We woke in the morning to the good news of the rapid improvement Helen 'Bubbles' Abernethy's ankle sprain. While she wasn't going to be ready to take the court today, all signs are looking good for her to make her debut soon. It's amazing what someone can do with a disciplined approach to her rehab and positive attitude. Helen must also get a mention here as being a huge inspiration to the team through her unrelenting positivity through this challenge for her. Helen said she has learned a lot about our game play from being able to observe from the sideline. All other players' niggles seem to be well managed at the moment.
Koru continued his latest Korfball adventure by being presented to Lucy Bolton for her effort in her international debut the previous day. Koru, who was gifted to Korfball by our mentors Grahame and Doreen Felton when the senior side traveled to China last year, said this of his latest experience "Cheep, cheep.......cheep........cheep, cheep, cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!" Unfortunately at this stage no one has mastered the translation of Kiwi however, if we ever need to translate Horse, Sarah Bateup is the girl to call! (If you were at the hypnotist night, you'll know what I mean)
Anyway, enough of my randomness.......on to the match vs India.
India were always going to be a team who looked to try and dominate the Korf area and push for run-in shots. We picked a team to start the game who could best combat their unique style and six-foot plus male players. Starting in attack was Simon Cooper, Mikey Graham, Alisha Muir and Jamie Osborne with our starting defence Rosa Cooper (C), Sarah Bateup, Spencer Te Pou and Carl Chung.
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| New Zealand and India in the pre-game line up. |
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| The kiwi sides starting eight singing the national anthem. |
Once the game started it was clear the Indian side were not going to bring any surprises to the court, sticking to the style of play the worked effectively for them against Australia the previous day. During this mornings training, we put a defensive plan in place to combat this. Our plan certainly worked well, limiting India's attacking opportunities throughout the game. However, early in the game, silly defensive errors allowed the Indian side to score three of their first four goals through penalties. At the other end of the court, we were creating effective attacking opportunities but lacked the finishing finesse, missing too many easy shots from under the hoop.
The game continued to be played in a physical way, typical of the Indian style, through until half time where they held a 16-5 lead.
New Zealand began to stronger of the two teams in the second half and looked more threatening in attack as some shots began to drop. Mikey Graham continued his highly impressive debut with some very effective work around the Korf both in rebounding and limiting the opposition attacking opportunities. Coach Mark Garrett called his performance one of the best he had seen by a kiwi at international level. We closed the gap to trail 19-10 but basic defensive errors continued to hurt the team. The NZ team worked hard to create scoring chances but all to frequently the Indian side would be allowed to score a simple goal at the other end of the court. Lucy Bolton and Neville Brooker were substituted for Jamie Osborne and Spencer Te Pou respectively in the second half. Sarah Bateup also capped off a solid performance, bagging four goals for the game.
Towards the end of the game the Indian shooters also started to find their range further from the Korf and ran out winners 29-15.
While for the team there was some satisfaction gained from putting plans in to place during the game, there was an overarching sense of frustration afterwards in knowing that an opportunity had slipped by. This match proved that while we are heading in the right direction as a young Korfball nation, our accuracy in all aspects of the game, particularly shooting, must improve for us to overtake nations like India in the long term.
As is our normal routine, the evening ended with individual player reviews from the coaching staff, an exercise in self-reflection that is key for our development both as players and as people.
Special mention must also be given to Helen Timms for her tireless work this morning overcoming a few gear challenges we faced and for always providing the team with great food to keep the energy flowing.
Tomorrow we have a big day with games against Hong Kong, who lost to Australia in golden goal this evening, and Malaysia who are continuing to develop through the tournament. No training in the morning as a result so time for me to catch a few winks, count some sheep and catch you all tomorrow!
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