Korfball club SPES in Eexterveen stops after 65 years, due to a shortage of members. Also in Hooghalen, korfball threatens to disappear after 85 years. After the summer, the korfball branch within sports association HHCombi will in any case stop playing in competition.
The students from the Eexterveen korfball team will play for the last time this week. Despite the fact that it has been coming for a while, the team has caught on. “It’s the last time and that’s where you’re going to train. It’s really final,” says trainer Jantinus Esschendal. “You notice that the children are sorry that they have to stop now. But the choice has been made and we really have too few players to continue.”
The captain of the team, Thijs Esschendal, also thinks it is a shame that the team is stopping. “I think I’ve been playing korfball since I was six. So I’ve been doing a sport for ten years that is now disappearing here.”
“I’ve been doing the sport for a long time, so that’s difficult. I still get a lot of fun out of this sport,” adds teammate Mats.
In Hooghalen, the korfball branch within sports association HHCombi is also having a hard time. Although korfball is still being played, the association will stop playing competition matches after the summer. “We currently have nine members. Those are only senior members, there is no youth anymore. But to make a team function for a whole year, you have to have between ten and twelve players,” explains volunteer Geert Geertsema out.
“That means a lot to me, because you know that you have experienced a lot of things with this sport in the past,” he says. Geertsema himself was active as a korfball player from his 18th to his 52nd year. He can’t imagine people unsubscribing from the association: “It’s part of your life after all.”
Watch the video about the latest training in Eexterveen and the member shortage in Hooghalen: