Interview with Birmingham City captain  Jess Beale

“It’s the standard I want to play at,” Birmingham City captain Jess Beale is keen to help take her team back up to the England Korfball League at this season’s playoffs.

Jess, who has played much of her korfball in England’s top division for Mitcham, Kwiek, Nottingham, a very brief spell at Nomads and, of course, Birmingham, said: “I want to play at the top level and I’m happy that everyone at Birmingham City shares that feeling.”

It was at Bearsted though where her korfball story started as a junior and they are one of the team’s she’ll play at this season’s playoffs. Despite appearing for plenty of other teams, they are still a club dear to her heart.

“It’s always a bit odd playing Bearsted. I know them so well, but sometimes that brings out the best in me, so I’m hoping for a really good game against them,” said Jess.

“It was an excellent place to play korfball. In my first ever korfball team I played alongside the likes of Joe Bedford, Natasha Dawson, Emma Hind and John Haggart. Bearsted as a club continually produces top quality players.”

Birmingham have plenty of playoff experience in recent years, but Jess believes that this is the strongest playoffs yet.

“It could go any way, and any team could end up top or bottom. Our aim is always to be number one and be undefeated, and that’s definitely possible given the level of the squad and the amount of time we’ve put into training. But nothing is nailed on.”

We are a very passionate team

“We are a very passionate team, very driven and motivated and we have a lot of talent but there hasn’t been a level that suits us. The Promotion Division games are brilliant but there’s so few of them. The national league was brilliant when we had the ten team league – we came out well in that, finishing 8th. But we were impacted most directly when it went down to eight teams. Going back up to ten is brilliant for us as it gives us a chance to compete and improve.”

Watch Jess captain Birmingham City at K2 Crawley on 6th-7th May, click here to get your tickets.