In the Great Britain team there are three players who played for Dutch clubs: Otto Fabius (Dalto 2); David Synott (PKC 2) and Natasha Dawson (KZ 2). Although they have never played the highest level of Dutch competition, I could see a good rhythm in their play.
Otto Fabius and David Synott play together in one section; two tall and strong athletes who can cooperate fairly well. There is only one "small" problem: both men are not good shooters. In the match against Portugal, David and Otto played very well around the post zone in the function as Bears (31 rebounds out of 40 shots). But when they don't score easily they will miss the core of korfball. Their marks as Tigers were 5/41 (Otto 4/26 and David 1/25). The female players in that section have the same problem with their shooting (0/21). But these girls have also another problem: their technique is not up to par; they play the 1-1 duel as junior players. The two male players Otto and David should be supported by better female players who can finish attacks and who can move in a wide action radius.
The most valuable player of England is David Brooks. He has a body of a rugby player who is stuck in the front row of a scrum. In the match against Portugal he was, in the function of the Bear, the key player of the team. He understood that a Bear can only do his role when he is also ready to make shots. His modern high shot around the post is hardly to stop / to block. It is a pity for him that the referees don't understand that in modern korfball a shot while in movement can never be seen as an infringement ( the rule should be changed: a shot is defended when it is done in a static position and is blocked).
David Brooks will recognize how difficult it is when your female players have limited skills. His zone made 18 shooting attempts in total and while there were 3 goals, David scored 2 goals out of 5!
In the match Chinese Taipei - Great Britain there was again, as a substitute, Joseph Bedford. He showed good competencies as a Tiger.
I need more time to make a final conclusion. But as it looks right now, Great Britain came stronger to world Games than I expected. Especially the male players have a good level. The girls section is not (yet) strong enough for international korfball. Aimee Evans and Carly Holness are the only girls who could be unpleasant opponents. All in all I think there is hope that the BKA will get the ambition to see korfball as a top sport.
Showing posts with label World Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Games. Show all posts
7/18/09
World Games 2009, 2nd day
Great Britain - Portugal half time: 7-6.
The match concluded in a 11- 15 victory for Portugal.
Portugal was better and should have taken the lead in the first half already. Instead they showed some 'mental problems'. They focused more on the referee than on the cooperation in their team and played without a good match strategy or game plan: most players were solo. This resulted in a lot of attacks without any shots. The coach Jorge Ramos showed desperation and stayed with his bottle of water.
Great Britain gained from the disorder of the Portuguese team and came back from 3 goals back to 1 goal in the lead. In the second half Portugal recovered but they never showed a good level. Even so, they did enough to beat the GB team.
Portugal has good girls, the ladies however don't seem to grow anymore. Now and in the past the Portuguese team seems to be dependent on these female players to make the goals. But because the opponents of Portugal analyze the game plan of Portugal, the female players get more resistance and scoring has become more difficult. Of course you can see that Biocas, Antunes and Silva have the competencies of Tigers and Panthers but (just) these competencies are not enough for top-level korfball.
In the team of Portugal there is only one male player, Miquel Costa, who can play all round. He could play top level. The other male players seem to be middle class and play in specific roles, like Bruno Fernandes (who lacks any scoring ambition), who plays the Bear position.
The match concluded in a 11- 15 victory for Portugal.
Portugal was better and should have taken the lead in the first half already. Instead they showed some 'mental problems'. They focused more on the referee than on the cooperation in their team and played without a good match strategy or game plan: most players were solo. This resulted in a lot of attacks without any shots. The coach Jorge Ramos showed desperation and stayed with his bottle of water.
Great Britain gained from the disorder of the Portuguese team and came back from 3 goals back to 1 goal in the lead. In the second half Portugal recovered but they never showed a good level. Even so, they did enough to beat the GB team.
Portugal has good girls, the ladies however don't seem to grow anymore. Now and in the past the Portuguese team seems to be dependent on these female players to make the goals. But because the opponents of Portugal analyze the game plan of Portugal, the female players get more resistance and scoring has become more difficult. Of course you can see that Biocas, Antunes and Silva have the competencies of Tigers and Panthers but (just) these competencies are not enough for top-level korfball.
In the team of Portugal there is only one male player, Miquel Costa, who can play all round. He could play top level. The other male players seem to be middle class and play in specific roles, like Bruno Fernandes (who lacks any scoring ambition), who plays the Bear position.
7/17/09
World Games 2009, 1st day
17 July
The program started with the match Czech Republic - Australia.
This match was played very enthusiastic, with a lot of energy (Brad Marks was an example in that aspect). This was also the reason why the match was sometimes a bit rough.
Both teams had 1 (Dennis Gilles) or 2 players (Roman Veznik and Martina Bouman) who have some experience in the Dutch competition. For me it was not surprising that The Czech team played better korfball than the Aussies. Every time you see in international tournaments that Australia has insufficient knowledge and experience of modern korfball.
The main problem of the Australian team is tactics. They seem to have no idea that tempo and timing of passing are very important in the cooperation to a goal. Very often they pass the ball too fast. They don't use the passing as a mean for communication. The ball is just going from spot to spot instead from position to position: The timing of a pass has to do with an objective: the player who gets the ball should be free and should go for a final action like a shot.
The balance in the line up of Australia was no good. Dennis Gilles (Bear, 3/10) and Megan O'keefe (Panther 3/14) played their roles in the first attack fairly good. The second attack operated badly. Many passes went wrong. So did the building up and the duels. Luke Rosie as a Tiger, (0/7) and Lia Matthews (0/10) showed that they are not good enough for the international level. Australia needs more international competition. If they continue in this way they play korfball good enough for fun but not for international top level. They need young athletes.
Another problem with the Australian team is that I cannot discover real fresh athletes in their team. We all know that other (team)sports in Australia are very strong. Maybe Australian korfball has stopped developing? Whatever?The reality is that Australia has lost the connection to the European countries. This is very disappointing!
The Czech team had a better balance in the line up. Both sections of the Czech could score.
Jacob Blaha was in the first attack the Tiger (4 goals out of 22 attempts). He was very solidly supported by Roman Veznik, who played around the post as Bear.
In the second attack it was Jiri Jezek (in the Bear position) who was very important. In the beginning of the match he tried to win the duels against Dennis Gilles in the center role. Later he discovered that it was more smart to play as a tiger against Dennis. Dennis is a good center defender around the post but when he plays as guard he cannot find the balance between risk and control. He is much to focused on interception. Jiri Jezek killed him easily from half distance and took care of 7 goals. (7/27)
A few years ago the Czech were very promising. But I didn't see any developments to a higher level either.
In both teams the male players were dominant. It should be a challenge for the female players of these countries (may be in all the korfball countries) to show more ambitions in developing their korfball skills. Most of the female players play like old fashioned house mothers. Korfball is basically a mixed sport in which the roles can be divided equally. It is time that the roles of the female players become decisive for the result of korfball matches.
The program started with the match Czech Republic - Australia.
This match was played very enthusiastic, with a lot of energy (Brad Marks was an example in that aspect). This was also the reason why the match was sometimes a bit rough.
Both teams had 1 (Dennis Gilles) or 2 players (Roman Veznik and Martina Bouman) who have some experience in the Dutch competition. For me it was not surprising that The Czech team played better korfball than the Aussies. Every time you see in international tournaments that Australia has insufficient knowledge and experience of modern korfball.
The main problem of the Australian team is tactics. They seem to have no idea that tempo and timing of passing are very important in the cooperation to a goal. Very often they pass the ball too fast. They don't use the passing as a mean for communication. The ball is just going from spot to spot instead from position to position: The timing of a pass has to do with an objective: the player who gets the ball should be free and should go for a final action like a shot.
The balance in the line up of Australia was no good. Dennis Gilles (Bear, 3/10) and Megan O'keefe (Panther 3/14) played their roles in the first attack fairly good. The second attack operated badly. Many passes went wrong. So did the building up and the duels. Luke Rosie as a Tiger, (0/7) and Lia Matthews (0/10) showed that they are not good enough for the international level. Australia needs more international competition. If they continue in this way they play korfball good enough for fun but not for international top level. They need young athletes.
Another problem with the Australian team is that I cannot discover real fresh athletes in their team. We all know that other (team)sports in Australia are very strong. Maybe Australian korfball has stopped developing? Whatever?The reality is that Australia has lost the connection to the European countries. This is very disappointing!
The Czech team had a better balance in the line up. Both sections of the Czech could score.
Jacob Blaha was in the first attack the Tiger (4 goals out of 22 attempts). He was very solidly supported by Roman Veznik, who played around the post as Bear.
In the second attack it was Jiri Jezek (in the Bear position) who was very important. In the beginning of the match he tried to win the duels against Dennis Gilles in the center role. Later he discovered that it was more smart to play as a tiger against Dennis. Dennis is a good center defender around the post but when he plays as guard he cannot find the balance between risk and control. He is much to focused on interception. Jiri Jezek killed him easily from half distance and took care of 7 goals. (7/27)
A few years ago the Czech were very promising. But I didn't see any developments to a higher level either.
In both teams the male players were dominant. It should be a challenge for the female players of these countries (may be in all the korfball countries) to show more ambitions in developing their korfball skills. Most of the female players play like old fashioned house mothers. Korfball is basically a mixed sport in which the roles can be divided equally. It is time that the roles of the female players become decisive for the result of korfball matches.
6/18/09
The new website and the web log
Bird makes progression with the new korfball website:
http://sites.google.com/site/korfballadvisor/
During World Games I will use my blog and website.
Every day I will give comments and I will analyze a match of the day before. I will start on 18th of July. The tournament is starting on 17th of July.
http://sites.google.com/site/korfballadvisor/
During World Games I will use my blog and website.
Every day I will give comments and I will analyze a match of the day before. I will start on 18th of July. The tournament is starting on 17th of July.
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