We were one of several korfball clubs to start in 2004, which was the British Korfball Association's "year of participation". The first time some of us played together as a team was in July 2004, where, with help from a few players from other clubs, we formed a Buckinghamshire team for the Korfball County Championships held in Norwich (team photo below). We finished 11th out of 17, ahead of several much more established counties! We established an initial committee of Katie (chair), Kim (secretary), Nov (match sec and coach) and Simon (treasurer), and also had another experienced player Pete who could also fulfil our refereeing committments.

Our first training session in MK was on September 16th 2004 at Bletchley Leisure Centre, when around 24 people turned up to try the sport, most of them for the first time. We then entered a team into the Oxfordshire Korfball League, our nearest league, playing on Sunday evenings throughout the winter (indoors!). At the start of 2005, we expanded to two teams when there was a vacancy in the league after Oxford Brookes University pulled out, so that we could cater for our growing number of players.

In March 2005, we switched our training venue to the new Courtside sports complex at Milton Keynes College, Bletchley Campus, and we have trained there on Thursdays ever since.

In the meantime, our fledgling teams were doing quite well. Our first team, who had only joined the Oxfordshire top division halfway through the season, were pronounced "Spring League" champions for having the best record in the second half of the season, and we then managed to top that by BOTH our teams battling their way through to the Oxfordshire Cup final to face each other in the final - a great achievement considering over half of us had only just started playing korfball that season.

 

In Summer 2005, we trained outside, finished 11th in the County Championships again, also played in tournaments in Abingdon, Croydon and beach korfball in Kent, and went on our first overseas trip as well, to Germany to watch the 2005 World Games for sports not in the Olympics.

The 2005/06 season was even more successful, with the club's 1st team all-conquering, winning the Oxfordshire Korfball League with a 100% record, and retaining the cup as well. The second team finished as runners-up in the league division 2, narrowly missing out on promotion but winning their final six league games of the season. In January 2006, we ran a beginners course to boost numbers in the club, and then took the big step of founding a local league, League MK, to run in parallel with our Oxfordshire competitions. The initial three-team league, running from Feb-May 2006, was a great success.

The 2006 summer outdoor season was equally successful, with the club reaching the final of the Cambridge tournament and only losing on penalties, and then winning the Club Sandwich Beach Korfball tournament. We narrowly beat our previous County Championship place, finishing 10th, and played in an overseas tournament for the first time, in Luxembourg. To cap it all, the first team were then recognised for the previous season's indoor success by being named the Sport Milton Keynes Team of the Quarter.

In September 2006, some Bucks players were then involved in the setup of a second Milton Keynes club, MK City, to further expand korfball in Milton Keynes. In our own club in the 2006/07 season, we carried off trophies in both Oxfordshire League divisions and the cup, with the 1st team having a 100% record again and the 2nd team winning Division 2 on goal difference in their final match of the season. We entered a 3rd team in the cup as well, and helped with the setup of third club MK Roos in spring 2007. In the summer, we paid a return visit to Luxembourg, made the quarter-finals at Counties for the first time ever, finishing 7th, and ran our first ever MK tournament "Korfstock" with astroturf and a bouncy castle! Our own 1st team finished 3rd at Korfstock and, in the process, secured enough tour points to win the OKA Tour.

 

 

In the 2007/08 season, we expanded to three Oxfordshire league teams and the 1st team won the league and cup double again. The 2nds were unlucky to finish 8th in their first season in Division 1 after 3 wins out of 10, but were spared relegation. To give the 1st team and similarly ambitious clubs a new challenge, the Midlands Regional League was set up with an initial four-team competition. With all teams taking points off each other, we managed to win the league on the final day of the season on goal difference after winning our final two games 8-6 and 9-4! The summer brought our first ever grass tournament success when we won the Oxford tournament, and Korfstock, run again jointly with MK City, was even bigger with a full main event of 25 teams and an 11-team beginner pool. The Bucks counties team finished 10th, but in a much larger competition than in 2007.

Ultimately, we want to reach the same level as the situation in Norwich and Cambridge. Those cities had no korfball at all until the early 90s, but now both have city leagues with 15-20 teams from several clubs and more than one division. Do you want to be a part of this? Join/contact us