Vikings Juniors in the BKA Championship

Last weekend saw Vikings juniors enter the BKA U13 Championship in London.

 The team, along with Mo, Lee and myself left Ely in the school mini bus at 7am.  Yes, that’s right, AM!  Not easy for a saturday.  But we arrived at the Whitgift school ready to play aginst the best U13 teams in the country.  The Whitgift school.  That was where I played for Scotland, you know, in the Commonwealth championships, in 2006.

 Anyway, back to the story.  We were in the morning pool, which apparently had the best teams in it.  It was going to be a tough day of matches, but you learn a lot playing against top quality opposition.  However we weren’t helped by Ant cracking his head wide open on a bench before the first match had even started.  When I say cracked open, I mean cracked open.  If he’d had a brain, it would have been oozing out.  No, not really.  It was a bit of a gash, but he put some ice on it and said he felt ok to play on.  After a discussion with the school officials, and Ant’s parents on the phone, we felt he could play, and get his head checked out later.  (Apparently he got the cut glued later on).  Incidently, I was down meeting the officials at the time, so I missed the incident.

 We then played some games.  The first two games weren’t the best korfball I’ve seen these guys play, but bearing in mind the opposition, and the pressure of the event, they were doing ok.  Jamie S was the captain for the first game, which saw Jamie C score his first ever goal in a real game.  He was obviously delighted, and it was perhaps my favourite moment of the whole day, even though the game was already lost by then.

 Game 2 saw Alex as captain, and Charlotte scoring our only goal as again we lost to a very good team.  To be fair, the other teams were playing really well, and the score did not really reflect how well we were playing.

 By Game 3 we were starting to play good korfball.  Charlotte was the captain.  The defence was working well, which resulted in the other team only scoring two goals against us.  However we only scored one, by Jamie S, and couldn’t quite hold on for a draw.  The boys in this game were doing some great intercepting, but perhaps the size of the court didn’t help as there were still too many loose passes.  Still, it was a performance to be pleased about.

 The last game of the day was against Wildcats, who won without us troubling the scoreboard.  Amy was our captain for this game.  Again we played well, but just couldn’t get the ball in the basket.

 Finally the day was over and it was time for the bus journey home.  Try poking yourself in the eye with a stick for three hours – you’ll have more fun than this bus journey was for me.  We stopped at McDonalds, for food, I thought, but some people seemed to think it was to stock up on things to throw.  Chips, pine cones, scrunched up paper – anything they could lay their hands on.  I’m not scared to name names – Ant, Jamie Smith, Ollie… I will have my revenge.

 And I hope I never hear that song again – Cascada, Every Time We Touch.  Everyone seemed to have it on their phone, and they were all playing it at once!

 During the day, I took loads of great photos – group pictures and action shots.  Look out for them on the website.

 After we came home, Mo phoned me with some news.  Jamie Smith had been voted male MVP of the tournament by a panel of judges, including some of the best junior coaches in the UK.  That means he is one of the best U13 boys in korfball in Britain.  An impressive achievement, but well deserved on his performance throughout the day.  He never stopped trying, even when the game was effectively lost (to be fair, none of the team ever gave up), was a great team player, and scored a good goal.  Well done Jamie.

 My highlights of the day;

Jamie C’s goal.

Jamie S getting MVP.

 My lowlights of the day;

Getting chips thrown at me.

Cascada – Every Time We Touch on repeat.

 Ant bashing his head?  Not sure which catagory to put that in…

End Of Season Review 2006/07

Well, that’s Vikings’ first season over already, and what a season it has been.

 It all started last summer, when Lee decided to start a new club in Ely.  With a few people who knew Lee from his Lions days, and a few newcomers who had heard about the new venture in the newspapers, Vikings had their first training session in August.  It was great to see people turn up who had never played korfball before, and it wasn’t long before the game was starting to make sense, and a team was starting to form.

 Our first game came around quickly, in October, away at Phoenix.  The team featured five players in their first ever match, and although the score showed a comfortable win for Phoenix, Vikings played well in their first match, and showed great signs of potential.  They even scored three goals (trivia fans should note that Martin scored Vikings first ever goal).

 The first win came surprisingly quickly.  Before the end of October, Vikings’ second team picked up their first victory away at Tigers in the development league.  Sam scored both the goals in the 2-0 win.

 By the end of the year, Vikings had fielded 18 players and membership numbers were growing.  Training sessions had also increased from 1 hour to 2 hours.  And Vikings 1 had picked up three points in division 2, thanks mainly to a Mo hat trick against City, and a thrilling 7-7 draw with Tigers.

 Our christmas social was a bowling night in Ely, organised by our social secretaries Annette and Amy.  The 70s themed event was won by Rob, both in best dressed and highest score.

 The new year saw another influx of new players, with membership nearing 50 (including junior members).  Vikings 2 drew with Uni in January, Team 1 beat City in February, and Vikings 2 picked up 2 good wins in March, including a victory over local rivals Lions 4.  By now the teams were playing really good korfball and gelling well together.  Different combinations and divisions were tried, and people were starting to get to know how each other play.  Vikings 1 won their last two games of the season, finishing fifth in the league – an impressive feat for such a new team.

 Around this time, our home venue saw a new scoreboard erected, donated to the school by Vikings, and Rob was named as first team captain.  We also saw our U13 team play matches against Norwich City before going to Norwich to take part in a tournament.  This was followed by the BKA U13 championships, where our juniors played well at the highest level, and where Jamie Smith won the MVP.

 Vikings 1 finished 5th in division two, with 9 points, while team 2 finished 5th in the development league, with 7 points.  Vikings’ top scorers for the season were Mo and Rob, who each scored 17 goals.

 The future now looks exciting for Vikings.  The summer will see fundraising events, summer tournaments and the end of season awards dinner.  We will then have a break for the month of August, before returning to training for the new season.  Let’s hope we can build on the great start we have made so far!