Beach Korfball! Why?

 

On the 2nd of January 2020, I drafted an email to Mrs. Anita Derks. In 2020, she was a board member of the KNKV and the IKF.

 

In this email, I expressed my concern about the choice to recognize Beach Korfball as an official top format by the IKF. In my opinion, Beach Korfball is not a good marketing instrument for top Korfball. I still support this opinion after watching the images of the last tournament, the World Championship in Wroclaw.

 

Why? If the vision of the IKF is to present a future Olympic format through Beach Korfball, then this is a useless mission for me. Of course, Beach Korfball meets conditions that Korfball 8 (indoor Korfball) cannot meet:

 

- Beach Korfball is played with fewer participants.

- Beach Korfball is played outdoors on a small pitch; no expensive accommodation is required.

- A Beach Korfball tournament can be completed in a limited number of days.                                                            

Overall, Beach Korfball is a cheap and low-threshold format.

 

The IKF managed to register Beach Korfball for the World Games 2025. The World Games are international events intended for sports and sporting events that do not fall within the Olympic Games. Both the Olympic Games and the World Games are so-called world stages on which national sports federations strive to showcase the best of their sport disciplines. Both multi-sport events create high-quality environments that stimulate top sport athletes. In these top sport events, it's about performing, excelling, pushing boundaries, and gaining worldwide recognition for the excellent talents in their sport disciplines. The athletes want to contribute to the legacy of their sport through excellent performance and radiate the desire to be the best in the competition. That is why the main purpose of top athletes is to participate in the World Games.

 

As far as I am concerned, Beach Korfball (the court is outdoors on sand) is a format that detracts from top Korfball as it is known in Korfball 8 on a hard court. The loose sand surface limits the athletic ability of the players. The sandy bottom is not conducive to communication, coordination, control, and the skills of the top athletes who aspire to be top Korfball players.[1] Sand does not allow for real manoeuvrability. Top Korfball players are agile in changes of direction, accelerating and decelerating, jumping, and landing. The sand is the cause of the ball often smothering or rolling away unexpectedly.

 

So, the Beach Korfball court prevents players from performing in a groundbreaking way. The Beach Korfball format that we know now can only develop in a straight line, the shortest line between two poles, the so-called break. This requires a different defensive strategy.

 

And no matter how you look at it, Beach Korfball will never become a top Korfball format. Certainly not in the Netherlands, because their own busy competition schedule hardly allows time for that. And in the rest of the world where Korfball competitions are not yet sufficiently developed, it has a small chance because it is part of a holiday feeling - sea, sun, relaxation, fun, and meeting each other, along with drinks and music.

 

Beach Korfball is a suitable format for young people who want to meet each other during the holidays at the campsite by the sea. Beach Korfball is suitable as a recreational sport and grassroots sport. Beach Korfball will be a dead end soon if the IKF continues to think in the direction of an Olympic format.

 

Beach Korfball is not a top Korfball format and can never compete with Korfball 8 due to the playing surface. The vision, thinking, and definition of values of the top Korfball product have been overlooked. The IKF board has not taken enough account of the quality of the top Korfball product. The values of Korfball and, in particular, top Korfball are not explicitly defined. The values of the top Korfball product are evident through the top athletes and their skills.[2]

 

In my opinion, the IKF has been too eager to introduce Beach Korfball at the World Games. Registering Beach Korfball could be a marketing mistake. The IKF positioned Beach Korfball too early. The result is that at an important tournament like the World Games, the IKF believes that Beach Korfball is a top format. But the reality is that the countries that participate have little or no real competition in this format. Beach Korfball has no added value for top sports. This is mainly because the IKF thinks more about fun, less about money, easy organization, and more competitors than the values of top Korfball.

 

Another option: If Korfball 8 is not considered suitable as an Olympic format, it is desirable to use a format in which the values of Korfball 8 are still guaranteed. This is the case with Urban Korfball. Korfball countries where top players regularly compete against each other in some competition[3] will discover that Urban Korfball can embody the same values as Korfball 8. Competitions in the Urban Korfball format can be organized under the same conditions as Beach Korfball: teams with a small number of participants, outdoor settings, and short-term tournaments.

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[1] See: The IKF Guide to Korfball Coaching 2012 and The Art of Korfball Coaching 2022

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnNSU4kbVvI

 

[3] Independent. Co.uk/sport/football: Arsene Wenger the famous football coach, told about the value of good competition “I realised 40 years ago from a study I made for, why I want to put the best with the best. Because they play against each other, they stimulate each other. That explains countries like Netherlands , Croatia, Uruguay.

They keep creating teams and players because they have a good level of education and identification of talent.

Croatia was in the last four of the last two World Cups so that means success is not limited to big countries. It is just limited to the quality of education and organisation”.