Squad: Susan Belfourd, Cat Crimmins, Elaine Potter, Max Lloyd, Ceri Jones, Terry Matthews, Stuart Wood, Matt Hurford
 
A wet and windy Croydon greeted Cardiff City for the biggest tournament of the year; 44 teams and 16 pitches!   The rain consistently poured down when we were starting our warm-up for most games but this didn’t spoil the games, the mud dries and gives you some grip in the wet and sliding dives for the ball become less painful.

In the morning City were drawn against: West London, Kingfishers 2
and Bec 2.Cardiff City did well winning every match; coming top of the group meant we were in for a tough afternoon!
 
Tough is almost an understatement, Mitcham 1, Trojans 1, the English Students korfball side, Kingfisher 1 and Bec 1 – all National League sides bar the students.  According to Susan the top players use the tournament as an opportunity to get picked for the first teams for the forthcoming season, so we were playing against some of the cream of the National League’s top division, the highest level of club korfball in Great Britain. 

City put up strong opposition though and played with commitment even in the last game.  We scored several goals, which is an achievement in itself at this level of korfball.  Max scored three cracking long shots from the half way line in windy conditions and Matt scored a decent medium-range goal. 

Long Shots at Croydon

City enjoyed playing against some of the best players in the country we all picked up some useful skills.  A special mention to Elaine for marking the Best British female.
 

CCKC at Croydon
Cardiff City at Croydon

 We ended the day a very impressive 10th place (out of 44) at the most competitive summer club event, finishing ahead of several top clubs, including Kwiek and Invicta Sharks.

Thanks go to Susan for putting us up, Matt, Ceri and Elaine for driving and Elaine for supplying the cake that kept us all going in the horrible weather.  Hopefully there’ll be some sunshine next year!
 
There are some excellent photos on the Croydon Korfball Site here.