Tag: UK Ultimate

Nationals 2022: Women’s preview

This season feels like the culmination of a change in the women’s division over the last three or four seasons. I has resulted in six or seven teams who have a legitimate argument as being realistic national champions (or, in some cases, EUCR winners). The teams at the top of the division have had quite strange seasons and so are coming in with different pressures and perspectives, with some teams having a lot more at stake than others. It should be the most interesting division in Nottingham and it doesn’t appear to be particularly close.

A ten team draw means two pools of five with 50-minute games on Saturday, with the top teams in each pool sitting out a round while the second and third placed teams cross over on Sunday. Those Sunday games are all 80 minutes long so will be a bit more like what the teams are used to. It means potentially seven games totalling 440 minutes for teams who need to play those crosses though, pretty heavy minutes with limited breaks.

Bristol

The defending champions have had a slightly up and down season largely driven by the lack of availability of their top players early in the year. At Windfarm they won the title after losing a game in the pool, beating SYC in the final, and then at London Invite they finished fifth (the highest-placed UK team) after two wins over Spice and a loss to Gravity. WUCC was a mixed bag but Molly Wedge was absolutely phenomenal, topping the per-game stats leaderboard in women’s. However, they will be without Wedge who is playing in the USA this weekend for Toronto 6ixers. Without her they still feature a great deal of quality; they still have Carla Link as well as players like Alice Beeching, Ruth Tayler, Lisa Hocking and Nat Oldfield, and the kind of collective confidence that comes with being reigning champs. They’ll be tough to beat, as always, but have lost part of their ceiling with Wedge unavailable.

Iceni

They beat Iceni last year in the final, 12-10. The teams have only met once this season in a tournament and Bristol again came away with the win, 14-11 in Cincinnati. The Londoners have had a bumpy season with an excellent first day at Windfarm then balanced out by a loss to SYC in the semi-final. Tom’s was a difficult return to European competition, two wins over SYC came along with a loss to Spice at London Invite while WUCC featured some good wins (including a tight one over Gravity) and performances alongside some dispiriting losses. They have the players to win games; Ellie Taylor, Karen Kwok, Fiona Kwan, Becky Thompson and Katie Flight were all on the World Games training squad, and they’ll add Hannahs Brew and Boddy and Grainne McCarthy to their Nationals squad after all three missed WUCC. The key question for them is whether they can consistently make the total add up to the sum of the parts. If so, they stand a real chance of winning their first title since 2017.

London Masters

Third place last season went to London Masters Ultimate, who focused on a different worlds to everyone else this season by going to Limerick for WMUCC instead. After making the top eight in Limerick they will be well-rested and prepared to take on the best in the UK again. It will be taking 18 players to Nationals, pretty much the largest team that they’ve brought to any event. That squad includes players like Jenna Thompson, Fran Scarampi and Claire Sharman so they have the ability to compete with anyone, especially with plenty of legs available. They have the kind of experience that you can’t buy and it could come in very handy in a field with such parity.

SYC 

SYC have made some good additions but by and large this team features a lot of familiar SYC faces both on the field and on the sideline; James Burbidge has returned to be coach after a couple of seasons away. This season has, so far, continued the positivity of a strong finish to last. Not only have they defeated Iceni, knocking them off 10-8 in the semi-finals of Windfarm to progress to the final there (a close 11-9 loss to Bristol), but they finished WUCC as the top-ranked UK team (joint 27th with Spice) and had some good results in tight games there, beating Gravity, SCRAM and Box. They faltered slightly at London Invite, finishing last, but on balance this season has definitely seemed more good than bad. They will come to Nationals with a lot of confidence and knowledge from WUCC that they can compete with and beat every team in the field. Rupal Ghelani will be the leader of the team both as captain and the biggest threat to opposing defences, but players like Tessa Jalink and Beth Jeffrey have continued to develop and make their mark on the team as the season has worn on and stalwarts like Caitlin Wilson. Kirsten Wells, Dianne Lopez and Eyan Sham will keep standards high. They haven’t made the final in a few years at this point, since they lost to Iceni in 2017, but this may be their best shot in some time and they are seeded first.

Spice 

Spice have built on last year’s success extremely well so far this year. They had a decent Windfarm, losing close games to LMU, Masterclass and SMOG before turning the result around against LMU in the last game. Those are all good teams so close losses is certainly no shame in their first proper tournament together, and it was followed up by a decent showing at Windmill where they beat Gravity and came close to making the bracket before losing twice to Flame in the consolation games. At London Invite they beat Iceni for the first time, carrying positive energy into their WUCC campaign. It was there where their season took off. They beat Bristol later in the tournament on their way to joint 27th (and second in spirit). All three of those wins were on universe point, showing the steely mentality needed to succeed in pressure situations. They won’t be a surprise to anyone this season, and their best players are now names that other teams will be planning to stop. Kate and Heather Gibson have been excellent this year, as well as Hannah Yorweth, Amy van Zyl and former SMOG and GB women’s player Alice Hanton. They can compete with anyone else in this division and will have their eyes firmly set on the top four.

SCRAM

Another team that had a pretty successful 2021 and have carried it into 2022. A sixth-place finish at Nationals originally seemed as though it would leave them disappointed but another place was eventually forthcoming so their season was centred, like many others, around Cincinnati. They finished a creditable 10th at Tom’s Tourney but Windfarm saw them lose to Reading in the pre-quarter and to Flamingoes, a team made for the tournament, in the next round on their way to a disappointing 11th overall. The season next saw an upturn with a great Windmill. They beat Gravity convincingly in their first game and then drew with Seagulls, one of the best teams in Europe, in eventually finishing seventh. They carried that momentum into WUCC where they beat Tabby Rosa and Malafama before losing two sudden death games to finish alongside Bristol, joint 31st, breaking seed and finishing ahead of Iceni and Gravity. They may be missing some players after their WUCC campaign but they have some young players who have really developed since the club was started alongside stalwart handlers like Lulu Boyd and will be a tough matchup this weekend.

Dublin Gravity 

Gravity are the reigning European bronze medallists and last time they came to UK Nationals, in 2019, they went home with the trophy. It’s been a difficult follow-up to their best season ever this year with some good results but some others that might indicate they’re struggling to all get on the same page as they were last season. They made the semis at London Invite, but finished outside the bracket in ninth at Windmill after losses to SCRAM, Flame and Spice in the first three rounds. At WUCC they had a difficult tournament, pushing Salty, SYC and Iceni hard but losing all three games and heading to the bottom bracket. There they finished in joint 37th, a disappointment given the heights of the 2021 season. The team remains dangerous, though. Key handler Aine Gilheany is one of the best throwers in Europe and other players like her sister Clare, Jessica Chambers, Emily O’Brien and Helen Barron were crucial parts of the xEUCF bronze last season. Adding Masterclass players like Jen Kwan back to the roster will bolster them as well, and it would be foolish to count them out given their collective pedigree even if they haven’t had the kind of results they might have wanted so far this season. If anything, it makes them even more dangerous opponents.

Flame

Flame are very much the other end of the spectrum in terms of history in the UK and Europe. The team is still very new and has played only one tournament outside Ireland at this point. They went to Windmill and defeated fellow Irishwomen Gravity and Spice (twice) there, eventually finishing one spot below Gravity in tenth. Without Worlds to aim for they have been preparing for UK Nationals for several weeks and are excited to see what they can do against the field. They come with a lot of young, athletic and enthusiastic players alongside three former Rebel players in Brionagh and Emma Healy and coach Sinead Dunne. While they’re the least experienced of the contenders, they definitely have the skills to cause problems if Windmill is anything to go by.

Horizon

Horizon are a team from Yorkshire that has filled a gap left by the shrinking of numbers around Leeds. Many Leeds-only training weren’t getting numbers at training so groups from York and Sheffield were invited to join in. The team has been training together regularly since, rotating between the three cities, and entered three teams into Windfarm. While they won’t be aiming to win the tournament, they’re building something and with players like Katie Allen and Zarah Wright they have the talent to make sure every game is a tough one for their opponents.

Ladybugs

Ladybugs are a team made up of women in London. The players come from a variety of teams; Zoo, Herd, WILD and others, and the main aim for them is to continue gathering experience at the top level. It’s likely that it’ll be a pretty tough weekend for the Bugs but winning isn’t the point here really. Accessing the top level of the sport is very difficult for players in any division who don’t make those top teams either because they didn’t make the team this time around or there isn’t one within a reasonable distance to where they live. These women will all get a chance to play at the top level and hopefully they have a good time and learn loads. They have some good players as well, with some GB under-20s and Reading, SYC and MESH player Mariana Larroque.

So, we’ve gone through the teams. Who’s going to win? 

Prediction

It’s a running joke that I am very bad at predictions. That being said, this is without a doubt the most difficult tournament I have ever tried to predict. There’s good arguments for pretty much everyone involved and I can talk myself in and out of knots with every single team. So I am going on gut feeling and just throwing out the top 10 I am expecting and let’s see what happens:

  1. LMU
  2. Bristol
  3. Iceni
  4. Gravity
  5. SYC
  6. Spice
  7. Flame
  8. SCRAM
  9. Horizon
  10. Ladybugs

I feel terrible about this top 10. I can already tell it’s wrong but I also can’t find a less wrong outcome. This weekend will be fantastic and tense and exciting and I cannot wait.

Nationals 2022: Open preview

The open division will see some radical change this season. The schedule sets up a new final, one that will not see Clapham play Chevron, for the first time since 2012. The last time a team made its first appearance in the final was 2006 when Fire made the big game. There have only ever been four teams that have made it – Leeds are the other in the early part of the 2000s – so whoever makes the final will be the fifth. Clearly this is a fairly big moment historically. Given that, let’s go through the teams starting with the two that seem primed to compete for that final spot.

Ranelagh

Ranelagh are probably the slight favourites. They come in with pedigree that no team other than Clapham can match over the last year or so. They finished fourth at xEUCF and have performed well at Elite Invite, London Invite and WUCC this season. One of their wins at WUCC was a 15-9 win over Alba, something to bear in mind. The team for the weekend includes plenty of the big names that featured in the xEUCF run, including key handler Ferdia Rogers and dynamic cutters Sam Murphy, Tadhg Deevy and Jack McNamara. The team works well together, will be fit and confident after a promising season so far and have history in their sights. They’ll also have coach Ian French back patrolling the sidelines (alongside assistants Sarah Melvin and Leo Micklem) after he missed WUCC. If his presence is worth even a few points over the weekend it could be the difference between the back door games for Euros spots and a shot at the trophy.

Alba

The Scots have been building their name for a couple of seasons and have continued to succeed at a high level this season. They made quarters at Tom’s, pushed teams at London Invite and had a good WUCC too. A disappointing Windfarm is a slightly odd blot on the copybook but they were without several key O line players last time out in Nottingham so it’s not truly representative of the team. Regionals saw them beat Chevron for the first time, 14-10, although both sides were missing players following WUCC. The Cammys, Agnew and Mackie, will be crucial as usual along with the other big names throughout the roster – Andy Dick, Andy Boxall, Ross Nugent, Joel Terry and Ian Tait just to pick a few out. This is a team that has been built with the aim of winning Nationals, and this is their best chance yet to make the big game.

Clapham

Clapham haven’t lost at Nationals, not in the 20 years this tournament has run, and have very rarely been run close. That’s particularly true in the last few years where they seem to break other teams in the second half, running away with it at the first sight of any kind of weakness. This season started with some wobbles but they won Windmill and London Invite before finishing third at WUCC, a decent way to get over those wobbles with split squads. They’ll have their sights firmly set on more domestic and European glory. There’s not much point talking about individual players because everyone on the roster is capable of hurting teams but stopping the D line offence is going to be the biggest problem for Clapham’s opponents, even without Will Rowledge who’s recovering from injury. A mention, though, for Oscar Modiano who has become a real lynchpin of the D line once they get disc in hand and has had a really good season. 

Chevron

Chevron are not dead and buried, though. This season they’ve shown on several occasions that they’re still one of the better teams in Europe. They were sixth at Tom’s, beat Gentle, performed well at London Invite and finished sixth again at Windmill. WUCC was a disappointment but every game was close. There are still the same excellent players here that have been around for a while – Josh Kyme, Tom Hodgett, Steve Kolthammer, Ben Burak and plenty of others – and newer additions like Josh East, Robbie Haines, Ethan Morrell and Sam Cameron have added further quality. The schedule sets them up for the toughest semi they could have asked for, but even if they don’t manage to overcome the Clapham hurdle that they’ve never been able to overcome, they will still get a Euros spot and will be heading to Italy if they want to be. They have a record over the last 20 years to be very proud of and not making the final will be a hit to that pride. They’ll have something to prove this season and given that I’m sure will be difficult for anyone to play against.

Smash’D

Smash’D will be in Chevron’s pool and will be raring to go to try and take that semifinal spot. Last season was a good start but coming so close to semis and missing out on universe point against Devon will have stung. This season Smash’D have finished third at Windfarm, 11th at Windmill, 17th at Tom’s and reached the final of regionals. They’ve had good results and seem to be progressing to the next level where they can really compete regularly with the best teams. Chevron will still be favourites, of course, but the young silverbacks will be a stiff test. With six Euros spots I’d put my money on them making another trip to Euros in a few weeks where they can defend their spirit title and try to turn some of the close losses they had last year into wins and push up the rankings. They’ve shown this season that they’re certainly capable of that.

Devon

Devon are the last UK team that I would say are favourites to be in the top six. They’ve had a sustained run of success as being one of the top teams in the country for four or five seasons now and have continued to be at that level in 2022. They finished 20th at Windmill and 7th at Windfarm, both a little lower than would have been expected, but rebounded well to finish third at Regionals. Armed with some excellent athletes as usual, the team plays together well and really fights for each other. Players like Richard Coward 

XVI

The second team from Dublin haven’t come to the UK in a while but last time they did they made the top eight. They finished one spot below Devon at Windmill so clearly will bring a team with talent who can cause problems for teams. They did decently at Euros last season as well, and will be aiming to return this year. Ciaran Costello has played for Ireland and will be someone teams need to keep an eye on.

Rebel

The men from Cork finished eighth at Windfarm and beat Bristol on universe along the way. We’ve seen them on these shores in the past with ludicrously short lines and still succeeding, so with a bigger squad and a fresh start it will be interesting to see how well they do. They’ll have a strong long game and will be aggressive on D, and they will be in the mix for Euros spots.

Tribe

I know much less about Tribe than the other teams as usually they focus on mixed and have rarely come over to play in the UK. They also haven’t gone to any European tournaments this year so I’m flying blind slightly, but they did well at Irish nationals and pushed a good PELT team very hard so they’re clearly not to be underestimated. They make up a pretty crowded middle with the other Irish teams and Bristol and will be keen to make a good first impression at nats.

Bristol

Bristol have been developing the open side of the club for a number of years and are now at the point where they are a solid nationals team. When looking at the regionals line up I basically pencilled them in as a dead cert, such is the reputation and cache they have built up in the last two seasons. They went to Tom’s this season and played in a strong Div 2, then finished ninth at Windfarm. They beat Devon for the first time this season in a warm up game, but lost the 3/4 at regionals 15-10. They’ve shown that they have talent and they have the ability to string a game or two together that can really stand up to teams like Devon and those seeded a few places above them. It’s not outside the realms of possibility that Bristol snatch a euros spot, or are at least in contention late on Sunday. That it’s plausible is great credit to the work that’s being done by everyone involved in coaching, leading and developing players in Bristol.

Reading 

Reading will feature a number of talented and experienced players but the best male players in the club will be competing for gold in the mixed division. The depth in Reading is such that they could easily have a team in each division, and in fairness Bristol only beat Reading 9-8 at regionals so if I’m saying Bristol can do it then Reading should be able to as well, but the other common opponent results at regionals indicate to me that it was a slightly off game for Bristol and Reading had a stormer. They won’t be a pushover, a Reading team never is, but I would have them outside the running for Euros.

EDI

EDI have done fantastically well to qualify, overcoming Manchester in their semi on universe and then blowing away Yorkshire to take the final northern spot. Another team with a club higher up the rankings in close proximity, they have maintained a core for a few seasons and have been able to generate good momentum. Windfarm was a slight disappointment with a loss to the Brown sending them lower than they would have wanted, but they rallied well and seized their spot in Nottingham. Four Scottish teams at nationals shows just how strong Scottish ultimate is at the moment and despite a difficult pool EDI will no doubt give it everything they’ve got.

Prediction

The winner isn’t really very interesting here. The real intrigue starts at 2. I think Ranelagh will beat Alba, and then I think Chev will be able to get revenge for the northern final. That’s my top four. Lower down, I think the four teams in contention will be Smash’D, Devon, Rebel and XVI. The way the schedule has shaken out, it looks as though Devon and Smash’D will play again late on Saturday and the winner will be in prime position to try and get a Euros berth. I’ll back Smash’D there after the lessons they learned last year. I think Smash’D will beat XVI in my hypothetical 5/6 which means I have Devon against XVI in the game to go. That will be a good one, given how close these teams seem. I’ll back Devon since they always seem to find a way to win the games that really matter when their backs are against the wall. Which means I have it as: 

  1. Clapham 
  2. Ranelagh 
  3. Chev 
  4. Alba 
  5. Smash’D 
  6. Devon 
  7. XVI 
  8. Rebel 
  9. Bristol 
  10. Reading 
  11. Tribe 
  12. EDI

Turns out it might be interesting after all!

The World Games 2022: what’s coming from tSG

If you ask most players what they see as the pinnacle of ultimate is, they’ll say the World Games. It’s a multi-sport event, it’s quadrennial, there’s a very limited number of teams invited and even then, the rosters are hugely down on what you’d usually expect from an international team; it’s got the Olympic sheen on rarity of both occurrence and opportunity.

Great Britain has played in the World Games twice before, in 2009 and 2013. The last edition in 2017 did not feature a British team as GB was ranked below the top five teams – the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Colombia – and the host nation always gets the last spot, which in that case was Poland. Getting a spot in this tournament isn’t a given, although the expansion to eight teams has boosted the chances a bit, so even sending a team is incredibly special.

So, this is about as big as it gets. Being in the running for the World Games squad is a badge of honour and something that people involved in all three squads can be immensely proud of, including those who were part of the training squad and those who travelled as reserves. With that in mind, and ahead of the World Games starting on Tuesday next week, I spoke to some of the players involved in this year’s squad.

Some of the players I talked to will be playing in Alabama and trying to secure GB’s best-ever finish (fifth in ’09 and sixth in ’13, both before the field was expanded to eight). Some will be travelling but not playing. Some will be watching with everyone else at home but with an added investment in the outcome, and added anxiety watching their teammates compete in such high-pressure games.

The interviews will be published over the next few days, and on Tuesday I’ll be taking a closer look at what I think might happen in the tournament as a whole. When the games start I’ll be posting on our social media channels and we’ll have reactions coming as well. Follow the ShowGame on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter to join in the discussion and follow along on the hype!

In the meantime, you can listen to the podcast I did with GB coach Sam Vile below.

Windfarm: Women’s recap

Making her ShowGame debut aking a look at the Windfarm women’s division is Marina Symington, who’ll be covering WMUCC in Limerick for us later this month!

After several years of either cancelled or scaled-back events, Windfarm 2022 marks the first full-scale Tour event in close to three years. A total of 63 teams across all divisions travelled to Nottingham’s familiar Riverside Sports Complex for a weekend many will have been delighted to see return.

The women’s divisions featured a nice spread of the familiar top British teams, as well as newly formed Horizon, junior players from GB U20s, and Dublin Gravity and Masterclass coming over from Ireland. Let’s take a look at a few highlights as these players converged in the Midlands.

Bristol remain champs

The reigning national champions proved themselves still dominant, prevailing in the same city as their 2021 national title. Their road was not without some tight games. In the pool stages they finished second in their group, comfortably beating Thundering Her but having lost 12-11 in a tight match against a Masterclass team that featured Irish stars Sarah Melvin and Fiona Mernagh in a squad featuring a number of other Irish national team veterans. Wins against Dublin Gravity and SMOG then saw Bristol facing Masterclass for a second time in the semis. After another close game, Bristol came out on top this time, winning 15-14 and securing their spot in the final against SYC. SYC’s route to the final was also not plain sailing. They lost to their big rivals Iceni in the pool stage, but then went on to beat them the second time they met, this time in the semis, reflecting just how tight the competition is between the top few women’s teams. Bristol’s experience and composure in the final ultimately saw them victorious once again, with World Games players Carla Link and Molly Wedge again central to their success after being absent for other tournaments this season. Perhaps this sets the tone for what we can expect to see more of from Bristol.

Carla Link throws to Molly Wedge in the semi. Photo by Sam Mouat.

SMOG dominate in their pool but drop a few seeds

The next pool saw SMOG face SCRAM and Cambridge Women. The women from SMOG, a club who we typically see dominating in mixed, had comfortable wins against both other teams. In their last game on Saturday, they lost a tight match against LMU in a pre-quarter crossover. Sunday then saw these two teams come head-to-head once again in their final game of the weekend. This was another close one, with SMOG coming out on top this time, winning 11-9, placing them fifth and leaving LMU, who had come in as fourth seed, in sixth place.

Dublin Gravity struggle in a tough pool

Arguably the toughest pool in Division 1 featured London rivals SYC and Iceni, alongside Dublin Gravity. This was unfortunate for a development Gravity team, who had to face eventual second and third placed teams right off the bat. Their luck didn’t improve as they then had to play eventual winners Bristol in the crossovers, putting in an impressive performance and narrowly losing only 12-10. This, however, put Gravity in the 9-16 bracket, where they dominated in their next three games and comfortably took ninth.

Close competition in the middle of Division 1

The final pool in Div 1 contained LMU, Spice and Reading. LMU narrowly beat Spice and both teams beat Reading, ranking the three teams LMU, Spice then Reading. Reading had to play both Spice and LMU again on Sunday, where they lost to both again. The three teams finished the tournament sixth, seventh and eighth in the same order they ranked in their pool. This is only the second season for Spice, who are heading to worlds this summer and might have hoped to cause more upset in the top of Div 1. They did get the opportunity to play both SMOG and Masterclass, which will have been good experience for them going forward this season.

Cambridge and Thundering Her displaced from Division 1

The bottom two spots in Div 1 were given to Cambridge Women and Thundering Her (the women’s entry from mixed team Thundering Herd). Both teams had a tough time in their pools, facing some of the best talent in the country. Cambridge were missing some of their key players that lead to this season’s indoor success and had teamed up with women from RED to field a full roster. Thundering Her also struggled in their pool, but then faced some closer matches on Sunday. After losing to Flamingos (the Flyght/Lemmings joint team) they went on to convincingly beat GB U20 women and finished the weekend with a narrow win against Horizon: Forbidden West to take 13th.

Horizon enter a massive three teams

It’s worth also mentioning the success of the brand-new women’s club, Horizon. Formed this year with the hope of filling a gap in women’s ultimate in Yorkshire and the North, they managed to enter and incredible three teams to their debut tournament. The three teams were not ranked on ability, with the more experienced players instead distributed across them. Nonetheless these teams were not out of their depth. Horizon: Zero Dawn even went on to finish 12th, putting them at the bottom on Div 1. The other two Horizon teams finished 14th and 17th, firmly establishing Horizon as a club to be taken seriously moving forwards.

Needless to say, overall Windfarm was a great success for the return of Tour and an exciting insight into what this season will bring. Congratulations to all the teams that took part!

Windfarm: The Return

It has been nearly three years since there has been a proper, full Tour event. Windfarm, once derided for the difficult conditions it inevitably provides (hence the nickname we gave it that eventually became the official tournament name) will be something of a triumphant return for the super-event we were all so used to before the pandemic, with more teams and pitches than any of us will have seen for years.

The 63 teams are split between open and women’s, with 41 and 22 respectively. It’s been a busy week at ShowGame towers and there’s a lot of teams that I have only a passing knowledge of so I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with a preview of the top teams for now, and we can take a look at the teams throughout the draw once the dust has settled and we’re able to have a better idea of where everyone stands.

The schedule is a little odd, with the open semis and final at 90 mins compared to 70 mins on the women’s side. It does seem as though there are fewer games for the top open teams so that’s likely the logic here, but there’s definitely some annoyance over it. Given that the women’s final slot is last it seems like there could have been a pretty easy compromise here, and some advance discussion probably would have avoided the issue entirely. Still, scheduling is hard (I assume, it looks hard) and everyone is out of practice with all elements of tournaments at the moment. Still, this is probably something that’s best thought through a bit more comprehensively in future.

WOMEN’S

Let’s start on the women’s side. The top seeds are the national champs, Bristol, and they are largely at full strength after fielding some varied teams at their events so far this season. Talismanic playmakers Carla Link and Molly Wedge have been occupied with World Games trainings up to this point but should be back, and the squad retains enough talent and depth to win this tournament. They face Masterclass and Thundering Her in the pool. Masterclass are the Irish entrant into WMUCC in Limerick and should pose quite a few problems to Bristol, not least with the return to these shores of Eurostar superstar Sarah Melvin. It’ll be very fun to see a Wedge/Melvin matchup, so hopefully we get to see that play out. Thundering Her is (predictably) the female side of Thundering Herd, entering Tour again as they did in 2019 to get some extra reps with the mixed season in mind. Both Masterclass and THer have reasonably short rosters but both will be looking forward to taking on a big name early on.

The next pool features the reigning National League champions, SMOG. They defeated both Bristol and Iceni in the midlands last year and return to the (kind of near) scene of the triumph to try and repeat the feat. As we have seen in both women’s and mixed competition, the women of SMOG are extremely strong and we can be pretty confident that they’ll be challenging their opponents with some nigh-on-impossible-to-stop deep shots. They face Scots SCRAM who have had a nice start to the season and will be looking to push themselves and keep developing ahead of their trip to WUCC in Cincinnati in a few weeks’ time, as well as Cambridge Women. SMOG should win this group but SCRAM against Cambridge could be a fun game, with some strong Cambridge-based players having played largely in mixed in the last few years.

The next pool seems like a pool of death. Iceni and SYC will renew their rivalry, the two London teams having played recently in a pretty close one. Iceni came out on top there and the expectation would be that they do again since they are reasonably close to full strength with only a couple of absentees. SYC will be confident having played their rivals close so recently, and have a reasonably full team although there will be one or two absences. Also in this pool are reigning European bronze medallists Dublin Gravity. When last the Gravigals were in the UK they left with the national championship title, so there’s clearly quite a legacy of success behind them. The team that was in Bruges was extremely adaptable and cohesive, with excellent frisbee IQ pairing with ability to make them one of the best teams on the continent. They’ve been at a few warm up tournaments and will be heading to WUCC as well, but this team may well be a bit more mixed with non-WUCC players and guests. Either way, this pool is one to watch.

The final pool in division 1 sees LMU face Spice and Reading. LMU defeated Spice last season in the inaugural National Cup final after coming from behind. LMU will be strong, as usual, but will have a pretty small squad, as usual. It’s always difficult to predict exactly who will be around but I understand that Jenna Thomson is around, which means they have more than a shot of being competitive. Pairing a team this smart and experienced with a team like Spice, full of players nearer the beginning of their elite frisbee careers, is a nice clash of styles. Spice will also be heading to Cincinnati and look to have added well this spring and will pose a tough test to the masters. Reading round out the pool and will, like SMOG, be extremely good despite minimal experience together in women’s. Players like Bex Palmer, Helen Roberts and Ania Godbold have all played at the highest level and you can always expect that Reading teams will be well-drilled and prepared.

This is a tough tournament to call with the strength at the top, but if Gravity are anywhere close to the team we have seen before, 10th seed looks low. They could cause some chaos in the later brackets. An Iceni/Bristol rematch could be on the cards but last time LMU faced Iceni, at Tom’s, the masters won, and SMOG loom with their League title in hand. I daresay it’ll all be a bit clearer come Saturday evening but for now it looks like a tough call! I’ll go for a SMOG win with LMU, Bristol and Iceni finishing the top four and prepare to eat those words.

OPEN

First thing to note here is the split schedule, and second is that Clapham are absent. That means the field is a bit more open at the top, and may mean we get a barnstorming finale. The top section of the open division is four pools of three, with the next section starting as a bracket to give teams the chance to progress upwards.

The first pool sees top seeds Chevron up against acronymic teams PELT and EDI. Chevron were largely untroubled last season in reaching the national final and finishing second in the National League. They have long mixed experience with youth, and had a sizeable contingent of less experienced players last time around. Those players will all have gained a great deal from last season and could position the team well to grow this year. They did as well as expected at Tom’s, beating both French teams (Iznogood, the eventual winners, and Tcach who finished fourth) and losing only twice, to GRUT men and one of the CUSB teams. This pool puts them up against Limerick team PELT and Scots EDI. PELT usually travel with pretty small squads but are always tough to beat and come with a huge amount of cohesion and confidence. Chevron will back themselves but it’s unlikely the Irishmen will roll over without a fight. EDI have been building for a couple of years and have done a good job developing into a competitive outfit with Alba growing as a regional power. It’ll be a good test for them to play against two teams that have been to EUCF in the recent past.

Speaking of Alba, they are second seed and lead the next pool. They are the only team other than Clapham that seriously pushed Chevron last season – in fact, the last three times these teams have met on these shores have ended with sudden death Chevron wins despite Alba having the disc (Chevron ran out comfortable winners at Tom’s, though). The Scots will be aiming to turn those tables late on Sunday. They match up against the Smash’d boys and Fire. The latter two teams met in the first round of the cup last season, a brutal draw considering the relative strength of both, and will be very up for a rematch. Smash’d have had some roster turnover from last year but are still young, aggressive and athletic and will be a stern test for a rebuilding Fire outfit. Alba should have enough to stay above the fray but this will certainly be the most physical pool so there could be some variance based on how each team deals with that.

The third pool is the most intriguing at the top of the open division. Devon are a longstanding national power nowadays, having qualified for WUCC 2018 and consistently finished in the top four since then. Last year they overcame a very tight call with Smash’d to solidify that spot and make the Nationals semis. The team has a way of playing that has worked for them for years, has great chemistry and a very solid internal culture that keeps them at the top of the division. In Nottingham they face the men of SMOG and Leamington Lemmings, the story of 2021. SMOG will, of course, be good. Just like the women’s team, this is a team of serial winners that have back-to-back national titles in their back pockets and have been preparing to take on the best in the world at WUCC as a whole squad, given that they have two teams going to Cincinnati. They can match Devon’s athleticism, but the boys in green have a bit more experience in open and might have the edge in physicality too. Lemmings qualified for Nationals in both open and mixed last season and have a range of good players to call on. Whether they can mix it with the big teams in open remains to be seen but if they consolidate the best players from both those teams they have a good chance to make two elite teams very uncomfortable here.

The final pool sees Reading’s men face Ka-Pow! and Bristol. Reading’s squad is obviously strong but is missing a few of the men that will make up the male side of the WUCC team so might have less top-end depth than some of the other top seeded sides in the division. They should still have enough to top the pool here, although both Ka-Pow! and Bristol can certainly cause them problems. The Londoners are still going through a rebuilding process and had a relatively young but talented squad last year, while Bristol have been developing slowly but surely for a number of years. Ka-Pow! won this matchup when they faced at Nationals last year but Bristol have had competitive outings already this year at Tom’s so might be slightly sharper.

It’s difficult to pick anything but a rematch of Alba vs Chevron in the final, such is the strength that these two teams continue to possess. Hopefully we get another exciting instalment in the series if that does come to pass. Look out for SMOG and Reading to challenge the top teams, I would expect one of them to make it into the semis unless Smash’d can step up and take that fourth spot.

Further down the open draw there are some fun teams to watch out for in the middle bracket. Zimmer, now a grandmasters team but still full of quality GB players from the mid-2000s that can absolutely still play if the final of EMUCC is anything to go by, are around and will be fascinating. Birmingham are always a tough team, Cambridge have some very good players that have been in the mixed division with their women in recent years so could cause some issues if they are able to cross up and both Manchester Ultimate and Rebel have been top 12 teams at UK tours in the recent past. YCU made Nationals not long ago, so as far down as the late 20s could see teams that eventually break into the top bracket.

Good luck to everyone in managing the wind this weekend. I’ll be playing for Thundering He so feel free to come and tell me how rubbish these pared-down predictions are.

tSG Awards ’21: Best Defender

The easiest one to define yet! Offence is great but in almost every game you’re going to need blocks. These players get blocks.

MIXED

Third place: Ben Wilson, Reading

Not to be outdone by brother Sam, Ben was a huge asset for Reading defensively this season. Taking on the most difficult matchups and generating turns is a rare pairing that he managed to pull off this season. The Reading defensive unit was so strong all year, and Ben’s breakout club season was a big reason for that.

Second place: Rachel Naden, SMOG

Rachel was one of the best defensive players in the country when she played for Reading in the mixed division in 2018, and has continued to dominate since then. She was phenomenal in the National League season and carried that form into Nationals, taking on tough downfield matchups and throwing bombs on the turn. Not only can she do a bit of everything offensively, defensively she’s a star.

WINNER: Bex Palmer, Reading

Bex won the Best of the Rest award and now adds another award to her collection. She’s always been one of the best handlers in the division but really showed her value on the defensive end this year. She was not only able to mark out handlers but was extremely effective on cutters too, showing hugely impressive versatility as she took on whoever was causing Reading trouble and made life harder for them.

WOMEN’S

Third place: Claire Sharman, London Masters

Claire’s work as a defender this season was incredibly impressive. Her footwork is impeccable and she’s able to block off the space that cutters are trying to attack seemingly with ease. She’s also a great help defender, peeling off her mark to muck up the space in front of the disc or to challenge a deep throw. Claire can do everything that good defenders need to be able to do, and does it all at a very high level.

Second place: Lynden Chiang, Bristol Women

Lynden emerged as a vital player for Bristol this season and showed that value on defence most of all. Versatile enough defensively to match against top cutters and to play in the middle of a hybrid zone defence, her speed, intelligence and positioning meant she was able to generate blocks but also able to smother her mark and keep them out of the game altogether.

WINNER: Amelia Kenneth, Iceni

Amelia has been one of the best defenders around for a while now, and this season was no different. Her speed and aggression mean she gets blocks against anyone, and that she’s a huge threat going long after the turn. One of Iceni’s leaders as they reached the final of Nationals, she had another dominant defensive season to add to her CV.

OPEN

Third place: Joel Terry, Alba

Joel has been one of the top defenders in Scotland for some time, previously starring for Glasgow in the mixed division. Still only 24, he’s one of a number of Alba players capable of taking on hugely challenging matchups and making life very unpleasant for them. Pairing great instincts with rock solid fundamentals, he’s another to watch in the coming years as he continues getting better and better.

Second place: Nathan Wragg, Clapham Ultimate

Some defenders are all positioning and smarts, but some defenders bring those tools along with a dash of all out chaos. The ‘Peroxide Demon’ (shoutout Lorcan Murray, and yes I did see who I guess was someone in Nathan’s family say that the colour is natural but the nickname works too well to pass up) flew around fields all over the UK this season, ready to punish any throw that was even slightly off-target. His athleticism and quick reactions meant he caused plenty of turns, and he was a reliable asset once those turns were secured too.

WINNER: Andrew Hillman, Clapham Ultimate

Andy was one of the leaders for Clapham this season but that responsibility didn’t mean his level of play slipped at all. Long one of the two or three best handler marks in the country, this season he was able to completely smother the best disc handlers on the other team and pressure them into bad throws when they were able to shake free of his vice-like grip. He was also crucial once the disc had turned, his crafty lefty throws giving Clapham’s D line a reliable source of yards.

tSG Awards ’21: Best Cutter

This is another fairly easy award to define. Some people pick the disc up a lot and do most of the work swinging and generating movement in the backfield. Those people are not the people we are thinking about today. There are some players on this list that you could call hybrids, but largely these players are the ones who start further down the field and generate big gains with both their legs and their throws.

MIXED

Third place: Eddy Codd, SMOG

Eddy was metronomic and reliable for SMOG this season, using his height and huge catch radius to make a difference downfield. He was also consistent and safe with the disc in hand and was excellent defensively when needed. He hasn’t enjoyed the same kind of profile as some of his teammates in recent years but his role has been crucial in getting SMOG to the top of the tree in UK ultimate.

Second place: Leila Denniston, Deep Space

Leila was a dominant downfield cutter this season. She was unstoppable at times at Nationals, using her speed, height and great hands to bring down some grabs it seemed she had no shot at. Her goal in the penultimate point of the Nationals final was a great case in point; speed to run the disc down, great hands to catch it at full extension and a defender trailing with no ability to affect the play. A great season for a great player.

WINNER: Sam Wilson, Reading

Sam’s season was something of a breakout, as we discussed yesterday, and it was all based around his ability to beat his marks with his speed. He was able to live in the deep space and then beat people underneath once they started trying to take the long cuts away. He’s been a great addition for a Reading team that was already packed with talent.

WOMEN’S

Third place: Claire Sharman, London Masters

Claire was central to the LMU success this season, with her ability to keep churning yards and getting blocks when they were needed. Her ability to get open reliably always gave the LMU handlers an option and her ability to take away the best cutters on the opposition and challenge deep throws whether they were to her mark or not meant that teams had to account for her at all times on both sides of the disc.

Second place: Molly Wedge, Bristol Women

No new player made a bigger impact than Molly this season. She was a shutdown defender, a reliable source of yards as a cutter and a dominant force with the disc in the air. She was a huge part of the title-winning season for Bristol, as her POTY runner-up spot shows, and was one of the best downfield players in any division this season.

WINNER: Ellie Taylor, Iceni

You could talk about a lot of things with Ellie’s game. She’s a very solid thrower who rarely turns over, she’s able to go up and challenge in the deep space when the disc is hanging and she rises to the big moments, making plays when her team desperately needs them. The main thing, though, is speed. Ellie is probably the fastest female player in the UK and has zoomed around pitches making big plays for Black Eagles, Great Britain Mixed and now Iceni as they all played in huge games.

OPEN

Third place: Cameron Agnew, Alba

Agnew was a vital part of the Alba team that has performed so well for the last two seasons and will surely be a part of the success they seemed primed to enjoy in the coming years. Pairing speed and shiftiness downfield with big throwing ability and great fitness, he’s as tough a cover in the open division as there is.

Second place: Justin Foord, Clapham Ultimate

Perhaps a victim of some voter fatigue, nevertheless Justin has had another imperious year this season. He’s still arguably the most vital part of Clapham’s O line and when things start creaking slightly and a play needs to be made, he’s still very often the man that steps up to the plate. His game-winning layout block at the Madrid Invitational was just one example of what he’s still capable of over a decade into his Clapham run.

WINNER: Ollie Gordon, Clapham Ultimate

Ollie was shifted from his longstanding role on the D line to play offence for the Clapham machine this season and was wildly effective. Not only did he show that his throwing was good enough to survive at the highest levels in Europe on the O line, but his height, athleticism and smarts meant he was open basically all year. Maybe the best season he’s had with Clapham after a long time with the team, he now has his sights set on Cincinnati and the prospect of a second World Games appearance.