Dalto wants to stay clear of relegation worries this time, and starts in Sassenheim
Last season Dalto started with five defeats, and yet the team from Driebergen stayed in the Korfbal League. Now Jill Heijink and Koen Bückmann join, and tonight the second season in a row begins, away at TOP.
Automatically translated from Dutch. Read the Dutch original.
- Dalto stayed up last season after a start with five defeats.
- Jill Heijink and Koen Bückmann join, the staff stayed.
- Tonight away at TOP, where Dalto became champion of the Korfbal League 2 in 2025.
The first season in the Korfbal League was a tough learning experience. The first points only came in the sixth match, and straight away at DVO: 18‑19 at the eventual champion. After that Dalto won, among others, at home against PKC (31‑30). Five of the six wins were by one or two goals. Dalto finished with twelve points, the same as Unitas.
Jesper Oele, the coach, said after the last home match on Dalto's website: "This year we achieved the goal of staying up." And: "There is certainly still room for growth, I don't expect that we will lose the first five matches again. Next season we want to stay clear of relegation worries". Heijink tells the AD the same: "As a team we want to secure our place as quickly as possible and win the games we need to win."
The staff stayed: Oele and David Fokker coach Dalto 1. According to its own website, the club wants to "take the next step".
Read more: TOP back in the Korfbal League after four years and now wants to stay
Heijink and Bückmann join
For that, two players joined. Jill Heijink comes from TOP after five seasons. She explained to the AD why: "I think that at TOP I was no longer completely myself." And: "Because of that I no longer played freely and lost my enjoyment of the game." Now she sees "a young group that really wants it". Koen Bückmann comes from KCC: "I also think the playing style suits me well", he said on Dalto's website. Thijs van de Griendt (to KVA) and Ian Goes (to Blauw-Wit) left.
The scoring power lies mainly with Mathijs den Ouden, who scored 80 goals last season, and Bastian van Essen (60). Gideon Gort played the U21 World Championship with the Netherlands in the summer. In May, Noa Kapteyn was working on her return from a cruciate ligament injury, with the aim of fully rejoining at the start of this season.
Becoming more stable
In the April podcast, after last season, Dalto received compliments, but also a caveat. Bo van Hoof, coach of DSC: "the difference between their best and their worst is still far too big to call it a surprise, in my own view." According to him, Dalto can become more stable: "If they can develop a bit further, maybe one or two players added to become somewhat more stable."
In the first episode of De Korfbal Podcast this season, John Jonker actually sees an advantage over the promoted teams: "I think Dalto and Unitas have the advantage that they already have a bit more experience of playing at a high level."
Tonight to Sassenheim
Tonight at 20:15 it starts in Sassenheim, where Dalto became champion of the Korfbal League 2 in March 2025 (18‑23). Dalto is travelling to Sassenheim with a supporters' bus. Heijink immediately plays against her old club. "I really like being there and seeing everyone, but I do want to leave with the win", she told the AD. Lise van Maldeghem thinks in the podcast that experience could be decisive: "So then I think maybe Dalto, since they already have a bit more experience in the Korfbal League."
After that come DVO at home, Fortuna away and Unitas at home.
