Added: 12/21/2007 |
Korfball And Something More - Basketball with a differenceKorfball is a modified form of basket ball and a mixed gender game. It is played in over fifty countries. Korfball is recognized by the International Olympic committee. The game is unique as it provides an opportunity for men and women to compete equally. Korfball in Dutch means basketball. Korfball and the rules of the game are variants of the sport, basket ball.
Nico Broekhuysen, learned the game ‘Ring boll’, on a visit to Sweden, in 1902. In ‘ring boll’ the points are secured by throwing the ball into a ring attached to a 3 meter high post. Substituting the ring with a basket and simplifying the rules, he promoted a new form called Korfball for the sports lovers of the world.
Indoor or outdoor courts can be the venue for playing Korfball and the court on which it is played is divided into two halves or zones and each zone has a post with a basket on top. Scoring is done in Korfball, when the players’s manage to put the ball in the opponent team’s basket. Men and women play together in Korfball and the play allow duels between man to man and women to women. The rules of Korfball are such that a woman defends a woman and a man defends a man in Korfball and players mark an opponent of their own sex.
Team work is essential in Korfball and it is the key to win in any Korfball game. Dribbling or running with the ball is not allowed in Korfball and a player who receives the ball must stop running and must pass the ball to another player. A player cannot score, when an opponent attempts to defend him or her. When the defender is facing an opponent, and is at an arm’s length, attempting to block the ball, a player cannot score as per the rules of the game.
Physical contact is undesired in Korfball and tackling, blocking manhandling the opponent and kicking the ball is not allowed in the game. Outdoing each other is emphasized in the sport and not outmuscling. This makes Korfball a ‘clean’ sport. The posts that hold the basket are nearly 3.5 meter high, making it difficult to score. The unisex aspect is one of a kind in Korfball and the avoidance of physical strength dominating the game due to the rules of the game adds to the popularity of the game.
Korfball is mostly played in Belgium and Netherlands. In the Olympic Games of 1920 and 1928, it was a demonstration sports. The International Korfball Bureau was established in the year 1924. The International Korfball federation was founded in the year 1993, in Belgium. Now, there are many national federations for Korfball and the popularity of the game is increasing. The International Korfball Federation is associated with the General Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), the Association of the IOC Recognized International Sports Federations and the International World Games Association.
Once in every four years, from 1978, World Championships are organized by International Korfball Federation and most of the tournaments are bagged by Netherlands or Belgium teams. Recently, the first international tournament, the Asia Oceania Youth Championships was hosted by Hong Kong in 2006 and in 2007; it is hosted by New Zealand. Korfball stands as a testimony for evolution in the field of sports.
Article comments:
No comments for this article yet. Post your comment now!
