Korfball changes lives of Batman students

The lives of some secondary school students in the southeastern province of Batman have changed after being introduced to korfball, a Dutch-based sport with similarities to basketball and netball, winning trophies in various tournaments in just six months.

Ahmet Ezgin, who was a physical education teacher at a secondary school in the province's Binatlı village, is the mastermind of this change.

Following three-months of training, Ezgin formed a 16-member korfball team with eight girls and eight boys this past January.

Istanbul's Marmara University donated all the team's jerseys, balls and baskets.

The Binatlı korfball team became a guide to another five secondary schools in the province and in April a korfball tournament was held in the province with six school teams.

Becoming a runner-up in the provincial tournament, Binatlı team gained the right to attend national contests.

The team ranked in the first eight teams in both contests in the Aegean province of Muğla and the northwestern province of Kocaeli.

Additionally, two students from the team got scholarships from two businessmen watching the matches.

"The kids loved the game," Ezgin said and announced the target for the team next year, saying," We want to be the champions."

Korfball was invented by Dutch school teacher Nico Broekhuysen in 1902. A korfball team consists of eight players: Four female and four male.

The sport is played in around 70 countries.

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