena. Trojans were the only team apart from Nottingham to have won their 1st match of the season.