Category: UK Ultimate

ShowGame Podcast: Episode 13 with Hannah Pendlebury and David Pryce

Sean was joined by DP and Hani to talk about the news that WUGC 2021 has been cancelled by WFDF, and that Great Britain have qualified for the World Games through the backup qualification process. It morphs into a discussion about where we might go from here and what ultimate might look like when we all come back, and ends on a pretty positive note!

RUNDOWN

The 2021 international calendar has been cleared. Is this the right call? Is this the right time? (0:28)

With whom should this decision lie, is it one for the players or should the federations be making these decisions? (4:21)

The 2022 calendar looks packed now – how tough will it be to fit all of these tournaments in? (09:51)

How much pressure does this all put on players? What’s the impact on them? (11:41)

The good news (if there is any): Great Britain is in the World Games field. Do we deserve it, and how excited should we be? Features wild speculation! (14:45)

How might qualification for WUCC 2020 work, what will ultimate look like if nationals can’t happen as normal this year? Come for the considered views, stay for *someone* moaning about Irish teams (20:00)

What benefits might we see from the new normal following the pandemic? (26:14)

Final thoughts on trying to ensure the local set-up isn’t London-centric, and trying to harness the social trend of people leaving London, a ‘sinkhole’ according to one guest (31:33)

UKU response to WFDF announcement

Si Hill, CEO of UK Ultimate, described the news as “sad and disappointing”, but said that he thought “on balance, I agree with the decision and I agree with making the decision now”.

Hill added: “I think certainty is good for everyone. Making the call on this tournament, as well as on the beach and under-24 tournaments, is the right thing and I think it shows that the decisions have been made based on safety. It’s sad to have to cancel another world championships but I’d encourage the players and everybody else to take some time to think, and to give people the benefit of the doubt on the motives driving their decisions. These decisions are really difficult for everybody and a great deal has changed even in the last six weeks, not only in the UK but globally as well. It’s a tough situation but I think this is the right decision.”

He added that the WUCC qualification element was something that UKU have not looked into in any great detail, but that he remains optimistic that some ultimate can resume by summer.

“We remain somewhat optimistic that we can play somewhat competitive ultimate in summer,” he said. “It might not look like tournaments but we intend to run a national championships in some form. It might be based on fixtures involving two or three teams playing fixtures locally rather than weekend-long events, but we think that we’ll be able to run something. We have a provisional booking for Nationals at the usual time but it’s impossible to know right now whether we will be able to run that event in the usual way.”

EUCS 2019: UK Nationals Mixed

The showpiece of the domestic season is taking place this weekend in Birmingham. UKU Nationals is what these teams have been building towards all season with nine places at the European Ultimate Championships Finals on offer – four in the open division, three in the mixed division and two in women’s. As always, the ShowGame is making sure you know everything you need to know. Sean Colfer finishes off our series with mixed.

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EUCS 2019: UK Nationals Open

The showpiece of the domestic season is taking place this weekend in Birmingham. UKU Nationals is what these teams have been building towards all season with nine places at the European Ultimate Championships Finals on offer – four in the open division, three in the mixed division and two in women’s. As always, the ShowGame is making sure you know everything you need to know. Here’s Sean Colfer on the open division.

The format for the open division is slightly different to usual this year. The four qualifying places on offer mean that the top three, rather than just the top two, are done by lunchtime on Sunday. The backdoor route into the top four is still open, though, and could see some intriguing games on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

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EUCS 2019: UK Regionals Mixed

The season has finished; let the postseason commence. The EUCR process starts this weekend with two UKU Regionals events, one in the north and one in the south. We’ll be previewing all three divisions at these events ahead of Nationals in Birmingham in late August. Last but by no means least, Sean Colfer previews the mixed division!

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EUCS 2019: UK Regionals Women’s

The season has finished; let the postseason commence. The EUCR process starts this weekend with two UKU Regionals events, one in the north and one in the south. We’ll be previewing all three divisions at these events ahead of Nationals in Birmingham in late August. David Pryce continues the previews (and tries to suspend his bias as one of the SYC coaches) with the women’s division!

Continue reading “EUCS 2019: UK Regionals Women’s”

EUCS 2019: UK Regionals Open

The season has finished; let the postseason commence. The EUCR process starts this weekend with two UKU Regionals events, one in the north and one in the south. We’ll be previewing all three divisions at these events ahead of Nationals in Birmingham in late August. We’re starting off with a look at the open division by Sean Colfer!

Continue reading “EUCS 2019: UK Regionals Open”