What is Korfball?



Korfball is a dynamic team sport, originally from .
It has been described as a mixture of Handball, Netball & .
The pitch is divided into 2 with a basket (korf) in each division- the idea being to score as many as you can!
It's great and very easy to pick up, with most UK starting as adult beginners.
It's mainly played in winter, when there are league matches, but also outside in , with all-day tournaments.



Korfball is played by two of 8 (4 men, 4 women) on a rectangular pitch 40m by 20m, divided into two halves.
There is a in each half with the at the top at the top of the 3.5m pole (1.5ft higher than a netball post) and no backboard.
The ball is similar to a . The two zones, defence and attack, are occupied by two and two women from each team.
Action consists almost entirely of the ball by hand from person to person.
try to lose their in order to create a shooting chance.
This is not easy because an attacker is not allowed to shoot if the defender is within arms' length and nearer to the post.
Players may only mark a player of the same .
Apart from playing within one half of the field there are no set and players need to have all round skills since whenever two goals are scored in the match the players zones (ie those who were attacking now become defenders and vice versa).



History
Korfball was invented by a Dutch schoolteacher in , and came to the UK in 1946 as part of a cultural exchange which also saw cricket exported to .
It is not in the but features in the World Games (multi-sport event for non-Olympic sports) every four years which makes it on a part with karate, rugby sevens, squash and orienteering.
The sport started to spread outside the London area in the 1980s and is now played by both adults and juniors in many parts of the .
The British Korfball Association will be celebrating their 60th anniversary in 2006. The Great Britain international team consistently hold a .