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).

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’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.