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Trip to Etten Leur - August 2005
Report by Dave Shaw
Castle has attended the Etten-Leur Tournament in Holland on several occasions
in the Club’s 10 year history. By all accounts they’re a fun time,
and this year proved to be no exception. Etten-Leur is a ‘Milton Keynesy’
type of new town, probably stemming from the 70’s, although the Burgameister’s
place in town was built in 1776 (if my interpretation of Roman numerals
is accurate).
Club 2005 comprised a healthy Cooper contingent (including
Benji and Jake), Gill and Alan, Woody, Anja, and yours truly. We
were joined by Stoke Spitfires, who even had extra girlies which came
in very handy for us, and Highbury. We were all camped on the same
site, which made for good fun, particularly on the first night when
some of us decided to display our prowess at darts, table tennis and
the ancient art of drinking! That this was a mistake became apparent
when we saw the size of the pitches next morning - they were HUGE (60
by 30 metres) astroturf, and made korfball on a hot, sunny day pretty
tiring stuff.
But we were all up and ready for our first challenge at 10
o’clock on the dot. In our first game, against Albatross, we were
very competitive and gave a good account of ourselves, losing 3-2 with
the very last shot of the match! We were a bit miffed, and performed
equally well in our second match, when we again lost by the odd goal.
Third up was Highbury - some of us had lost to them in our own tourney,
and we were well and truly up for this one, stuffing them 4-1, definitely
an enjoyable highlight for the first day at least. Needless to say we lost
our final encounter of the day by the odd goal.
That evening we toddled into town and enjoyed an Italian.
We were joined in town by thousands of people, all there because they
had heard Castle KC were coming! Actually, they were celebrating the
opening of a massive new shopping complex in the town.
Learning from the previous night, I wasn’t too late to bed.
We were on again at 10 in the morning, and although we performed well
in our first game we tired, and it transpired we were playing the best
team in the group. We lost 9-2, although it felt a closer game than that.
After that things improved and we gave as good as we got, with excellent
games resulting in scores like 3-3 and 4-6. All in all a good performance
(we were boosted by Rob on day 2, which did help – by the way, where is
Rob??).
Sunday night we did an all-u-can-eat chinese, followed by a
day’s lozzocking on Monday, apart from Woody, Anja & the Coopers
who had a great time at Efteling's theme park.
The journey home was relatively uneventful - Ryanair were very
prompt and courteous, and no-one lost their baggage. We arrived home
a wee bit tired but contented. Special mention must go to Nigel (and
Mary) who organised the trip with almost military precision - fantastic.
And all for £116.75 each, plus spending. Even more fandabulous.
Happy days …
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All pictures courtesy and copyright of Dave Wood,
Anja, or Nigel, at Castle Korfball Club
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