Belgium on a mission in Cali

Being selected for the Belgian national korfball team (known as the Diamonds) is not a matter of preparing for single events every x years. All top players and upcoming talents are closely followed on a day-to-day basis by our technical and medical staff and this with a long term strategy in mind. They become part of a team that will compete at every occasion, aiming at the best possible result and that’s being the number one team.

The group of athletes preparing for the World Games 2013 in Cali increased its training effort as of March this year after the Belgian Topleague final. Four to five training sessions a week became their ‘new normal’ : physical training by Athletes Care Antwerp, specific korfball training, test matches and individual conditional trainings on top of that.

Thanks to the support of the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee (BOIC), the Diamonds have the necessary resources to prepare for and to participate at the World Games in Cali. Thanks to the effort of several people we have the opportunity to compete against some other World Games participants (Chinese Taipei and Germany) in a pre World Games Tournament which will take place in Antwerp (Belgium) in the week prior to the departure for Cali. Fourth participant to this event will be the U21 selection of The Netherlands.

The Belgian delegation will consist of mature players and talented youth, finalists at the IKF U23 World Championships in Barcelona last year.  Captains of the Diamonds are Davor Duronjic and Annelies Vandenberghe who both have a lot of international experience and have been part of the team for many years now. They will make sure that all the Diamonds will go for the extra mile : one team, one mission!