Education

On this page:

-Development and Education                      – Korfball Instruction Videos                     – Refereeing

-Coaching                                                         – Material and Equipment                          – Korfball Academy

Development and Education

The mission of the IKF is to spread korfball around the globe and increase the number of athletes and their playing level. One of the key ways to reach this is to provide development support for the IKF members with education programmes, including financial and material support.
This development support is the responsibility of the IKF Development and Education Committee (DEC). The DEC yearly provides IKF Members in the E and D category with development grants, which can be used to organise various type of korfball project. These can vary from participating in and/or hosting an international event to organisation of korfball courses.

Furthermore, the DEC monitors the progress of the Olympic Pledge. This pledge was signed in 2021 by 48 members countries, in which they commit to help the IKF to reach its Olympic ambition. Commitments are diverse and vary per country and include setting up youth leagues in various categories, participating in multi-sport events and forming alliances with other IKF Members to support each other. All goals are set for 2027. More information about the pledge can be found here.

Korfball Instruction Videos

The IKF has produced these Korfball Instruction Videos with the help of the Erasmus+ 2020 program and partners. The videos are part of the IKF Level I and II Coach Courses and are free to watch, share and use for korfball coaches and players. The videos highlight key korfball actions and strategies and provide information about the related focus points.

Refereeing

The IKF Referee Committee has designed three korfball referee courses that get organised in collaboration with the IKF Members on a regular basis. The IKF Referee Course Level I focuses on the basics of refereeing; understanding the korfball rules and referee signals, 11 basic skills of referees, good communication and behaviour of referees, video analysis and other practicalities of refereeing.

The IKF Referee Course Level II is designed for experienced referees that want to deepen their understanding and experience of the items mentioned in the Level I course. Furthermore, they learn about referee assessment during their course.

The Referee Course Level III is designed for experienced referees that officiate at high-level competitions and international tournaments. The content of this course has not been transferred to a course handbook yet, but is mainly focuses on creating a peer-refereeing group in which additional comments on the aspects as mentioned earlier are discussed, as well as new items such as referee education and mentoring less experienced referees.

Coaching

The IKF has four korfball courses to educate (beginner) coaches. These courses are organised in collaboration with the IKF Members, and are often supported by the DEC Grants.

The IKF Level I Coach Course  is an introduction course for people that are not familiar with korfball. It is designed for enthusiastic sports people that want to get to know the sport korfball and consequently distribute it in their environments and communities. Therefore, the course enthuses the participants and let them experience korfball through playing and therefore through fun and practical exercises. Furthermore, the course will prepare the participant to be a beginner coach, by having them recognising the intentions of korfball. This way, they will be able to play the sport in its basic form, as well as introducing the sport to their communities, and assist head coaches during trainings.

The IKF Level II Coach Course is a course for people that are already familiar with the basics of korfball and/or have some knowledge of coaching/teaching korfball or other sports. The course aims to teach the participants how they can successfully mentor their players, design training sessions and analyse game situations. This is done by combining theory with practice during sessions that are focused on didactics, methodology and game assessment.

The IKF Level III Coach Course is for experienced korfball coaching that have been coaching for a longer period of time on a higher level (e.g. national team level, national top league level). The course focuses on korfball language, translating aspects identifies in matched to training exercises, and the tasks each team and player needs to perform in the matches.

The IKF Level IV Coach Course is a course for elite korfball coaches who have extensive experience with coaching on a high level, and who are able to provide in-depth feedback to their athletes and fellow coaches on all aspects of korfball coaching. The course focuses on establishing a peer group of elite korfball coaches that decide in cooperation with the instructor which aspects of korfball coaching need to be the focus of their group learning process.

The following resources used in the courses are freely available

        • Coach Course Level I and II: IKF Korfball Instruction Videos (see on this page: Korfball Instruction Videos.
        • Coach Course Level III: The Art of Korfball Coaching by Ben Crum. Click here

Material and Equipment

Balls

The Mikasa Korfball Balls are used during all IKF Tournaments and Matches. IKF is proud to have MIKASA as sponsor and official ball supplier. MIKASA provides reliable products to over 120 countries through its network of 80 regional distributors around the world. The IKF makes the Mikasa balls available for tournaments and grassroots development activities.

Korfs and posts

Korfball equipment can be bought from several suppliers. Especially in Europe, korfball equipment is widely available. For advice on the acquisition of korfball materials outside of Europe, please contact the IKF Office (office@ikf.org).

Korfball Academy

The online education platform ‘Korfball Academy’ is currently under construction.