Editor: Hazard (he/him)
Nationals is over! Very well done to SMOG 1 for winning the tournament, and to Oxford Ultimate for winning spirit of the game. These articles are simply going to be giving each team a space to write a few thoughts on the tournament, in order of finishing.
To allow myself space for a small recap paragraph of my own thoughts, this was by far the most competitive Mixed Nationals I've ever played in. The fact that the last place got 10 points against 2nd place (Thundering Herd 10 - 15 Deep Space) shows to me how strong the division has gotten, despite all of the circumstances in the surrounding year. Obviously this was technically a WUCC qualifying year, but it didn't seem like that was the focus for most teams. It felt like everyone was just excited to play a proper Ultimate tournament again, and it lead to some of the most amazing games.
I also want to give a shout-out to the organisers. Sorting Nationals is never easy, and doing it in these circumstances is even harder. The pitches were great, the community was friendly but still respectful, and everything seemed to run smoothly from the outside.
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Other Coverage
Full results can be found on the schedule.
The ShowGame are doing weekly podcasts every Friday/Saturday covering all the action.
Hogi filmed some games this weekend. You can see his watchalong on Twitch, or watch the game footage on YouTube.
Ulti.tv filmed a lot of Nationals, and streamed it for free to the public on their YouTube. You can support them and find out more on their Patreon.
Photo albums can be found with Ultimouat, Graham Shellswell, maio2zaiparen, and the ShowGame
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Results
1. SMOG 1
2. Deep Space
3. Reading Mixed
4. SMOG 2
5. Leamington Lemmings
6. Oxford Ultimate (Spirit)
7. Cambridge Ultimate
8. Thundering Herd
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Recaps
1st Place: SMOG 1
Alex Greer: It goes without saying that this weekend was a triumph for SMOG, not just as individual teams, but as a club. In retrospect it’s hard to believe that a few months ago we were still waiting to see if this event could even happen, but between now and then a huge amount of hard work and commitment has been put in by 44 athletes who competed this weekend gone by, all of which I’m proud to call my teammates.
SMOG 1 went into the weekend swinging from the start, we held seed with dominant wins over Thundering Herd and Oxford. We also had our first match-up with Deep Space in a very enjoyable pool match, with both teams making some big plays and taking the chance to feel out the other side in case we met up in the latter half of the tournament (foreshadowing maybe…?)
The semi-final was a tough one, with a SMOG v SMOG battle royale. Having been on the other side of the 1s v 2s matchup myself last Nationals (in 2019), I know it’s always a bit nervy since it’s strange playing the group of people that had been cheering you on every game the day before. It’s a bit of a double edged sword matching up against a team you’re so familiar with, we knew all their tactics but naturally they knew all of ours as well. SMOG 2 pulled ahead at the start, however SMOG 1 managed to exponentially put more points on the board at each stage of the game. It was a great game against a great side.
It was about halfway through this game we found out what was going on the other pitch, a massive upset. Let’s be honest, everyone had spent so long debating the SMOG 1 v Reading match-up that they’d discounted the other main contender, and Deep Space couldn’t care less about your predictions (massive props by the way).
The final was a very different game to our pool match up, DS took what they’d learned the day before and came in with a fiery resolve. The first half was a tough grind and ended on serve 8-7 to SMOG 1. This continued for a few more points before SMOG started to pull away, it’s hard to say whether DS started to lose momentum or SMOG switched to a higher gear, but one thing that’s for certain is a lot of white shirts went swimming for blocks, and they got them. The game was a privilege to take part in and I’m very much looking forward to the next time we can match up against a strong DS line. We’re grateful for an exciting weekend and the return of weekend tournaments, and after a short celebration we’ll be back at it again. Now we’re firmly on the road to worlds, we don’t intend to stop working hard now. Guess I can fill the frisbee void with some indoors in the meantime...
2nd Place: Deep Space
Miyen Ho (she/her) and Conor Hogan: Coming into this weekend, one of DS’s main priorities was bringing the energy & intensity from the beginning and continually ramping it up. This had been a challenge for us during the National League matches, particularly against Reading, Mighty Hucks, & SMOG 1, where our opponents had built substantial early leads that we weren’t able to claw back. We think we overcame this challenge relatively successfully — our first match on Saturday against Oxford featured a strong early lead, while our second match saw us trading holds with SMOG 1 until halftime. The third match was an anomaly, with Herd taking an early lead of a couple of points and still being tight at around 11-9, before we managed to pull away for the 15-10 win. We were proud of our resilience in bringing back that energy & intensity to end the day with the “quarterfinal” win.
Our focus on ‘effort & intensity from the start’ was most apparent in our semi-final against Reading. While both our National League match in June & Challenge League match in mid-August saw Reading take early leads, we were proud to score several breaks in the first half of the semis to take the half at 8-3. We spoke at half time about not wanting to take the foot off the pedal and that Reading would absolutely come out swinging in the second half and we needed to be ready to deal with a few speed bumps along the road. Reading did just that winning the second half 9-7 but we had a big enough lead from the first half and our D line continued to generate turns and breaks despite the Reading defence’s pressure won our own O line. Shout out to Phil Sandwell for a 65-70m sprint to chase down layout grab - see image reel on Sam Mouat’s @ultimouat Instagram account - and to Duncan Rowe for roofing Joe Brown for an early break. Both goals gave the team a lot of hype.
And thus the final. This was the culmination of all the work done in this short and weird season but we had peaked at the right moment and respected the challenge ahead of us. SMOG 1 had won our previous two meetings 15-10 and 15-9, including the group game on Saturday so they properly had the mental edge on us. We didn’t let that show in the first quarter as we went out to a 2 break lead. As the game went on however, mistakes on our side crept in and were punished as harshly as they were on Saturday. We kept it close and at the break there was only 1 goal in it. The second half continued with much the same pace and intensity as the first with both teams generating blocks and forcing big plays. In the end, the depth of SMOG 1’s roster was a bit too much for us to handle and they took the game 15-11.
Shout out to Nina Finley for firing hucks around like nobody’s business and to Leila Denniston for her big grab late in the game which sparked a necessary energy boost in the team. Shout out also to Charlie Daffern for getting a clutch aerial block when we needed to stop SMOG 1’s momentum. We spoke after the game about being disappointed with the result while being proud of our performance - we knew we played as well this weekend, especially Sunday, as Deep Space ever has and we have put ourselves in the near best possible position for WUCC qualification. Big shout out to all our opponents for testing us enormously, especially SMOG 1 for the two most challenging match ups of the weekend. We go again next year.
Many thanks to all the teams we played this weekend - every single match was very competitive and highly-spirited; super impressive to see after the prolonged off-season!
3rd Place: Reading Mixed
Bex Palmer: A very hard weekend. Going in as National League champs and having had previous National success we had high expectations.
Throughout the weekend we seemed to lack a good start to a game, and this meant we struggled to give ourselves space to make mistakes. The likes of Cambridge and Lemmings were unknowns to us coming from outside the League, put up a hell of a fight and we didn't close out those games until the last minute (both teams played fantastically).
When the semi came it was a similar story of a slow start and Deep Space going 8-3 at half. I'm incredibly proud of Reading for bringing that score line back to 13-12 but alas our slowness out the gates had probably sealed our fate.
With a guaranteed Worlds spot and medals out of the picture we rallied hard to win 15-5 in the 3rd v 4th place game against SMOG 2, a rematch of the 3rd v 4th place game two years ago that we failed to rally for, so improvements made! Big shout out to Neil McCulloch as well on his first Nationals, and to Erin McGready for playing a blinder on defence all weekend. As a team made up of a lot of young U24 players with some Reading stalwarts we have come away disappointed but resilient, with a lot more high pressure experience under our belts. Reading 2022 is coming back stronger.
4th Place: SMOG 2
Heather Williams (she/her/they/them): As a second team, I think it’s fair to say we took quite a bit longer to gel as a squad due to fewer well-established connections, and this showed in our games over the summer. Having already suffered a defeat to Lemmings in the Cup, SMOG 2 was buzzing for a rematch at Nationals – with the livestream only fanning the flames!
Both teams came out of the gates firing with some slick and patient offence, and struggled to find the gaps in each other’s armour. Lemmings tried a variety of defensive tactics including zone and buzz switches, with SMOG 2 relying on hard match to wear down the opposition and force the bigger throws. Trading to five all, the impasse was finally broken when SMOG 2 scored an up-wind break just before half, and kept the pressure on to take the game 14-9 in a reverse of the Cup final!
Beating Lemmings placed us second in the pool, and meant SMOG 2 were to face SMOG 1 in the semi-final the following morning. We went out with the mindset that we had nothing to lose and to not be swayed by our emotions should we make a mistake. SMOG 2 scored the first point and gained some early momentum, which SMOG 1 did their best to clamp down on before finally winning the game. All in all, SMOG’s huge sideline, consisting mainly of parents and partners (a few with divided loyalties), really enjoyed cheering us all on after a full schedule of back-to-back supporting the previous day.
Our final match of the weekend was a rematch against Reading. While SMOG 2 was a bit disappointed to not have got a closer result after the pool, Reading was fired up after their loss to Deep Space and ground out the game with some excellent throws through holes in the zone. Thanks to all the teams we played for some well-spirited ultimate after we've all spent so long away from it!
5th Place: Leamington Lemmings Ultimate
Nathan Sanders: Saturday for Lemmings mixed was one of great starts, and saw us come out strong against Cambridge managing to take half with a break, their unusual defensive look took some getting used to but we were fortunate to take a couple of breaks in the initial stages of the game. A fiery few points at the end of the game saw Cambridge take 3 breaks on the bounce to bring the game to universe but we were able to capitalise and make sure of the win.
The second game was the big one Lemmings vs SMOG 2 for second in the group and a space in the top 4. Both teams start well and manage to hold offences until 5’s, but then some athletic plays and clinical offence saw SMOG 2 just eek it away before half. A really tough game and a well-deserved win for SMOG 2 left us with one game left, Reading. Despite a tough loss on the livestream, the team rallied really well to bring a lot of energy and fire the last pool game against reading, starting really well, lemmings manage to hold their own even trading breaks with a very athletic team. The game was close with scores tied up at 11-11, both teams leaving it on the field, with some excellent defence but Reading show some class to finish the game out calmly. Highly enjoyable and very well spirited, my favourite game of the weekend.
Sunday morning, a rematch of the cup final against Herd! This was a big game, the last time we replayed a team they came back firing and this time was no exception. The game was very tight, both teams squeezing turnovers out of each other. Lemmings are able to go into half-time a couple of breaks clear but that doesn’t stop Herd who manage to fight all the way into the end and claw back the two breaks at the end of the game to get a shot at universe. Apparently we like to make it interesting, fortunately again Lemmings put in a clean offensive hold to take the win. Oxford were up next, who had just come out of a nail-biting sudden death win against Cambridge. A five game weekend had definitely taken its toll by this point and the extra legs and youth on the Lemmings roster managed to take the game with a little run of breaks in the middle. A highly enjoyable game against a very rightly deserved spirit winning squad.
6th Place: Oxford Ultimate
Harry Mason (he/him): It has been really exciting playing with Oxford this season. Nationals was never the goal - we thought we were going out in round one when we were drawn against RGS as our first match-up (who sadly had to pull out). The fact we fought our way through the whole cup, qualified at the third time of asking (sorry Glasgow), and then at Nationals managed to win two games to finish sixth in the UK (while winning spirit) is literally beyond any goal we set for the season. Many thanks go to Sam Vile, Nancy Rawlings, and anyone else who coached us this season - as well as special thanks to our captains Jeremy Keown and Mags Matsumiya.
Saturday was where we finally saw ourselves having to face the music. Our first game against Deep Space felt like a thriller the whole way, ending at a remarkably close 15-10. Special shout out to Grisel Jayapurna, who started Ultimate only a few months ago and yet was able to bring down some spicy discs against elite opposition. I want to talk more about it, but then I don't have room for our sudden death redemption match against Thundering Herd, which we won despite some very impressive efforts from our ex-teammate Matt Butler. Given we lost by a seven-point margin in the cup, this was a real indicator of just how far we'd managed to develop as a team. Despite putting everything into the Herd game to guarantee the win, we still managed to put some points up (including a break) against SMOG 1 to finish the day.
Sunday started with a game another rematch, this time with us stopping the revenge result reversal from Cambridge. We worked well through their zone, well enough that they sadly stopped using it and then broke us a few times for a half at 5-8. Thankfully, we've been down against Cambridge at half before, so we knew what to do. We rallied, earned some breaks ourselves, and ended the game by scoring a traitor's assist, with two ex-Cambridge players - Nick "Gonzo" Skliar-Davies and Mags Matsumiya - connecting for the assist and score respectively. Sadly, at this point, the small squad size and a couple injuries really hit us hard, and though the fight against Lemmings was respectable it was always to be a fatally flawed attempt.
Everyone on the team played fantastically. Bill Wright stepped up in a big way, his development this season is amazing. Kay Song was only playing her second tournament but handled against some of the best zones in the country. Helen Brooks was able to get separation against every defender. Kirjon Ngu got some phenomenal D's. Luka Nedic skyed the guy whose shirt he had to borrow from Deep Space. Emma Holden was an endzone threat against every team. Anthony Howgego was a bedrock of a handler for our side. And the partnership of myself, Phili Kent, and James Famelton has been working for four years at uni so it makes sense it is still paying dividends now. Nick was always able to lowkey be the cut we needed just at the right time. Also Shona, Thawn, Sofia, and everyone who helped us qualify, you were all incredible too. However, at this point I'm abusing the fact I edit the articles and so I'll wrap it up. Thanks Oxford for an amazing tournament. Even though it was a farewell one for some of us, it's certainly the best farewell this author could ask for. Especially in winning spirit as well :D.
7th Place: Cambridge Ultimate
Sophie Mance: An early start for CUlt as we arrived in Nottingham in varying states of awakeness after driving up from Cambridge. A warm-up later we were ready for our first opponents of the day, Lemmings. A strong start from CUlt wasn’t to last as Lemmings took half with a few breaks. Captain Melissa "George" LaFrance reminded us that this was a perfect opportunity to practice Mental Toughness, a focus we’ve had throughout the season. That seemed to do the trick, and we came out firing. The soft cap hooter went and CUlt were still down. Undeterred, the team kept grinding to pull the score up to 12-12: universe point. Congratulations to Lemmings who took the final point for a 13-12 win. Our next opponent was Reading Ultimate. Another strong start from CUlt put us up 2-0. However, Reading impressed us with their ‘boring’ but highly effective ultimate and pulled away winning the match 13-8. Game three was against SMOG 2. Despite some early breaks from CUlt, SMOG’s determination and clinical offence saw them win the match 14-9.
Day two saw us up against our rivals Oxford Ultimate! After a narrow loss to them in the National Cup, we were out for revenge. Aching muscles were soon forgotten as we traded points until a run of three points saw CUlt take half. Oxford, weren’t going to let us get away with that and went on a run of their own. After soft cap we found ourselves facing our second universe point of the tournament. Unfortunately, it was also our second sudden death loss of the tournament with Oxford winning the match 10-9. Our final opponent of the tournament was Thundering Herd. Excellent mental toughness from CUlt helped us forget our sore legs and general exhaustion. One break in the first half was followed by a few more in the second and eventually a 15-12 win for CUlt!
I’m sure I speak for the whole team when I say I couldn’t have had a more fun and challenging tournament. Thank you to captains Jonny Slaughter and George for excellent leadership; let's hope the next tournament is less than two years away!
8th Place: Thundering Herd
Sean Colfer: The weekend was reasonably successful despite the lack of success for Herd. Outside of a rough start against the defending champs on Saturday morning (which was much more competitive at times than a 15-3 would indicate, with Herd’s D line getting a few looks at the endzone and the O line working pretty well at times and getting it back once turned) every game was pretty tight, and the newer and younger players on the roster all fit into their roles well and looked like they belonged on this stage.
A sudden death loss to Oxford in the pool made it tough to avoid the 5-8 bracket, but took any pressure off for a game against local rivals Deep Space. Through most of the game it was a tight, competitive but well spirited affair outside of a couple of collisions with Deep Space up 11-9. A few ill-timed injuries thinned out the Herd handling options and Deep Space began to turn the screw late on, reflected in the 15-10 final score. Matt "Smatt" Hodgson made a very stupid catch late on, bashing a pretty ropey hammer back up in the air before laying out for a full extension trailing edge grab.
Second day was more of the same - tough sledding, good opposition and hard work. Lemmings were able to get out to a lead in the middle section of the game and hung on despite a furious late run from Herd, winning in sudden death. This game featured a monster layout grab by Johnny Hawes in the back corner, catching the disc as it faded away with his left hand. The final game against Cambridge was tight too, with the opposition using a hugely effective deep game and getting some early joy with an FSU. Another tight, spirited game, another loss, but all in all a great return to tournament play and a reminder of why we all like playing this ridiculous sport.
