At the beginning of this month, the national team was in Türkiye to qualify for the World Championship. The team fought hard and surprised many experienced teams, who thought Switzerland would be an easy game. In the end, they didn’t manage to qualify for the World Championship, but by coming 4th, they are automatically qualified for the European Championships 2024, what an excellent achievement! And if a team steps back, Switzerland might still go to Taipei.
To give you an impression of what an experience the players, coaches and staff had in Türkiye, some of us volunteered to write a diary entry. So enjoy reading!
Saturday, 29th November 2022
by Vas
Saturday was the official arrival date on Turkish ground for our National team. Me and Sam were the first ones to reach the hotel that would host us for the next 7 days of the tournament. After a rich breakfast in the morning, we went out exploring the area of Kemer trying to scout for the fastest route to the beach, while boosting our vitamin D production walking under full sunshine. After taking advantage of the all-inclusive lunch buffet, we took the opportunity to familiarize ourselves with the hotel facilities that were about to be appreciated the following days such us the (ice cold!) pool, the sauna and Turkish hammam. As we were waiting for the rest of the team to arrive, we enjoyed one last gin n’ tonic before we switched to the “sports” mode. An evening walk around the seaside of Kemer allowed us to relax our minds from the anticipation of the games to come. The day concluded at time at the hotel lobby where the team was waiting its last members to arrive from the airport.
Sunday, 30th October
by Carra
Our first night in the hotel was not a great one. I was woken up by the prayer in the morning at 6, and then decided to go to breakfast with my roomies Anouk and Lieke. After a short first training session, we all have lunch together and then I go on a tour of the hotel, to check out all of its facilities. A small stop in the hotel room and then I have to run to get to our first team meeting on time! The coaches share the goals and expectations of the tournament and the whole team gets hyped up for the first game on Monday. After a bit of chilling at the pool, I go get my notebook and pen for the team managers meeting. I finally get to meet all the team managers (and again see how young I am compared to all of them), get to ask all of my questions (yes, there were a lot), and receive all the needed information to get through the whole week smoothly! Let the tournament begin!
Monday, 31st October
by Jet
Training, shared meals & beers, friendly matches, since April the team gathered a lot to finally reach that point of the first match.
All being extremely eager to see what is the strength of the team in comparison with the other teams. Fully aware that Catalonia is one of the strongest we will play. No pressure to win. Me being proud to represent Swiss Korfball together with a group of friends, a real strong team.
National anthem, shivering, it is real. Good game and the first whistle. Fast pace, strong rebounds by the Gfeller’s. Fighting for every ball. A real match. A fantastic buzzer beater of Julien 10-6.
Half time it is clear for both teams. Yes, Catalonia might be better, but Switzerland is not going to give anything for free.
Third quarter, 15 – 11, Catalonia still a the better side, but WoW we are still in the game. After the final whistle it is indeed Catalonia that wins this match but hey, our confidence grow more.
Time for a happy jump to our fans that made it all the way from Basel to Turkey. Tomorrow, next game, we are ready to rock!
Tuesday, 1st November
by Ineke
Today I’m woken up by a couple of roosters. They started their day even before the Imam of the local mosque starts the sun rise prayer. An early morning it is. Luckily the pool bar party last night finished at a decent hour. Every other day there is live music in our hotel and it feels like the band is standing next to my bed.
We have our daily training at 9am today. We train our shot and the tactics of our next game coming up: Scotland. I’m in the starting 8, so I take some time to practice the national anthem of Switzerland. I realize that it is made in German and the French translation is impossible to get. Words just don’t fit the melody. I decide to follow Federer and Wawrinka and just keep my mouth shut, while looking seriously straight ahead. My supporters at home make the comment later that I should do better on that part. I play the first half where we are able to get the lead of the game, but the Scottish team is tight behind: 8-7 at half time.
In the third quarter it gets really tense. The Scottish team takes the lead for a bit. A wake up call to get back into the game. We take a bigger lead now and are able to finish the game with a 14-11 win.To end the day we go and watch the very tense game between Catalonia and Turkey. Turkey will be our next opponent and they are strong!
A good night sleep will be required! Luckily no pool party tonight. And let’s hope the roosters have a long sleep as well (and the Imam runs late on his prayers).
Wednesday, 2nd November
by Ben
After the win against Scotland on Tuesday we knew that the game against Turkey would decide if we could play for 2 or 3 place or if 4th would be the highest possible. Before the game we were confident that we had it in us as a team to beat them. Unfortunately they started really strong and we weren’t helped by the decisions of the ref. Carra had to (try to) prevent both coaches taking a yellow card. After it was clear that coming back would be impossible we decided to make some changes. Which gave a shock effect and even brought us back in the game.. But the Turkish played their game of the tournament which made them deserve the win against us. Looking back at the game we had some mixed feelings.. Disappointment because the 3th place was gone but also proud of the way we played and mostly how motivated everyone came on and almost changed the game.
Thursday, 3rd November
by Simmy / Lieke
After 3 days of having a morning training and a match, today it was time for a bit of rest. As optimal preparation for the match against Hungary, it was time for our physios to shine. Instead of training, Ben, Anouk and Lieke did their best to get all the tension out of those tight muscles to make them shine during the game against Hungary. Not sure whether it was the massages but we got off to an amazing start. After the first quarter the score was 3-5 in our favor. Sadly hard work doesn’t always pays off and we finished the match with a 23-10 loss.
Today was also a day where our mascot had a day off. Simmy went to the spa, the pool, the slide, the team meeting and supported us during the game.
Tuesday, 1st November
by Ineke
Today I’m woken up by a couple of roosters. They started their day even before the Imam of the local mosque starts the sun rise prayer. An early morning it is. Luckily the pool bar party last night finished at a decent hour. Every other day there is live music in our hotel and it feels like the band is standing next to my bed.
We have our daily training at 9am today. We train our shot and the tactics of our next game coming up: Scotland. I’m in the starting 8, so I take some time to practice the national anthem of Switzerland. I realize that it is made in German and the French translation is impossible to get. Words just don’t fit the melody. I decide to follow Federer and Wawrinka and just keep my mouth shut, while looking seriously straight ahead. My supporters at home make the comment later that I should do better on that part. I play the first half where we are able to get the lead of the game, but the Scottish team is tight behind: 8-7 at half time.
In the third quarter it gets really tense. The Scottish team takes the lead for a bit. A wake up call to get back into the game. We take a bigger lead now and are able to finish the game with a 14-11 win.To end the day we go and watch the very tense game between Catalonia and Turkey. Turkey will be our next opponent and they are strong!
A good night sleep will be required! Luckily no pool party tonight. And let’s hope the roosters have a long sleep as well (and the Imam runs late on his prayers).
Wednesday, 2nd November
by Ben
After the win against Scotland on Tuesday we knew that the game against Turkey would decide if we could play for 2 or 3 place or if 4th would be the highest possible. Before the game we were confident that we had it in us as a team to beat them. Unfortunately they started really strong and we weren’t helped by the decisions of the ref. Carra had to (try to) prevent both coaches taking a yellow card. After it was clear that coming back would be impossible we decided to make some changes. Which gave a shock effect and even brought us back in the game.. But the Turkish played their game of the tournament which made them deserve the win against us. Looking back at the game we had some mixed feelings.. Disappointment because the 3th place was gone but also proud of the way we played and mostly how motivated everyone came on and almost changed the game.
Thursday, 3rd November
by Simmy / Lieke
After 3 days of having a morning training and a match, today it was time for a bit of rest. As optimal preparation for the match against Hungary, it was time for our physios to shine. Instead of training, Ben, Anouk and Lieke did their best to get all the tension out of those tight muscles to make them shine during the game against Hungary. Not sure whether it was the massages but we got off to an amazing start. After the first quarter the score was 3-5 in our favor. Sadly hard work doesn’t always pays off and we finished the match with a 23-10 loss.
Today was also a day where our mascot had a day off. Simmy went to the spa, the pool, the slide, the team meeting and supported us during the game.
