History of the U19 Junior World Cup in a nutshell

In 1996 the former district of the Royal Dutch Korfball Association (KNKV) named Friesland organised an inaugural tournament for U 19 players from countries all over the world.
The tournament was the idea of the late Jan Hanekroot who was then the IKF Development Officer for England. He had assistance from Oebele Idema, Jacob Woudstra and Wim van Gorkum who helped to organise the first tournament in Veenwouden, a village east of the Frisian capital Leeuwarden.

 

The first tournament involved five countries and was very successful and since then the JWC has grown throughout the years in quality and quantity. In recent years the district Friesland united with district North and now clubs from the three Northern provinces of the Netherlands organise the tournament in cooperation with the District Committee International Korfball (DWIK).

 

Jan Scheenstra was also instrumental in developing this tournament and until his death in 2004 Jan had devoted a lot of energy to making this project very successful.
In 2007 Wim van Gorkum was awarded the badge of honour from the District North for his efforts over a period of 12 years with the JWC. From 2007 Geert Keuning, assisted by Jacob Jonker from DWIK, took the lead.

Till 2010 the winning country of the final was awarded the Klaas van Weperen Cup for one year. Klaas van Weperen was a former President of the KNKV district Friesland.

The Netherlands’ representation in the tournament began with a regional Frisian team and was followed in subsequent years by the Junior Talent Team from District North. In recent times since 2008, the national under19 squad has been participating in the tournament.

From the 15th edition at the request of IKF, the tournament is called U19 Junior World Cup. Also from the 15th edition the tournament will be organised by the same club(s) for three successive years.

 

Today the U19 JWC is the biggest annual international korfball tournament for players under 19 in the world. Moreover the tournament is patronised by the International Korfball Federation (IKF). The tournament is played over 3 days, traditionally starting on Good Friday and it is an important event in the IKF calendar.

In 2011 the 16th edition will be played.