Cyclones players decided to enter the Croydon tournament to get some game-time as a team. The first worry of all outdoor tournaments is the weather and today was no exception. Rain was forcast but nothing fell from the sky, in fact if was perfect korfball weather. Second worry is getting a team together. With the help of Steve and Kim Jones, Cyclones not only had 8 great players but also two coaches to help us out.
The morning’s 18-minute pool matches were either good or bad. It’s always good to win the first match of the day (6-2 against Croydon Time) but the second match was not so good; losing 3-6 to Invicta. Before the final morning match, the sections were re-jigged which improved our performance and the match finished 7-2 in favour of Cyclones against Scorpions. That’s nearly 1 goal every 2-minutes!
The afternoon fixtures were also in a pool format. With last night’s left-over BBQ burgers and hotdogs weighing us down, the first afternoon match was a 4-5 loss against a strong Kingfisher team. Close but no cigar… Cyclones did play well in that match though.
Next match was against Gunther, one of the teams from the Netherlands. Everyone expected them to win the tournament (and they did!) but Cyclones gave them a good fight. The score was very close throughout with each goal being answered by the other team. The crowd started to gather as this turned out to be an exciting match to watch. The match ended in a 7-7 draw. All Cyclones players came off the pitch with a big grin on their faces, but wondering how much bigger that grin would have been if we had won? Nevertheless, Cyclones managed to not lose against the only team who beat all their other opponents.
The last afternoon pool match was against a very tired young Bearsted team. Cyclones walked all over Bearsted and finished the day with a 13-4 win.
Ian would like to claim highest scorer of the day… and he did have a valid argument considering he scored a handful of amazing long shots.
Cyclones team: Ceri, Ian OS, Ramzi, Steve, Elaine P, Julie P, Kim & Susan.