Myrthe's homepage - U19JWC 2010

U19YWC 2010

Topsporthall in Leek was thé location to be, as here the 15th U19YWC was organized from April 1 till 4. This year korfballtalents from 12 countries from all over the world will meet and challenge each other for the heighest honor: Junior Worldchampion under 19. Like last year, korfballclub Wêz Handich in Rottevalle hosted the Hungarian team under 19. The Hungarians were, mostly in couples, given hospice at families in and around the small village of Rottevalle (1200 inhabitants). Because this wasn't the first time they did this, a lot of faces were familiar, so getting people to bond was easy. Nice to see.
The Hungarians arrived on Wednesday March 31 in a small van, all the way from Hungary. Despite some fatigue, they played a testmatch the same evening against a mixed selection from the first, second and third team of Wêz Handich. The Hungarians, probably still somewhat tired from the trip, lost 10 to 4.

The U19YWC organisation staged an online competition with multiple passe-partout tickets for the whole weekend as prices. To win you had to tell which teams ranked number 1, 2 and 3 last year. You also had to tell why you thought you should win a passe-partout. Although I visited the U19YWC last year, I have to admit that finding the solution to the ranking question was quite difficult. I knew the final was between The Netherlands and Belgium. I also knew The Netherlands won that game, but who had become number three?
After a while I found a website where the final ranking of 2009 was listed. It was Chinese Taipei that came in third last year. How could I have forgotten, as we all enjoyed the formidable jumping Taiwanese players?! Some of them looked like they had pogosticks imbedded in their legs ... man, these guys can jump ... beyond believe! Anyway ... together with my motivation why I should be entitled to a passe-partout, I entered the competition that same day. And what do you know? One month later I got a mail from the U19YWC organisation, telling me I had won a passe-partout, together with some other teenagers. Not a big price of course, but never the less welcome and nice to win!

U19JWC openingceremony and teampresentation

Thursdayevening we went to Leek for the openingsceremony of the U19YWC 2010. The teampresentation somewhat disappointed us, mostly because of the bad lighting conditions and the poor sound. The annoucer was barely audible. Bit of a shame, maybe something to learn from for coming events. We did get a small demo from some Dutch Korfballleagueplayers (a.o. Ricky Wu, André Kuipers and Casper Boom). Unbelievable to see how these guys play korfball, incredible souplesse and speed ... really cool to see their moves and shots!
Almost forgot to tell you: we collected my price, a passe-partout for the whole tournement. Great!

U19JWC Friday April 2nd 2010

Today (Christian Good Friday) a long row of cars left Rottevalle destinated for Leek to support 'our' Hungarians in their first match. They were somewhat unlucky, as they drafted a strong poule with opponents like Chinese Taipei and The Netherlands. And it soon proofed to be a tough cookie indeed. Despite our (very noisy) support, they lost 5-25 to Chinese Taipei in their first game. It didn't became must better during the day, as later on they also lost 28-2 to The Netherlands. We tried our best in encouraging the Hungarians, making loud noises with our African vezula's, but the difference in quality was simply too big. Let's hope the Hungarians will perform better tomorrow in their games against the Tjech Republic, Germany and Poland.

U19JWC Saturday April 3rd 2010

I first had to overcome the lost game against Mid Fryslân C1, played this morning (1-7), quickly. Then I went to Leek again together with my parents and my teammate from Wêz Handich C1, Jildau. We arrived a bit late, but could still see a part of the first period of Poland-Hungary. After a rather bad first half, the Hungarians still almost succeeded in defeating Poland. Almost ... because the game ended in a loss for Hungary: 11-13.
After that we watched Belgium-England (19-6) and a very tense and inspiring game between The Netherlands and Chinese Taipei. Halfway the Taiwanese even took the lead by two points, but this was a short lived success as The Netherlands fought back and decided the game in their favor: 20-16.
Tomorrow it will be the last day of this event already, with the final of course, and we will be there again to help our Hungarians to beat their last year result (11th place). If they play well, they can still become 9th in the endranking. Let's hope they can rise to the occasion!

U19JWC Sunday April 4th 2010

Sunday I had to participate in drama-class first.
After that we quickly headed for Leek to join the other 'Rottevalsters' in cheering the Hungarians in their (re)match against Poland. We joined the Rottevalle-clan at the end of the first half. Like yesterday at the end of the first match between these two teams, it was really close. At halftime the Hungarians were in the lead, but only by a margin of one point (6-7). Second half was close too and the game ended in a draw: 11-11. The supportersarea in hall 3 was mainly controlled by fans from Rottevalle. They did the utmost to help the Hungarians and tried to cheer them to victory. In the end that really seemed to work and help the Hungarians. The Poles scored the first goal in their first attack in extra time. Now it was up to the Hungarians to counter this. They just had one chance, loosing the ball would mean end of game and victory for Poland. Only one chance to equalize the score therefore ... and they did: 12-12. Now it would be the first team to score to take 9th place and in a nerve-racking few minutes, it was Hungary to score the golden goal. 9th place for Hungary therefore, the Poles were very very disappointed, tears of disappointment and joy were to be seen in the minutes after the final decision. That's sport ... you win some, you loose some! Hey ... it was a great game to watch for the public, that's what counts for me, there are no real loosers here, everyone is a winner!

After this, we went to hall 1 to see the games for ranks 1 to 4. We watched Belgium overclassing the Portugese and after that ... the final: The Netherlands vs Chinese Taipei. After an exciting first half, where the Dutch could not really dominate the game, the second half really showed who still rules the game. The brave Taiwanese attack to question the Dutch supremacy had failed and the Dutch won in a sovereign fashion: 26-17. But the Taiwanese are becoming stronger and stronger every year and will become an even harder cookie to crack next year. That's good for the development of the game in general I think.
After the final and the priceceremony we took photo's of the Wêz Handich supporters together with the whole Hungarian team. It was a very nice tournement again.

I would like to have some Hungarian players in our house next year. That way you can have better contact with the team. Let's wait and see what will happen.

the Hungarian team U19 together with their hostgivers after the final

By the way ... we also shot some photo's at the following games:
Hungary - Chinese Taipei and Hungary - The Netherlands. Enjoy!

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For international visitors to this site who are looking for pictures of the U19YWC, please visit these websites for photo's:
Hungary - Chinese Taipei
Hungary - Netherlands
Portugal - Belgium
Czech Republic - Chinese Taipei
South Africa - Romania