WUCC2018

Eagles experience highs and lows on huge day

Black Eagles, Mixed, WUCC2018

Sean Colfer followed the only Mixed team from the UK to make the top 16, Black Eagles. Here’s the story of their day.

Black Eagles were facing the biggest day in their history. They’ve played in Nationals finals, they’ve played big games at European championships and they’ve played a WUCC before, but they had never been in this spot. Defeat the talented Japanese team IKU and the reward was a shot at the favourites for the title; the top seeded Seattle Mixtape team that took home USA Nationals gold last season.

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All-African match highlights growth

African Ultimate, Features, Mixed, WUCC2018

The match between Kisumu and UCT Flying Tigers was significant. Sean Colfer explains why.

Two teams facing each other in a pool on day three of a tournament is usually nothing that would be considered too significant, given how much of the week is left. However, the match-up between UCT Flying Tigers and Kisumu Frisbee Club was not an ordinary match. It was the first time that two African teams had ever met each other in any Ultimate World Championships.

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Neal family reunion is Marvellous

Features, Mixed, WUCC2018

Sean Colfer spoke to six of the Neals to find out what it’s like being at a tournament with your family.

One of the best parts of covering any international tournament is seeing the joy relating to anything outside of the Ultimate. The new friendships that are forged, the unforgettable moments experienced between games and the pride of representing a club, team or country on such a stage are all indelible parts of any world championships. One aspect that’s always been a personal favourite of mine; watching parents enjoying their children’s games.

There are several kinds of Ultimate parents. There’s the parents that have played themselves; those are pretty rare. There’s the kind that have absolutely no idea what is going on but find the mix of athletic prowess, throwing skills and raucous team spirit intoxicating and enjoy it nonetheless. There’s usually quite a few of them. And then there’s an increasingly common kind – those who have seen so much Ultimate that they take on some knowledge by osmosis and begin to understand exactly what they’re watching. Two parents that fit very snugly into that bracket are Terry and Raymond Neal.

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Don’t be good, be SYC

SYC, Women's, WUCC2018

Josh Coxon Kelly reviews SYC’s games on day four of WUCC 2018

Women’s power pool O saw SYC carrying in their loss to Traffic, and facing Austria’s Mantis as well as the familiar faces of Nice Bristols. With both teams starting on a loss, they needed to win their first matchup of the day, and then go onto win the following match against each other to get into the top 24. 

Mantis had looked strong, and already notched a win against Bristols but arguably presented their opponent the better chance to go up. Despite little cloud cover at 11:00am, the conditions were actually more forgiving than recent days, with temperatures a couple of degrees cooler and humidity noticeably reduced. What was less forgiving however was the gusting breeze, which created a pretty straight upwind/downwind game.

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Black Eagles begin to soar

Black Eagles, Mixed, WUCC2018

Sean Colfer watched the reigning UK Mixed champions Black Eagles match up against the strong Canadian team Banana Cutters.

Black Eagles and Banana Cutters entered this match with identical records – three wins and one loss, to Philadelphia AMP, meaning that this was for second place in the pool. The prize awaiting the winner was a round-of-32 match against IKU from Tokyo, while the loser would face Sydney’s Friskee.

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Reading sweep aside RusMixed

Mixed, Reading Ultimate, WUCC2018

Sean Colfer watched Reading and RusMixed face off in a crucial pool game.

Reading Ultimate have approached this tournament with a professionalism to be admired. They’ve been preparing a team for several years, they’ve practised together extensively and they scout their opponents in great detail. That has all come together nicely for them in Cincinnati as they sat with three wins in three ahead of their match with RusMixed, the Russia champions who beat Black Eagles at Talampaya. RusMixed lost to Wild Card, but otherwise had been in great form, topping GRUT 14-13 earlier in the pool. The winner of this match would have the inside track on second in the pool, though if Reading won they’d have a chance to top it against Wild Card.

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Chevron fall to tough Doublewide

Chevron, Open, WUCC2018

Matching up against the US teams is the main hurdle for every other team at WUCC. Sean Colfer watched Chevron take on Austin superteam Doublewide.

Chevron had a good first day at WFDF 2018 WUCC, winning both of their games and setting themselves up for a huge game first thing against Doublewide. The Texans, second seed at this tournament, had a very similar day and entered the game unbeaten too.

Chevron came out on offence, and slotted it in pretty efficiently. Both teams did so until Chevron managed to get a turn at 3-2, Issa Dualeh finding Jake Aspin for the first break of the game. Chevron were pumped, and they were loud. They had been building for this game and this environment all year; they were desperate to test themselves against a team of Doublewide’s quality and show off their own.

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