All-African Korfball Championships to be held in Ivory Coast and Zambia

IKF Africa today held its general meeting. In an online setting, 8 out of the 10 national korfball organisations in Africa were present, and elected Mr Tarirai Chadebah (ZIM) as their new President. Mr Younes Cherfaoui (MAR) was elected as Vice-President for the North Region, while Mr Kaluba Kangwa (ZAM) was elected as Vice-President for the South Region. Mr Nana Simplice (CMR) was elected as Secretary General. Mrs Dr Florence Gitau and Mrs Ottilia Kurebwaseka (ZIM) complete the IKF Africa Executive Committee.

IKF Africa General Meeting (online) 2022-05-21

IKF Africa General Meeting (online) 2022-05-21

In the meeting, it was also announced that the All-African Championships will be held across two different locations, allowing for the highest possible participation in the two main korfball clusters. Abidjan (CIV) will host the All-African Championship for the North Region, with all countries in ANOCA Zones 1-4 invited to take part. The event’s tentative dates are 22-25 September 2022. Lusaka (Zambia) will host the All-African Championship for the South Region, with all countries in ANOCA Zones 5-7 invited to take part. This event tentative dates are 10-13 November 2022. The hosting decisions are subject to the hosting contracts between the IKF and the national korfball organisations of Ivory Coast and Zambia being confirmed and signed in due course.

Over the past quadrennial, the IKF and IKF Africa’s focus has been on further strengthening the existing national organisation on the continent. Development is hence an important part of the strategy of IKF Africa, supported by the IKF Development Committee. In the meeting, IKF Development and Education Committee Chair Jorge Alves (POR) announced that preceding both championships, education activities for coaching and refereeing will be organised so that the presence of countries can be leveraged.

The meeting also confirmed the composition of the highly important IKF Africa Development and Education Committee. The IKF Africa DEC’s Vice-Chair will be Mr Anthony Amekudzi (GHA), and he will be joined on the committee by three very successful korfball developers on the continent, namely Mr Eric Abale (CIV), Mrs Sophie Kathewera (MAW), and Ms Ilham Teidj (MAR).

IKF President Jan Fransoo attended the meeting and guided the proceedings. He wished all newly elected officials good luck and lots of success in the execution of their important responsibilities.

IKF Korfball World Congress 2019

The next IKF Korfball World Congress will take place on August 7 and August 8 in the Garden Court Marine Parade Hotel, Durban, South Africa, during the IKF World Korfball Championship 2019.

This year’s edition of the congress aims to promote the sharing of experiences and ideas among members focusing on two main themes: Global Korfball Development and Strengthening Our National Organisations.

The registration for the IKF Korfball World Congress is still open until July, 8th 2019 and it must be done by email to office@ikf.org

You can consult the detailed program of the IKF Korfball World Congress here.

IKF extends contract with CEO Tilbert La Haye

The International Korfball Federation has extended the contract with its CEO Tilbert La Haye. La Haye, a Dutch national, joined the IKF in 2016. He has headed the IKF operations since then with great success. Under his leadership, the professionalism in day-to-day operations has increased substantially. Furthermore, he has taken new initiatives such as the IKF Beach Korfball World Cup series, and programs to develop the administration and playing strength of the many young national organizations that have joined the IKF in the past decade.

IKF President Fransoo: “We are very happy to have reached an agreement with Mr La Haye. With his expertise, knowledge, and energy, he has brought new initiatives, and new structure to the operations and development of the IKF. We look forward to seeing our sport, our federation, and our national organizations develop further under his executive leadership.”

Tilbert La Haye: “I am very proud of the confidence the IKF shows by extending my contract for the years to come. We have been making major steps forward with our intensified international competition calendar – particularly in youth –  and the development of the IKF Beach Korfball World Cup series, with events upcoming in Belgium, Hong Kong and China. This is a good foundation for extending our marketing and sponsorship proposition, which we are currently aligning with our unique gender-equality requirement in every single korfball match played wherever.”

Adri “Swan” Zwaanswijk dies after dedicating his entire life to the development of korfball

The International Korfball Federation is deeply grieved to announce the passing of its Honorary Member Adri “Swan” Zwaanswijk in Amsterdam (Netherlands) yesterday morning at the age of 88.

Swan, as Zwaanswijk has been known to most that have had the pleasure to work and be inspired by him, was a korfball innovator over more than half a century. When he retired as national coach of the Netherlands korfball team, he was offered a trip around the world. He used this trip to promote and develop korfball outside Europe. At that time, korfball outside Europe was only present in Dutch and former Dutch colonies. Among other countries, he was the key figure of korfball introduction and development in India and Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) who are current korfball power houses in Asia. Famous was also his development work in the jungle parts Papua New Guinea where he built upon the earlier work of Roy Kirkby and he supposedly was offered an entire island by one of the local tribal chiefs.

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Adri “Swan” Zwaanswijk in 2013 (photo credit: Swan Fund)

At elite level, Zwaanswijk played 11 times for the Netherlands national korfball team in a period that there was effectively no preparation for matches, and players met each other on the train to Antwerp for their annual international match series. Later, in 1962, he became the first national korfball coach in the Netherlands and introduced the concept of training and preparation. After his retirement as national coach in the Netherlands in 1978, he worked tirelessly for the development of our sport, in particular in (but not limited to) Asia. He also developed coaching courses at the international level for the first time and the famous coaching camps at Papendal in the Netherlands were also his idea. Many of the current and past leading coaches and administrators have been trained by him at one of these Papendal coaching courses.

Next to that, he was also a strong advocate for major changes in the game itself. He pushed the notion that children needed to play on a lower post and with a smaller ball. He was a main driving force behind the elimination of the middle zone (korfball was played in three rather than two zones outdoor until the late 1980s in most countries and until the early 1990s in the Netherlands). Further, he developed a first concept of a synthetic korf to replace the then-common rattan korf. His desire for global development is reflected in the Swan Fund, a charity supporting korfball development in underprivileged countries.

The global korfball community will remember Adri Zwaanswijk for the lasting impact that he has had on our sport in many aspects, along with his consistent optimism, involvement, and passion. We wish his next of kin all the best in dealing with this loss.

The funeral service will be held in private. The family has informed us that a remembrance ceremony will be held at a later date.

Death of Ate van Heusden

It is with great sadness that the International Korfball Federation has learnt of the passing of Mr Ate van Heusden, developer of korfball, with latest initiatives in Morocco.

Ate van Heusden had been involved with the international development of korfball over many years, mostly in an informal role. Initially, in the 1980s, he got involved as the husband of Tineke van Heusden, who supported the development of korfball outside of Europe (the “A-continents” as it was called at that time. Ate was very active in his club PSV Eindhoven and within the club he supported many international initiatives, for many years linked with a close relationship with Chinese Taipei. Later, Ate participated as a creative thinker in multiple IKF initiatives, including participation at the IKF Congress. Most recent, again as part of his activities at PSV, he was a co-founder of the “Korfball Foundation Netherlands – Morocco” and has been one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the Moroccon Korfball Federation.

IKF President Jan Fransoo: “We will remember Ate for his endless creativity and energy, and his positive attitude, always seeing opportunities on the bright side of life. We wish his wife Tineke and his children Bart and Nienke lots of strength with carrying this loss.”

Photo credit: PSV Korfbal website

New appointment supports French-speaking international development

With the recent re-invigoration of French korfball, and korfball development gaining momentum in numerous African Francophone countries, the IKF’s Development and Education Committee (DEC) has added Dirk Sercu to its membership, with his appointment to the new role as development officer for French-speaking countries.

Bringing a long and distinguished korfball career as a player and coach in Belgium and the Netherlands to his new role, as well as coaching England’s national senior team from 2003 to 2007, Dirk was also recently appointed as coach of Belgian champion club Boeckenberg.

His first official duty as a member of the DEC is a visit to Ivory Coast from 1 to 10 July, where Dirk and DEC colleague Theo van der Linde will participate in a series of clinics and other activities administered by Federation Ivoirienne de Korfball.

This is the second recent appointment aimed at sustaining korfball development in new IKF member countries. In May the IKF DEC appointed Peter Busik of Slovakia as project manager for Eastern Europe. An international player and referee, Peter’s new role is to support and consolidate korfball development activities in various countries including Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Greece and Armenia.

IKF Level III Youth Camp a great succes

All participants in the IKF Level III Youth Camp finished the camp very successful.

Guided by Mr Ben Crum as project manager the group was very eager to absorb korfball training and coaching knowledge. Ben Crum is a well known Dutch coach with PKC, writer of various korfball training books and IKF Honorary member.

Ben had former Dutch national coach, Mr Jan Sjouke van den Bos to do lectures and sessions during the week as well.

After the presentations all 22 partuicipants showed up for the photo.

All 5 IKF continents were active and represented in the youth camp.

Ben Crum and Frans Walvis in the closing ceremony

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IKF Level III “Youth Coach Camp” join International Week Dordrecht 2015

Some exciting events are underway this week from 16 to 22 August in Dordrecht, the Netherlands. First of all, IKF in liaison with KNKV run the IKF Level III “Youth Coach Camp”. An international group of 22 coaches perform under guidance of current coach of Dutch korfball champion PKC, Mr. Ben Crum. He is appointed as a program manager for this course. Mr. Crum lead a group of prestigious coaches invited to guide the participants in the “Youth coach camp” and learn all about coaching drills at youth level. Amongst this group of tutors, coach of Dutch national team Mr. Wim Scholtmeijer, Mr .Jan Sjouke van den Bos, head of coaches for the KNKV and Mr Detlef Elewaut, coach of Belgium national team, conduct some of the sessions.

During the week several training sessions take place at different Dordrecht clubs featuring local korfballers from 11 to 16 years coming from the clubs: DeetosSnel, Sporting Delta, Movado, Oranje Wit, KC Dordrecht together with some players from KC Barcelona. The training sessions will be useful as a practice for the 22 coaches from 15 different countries representing all five continents. They participate this week in order to obtain the IKF level III diploma for international coaches:

Coach Country M/F
1 Javi Navarro Catalonia M
2 Nigel Cooper Scotland M
3 David Konecny Czech Republic M
4 Bandor Nagy Hungary M
5 Kevin De Waele Belgium M
6 Joe Stirling England M
7 Liandri Theyse South Africa F
8 Danie Smith South AFrica M
9 Pardeep Dahiya India M
10 Alice Chinese Taipei F
11 Bird Chinese Taipei F
12 Karen Fuchs Germany F
13 Keisuke Mashiba Japan M
14 Anna Schutze Germany F
15 Daniel Rivillini Brazil M
16 Maria J. Capparelli Argentina F
17 Sebastian J. Iula Argentina M
18 Diego Rodrigo Argentina M
19 Luciana Bortoletto Brazil F
20 Rosa Cooper New Zealand F
guest Chattha Imtiaz Ahmad Pakistan M
guest Hashmi Shamsa Pakistan F

For some years, IKF and KNKV work closely together in order to involve all korfball nations pursuing to raise their level of play.

For that purpose we provide coaches with a complete program for coaching youth teams. This should be planned and executed with accuracy; furthermore the IKF Level III “Youth Coach Camp” is an opportunity to enjoy a unique experience, sharing one week with coaches from all around the world in the excellent environment of one of the greatest korfball cities in the world and hosted by well-known club DeetosSnel. The clubs from Dordrecht opens its doors to an international program for coach education and provide the best facilities to perform during this week.

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IKF accept Ivory Coast as 65th member

The Executive Committee of the International Korfball Federation has accepted the Federation Ivoirienne de Korfball (FIK) as its 65th member. The Federation operate out of Cocody under the presidency of Mr Kadje Abale Eric Junior.

The FIK is active in Ivory Coast to spread korfball in the country. IKF Africa hopes to welcome teams from Ivory Coast in continental events in the future.

IKF anti-doping rules in line with 2015 code

The IKF is on the list of International Federations published by WADA that the IKF anti-doping rules are in line with the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code.

The IKF has drafted and submitted to WADA the revised IKF anti-doping rules some months ago.

WADA is the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The full list is available: click here