Newbie Blog: Be Careful Out There

I can’t think of a sport where you want to find yourself nose down on the floor. But this is where I found myself 20 minutes into City 2’s match against Abingdon 2 on Sunday.

We were 2-1 down and attacking as the ball threatened to go out for a throw. Somewhere deep in my brain – let’s call it the Stupidity Centre – I decided that should not be allowed to happen. So I rushed after it, jumped, landed badly, and spend a minute on the floor doubled up in pain after hurting my ankle. That was the end of my match.

My ankle hurt as I hobbled off, and so did my pride. But, more than anything, I was angry that I’d hurt myself while doing something so bloody stupid. This is not something we practise in training. In my mind, the sympathetic clapping from everyone else only served highlight that stupidity.

So what can we (or, let's face it, I) learn here?

Mind the Gap: There isn’t much space between the edge of the court and the wall. You only realise this when you’re crossing the sideline at speed, and that lack of space makes it very difficult to slow down quickly. Trying to do so can lead to injuries.

Get Good Shoes: I have a dodgy left ankle anyway, so it doesn’t surprise me that I hurt it. However, I feel lucky that I was wearing basketball shoes with high sides that stopped my ankle from twisting even further. If you don’t have the right shoes then put a pair on your Christmas list.

Let It Go Out: You may want to keep the ball in for your next attack, but you’re not much use to your team sitting on the sidelines nursing your ankle with an ice pack.  It’s better to let the ball go out then spend the next few days hobbling around.

Korfball People Are Good People: Thanks to people from City, but also the people from Abingdon and Didcot Dragons who don’t have a clue who I am but still asked how I was. Getting an injury is horrible, but it did show me how supportive people are in the Oxfordshire league.

Thankfully, it's only swollen and bruised rather than broken, and should be fine if I sit out training for a week. I’ll be back in December, after I’ve given my Stupidity Centre a stern telling off.

Rich Heap

Match Report - Oxford City I vs Reading Uni

Oxford City 1 vs Reading Uni 16.11.13

The match against Reading was on a Saturday, unusual, and in Reading... Even more unusual!

We started the match with only 7 players as our 8th player was driving back from doing a 10k obstacle course/actually lying in bed and fooled us all ;)Our division of 3 started in attack and actually took the game to Reading, scoring twice and then defending excellently. Our other division of four worked the ball well, Simon particularly as he was marking/being marked by a giant!

The game was close with only 2 goals in it as half way through the first half Dan arrived to make the game a more traditional 8 v 8 layout. Playing against our traditional rebound defence and with no numerical advantage Reading started to suffer. At half time we were roughly 4 goals ahead and playing well.

As the second half progressed we continued to pass, shoot and collect well and we started to edge further and further ahead of Reading. Dan got a fresh opponent, just in case he wasn't tired enough! But whilst Dan had tired legs he managed to make the most of his advantage in experience, being a able to run past his player at ease scoring a number of running in shots (Even though one of them has earned him a drinking fine!) provided by excellent feeds and collects from Taissa and Ruth.

Down the other end Alice and Jo were working tirelessly with some excellent collects and feeds, Gaz was running the legs of his poor opponent, Simon was keeping himself nicely free so that when his defender dropped off to cover Gaz he was free for a shot. And shot after shot went up, some excellent recycling of the ball and something reading just couldn't match.

Final score was 15-5 to Oxford City, lots of great goals but more importantly excellent team work in each division to allow those players to score. Special mentions to Taissa playing up and fitting in to the division like she had always been there. And to Simon for marking someone almost twice as tall as him.

Player of the match is a hard one to choose, so many great goals... Player of the match goes to Alice, who had an excellent game, feeding and collecting brilliantly and providing some great passes at the right time to allow both Gaz and Simon to score some excellent goals.

Goals - Dan (5), Dave E (3), Gaz (3), Jo (2), Ruth (1), Simon (1)
Official MVP - Dave E

Dave Everett Roving
OCKC Journalist

Newbie Blog: The Only Way Is Up

I reached the pinnacle of my sporting career on Sunday. That's not as impressive as it sounds.

The problem is that it makes it sounds like my life has been packed with sporting successes, which it hasn’t. The previous pinnacle of my sporting career came when I got a rosette for coming third in a gruelling 50 metres sprint at a school sports day. My sporting pinnacle doesn’t tower like Mount Everest. It’s more like the minor undulation of a molehill on a well-manicured lawn.

But let’s ditch the self-deprecation and get onto the facts.

On Sunday, I played my second competitive korfball match, and only my third full-length match. In both previous matches I’ve played in my team has lost, which sets off dark thoughts in a newbie.

“They won their first two matches, but now we’re losing. Is it me?” “What else could I be doing?” “Am I letting my teammates down?” “Would we have won if I wasn’t playing?”

Yes, it's a team game and it's the team that loses but, as a new player, you can't help but think that a loss might be somehow your fault. That’s what I was thinking as I headed into Sunday’s match between City 2 and Oxford Uni 2, and probably why I spent the first half apologising to the other members of my division – Charlotte, Taissa and Dan – for most of the things I did.

But that changed at half time. We held a 3-2 lead against a combative and fit team, and I had been run around and shoved a lot, but I now felt like we could win. I just had to keep going.

For me, the second half continued just like the first, and I was knocked over a couple of times but I didn't care. I managed to keep doing my job until the end - just - and we ended up winning 9-2.

It's a great feeling. I’ve never been proud of anything I’ve done physically – except my supporting role in the creation of my daughter – and Sunday is definitely the new pinnacle of my sporting career.

And as long as I keep improving and stay confident, there should be plenty more pinnacles.

Rich Heap

Newbie Blog: City's New Number 12

I put on my Oxford City number 12 shirt yesterday afternoon with a mix of pride and apprehension, and with good reason. I was about to play my first full korfball match.

In fact, it goes deeper than that. During school sport lessons I languished among the dregs. My weekly exercise was against the kids with glasses and breathing problems, who would rather pick daisies than get muddy. It was fair enough: I was one of them.

This means that for 30 years I’ve never represented a team, I’ve never been in a team talk, and I’ve never felt the pressure of wanting to do well for my teammates. Sporty people may not understand this, but City 2 versus Didcot Dragons 2 was a big deal to me.

So that’s the apprehension but what about the pride? Well, the two are linked. I’ve never pulled on a team shirt before so it means a lot to me that I can. I feel proud that I can wear the number 12, which I chose because my daughter was born in 2012. That pride is the reason I drove through Friday afternoon traffic on a mercy mission to pick up the shirts for the whole team. I wanted my own, and getting everyone else’s was a bonus.

But it’s one thing to buy a shirt, it’s quite another to earn it. So how was the match?

Well, we lost but I was pretty happy with how I did. I felt I froze in attack and struggled to put into practise what we’d done in training; but I still managed to score a good long-range goal – a carbon copy of the one I mentioned in my first blog post – and nearly punched the wall in celebration. I then apologised for over-celebrating. It was most ungentlemanly.

In defence I made some good blocks, a few interceptions, and made sure to keep eye contact with my attacker. I also followed him everywhere, including when he went to get water and talk to their coach. If there wasn't a final whistle then I'd have probably jumped on the bus and followed him home. In the end he probably thought I was stalking him, but I don't care. I'd rather look stupid for following than not following.

So there were some positives but also plenty of room for improvement. I can’t wait to get back into training on Thursday.

Rich Heap

Match Report - City 1 vs Oxford Uni 1

City 1 vs Oxford Uni 1

20.10.13

 

Playing Uni this early on in the season is always a bit of a mystery and I think it’s fair to say that this year offered up a fairly inexperienced Uni 1. However they were (as ever) tall, young and well drilled by Martin. We had what could be generously described as a ‘slow’ start, failing to open the scoring for about 15 minutes – but on the plus side we didn’t let in any goals either. However once we got started the shots began dropping, and we went into half time a deserved 5-0 up – it could have been double that.

 

From then on the match was never really in doubt, even though Uni bought on a few more experienced players for the second half. We kept our discipline well in the face of the “enthusiastic”  fouls coming our way (even the girls were beating on Dave W!) but we didn’t give away a penalty all match. It’s easy to let things slide when you are a long way ahead but we kept our concentration and continued to score well in the second half, only allowing in one goal all match and ending on an extremely respectable 11-1, with a hat-trick from Becca leading the scorers (ahem).

 

Well played everyone, no match next week but most of the first team are off to Cardiff for a regional double header – wish us luck!!

 

Becca Brennan

1st Team Vice-Captain

Match Reports - City 1 vs Abingdon 1 & City 2 vs Isis 2

City 2 4-3 Isis 2
 06.10.13

City 2 gave league debuts to 2 new boys ( well done Alex and Brendan who both supported well in attack and were solid as a rock in defence). We won 4-3 which probably doesn't really quite sum up the enormous effort we put in, both ourselves and Isis were clearly feeling the lack of full match practice towards the end. Charlotte put in another sterling display, following on from great performances last season, as did Maddy, who was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. Credit also to Taissa and Gemma - I didn't see a misplaced pass or a lost collect all day. Thanks also to Dan, Dave and Gaz for their role in our win. Catherine's emphasis at the beginning of the match was to do the basics well, which we did. This team will get better and can accomplish even more than last year.

 

Simon

2nd Team Vice-Captain

 

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Abingdon I 11-7 City 1
 06.10.13

City 1 went into the first match of the season pumped up having just seen City 2 secure an excellent victory against Isis. Unfortunately all the preseason excitement lead to a rush of blood to the head, and for the first twenty minutes we attempted to break world records for the fastest (and potentially scrappiest) korfball ever played. As a result we went into a much needed time out 3-1 down, and needed some stern words from the bench (thanks Jim and Ev!) to cool us down. The last 10 minutes of the first half were much better, showing that yes, we have been training over the summer and yes, we’ve been listening to Graham and Frank! However Abingdon continued their very physical assault (and sneaky free passes) and we went in 6-2 down at halftime.

 

The second half saw the glorious return of Steve Bray to the korfball pitch, and he put a quick goal on the board to show Abingdon we meant business. Overall we played much better in the second half, recycling the ball well and running many successful blocks which resulted in my goal of the game, a brilliant long shot from Dave W. The second half was a much better representation of City 1’s talents, and this half ended a very respectable 5-5, though sadly meant we didn’t overturn the deficit from the first half and so ended up 11-7 to Abingdon at full time.

 

I suggest some quiet meditation before KO this Sunday...

 

Becca Brennan

1st Team Vice-Captain

 

Match Report - Oxford City 2 vs Isis 2

Oxford City 2 vs Isis 2
13.10.13

Our 2nd team are riding high at the top of division 2 with a comprehensive 8-2 victory against Isis II.  Just to re-iterate, our 2nd team, with lots of new players, have beaten their closest rivals home and away already :-) Steve made his competitive debut for City, and had a great game, especially when up against a very experienced player in the form of Nick. 

A very tight first half ended with very little between the teams, despite a number of shots going very close, especially from Charlotte.  However, the floodgates opened in the second half, with Charlotte scoring the hatrick that her overall play deserved.  Despite the loss of Steve B, who had been playing majestically, halfway through the second half through injury, the goals continued to come, with Dave E not even needing to fully warm up! 

Great game from the second team, with Jen working her socks off (and scoring!) and great performances across the court.  One thing I noted was that our recycling of the ball was excellent, and much better than last week.

Dan Hibbs
OCKC Chairman