To grow her game, Mixx star Tayla Hardy spent nine weeks in The Netherlands, where korfball originated

Tayla Hardy and Scarlett Kirby have been friends since they started playing korfball together at school in 2019.

Over the past few months, their friendship and mutual love of korfball escalated to another level when they went for an extended stay in the Netherlands, korfball’s ‘ground zero.’

Scarlett and Tayla captain the Mixx Selwyn and North districts respectively. What started as an ambitious idea when they were playing together in the New Zealand team at the U21 World Championships in Turkey in July last year became a solid plan when they attended the Mixx masterskills sessions given by Manon Wiegerink back in Christchurch a few weeks later.

Manon helped them find accommodation, and introduced them to her club, KV Top/IAA fresh, based in Sassenheim, 40 kilometres south-west of Amsterdam. Founded in 1928, Top has around 500 active members and was national champion five times between 2011 and 2018. Spending nine weeks in the Netherlands, coming home just before Easter, Tayla says the immersion in Dutch korfball culture was everything she expected, and more.

“Seeing korfball taken so seriously, having clubs invested in the sport, and the money they put behind it, takes it to another level. Being able to play and learn from so many others, and improve our game, was so exciting. Coming from another country made us a bit unusual, though our teammates and the rest of the club were so welcoming,” she says.

They trained most nights, joining in with several of the Top teams, and played each weekend. Known back home for her shooting accuracy, to keep up in the Netherlands Tayla found she had to work on other aspects of her game.

“In the past I’ve mainly been an attacker. From playing netball, I find it easier to shoot than to defend. In Dutch korfball, literally everyone has to do everything. Being there for nine weeks, my defence has become way better. I realised how I play in New Zealand was not going to work over there. I had to learn to play under the hoop a little bit, to play better for other people, and to be more focused in defence.

 

“On top of that, you need to be able to adapt in the game. If the coach gives you a plan, that’s what you have to do. If that means you don’t shoot: you don’t shoot! I had to add more variation to my game, not just shooting. I had to make myself more of a threat in other ways.”

Training was tough too.

“You have to keep going. Training is higher intensity for a longer duration. You have to be able to shoot under fatigue 99 per cent of the time, and under 100 per cent pressure from your defender. You have to get used to the team taking ten rebounds in a row and keep on going. If you’re not fit, you suffer.

 

“Even so, anyone of any ability can go over there. There are so many teams that cater for all the levels. You don’t have to be playing at the international level. If you just want to go over and grow from the experience, that’s fine. There are enough teams for everyone. We experienced coaching from plenty of different people. You don’t have to be an international player to do it,” she says.

At the end of the indoor season, they also had a brief experience of outdoor korfball.

“Playing and training outdoors was a bit more chilled. Outdoors there is so much running, especially with no shot clock and continuous rebounds, it takes your fitness to another level again, and shooting outdoors is a different experience as well,” says Tayla.

Coming to grips with the language, and not seeing familiar faces every day was challenging, though Tayla describes it as ‘a trip of self-growth.’

“As well as the korfball, being part of the culture made it so special. I’ve made connections that will last forever. I expect to stay in touch with most of the teammates I was close to. If you really want to be there, people will take you in. They certainly welcomed us.”

Although the big korfball adventure came with a cost, Tayla is keen to go back.

“We made a budget, then the value of the New Zealand dollar dropped, so it was more expensive than we expected. It was totally worth it though.

 

“We went in the middle of the indoor season, and played and trained with lots of different teams. What would have even better was if we’d gone at the start of the season, then it would have been cool to be in one team, and for that be your team all through the season.”

Look out for Tayla at upcoming Mixx events, including the next Mixx Community Shield later this month, and look out for a story on Scarlett’s experience of Dutch korfball soon.