CJF's DiSCUSSION #6 - Everyday I'm Shufflin'

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In this edition, Chris Ford talks about the Shuffle Cup, 2012 and FIKA Awards.

It’s that time again!

First blog of 2012 and it feels great. Last year was such a success for Koneball as a sport with the MKA forming and executing four tournaments with style, and the KA also producing a fabulous display of skill & technique. They have both in their own ways brought another dimension to the game and how it should be played.

In the last event of 2011, the KA Shuffle Cup was won by Stewart van Nieuwkerk and Phil Hannaford, which the latter can now put the title next to his other three on the mantelpiece. It was domination from the off when they pulled out a streak of 7 odd wins in a row. They were halfway there by then (the winning total being 15) and looked to continue the amazing run. Other teams then entered the fray and brought it right to the last match where it was 14 a piece, and it was insanely tense. They pulled through in the end and celebrated in a fashionable manner – by raising the Kone to the packed out capacity in the Kage.

It ended out working quite well – we all remembered what total we had and what order to rotate in and we caught it all on film, but I don’t think we will be organising it in the future again as an official event. There’s not much time to get going and your time on the court could be between 5 seconds and 5 minutes, which causes all kinds of fuss and complaints. Especially if a decision doesn’t go your way or you gift a silly goal to the opposition. We had plenty of that. When I say we, I mean me and Andrew Jackson. We finished with only 3 goals - me scoring all of them – compared to 15, 14 and 11 respectively. Not good. My verdict on the Shuffle Cup is that it could be great to play with newcomers or you just want to play with a reasonable amount of people in one go.

So here we step into 2012, and we have a lot planned for Koneball this year with the usual suspects – the KA. I can’t say what yet, but you will all soon find out. One thing we are all close to finding out is the results to the 2011 FIKA Awards.

Great highlights mean a good advert for Koneball, and there’s plenty of skill involved in all the goals that are showcased. I’m nominated for a few, but I can’t say too much as I’m sure people will start moaning about bias etc. Just please don’t vote mine as the worst miss. Please.

That’s about it really, I thought I’d post something as I haven’t in just over a month, but I am planning to make a habit of posting on a certain date. When the league starts, I’ll post my two cents after each of my league games so you can get some insight on how I’ve done.

So people, here’s to 2012!