KCZ is part of the Zurich City Association for Sports (ZSS)

KCZ is now a member of ZSS, which is the umbrella organization of around 400 sports clubs in Zurich. This means, KCZ will be able to benefit from the possibility to rent the Zürisport bus, participate in the “Open Club Doors” project, the club forum (every two years) and receives support regarding questions about youth sports contributions. If you would like to know more, visit the ZSS website at https://www.zss.ch/ .

KCZ is Swiss National Champion 2024

The Alp League, the Swiss national championship, is where the three Swiss clubs come together to compete and find the Swiss champion. The rules for this year's Alp League were slightly different to last year's, with the first two days being preliminaries and the third day being the final. As we have grown so much over the past year, KCZ was able to field two full teams. After two successful days, especially for the first team, Zurich 1 fought for first place and Zurich 2 played Basel for third place.

Zurich 2 got off to a good start, scoring a couple of goals against Basel, which they then countered with goals of their own. You have to hand it to Basel: they did their homework. They worked on a great defensive line and were able to counter our strengths. Zurich two, on the other hand, were very unlucky with their shots, so despite having won the first two games against Basel, we had to concede defeat. Basel's win is well deserved since they put up such a great fight.

Our strong first team didn't show any weakness, they started, they shot and they scored. They took the lead early on and made it hard for Lausanne to score. With excellent support from our home fans and the second team, Zurich 1 were able to take the Champion's Cup home once again.

Huge congratulations to Zurich 1 and special mentions to Geoff and Silvie for once again taking excellent pictures, to Diogo for being voted the best newcomer by the Alp League taskforce, to Pelle for being the male top scorer, Anouk for being female topscorer and to Karianne for being voted the female MVP. We are so proud of you all!

KCZ and Friends 2023

In November 2023, we had our (bi-)annual KCZ and Friends tournament. A total of six teams from the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland competed in a day of fun and exciting games. We'd like to thank all the teams, members and helpers for making it happen. Big congratulations to BlauwZwart for winning for the third time already, and for giving the teams a good challenge. A big congratulations to our newcomers, who have played their very first “proper” Korfball game, Diogo, Monica, Pascal W., Pascal M., Eimear, Pierre and Martin. And of course to Karianne, who undeniably hasn't played her first Korfball game, but the first one for Zurich. It's great to have you all on board.

KCZ Anniversary Summer Weekend 2023

As a last celebratory event of our 5-year anniversary, the Korfball Club Zurich went to Disentis on the first September weekend for their annual summer weekend, just this time it was bigger: 2 nights, 3 days and lots of fun and activities. There was a non-korfball tournament including a big quiz, hide and seek, Berliner Luft challenge and more. Lots of board games were played and we obviously went on a hike through the beautiful Disentis mountains. To end this successful weekend, the committee had one last surprise on Sunday: we went for a fun Seilpark experience in Disentis and we discovered who the crazy ones really are - the ones sliding down the rope with their hands down and their legs up!

The 5-year anniversary also marks the end of an era: of the Gian Reto as KCZ president era. He has decided to step back as president. As an interim solution, Adrian and Fabienne have stepped in as co-presidents and will try to fill Gian Reto's big shoes. There are no words to describe how thankful we are for Gian Reto's work over the past years. You have all witnessed his enthusiasm and how much he has done for the club, but what you could see was just the tip of the iceberg: Gian Reto has been putting in an incredible amount of work behind the scenes, always rethinking and optimising the club and its processes. Even though the committee is very sad about this decision, we understand it and wish him all the best for his well-deserved presidency retirement. Viva!

Happy Birthday, KCZ is five!

Luckily, the 4.4.23 was a Tuesday, so we could celebrate our 5th anniversary with a training and a big cake. Looking back at the past 5 years made us realise how far we have come. The celebration training showed everything we love about our club: friendship, extraordinary volunteering, eager Korfball newbies, happy come-backs, strong supporters, longstanding club members, founding members commuting a long way to celebrate this important club day with us and everyone united by a love for this unique sport korfball. We are filled with pride, love, warmth and gratitude. Thanks to all 23 people (new training record!) coming to the KCZ's birthday. And a big congratulations to our new honorary members Luzia and Afke, without you, KCZ wouldn't be where it is today!

As part of our anniversary package, we also travelled to Rotterdam and Utrecht in April to watch the Dutch Korfball League Final. With a few friends from other clubs, we spent a fun weekend full of korfball, driving and beers, celebrating our shared love for this sport. A special thanks to Liekes parents for hosting us and welcoming us with cold beers, to Lieke herself for organising, and to everyone who came along to celebrate with us. We all enjoyed it so much we might go again next year.

KCZ is Swiss National Champion 2023!

In spring this year, we took part in the Alp League, the Swiss National Championship. As we didn't win the trophy in 2022, we wanted to claim it back this year. A lot of tactical training, practicing in division and refining our shooting was on the menu during our training.

The first game day arrived, and we were all ready. With a full team and supporters, we were ready to show what we had practiced and secure two wins. The first game went smoothly and we won 15-3 against Basel. In the second game, we faced the strong opponent Lausanne. Korfball Lausanne put up a strong fight, resulting in a tight game. In the end, we managed to keep the lead throughout the game and to overcome Korfball Lausannes resistance and got the win with a final score 10:8. What a day!

The second Alp League Day was just as successful, again we managed to win against Lausanne, again they did not make it easy for us. This meant, that the game against Basel would already decide whether we were Swiss Champions. We showed no mercy and went all in, winning with an amazing 23:2. We did it, we are Swiss National Champions!

We'd like to thank the organisers and our opponents for making the Alp League such a great event, and of course to our trainers for putting in so much effort, your hard work paid off!

KCZ Winter Weekend 2023

KCZ Winter Weekend 2023 is in the books. Not so surprisingly - it was AWESOME! From a fun round of sledging in Melchseefrutt to a cosy mountain hut evening with raclette and many games to waking up to a winter wonderland. We started Sunday with a large breakfast with Zopf, oranges, Birchermüesli, scones and crumpets from the UK, and were ready for snowball fights, more games of saboteur and building beautiful snowpeople. Then we headed back with sore legs and big smiles and the heart full of laughs and beautiful memories! It was amazing, see you next year!

KCZ and Friends 2022

On the 12th November, Zurich invited Korfball clubs all over Europe to join their annual KCZ and Friends tournament. And what a tournament it was! With friendship at the core of the tournament, Zurich was excited to welcome not only their Swiss club friends, but also good old friends from Ulm, the Netherlands and some new friends from Belgium, Slovakia and France.

Short games in the morning decided who would play in division A and fight for the title, and who would play in division B, and fight for the B-title. Team BlauwZwart, Vanderbiestjes from Belgium, St. Etienne and Nitra qualified for Division A, and Zurich, Basel, Ulm and Massy played in division B. In the B division, Zurich could give a comeback after a bad start in the morning, and win against all teams except against Basel, where they drew. That made Zurich winner of Division B. In division A, there were also some very tight games, and team BlauwZwart, which to a majority consisted of last year's winner team Tukkers, could claim the title once more.

KCZ Summer Weekend 2022

Pouring rain after weeks of sunny weather and trains being delayed and cancelled - KCZ’s annual summer weekend didn’t seem to be off to a great start. But as the train wound it’s way towards Sarnen, tantalising mountain peaks appeared through the clouds. Good company and a few rounds of the game of the weekend, Der Grosse Dalmuti, kept our spirits high. We arrived in style to Luzia’s mountain hut, via a private bus and newly laid forest path, where a wonderful welcome committee of cows and of course Luzia herself awaited.

The misty, cloudy weather obstructed some of the views as we set off on an afternoon hike, but kept us a pleasant temperature and provided some atmospheric scenery. Nearing the Jänzi peak, the heavens opened and we quickly took shelter under some trees. As the rain eased off again, half our party elected to head straight back to the hut for dry clothes and relaxation, whilst the rest of us decided to push on for the full round. As we reached the mountain top, a magical scene awaited: clouds parting, and a group of mountain horses, including a young foal. We approached them cautiously but soon found they were very friendly and quite insistent on being petted! Fuelled by our Ghibli summit moment and abundant wild blueberries, we wound our way through lush mossy forests and moorland, along the river and back to the hut, where we were very grateful to see that Gregi had already gotten the grill fire going.

A hearty barbecue dinner and some rounds of drinks later, and we were ready for the evening entertainment: a KCZ/Swiss Korfball quiz. Although Team LU-LU initially pulled ahead with their impressive recognition of teammates and interpretation of graphs, it was Team Lou-Lou who emerged victorious thanks to their musical and social media prowess, with Team Grrr coming in a strong third place. Several more rounds of Grosser Dalmuti kept us entertained long into the night, until it was time to cosy up to the sound of cows bells outside. The next morning brought the unfortunate early departure of Louise, but also a return of the sunshine and a fantastic breakfast spread of fresh Zopf, jams and cheeses. The rest of the day was passed at and in the lake in Sarnen, with water games, bbq leftovers and of course, some more Grosser Dalmuti. Before getting onto the train back to Zurich, one final holiday treat: a trip to the gelateria, where we were spoilt for choice with so many delicious flavours. Happily tired and only a little sunburnt, we boarded the train, already dreaming of the next mountain hut visit.

A big thank you to Luzia and her mum for inviting us once again to stay in the hut and providing an amazing breakfast, and to Lieke for organising the weekend and planning the quiz, as well as to Carra for her input!

KCZ Korfball Clinic and Match Day

When Kees Verhoeven, Head Coach of the Irish National team, travels all the way to Switzerland for a training, you can be sure it is going to be a good one. As part of a Korfball clinic, he taught our players everything from how to improve our passing and shooting to game tactics and further Korfball tips and tricks. Kees, who is also a former coach of several youth teams in the biggest club of The Netherlands, PKC, was able to help us a great deal. With his encouraging attitude and great sense of humour, he taught and entertained us the entire afternoon. Not only KCZ players, also players from Basel and Bern were present, and it was simultaneously also a great exchange between clubs. Kees did not only have great advice for new players, but also for the more experienced ones. After the strenuous training, we enjoyed a well-deserved dinner at Frau Gerold's Garten. We'd like to thank Kees again for his brilliant Clinic and Louise and Lieke for the organisation!

The following day, we had a match day, where Basel, Zurich and one delegate from Lausanne met for some friendly matches. We could put the theory from Kees right into practice and get some further Korfball advice from him. After several mixed games, we had a final battle: boys against girls. Both teams put up a great fight to a 5-5 score. The match was then won by the girls in a penalty shootout.

KCZ and Friends

The 2021 edition of our traditional tournament KCZ and Friends brought together lots of players: new, experienced, some playing together for years, others playing together for the first time as a scratch team for the occasion. Several Swiss teams were present, the Welsh and Germans formed a team, and an entire delegation came from the Netherlands, all hoping to win the coveted trophy.

KCZ and Friends does not only guarantee great Korfball games, but also friendly exchange with old and new KCZ friends. We were very happy to welcome several former players including their children at the side of the field. After everyone had played against each other, the tournament ended with a nail-biting final between Lausanne/Bern and the Tukkers from the Netherlands. A win for the Tukkers meant they didn't go home empty-handed, congratulations!

A wonderful tournament, thank you to the organiser, Luzia, and participants for a successful event. We can't wait for next year!

European Korfball Championship (EKC)

We are very proud of the Swiss national team, which has - for the first time - qualified for the European Korfball Championships! During the qualification games in Ukraine, which took place in autumn 2019, some of our Zurich players contributed to the fantastic achievement of the Swiss team.

We are thrilled that after the tournament was postponed in 2020, it will now take place between 4th and 9th October 2021 in Wroclaw, Poland. Participating in such an international tournament means that we need quite a bit of money. Not only for flights, accommodation, food and tournament fees, but also for a new set of t-shirts, hall rentals and preparation training costs. In order to send our team to Poland, we successfully accomplished this crowdsourcing. We could raise enough money to pay for preparation trainings and minimise the amount our players pay themselves. This contribution not only helped out the Swiss National team and our Zurich representatives, we also supported a team sport that embodies diversity and gender equality. Our team consists of players from various different backgrounds, and as the only mixed-gender team sports, we stand for gender equality.

Thank you very much for your help!

KCZ Summer Weekend 2021

Hike, play korfball, sleep, repeat! You all know our usual summer weekend procedure, but yet, every year is a little different. This year, we started a bit later and met in Sarnen on Saturday for many rounds of Korfball. Having 8 members meant proper 4 v 4 games. We played until it started to rain. Due to the excessive korfball playing and consequential sweating, we didn’t shy away from a rainy swim in the lake.

All freshened up, we arrived at the hut in Langis, where we started preparations for our barbecue dinner. A social evening was ahead of us, with games, drinks, food and many laughs.
On the next day, we initially planned a long hike. As the weather conditions were not good enough, we cancelled the plans but got up early anyway for a shorter hike. All geared up, we made our way to Jänzi. We even carried a korfball along with us.
Our highlight were probably the very friendly goats which welcomed us excitedly on their pasture and even followed us for quite a bit up the hill.

Overall, we can look back on a successful weekend in the Swiss mountains, sadly not with perfect conditions this time, but definitely with a great time amongst friends.

“In my head”, story of the Alp League 2021 by a newcomer

On 26th June, we played in the Alp League, the Swiss national championships. In order to give you an impression of the day, one of our newest members Grägi has summarised his experience in form of a story.

Awesome! It’s the 26th of June, day of the Alp League, and I wake up on time. Thanks to my two alarm clocks, I have no worry of oversleeping. I take a quick shower and I have a long breakfast. I do not need to pack my stuff, as it is already done, so now I can stroll to Zurich main station. As planned, I am on time at our meeting point, and all the other teammates too. The train is rolling, and I think: let the adventure begin! But the trip will be long and I am a bit sleepy, so I am having a siesta first.
After a while, I join the discussion. Since it is my first official game, I am also being tested on the rules by the coach. What conditions are necessary to consider a shot defended? More time passes, and I will not elaborate on the black and white cows grazing on grass as well as the grapevine basking in the warm sun, the train journey goes too quickly for that.

We arrive on time in Lausanne carrying the winner’s cup from the previous Alp League. There is good news, as a result of the coin toss, we rest for the first game. We can thus spy on our opponents, Basel and Lausanne. The first one has several tall and fast players, while the latter has an energetic coach. But there is also bad news, during the warmup I notice that my shoes are slightly too small for my feet. It is going to be painful. Painful start to the tournament for us too, as we lose the first game against Basel, albeit it was close. I did a few position mistakes, but my passes were ok, and I even had a chance to score. Our coach motivates us and suggests simple improvements, the watchword for next game is simple: play tighter to the Korf. And it works marvellously as we win against Lausanne!

Now we have a break before the next games. Like in the morning, we rest for the first game. We can observe Basel and Lausanne play. Unbeaten Basel wins and now it is our turn to play against Lausanne. We need to play even better than before; for that, our coach gives us the following watchword: clean passes. And the victory is clearly ours again. But there is no time to celebrate as the last game of the tournament against Basel is about to start. It will be a hard and tense game as it will decide the Swiss champion. If the other team wins or if there is a draw, they will have had an almost clear round today and be champion. If our team wins, we should be Swiss champion thanks to the goal difference. The game starts. It is as expected a very intense game and both teams have many opportunities to score. Still, it is a draw after 10 minutes. So, for the last half time, we focus on our main asset, pass to the female Dutch sharpshooters of our division: Louise and Janita.

And they did it, Zürich did it, we won! The victory is clear, and it was for sure the best game of the tournament. I can remove my shoes, and fully enjoy the sunny afternoon. We all move to the lake, where there is the official award ceremony. We are all together: people from the three teams as well as the enthusiastic referee. And we are celebrating korfball by drinking a beer, chatting and sunbathing together. And in harmony with the atmosphere, some pizza for dinner. But in the end, we cannot stay too late as the trip home is still long for us. We continue celebrating on our way home, during the walk, in the train, at the station. Now I go home. We are Swiss champions. Awesome!

KCZ's 2020 – A Korfbination of Madness and Success

Winter

2020 started off with things still very normal for us, when some of us travelled to Edinburgh to represent Swiss Korfball at the Edinburgh tournament. We had a great time!
We also went to a pub quiz in Kennedy's pub in January, little tip for the future: always bring Rob, he knows eeeeverything!
In January, we also had our legendary winter weekend, ate some raclette, built some snowmen and had president Gian Reto tackle them. And finally end of February, we held the first official Swiss Korfball match day in Zurich.
What a lovely winter/spring it was, with 16 trainings and 8 people attending on average. But then...

Spring

Everyone loves spring, except for spring 2020. You know why, no need to say the c-word. No, not that one, the other c-word, ending in -19 ;). In spring, we had to stop trainings, but luckily, our ever-creative Jet organised several online-trainings and a special training for our 2nd birthday on April 4th. Various online quizzes and digital meet ups helped us to get through the months and to keep up the KCZ team spirit.

Summer

Oh look, numbers are down, no second wave in sight, we’ve won the fight!
The seemingly good summer with low numbers meant that we could train again, and also travel to Lausanne for games and BBQ at the lake, how lovely it was!
Followed by the match day in Basel and Zurich, where we could play actual games. Seems very odd, looking back now! Also, we were able to go on our summer weekend, which was just the distraction and normality we all needed. And fearing our dear Louisa might leave soon, we had a brilliant after-training-social in Prime Tower with lovely views over the city. On top of that, Louisa even stayed a bit longer :).

Autumn

The ASVZ sports week in September was probably the last event where everything went according to plan and the c* virus did not intervene.
Happy too early, said the second wave. Surging numbers meant only restricted trainings, and they also cost Basel’s Renate some nerves, when she tried to organise the coaching course in October. After Leon Simmons was not allowed to enter Switzerland anymore, Renate found a great alternative and we could practice our coaching and playing skills over a weekend.
Besides the great coaching weekend, Melina also invited us to a fun board game night, and during training breaks, we visited a training in Basel and vice versa.

Winter

With the numbers not improving much, we had to restrict our trainings to only few people from October onwards and wear masks at all times. December 10th was our very last training of the year, as sports were no longer allowed. We thank all our members for supporting our club, even during the hardest times. We had an average of 5.25 players during the corona trainings, which is pretty amazing! We are hopeful that we will have trainings again soon and that all our members stay happy and healthy!

2020 Highlights

Besides all the Korfball achievements of 2020, we’d like to point out a few more from the lives of our members.
2020 brought us two new KCZ newcomers, Mirjam’s daughter Emma Marie Leana Faye and Paul’s daughter Maris Rosalin. We wish the two happy families all the best for 2021!
In October 2020, Rob and Anne tied the knot, congratulations to Mr. and Mrs Sayers!
In November, we awarded Louisa the honorary member’s certificate, for being generally awesome, fun, and for having done so incredibly much for our club, three cheers to Louisa!
Despite the difficulties, we also gained new members in 2020, we’re very happy to have Janita, Louise, Nanni, Patrick and Marc who joined us in 2020, which makes a total of 23 members (including our two honorary members Jet and Louisa).

So despite all the restrictions, we have managed to spend a lot of time with our club and our Korfball friends. We’d like to thank all of you for your help and support and we are really proud to be part of KCZ.

We wish you all the best for 2021 and hope to see you soon!

Gian Reto, Luzia, Rob, Paul, Fabienne
KCZ Committee

ASVZ Sports Week

We had the opportunity to take part In the ASVZ Sports week in September. At the beginning of the semester, the Academic Sports Association always offers a lot of activities and introduces the students to new sports, and korfball was one of them.

In order to motivate as many students as possible to join our training, we started a small advertising campaign. We put up a korf near the University of Irchel and organised a throwing competition. The prizes: Muffins from Aryzta and sesame bars from Gebana. The tall, yellow korf caused a sensation, and the delicious prizes also attracted many students. We distributed over 250 prizes and flyers!

The campaign was effective and we welcomed a good number of students to the training. They were full of expectations and stared at 3.50 m Korf in awe. “It’s so high,” some of them said. After overcoming the initial shock, our coach Louise introduced the newcomers to the sport. Everyone practiced passing and throwing until we soon played the first game with simplified rules. While we could already spot some Korfball talents among the crowd, what struck us most were the broad grins on everyone’s faces. Although the sport was new for all participants, everyone had fun and scored many goals. We had fun and appreciated the enthusiasm of the participants. We hope to see them again soon in one of our trainings.

KCZ Summer Weekend 2020

With the biggest crew we’ve had so far, we started into yet another summer weekend in Langis. We hiked from Glaubenbielen to Langis, where we would stay the night. Our mountain guide and hut owner Luzia took us on a picturesque path over fields, mountain ridges and down some slippery slopes. Our former coach Jet, who came all the way from Japan, entertained us with some quirky Japan stories, Eve told us everything about Indonesia and Australia, our president Gian Reto led the way and photographer Silvie caught the best moments on camera.

After reaching the hut, the juicy meat and smoked vegetables from the grill felt like a blessing. We got more company from late-joiners Massimo (thanks for the grilling!), Afke and Anouk, and spent a fun evening with card games, wine and many laughs. We enjoyed team bonding at its best with Marc imitating a seahorse in the best way possible, Fabienne getting overwhelmed by having two hands at a clapping game and Rob confusing a Full English Breakfast with a kiss.

On Sunday, Luzia served us a lovely breakfast and Louisa added some fresh croissants. Despite the bad forecast, the weather decided to stay sunny and quite warm, so we played some mountain Korfball with amazing views. Janita and Melina scored many goals, and we all had a blast. To cool down, we went to Lake Sarnen, where we were joined by our latest member Aleks. We had a swim – and played some more Korfball. Here’s to another great summer weekend!

Lake Day in Lausanne

After months of not meeting the other Swiss korfball teams, we enjoyed a sunny afternoon of Korfball by the lake in Lausanne. We started with some great (but exhausting) 4v4 games mixed with the other Swiss clubs. After we'd all got our breath back, we moved onto a full 8v8 game which was eventually won by Lausanne. We finished off the Korfball side of the day with a shooting competition which was won for KCZ by our new player Marc who also came home with the best new player of the day trophy.

After our games there was much swimming in the lake, good food, drinks and catch-up with the other clubs. We had a great day and thanks very much to Lausanne for hosting.

KCZ Winter Weekend 2020

After going viral last year with our Snow Korfball photos, we decided to spend another weekend in Luzia’s mountain hut in Langis – for some snow korfball and fun, not just the pictures, of course. Luckily, the sun was shining, and we could play some snow korfball in just t-shirts. While there was not as much snow as last year, we still managed to build our newest KCZ member, Mr. Snowman.

In a very Swiss manner, we had a lovely raclette for dinner and played board games in the evening. Attempting to capture the sunrise, some of us got up very early, but sadly the clouds decided to cover the sun. Nevertheless, the start into the day succeeded with some tasty traditional Zopf and Birchermüsli for breakfast. The team bonding was successful, and we had yet another great snow weekend with many laughs!

KCZ & Friends 2019

KCZ and Friends is our traditional tournament – born last year – where we invite clubs from near and far to compete in a fun competition. This one was our second edition, and we were able to welcome more clubs than last year! With Korfball Supernova from London, we have found a loyal friend, who undertook the journey from London to Zurich for the second time already.

Moreover, our friends from Korfball Basel joined with a strong team, and we had a fourth team comprising the clubs of Lausanne and Bern, with some additional friends from Scotland and Bristol. This year, we even had a visit from Kevin Allen from the International Korfball Federation, who gave some of our players an introduction into coaching and refereeing and showed the support from the IKF for Korfball in Switzerland. A lovely international mix of teams!

The tournament was structured into a group phase and a final phase. In the group phase, each team played each other team once, which led to a first ranking. The final phase then decided the winner, and showed that still everything was possible: Supernova were able to win the tournament and the team of Lausanne/Bern who came last in the group phase was able to turn the tables and come second. It was an exciting day with a lot of game experience for all teams.

One of the highlights for everyone was the dinner we all had together, followed by a visit to the Zurich Christmas marked, where we all indulged in mulled wine and hot chocolates. Thanks to Supernova, Korfball Club Basel, Kevin and all other visitors for a successful tournament!

KCZ Summer Weekend 2019

What happens if you mix Dutch, British and Swiss people and tell them to spend a weekend? I can tell you: mountains, hiking, korfball, bbq, drinks, cake, tea, swimming, games, star gazing and lots and lots of fun.

After last year’s somewhat rainy summer weekend meant we were mostly confined to the hut, we were delighted to be luckier with the weather this year: perfect conditions for a hike, not too hot a little cloudy but also sunny. We started early in the morning in Langis and set off towards our goal: the Feuerstein. Hearing of the planned 5.5h hike with more than 500m ascent almost scared off the flat country / Dutch among us, but as soon as we switched from the road to the hiking trail, it became clear that the Dutch women among us were perfectly at home climbing mountains. After a short but steep climb we reached the ridge and were rewarded with a wonderful view. When we reached the summit, we took the opportunity to record our ascent in the summit book and then gave ourselves a lunch break. The 600m descent along the ridge via Rickhubel led us through various landscapes and made us forget the everyday urban life of Zurich. Back in the Langis we enjoyed a well-deserved cool drink and with alphorn sounds from the slope next door, it couldn't have been more traditional Swiss.

We relocated our relaxation session to the hut and raised our legs a bit, with the exception of a few busy bees who were chopping wood and lighting fires, ensuring we had a great BBQ to refuel after the day’s hard work. In fact we had so much food, we probably could have fed a dozen more! A peaceful evening of chat, games and star gazing rounded off the day perfectly.

The next day went just as smoothly, if a little more chilled out. Breakfast outside in the sun with homemade Zopf, and then of course, we couldn't resist shooting a few korfs. Fortunately, there is a more or less flat area on a mountain where a dedicated group can play korfball, as long as you don’t stray too close to the edge! After a short detour to Honegg to enjoy the view, we moved the party back to the valley and ended the weekend at the lake in Sarnen with a swim and ice cream.

We're eagerly looking forward to next time!

KCZ turns one!

Time flies! We have only just celebrated signing the statutes and becoming a club, and now we celebrate the club's first birthday already. A lot has happened over the last year, we set up regular trainings, a committee, we have been to our first tournaments in and outside of Switzerland, we are regularly visiting Swiss Korfball trainings, we had many socials, including the legendary winter weekend and we have acquired a total of 20 members!

To celebrate the club achievements, we held a special anniversary training, followed by birthday cake and anniversary drinks. While our lovely Jet carefully planned a fun training session, the committee arranged it to be interrupted after every exercise in order to reward someone for their special achievements. Shoutout to all our award winners:

And last but not least, best Swiss Korfball club: Korfball Club Zurich. Our friends from Lausanne and Basel are welcome to challenge us. We are proud of the achievements of the last year and are very much looking forward to what the future brings. Happy birthday KCZ!

KCZ Winter Weekend 2019

At the kind invitation of Luzia, a few members of KCZ (and wider Swiss Korfball players) spent an incredible weekend in Luzia's family's mountain hut, and held the first KCZ snow training session! We got plenty of curious looks and questions from passers-by as we tried to adjust to shooting whilst on unstable snow, diving after rouge balls that threatened to escape down the mountain, and mastered a new kind of korfball shot, the sledging-in shot!

Of course, it wouldn't be a Swiss mountain hut experience without some raclette and board games in the evening, and the weekend was made even more magical by star-gazing at night and then getting up for the sunrise the next morning.

A huge thank you goes to Luzia and her family for organising the weekend and accommodating us, and we're all very excited to go back in half a year for the summer weekend!

KCZ & Friends: the first korfball tournament in Switzerland

Since the launch of the Korfball Club Zurich on the 4th of April 2018, it was just a matter of time before the first matches would take place. With players having korfball friends across the whole of Europe, we decided the best idea was to organise our own tournament with international competitors.

And so, on Saturday 29th of September, all club members came together, a unique moment which enabled us to field not just one but two teams: Zurich Serious & Zurich Fun. Our competitors, Supernova Korfball club, flew in from London. We also formed a mixed scratch team in which we all played together, for added fun and game time.

The first match was immediately an important one. Stuart had the great opportunity to beat his former teammates. So the target was clear: Win, regardless of how. The match was played in a killer pace. Before the spectators opened their eyes, the score was already 2-2. Then, Zurich Serious took the lead, showing extreme sharpness in shooting and allowing us to record the first club match ever in the books as a win of 12-5.

The Zurich Fun team had serious fun. All played to the best of their capabilities, with some playing their first match ever with a big smile on their face. The team also made really cool goals with quick running in moves, short shots, as well as long distance shots. It was wonderful to see the level of play improve from everyone throughout the day.

As the last match rolled around, Supernova and Zurich Serious were in the top two positions, resulting in a great final game. Having already played a full day, maintaining a strong focus was important for us, as well as a strong mentality to not give in to the tiredness of the body. Given the unique opportunity to win our own tournament, all players were fully ready to beat Supernova another time.

The match started with some nerves. Some shots were taken too quick, which enabled Supernova to keep up the required level. It was exactly at that time, that Geoff finally found his long distance shot. After several matches of trying, now the results showed off. With two shots in a row he put Zurich in a good position. The other four took over and it was done. Louisa found her easy position to shoot behind the post and Duncan was as usual everywhere in the field to collect balls.

Half-time and it was already 8-3 to us, so we could enjoy the second half. Jet and Afke were both in the running for the top scorer position. However, both preferred to see other players attempting to make their first goal. And so it happened. Gian Reto used his super speed to surprise his opponent and scored. Anouk put several shots up, cool as usual, and in the surprising moments that she did not make it, our rebound was extremely well organised by Kristian. All came together as a team, resulting in a clear win for KC Zurich and placing us as the first winners ever of a korfball tournament organised in Switzerland.

A huge thanks to Cat and Stu who put in a lot of organisation for the day, and to our guests who travelled to join us in this special moment. We can all look back to a great day with fair play, a lot of fun and some top results.

A new tradition is born.