Netherlands stars boost Latin America korfball

A two-week tour by a high-powered delegation from Europe, including four Netherlands stars, will give korfball in Latin America a big boost this month.

Top players from the Dutch national under-23 team are accompanying KNKV’s master coach Jan Sjouke van den Bos, first to Brazil, then to Argentina, on a tour that will combine promotion, coaching and referee clinics and a pan-American international korfball tournament.

Starting in Sao Paulo, the Netherlands stars, Jelmer Jonker, Jet Hendriks, Barbara Brouwer, Marijn Van De Goorbergh and their coach, will conduct clinics in schools and universities, as well as providing training support for the regular teams located in the city of Americana.

Next they travel to Rio de Janeiro, where coach advisor Dick Kalkman of The Netherlands and referee Dani Ezpeleta from Catalonia join them. On 11 October they will be part of the National Brazilian Korfball Championship, before heading to Copacabana the next day for a beach korfball promotion on one of the world’s most famous beaches.

Leaving Brazil, they go to first Buenos Aires then La Plata in Argentina for another series of promotional activities in schools and universities, conducting clinics for physical education teachers and training with local teams.

Over the weekend of 18 and 19 October, the highlight of the tour will be the Torneo Internacional de Korfball – Argentina 2014, with national teams from Brazil and Colombia joining the host, Argentina, which will participate for the first time ever in an international korfball event.

IKF is grateful for the assistance of KNKV in setting up this tour, and also to IKF instructor and national coach of Brazil, Jorge Alves from Portugal, for co-ordinating activities.