Quick answer...cos boys and girls play together, and that, socially, can make it more attractive.

Longer answer, korfball is a game of skill, speed and tactics, whereas basketball is (seemingly) much more a game of force. Netball, on the other hand, is (unlike Yorkies) just for girls*.

It's great because people of different ages / sizes can play, abnd all be good, in different ways. Everyone on the team is equally important in all parts of the court, and a single STAR player will rarely win you a game of korfball.

*I played mixed-netball for 3 years at uni, it was great fun.

Korfball also demands all round athletic skills in that players must be able to be effective in attack and defence, rather than specialise on a specific role or position as is the case in sports such as netball, and demands a greater range of core athletic components (shooting, running, jumping, passing, catching, breaking free, marking, supporting) than a great many sports making an ideal sport for long term athlete development as far as young athletes are concerned.

If played at its best Korfball can be as fast and exciting as any sport if not more so. The limited physical contact allows players to be skillful and imaginative whilst ensuring the competitive element within the sport remains intensive enough to be appealing to spectators.

Unlike sports where a single player can win games almost single handedly with minimul assistance from the remainder of the team, Korfball demands co-operation as a result of its roots as a sport for schoolchildren.

Korfball is a sport in which men and women can work and
co-operate together in a team environment towards a common goal under the pressure and athletic competition, whilst encouraging the them to develop all round skills as they do.

It is a sport in which the spirit of fair play remains a key principle (well in some countries at least)

The sport does appear to be in the grip of a slow moving rebound blocking epidemic at present which can make for a somewhat dull spectator viewing experience but hopefully it will pass without doing too much damage.

Many of those lucky enough to have discovered it believe passionately that Korfball is a truly fantastic sport and having witnessed the positive impact that it has had on the lives and development of so many young players it is clear that it has poential that far exceeds its current standing in the world of sport.

If Nico Broekhuysen, the Dutchman who dreamed up Korfball over 100 years ago, were still alive today then I suspect he would be an icredibly proud man, but at the same time might find himself a little bemused and dissappointed at the why the sport of Korfball remains sucn a small and little known sport in the whole scheme of things.

..to have a message..

..to have a story..

The original question asked here is really the elevator story question - and it is something that it is important that all Korfballers are able to articulate and buy into - to be able to answer that question with 2 or 3 succinct bullet points that sell why we play our sport, and why they should care/watch/join.

So an open question - what are the 3 key selling points of Korfball?

I wonder if as a global group we could boil this down.....?

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Dutch Mixed Bastketball

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Edited by - chris_white_22 on 08 May 2006 09:55:56

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I'd dare to bet that if the first teams of basketball, netball and korfball would all play each other in all three sports, the korfball team would finish top.

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