Building the basis in Borne

For our first match of the season the construction peeps had to travel to the familiar Borne. Before that we needed a solid foundation. For this we gathered at our usual keet; the sports centre. For this our Foreman Mart brought buns, which quickly started the feud between white vs brown buns; the century old discussion between fibers and grade of moisture.

After watching some other Harambee teams build a solid start of their season, we were well motivated to visit the construction site in Borne. Due to a forecast of possible rain, we decided to keep a roof over our travels to protect the curing concrete underneath from getting damaged (we went by car).

We were slightly understaffed, missing a few workers and even our leidinggevenden, but for this we got Rob in the place. Months later, teammates still reminisce about his use of novel technology and how he could draw the court on his tablet. We started the first set head-to-head but this foundation did not withstand the test of time and we let the opponent get the upper hand and their spirit continued well into the second set. Then we regrouped and showed them some honest competition. Each set we got closer but still lost them all with a clear gap.

The issues we faced were in line with any team shortly after the bouwvak. We lacked communication, calmness and unison. In the post-match discussion Rob pointed us at the JOTA. This famous acronym from the Dutch national construction team back when they were at the top of the world defines the ritual between points; Juichen of Janken (depending on winning or losing the point), O also stands for something, Taak (discuss what's next) and Aandacht (back into focus mode). Four things we clearly missed between points which allowed Apollo to walk right over us like a freshly laid pavement.

We started our season slow

And returned without points to show

Pizza Pollo

We could not follow

But have plenty of room to grow