Junior Outdoor Nationals, 2009

This weekend saw 20 teams from across the UK come together for this year's Junior Outdoor Nationals held in Manchester. The weather was pretty good, albeit for the odd shower, the pitches were good and the location ideally placed next to an out of town leisure complex (bowling, food, etc...).

I'd never been to a Junior event before (having only taken up playing Ultimate after University) so didn't really know what to expect. The level of Ultimate was much higher than I had anticipated, partly due to players in their first year of university still being allowed to play (apparently if you don't turn 20 until next year, you are eligible). Regardless of this however, the standard was phenomenal, with teams made up of 7th graders and 8th graders all competing well against 12th and 13th year students.

In a previous post I had an uneducated stab in the dark about who may do well, and I was pretty much on the money. Airbadgers 1 from Exeter were there in an awesome final played against Strangers with Candy (as I understand it, a team from Brighton with players from Kent). The intensity was incredible, easily on-par with a top A-tour game. It was Strangers who won the game, beating a valiant Airbadgers team by 3 or 4 points.

As predicted Arctic 1 (from Arthur Terry School in Sutton Coldfield) did very well, taking the third spot behind Strangers and Airbadgers and ahead of fourth placed NC Hammer (tbc). Hotly tipped, although newly formed Flux had a tricky time at the weekend, and came sixth behind well drilled Manor. Perhaps it was Manor's massive sideline support that gave them the edge. Local friends, the Psychodelic Rhinos, with superstar Timmy T, did well and won the Plate final (photo courtesy of Carla Link).

I had gone up to Manchester with my local team Evolution (from Aylesford School, Warwick). We did really well, with a good showing against some great teams, including Flux and Rhinos; and two very close games against Calday and Airbadgers 2. A cross-over against Arctic 4 saw Evolution secure 16th seed at the end of saturday's play. Sunday started with a very hard game against Catch Those in the 9-16 bracket. Catch Those began the game with just 5 players, and managed to keep the score close, only 4-3 down when the rest of their team arrived. A great final few points ensued, with Catch Those eventually winning 6-5. Subseqent close loses against Arctic 3 and Airbadgers 2 meant Evo finished in 16th place, higher than their 2008 placing. Props to Emily Ogden for winning Evo Club Player and to MVP Charly Hesketh. (photo courtesy of Ali D)

Over the course of the weekend I was continually impressed with all of the junior players. I reckon if my local Open side played these teams, we'd get beaten by lots of them! I was particularly impressed by spirit winners Airbadgers 3, it looked like they were all 7th-year students, all of whom were pivoting wonderfully, with great fakes and awesome disc skills. They'll certainly be a team to look out for next year.

There was one small controversy over the weekend about players 'picking up' for teams. I'm not entirely sure of the in's and out's of the issue, but as I understand it some players, instead of playing for their local side, chose to play for a top team. I don't think there is anything in the rules against this, much like in UKUA Open Tour you are permitted to play for any club team you choose.

To quote George Rambo-Ryder; "I thought the idea was that we WEREN'T having 'super teams' at Junior Nationals?".

Like I said, I don't know all the details but I guess it raises the issue of teams and their catchment areas. The Rylands tournament, also held at the Parrs Wood Manchester venue, was a tournament where the teams were made up of teams with strict geographical catchment areas. It was the North who were victorious with the Midlands coming in second place. It would be interesting to see how the Open A-Tour would finish if players only played for their local side.

Overall 2009's Junior Nationals were a great success and I had a throughly enjoyable weekend, am now looking forward to seeing how teams improve in time for the 2010 event. Also, good luck to all the Juniors going out to Vienna.


Food for Thought...

> Should Junior Nationals 2010 insist on players playing for their most local established side, or should it remain like Open Tour where you can play for anyone you wish (should Open Tour have geo-based rules)?

> Should the age-limit for Junior events be lowered from under-20's, to people in Year 13 or less? (thus preventing first year university players from being eligible).

(Ultimate) Pie Charts

Inspired by excel procrastination from another Ultimate blogger, I decided to once again link Ultimate with pies (for those whom don't know, the frisbee was 'invented' when pie tin's were thrown as a 'frisbee'). The graphic below shows the kit colours (inc. change strip) of teams playing in the 2009 UKUA Open Tour.

White is a clear favourite, although it's mostly the change strip of most teams; black, red and green shirts are also common (although this will be largely due to the two Lucky Huckers teams and three Limited Release teams).

> Pie created whilst mostly listening to the Wimbledon radio coverage.

Midlands Summer League 2009

Last night saw the second MSL event of 2009, hosted by the Leamington Lemmings in Royal Leamington Spa, the new home of MSL following its move over from Birmingham last year. Little sleepy Leamington with a population of just 45,000 seems to have become a hot-bed of disc action in recent years. In North Leamington there is Quarry Park Disc Golf Course , it's one of only a handful of dedicated disc golf courses in the UK. Run by ex-Warwick Bear, Del Robins, it's a great place to go and try out a new disc sport.

The relatively newly formed Ultimate team in Leamington, the Lemmings, have grown in numbers dramatically also. Following the demise of neighbouring Birmingham team UTB, the Lemmings played their first tournament at Glastonbury in 2007. Since then they've had loads of new members join their ranks, most of whom had never even played the sport before. Now the Lemmings have two practices a week, entered two teams into Mixed Tour, have a joint team in Women's tour with Mu, and two teams into Open Tour. They may not be challenging for a spot in A-Tour just yet, but they're one of the biggest clubs in the midlands, and are always welcoming to new players, particularly beginners.

Lemmings also entered two teams into last night's MSL event which also saw EMu and Flux attending. EMu are a mixed team composed predominantly of players from Open club EMO and Womens club Mu, they're currently practicing for Euros in September. Flux are a junior team based in Nuneaton coached by teacher Matt Beavan.

Summer League evenings are great events, they're fairly informal and relaxed and a great excuse to get out and play some ultimate with your friends and local neighbours. EMu were short on a few players, so a couple of Lemmings were drafted across to help them out. The weather was amazing and the evening a real success, topped off nicely with a pint in the beer garden of the local pub.

Finishing positions were: (1.) Flux, (2.) EMu, (3.) Lemmings, (4.) Lemurs.

The next MSL event is in two weeks time (Wednesday 8th July), Lemmings will be returning with 2 teams, EMu will continue their pre-Euros preparation, Flux are rumoured to be bringing two teams and Warwick Bears should be in attendance. It looks like it might be the biggest MSL to date. Other interested teams should email the TD (midlandssummerleague@gmail.com).

> This post was written whilst mostly listening to Michael Franti & Spearhead's "All Rebel Rockers".

Junior Nationals '09, Manchester

This weekend I'm off to my first ever Junior Nationals event, it's at Parrs Wood in Manchester. OK, so I'm too old to play, but I still get to live out my dreams through the lives of others right, isn't that what people do?!

The only Junior events I've been to before are ones I've organised, the first day of the Lemmings Luau is always geared up for Juniors/Beginners. I'm pretty excited about seeing the whole thing and the level of play, I'm going along with local side Evolution from Aylesford School in Warwick. Lots of the Evolution players regularly train with us, the Leamington Lemmings in nearby Leamington Spa, we occasionally have joint practices too.

I know very little about the Junior Ultimate scene, so am keen to see some of the top teams play against each other. My uneducated guess is that Sutton Coldfield's Arctic and Exeter's Airbadgers will be vying for the title again, but pushed closely by Leicester's newly formed Flux team and the Wirrel's ever developing Catch Those, plus it'd be great to see Evolution achieve a few upsets and local friends the Rhinos do well. Kent are an unknown quantity to me, but if the juniors are anything like their senior team, Whippet will ensure they're a well drilled outfit. Army of the Goatboy could also prove to be a surprise outfit at the 2009 Nationals, with two Lemmings players Fiona Auld and Pammer McCulloch playing for them.

Good luck to all the teams playing, here's hoping I manage to see the Lions match too.

Possible Teams Playing: Airbadgers 1, Airbadgers 2, Airbadgers 3, Discy Business, Jesus Loves Spartans, Calday, Evolution, NC Hammer, Army of the Goatboy, Strangers with Candy, Ocelots, Arctic, Kent, Thundercatch, Catch Those, Manor, Psychedelic Rhinos, Flux.

Jestival

Now just about recovered from Jestival (a loose co-ed fun Ultimate tournament in Leicester) last weekend. Recovered apart from a (friction) burnt foot after playing 'prison break' as a call with fellow finalists Dumni. I bloody hate calls, I also think they're one of the biggest reasons people don't take Ultimate Frisbee seriously or even give it a chance. Don't get me wrong 'slaps' and a sporting post-game team talk are a great idea, but 'human-jenga' or 'miniature-tanks' just aren't.
Anyways, the weather was amazing and the Ultimate even better. As an ex-Cardiff student, I was an honouree member of Joke Paws, a conglomerate of ex-Warwick Bears and ex-Leicester Jester players. We were seeded around 6th in a pool with last year's semi-finalists P-Star and tournament favourites, current university champions, Warwick Bears (our rivals).



We kept a 100% record on the saturday with wins against Demons, Flying Aces, Hulltimate, P-Star and Bears. Props to both P-Star and Bears for great games, both of which were won in sudden death, both of which could have gone either way. Sunday saw us face Fish (who had jumped up the seedings on the saturday) in the quarter final and then Red in the semi-final. who had knocked out EMu in their previous game. Wins in both of these saw JP reach the final to face Dumni (Durham Alumni).

Little was know of Dumni before the tournament, evidence of this was their initial seeding position down in 15th. It was a team made up largely (according to various sources, rumours, babble and chin-wagging) of Brown and Chevy players. They too had beaten Bears in sudden death and the comprehensively beaten Red in their semi-final. How both our and Dumni's semi's were against Red, I've got no idea?!

Anyways, Dumni proved to be a pretty good team, quickly going 3-0 up against us. We clawed a few back, but by then it was too late, I think we lost by two points in the end, something like 11-9. They were worthy winners.

A big thanks to Joe and the rest of the Jesters for putting on another great tournament, with better weather this year than last!


Food for thought...

> Should Jestival's loose co-ed rules be more strictly adhered to?

> Does everyone else hate calls as much as me?