Squad
Ramzi Barbir - Cardiff City
Chris Gubby - Cardiff City
Ceri Jones - Cardiff City
Dave Buckland - Tornadoes
Nick Wilkins - Birmingham City
John Williams - Northdowns
Kevin Jones - Manchester Warriors
Jack Mcnamara - Cardiff Dragons

Sian Hunt - Cardiff Dragons
Ruth Cambell - Bec
Sally Adlen - Birmingham University
Hannah Ager - Birmingham City
Rebecca Lewis - West London Wildcats
Susan Belfourd - Cardiff City
Zoe Gabica - Cardiff City
Helen Gubby - Cardiff Dragons

Date: Tuesday 2nd September

Time: 4-7pm

Location: Hadley Stadium, Wilson Road, Smethwick, Birmingham, B66 4ND

Cost: £15 per person

Cheques made payable to West Midlands Korfball Association and posted to 63 Kings Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 6TU along with application form.

Participants must be teachers, teaching assistants or be studying for a PGCE, GTP or other teacher training programme.

For more information please contact junior@westmidlandskorfball.co.uk

This relationship is allowing the County Championships to breach new ground and profile which can only endeavour to boost the KORFBALL BRAND and profile, especially within the West Midlands.

The West Midlands Korfball Association would also like to thank all of our Sponsors for their support including; M&S, Homebase, Cadbury, West Midlands Safari, Fitness First, AFM Sport, Disney Highway, Sunrise Villas, WWTROPHIES, Sainsbury’s, Slazenger, Copyprint, Supernova KC, Progressive Sports and Maudesport and many many more.

Secondly, SUNRISE VILLAS has kindly donated a **FREE HOLIDAY** to either CYPRUS or FLORIDA for the winner of our raffle.

We still have a few exclusive opportunities available, if you’re interested in advertising at this years counties or you would like to donate a raffle prize please email Steph Allen at Counties@westmidlandskorfball.co.uk for more information.

13th July 2008:  2-4pm, Moseley Rugby Club

16th July 2008: 7.30-9pm =, Selly Park

18th July 2008;  7-8.30pm, Moseley Rugby  Club

Training is compulsory for any player wishing to represent their County, playing at Summer tournaments (exc Competitive tournaments i.e. International Inter Areas) doesn’t count at a reasonable excuse and will impact whether your selected or not.

All enquiries should be directed towards Craig Gosling via Chairman@westmidlandskorfball.co.uk

Initial Deadline- 30th April

Final Entrance Payment- 7th July

Player Registration-11th July (Changes upto 18th July 10am, on approval)

Social Booking- Returned Invoice 7th July, Payment 18th July

Please find below all relevant documents and details of this years County Championships in Birmingham.

A5 Poster

Eligibility Criteria

Player Registration Form

Rules and Regulations

Social Booking

Tournament Schedule and Rules

Friday Night Pitch Booking

I will send out the agenda as soon as possible. Please let me know if you have any problems with this.

Thank you very much.
Sally

Quote Nicky Bedford (England u16 Manager) ” The coaches were delighted with the commitment and skills shown by all of the players and this has made selecting those to go on the second trial in June a very hard task”

WMKA would like to congratulate both Sam and Tremaine for their hard work as well as Sally Akers for her commitment and time.

Date: Saturday 7th June 2008

Location: George Salter Collegiate Academy

Time: Approximately 10:30am - 3:30pm

Standard: This tournament is aimed at beginner and intermediate korfball teams

Cost: £15 per team

Payment: Cheque payable to West Midlands Korfball Association, 63 Kings Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham, B13 6TU

For more information or to register your interest in the tournament please email Sally Akers on junior@westmidlandskorfball.co.uk

Lots of hard work, from lots of people received its just rewards. My personal thanks go to every player who trained with us, also to the committee of WMKA especially Steve Chalk. The dynamism within the area, as well as the immense strength in depth player ability, has and still gives me immense satisfaction to be given the honour to be involved.

That said, there is still much more work to be done and I take personal responsibility in continuing our upward cycle. This is just the start.

Whilst I obviously hope I’ve helped increase performance and had a positive impact, I feel it is the players that deserve all the praise here. To a man/woman everyone played out of his or her skin. The levels of passion and fitness were breathtaking. When we needed a goal, someone was big enough to deliver. Last word for our captain – amazing!

Nick Wilkins © 5 goals, Ned West 2, Paul Dailly 2, Rich Crossley 2, Ben Whitlaw and Andy Davies

Ruth Morris 1, Emma Lancashire 1, Sally Alden, Caroline Woolley, and Emma Martin (qualifying competitive games only)

West Midlands 0 – 3 Yorkshire

We all felt pleased with the draw, having pitted us against what we thought was easier opposition and having taken the opportunity, being first on, to get properly warmed up – we felt ready.

……….alas we didn’t get started and a half-awake performance ended in defeat.

West Midlands 5 – 2 Wales

Think we all felt the relief, as we scored our first goal. Luckily this was 2-0 soon afterwards. From there we never looked in trouble. Defensively we completely smothered them. The captain’s third goal was added to by Ruth & Rich. Two late goals from the Welsh never felt a threat. At last we were playing, as we could.

West Midlands beat Scratch Team

Kent’s non-appearance gave us more opportunity to practice without pressure. Also, our subs had chance to star. Ben’s two goals impressed, as did his partnership with Andy. Emma M was unlucky to not score with her very first shot.

West Midlands 5 – 3 London

This was our ‘quarter-final’ and our best performance of the day. We needed to win. At 2-1 we really needed a goal. That most crucial goal came from Paul. The game thereafter looked ours for the taking. Ned’s two goals here, equally vital for the team.

West Midlands 2 – 7 Students

At 2-1 to us we saw what belief can do. Ultimately, better shooting gave the Students the edge, but many teams were taken apart, so this again was another pleasing result.

Semi-Final

West Midlands 1 – 8 Cambridge

Apart from Rich’s long range effort we never really got going. May be this was one game too far. Seemed there were a few tired legs out there. Although, at 2-0 their spirit and confidence grew, as ours unfortunately faded. That margin between success and failure can be a thin one.

In summary everybody stepped up a level, the defending of Caroline, Sally, indeed everyway was awesome. Apart from games against the eventual finalists we didn’t concede more than three goals. We look forwards to continuing the hard work, analysing game play (especially the losses) and further honing our attack play.

Tremendously proud of you all,

Stuart

The Counties will take place at Moseley Rugby Club on the 19/20th July 2008 (which of course you should be available to play in).