Over the summer months we will only be training once a week. This will take place every Wednesday at St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School between 7:30pm and 9pm.
Remember: beginners are always welcome and your first two sessions will be completely free…plus a free drink in the Ostrich straight after training!
The season came to a close last Saturday with a final round of league matches, along with a third team tournament and the SWKA end of season awards. Thunder 1sts again won to make it 11/12 victories for the season. The 2nds lost to a good Taunton 2nd team. The heat in the hall along with a problem with the water supply meant that the games were at a slower pace than usual.
After the games, the SWKA organised Sport Relief Mile took place and was very well attended with 81 SWKA members taking place. First back was Sam Larkham from Bristol City. The majority ran for fun however!
At the evening event the Thunder players picked up their well deserved medals. 1st place in the 1st ever season is not a bad achievement. Along with this there were awards for MVPs and top goal scores. Thunder had a nomination in each MVP section (Mike, Fran, Beth, Kev and Andy) but the eventually the winners were announced as follows:
SWKL 1 Female MVP Hazel Thornton (Exeter)
SWKL 1 Female Top Scorer – Beth Ryan (Thunder)
SWKL 1 Male MVP – Andy Nye (Thunder)
SWKL 1 Male Top Scorer – Andy Nye (Thunder)
SWKL 2 Female MVP – Heather Bissell (Bristol City)
SWKL 2 Female Top Scorer – Janet bilkmans (Horfield)
SWKL 2 Male MVP – Paddy Bolster (Horfield)
SWKL 2 Male Top Scorer – Mark Gittoes (Horfield)
Thunder have their last matches of the 2011-12 season this weekend. Both Thunder 1 and Thunder 2 will take on Taunton Soul KC, the 1sts trying to end the season on a massive high after winning the league a few weeks ago and the 2nds will fight for a win to make it 6 wins for the season.
Throughout Saturday there will be several matches involving all teams in the south west. Bristol City will host a fancy dress match whilst all the others still have to play their final league matches. The day will also see another beginners tournament featuring anyone who has played less than 18months. Thunder won the first of these events this year so who knows…
Super Saturday is not only super because of all the games, it is super due to the amount of fundraising that will take place for Sport Relief. Various events will take place on top of the korfball finishing with a 100 strong Sport Relief Mile.
For anyone who would like to sponsor the South West Sport Relief Super Saturday Mile then please see the following link.
Think that’s the end?
In the evening, The Elephant in Bristol city centre will host the annual SWKA Awards Ceremony and end of season social. What more could you want?
Despite our furthest trip of the season Thunder left Exeter with two superb wins and with it the SWKL 1 title.
The 2nds played their best korfball of the year and in doing so scored 10 against Exeter’s 8. With goals coming from several different people it showed the amazing progression that players have made over the year. It was a very tight game but Thunder never really panicked and picked up the vital goals. The pick of the goals goes to Hannah for her turn and shoot off the feed trick!
The 1sts going into the match knowing that not losing would seal the title started with a bang. Within a few seconds Andy scored from the corner. The defence held firm before a series of penalties from Beth and variety of long shots (Phil), very short shots (Dan) and Jo’s neat ‘get into space and shoot’ goal saw Thunder take a substantial lead. Within 3 minutes of half time though a lack of discipline lead to Exeter bridging the gap to 4 as a series of long shots within seconds of the restart.
The second half didn’t go as planned for the first part- 5 penalties were given away with Exeter scoring at least 3. At one point the gap was 1 goal. However a long range shot from Phil and Beth’s smart tactical note saw Thunder win the penalties for the rest of the game. In the end a 16-12 victory. The celebration was muted purely because we felt it wasn’t our beat performance!
Our latest league matches played against Bristol Uni ended in a narrow defeat in the 1st team game but a great victory for the 2nds.
The 2nds started the day with a fine victory over the Bristol Uni 2nds. The score was 12-4 at the final whistle. A massive well done to the second team.
The 1sts then played Bristol Uni 1sts. The hope of an unbeaten season ended with a narrow 17-15 loss. Throughout the game no more than 2 goals separated the sides which lead to a very tense but exciting game.
The final two games of the season are against Taunton and Exeter with Thunder 1 just needing a single point. The seconds can finish in the top three with victories over the two teams as well.
Over the weekend Bristol Thunder took a team (with help from Jenny Davis from Bristol University and Neil Kempston from Supernova) to the Edinburgh International Korfball Tournament. Everyone flew up on Friday evening and headed straight to the organised social- a few drinks and back to the accommodation provided by Edinburgh Uni in the early hours. Fighting the tiredness we managed to wake up and be on the pitch for 10:15. Quite possibly the most important match of the weekend- it was 1-1 with 17seconds to go (the Countdown music – yes the actual Countdown tick tock- was blasting out of the scoreboard) and Dan Thompson wins a penalty…Beth Ryan steps up to take the glory and create a 2-1 victory over Edinburgh Alumni. Tense.
A few more victories in the group stages by lunch time made us believe we could go far in the competition…
We just had to beat Casal Korf Sabadel from Catalonia and Glasgow Korfball Club. A great game against the Spanish saw Thunder win comfortably after a slow start and an increasingly common great performance against Glasgow made us win Group A!
Saturday evening played host to a Ceilidh at Edinburgh SU, with a superb Ceilidh performance from Mike Lovely…
Back on the pitch by 11:30 – Edinburgh Uni 2nds were our QF opposition. Probably our best performance of the weekend with the majority of long shots going in and most moves clicking. Top 4.
After a wait we then played a superb opposition in Las Luchadores – a team made up of some high level korfball players. We fought hard but could not cope with the superior shooting and were shown how defending should be done. Everyone enjoyed the match purely because they learnt how simple and effective the game can be – despite losing.
We then waited until the very last game of the day when we played Paal Central (NL) in the 3rd/4th place play off. Again- we were no match for a superb Dutch side who showed us what level we would love to be at in years to come. A 9-3 loss doesn’t explain though the much improved second half performance.
All in all a great weekend and a very successful one as well. Finishing 4th/24.
A big well done to the mixed Bristol Thunder and Bristol Uni side that won all 3 matches in this years first beginners tournament. 5 Thunder players and 3 Uni players joined forces to beat Taunton, Exeter Uni and then Bristol City in the final. Thanks to Michelle Goodfellow from Horfield for organising the successful tournament!
This time next week Bristol Thunder will be flying (yes on a plane!) to the Edinburgh International Korfball Tournament. Saturday and Sunday will see us playing against some of Europe’s finest. Teams from Holland, Spain, Greece and the UK are all competing. Unfortunately korfball might not be the most memorable moment of the weekend – Edinburgh Uni are hosting a Ceilidh. Participation compulsory.
Thunder are in Group A with Birmingham Uni (UK); Casal Korf Sabadell (CAT); Edinburgh Uni 4 (UK); Edinburgh Uni Alumni (UK) and Glasgow (UK).
Follow our progress on Twitter by searching the hashtag #eikt12 or follow @BristolThunder.
Thunder played host to Bristol City this week. The objective was to repeat the double victory gained earlier in the season. A great first game saw the 2nds better their result from the corresponding fixture and win 7-4. Some great goals including a double from Mike Lovely, backed up by 2 from Kevin Allen and one each for Zoe Winterbotham, Jo Futter and Fran Cramp.
The 1sts then continued there unbeaten season with a hard fought 16-6 victory over Bristol City’s SWKA 1 squad. An early flurry of goals from Thunder made the game out of reach. Andy Nye reached a milestone in getting his 50th goal of the season.
To see the top scorers for both divisions see http://www.englandkorfball.co.uk/events/south-west-league-1-2011-12/scorers.htm and http://www.englandkorfball.co.uk/events/south-west-league-2-2011-12/scorers.htm
On Sunday, the Welsh National side will be visiting Bristol to play in a highly competitive match against the South West’s elite. Andy Nye, Jo Futter, Zaf Jarrah, Phil Manavopoulos and Beth Ryan have been selected. The match will take place at City Academy at 12:30 on Sunday – supporters are more than welcome. Several more Thunder players are vying for the Inter Areas squad in February with Dan Thompson and Sianne Large amonst the group.
http://www.swka.org/
Please follow the link the South West Korfball Association for the latest developments.
