Writer: hazard Editor: Alun/hazard One of the recent changes we've seen in the UK for announcing spirit is the de-anonymising of spirit scores. While this has been standard in international competitions such as EUCF for a while, it is the first time we've seen it on a local stage. I am a big fan of this change overall, but it does lead to new ground in spirit that I think it is wise to address. We are going to have a lot more messaging of teams after the game about spirit scores that have been given. Even before the change in system, I have been on both sides of these exchanges.* I have had some which have been productive, and some... less so. The times when it has works, it has been a super productive thing to do, and I encourage it overall. Consequently, I wanted to share my experience of navigating what can potentially be some very difficult conversations. As always, these are my personal opinions, and so likely flawed. Hopefully you can find them useful as guidelines, and maybe even let me know some useful thoughts I can implement in future too! * Yes, even the recent 7 average my team received at UXON has been settled amicably with all involved, and we've received some good feedback too.
PC: UCL
Etiquette for both parties
Be polite. Spirit should not end when you step off the field. If possible, try to communicate during your game who the spirit representative is. Give any feedback you can on field, and in the spirit circle. Spirit scores should not be a shock to teams. Ideally, you should let a team know if they've crossed a line at the time, so that they can implement the feedback in real time. It is much easier to communicate in person. Give good feedback as comments too! I personally like to leave comments for any "1"s, but I'm aware this might be too much for some. Involve your whole team, and have the guidelines at hand to read through if you're unsure a category is between scores. Read through all the "2"s the first time you do scores - it roots scoring in a good framework, and makes newer players more confident about how to score correctly. Realise it is very easy to miscommunicate online. This isn't a debate you're trying to win - this is an amicable discussion to try to improve the experience we will all have on field. Don't jump on each other - ask for clarification, rather than seeking to point out flaws. You are representing your team. Even if you didn't agree with a teammate's perspective, you must still present it honestly. You can always message your team if you want to, if you want clarification yourself.
PC: Andrew Moss for the ShowGame
Etiquette for the team wanting more spirit feedback
While spirit is at heart a conversation, this is a situation where you are reliant on someone else's feedback, and for them to go above and beyond what is typical. Be polite, and accept that the thing you benefit most from here is listening. If a team doesn't want to give extra feedback, accept that and move on. In terms of whom you should contact, messaging friends on a team can be useful, but a spirit captain/captain/team page is best. In all cases, be polite, and give the player an opportunity to refuse your request without feeling bad. Also, if you were involved in a controversial incident, it might be wise to let someone else message, even if you are spirit captain. Make it clear in your message that you are seeking feedback on how to improve/identify where you crossed a line, rather than just trying to bring up an old issue. Listen carefully. It's still a conversation - feel free to ask questions - but keep the topic questions focussed on how to improve in future, rather than on defending specific incidents in the past. Those incidents have happened, and as annoying as it is to think someone's perspective is incorrect, tough. Arguing now wont change anything in the game, and isn't pleasant for the person spending more time to try to help you. This above is probably the most important point in this article, so I want to emphasise it. We all want to be proven right retrospectively. It's natural. We want to say we were hard done by, and that a spirit call was inaccurate. And yet, I don't think I've ever had a good discussion about a specific incident, unless it was coming from a place of uncertainty (usually for double checking the application of the rules - for which a neutral party is good too). Talk about it on field. Talk about it right after. Then let it go. Make sure any feedback is given to the rest of the team, even if it's awkward. Relay it honestly, and without bias. If your teammates see you respect* the feedback, then they will feel more satisfied with the outcome and more willing to take it on board. *Respecting is not always agreeing, but it is always acknowledging it as a valid perspective. Present your own opinion separately if you want to, but don't present it as more valid than the feedback you are given, or teammates will discard it out of hand.
PC: Alice Hanton for the ShowGame
Etiquette for the team giving spirit feedback
Assume the player is talking from a place of good faith. This may be hard - they are messaging you about feedback for bad spirit after all. The player messaging you may even have been involved in incidents themselves. But you have to assume that they want to improve, and will take your advice on board. If they then seem to go against that trust, you can stop the conversation. But you must give them that trust first. Be clear about what feedback is based on topics you discussed in your spirit circle, and what are extra opinions you are giving on top of that. Don't worry if you can't remember everything - you are human. Let your team know you've provided feedback - after a less spirited game, it's nice to know the team acknowledged it and wants to improve. It is still a discussion, and it's possible the other team has feedback for you! Remember that they still have a valid perspective. The best discussions I have had have involved conversations about how to improve, with both sides offering and considering suggestions. Try to base your feedback in specifics about how to improve (e.g. It'd be nice to see more hand signals so that teams can know what occurred on field), and base spirit score feedback in specifics too (e.g. we gave you a one in fair mindedness because you were inconsistent in your calls between the first and second half). General stuff can still be helpful, but is hard to tangibly convert into solid changes. -- I think that's all I can think of for know, but I'll edit this article and add things if we think of anything in particular, or if there's any comments with points we particularly enjoy! Let us know what you think. This is my perspective, I'd be interested in hearing yours.
Contributors: Becky Greenwood (Loughborough), Clackers (Lancaster), geegee (Birmingham), Alice Hanton (Leeds), Axel (UCL) Additional Contributions*: Amy Niven and Alex Thompson (Newcastle Captains) *These quotes were generously provided externally to the chat
UCL celebrate being Mixed Outdoor National champions! Photo Credit: UCL
hazard Firstly, how did we feel about not having Swiss draw? Did we prefer the tournament format? And did it do a better job of sorting teams and finding a winner?
Becky Greenwood
Yeah I preferred it without Swiss draw
Clackers
I really didn't like having bracket instead of Swiss, it kind of ruins things for the teams lower down the seedings. We only had one close match the entire weekend, and it wasn't either of them on the Sunday.
Having 9 unseeded teams in the tournament meant that there was a serious chance of teams finding themselves bottom of their group through no fault of their own, and unable to climb out of it, coupled with the fact that the teams that came 4th in a group of 4 were destined to only play each other, and unable to play teams that came 3rd in a group of 3.
For the top 16 the tournament may have been a fair reflection of skill on the weekend, for the bottom 13 I am unsure if any of the final placings were accurate.
hazard
I have to say I missed swiss draw. The seedings did their best, but I think there’s always a situation where two good teams end up facing off early in a tournament, with no way to recover (this weekend Edinburgh were guaranteed to face UCL or Strathclyde in the pre-quarters, which is tough in anyone’s books). With that said, I did enjoy the quarters-semis-final run in. A lot of tournaments do a hybrid system of swiss initially, knockout at the end. I think that could be good going forward.
geegee
Swiss draw with a knockout stage is pretty good, it's pretty effective. I'm not sure how the results would've been affected if at all between a standard system or Swiss draw, but the seedings this weekend was a little bizarre. We had Aberdeen and Glasgow in our pool, which was super daunting and tough because they're such good teams, and there were definitely other teams put in odd seedings too.
The weather did also affect results, moreso because a lot of games got cancelled so some teams couldn't challenge the upper rankings. UKU did a really good job overall in getting games running, and communicating to players what was happening though.
hazard
Totally agreed with UKU managing a tough situation well (both the swiss draw system not working and the weather rendering some pitches unusable). I left it up to my captains, but communication seemed good and it felt like we were kept informed promptly of developments.
Axel
Swiss draw is useful for seeding the tournament considering its at a time (and now with it being the only not-BUCS nationals) when teams may not be at full strength or it may not be the season focus. However, I've always lamented the lack of bracket play. I still think the top teams ended up at the top and Nationals is there to find the top team accurately, not the top 16. But I do like Swiss Draw's excitement.
But UKU did pretty well, especially at cramming the games in and managing to make the final full length, even though it cost others some game time. As I say, Nationals is there to find the best team, I don't even feel that there is a need play games once eliminated (though I understand why people do).
Alice Hanton
Think we (Leeds) would have preferred swiss- weren't too happy with our 4v13 crossover against Aberdeen...
Felt sorry for the TDs though with the website, weather, pitches etc 😂
geegee
It was interesting looking back at overall game results and wondering whether a different schedule and/or different conditions could have made a drastic change. Teams like Leeds and Durham had a very tough time outside of the pools. As Alice said, Leeds had to face a strong Aberdeen team in the pre-quarters which pushed them all the way down, with not much wiggle room to climb back up. The weather was very much out of UKU's hands, and absolute credit for getting a schedule out in such short notice. I can't help but feel a little confused about the seeding choices however.
hazard
I'd like to jump on that and talk about one of the other main talking points of the weekend. For the first time in a long time, there were no Scottish teams in the top four! It is a testament to Scotland's strength that having 3 teams in the top 8 still counts as a bad weekend. However, particularly considering it was a Scottish venue, and a few teams (Loughborough, Bath) chose not to make the trip up, this felt like a result that we wouldn't have predicted beforehand. Was it a case of Scottish teams underperforming? Or English teams stepping up for once?
Axel
Birmingham are a long standing good performer, Newcastle over-performed and Oxford lucked out no the draw. UCL have a freak pick-up year. Glasgow didn't have all their best players and have a down year on the Women's side, Edinburgh got unlucky in their cross, Strathclyde underperformed, St Andrew's probably placed about right. Its slightly worse than normal, I don't think it should be panic stations for Scottish Uni Ultimate, but the region (bar Strath, arguably Glasgow men) isn't as strong as in previous years. They are still the deepest region by a mile, but they may be being matched at the top end by a few teams who have risen a bit. Birmingham and UCL still haven't beaten Strath. Them two, the two Glasgow sides and Bath are the best 5 teams this year on the Men’s side and I believe I am correct in saying that only UCL has beaten one of those two Scottish teams this year (of the teams outside Scotland).
Basically, at mixed it was a mix of reasons, but there is no reason to over-analyse one set of results and define the region by that.
They are still the best region, but maybe the top end is being challenged a bit more than in the last few years.
hazard
I would agree Strathclyde underperformed, but I’ll add a bit of specificity - I think they underperformed in one game, and not by much. Newcastle are a good side this year, and Strathclyde (who came out the positive side of a lot of sudden deaths at Mixed Indoors) finally seemed to feel the pressure a bit in their quarter final. A bit of a crowd was there, it was sudden death, and both teams had possessions, but I think Strathclyde were a bit too eager to force something which wasn’t there.
Amy Niven and Alex Thompson
The Strathclyde game against us (Newcastle) was brilliant fun. Our Women’s indoor team had had a really great game against them in Nottingham and we were excited to come up against them at outdoors. We like to harp on about the strength of our women and winning the Strath game has filled us with anticipation for how they do at Women’s Nationals. The weather had calmed down considerably by the time we came to play them on Sunday but the wind changed the game entirely. Strath’s early break into the 15km/h upwind really put us on our heels, but we managed to keep fighting and eventually break back to take the game on the flip’s outcome.
hazard
Moving around Scotland, I’ll also say Aberdeen were very good too - as Alice and geegee said. Ellie Taylor is one of the best players on the club circuit, so at uni level she’s kind of overpowered. The rest of the squad is also great, if small in number (I was thinking the short game time would help them most of any team). And Andrew Hunter had some really great and safe bids to pressure all our shots.
Oxford beat them in our quarter final partly due to sheer outrunning them (our numbers + S&C training helped), and knowledge from our previous game against Imperial, where a team also relied on a dominant female player with strong hucks (Katie Flight).
(I know Ellie is a great cutter too, but we forced her under as we were more able to deal with the throws than her just getting mega yards deep)
Axel
Aberdeen are good, but they just don't have the depth of good players on either gender to challenge the best teams. Their guys are good but not excellent and after Ellie there is a severe drop off. They are a top 8 mixed team, but not top 4 and that’s where they ended up. The bigger surprises (to me) are Glasgow and Strathclyde not finishing higher and Edinburgh. But we can see that Glasgow and Edinburgh suffered at the hands of the seeding. Then that sends me back in a loop to say again that Nationals is there to find the best team, not place the rest of them correctly, though it is ideal when that can happen as well.
hazard
Let's move on to the team that did finish well then. UCL claimed their first ever Mixed outdoors title, beating Birmingham 10-8 in the final. Axel, care to give us a run down of UCL's weekend?
Axel
UCL's weekend was an interesting mix. Our first game against Strath was a bit of a limp one. We both knew it didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things. It was about bedding in and not getting injured. The first half was alright from both sides. The second half wasn't great and Strath scrapped out almost all the points to take it. From there we always talk about developing with every game and we managed to do that. We grew a lot against Edinburgh taking a big win in a tough prequarter. Then we had Sheffield who was a bit of a lucky draw, as well as Oxford in the semi. We started both games a bit slowly before dominating.
The final was an interesting one, there may have even been a few nerves at the start from our inexperienced lot. Then our D started rolling and it wasn't really ever in question what the result was gonna be.
No team other than Strathclyde managed to play good offence against our female triangle, with Oxford guessing about 6 different looks and never guessing right (to my hearing). Birmingham swung it a lot with their women which is what we wanted.
We got told after the game that we didn't play great mixed, which I completely disagree with. We may not have used our women on offence a great deal as we played to the conditions and our women are really strong on D and not as strong on O. But I think we could say the opposite of Birmingham. Its crazy how they didn't use their guys at all (what terrible mixed.. jk jk). Thats just a line no one will say, our guys were stronger than theirs so we played offence through the best match ups available to us. But overall the final itself was really fun, despite Birmingham seeming to have some misgivings about the way we played. Best game was against Birmingham cos in the end they managed to pressure our tactic, unfortunately we were going to do it anyways cos of the wind, so the final wasn't the best watch.
Overall it was a successful tournament for a team that doesn't ever train together. We grew as a team and came out with everyone smiling with medals around their necks. The weather even gave us some sun at the end. People stayed over in Scotland for Monday cos we never get to come up there. Maybe the next one can be in Aberdeen so that we can see some more of the country?
geegee
Playing against UCL was interesting, but the final was very fun. UBU as a team were very happy with how we played together. On defence UCL women had a really effective poach system that made it difficult to generate flow. They were very male-dominant on offence, so whilst our male defenders did everything they could, working really hard and we sometimes used a female deep poach, the shot from Axel to Colicchio was often too difficult to take down. It's a structure that works for them.
Some elements of spirit were called into question during the final, but those few incidences definitely does not represent the whole squad. The UCL sideline was very good at communicating, and the squad was for the most part very respectful and great banter. Would like to add an overall kudos to the Southern teams that made the effort to make the journey up to St Andrews; it was hard enough from the Midlands! Particular shout out to Southampton who drove all the way up - that is commitment.
hazard
I think I'd agree with you geegee. Our semi-final against them ended up 10-5, but I think a cleaner way to write it would be that UCL got two upwind breaks to our zero. Axel to CJ Collichio was near unstoppable, but not 100%. We did have a few chances to try to work upfield against it, and credit to UCL from stopping us from ever clawing one back. Considering UCL have come 2nd and 1st at the last Women's Outdoor Nationals, it is nice to see some of that glory finally spread to the guys in the mixed division. Although I think they will have been glad not to see Strathclyde in the final.
hazard
It's nice to see Birmingham still fighting right at the top of the tournament as well. They're always close, but I believe it might have been the first final for a couple years?
geegee
It is the first time in a while yes, I believe the last time Birmingham were in a mixed final was the 2015-2016 season, so some of our longer standing players (Adam Vaslet, James Firth, Lucy Graves, Melodie Zehnder for example) who have been with the team for a while were ecstatic to have come this far again finally.
hazard
We've already mentioned the final, but you guys had a tough route (and certainly pool) to get there did you not?
geegee
Yeah we had a tough pool with back to back games. Aberdeen to start off with and our offence took a while to warm up, their defence capitalised very well and they got a few up on us. We came back with a lot more clinical O and took the win, going into a universe point win against Glasgow who were up by at least 3 at some point. Glasgow worked the disc well, got some crucial blocks where we ran out of steam. Both very very talented teams, and a pleasure to play against.
From there we played Southampton to go into quarters on Sunday against the home team St Andrews. Semi against Newcastle was great fun - they have developed a lot of depth over the years and it has paid dividends. It was a close game and we had to fight for it because they did not make it easy. Fantastic spirit as well, they've always been very spirited in all three divisions so to have that continue into closely contested games is brilliant.
Our second team finished 10th as well, having a mix of experienced players and some playing outdoors for the first time competitively!
hazard
Yeah, 10th is really impressive. Ok, let’s get some quick summaries from joint third-place Newcastle and Oxford to finish.
Amy Niven and Alex Thompson It was a really difficult weekend conditions wise but the Newcastle team that we brought was not only physically strong but mentally strong as well. We were exceptionally proud of the efforts of our team. I think a few people suspected that we could obtain the position that we did and it felt really great to show everyone the success of our hard work this academic year. As captains we really switched up the way that our team trained this year and it's exciting to see that its been getting results.
We are really proud of our position but want to make a request on behalf of ourselves and Birmingham (and Oxford)… 2nd and 3rd should get medals too! Otherwise, shout outs to who Alex Monaghan really killed it in the Birmingham game in particular. Skying folk left, right and centre. Sam Griffiths also did a great job of catching the winning disc against Strathclyde. Big ups to Yasmin Gill who is a 2nd year who was doing a shitload of upwind handling; and also Rio Hamilton - she did some critical offensive work in the Birmingham game which was so crucial considering how tired and cold we all were. Also everyone they all did big work for us this weekend. #nobignames #allbignames. And our second team were so great this weekend and they were really good for giving some hype on the sidelines with the famous “how many pies? Too many pies” chant that we all know and love. Amy Niven I do genuinely wanna shout out my co-captain Alex too (we were joking about it so need him to know it's serious). He's done really great work with the men for this tournament and has been has really stressed the importance of 'proper mixed' to the men on our squad which i think is often overlooked. hazard
Mind if I ask what you’ve switched up for training this year? It really has been impressive seeing you emerge to challenge the top teams this season. Amy Niven and Alex Thompson We've brought a lot of new drills to out sessions and we've really been pushing fitness which was something we've never really done before. We've always relied on people working on their own fitness outside of trainings but this year we've discovered that finding time for it is worthwhile.
Moving onto Oxford, we felt overall our weekend went fairly well, as you might expect. We do a lot of mixed trainings, and we would count ourselves as Mixed specialists (our results in Men's and Women's might stand as testament to that...). While I think we did well in avoiding Birmingham or UCL until the semis, I think that victories against Durham, Imperial and Aberdeen give a not unfair route to the top 4 (although I would have loved a game against St. Andrews, who also beat Durham and Imperial - both of us winning in sudden death against Durham).
Kiyomi Ran and Steph Jordan did some really solid handling for us (and Jeff Sload had some great puts, despite the double foot block). And I'm also going to shout out co-captain Phili Kent for some fantastic cuts and for bailing me out by catching a scooba I probably shouldn't have thrown.
We felt like indoors came too fast, and that we didn't have time to prepare. Here, our whole team was so much more solid this weekend than it has been before. Worth the ten hour trip, and I don't say that lightly. Also, 50% of the southern teams came top 4 #southerndominance
hazard
Expanding on a point in the chat, Axel and myself had a discussion about what Nationals is for. I came up with the following reasons, and Axel had his responses of whether he agreed. I’ve combined them for brevity, but I think it’s a good set of closing thoughts and I’d love to hear what any readers think about this (either my list of potential reasons of Axel's responses). hazard+Axel
Nationals should provide a showcase of great University Ultimate
Yes, if possible, and this point would be more prevalent if there were spectators or streaming to more people who don't follow Ultimate (or UK Ultimate). Though this showcase should come from the quality of the teams playing, not necessarily the format of Nationals.
Nationals should also provide a ranking of team strength, beyond just which team is at the top
If possible yes, but if there was a good algorithm in place, we would know this ranking before Nationals and it wouldn't have to be decided there. All we need to do is play more cross regional matches once they are worth playing.
Nationals should provide as many close games as it can
This point is not on the UKU at all, or the organisers of Nationals. Close games come from teams training hard and trying to be the best. For example it isn't the organisers fault that Strath women blew everyone out of the water at UWIN. Close games are entertaining and good for the sport and will develop teams more in the long run. But that is down to the teams to provide that through their strengths and skills, not the organisers.
Nationals is a chance for development (i.e. a team might have no chance of winning, but be in a better position to win next year by giving players experience against other good teams)
This is true for teams who go and compete to have the experience of playing. But it isn't a priority for Nationals. The tournament is an end goal of the uni season. If there were more teams and more tournaments, development would happen earlier and Nationals would just be the best 16 or 20 teams fighting it out to win. Im sure every team currently brings some dev players (if not a whole dev squad) to prepare for future years, but that is on the teams to do, not for the organisers to provide. Div 2 and 3 are chances for development realistically.
Nationals should be a showcase of high-level spirit
Shouldn't every game be. Though spirit at uni level is so messed up already that I don't know if uni nationals can be this showcase in the near future.
Nationals should make extra effort to ensure the journey was worth the effort for all teams, in order to ensure all the best teams are present
If the best teams are discouraged from going, it won't really be Nationals. But I think the best teams want to win and play at the best venues (or I'd hope so). So the organisers should ensure the best venues possible. The journeys in the UK are short in general, if teams decide not to go, it’s a shame, but if they are potential winners they don't have much of an excuse if they don't go and try to win. If that makes sense. The organisers can't put the event near Team X cos this year they are good and if the venue is too far, they won't turn up. And the other 15 teams are more likely to travel.
Nationals should give each region an equal chance to claim a title (à la Men’s Outdoors)
No, bring all the top teams to Nationals ranked through an algorithm. If a region is terrible one year then their programmes have to sort it out. Let's say that the Midlands had the 16 best teams, then surely you want to see them compete and not throw in a South team to get battered every game if they were ranked 50th in the country, but best in their region.
Nationals should only feature the top teams, regardless of region
UCL celebrate being Mixed Outdoor National champions! Photo Credit: UCL
Firstly, tell us who you are?
Angie: Hi I’m Angelica Kristen Yeo, UCL Women’s captain! I’m in my 3rd (and final) year in UCL, played Chaos Ultimate last year and GBW U24 this year.
Jessie: Jessie Low, one of the Women’s captains. Started playing Ultimate in my first year at UCL and am currently in my third year of playing ulti 😀
Luke: Yo, I'm Luke Roberts, Men's Captain alongside Kit. Also started in my first year at UCL, 4th year now. Playing Ka-Pow! this summer.
Kit: Loh Chung Kit, one of the Men's Captains for UCL. I started Ultimate in my first year at UCL, and really enjoyed the experience of playing for the Silverbacks and growing as a player 🙂
After being so close at Mixed Indoors, how good does it feel to finally come away with a Gold this year?
Angie: (Men’s Indoors too 😢)
Luke: It feels absolutely amazing, especially after getting so close with the Men's Indoor final going to universe. Although, I would have liked another shot at Strath, after our disappointing result in our opening match.
#GoldenbacksBaby
What was the secret to your success?
Angie: Definitely loads of training and buy in from the team - everyone showed up and put in effort every single time, and that helped us a lot this season. Also huge shoutout to our coach Glen Newell who’s been with us the past two seasons - having a coach has been really good for our player and team development!
Kit: I think during the weekend itself, the reason we could gel so well together was because of the many trainings that allowed us to get to know how each other plays and our likes and dislikes. Our trainings also let us try out some new stuff with regard to how we wanted to make best use of our women and ultimately, I think we just adapted to the weather conditions well and played our best Ultimate.
Luke: It'd also be unfair if I didn't give a nod to Axel Ahmala, who really gave the team the push it needed to become competitive at the higher levels of uni Ultimate. He's really bought into the team from day 1 and has helped push us in almost every way (and obviously having him on the field is alright too).
Apologies for further inflating his ridiculous ego.
Strategy wise, I think most of the teams this weekend had problems working through our D and the few that figured it out had no answer for our deep threat. Between Claire Huibonhoa and CJ Colicchio, we have some of the best deep receivers in uni Ultimate.
How much time to you guys spend training for Mixed, as opposed to single gender trainings?
Angie: We run 2 outdoor trainings a week, and both are Mixed! We only run single gender trainings the week of single gender tourneys (usually because one of the teams can’t make it, ie men are playing UMIR that weekend so the women get training all to ourselves! Yay!)
Will that change in the run up to UMWON, or do you think the Mixed training will help you prepare for single-gendered tournaments too?
Jessie: Over the Easter break, we’ll be having single gender trainings twice a week in the lead up for UMWON. So around 3 weeks worth of focused training 😀
Let's focus back on UXON. How surprised were you to not to see Strathclyde in the final, and do you think you would have beaten them second time around?
Luke: We'd just finished our game against Sheffield on Sunday morning as Strathclyde were also finishing up and delayed our spirit circle to watch the end of their match. I think everyone there was surprised, but credit to Newcastle, in the little of the match I watched they looked good.
Kit: Honestly, I was quite looking forward to a UCL Strathy rematch, and I think we would have put up quite a close match. Facing off against them in the first match of the pool play, we put up a good first half, trading points until 4-4. Unfortunately, we kinda forgot how to play frisbee in the second half, and they just destroyed us. So seeing them again in the finals would have been a great chance to prove ourselves.
Luke: I don't know how the game would have gone, but I can speak for our whole team, when I say that we were hungry for that win. We will be seeing them in Nottingham soon enough 😉
Without Strathclyde in the knockout stages, which teams (or players) do you think pushed your team the hardest?
Luke: Obviously, the final against Birmingham was our closest match. All their players were really solid and came out really strong taking us down 0-2. I think this fuelled our fire to bring it back for the win.
Kit: Honestly, I nearly pissed myself when we went down 2-0 to start, but knowing that it was a 60 min match with no hard cap, I think we all knew that a comeback was well within reach. Just a matter of running hard and getting those Ds :)))
Eddie Mason gave me a difficult time hahaha I was marking him most of the time. He ran me hard, to say the least 😅
Is there any player on your team that you think particularly stepped up this weekend?
Kit: While there wasn't a particular girl who stood out far above the rest on our team, I think that's because they played together so well in our triangle defence. It was something new that we had learnt, and I think all the girls played their roles amazingly well, getting us those blocks and forcing turns! #thefutureisfemale
Luke: I could easily write a paragraph on how everyone of our players stepped up, but the key standouts for me.
CJ Colicchio with his dominance with the deep space.
Our power handling trio, Axel Ahmala, Oli Gaugler and Alicia Tan. Who've been building up chemistry all year, leading to some insane handler movement.
Pavel Stech with some incredible defensive plays.
I also have to mention the double footblock D from Oli Gaugler in the match against Oxford, but as far as I know this is pretty standard Oli…
Do you think you'll be able to add to this Gold in UMON or UWON?
Luke: The men's trophy, absolutely, that's what we're coming there to do. We'll also have some talented additions to the squad that didn't want to brave the journey to St Andrews.
Kit: I'd love for the guys to upseed again. 16th to 15th just wasn't enough to satisfy us last year 😂
Luke: Besides, someone needs to keep the Scottish teams away from the trophy.
Angie: Our women have been building up lots of chemistry over the year - we’ve had a couple of tough losses (against our rivals imperial, in indoor and outdoor regional finals, and our last game at UWIN) but we’ve been training hard to work out the kinks and to come together as a team. Wouldn’t wanna comment too much on how we’ll do at UWON - just gonna keep our heads down n hustle hard, see where things go!
So no commitment to a third consecutive Women’s Outdoor final?
Jessie: Our girls are definitely hungry and looking to cause some big upsets so we shall see😀
Angie: Ooh I’d love a third consecutive final - that’d be 3 out of 3 for Men this year too - a smashing way to end my time in UCL. I know our girls are capable of big things so we’ll see 😬
Jessie: We won’t go to UWON looking to lose that’s for sure 😬
Well, you've already managed 18th to 1st in one outdoor tournament, so it's not impossible to imagine. What were your thoughts on the tournament in general?
Kit: I pity the groundsman who had to go to work on Monday
Angie: Was weird not seeing any Scottish teams in the top 4, probably got messed up by the seedings
Luke: The fields were amazing, the weather not so much. The fields actually held up in the weather surprisingly well throughout the first day. I'm happy there was a 3G to bail everyone out. It was a nice change from needing a shower in between every game.
The seedings were pretty bad, to be fair to UKU they didn't have long to sort it out with the swiss draw website kicking the bucket. Swiss draw is great as long as you have a bracket at the end, otherwise the final sucks, so I’m happy it didn’t go that way in the end.
Time for the south to rise and take some bids back.
Do you think you'll be able to defend the title next year?
Angie: Oh yeah we’re ready to defend that title. We’re only losing more than half of our first team haha
Luke: We're obviously losing some key players, but I think the players who are sticking around have developed really well and will step up into these roles next year. Both Duncan Rowe (Ka-Pow!) and Darren Chan (Fire) are playing high level club this year, so they're going to come back next year stronger than ever.
We also don't know who we're going to pick-up next year!
What advice do you have for any other captains reading this?
Luke:
1) Get a good coach.
2) Get all your teammates playing club.
Angie: Lots of training, get to know your teammates well and encourage them to train/ throw outside of training... and also play club is poss, no matter what level!
Jessie: I think it’s really important to balance both first team and beginners development so that you have a constant crop of solid players (or once your first team players graduate and you face a drought, you’re in deep trouble)
Angie: Most importantly though, have fun! we play the best when we’re intense but having fun as a team 😉
Kit: Remember to manage your studies😅 Can't play uni Ultimate if you drop out of uni 🌚
Jessie: Recruit more Ph.D. students to play Ultimate
What are your thoughts on spirit at University level?
Angie: I think at Uni level there are quite a lot of different perceptions/ interpretations of spirit. Won’t comment too much, but you can’t go wrong with (learning and) knowing the rules well 😀
Luke: Angie summed it up quite nicely. Learn the rules, read the spirit examples. I think more teams could benefit from more communication between captains / spirit captains throughout the game. Let’s get any problems discussed out in the open, whilst they can still be fixed.
Any other final thoughts or things you'd like to say?
Luke: It's kind of fun being the villains.
That said, I think we've gotten a bit of a reputation for spirit over the course of the season. I'd urge everyone to come play us and form your own opinions, we're actually pretty friendly, I promise 🙂
See you at Nats!
Angie: Good weather next year for UXON plz
Luke: Oh, small advertisement - while we’re in the spotlight. UCL will be looking for a new coach for next season. We’re all really sad to say goodbye to Glen Newell, but life is taking him elsewhere. If you think you can fill the hole he’s left in our hearts. Please get in touch!
