Glenelg Korfball Club

Well here we are again, the start of another korfball season at ETSA Park.

The big news of 2009 is the continuing struggle of Mitcham Korfball Club.  The start of the year finds them unable to field an A grade team.  They are keeping up the fight with one senior team in the B grade competition and have started the rebuild with an Under 19 team.  One of the oldest clubs in SA, they originally started out as Roadies Korfball Club or RKC back in 1987 before a name change to Mitcham.  I am sure we all want to see them survive and thrive and let’s hope they are back in A grade next year.

Other changes this year see the 08 NAKC Head Coach Denis Giles head back to Arista after only one year at the helm of the fledgling club.  Adrian Terrace takes over from him making his debut as a head coach in his clubs second year at the top level.

John Spurr makes a return to coaching A grade as he has taken up the position at the newly named Glenelg Korfball Club who have shed the Scaldis name and colours to get a new look (which unfortunately won’t be ready for a couple more weeks)

Sikopi looked like they were going to struggle this year with the loss of a few players but I’m led to believe they may have picked up a couple of Mitchams players who still wanted to play in A grade.

One great thing for season 09 is that ALL clubs have entered teams into the Under 19 competition and with some Under 13 players out there having a go as well…..Could it be that korfball in Adelaide will survive the test of time????

Onto week one and the Shot Clock has arrived, for those of you who don’t know A grade games are following the International Standards with the introduction of a 24 second shot clock, similar to basketball.  Hopefully we will see the game speed up a bit and a few more goals.  I recommend everyone gets a look at an A grade game over the next few weeks to see what it is all about.  Might have it in other grades next year ????

The replay of the A grade grand final from last year between Arista and Adelaide Boomers did not disappoint as a season opener.  The game was fast paced, physical and with plenty of goals.  Forty six (46) of them to be exact, with Arista getting 27 to beat Boomers with 19.  It seemed at times Arista had a homing beacon on their basket as shots dropped from everywhere.   Arista led pretty much all day and although Boomers got close a few times Aristas accuracy kept closing the door.  In Ashley Reddaways first game back for Boomers after 12 months off, he showed he still has it with 6 goals but it was the Arista girls in Vanessa Braithwaite with 6 and Katharine Kleemann with 5 that led the newly suited club to victory.   With both these teams being stronger than they were last year I would suggest that other clubs will struggle against them.

The second A grade game was between Glenelg and NAKC, both with new coaches and keen to get an early win in the season.  Glenelg didn’t have their new uniforms but made up for it with their enthusiasm.

It was a close match until mid way through the second half.  NAKC led 11-9 then Glenelg just seemed to find their range and let go with a number of good long shots and once down by a few goals NAKC could not get themselves back into the match.  Glenelg coming out with their first win under their new name and the first for John Spurr as coach.  Young Patrick Branford (Glenelg) showing he has developed with his under 23 Australian team stint by hitting 5 goals and David Ey (Glenelg) also with 5 of his own.

81 goals in two games of korfball….love that shot clock.

B grade saw Sikopi, also in a new strip take on Mitcham.  Mitcham unfortunately were a male short and had no answer to Sikopi strengths or their good shooting.   Sikopi worthy winners with a big first game score of 28-6.  Sikopi players Nick Gartner hit 6, Craig Dawson got 5 and Angela Easson managed 5.

What started out as a good close game between Boomers and Arista saw them goal for goal in the first half at 8-7.  It didn’t end up that way, Boomers taking control in the second half with some tight defense running the game out at 19-9 Boomers Josh Page slotting 5.

Game of the day for B grade was NAKC and last years champions, Glenelg, both teams a bit weaker than last year with some promotions to A grade.  Both teams struggling to score with many opportunities going begging.  NAKC held their nerve in the last few minutes to take the game 11-10 Adrian Terrace top scoring with 4.

C Grade without Mitcham competing looked set for a 5 team competition until Sikopi stepped up to the plate and said they could field two teams.  Great work by Sikopi….we will wait for registrations but I’m betting this will make them the biggest club in Australia at the moment.  They played each other and had a good battle with Sikopi Blue just getting over the line at 13-10.  Michael Duke and Tyson White both from the blue team getting 4 goals each.  Last years title holders Adelaide Boomers took on another new look team in the newly kitted out Arista who had some new young players there, great to see more kids of  korfballers getting amongst it.  Go you Bungeys. (They join the Vardas’s and an Adams from the korfball dinosaur families).  Unfortunately for Arista Boomers showed they are continuing on from last years good form with a convincing 18-7 victory.  Jo Cottle from Boomers with 5.

NAKC took on Glenelg and showed the style that got them to last years grand final with a relatively easy win over Glenelg at 17-9  NAKC player Shilton Bryce with 5.

The Under 19 were out in force this year with six teams competing, although three of them were short of players…..but most games went ahead in the spirit of korfball.  Sikopi took on Mitcham in what was a six on six battle with a couple of ring ins.…..must have been a lot of running in that game??  Sikopi outscoring Mitcham to win 15-3.  Good shooting from Tyson White of Sikopi who got 7 (Also worth noting he got 4 in a C grade game too)  NAKC who took the flag last year showed they are serious about back to back titles with a solid win over Glenelg 17-8 Nikki from NAKC top scored with 8, Brett from NAKC got 5 (No surnames on score sheet) and a Joseph Otto from Glenelg managed 5 goals out of his teams 8.  Boomers took on Arista with Boomers being a couple of  players short and they had a couple of ring ins……the score being 15-5 at the end of the game, but no one bothered to note anything on the score sheet…..game was a forfeit at 10-0 but  no goals allocated to anyone unfortunately.

Enjoy the week off, remember be nice to your mother......