Interview with UWON Div 1 Winners: Imperial College London

Interviewer/Editor: nic
Additional Editing: hazard

PC: Imperial College Ultimate: discDoctors Facebook

Tell me about yourself and how you came to join Imperial.

Claire Baker, captain: I started Imperial in late 2017 to do a masters and PhD. As I'd played Ultimate during my undergrad in Southampton and Boston, I knew I'd continue at Imperial as a postgrad!

David Pryce, coach: I started my PhD at Imperial in 2010 and played for them in those 4 years, including coaching in my second year to get the Men's team to their highest finish (at that time). I also helped where I could, but never enough, with the then small Women's team, which by the time I left was having to combine with University College London at Outdoor National events. I then left and continued to play for Fire of London and Iznogood (Paris) before this season where I decided to take a playing break to focus on coaching: Imperial Women's and SYC.

Imy Younge, vice-captain: I started playing at Imperial when I was a fresher in 2016. I went on a mission to try out loads of new sports and societies; Ultimate is the one I’ve stuck with!

Claire: I knew DP from the ShowGame media and he'd approached me last year about getting involved in coaching the team, so when Imy and I were voted in as Captains we got back in touch and it took off from there!

Was winning Nationals something you imagined from the beginning of the year or has the success of the team been surprising? How does it feel to win the title?

DP: Once we knew the players we had it started to become a reality, and when we talked to the playing committee (Anna Rydlova, Si Ci Ong, Xinjin Ho, Katie Flight and Qiao Yan Soh) the potential for finishing high at National events really started to form in everyone's mind. Indoors we didn't quite have everyone or everything together but Outdoors was a big aim and once we made quarters I had faith we could do it. For me as a coach I can only feel pride in how much effort these awesome athletes put in, and trust that what I was asking was going to work. With a lot of players leaving this year there was a lot of emotion and added importance in taking this title. Everyone put everything into it!

Claire: Ahead of Nationals I believed we absolutely had the potential to come away with the title, but having just completed my 5th year of UK University Ultimate, I see how much the standard has improved each year and we knew that the task of winning Nationals would never be an easy one with the strength and depth of many of the teams at the top of the respective regions! The bulk of the players on our Nationals-winning team have developed together over the last 3-5 years so we knew we had a good opportunity to improve upon our top 8 outdoor finish from last year. Once we knew that we had a couple of our extremely experienced players returning from a brief break from Imperial for a PhD; (Qiao Yan Soh: GBW U24 2018, Iceni, Deep Space) and joining new for masters programs; (Katie Flight: Glasgow, GBX U24 2018, GBX 2019) we knew we had an extremely experienced group of players to work with, and the key would be to integrate everyone to figure out how to best utilize the skills of these experienced players. Alongside the new upcoming talent who we have developing through the ranks. I think the team were a bit disappointed with our 9th place finish Indoors, but knew our true strength would be in the Outdoor season (which was our true aim for the year from the off!)

Imy: We knew we had a strong team based on chemistry built up over the last few years, some strong masters players joining us or returning to Imperial (See DP's and Claire’s lists!) and success at Regionals, but also knew there would be some equally strong opposition at Nationals. A lot of the women are in the last year of their degree, and I think that now-or-never attitude has made a difference over the year - along with DP’s consistent belief in the team!

Winning Nationals feels great! I’m especially looking forward to celebrating with the teammates that weren’t able to make the tournament, and our developing players. I believe it was also dD’s first time winning a national title, and the support from both the current club members and alumni has been amazing!

DP: Planned celebration: tiramisu party. I promised the team at indoor regional to buy them all desert if they won. They did. So I paid up. This time I promised to double the tiramisu if they win nationals. They did. I am going to go bankrupt by tiramisu!!!


You have spoken about the build up to Nationals, and how that was your aim. How did you prepare? What were your trainings like?

DP: Due to Easter break and other Ultimate, we weren't able to have much training between Regionals and Nationals. But players were tasked to ensure they were personally fit (our strategy relied on super person D) and we also arranged a scrimmage against Iceni and SYC. To increase connections between our clubs but also to really try and test stuff out before getting to Nottingham.

Claire: We took a very beginner heavy team to Regionals to ensure the Women staying for next year all got a taste of competitive outdoors, even though we took a more experienced squad for Nationals itself they all played a huge part in our unbeaten run at Regionals and I'm excited to see them continue to develop!


You said a fair few are graduating, do you think you can retain the title next year? What is Imperial going to look like?

DP: I am yet to talk with the new captains but I would be interested in staying as coach. Expectations are yet to be set, I'm not sure who will arrive in postgrad courses yet but there is a large exodus. We shall have to wait and see I think but no aims yet.

Claire: A handful of the most experienced players are remaining but there's a lot of turnover. I was especially impressed with how some of last year's beginners have stepped up and grown as players over this past year (Jacelyn See and Veru Pudilova) so with only two years’ experience I’m sure they'll continue to develop into leaders on the field of the sorts that do graduate this year.

What were your highlights of the weekend?

DP: Apart from winning? The semi-final was a highlight (thanks to Strathclyde) after being a couple breaks up they battled back and made it universe point: I literally almost had a heart attack. Off pitch, a highlight for me would be dinner with both the men and women's team, always a lovely time, like a big family.

Imy: The semi-final against Strathclyde was one of my highlights too. It was definitely our toughest match, and I was proud of our mentality to come back from Strathy’s 2 point lead, and to win that upwind universe point! I also really enjoyed spending the weekend as a team - lots of the women on the team were hugely influential in teaching me to play, and it was great o have a fun weekend together as a team

DP: Omg Imy got the block in the sudden death point to ensure we won, basically won the title right there!!!

Claire: we did a lot of thinking about how to handle each team we faced, ahead of time and the trust in our plan, buy in and work rate from the team was ace. Also, seeing 5 Imperial Women's Captains on the same team (Imy, Si Ci Omg, Xinjin Ho, Qiao Yan Soh, me) and taking the title especially for those who've spent years coming up through the Disc Doctors ranks seeing the team get closer each year, and Imy's sudden death block is the okay of the weekend I keep going over and over.

Imy: Thanks, but I may never forget looking up to see Hayley Dalmon running at me at full speed!

How was it having the guys around? Did they help boost morale/did they sideline?

Imy: The guys have been supportive this whole year. Unfortunately, the scheduling meant the Women’s and Men’s teams couldn’t sideline each other much at Nationals, but the men turned out in full force for the final! They definitely added some sidelining (heckling?) to the final, but it was great to have their support there and really added to the excitement!

Claire: The guys are great, I think they're our number one fans. It's a fairly tight knit club with players from both teams always wanting to support one another wherever possible! It was great having them around for the final (the one game we didn't clash!) We also had a huge lot of support and sharing all the results as they came in with players who couldn't make it this year and some alumni too, and I feel the whole club has celebrated our on pitch success wholeheartedly this year.

Were there any key/standout players?

David: Well we can't ignore Katie Flight, Yan, Anna R, Si Ci and XinJin as major contributors ... I will let the captain's call out more and comment on how they contributed.

Imy: Katie Flights hucks and disc skills opened up so many new options for this team, and her deep defense was essential to shutting down other teams offence in so many matches. Yan Soh spent her weekend successfully defending the opposition’s fiercest O players, as well as bringing a constant positive and calm attitude to the team, which was super appreciated. Anna Rydlova’s work rate and pep talks were awesome, Si Ci Ong’s reliability on disc and ability to get free of anyone were awesome, Jin Ho’s defence was standout, as was Claire’s work on defence, especially on the force. We can definitely go on for quite a while listing stand out play, but will reign it in there!

DP: I agree with all that, I would also like to say that you could see the younger players learning from these standouts especially on just work rate and grit.

Claire: Xinjin's throws are not to go unmentioned too. Her and Katie made a mean handling pair. While we played a strong deep game for the majority of the weekend and relied on our strong person and poach defense sets. We also saw a lot of success with our final third offence: no one player to highlight here but the team effort for disciplined O here made our conversion rate in this area of the field generally good. Additionally as a team as a whole the level of throwing across the board is strong which undoubtedly helped us in Nottingham!

What are your thoughts on the Women’s BUCS League?

DP: BUCS league will be interesting and very happy for a step towards equality but no idea how it will play out. I expect a couple seasons of working it out and early mistakes but once it's settled down will be good to work out how to move another step forward.

Claire: I'm excited for a Women's BUCS League and think it's a good thing for Ultimate at university, and appreciate it being at the weekend. Historically I've found it's easier to recruit for one day events which is the current plan so I think it should be doable for most Unis to field teams for these, particularly if central venues are chosen. Interested to see how having one event so early in the year is but excited nonetheless to see how it unfolds.

How was the overall spirit of the weekend?

DP: I can't comment on field but big shout-out to Glen (UCL coach) and the Strathclyde coaches (Shaun Webb and Nicky Shaw) for clearly putting in a lot of effort for their teams and in particular Glen for some great and super spirited match-ups this season!

Claire: Echo DP. Spirit overall was great this weekend. Almost every spirit circle we shared commented on this, and in our games any issues that did crop up that we were aware of were sorted between players during or in the immediate aftermath of the game. Discussions in game were short and professional, rules knowledge was good and it was a pleasure to play such competitive & respectful games throughout the weekend. I think the level of knowledge/application of spirit and general competition level has grown a lot in the 5 years I've been playing and this is mirrored by the spirit scores across the division with hardly any spirit scores below 10 and the remainders being between 10 and 11. Felt this weekend Strathclyde were particularly professional and it was a pleasure to play such a hard fought game!

Besides winning (and the tiramisu, of course) what was the best thing to come out of the weekend?

DP: Katie getting a medal and Axel not? A great little frisbee family who will never forget this season? All three true but I'm sure you'll agree the latter is the best.

Claire: I hope the best thing to come out of the weekend will be the long term motivation for the newer players at Imperial. To see that a group of players, many of whom began playing as  Beginners at the university 5 or less years ago can grow together, work hard for each other and consistently build in skill to produce a stronger and stronger team. While we did have some fantastic standout players among the squad, the depth and skill level across the board is what underpinned the success we saw at Nationals, and that only comes with hard work from all the individuals involved.

Imy: Definitely spending time with a dedicated and fun group of women (and DP!) before lots of us graduate. Pretty sure we laughed as much on pitch as we did off pitch! Hopefully that attitude gets taken back to the club ahead of next years season - that no matter how bad the weather is or what’s just happened on pitch, we can always learn new things from each other and have a fun tournament.

Any advice for future captains?

DP: Get a good coaching team!

Imy: Any I’m excited to see what the Disc Doctors women’s team is like next year! The captaining team for next year is really strong, and with lots of developing Beginners I hope Disc Doctors has a great season next year. One of the biggest things that’s helped the Captains this year is using the skill sets and experience in the team, so don’t be afraid to ask the people around you for tactical advice or to run sessions. Also make time to get to know the other Captains - you’re all going through the same thing, and sharing the highs and lows of the year with the other captains has made this year much more enjoyable.


Claire: If you live near Club Ultimate teams, reach out to them for extra support whether its for coaching, competition or simply advice! We found many players are super willing to get involved and help out, especially when we provided a platform (e.g. a place to scrimmage at) upon which to do so. Whether you're new to captaincy or have done it many times before, reaching out to past captains, coaches and teammates is an awesome resource. It's a great thing that your team collectively will always bring more than any individual can so feed off that knowledge. You don't have to be the best player to be a great captain - you can even ask teammates if they're happy to run drills for particular skills they're good at which can help build confidence and skill across a whole team. Finally, don't be afraid to reach out and take time away from the team if you need: sometimes there are times when being a captain is full on and if you're stretched too thin, leading will be more challenging. Leading as part of a group this year has been awesome and a lot of fun, so I'd definitely recommend that!

Final thoughts and wishes...

DP: I would only like to thank everyone at Disc Doctors for all their hard work and especially the women for accepting my coaching and giving it their all. We didn't do it the prettiest way but we did it together!!

Imy: Thanks to Claire and DP for sharing so much of their knowledge over the year, and being really fun to work with. Disc Doctors has been a great club to be a part of - and as DP said, thanks to all the women’s team for bringing all their enthusiasm and knowledge to trainings and tournaments, as well as lots of cake!

Claire: Thanks to the TDs for running such a smooth Nationals, our opposition for providing determined and respectful challenges on the field all weekend and the whole Disc Doctors club for pushing each other over the course of the year. And of course Imy and DP for navigating this exciting year with me! I am excited to see where the BUCS league leads us as a sport division next year and beyond!



And that’s it. Good luck to everyone with their final exams and have a great summer!