IWGA Athlete of the Month April 2015
Congratulations to Mady Tims, IWGA Athlete of the Month for April 2015. The Korfball player (38) from the Netherlands gave her farewell at the Dutch Korfball League Finale on 11 April. More than 10,000 spectators at the sold-out Ahoy arena in Rotterdam experienced the touching goodbye. She left the court right after her PKC/SWK Groep teammate, Johannis Schott, scored four seconds before the end the winning point.
With a huge cheer from her fans, white tulips from her teammates, and tears in her eyes, it was a moment to be cherished. Her club, PKC, won the final match against TOP by a score of 22 to 21. Mady Tims left the court as a champion. She helped to make it happen by scoring a point in the final. It was the 500th korf in her career as a player for PKC.
The English commentator of the match described her as the “most fantastic player in the world of Korfball”. Jan Fransoo, President of the International Korfball Federation, called her, “a korfball icon”. She said after the match and her emotional farewell, “Korfball is my passion”. She added, “There are so many great moments I can look back to.”
Indeed, “Lady” (her nickname) Tims is a three-time European Champion, and three-time World Champion with the national team of the Netherland. The Dutch team, with her help, won the TWG 2005 Gold Medal in Duisburg, Germany.
“Winning the title with PKC made my last match so special”, she said after the match in Rotterdam in April. That’s the way she likes to step down. In 2011 when she retired from the Dutch national team, it was the final of the World Championships in China. The title match against the archrival Belgium was her final international competition. She scored three times for her team, which won 32:26.
Watch her last match and the emotional moment of her substitution four seconds before the end of the final on The World Games Channel.
Learn more about Korfball on The World Games Channel.
Photo Credits: http://www.actiefotografie.nl/
