On a rainy Saturday morning, 14 representatives from OKA teams attended a referee theory course in Oxford. 
The course was led by Matt McConville (OKA referee development officer) and was split into two elements; an interactive presentation followed by an examination of rule knowledge. 
Everyone who came took lots of useful insights away and plenty of the attendees passed their exam with a few ‘near misses’ who will be invited to re-sit in the next few weeks. 
I know several senior referees in the area will be able to mentor these brilliant new referees to get some practical experience and start to get to grips with the rules in a game setting. The more support that any new referee can get; the easier it will be for them to improve. 
Thanks should go to all who attended, joined in and made it worthwhile. 
A special thank you should also be given to Fiona Jelley of Oxford City, for allowing us to use the perfect venue at the University’s Norham Gardens facility. 
If you have interest or queries about the OKA’s commitment to referee development, don’t hesitate to contact Matt McConville to discuss them.

The OKA AGM is being held at 4pm on Saturday 6th May at Tatham Hall, The Northcourt Centre, Northcourt Road, Abingdon, OX14 1NS. Please arrive at 4pm for a 4.15pm start. The meeting will finish by 7pm at the latest. 
Please remember that any agenda items should be submitted by 14th April. Anything received after that deadline will be discussed at the Chair’s discretion.

It would be nice to share some cakes at the start of the meeting, so if anyone is able to bring something along, please let Ruth know.
 
There have been quite a few open roles this season and we are looking to elect a full committee this year. The league will not run unless core roles are filled.  It would be brilliant if it was possible to have someone representing every club on the committee, so please can you and your club members to consider whether they are willing to get involved? The past year we have been having meetings over Skype which has vastly reduced the travelling time involved and we have tried to limit the meetings to one and a half hours. A summary of all the committee roles soon, but if you have any questions in the meantime, please do get in touch with the current committee.

​Reading Korfball Club took the bronze at the BUCS Nationals Plate competition last weekend in Sheffield and now they have won the 'most improved club' at the Reading University Sports Awards. (A club of 5 members 2 years ago to 50 this season).

Feedback on a refereeing performance is available if requested at whatever stage of the progression pathway a participant is on.
This opportunity will be available on a best endeavours basis to referees in the OKA and will be tailored to try to suit the referee and the assessor.
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Like all skills; practice makes permanent, so the OKA is keen to promote rules mentoring as it is an important way the OKA can help its clubs by offering support with an opportunity to discuss face to face the practical aspects of rule application as well as offering referees further pathways to develop to their potential.

More supporting documents for reffing can be found here:
Refs Documents

The Chris Carter Cup will be taking place in the Oxford area on Saturday 13th May 2017 with matches throughout the day across two sports halls.
Following this there will also be an evening event on the 13th May, for all clubs, so please put it in your diaries!  It will be great to see as many people as possible.  We will present end of season awards, and generally celebrate a fun year.  The location will be in central Oxford.

The Senior Inter Area competition is taking place on Saturday 20th May, at the Spiceball Leisure Centre in Banbury (1min from Junction 11 on the M40).

It's a high level competition and the area will be entering a team. Please contact Dan Hibbs, OKA Chair, if you are interested in being considered for selection.  More details on pre-tournament training sessions will follow.

Also, the OKA are hosting this year, so if you are willing to help out with the organisation on the day please contact the OKA committee.  We mainly need stewards to point people in the right direction, film the matches and help the EKA keep track of scores.  Any help will be really appreciated!

​Fancy trying a new sport in January that combines basketball, netball and many new skills?
All of the OKA Korfball Clubs welcome new players but for the start of the New Year there are some sessions focusing on beginners.

Oxford Isis Korfball Club are having a beginners training session on Monday 16th January 6.30pm - 8.30pm at Rye St Antony School, Franklin Road, Oxford, OX3 7SA.

Abingdon Atoms Korfball club are running a free 4 week beginners’ course on Thursday evenings between 12th January and 2nd February (8:00pm – 9:15pm at Abingdon and Witney College Sports Hall, Wootton Road, Abingdon, OX14 1GG).

Oxford City Korfball are running a Monday session for beginners on 23rd January at 6:30pm - 8:00pm at Spires Academy, Glanville Rd, Oxford OX4 2AU.

Didcot Dragons are having a special beginners taster session on Tuesday 31st January from 8:00pm - 10:00pm at Didcot Girls School, Manor Crescent, Didcot, OX11 7AJ.

If you want to try Korfball at any of the clubs in the OKA now is a great time to get started so contact your local club now. 

On Saturday 19th November the Guilford based Ref training with Paul Jeanes went well. There were 14 attendees for the course with representatives from Reading Uni, Southampton University, Southampton City, Farnborough Jets as well as the organising club Guildford Thunder. Congratulations to the 10 attendees attained a pass mark, which is outstanding for the area, and a big thank you to all those made this course such a success! 
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On the very next weekend Martin Hurajt ran a course in Oxford where a further 11 new refs gained their theory qualification. This is tremondous for the area and we look forward to all the korfball that will be possible due to these exceptional individuals providing and attending referee training.

The Korfballers have won their second round match on Only Connect showing they have brains as well as brawn.
This has prompted headlines in the Oxford Mail. We wish the team luck in the third round. 

Hi everyone,

​The season has started, and there's been a few housekeeping questions asked after the opening weekend that are worth making sure everyone is aware of:

​Pitch marking
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If the hall being used doesn't have korfball marking (e.g. St Greg's) it's the responsibility of the HOME team to bring pitch tape and mark out the pitch before the game starts.  For St Greg's, if this is done for the first match of the day with good quality pitch tape it should hopefully last the entire day (or just need touching up subsequently).  It's the responsibility of the ref to ensure the pitch markings have been laid.  It's up to clubs how you organise it, but I'd suggest it's worthwhile more than one person in each team bringing pitch tape just in case...

Match start time and warm-ups at St Greg's

At St Greg's the matches REALLY have to start on time. 

There is only 75mins allocated to each fixture, so with time outs and half time, that doesn't leave much spare time.  Pre-match warmup should be done outside to ensure players are ready to start on time.  It's really not fair on the teams playing last in the day if their match time is cut short due to previous teams not starting promptly.  On court warmups/pre-match drills can only happen IF there is spare time in between matches.  If there is no spare time, the referee should just start the match at the allocated time, as teams should already have warmed up physically.

​Delays do sometimes happen in-avoidably (e.g. injuries), but I'd ask everyone to try their best to help the referee get the subsequent match(es) started on time.    If a match starts late, the referee should reduce the length of half time to try and get back on track.  It's also an option to reduce the number of time-outs allowed if this is needed (this should be communicated to coaches/captains at the start).  Please support the referees in their attempts to get the schedule back on track.

Thanks everyone.

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