“Sweet Home Alabama!”
About eight years ago, in early November 2015, I arrived in Birmingham for the first time. I drove in from Tennessee via Interstate 22. It was in the afternoon, with a clear blue sky and the sun at a certain angle over the city, and I was immediately captivated, besides the fact that my sport, my hobby, and a significant part of my life—korfball, would play a major role here at The World Games 2021 (which was postponed to TWG 2022 due to the Covid pandemic). The warm welcome in Birmingham, which later led to forming genuine friendships, still makes me enjoy coming back here. I’ve been here about seven times now.
After the amazing weekend in Chattanooga, I arrive in Birmingham two and a half hours later. I can’t check into my hotel yet, but there are plenty of reasons to take some detours, do some shopping, and explore. Unfortunately, my first contact, the head of the Birmingham School System, is at the ASAHPERD (Alabama State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance) conference in Hoover, a bit further south. Each state in the US has its own …HPERD organization that holds conferences twice a year, where PE teachers go to learn more, explore new sports and trends, and simply meet each other.
Immediately, my thoughts go back to 2016 and 2017 when I, along with Sjouke, had the opportunity to present korfball at this conference. We brought along the poles and bases produced in America, as well as the baskets from the Netherlands, in our car, and we met Sherri at the huge conference center, shopping mall, and hotel there. We expected to have a sort of sports hall to let the PE teachers visiting us play korfball, but we ended up in a ballroom with a relatively low ceiling and four huge chandeliers, so we had to play around them. Miraculously, everyone succeeded with flying colors, which prevented a lot of later trouble.
In 2016, for our previous clinics and the korfball course we gave there, eight complete poles were purchased from the USKF, which were then stored at Ramsay High School. Last year, at the same school where both Chinese Taipei and Team NL had their training sessions during TWG 2022, I saw about eight to twelve new poles of the type we also have within our association. Additionally, last year at the BJCC, alongside the hall where the korfball matches were played (with four poles), we counted about twenty poles. That means there were about forty poles in Birmingham during TWG 2022. Well, that’s enough korfball to play with, you could say! The story was that the Birmingham School System would receive these poles for their gym classes. Unfortunately, stories about this also vary.
It’s completely unclear what equipment is now in Birmingham, where it went, and whether it’s still being used. Sherri from the Birmingham School System says that korfball is played regularly at schools there and that the equipment is of a different origin than what was at the BJCC. My contact at the former Local Organizing Committee (after TWG 2022, this organization was dismantled at full speed, and everyone returned to their own roles and tasks) is searching through the archives and warehouses in and around Birmingham for me. The Athletic Director of Ramsay High School told us that the first eight poles were lost in the terrible fire they had in their gym about three years ago. Meanwhile, our new area manager wants to further develop ‘Iron City Korfball’ and simply needs equipment, and ordering seems so pointless knowing that there is so much!
The various visits on Tuesday to the University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) where we have a high-level contact, the visit to the A4one facility where they try to provide a platform for ‘lesser’ neighborhoods and disadvantaged youth as a non-profit organization and succeed in a great way, as well as the visit to a high school in the south of Birmingham, all show that the opportunities are indeed unprecedented, for every sport but also certainly for korfball! And every time, my enthusiasm gets a boost…
This busy Tuesday was the culmination of my impressive and inspiring visit to the USA. As an IKF Coach instructor; as Development Manager Northern Americas; as a coach within the USKF, I bring a lot of (korfball) knowledge, experience, and vision, but the dedication of the various organizers as well as the sports culture and mentality of Americans made these 12 days (with 3000 kilometers by car and 6 hotels) successful, inspiring, and above all, very fruitful.
I feel a lot of gratitude towards others. That I can do this (also privately 😊), that I get the opportunity for it, and the positive reactions from all over the world. I owe even more thanks to the people organizing this locally…
“In size, in (sports) mentality, in economy, and in potential, the USA is the only country that could defeat Team NL Korfball in the long term.”
Best, as always…
Coach Dankmar
