The Grapevine xEUCF 2013 Special

The Grapevine this week is all European after one day of play at xEUCF we bring you all the links and info you might need to follow from Blighty. 

As you might have already seen Playo.tv are streaming from the main pitch and there remain a couple free games, quarters onwards include a small fee.

Schedule was changed a couple days ago and the UltiOrganizer is being used for results.

UK team results are as follows:
Thursday
Open - Elite
Clapham: Heidees 15-6; W, FAB 15-10; W. 
Chevron Action Flash: Otso 15-12; W, Uprising 15-11; W.
Brighton City: Bad Skid 7-15; L, Freespeed 6-15; L. 
Devon: Ragnarok 8-15; L, CUSB 11-15; L. 

Open - Challenger
Fire: Jetset 15-12; W, Lucky Grass 15-6; W.
Kapow!: Mooncatchers 10-15; L, Prague Devils 11-15; L.

Women's
Iceni: JinX 15-5; W, Yaka 15-8 ; W.
Nice Bristols: Copenhagen Hucks 12-15; L, Cosmic Girls 10-15; L, LayD's 15-14; W.
SYC: Lotus 1-15; L, Hot Beaches 15-8; W, Lemon Grass 13-15; L.
Leeds: Prague Devils 8-15; L, CUSB Shout 11-15; L, U de Cologne 6-15; L.

Mixed
Bear Cavalry: Vassa Saints 15-11; W, Friselis 14-9; W, Corocotta 15-11; W.
Cambridge: Sun 15-7; W, Disc-o-fever 15-9; W, Wunderteam 15-9; W.
DED: Croccali 14-15; L, Ah Ouh PUC 15-8; W; UFO Utrecht 11-15 L.
Thundering Herd: Salaspils FK 13-15; L, Frau Rauscher & the Bembelboys 14-15; L, Spirit on Lemon 15-14; W.

Masters
Zimmer:  Ultimate Vibrations; 15-7 W,  BAF 15-7; W.
BAF: Ultimate Vibration; 13-15; L, UFO Tampere 15-14; W, Zimmer 7-15; L.

Friday
Open: In the top power pool Clapham continue to dominate only conceding 24 and remain first seed going directly into quarter. Whilst Chevron have a bad day at the office with 3 losses they go into a crossover against Prague Devils in the morning.
Devon and Fire clash once again to decide who goes up with a chance at top 8 glory, Fire come out on top and make it evens for the season against the boys from the south west. Brighton also lose out in the middle pool and go into the 13-20 pre-quarters along with Kapow! who got their first win today against FUJ. 

Women's: Iceni were only challenged in their power pool by Lotus; who took half 8-6 but allowed Iceni to go on a 6 point run and finally take it 14-11. Lower down Nice Bristols took a hold of their tourney by the neck and grabbed three wins today against LayD's, Leeds and Prague devils giving them a 5-12 pre-quarter and still giving them hope of higher things. SYC also got themselves into this bracket by taking down YAKA and Hot Beaches in their lower pool. Sadly Nice Bristols aided Leeds towards the 9-16 playoffs, go take ninth ladies!

Mixed: Both Bears and Cambridge conceded their first losses (to Crocalli and Salaspills FK, respectively) but did enough to continue into quarter finals. After a convincing win over Ah Ouh Puc, DED couldn't keep up the tempo and lost twice, pushing them down into the bottom 8. They will join Thundering Herd who are currently 1-5. 

Masters: As expected the mighty Zimmer continue to top the table, being pushed by OUF to their worst win of 15-10. BAF actually need a favour from their UK friends; if Zimmer beat UFO Tampere and BAF take down Ultimate Vibration then we would have an all UK final tomorrow evening.

All teams move into XO'S tomorrow before QF/SF and Finals Sunday.

Stay in touch at Fan Central and with the hashtag #xeucf2013. DP @ tSG.

xEUCF 2013 - Open Division

UKU Open Nationals 2013 saw London's Clapham Ultimate secure their thirteenth consecutive win in a clean sweep. Chevron Action Flash achieved revenge in a repeat of 2012's semi final against Fire of London, but were unable to dislodge the perennial UK Champions. 

Brighton Ultimate improved by one to gain their highest ever placing of third, and guaranteeing themselves a spot in the upper 'Elite' bracket. They will be joined by the Cinderella story of the weekend, Devon ultimate - who have threatened an international breakout before (Nationals 2010 saw them miss out by a minor margin), but are now consolidated as surely the UK's favourite underdogs as they rise above Fire 1, EMO, and Kapow! to place 4th, after completing a late-game-comeback-sudden-death-victory over none other than Fire, a result foreboded by the epic Tour 2 Matchup.

Fire nevertheless secured the all important qualification, and Kapow! overcame a rollercoaster season to get the crucial win against EMO for the final spot, a result that jars with the two team's respective tour performances. On to Bordeaux...

Where are all the Women?

Charlie Blair and University Women's Coordinator Elly White discuss the recruiting and retaining of Women at University level, and how it can improve GB ultimate.

Recruiting women to Ultimate: UNIVERSITY

The recent poor showing at Nationals has been a wake up call to the UK about the problems women’s ultimate is currently facing. A recent debate on The State of Women’s Ultimate in the US (highly recommended viewing) has sought to address the problems that they are facing regarding growth and development. This has inspired the tSG to devote some much needed attention to the situation at home, taking insight from the discussions of our US counterparts to think about what we should be doing to better women’s Ultimate here in the UK.

Much progress has been made since the establishment of Women’s Tour, but the fear remains that the gap between men’s and women’s is growing ever wider as the infrastructure and resources for Open continue to increase at a pace unparalleled in the women’s division. University plays a vital role in ameliorating that margin. This piece serves to make you and your committee both recognise the importance of recruiting and retaining women as well as suggesting the most effective means to do so.

The Issue

The single biggest factor holding back the development of women’s ultimate is a problem shared by those in the States: numbers. In the USA, women make up only 30% of USA Ultimate’s membership. According to approximate figures provided by UK Ultimate, here too, women represent just under a third of total membership (27%). Amongst student membership however, there is a slightly higher representation, at around 39%. 

To address the issue of numbers, we need to consider the points of entry that the majority of women have to Ultimate. Despite great progress in junior programmes and a huge expansion in the number of schools now teaching ultimate in the UK, for the majority of women it currently remains at university. 

xEUCF 2013: Mixed and Masters.

David Pryce briefly previews xEUCF 2013 for the extended divisions: Mixed and Masters.

The last month after Nationals has been a flurry of activity, booking flights, last minute throwing and even first time training for some teams!?! In the calm before the storm, I will briefly discuss the UK's prospect in the Mixed and Masters divisions.

Mixed
Going in number 1 seed Bear Cavalry have already made a statement at Nationals, in all fairness I can't see many other teams challenging them. With their superstars of Joe Thompson and Dave Tyler we can expect big things.

Cambridge Ultimate are one of the teams I think could challenge Bear Cavalry, but they have to play their best and step up from Nationals. Let's hope the fire has been stirred in their bellies and they will come out and take the challenge on!

DED broke into xEUCF by beating strong Scottish contingent Black Eagles but have picked up some added quality in Rich Gale (GB Open and World Games), exciting right? I think this team can really cause some upsets and get into the top half.  They have also been tweeting us some interesting facts - here are two of my favourites:

#xeucf2013 @TheShowGame Non Ultimate related talents include fluent french and spanish speaking, campanology and police helicopter fishing
— DED Ultimate (@DEDUltimate) September 23, 2013

#xeucf2013 @TheShowGame Hopefully the entire team will make it to Euros but players have had problems before at customs. Ask Hannah Brew
— DED Ultimate (@DEDUltimate) September 23, 2013

UK Nationals to xEUCF 2013: Women's

Charlie Blair looks back at EUCR-W (UKU Nationals) and forward to this weeks xEUCF 2013 in the Women's division.

This year’s Nationals finished just as expected, with all of the teams seeded in the top four comfortably claiming their spot at the xEUCF finals in Bordeaux. However, amongst the top four, there was a distinct lack of upsets. Particularly after Tour 3 had somewhat wetted the appetite for some tight results and big shake-ups to the status quo. Perhaps with no real challenge required to assure qualification for Euros, these teams were not forced to push themselves in a way that one would expect Nationals to demand.

In fact, both Bristol and SYC have admitted they are disappointed that they under-performed during the weekend, especially against Iceni. Indeed, neither team were able to take any more than seven points off of the eventual champions. But Cesca Tyler is adamant that SYC ‘definitely have much more to give’ against the teams they finished behind. Indeed, their performance against Leeds is testament to the way that their captain knows SYC have the potential to play. It was undoubtedly the highlight of the women’s division at Nationals. SYC played beautiful, fast paced offence. Their cutting was incredibly confident. With their flow so difficult to shut down they took a six point lead early on. Even in the face of a stoic Leeds resistance, they kept themselves in the game until universe point, where they eventually emerged victorious.

The Grapevine - 20/09

The Grapevine - ultimate links and news from around the globe.

Understanding Ultimate gets literary in an interesting post that meditates on the relationship between artistic creativity and sport, and argues convincingly for the benefits of self imposed constraints in ultimate training.

The UKU have announced a new ultimate event at Fistral Beach in partnership with BUCS open to all...

Getting excited for xEUCF? The schedule for all divisions is now available...

Take a moment to fill in this feedback form for Nationals and xEUCF if you haven't already!

From across the pond...

Lou Burruss discusses the history of offensive tactics in a post that will be of interest to anyone concerned with 'the gap' between UK and US teams that has been discussed of late...

The commercialisation of US ultimate continues as Keith Raynor argues for an aggressive branding of College teams.

A storm is brewing in European ultimate and its set to break out at Bordeaux. Keep an eye out for our xEUCF previews early next week! - JCK @ tSG.

The Grapevine - 12/09

The Grapevine - all the info without the mess of picking it out yourself.

Jen Ultimate has got off the ground and we interviewed one of the founders, Sam Bowen, earlier this week.

With xEUCF just around the corner a lot has been happening, both planning for on the pitches and off. Also go make your predictions to win a cap! Cannot wait!

Understanding Ultimate seem to be enjoying this recent wet weather by getting into the ultimate mindset of "So it's raining..."

We have changed our front page look, what do you think?

Liam Grant writes for SkyD on the recent Ranelagh 2 win over All of Ireland!

Ultiworld look into how WFDF are pushing Ultimate slowly into the Olympics.

Those waiting for Nationals reviews, we are combining them into xEUCF previews so sit tight! Until then enjoy the view...

Post by Xeucf 2013.

Clapham at Chesapeake: Is the Gap really closing?

Sion "Brummie" Scone, continues this seasons analysis of Clapham Ultimate and their run up to WUCC 2014 in Lecco, Italy. 

Previously, I wrote about how much potential I thought Clapham have in 2013, tempered with the fact that they still have work to do if they want to have an impact at WUCC, to avoid a repeat of their disappointing results in 2006 & 2010.  With this in mind, I watched footage of their games vs Ring & Ironside, to find some insights into the question posed by Pichler recently as to how big the gap is, and to work out whether that gap is being closed by the efforts of Clapham, and if not, what they need to do to achieve their aims of a semi final berth at WUCC.

Statistics:

Firstly, let's look at the stats (note: "Scoring %" differs slightly between O and D lines; it is the number of goals scored / number of points played for O, and the number of goals scored / number of points where the D line forced a turnover for the D line.  The number of possessions required to score a goal are therefore irrelevant for this stat... a deeper look could get into this in more detail!  I wanted to ensure that this statistic reflected the scoring rate where each line had the disc):

The results are pretty interesting.  I posted the scores for Sub Zero's final-winning game in order to provide some comparison.

Jen Ultimate: The Interview

Those with a keen eye will have noticed a recent ripple in the UK Ultimate social media sphere under the mysteriously simple name of 'Jen'. With a website and Facebook identity already established, as well as a concerted effort for word of mouth distribution by its founders, Jen nevertheless still seems to have the ultimate community unsure and left with a host a plethora of questions. What is Jen? is it a British Nexgen? Doesn't it threaten most tour teams? Why "Jen"?! The Showgame got in touch with co founder and captain Sam Bowen to get some answers...

The Grapevine - 06/09

The Grapevine - links and news from around the ultimate globe.

PushPass have done a great job filming and releasing some of the games, go watch the highlight video and read some of the interesting comments.

The German blog Ultiszene reviews UK Nationals, we have started our coverage keep an eye open for more soon.

Beau Kittredge is one of the few Ultimate celebrities and has written a fantastic piece on why he still plays and loves our sport.

The Irish Eye author Mark Earley talks about his new mixed international tournament 'The Golden Keg' with Get Horizontal. Put the date in your calendars! 

Finally, last weekend saw the last tournament in the USAU Triple Crown with GOAT, Polar Bears and Riot taking the titles in Open, Mixed and Women's divisions. Watch a great highlight video from Nemesis below; see if you can spot Iceni captain Bex Forth representing Texas Showdown.

With the off season looming we are looking for more contributors so please feel free to drop us a line via FB, Twitter, email or hit the contribute page up! DP @ tSG.

GB Throwing Regime

Sion "Brummie" Scone divulges the throwing routine that GB Open started using back in 2011. 

Last year, Dan "Colonel" Furnell and I put our heads together in order to come up with a throwing routine that we felt stressed the most important throws; having spent the previous two years teaching throwing skills to GB Open, we took the bits from Burruss' KFT  that we found most useful, added/tweaked a little (including some of Wiggins' Zen Throwing), and split into four chunks to make it easier to fit them in before or after other practices or fitness sessions. Each should take in the region of 20 mins, probably slower the first few times you try them until you know the routines.  

GB Open 2010-2012. Photo Courtesy of Dominic Clark.

Ranelagh at EUCR-S

Mark Earley returns with An Irish Eye looking back at Ranelagh's performance at EUCR-S.

Two weeks ago Ranelagh travelled from Dublin to Bern in Switzerland for EUCR-S hoping to have a crack at a region renowned for its strength. It was only the second time an Irish team had attempted qualification for EUCF and was to prove more difficult than the last attempt (when a Dublin Ultimate team full of pick ups finished 1 spot away from qualifying in 2010 in Nantes). The team was nearly at full strength, but also had a lot of new young players as well the established core.

Day one saw Ranelagh (9) face Italian champions CUSB (3) in the first game of the day. It started well for the Dublin team as they took the lead having started on D and stayed ahead until midway through the first half. Bologna fought back with a couple of breaks of their own and lead for a while until another Ranelagh surge saw them take half 8-7. In the third quarter of the game a combination of increased defensive pressure and some Ranelagh miscues saw Bologna jump out to a 3 point lead which they held onto to see out the game 14-10.

UKU Mixed Nationals 2013 - Review

David Pryce reviews the Mixed division at UKU Nationals.

Last weekend saw eight UK Mixed teams competing at Southampton's Wide Lane Sports Ground for the title at UKU Nationals, a spot at WUCC 2014 and a place in the top 3 to go to xEUCF 2013 in Bordeaux.

In the first round all games went as expected, although JR came close to upsetting Black Eagles the Scots pushed for the win in sudden death. The second round saw two early big match ups in DED vs Black Eagles and Bear Cavalry vs Cambridge. Going with tour seedings Black Eagles dispatched DED 15-10 but the return of David Tyler and too many mistakes from Cambridge gave Bear Cavalry an easy win 15-6.

These two rounds acted as seedings for the QF's on Saturday afternoon which all went to tour seeding and put Cambridge vs Black Eagles in one semi and DED vs Bear Cavalry in the other. Semi final 1 was the closest but Cambridge utilised their clinical offence and took full advantage of Black Eagles turns in the wind and rain of Sunday morning, game ended 15-10 Cambridge. The other semi was a very one sided affair; Bear Cavalry winning 15-2. 

DED snatch 3rd and a place at xEUCF. Photo courtesy of Andrew Moss.