Let’s talk about Olympic legacy in Sunny Colch; let’s talk about the vague pre-election CBC sweetener last year with the £2k ward purse for every Colchester Borough Councillor to spend in their own hyper hyperlocal patch. Let’s talk about how this has bugger all to do with the Olympics.
Or rather let’s not.
There’s no such thing as a *shhh* Big Society, etc, but sometimes you just have to get on and Do It Yourself.
Which brings us back to the brilliant Colchester Wildcats Korfball Club.
Most blog posts around these parts seem to of late.
No bad thing…
And so less than six months after becoming Colchester’s first korfball club, the Wildcats have already represented Britain’s Oldest Recorded in a Cambridge korfball tournament; regular squad training sessions are in place at the Colchester Academy on Tuesday evenings, and now the Wildcats are about to deliver their own sporting legacy.
Blimey.
Time for another Chronic catch up then with Ben Hall, the founder of the first korfball club in Sunny Colch.
So tell us all about these Sportivate sessions that you have planned…
“At Colchester Wildcats we know that Korfball is great exercise, very sociable and encourages team play. We love playing Korfball and enjoy its benefits every week and we want to give young people the chance to try this fantastic sport. So we have organised six introductory Korfball sessions for young people. The first two are completely free and the next four cost only £2 per session.”
That’s quite some commitment. It also shows some vision for forward planning. As The Chronic knows only too well, those korfball knees ‘aint gonna keep you going past the age of, oooh, 35 or so.
And so who is making all of this possible?
[That's a polite way of asking Ben about the funding...]
“These sessions have been funded by a scheme called Sportivate. This is lottery funding designed to give young people easy access to sports. Its part of the Olympic legacy and is aimed at inspiring a generation through sport. This is all arranged through an organisation called Active Essex whose goal is to promote sport in Essex.”
Job’s a good ‘un, etc.
I believe the children are our future, etc?
“The sessions are specifically aimed at 14-21 year olds although anyone up to 25 is included in Sportivate target group so we will happily have them along too.”
And so you turn up at The Academy along Hawthorn Avenue on the evening of 12th February at 8pm, and what can any young (ish) korfball pup in Sunny Colch expect from Sportivate?
“The main emphasis of all Wildcats Korfball sessions are fun and the Sportivate sessions are no exception. Participants will also get some great exercise and get to meet a lot of new friends. Korfball is a great way to get fit without really noticing as you are busy playing the game and learning a new sport.”
If you like it then you could even stick around and see how the Wildcats, um, run wild during their *proper* training session from 9-10pm. Expect to hear cries of GIRL FEED! TIGHT! and SWITCH!
It’s a korfball thing, Comrades.
And finally whilst we have the ear of Mr Wildcat, how the chuffers did the Cambridge tournament go for the Colchester Wildcats?
“The Cambridge tournament was a fantastic experience for us. As 75% of our team had never played a full Korfball game before we were always going to struggle to win matches against much more experienced opposition. However as the day progressed we improved massively and the results reflected that. As well as learning a lot about the game, the team were very impressed with the warmth and friendliness of the members of the Korfball community who were there.”
If you want to leave your own Olympic legacy in Sunny Colch then you can bypass any ward purse clutching CBC councillor and head to the Academy along Hawthorn Avenue on 12th February at 8pm.
Just do it, etc.
