What Went Down At: Open Tour 2

Main Editor/Discussion Chair: hazard (Reading 1, former Ka-Pow!)
Main Contributors: connormch (EMO, former Clapham), amazzon (SMOG, former Clapham, former Ka-Pow!), dp (ShowGame cofounder, Fire 1) , h.christou (Glasgow 1), tadhgb (Ireland U24s), callum.spiers (Manchester)
Additional Quotes/Contributions: Ben Norris (Ka-Pow! co-captain), Matthew Carson (YOpen)

hazard 
Welcome to the post-Open Tour 2 chat! Here we'll be discussing what went down at OT2, whether it was what we expected, and look ahead to Open Tour 3.

Here are the headlines, some of which we'll be discussing:
Clapham return to being unbeaten, finish first and second.
EMO/Reading show that Tour 1 wasn't a fluke, round off the top four spots.
Ireland U24s beat Chevron to take fifth. How is this Irish team so strong?
Manchester/Ka-Pow recover from disappointing Tour 1s, make the top 8. 
Flump survive another round in A Tour, this time convincingly.
Tour splits for the first time in years. How did we find it/did we notice?

Some handy links:
The ShowGame preview
Schedule (+ B Tour North Schedule)
Fanseat: Saturday Pitch 1, Saturday pitch 2, Sunday Pitch 1, Sunday Pitch 2

Need a recap? Check out our Open Tour 1 discussion.

Prediction Watch: Sean got eight of the top ten, and three of the top four! Very well done. DP did not make predictions again.

For ease, we've included the top 20 here
1. Clapham A
2. Clapham 1
3. EMO
4. Reading 1
5. Ireland Under-24 Men
6. Chevron Action Flash
7. Manchester 1
8. Ka-Pow!
9. Fire of London 1
10. GB U24 Darwin
11. Devon 1
12. Glasgow
13. Flump
14. GB U24 Brisbane
15. SMOG
16. Brighton City
---
17. BAF
18. Fire of London 2
19. Cloud City 1
20. Birmingham

B Tour North
1. EDI
2. Rebel Ultimate
3. The Brown
4. LLLeeds

**************************

hazard 
Right, let's start at the top. Clapham suffered a rare defeat at OT1, and looked like they wanted to leave no doubt in everyone's minds here that they are still number one. Did anyone play them? Did anyone notice any difference between how they were here and their Tour 1 performance?

amazzon 
I caught a few games from the sideline. As far as I could tell everything looked the same, even though both teams were pretty short on numbers. The focus was on the process as always and it seemed to pay off.

hazard 
Clapham made thirteen of the fifteen man GB squad that won silver at WCBU (the Beach Ultimate Championships). I'd have said they were Clapham's best players too. Was it those players missing? If so, that makes it doubly impressive.

amazzon 
Pretty much everyone at worlds was at Tour as far as I can tell.

connormch 
I only had the chance to play one of the teams, but yeah it seems like most of the WCBU squad were present.

amazzon 
Only Jamie Cross and Alex Brookes were missing, and Magnus Wilson was injured. Plus a bunch of non-GB players were at Worlds and there at the weekend too.

connormch 
It seems as though the strength of their second half really overcame EMO. 6-6 in the semi final to a 15-8 victory. Very similar to their EUCF victory over CUSB.

hazard 
Clapham only had two games that could remotely be described as close in pool play. 14-9 win vs EMO, and 14-11 vs Chevron. Every other game was a seven point margin or greater. Particularly of notice - 15-3 win vs Reading (although that was a back-to-back game after they beat Chevron). I think Clapham really had a point to prove after OT1.

amazzon 
I think that should quash any voices of 'the dominance ending' after T1...

hazard 
Reading weren't a full strength team, moving some players (like Sam Gunbie) onto seconds to help their development. They also managed it with only 13 players. It's almost enough to wonder if they'll focus on Open for Worlds. I mean, they wont. But it's almost enough. (Note: They'll likely enter an Open team, but their top Men will all play Mixed.)

connormch 
Big sign of things to come going into Nationals I think.

hazard 
Let's look forward at a promising team that will be entering Open for Nationals then - EMO. Two Tours. Two top-three finishes (and only ever behind Clapham). Is it fair to call EMO the second-best team in UK Open Ultimate right now?

dp 
Not sure we can say that yet. Have they beaten Chev yet?

hazard 
Yup, Tour 1!

dp 
Oh yeah, my bad.

connormch 
I wouldn't like to be the one to make that statement personally, we are delighted to be performing as we are so far, and T2 really solidified that belief that we can push to be in the Top 2 at Nationals. I think the best statement would be 2nd best performing team in the UK so far.

dp 
That seems fair to me. Anything can happen between now and Nationals.

connormch 
I think this weekend showed how close the Top 8 can be, Glasgow beating EMO in sudden death. Reading beating Chev for the first time. It will be interesting to see how that transfers to Nationals.

hazard 
Any thoughts on how EMO looked in that sudden death game against Glasgow? It's often those match-ups that really let you know the character of a team. 

h.christou 
Want to throw something out there: not to discredit the quality of EMO and their results but they were somewhat fortunate to make the top 4 bracket (although I believe they would have finished best in the other bracket). Glasgow really should have beaten Devon, but couldn't close out a 14-12 lead with uncharacteristic turns. But I understand that at least you (Connor) and Joe Wynder were back for Sunday? (Anyone else missing? EMO vs Glasgow was a weird game.)

connormch 
We were also missing Alec Buchanan, who is currently watching the Lions Tour in NZ. Usually a mainstay handler on the O line. And I would have said the same however we did then beat Devon by 6 to finish the day. But yes Devon did do us a favour in their comeback against Glasgow.

h.christou 
I agree, a strong win by EMO. It's quite fun to note that Glasgow were so close to a guaranteed 4th spot and then ended up 12th.

hazard 
Losing 15-10 to - guess who - Devon, in their final game. ;)

connormch 
Goes to show 1 or 2 strong games in Tour format can really benefit your standings.

h.christou 
Well we had 12 players to start the weekend and finished with 9. We were just exhausted by that final game vs Devon.

hazard 
UK Ultimate posted a lovely play/commentary from the Devon vs Glasgow pool game. The full game is one of those on fanseat. 

hazard
While we're talking about Glasgow, do we reckon the hype-train of Scotland Ultimate  (a combined EDI/Glasgow team that'll enter nationals) might be able to take them over the top?

h.christou 
So, Scotland Ultimate. I honestly don't know how this will shape up in the respect of a final roster for Regionals/Nationals. Trials are next week, but will be more of an elite training session for anyone interested. I understand that Glasgow are taking Mixed seriously, Black Eagles are yet to announce teams, and there are numerous players unaccounted for outwith GU and EDI teams this Tour season. Should be a strong team, but tough to gauge right now. Literally no idea who could be on it really.

Not like that helps your discussion much...

hazard 
Alright. Away from Scotland, onto Ireland.

Not only do they look good, the Irish U24 Boys play well too.

Ireland U24s. What. Happened.

connormch 
Watch the final few points v Chev if you can. SCENES

dp 
Game 1 or 2?

connormch 
Game 2. Game 1 was incredible too though.

hazard
Game 1 was filmed, so should be available on fanseat.

tadhgb 
It went badly, then it went well basically. This was the first tournament that the finalised squad played together for so we weren't too sure what to expect but obviously wanted to build on the Tour 1 performance. Saturday we came away with two universe-point losses to Reading and Chev (despite a 4 point rally to bring it to universe) and missed out on the top four. Refocused for Sunday and got the wins over Fire, Manchester and Chev to take 5th. I think around two thirds of the team never really played A Tour before this year, so we're fairly happy with what's going on. The weekend for us was pretty much characterized by the battles with Chev, lots learned both on an individual level, and as a team heading towards Perth.

hazard 
Fire were looking really strong after a disappointing Tour 1. Buoyed up by a good result at Windmill, the Irish team was their only loss all weekend. Any insight into why Fire couldn't get past them?

dp 
They were bloody good.

dp 
Plus we had a short lines on Saturday (7-man O and 8-man D) which was upped on Sunday (8-man O and 9-man D). So a bit of tired O line giving the disc up too often (and the Irish really took advantage well) plus a very tired D line not able to get turns. But they totally deserved the win this time. But yes feelings after Windmill were pretty good and we knew going into T2 we didn't a full team (again) so we took every game as it came up and attempted to remain positive throughout. We are still building up to Regionals and Nationals.

tadhgb 
In fairness to Fire, we wanted that game to be turning point for for us for the weekend. If it was the day before, it probably would have been a much closer contest.

hazard 
OK. Let's move across London to a team that really did manage to come back from a disappointing Tour 1. So much so, they were supposed to be in B Tour. But Ka-Pow! weren't having any of it, and instead rushed to a top 8 position. I asked co-captain Ben Norris for some thoughts on the different Tours.

"We have a young, athletic squad, so T1 was a valuable learning experience, despite some tough losses (Manchester on universe, GB U24 by 2). We were confident coming into T2 that we could make some waves and prove that we are still a top 8 team, regardless of the heavy turnover from last season. Even with a smaller squad than we will have at any other point this season, we put up strong results against SMOG and Manchester in pool play, and then played some of our best ultimate of the season against Devon in our Sunday crossover. As our young players continue to grow and gel with the more experienced members on the squad, we are confident that we will keep improving all the way up to Nationals."

Any thoughts? Did they look like a top-eight team, or did the schedule go their way?

callum.spiers 
Ka-Pow! beat Manchester last game of the day Saturday, having lost to GB U24 first game of the day. (MCR avenged that loss in the last game of the day on Sunday). That win avoided a three-way tie for second place, that GB U24 might well have won. In terms of playing, Ka-Pow! looked great with the addition of Mike Noblett from beyond the wall. He slotted into the O line very well and added a powerful dimension. Unfortunately, he was injured by the second Ka-Pow! - MCR game (possibly due to a ridiculous grab between two Manchester defenders, leaving him banged up).

hazard 
I was quite happy to see the results, from a personal point of view. I know Ka-Pow! have the personnel, but from last year their mental game make the difference between B tour and, well, Euros. It'd be a great shake-up if they were able to manage themselves now.

callum.spiers 
I think Ka-Pow! definitely look developmental, and they are assimilating youth into the team. Never forget Nationals 2016!

hazard 
#yay

hazard 
Manchester had much better results this Tour too. EMO and Ireland were the key losses at Tour 1, unlucky seedings just meant that pushed them down quite far. Were Manchester actually stronger this time around?

callum.spiers 
MCR have been plagued by injuries all season, leading to consistently lower training turnout than last year. 3 key players missing at Tour 1: Tom 'Yellow' Lees (captain, injured), James Jackson (away), Sion Regan (captain, away) meant we were low on handling firepower. The lower training turnout has lead to issues with chemistry, particularly on the O line, and the injuries haven't helped. The return of the handling firepower of Regan and Jackson helped to propel the D line into life at Tour 2, and Yellow helped stabilise the O line. Santiago Zuluaga, Hamish Rankine, Alban Vilaseca, Ewen Buckling were all still struggling with injuries

amazzon 
They looked solid against us (SMOG). Plus a good blend of experience and development players it seems.

hazard 
Are the injuries looking to be season long? Or are we going to see a stronger MCR team as we progress?

callum.spiers 
MCR will lose Dale Walker and their U24 stars at Tour 3, but should have the rest of the cast. Manchester have improved offensive conversion rate for both D and O lines, finishing 7th out of a possible 5th. Tour 2 was a great success and the team can't wait to have a crack at the teams in the top 4 again!

hazard 
Alright. I'd quickly like to mention Flump's success in staying in A Tour again. It looked a little fluky first Tour, but they really showed the doubters this time. Well done. They'll be pleased to finish above Fire of London 2 (and a surprisingly strong Cloud City side) to keep their title as fourth-best London side (counting both Clapham teams as one). Captain Sean Colfer gave us the low-down.


seancolfer
At Tour 1 we were bedding in some new players and it took some adjustments. We were also missing some important parts of the O line which necessitated some movement of players into roles they'd not had to fill before. At T2 we were close to full strength and had the full O line. Our games on Saturday, while all losses, were all competitive and we felt confident going into Sunday's crossover that we were good enough to remain in A Tour. BAF struggled against our zone, their experienced players knew how to break it but there seemed to be a disconnect between the handlers and the cutters. We took advantage of that. After we had that first win we rode the confidence and the momentum to two sudden-death wins. We didn't make any changes between Tours really so it wasn't a tactical thing that kept us in A Tour. I think what we did at this Tour really well was focus on positives and keep our intensity and our effort at a high level. We maintained a high level all day Sunday and it was the difference, particularly when we came from behind and beat GB.


hazard 
Finally, I'd like to ask how people found the splitting of B Tour into South and North? The Tour season is structured this year so that B Tour teams have two chances to cross into A Tour - Tour 1, and whichever one of Tour 2/3 has A Tour in their region. Fire 2 notably missed out crossing up this time around.

Andy Garner of Vision, getting the grab against Joshua Brassington of YOpen in B Tour North.
Photo courtesy of Rachel Turton

callum.spiers 
The increased space at Tour meant you got time on the pitch before your game started, which was amazing. We got a game-on-game-off schedule, which was great (I think some teams still had a couple of games back to back on Sunday).

dp 
At South? We had back to back in the morning on Saturday.

callum.spiers 
We also managed to watch a bit of the Tour final, thanks to the offset scheduling (i don't know if that was intentional), but I loved being able to catch that.

dp 
Was nice to have a little more space ... did feel more spread out. Almost every game we had drill space on the field. Well noticed Callum!

callum.spiers 
Games were also 80 minutes, instead of Nottingham's 70 minutes. I guess this might have lead to more teams reaching 15 and not eating into the time between games, and that's where the drill time comes from.

hazard
Excellent, thank you all! We're going to finish with a summary from B Tour North, seeing as how most players will need an update on what went on there. Matthew Carson of YOpen gives us the breakdown.

matthewcarson
B Tour north at Salford was certainly a different experience. Compared to the huge Wind Farm venue the (relatively) small field in Salford gave the whole tournament more of a Winter League / Regionals feel. There were 12 teams playing games on 5 pitches, with the fifth only needed for potential emergency schedule rewriting (which turned out to be necessary!), so compared to the 70+ teams that descended onto Nottingham 4 weeks ago it certainly didn’t feel like a Tour event.

Once games started, however, the atmosphere changed. The group set up had us (YOpen) as the bottom seed in a group with two B Tour teams so we knew we needed to seriously up our game in order to have a hope of competing, and through a determined will to find some way of proving ourselves, we managed to sneak two victories to top our group. It certainly felt more like Tour after these back-to-back games: with dehydrated bodies, sunburned necks and adrenaline-filled blood streams we settled in for our game off just like we would at any other Tour event – by going to watch some of the top-level games.

Overall, the small size of the tournament didn’t feel like it justified splitting the Tour event. You would usually find the teams you play fit into one of three brackets: 
teams you’ll probably beat, 
teams you’ll probably lose to 
and teams with whom you’ll have close games.

However, with such a small tournament, that morphed into: 
teams you’ll almost certainly beat, 
teams you’ll almost certainly lose to 
and teams with whom you’ll have close games.

That relative increase in the quality span between the best and worst teams you play reduces the competitiveness and enjoyment of the tournament, for me. An example – after working so hard to win our close group games from the bottom seed, we (YOpen) had to try and prove our worth in the top 4 with a seeding match against EDI, a game we lost 15-3, a score line which completely represents the game and one not commonly found at larger Tour events.

hazard
Thanks Carson! We'll end with a Liam Kelly tweet about B Tour North, and see you all at Tour 3.

https://twitter.com/WordsFromLiam/status/881547179512541184

Scotland Ultimate Interview

Interviewer/Editor: Harry Mason
Additional Help: Haydon Christou

We sat down with Matthew Tomlinson (Captain of Glasgow Ultimate - GU) and Matthew Fletcher (Captain of Edinburgh Ultimate - EDI) to discuss the formation of an exciting new Open team which just announced trials - Scotland Ultimate. If you’re interested, the deadline to apply is 26th June, and you can sign up here

So, what is Scotland Ultimate?

Matt F

The scene in Scotland is going strong as it always has with healthy club structures in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Both teams are at a point where pushing for the top of nationals isn't in the clubs goals, but as a nation we're comfortably ready to push into Europe.

And why do the two clubs need to join for this, if you don't mind me asking? EDI have already managed to show they can hold their own in A Tour, and Glasgow managed make a very good name for themselves in Europe last season.

Matt F

It's mutually beneficial.

Matt T

The mixed scene in Scotland this year is so strong, with Black Eagles dominating and Glasgow putting in consistent results in the top 8, it could have been easy to let the open scene take a back seat. By running as GU and EDI through the tour season we can develop as separate squads, help improve the local talent, but then be able it pull together for a real shot at Euros.

So the aim is for GU and EDI to stay as separate teams throughout tour, and then combine for UK Regionals/Nationals?

Matt T

The depth in quality of Scotland is just fantastic and there is more than enough talent for a truly elite mixed and open program. The Ultimate community in Scotland is also very tight, many friends play on either side of the GU/ EDI divide and this is a great opportunity to compete together. Not to mention the other parts of Scotland that are interested in getting involved, most notably the St Andrew's boys that are spending the tour season with GB.

Do you see this as a one year thing? And if so, will it always be separate teams at tour to a combined team at nationals?

Matt T

We haven't looked that far ahead yet.
Last year GU was the force in Scotland, but despite the name many of our players were based in other parts of Scotland, such as Edinburgh/ Dundee. By re-branding as Scotland Ultimate for regionals, nationals and beyond we feel the team name and style is more reflective of our diverse player base. Our hope is that players will want to band together around the team Scotland idea, rather than side with 1 particular city. It also gives us a great excuse to have specialised Scotland Ultimate kit designed, which is looking SICK!
I would like to add, however, that the intention of Scotland Ultimate is not to detract or undermine the success of what GU and EDI are doing domestically. These clubs are more than just tour teams, they teach beginners, volunteer at schools, run fun tournaments and promote Ultimate to everyone that they can. These clubs are nurturing grassroots frisbee and helping the sport to grow in their regions, so I don't want to do anything to take away from their success. The goal of Scotland Ultimate is to offer a platform for high level players to train hard and push each other to greatness.  

Are there any development plans with this team (e.g. take some training squad players, field a second team, train with some local unis), or do you just see it as an elite club for nationals?

Matt F

It's too early to say but anything is possible really. This team is about continuing the development of Scottish Ultimate first and foremost. How we achieve that and the different ways in which we could are still very much under discussion.

Matt T

GU and EDI are very good at developing players and providing something for everyone. trainings, skills sessions, second teams etc.
Early aspirations for Scotland Ultimate is to bring the top talent of Scotland together. Where the future will take us, we can't say right now, but the future of Ultimate in Scotland is looking very bright and we hope this club is the start of another great chapter in its continued development.

What are you guys aiming for with the team? Top 5 at nationals? Top 10 in Europe?

Matt F

Win, and keep winning.

Interview with Jonny Arthur & Will Seth (Captains of UMON winners Sussex)

Interviewer/Editor: Harry Mason

Let's start with introductions! What are your names, and who are you?

Jonny

Jonny Arthur, Sussex Men's Captain.

Will
Will Seth, Sussex Men's Captain.

Jonny

aka this year's Uni National Champs.

So, how did it feel to win nationals? What have you done with your medals?

Jonny

Feels pretty good, especially after losing the indoor final, getting that trophy and gold medal was something special. And, yes, I did wear that medal for about a week straight.

Will
It was kind of a weird sensation, when that final point was converted I wasn't sure that we'd won. I wore the medal for quite a few days without taking it off, but it's now taken pride of place on my wall.

Will Seth (left) and Jonny Arthur (right) answer our tricky questions

What were some of the challenges/toughest games you faced this season?

Jonny

Our first real test this year was in the league in december against Portsmouth. we knew they would be tough opposition after finishing fourth at last year's Nationals. so coming away with a decent win in that game was a big confidence boost for the rest of the season.

Will

We'd struggled with injuries a lot throughout the season, so taking a large squad was with that in mind. However, in the build up, and over the weekend, we managed to keep everyone fit which definitely helped us.

Jonny

And then losing to Strathclyde in the Saturday pool games was really tough to come back from. We knew we had the ability to beat teams but that game showed the overall strength of a number of teams.

Will

I agree, losing to Strathclyde on the saturday was a bit of a knock in confidence, but we were able to maintain positivity going into the crossover against Durham, and a reasonably comfortable win against a strong Durham team got us back on track for the sunday.

Jonny

And how easy it could be for us to drop down the bracket

How did you find being co-captains? Did you both have the same role, or slightly different roles? And is it something Sussex usually does?

Will

I think we were selected* for the role because we had similar targets for the season. We also had quite similar views on the way we wanted to run offence and defence. I'm not sure how often the team is co-captained but it definitely worked well this year. Jonny was definitely more vocal throughout the season within the team too.
*The previous captains select the new captains after an application process, where players state their ambitions and what they can bring to the role. We were chosen by Christian Turvill because he believed that we'd make a good captaining partnership.

Jonny

As I was abroad the year before having a co-captain was super useful to me, as I needed to get to know a lot of the team and establish what we could achieve. I also think personality wise we complimented each other really well, I'd generally get loud and get everyone hyped up and focussed on things, then will would get out on pitch and just get some huge skies or lay out D's to get people going.

Mohawks don’t always do co-captains but a couple of times in the last few years it's happened as we just had candidates who work well together

Now, I understand you guys had an interesting coaching situation this year. How did you find it, and how important do you think coaches are for University Ultimate?

Jonny & Will

We feel that having good coaches is massively important and has been a big strength for Mohawks in recent years. Felix Shardlow has done a great job for nearly 10 years now as a coach and is especially good at introducing new players to the game and improving them quickly, best shown by us qualifying a second team for nationals 3 times in the past 5 years. Since Christmas Felix has been off running coaching clinics all around the world so we were lucky enough to have Glen Newell take over trainings since then. John Maule has also been coaching us for the last couple of years and having those two with us at Nats was a massive help. Basically we have been incredibly lucky in having two top quality coaches consistently for the last two years which dramatically improves our training sessions.

Do you have any strong club connections at Sussex? Do many of your team train with clubs outside of the University?

Will

We are lucky to live in a city with a massive ultimate scene. Almost all our team at nationals have played at the highest club level with Brighton City. There are also regular trainings run by Brighton Ultimate, the community of ultimate players in Brighton, for both club and uni players which helps progression of everyone massively.

Jonny

Also a large number of Brighton City players are ex-Mohawks so are always happy to help us out in any way they can.

Who were your star players this season?

Jonny

We did have a really strong Clapham player this year in Luis Semple who was huge for us this year.

Luis Semple, laying out to get the upwind break score in the final at Nationals. Photo courtesy of Vicki James.

Will

A strong handler set who had been playing with each other for a number of years (Christian Turvill, Chris Wastell, Chun Lee, and Dom Burnham) also really helped in the wind at Nottingham.

Jonny

Oh and Ash Yeo (Clapham Captain, GB Open Beach Captain).

What is your relationship with the Women’s team at Sussex? Do you train together, support each other, socialise together, etc….

Jonny

We have a pretty close relationship with the women's team. lots of mixed training, always socialising together. since the league started we don't train as much together but we still view ourselves all as one teams.

Loads of incestuous frisbee relationships as well.

Which helps team cohesion?

Jonny

Yes

Will
Yes

The women's team were also a massive sideline for us at Nationals.

Speaking of Nationals sideline, how cool was it to have your second team there as well?

Will

Having such a massive cohort of mohawks at nationals definitely helped a lot, just having such a huge number of the club there. It's just sad that someone had to steal the spirit trophy of them.

Alright, moving on. What are your opinions of the BUCS league system?

Jonny

Well, there’s a huge discussion to be had about that so just we probably won't get too in depth.

As a big uni club it worked out ok for us but it certainly wasn't without its difficulties. Having one of the few remaining second teams in the country shows just how difficult it has made it to get freshers competitively involved outdoors. But it also obviously helps in raising the sport recognition and funding from unis now more BUCS points are on the line.

Will

It definitely limits the amount of training we did as a whole club. We did a lot of extra trainings on weekends as a first team to compensate. As Jonny said, there has been such a lot of discussion about this and we are lucky to have coped well with the changes from the old regionals format.

Any advice you'd give to someone starting out as a uni captain next year?

Jonny

Set ambitious goals for your team at the start of the year, and make sure it's something that everyone buys into.

Will

Set goals. Identify the strengths of players and decide on a strategy that everyone will buy into.

Jonny

And build a team identity, both on and off pitch, that suits your players. each team should find a style of play that suits them, not just copy what's worked for other teams before.

Sweet. Cheers Guys. Any final points to add/question you'd like to have been asked?

Will

nah we good

Jonny

just enjoy uni ultimate innit

Interview with Alicia Tan (Captain of UWON winners UCL)

Interviewer/Editor: Harry Mason

Let’s start with introductions. What’s your name, and who are you?

Hi, I'm Alicia Tan, people usually call me Ali on the field, and I was captain of the UCL women's team this year!

Let’s get straight into it. How did it feel to win Nationals? What have you done with your medal?

It feels amazing, and still very surreal, I need to look at the medal sometimes to remind myself that it happened! It's currently still sitting on my desk, it was good motivation through the exam period and is definitely something that will remind me of what I've learnt this year!

Alicia Tan (purple bandana, top) celebrates with her UCL teammates

Who were your standout players this season? What did they bring to your team that you found so valuable?

I would hesitate to label a few players because I honestly feel that all of them were crucial and made our team what it was - if I may, small shoutouts to all of them? Alix Henry and Nina Brown for their incredible handling in the notts wind, they really made a difference 😀. Thed Jia Yi, Chua Yu Wei and Emma Oh for tirelessly giving us cuts, I'm so thankful for their determination to run down every disc! and of course my incredible freshers (Jessie, Yanwen, Juliet and Val) who’ve put so much effort this year, they’ve improved so much and played so well, i’m honestly so proud and happy! 😀

Did you have a coach this season? If so, did you find it useful? If not, was it a conscious choice?

Nope we didn't- we lost our coach the year before and definitely would have wanted a coach. Our committee is currently looking for a coach, so perhaps a shoutout for anyone who would like to coach a really fun uni team? 😉

If you don’t mind me saying, you guys were a real surprise package at nationals this year. I think it was the first time we were able to see you on the nationals stage this season (UCL came 8th at UWIR, 7th at UXIR and didn’t enter UXON). How do you prepare your team mentally for this situation?

To be honest, I think we really surprised ourselves as well! But that's the lovely thing about it, I think everyone that played during the weekend went away from it with a newfound excitement of the potential of the team. We were actually really grateful that we were able to field a team for nationals, there were many drop outs and we’ve suffered a couple of injuries this year. But going into a tournament, I mostly tell the girls to just give their best and to play for each other, and I really want them to have fun doing so. I also believe that it's during tournaments like these where you’ll surprise yourself and do somethIng amazing you didn't expect!

My aim this year was to build a team that would genuinely want to train and play together because of the friendships formed here, and I hope that In the years to come, the team will really feel like a family because that's what will make players want to give their all on the field.

Do you think your region was the toughest? The East region saw four different teams win medals (Chichester, Gold, UWIN; KCL, Silver, UWIN; UCL, Gold, UWON; Oxford, Silver, UWON), and you notably saw off Oxford in the final of Nationals, after they had beaten you at regionals.

It's difficult to say, because I feel that the crazy wind that weekend made it quite an even playing field for all the teams.  However I do agree that strong teams have come out from the east region this year, I was looking forward to seeing Chichester and Kings outdoors, but it was a pity they couldn’t make it! Birmingham was a tough team to beat in the semifinal, and I think the midlands have strong teams that we unfortunately didn't get to play against. Oxford has always been a really strong team and their offense is lovely, it’s so fun playing against them because it's always a challenge!

What teams/matches did you particularly enjoy this year?

I think all the teams gave us different challenges, we enjoyed playing against Strathclyde and Sussex, and Oxford once again gave us a great game!

What is your relationship with the Men’s team at UCL? Do you train together, support each other, socialise together, etc….

I’d say that we have a pretty good relationship, we train and socialize together, and I definitely look to maintain good relationships with the men’s captains. They’re a really fun bunch . I think that we’ve supported each other more this year compared to the past years; for example, I try to be there for all their BUCS matches on Wednesdays, and some of the men had come all the way down to support us for regionals! I’ve had great advice given to me by the men, and i’m really thankful for their presence and their friendship.

Do you have any strong club connections at UCL? Do many of your team train with clubs outside of the University?

UCL does run combined trainings with Camden on Sundays, and we have quite a few members playing for Thundering Herd, which is probably our strongest club connection. Not many of our women train with clubs, there are only 3 of us so far. I do want to encourage more of the women to find and play with a women’s team as I think it’ll be hugely beneficial.

Any advice you’d like to give to anyone just starting out as a uni captain this year?

Hm I think I'd say, just get to know your team really well and invest in them personally. I'm not sure about how easy it is to get freshers interested and pull them into the sport, it was really difficult for UCL to attract many women this year but for the ones that stuck around, I watched them during training to give them individual tips of how to improve, and I hope that helped! Also socials definitely help, and just hanging out with the team after trainings.

Finally, is there anything else you’d like to add?

Just wanted to once again express how grateful I am to the girls, I can't thank God enough for such an amazing team and I hope that this win will motivate us to train harder next year because there’s always something to improve on and I believe we can push ourselves even further! I also want to thank everyone who we played against through the weekend, and i hope that we’ll be back at nationals next year to have more great games