The end of this weekend sees the end of Korfball's European club Competitions and Trojans placing 7th in the Europa Cup and Kwiek and Mitcham coming 4th and 5th respectively in the Europa Shield.
Ben King, Mitcham
What does that mean for England Korfball? From one perspective the message is clear: it means that EK clubs are not at the highest level in Europe. Overall their performances weren't quite good enough on the international stage. However, in the Europa Shield (which doesn't include Dutch or Belgian Clubs) the key losses weren't that big: Kwiek losing 9-10 to runners-up VKC Kolin, and Mitcham losing 10-14 to eventual winners Benfica.
But the fact that England Korfball has a highly competitive domestic league structure may well be reflected in seemingly disappointing performances on the European stage. Other European countries have far fewer clubs and far fewer teams at the highest level - around 3 teams in Catalonia or Portugal even compete to get into Europe, and thus national team players are less well-distributed between teams than in England. 7 out of 8 HSKL clubs have players training with England Seniors.
Despite the discouraging results there are some crystal clear signs for England Korfball. This weekend represents 3 squads of players plus coaches, managers and supporters who have put their time, money and physical efforts into representing korfball to the very best of their ability and to the highest professional standards they can reach.
Becca Clements, Kwiek
Both Kwiek and Mitcham have lost key players since their England Korfball premier league standings at the end of last season which has left the teams in a state of re-building this season. Its fair to say neither Kwiek nor Mitcham are the finished product.
What they are now is teams of players who are individually and collectively trying to improve - for themselves, for their clubs, and for England Korfball.
Luke Francis for Kwiek was outstanding and certainly caught the eye of distinguished Dutch spectators. An incredibly talented and experienced player for someone so young, Francis' style of play, creativity and skill was noteworthy and on occasion, breathtaking. Especially bearing in mind a nasty injury to young Kieran Hicks meant Martin Woolmer (an older player) stepped into the breach to play alongside Francis; he never faltered and continued even stronger than ever and ended the tournament among the male leading goal scorers.
Luke Francis, Kwiek
Rebecca Clements (nee Woolmer) also showed her class this weekend. She is a player with insight and movement that is seemingly effortless, and is equally at home as a creative attacker or an impenetrable defender, also appearing among the tournaments leading female scorers.
Mitcham's team has less outstanding individuals, but a lot of a talent in the making, boosted by the experience of players such as Ross Bower, Dean Woods, Sam Wells and Dave Synott. One of their brightest lights is Ben King, who has had a career as an England junior that most would envy and is now at the difficult stage of transitioning to senior korfball (partly due to the weight of expectation) - but again he caught the eye of the watching KNKV and IKF.
Carina Lamelas is just 16 but has got what it takes to make it big in England Korfball and for England Korfball. Her natural talent and athletic ability are being carefully developed, and while Carina isn't yet the finished product, for someone to score prolifically in the playoff game against Budapest and then score in Mitcham's first period of golden goal was testament to the player that she will become.
Carina Lamelas, Mitcham
And its not only great players that are coming out of England Korfball: both teams are being coached by talented players who are finding their feet as coaches at the highest domestic level. Translating skill on the pitch as a player to being able to communicate this effectively to players and see the game unfold as if you were playing it yourself is a tough ask; but one which many new and exciting coaches just refuse to shy away from.
Whilst the Dutch and Belgians remain light years ahead of the rest of Europe, England Korfball is doing its best to find long term solutions to close the gap and show improvements in tactical and technical standards of play; despite the uneven playing field created by the ridiculously large resources available to Dutch national coaches and players. Whilst most Club players were in bed or enjoying Hungarian hospitality on the eve of the Europa Shield finals day, England Youth's Head Coach was discussing korfball and opportunities for England Korfball well into the early hours with the IKF's Senior Vice-President, Frans Walvis.
A good weekend for England Korfball.