Outdoor Regionals 2006, Cambridge 11/12.03.06

The highlight of university ultimate was the place of possible the best team performance of the year!

After having a difficult weekend the week before in Brunel the hopes weren't particularly high, however the end result was one that showcased the improvement of the whole team!

We took a squad of 12 players to our first ever outdoor regionals, those players were; Shelly (captain), Jim, Theo, Ant, Louise, Duncan, Dan, Becca, Tom, Tess, Claire & Katie.

Everyone made it too Cambridge in one peace and proceeded straight to the pub! We met are host Wolf (legend) and were quickly informed that he was a bit of a drinker, perfect for Ruf then! After crawling back to his house the drinking continued long into the night with the welcome introduction of flaming (in mouth!) sambuca's! This was clearly a strong strategic decision to get drunk!

When we eventually made it to the pitches on Saturday morning we were greeted by freezing conditions & very strong wind. The strength of the wind meant that zone defense was going to be played all day by everyone, which would be a real test of how quickly we can grasp Zone play.

Our first game of the group was against a strong Aye-Aye side, the decision was made to rest the two injured players Ant (sprained wrist) & Duncan (very ill) for this game. It was an expected tough game with are offence struggling to cope with their pace and strong zone D, everyone kept running to the very end though, in the end we got beaten 13-1.

The second game of the day was against the familiar opposition of Mohawks 2, everyone took part in this game & it was a much improved performance. Our zone D suddenly clicked with excellent running from everyone in the wall & on chase, the wings & deep picking of the loose passes. There was some good patient offence combined with some strong hucking from Jim and big grabs from Ant & Theo, which resulted in a close match with the Mohawks ending up eventual winners 8-5.

We had always known that the toughest game of our weekend was going to be up against UCL. In this game we were out paced and out skilled all over the pitch, however those that played the majority of the game clearly gave there all! From a personal point of view it was disappointing to see a few players hiding on the side line not wanting to come on, despite the clear Exhaustion of some players, which resulted in myself & Duncan having to play. They eventually ran out winners 13-1.

We all knew that to achieve anything out of the day we were going to need to put in a strong performance against Brunel 2 who had beaten us the previous week 8-0. Everyone raised there game superbly in this match, after a slow start of course. From being 4-1 down everyone pulled together with some hard running, big grabs, nice hucking & most importantly HUGE defense! We completely dominated them, not letting them get anything going and scoring an amazing 8 points in a row, even more impressive considering half of them were into a strong wind. At the end of the game we were deserved winners 9-4, which really raised hopes for a strong day tomorrow!

After some unimpressive food and a half decent party on the Saturday night the focus was soon back on the Frisbee!

Despite Jim's early wake up call, we made it to the first game 10 minutes late, thus resulting in a 5 point penalty! We were up against Thrown 2 who were a bit of an unknown quality to us, we soon found there weaknesses. They couldn't handle are zone defense and had big problems containing our offence. The offence displayed in this game was the best I’ve ever seen from us, the handling from Jim, Ant, Dan & Shelly against zone was unstoppable! We moved this disc with great patience and took the right opportunity to put the disc in the end zone for the score. We absolutely destroyed them 12-1, with Thrown receiving 5 points for our lateness, actual score 12-6.

We faced a massive test in the next game against Hollaway, with the winner being favorite to win the plate competition. We found out that they had managed to field the 2 best players in the tournament for the Sunday much to our joy! Both teams played man defense instead of zone which proved to be an excellent spectacle as we entertained many watching players with great grabs, superb discs & crazy layouts! There extra experience turned out to be the difference in the result as we couldn't keep trading the scores after about the 3 all. The effort put in was highly commendable and I’m pretty sure we surprised a lot of people with the closeness of the play. Final score Hollaway ( plate winners) 14    Roehampton 7.

The final game of the day was a playoff for 15th/16th place against Aye-Aye 2. This game was all about having fun with the spirit and of course the heckling at an all time high! There were moments of quality play displayed by both sides, however are commitment and passion pushed us to a relatively comfortable victory 13-7.

So we finished up 15th of 20 teams, with a record of 3 wins & 4 defeats. The improvement of the whole team was clear to see, everyone should be very proud! 

A MASSIVE well done to everyone!

We were also presented with the most improved team in the South-East, what awesome achievement and credit for all the hard work to everyone involved!

written by Ant

Uxbridge 05/03/06

It was the end of the ladder league for this season & we managed to finish 5th in the league! However it was a shame that we finished with poor results which didn't reflect are progress over the past six months.

We took a relatively inexperienced side of Jim, Ant, Bex, Theo, Tess, Dan, Rob, Katie & Anni. With the only experienced handlers in the side being Ant & jim it was always going to be a struggle, however it was made even worse in the 1st game where Ant fell awkwardly spraining his left wrist & right thumb ruling him out of the days play.

The first game was up against a strong Bunel 1 side. The strong  winds meant that zone defence was put on us for the majority of the game, we struggled to break the zone and when we did manage to break it the final pass let us down. In contrast the final pass from Brunel was always spot on & allowed them to easily score past some weak defending. The one score we managed was were we worked the disc patiently up the pitch for a nice score, however the final result was 11-1 to Brunel.

We found our selves in the familiar position of facing a very strong Mohawks 1 team in the second game. The lack of handlers was apparent with al ot of turnovers when we were on offence leading to easy scores for the Mohawks. Only having 1 substitute was starting to show as everyone was putting a lot of effort in, despite this effort Mohawks ran out comfortable winners 14-1.

The third game of the day was the most disappointing game i think we have ever played, we were up against Brunel 2 who we have never lost to. A lot of dropped catches in the endzone resulted in a very harsh defeat of 8-0, this was the first time we have EVER been shut out which is massively disappointing especially considering the quality of teams we've managed to score against in the past.

The last game was all about trying to salvage some pride, we were against are old friends Mohawks 2. There was some promising play and despite everyone being shattered no one gave up. We managed to string some good play together scoring a couple of good quality points, however we couldn't keep up with the fresher legged Mohawks who ended up winning 9-2.

There were a couple of unforgettable highlights, jim completing a jc to rob & completing a grenade pass both spring to mind.

Despite the dissappointing results everyone put there all in and the spirit was good so well done to all that played.

Lets not forget we finished 5th in the league which is an amazing achievement!

Bring on next year!!

Written by Ant

Roehampton 08/02/06

What a day that was, are first ever home fixture, the first appearence of are second team & a great victory over high flying UCL!!!

We set up 3 pitches across the rugby grounds in Richmond Park, it was very windy but the sun was out and are hopes where high. There where a total of 8 teams playing a total of 11 matches throughout the afternoon. An unexpected turnout of 17 players the most we've had at an event resulted in the late of introduction of a Roehampton 2nd team, this is excellent progress for the club and i'm sure it won't be there last appearance. We put a few experienced players in the 2nd team along with players who hadn't played recently put still showed alot of skills.

The first set of games saw the 1st & 2nd teams of Mohawks and us play against each other. The second team had a tough game against one of the leagues top teams in the league and not unexpectedly found the going tough. However they played well and strung alot of good plays together and showed alot of spirit and effort to put a couple of scores on a very strong side. The final score ended up 11-2 in favour of the Mohawks.

In the 1st teams opening game we faced top of the table Mohawks 1 in a high quality game. Unsuprisingly they put zone defence on us, however we played the disc around smoothly and advanced the disc patiently, the high wind assisted us in turning over the disc a few to many times giving away a few easy scores. We put scores on the board consistantly put couldn't keep up with the classy Mohawks. For the first time we tried to put a zone defence on them and despite it being are first ever attempt it paid off well forcing a nuber of turnovers, however this wasn't enough to stop the Mohawks taking the victory 10-4.

In the second round of games the 2nd team faced up against a strong Hollaway side, there was some nice offencive play and some solid defence however we had difficultly putting the disc in the endzone. The side ran out of ideas towards the end which resulted in a loss of 10-1. The 1st team faced up against Mohawks 2 and had alot of difficulties converting are many chances. There where a few problems stringing the passes together which resulted in a low scoring result for us. It wasn't one of are best performances which reflected in the loss of 8-3.

Then we come to the upset we have been striving for, after suffering a heavy defeat to UCL the last time we met the game plan was to go and have fun and play the way we play best. We put on a very strong show of defence forcing turnover after turnover, this combined with direct offence and great patience when facing zone resulted in are taking an early 4-0 lead. We kept the pressure on all game with superb team defence and some excellent grabs for the score kept up are lead throughout, despite increased intensity from UCL they couldn't stop are calmness on the disc and are speed all over the pitch. We kept up the dominance all game and despite a late score from UCL we came out winners 9-6. WOO HOO.

The last game of the day only lasted 25 minutes due to lack of sunlight. We had given so much in the previous game that the team lacked alot of the usual drive and passion. We played a very strong Brunel side who had only played one other game due to late arrival, there greater energy shone through as they ran out winners 7-1.

It was an excellent day not forgetting the police turning up and ordering us off the holy rugby pitches! It was good to see so many people playing and supporting! It was brilliant to see 2 Roehampton teams and to host are first ladder league event. Thanks to Duncan for being tournament director on such a difficult occasion.

The 2 squads were made up of:

Jim, Ant, Loz, Rob, Ade, Theo, Tom, Chizzel, Dan, Frank, Andrew, Becca, Tess, Louise, Anni, Claire, Shelley.

Written by Ant

Uxbridge 22/01/06

What a day that was! Started off with a nice early start and a somewhat flawless journey to Uxbridge and we didn’t even lose anyone along the way!
Our first match was against our old foes…Mohawks 2. After beating them by a point last week we knew it was going to be another tough game. I think the word of the day was introduced in the first game, a theme that was to be prominent throughout the day, cutting. The first score was to Roehampton and there was a brief suggestion of last weeks winning form but alas Mohawks stepped up there game fought back. Some great long hammers from Mohawks pushed them up the pitch and some great bids on the disc from us kept us neck and neck. However approaching the end of the match Mohawks were three points in front and a consolation score from us ended the game at 6-4 in favor of Mohawks two.

Our second game of the day was against the Holloway Hammers. Those of you with excellent memories will remember our visit to Holloway at the beginning of last semester (and the resulting long journey home!). Back then Holloway really showed us a thing or two about how to play but today it was our turn to dominate the pitch. Fielding a somewhat weakened side Holloway looked down from the start. Some speedy long cuts from Ade and some great shorter cuts helping gain valuable distance on the pitch from Louise put us off to a great start. It looked at one point like it might be a complete shutout but Holloway showed how well they can play and scored a couple of amazingly quick and decisive points. However our form continued and despite some slightly disorganized cutting we brought ourselves together and dominated the match winning 11-3. Some scores that stuck out in my mind were Tess’s great grab of a floaty disc and doing well to stay in the pitch. A beautiful out and in backhand from Loz putting Ant over the line and lets just quickly mention the high point of the day for our captain…when he caught the disc in the end zone and proceeded to pass it further thinking he wasn’t quite in and resulting in a turn over, I love that you’re always trying to entertain us Loz, good commitment!

The next game of the day was against Thrown, from Kings College. Again for those of you with a good memory you’ll remember a match against some of these plays back at Hyde Park but since the days of the beginner’s tournament we haven’t played them. Having already lost to Brunel Thrown were after a win and came out with some dominating play. They threw a junk zone D at us, which had us troubled at times. However the most important thing about our play in this game was that the few chances Thrown gave us we managed to score and it was mainly this that led to an 8-4 victory. It did look tight at one moment when the score was 4-3 to us but through some continually good play we managed to take the game. Although this game did show us that we’ve still got a lot to learn about playing against Zone, a theme that ran true into our final game of the day.

The hosts, Brunel, were our last opponents and they demonstrated why they’re top of the table. They also spent most of the game putting a Zone D on and it seemed to have us stumped. The handlers had to work hard and fast to try and get anything past their cup and at times the team began to work out how to play against the zone. Loz put himself in some great positions for Andrew’s hammers and there was some good work on the wings once the disc had broken through. Alas our only two points came when we were being marked man on man but at the very least this shows that man on man pace and skill we can put up a very good fight and that with a little more practice the technical side of our O against a zone D will come show and the points will come rolling in.

written by Jim

Brighton, 14/01/06

Well, not bad for the first match back. We had a lift all the way to Brighton (thanks Becca and Katy!) and back which really helped, and meant that it was a 9.30 start, which is practically a lie-in compared to most other matches we’ve been to. The games were an hour long, with a few ‘time outs’ for each side, so not exactly a walk in the park. In the first match, against the hosts, Mohawks (team 2), we were raring to go, and had little problem in securing a 9-8 win. But after an hour of running our butts off in cuts that didn’t get anywhere, we had used most of our energy in just under a third of the day. There were only ten of us, and we all had a good go during the first match, but now we had no-one fresh to come in and take down UCL and Mohawks 1. The second pitch we played on was shocking, it slanted along a hill, and meant making cuts an exhausting process, which rarely got us anywhere. UCL gave an impressive performance however, especially with the diving catch and pass in the last minutes, which made their 12-1 win more bearable. Last, and unfortunately not least, Mohawks 1 gave us another lesson in pacing ourselves, and after a valiant D mainly sustained by Ant, Jim and Andrew, we lost 12-2. Despite the ass-whooping, we were pleased with our performance as a whole, and consoled ourselves that it was the taking part, not the winning that counted…. Yeah Right!

Players also present: Ade, Tess, Louise, Craig and Woody.

Written by Dan

Ladder League Brighton 07/12/05

On a cold December morning 8 players made the short trip down to Brighton. The lack of players was mostly due to the nearing end of term & illness, which made the two games which were allways going to be tough even harder!

Are first game was aggainst the top of the league Mohawks 1. They got off to a flying start scoring four times without reply, they where aided by a sluggish start from us. We were struggleing to string passes together and it looked like we were trying to save energy down to the small squad size, against such a strong team nothing less than 100% effort would be rewarded.

We needed some sort of spark to get going and this was provided by an amazing catch and throw for the score from Loz. The energy shown by the team after this was at its usual level of brilliant, are defence slowed their offence down and we started to move the disc confidently. However the Mohawks showed why they are top of the league and ran out clear winners. Final score 11-4.

The second game was against a very strong Mohawks 2 who are currently 6th in the league. We took confidence from the way we finished the previous game into the start of this game & matched them score for score in the opening 20 minutes.

We moved the disc for long periods of time patiently working for the score this was down to patient handling from Jim & Ant and excellent movement from the whole team. The offence was playing the best its ever played and the patient play gave us another dimension to our game. There were some spectacular scores with Theo & Ade making superb endzone catches, with Shelley rounding off one of are best moves nicely for the score to tie the game. 

With the scores level at 3 all the effort put in took its tole with legs becoming tired and the fresher leggged Mohawks taking full advantage controling the last quarter of the game ending up 6-3 victors. This was one of the best games we've played and was testament to the improvement of the squad.

The team for the day was; Loz(c), Jim, Ant, Theo, Shelley, Ade, Claire & Dan.

Written by Ant

Ladder League Guilford 23/11/05

Surrey was today’s venue for another cold and wet afternoon of ultimate, who said this was a summer sport?! The trip to Surrey was also made by Mohawk’s first and second team so along with Surrey we knew we had three tough games ahead of us.

The first game was against Mohawk’s first team who showed us their usual dominant game. Felix’s poaching in the lanes caused some difficulties for our offence but we kept our pace up none the less and showed our usual hunger for the disc. Some patient work infront of the end zone and some great defence caused the points to be long and hard. We played hard untill the end.
Final result 6-4 to Mohawks

The second game of the day was against Mohawk’s 2nd Team but shortly into the match we realised that the Mohawk’s don’t stick to the first and second team rules that everyone else sticks to, oh know, they split all their players and put out two equal teams, those sneaky monkeys, it’s working very well though. So going in to the second match after only having lost by a two points to the first team we thought we were in for an easier time but we were wrong. Mohawks threw a junk zone at us which caused us to have to think on our feet. This was probably one of the first times we’d been faced with a zone and it definitely made us work. Some reliable handling from Chizel took us up the pitch and we began to realise again that the more patience we had the better we were going to do. Their zone forced us into some tight corners and the pressure resulted in a few turn-overs but the scores continued to come and despite losing the game we learnt a lot about how to play against the zone and the pace we need on the disc.
Final result 8-4 Mohawks 2

The final game was against Surrey who gave us a very tight game. The patience remained and the pressure right in front of the end zone was one of the best relentless attacks we’ve given. Scores were flying in at both ends and some great diving D-blocks were acrobatically performed by Loz. Eventually the scores from Ant came thick and fast with some great long discs from the back. The D kept up its great performance and seconds from the end the score was tied. A last minute score from Surrey meant they took the game but it was undeniably a close call.
With light fading the final score was 8-7 to Surrey.

Ladder League Uxbridge 09/11/05

KCL Begginers 08/10/05

After only two training sessions we took a team of all begginers to KCL's begginers tournament, the tournament allowed two experienced players per team which put us at a disadvantage due to the complete lack of experience in the team!

Are first ever game put us up against Equilibrium from LSE. We got off to a flying start with lots of energy and a good show of basic skills, are defence was relentless which resulted good possesion for are offence. The first ever score for the side was scored by Loz and assisted by Ant. Are commitment and enthusiasm was there for all to see as we dominated the game from start to finish, resulting of an impressive win of 5-1.

The second and final game in are pool put us up against a combination of the hosts of Kings and local competitor Imperial. We won this game before it even started with the opposition not able to field enougth begginers, but this didn't stop us giving everything for the win. Despite the gulf in experience we looked like the more experienced side scoring frequently with the whole team involved in moving the disc and constantly making defencive stops. Another superb display resulted in a comfortable 6-1 victory.

After two confidence boosting wins we went into the semi-final against Brunel 1 with high hopes. We got off to a poor start going 3-1 down quite early struggling to compete with a very strong side, however we all pulled together and fought every point hard. We showed alot of strength within the side to come from behind to level towards the end of time at 3 all. This sent us into sudden death! A quick turnover lead to a long pass up field from Jim to Ant with Duncan running on for the score to send us to the final!

In the final we were up against the second Brunel team, who were filled with well drilled begginers along with top class experience players. We didn't have long to get over the semi and this showed as we all looked tired. The combination of tiredness and some brilliant long hucks from there experienced players lead to some easy scores for them and a few mistakes from us. We struggled to get much going on offence but never gave up as we fought for every point. In the end we lost 6-3.

This was a unbeleivable performance by the team with everyone contributing. Finishing 2nd out of 9 teams was a truelly awesome performance & a big well done to everyone involved.

Team for the day was; Loz(c), Jim, Ant, Duncan, Chizel, Frank, Shaun, Becca, Tess, Louise & Anni.

Written by Ant