I know it’s been too long since my last post for you all but I certainly have some very exciting events to write about now!
While the hall season wrapped up for the senior teams of DOS in early March, DOS ’46 A1 continued their march towards their goal of returning to the national final in Ahoy. The team finished second to DSC in their Junior Hoodklasse pool to set up a best of three cross-finals series against Fortuna A1 from Delft. In the other semi-final series, DSC were to take on last years national junior champions PKC who beat DOS ’46 in the final from 2013.
With the timing of my birthday adventure to London and Dublin, which I won’t bore, you with the details of, except to say it was exceptional!! This meant I was in Dublin during the first playoff game between DOS ’46 and Fortuna in Nijeveen. Thanks to the wonders and modern technology, the great people at DOS ’46 had set up a live stream through YouTube that meant I was able to catch the game from Dublin. What I watched through the computer screen was one the most extraordinary games of junior korfball ever played! There was a huge and vocal home crowd in for the game but that was countered by a decent number of supporters who had made the two-hour journey from Delft. Throughout the game very little separated the teams with a back and forth of spectacular goals and both teams been punished from the free pass/penalty spot for any defensive infringements. On the back of some penalties from the visitors Fortuna opened up a four-goal 23-27 lead in the second half. The parochial home crowd rallied behind the home team who, spurred on by some deadly shooting from Harjan Visscher and Femke Van Zwol managed to level the game up at 27-27, and draw in front 29-28 with only minutes left. Fortuna struck back and leveled the score at 30-30, an amazing 60 goals in 60 minutes of Korfball, sending the game into overtime. Normally only one five minute period of extra time should have been played to find a winner but the referee played five minutes each way. This didn’t matter as DOS ’46 and Harjan Visscher, who is an incredible talent having only just turned 17 and in his first year with the club, were completely dominant going ahead by six goals. The Fortuna fight back came too late and DOS ’46 had the best possible start to their finals series with a 40-38 win, 78 goals in 70 minutes, 13 of them for Harjan, wow!
Back in Nijeveen I was able to join back up with the team to prepare for the return match in Delft. March 22 was a big korfball day on the DOS ’46 junior calendar with A1 playing in Delft, with B1 and C1 playing in their respective National Championship finals days. All DOS ‘46 eyes were on Twitter to track the progress of the teams at their various locations. My mission was to help with DOS ’46 A1 and by the time we arrived in Delft, Twitter had told us that B1 and C1 had finished 6th and 7th in their respective tournaments. While we were preparing for the game, the supporters from DOS slowly starting streaming in, including the players from B1, setting up a vocal support group in one corner of Fortuna’s hall. The team appeared tense before the game and while the game was not up to the out of this world standard from the week before, both teams started solidly and traded goals through the majority of the first half. The minutes around half time can often be the most telling in a match. So it was to be with Fortuna scoring three quick goals before half time, giving them an important buffer at the break. During the second half DOS ’46 keeping chipping away at the lead of their opponents but each step closer was countered effectively by Fortuna who were able to control the ball for long periods in their attacking end. Those three goals just before half time for Fortuna, proved to be the difference in the end, the home side winning 26-23, forcing a winner-takes-all match the following week back in Delft.
Also today, PKC claimed their spot in the Ahoy junior final, beating DSC in both contests. Could DOS ’46 set up a rematch of last years final by winning in Delft?
Due to regular coaches Jan Weigers and Haralt Lucas being unavailable this week, the Hulzebosch brothers Roger and Daniel took the reins of the team. On match day, the team bus departing Nijeveen was quickly filled to capacity with supporters, while others made their own way to Delft. There was a different mood in the team today; everyone feeling more relaxed after having learned from their experience in Delft the previous week. The DOS ’46 supporters, while entirely outnumbered at Fortuna Hall, certainly made their presence known with some vocal chanting and drumming on the sponsor’s hoardings. A focused DOS ’46 came out and stunned the home team in the first 10 minutes, opening up a five-goal lead and maintaining the margin for much of the first half. Controlled defence was the key for DOS ’46 in the first half where errors were minimized and Fortuna kept on coming back at DOS ’46 and in those crucial minutes before half time, managed to reduce the difference to 12-15 at half time. The second half was a tense battle with defensive errors from DOS ’46 being punished as Fortuna converted their easy chances, closing within one goal on multiple occasions. Despite being less fluent in attack, DOS ’46 maintained a grasp in their lead every time Fortuna threatened. The supporters and most certainly all of us sitting on the bench were riding the emotional waves of the game with every play, pass and turnover. I’m sure if someone had a camera focused on us at any point there would have been some great expressions of every possible emotion. With the score at 20-21 a smart play called by the coaches on a free pass allowed Iris Hulzebosch to score the most crucial goal of the match and to double the lead to 20-22. As the final minutes ticked by the noise levels and emotion in the hall were electric. With the score at 23-24, Fortuna missed a couple of opportunities to equalize. DOS ’46 received the ball in attack with about 40 seconds left on the clock. After managing to reset the shot clock once, all that was left to do was to use up the last 15 seconds safely. The supporters and the bench stormed the players on court at the sounding of the final whistle with celebrations appropriately loud and mental, with copious amounts of jumping! Much deserved celebrations and backslapping ensued in what was a very poignant moment for reminding everyone about the strength of DOS ’46. Various chants spontaneously erupted, mostly involving the word Ahoy, which is the location of the national final every year and where we will be next week! How lucky am I??!! This crazy kiwi that gets to tag along and be on the bench with the team as they aim to take revenge from last years loss to PKC. If your there, keep an eye out for the kiwi flag!
Whatever the result next week, the season for DOS ’46 A1 has definitely been a great success and shining light for the future of the club. Certainly it will be an even bigger success if they manage to repeat the victory in the final from 2002. Maybe there is a great club precedent for our success next week. In 2005 DOS ’46 1 lost their first final in Ahoy for some years, only to go out and completely dominate the final the following year! Can DOS ’46 A1 follow the lead of that piece of history to create history of their own!
I look forward writing my next story after the experience of the final in Ahoy, hopefully a championship winning experience!
You can check out the videos from the game in Nijeveen and the last seconds and celebrations from Delft on the link below:
http://update.dos46.nl/?page_id=110#prettyPhoto
Tot Volgende Week
Lorenzo
While the hall season wrapped up for the senior teams of DOS in early March, DOS ’46 A1 continued their march towards their goal of returning to the national final in Ahoy. The team finished second to DSC in their Junior Hoodklasse pool to set up a best of three cross-finals series against Fortuna A1 from Delft. In the other semi-final series, DSC were to take on last years national junior champions PKC who beat DOS ’46 in the final from 2013.
With the timing of my birthday adventure to London and Dublin, which I won’t bore, you with the details of, except to say it was exceptional!! This meant I was in Dublin during the first playoff game between DOS ’46 and Fortuna in Nijeveen. Thanks to the wonders and modern technology, the great people at DOS ’46 had set up a live stream through YouTube that meant I was able to catch the game from Dublin. What I watched through the computer screen was one the most extraordinary games of junior korfball ever played! There was a huge and vocal home crowd in for the game but that was countered by a decent number of supporters who had made the two-hour journey from Delft. Throughout the game very little separated the teams with a back and forth of spectacular goals and both teams been punished from the free pass/penalty spot for any defensive infringements. On the back of some penalties from the visitors Fortuna opened up a four-goal 23-27 lead in the second half. The parochial home crowd rallied behind the home team who, spurred on by some deadly shooting from Harjan Visscher and Femke Van Zwol managed to level the game up at 27-27, and draw in front 29-28 with only minutes left. Fortuna struck back and leveled the score at 30-30, an amazing 60 goals in 60 minutes of Korfball, sending the game into overtime. Normally only one five minute period of extra time should have been played to find a winner but the referee played five minutes each way. This didn’t matter as DOS ’46 and Harjan Visscher, who is an incredible talent having only just turned 17 and in his first year with the club, were completely dominant going ahead by six goals. The Fortuna fight back came too late and DOS ’46 had the best possible start to their finals series with a 40-38 win, 78 goals in 70 minutes, 13 of them for Harjan, wow!
Back in Nijeveen I was able to join back up with the team to prepare for the return match in Delft. March 22 was a big korfball day on the DOS ’46 junior calendar with A1 playing in Delft, with B1 and C1 playing in their respective National Championship finals days. All DOS ‘46 eyes were on Twitter to track the progress of the teams at their various locations. My mission was to help with DOS ’46 A1 and by the time we arrived in Delft, Twitter had told us that B1 and C1 had finished 6th and 7th in their respective tournaments. While we were preparing for the game, the supporters from DOS slowly starting streaming in, including the players from B1, setting up a vocal support group in one corner of Fortuna’s hall. The team appeared tense before the game and while the game was not up to the out of this world standard from the week before, both teams started solidly and traded goals through the majority of the first half. The minutes around half time can often be the most telling in a match. So it was to be with Fortuna scoring three quick goals before half time, giving them an important buffer at the break. During the second half DOS ’46 keeping chipping away at the lead of their opponents but each step closer was countered effectively by Fortuna who were able to control the ball for long periods in their attacking end. Those three goals just before half time for Fortuna, proved to be the difference in the end, the home side winning 26-23, forcing a winner-takes-all match the following week back in Delft.
Also today, PKC claimed their spot in the Ahoy junior final, beating DSC in both contests. Could DOS ’46 set up a rematch of last years final by winning in Delft?
Due to regular coaches Jan Weigers and Haralt Lucas being unavailable this week, the Hulzebosch brothers Roger and Daniel took the reins of the team. On match day, the team bus departing Nijeveen was quickly filled to capacity with supporters, while others made their own way to Delft. There was a different mood in the team today; everyone feeling more relaxed after having learned from their experience in Delft the previous week. The DOS ’46 supporters, while entirely outnumbered at Fortuna Hall, certainly made their presence known with some vocal chanting and drumming on the sponsor’s hoardings. A focused DOS ’46 came out and stunned the home team in the first 10 minutes, opening up a five-goal lead and maintaining the margin for much of the first half. Controlled defence was the key for DOS ’46 in the first half where errors were minimized and Fortuna kept on coming back at DOS ’46 and in those crucial minutes before half time, managed to reduce the difference to 12-15 at half time. The second half was a tense battle with defensive errors from DOS ’46 being punished as Fortuna converted their easy chances, closing within one goal on multiple occasions. Despite being less fluent in attack, DOS ’46 maintained a grasp in their lead every time Fortuna threatened. The supporters and most certainly all of us sitting on the bench were riding the emotional waves of the game with every play, pass and turnover. I’m sure if someone had a camera focused on us at any point there would have been some great expressions of every possible emotion. With the score at 20-21 a smart play called by the coaches on a free pass allowed Iris Hulzebosch to score the most crucial goal of the match and to double the lead to 20-22. As the final minutes ticked by the noise levels and emotion in the hall were electric. With the score at 23-24, Fortuna missed a couple of opportunities to equalize. DOS ’46 received the ball in attack with about 40 seconds left on the clock. After managing to reset the shot clock once, all that was left to do was to use up the last 15 seconds safely. The supporters and the bench stormed the players on court at the sounding of the final whistle with celebrations appropriately loud and mental, with copious amounts of jumping! Much deserved celebrations and backslapping ensued in what was a very poignant moment for reminding everyone about the strength of DOS ’46. Various chants spontaneously erupted, mostly involving the word Ahoy, which is the location of the national final every year and where we will be next week! How lucky am I??!! This crazy kiwi that gets to tag along and be on the bench with the team as they aim to take revenge from last years loss to PKC. If your there, keep an eye out for the kiwi flag!
Whatever the result next week, the season for DOS ’46 A1 has definitely been a great success and shining light for the future of the club. Certainly it will be an even bigger success if they manage to repeat the victory in the final from 2002. Maybe there is a great club precedent for our success next week. In 2005 DOS ’46 1 lost their first final in Ahoy for some years, only to go out and completely dominate the final the following year! Can DOS ’46 A1 follow the lead of that piece of history to create history of their own!
I look forward writing my next story after the experience of the final in Ahoy, hopefully a championship winning experience!
You can check out the videos from the game in Nijeveen and the last seconds and celebrations from Delft on the link below:
http://update.dos46.nl/?page_id=110#prettyPhoto
Tot Volgende Week
Lorenzo