Ali Thomas has analysed the teams playing Mixed Regionals this year and makes her picks on who finishes where. Here’s what she thinks will go down in Edenbridge.
The Tour season has finished, but competitive Ultimate is far from over. Eight southern teams will make the trip to Edenbridge to vie for three places at Nationals. There are some old teams, some new teams, some teams who are in it to win it and some who are just there to chase some plastic around and have a good time. Here’s a rundown of which teams fit into which category.
JR
First of all, incredible kudos to the JR ladies for playing in Open Tour. Managing to stay comfortably in B Tour by the end of Tour 3 (with only nine players) is ridiculous. Couple that with an overall eighth place finish at Mixed Tour and you’d be forgiven for assuming that JR train often and hard (they never train. As if they weren’t already unbelievable enough). According to co-captain Charlotte Kennedy, they’ve had a tough year integrating new players into the team (which might account for their drop from first to eighth at Mixed Tour), but their experience over six Tours instead of three will certainly give them an advantage.
Reading
Reading have notched impressive results over all three divisions this season, but are looking to remind people that Mixed is where their strength lies. They came fifth overall at Tour, which is a bit of a step down from National (and European) champions, but are confident that they can win Regionals, and according to co-captain Joe Brown, are using it as an opportunity to “solidify connections and work out some of our plays and positions before we try and dominate Nationals”. Look out for their rematch against Deep Space, there should be some exciting matchups.
Deep Space
Much has been said about Deep Space; their ethos of Mixed and Mixed only, combined with an experienced and athletic roster, got them to sixth overall at Tour. Some were surprised they didn’t place higher, but Deep Space welcomed Tour as an opportunity to build connections as a team and not worry about results. Any problems that arose have no doubt been ironed out in the intervening months. Captains Sam Vile and Matt Hodgson will be aiming for top three if not the top spot, as well as revenge on JR, against whom they had a close loss at Tour 1.
Thundering Herd
Herd are a strong squad that boast players from a variety of London club teams such as Fire, Flump, and Chaos. This Tour season saw them slip down a few places from third last year to tenth, though whether due to the addition of three GB U24 teams at Tour, or some slight deficiencies in their mental game, I couldn’t say. Herd have stepped up their training in recent weeks and are determined to qualify for Nationals, but they will have to produce some major plays to upset the top three, especially since some of their male players may opt to play for their Open teams this weekend.
Guildford
Guildford have the squad depth to consistently enter two teams to Mixed Tour, and their firsts finished a solid fifteenth. Despite this success, most of the team have been training and playing with other clubs for Open/Women’s Tour, so for them Mixed Regionals is a nice way to end the season together. They’re not a walkover by any means, but they’re not looking to qualify.
At the lower end of the Mixed Tour results we have Brixton, Curve, and Zero Degrees. These three London teams look to develop players and have fun doing so. They all know each other quite well and have been playing each other over the course of the London Summer League. Though they may have a tough time of it on the Saturday, their match-ups on Sunday will certainly be more enjoyable as they face off against local rivals.
Final predictions
Reading
JR
Deep Space
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Thundering Herd
Guildford
Brixton
Curve
Zero Degrees