Interview: Hazard
Editor: Nic
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| The GB U24 Women's captains Rupal Ghelani (top left) Gabriela Starek (top right) Amy van Zyl (rest of picture) |
Let's start simple. Introduce yourselves, and give a quick Ultimate CV.
Amy
Hiya! I started playing at Twycross House school, coached by Matt and Sophie Beavan and later Nick Sampson too (very lucky start to the frisbee world..). I have played for the Bath University for two years now, and in terms of club; I’ve played for Hydra in the past and now, Bristol Women! Played a few GB Junior cycles when younger and also for U24s in Perth in the Women’s division.
Gabriela
Hey, I’m Gabi and I’m from Poland! My ultimate career started in Scotland in my first year of university at St Andrews - I did the classic of trying out for my previous sports, but ended up with ultimate when I went to the first morning training and met the greatest people! The first club I played for was a women’s team in Warsaw; Donuts. In Scotland, I played for Swift and after moving down south, I started playing with Bristol Women (alongside Amy!). Last year in Australia was the first time I represented GB Women!
Rupal
Hello! I'm Rups, started playing ultimate at Mill Hill County High School with Rice Frisbees and I was coached by Simon Gilbert. I started playing club ultimate with St Albans and I have also played for EMO, JR and LED, currently playing for SYC down in London. At university I played for Loughborough and, I also captained for a couple of years. I have played a few GB cycles in the past, most recently U24s in Perth and have just come back from Euros with Senior Women!
You were all part of the last GB U24 cycle. How do you think the team has changed since last time?
Amy
It’s a very new and exciting team, with only three of us from the last cycle. Because we have a lot of players from various backgrounds, there’s a wide range of ultimate styles that have come down from the various universities/clubs everyone has played for.
Gabi
Also, compared to last cycle we have had more opportunities to compete outside the UK scene, which means over the course of our training we have developed and grooved our playing!
What has your preparation for U24 Worlds involved?
Rups
So we've had five training sessions, three warm up tournaments (of which two were international), and a scrimmage weekend against the seniors. We also won bronze at Siege of Limerick! On top of that we've been following some S&C suggestions from Jools Murray; spamming our workout page in the process, and getting lots of throwing in the lead up to Worlds.
Amy
Most recently our coaches set us a challenge to complete two hundred hours of focused throwing in a given time period before Worlds.
Rups
Which we smashed!
Amy
What are your feelings going into World? Are you confident?
Gabi
We’ve had an incredible season so far, and we want to build on what we have all learned over the course. Having positively surprised teams we have competed against, and ourselves! We do feel like we can challenge teams and we are not looking at the end results just yet - we want to focus on what we can bring to each game, take every day with a fresh mindset. We are excited for Worlds and what the week has in store for us.
Who are your coaches, and how have they helped the team to the place they are now?
Amy
We could go on for hours about how amazing our coaches have been this season but we’ll try to keep it short, haha. They are James Burbidge, Ros “Chicken” Taylor, Jenna Thompson and Marie-so Nguyen-Tu - all of which have a vast amount of ultimate experience: coaching and playing. As well as individual feedback to the team playing-wise, they’ve really given an emphasis to us to enjoy ourselves and play for each other.
Rups
They also all work incredibly as a team, they each bring something unique to the coaching pod and bring out the best in each other, and us.
Last cycle we had the GB development program. Do you think it was a success, and do you wish you had it again this year?
Rups
That's a really interesting question actually, I’ve had a few questions from the seniors about this. The whole idea of the development cycle is fantastic, it's great to give so many people access to the high level GB coaching that is available. However, given the structure of this season it just wouldn’t have been feasible as there was Club Worlds, Club Euros, and then U24s was back round again. And while it does give access to high level coaching, the cost can add up so it's not always possible for players in our age brackets who are typically at university to afford to complete the whole cycle.
Amy
It’s difficult to know for sure the impact that it had however, having the development squad definitely meant the final squad for Perth had potentially less time to train and get as that exact squad before Worlds. Having said this, I’m not sure I personally would have even made the Perth squad without the training I got from the development squad.
Gabi
The importance of playing club ultimate is something we have tried to emphasize during this cycle too. For example, entering just one Tour event to make sure our players have the opportunity to play with their club.
A follow-up question then - do you think they should run the Development Program next cycle?
Amy
I would be tempted to answer no to having another development squad. Although it was a really useful experience, having joined Bristol Women this year and seen the amazing things the club has done (both competitively and for development) by having a training squad of 40. I think “development” can come from different areas of ultimate, e.g. club level, and doesn’t need to impact the fairly short time that a GB squad has to play together.
Given that two of you came from junior Ultimate - and that Amy's old school just won silver in the Mixed World Schools Championship - it's clear we have a lot of potential in junior Women's Ultimate. Do you think that we are doing enough to develop that next generation? Are there any particular things you'd like to see?
Rups
This is a really tough question, I've been out of juniors for a little while now and Amy has been out for a couple of years. I feel the turnover from school to university could be high because some women may not want to play ultimate at university or, may not go to university at all so may fall out of the sport. There is definitely talent in the Junior division at the moment, for example the U20s gave Iceni a great game at Tour! But I think the problem lies with the communication of some of the opportunities beyond the GB Junior system (including U24s) as it's not always easy to associate club ultimate with juniors. Something needs to be put in place as a stepping stone into ultimate later on in the junior's playing career, something that means we don't lose players either at university level or, after university as some of those girls really are the future of ultimate.
Amy
My great experience of juniors is down to the coaches I had, so seeing more coaches possibly go into schools/offer development sessions for school kids could be good. Very generic advice though, and easier said than done I’m sure.
Gabi
I agree! So many of us as in school played, for example; football, it's such a common activity now. It would be incredible to make ultimate a more common sport for kids in schools! Make it a part of PE or an after school club. Kudos to all those teachers who are implementing this already!
Who are some role models that you either looked up to or still look up to, when you are wanting to push yourselves to that next level?
Rups
Chrissy Hunter is a massive role model for me, always has been and always will be. She is super athletic and showed me what it was to be an incredible athlete when I was younger, and she also does so much for the ultimate community and the next generation of ultimate.
Amy
For me I’ve had a fair few, Shino Marta Yoshen (an American Scandal player who did a masters at Bath last year) - as well as being incredible, she had such a good mindset when playing and was a great teammate. Also, I have to shout out to Bristol Women who just push me to want to be better at every training I go to.
Gabi
At the expense of sounding cheesy, my role models have always been my teammates. Whether a previous captain or a friend from a club, there’s always someone who I wanted to learn from and play like (or mark up against to get challenged and wrecked!). Shout out to Helena “Slatez” Slater and Basia Szymanska, who have shaped me as a player!
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| Whichever generation you're looking at, there's female talent at every level in GB PC: GB U20 Women Facebook |
What is going to help separate GB U24 Women from all the other teams at Worlds?
Amy
Our coach James’ beautiful feet
(Jokes)
(Kinda)
Good question though. Having a think.
Amy
Through this season we’ve had a lot of challenging games/situations already (having had sudden death games at all our tournaments) ,and I think this has really upped our mental toughness for going into a week long competition.
Rups
Another thing is that we know we have just got to focus on us, regardless of the situation, what is going on in the pool, or what our next cross is going to be. We are all about the team, and always putting ourselves first.
Gabi
I think it is also about expectation - a lot of the other teams are going in with the mentality that they have to win and that could be their trip-up. We are going in with the mindset that we are there to play our game, surprise ourselves, and focus on us, like Rups said.
Are there any teams you're particularly looking forward to playing?
Gabi
We are really looking forward to facing up against our European mates, like Ireland and a rematch against Italy!
Rups
Yep definitely the European team!! If seniors was anything to go by then the European scene is super exciting at the moment and there should be some close games across the board!
We’re going to finish with some quickfire teammate questions:
Who on your team do you think is going to be a breakout star this tournament?
Amy
This year, a fair few of our players are fairly unexposed to the GB/international circuit - which is why it’s so exciting - so we can’t pick one player who would be our “breakout” star. Watch the stream and decide for yourself!!
Which pair have the best on-field connection?
Rups
Si Ci Ong to Alana Archer is a pretty sweet pairing!
Which pair have the best off-field connection?
Amy
Ciara Moore and Ellie Payne - turn round for one second and they’ll be giggling about something 
Who is the most spirited?
Gabi
Erina Brown - she's actually one of our spirit captains! #coincidence?
Who is the funniest?
Amy
Gabi.
Rups
Funniest ..... Amy for sure!
Gabi
Ghelani.
Who is going to make the best play for the highlight reel?
Amy
Ellie Payne or Alana Archer with a huge bid.
Who is the player who is going to hype you up in your toughest games?
Amy
Rups has such inspiring people they’ve been rumoured to make people cry.
Gabi
^ditto!
Who is the biggest coach's pet?
Gabi
Alana Archer, apparently she moved to London when she found out that's where they live...
Any final words or messages to the fans?
Gabi
Amy
And watch us on the live stream if we get streamed!
Good luck over in Germany GB! #oneGB
(Editor's note: There should be a post on this group for any updates on GB being livestreamed)
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