London Calling - Open Preview

The club season is upon us! James Burbidge takes a look at the competition heading to the open division this weekend.

Returning to St Albans, Tour 1, this year's London Calling sees over 70 teams entered into the open division with 10 coming from overseas.

At the top of the pack, four teams will hope to prove themselves the best of the best in Europe: Clapham, Chevron Action Flash, Bad Skid and Flying Angels Bern. London Calling will doubtless provide top competition for these teams as they prepare for the big one: the World Club Championships in August.

Reigning National and European champions Clapham have split their team into two like last year (an O-line and a D-line), and are using the competition as the final part of a long and heated selection process. Captain Marc 'Britney' Guilbert returns to lead a club firmly focused on a peak in Lecco and will be hoping that his teams can meet in the final this year, rather than the semi. With no major player movement out, and more top recruits coming in – notably Ollie Gordon from Chevron, Matt Parslow and James Baron from Fire – they may find that the toughest competition is also the most familiar.

Photo courtesy of Graham Bailey.

Your Guide to UK Hat Tournaments

There’s something quite beautiful about hat tournaments. At a hat tournament, you sign up as a single player, rank yourself on some delightfully arbitrary scale, and then get sorted into a team of people who you’ve probably never met before. You then play together, party together, play some more together and then go back home; probably never to play with those team-mates again. You take nothing back with you except an odd coloured shirt, possibly a prize or two and a vague recollection of enjoying yourself over the weekend, though doing what you can’t quite remember.

So why are they so great? Hat tournaments help remind you how Ultimate is bigger than just your club or uni team. Open to GB players and beginners alike, they have a very wide audience, from the high level athlete looking to escape from the pressures of tour, to the complete amateur (probably dragged along by a friend) discovering Ultimate for the very first time. They tend to be very well run, are always entertaining, always have a great party, and tend to have a wide variety of prizes too.

There are four major hat tournaments to watch out for in the UK this Summer, each with their own characters and personalities. Your loyal reporter has spent some time sitting down with the TDs of each to find out the facts, figures and the fun of hat tournaments.

Phoenix Knights Present: The Durham HAT

Tournament Date: 14th/15th June 2014
Sign-Up: Active, and almost full! Contact asap to get a last spot/early on the waiting list.

Cost: £30

Capacity: 288 players

Tournament Directors:  

Craig Hawes, Sam Thompson, Elizabeth Hopker, Tash Myhill, Lauren Forsyth

So, what makes you unique then?

2014 sees the re-birth of the Durham HAT. As one of the oldest and biggest HAT tournaments in the UK the Durham HAT has a strong Frisbee pedigree.  After last year's hiatus the Durham HAT 2014 will see all the best bits of previous tournaments all wrapped up in Phoenix Knights Style. More fun, more colour, more entertainments but all the same high quality Frisbee. Open to beginners and experienced players, we cater for all. 

We bring you 24 teams, games, a party that will be a Knight to remember, prizes galore and oh yeah, a bit of Ultimate on the side. Included in the price is your very own Lookfly performance HAT shirt, camping near the pitches with full facilities, Saturday dinner, pitch-side music, a Friday arrival party and naturally the massive Saturday themed fancy dress party as well (and much, much more - but we're not going to tell you everything at this stage!)

This years theme is Myth, Mystery & Magic. Expect the unexpected - we’ll be featuring a full Quidditch pitch, a mystery challenge running through the weekend with equally mysterious prizes, a private themed costume party and much more besides: join our Facebook group to stay on top of all the surprises.

Flying, Circular Love,

Phoenix Knights & Durham Ultimate Frisbee

tSG Review:
After a year out for Durham, Phoenix Knights (combined with DUF) are aiming to put on a spectacular show, and looking to live up to their name by reviving the Durham hat back from the embers to retake it's place as one of the highlights of the Summer in a blaze of glory (end of phoenix analogy). Even if you haven't heard of the Knights before, be aware that Durham has plenty of alumni and college players, so they're going to have all the help and advice they need to really make a mark on the Summer. However with a very early sign up (and a lot of keen interest already shown), make sure you sort yourself out fast to secure a place at what looks to be a fantastic tournament.

Sounds great, where can I go to find out more?

Website: www.dur.ac.uk/duf.club/hat

Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/phoenixdurhamHAT/

Email: durham.knights.hat@gmail.com

FFindr: http://ffindr.com/en/event/united-kingdom/phoenix-knights-present-the-durham-hat-2014

The Phoenix Knights, hoping to brighten up a Grey summer by reviving

Durham Hat from the Ashes

DUFFA Hat

Very Likely Tournament Date: 19/20th July 2014

Sign-Up Dates: 19:00, Monday 14th April - 23:59 to Friday 18th April (random ballot of all sign ups, if oversubscribed)

Cost: TBA (Last Year: £33 + £8 for a disc)

Capacity: TBA (Last year 288, but looking to expand due to phenomenal demand!)

Tournament Directors: Rich Harrison, Alan Heckman

So, what makes you unique then?

I think the first year was so successful as it was mostly run by ultimate players who’d never been to a tournament before! They didn’t really know what was expected, so went all out and they blew the players’ expectations out of the water. As we’ve expanded year on year we’ve been able to build on previous years’ successes to go that extra mile every time. The word is definitely spreading - we thought a two and a half hour sell-out was great in 2012, but nothing could have prepared us for a four minute sell-out in 2013!

We’re lucky to have an army of willing volunteers who pour their heart and soul into providing the best tournament experience we can. Their only reward is seeing the players having a great time. We do it because we love it!

We try very hard to create a welcoming atmosphere for players of all abilities. Some of the players throw a Frisbee for the first time on the morning of the tournament, whilst some have played for years at a high Tour level, or even internationally. And of course, there’s a massive range of skills and experience in between those two extremes! See you in July!

All DUFFA photos courtesy of LOVEultimate from www.weloveultimate.co.uk

tSG Review:
DUFFA set a reputation last year for the biggest, loudest and most popular hat tournament in the UK. With countless extra activities to do between games (3 pint challenge table and disc accuracy competition shown above), a huge party in an outdoor marque and one of the strongest international scenes in any UK tournament, last year DUFFA is staked it's claim as *the* hat tournament of the Summer. However, with an incredibly fast sell-out time last year and this year looking to be busy too, make sure you keep very up to date with any updates they give. Also, they give a wide variety of very good prizes. Just sayin'...

Sounds fantastic, where can I go to find out more?

Website: www.duffa.org 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/20991885689/
Email: hat@duffa.org

Manchester Hat

Very Likely Tournament Date: 9/10 August 2014

Sign-Up Date: 29th April (see group for registration link)

Cost: £25

Capacity: 120

Tournament Director: Elly White

So, what makes you unique then?:
Manchester hat is only in its second edition after a very successful début last year. It is a small, intimate hat tournament (120 people limit) which means everybody gets to know everyone and it creates a very friendly atmosphere. It also means everyone can fit into the combined bar and dance floor area of the Rugby Club, ensuring a really personal party experience with the entire tournament.

We have evening activities for you to bond with your team, last year this was a pub quiz and a school sports day (think egg and spoon races and three legged races!). This year there will be similar things!

Manchester Hat has great prizes, last year this included Manchester Hat trackies and boot-bags (and naturally prizes of alcohol for anyone who won a school sports day event - got to keep it realistic after all!).

This years theme is Fairytale, so Knights, Princesses and Dragons! Hope to see you all there.

Manchester Hat helped unlock the inner children in Ultimate last year. 

Top pictures from disposable cameras supplied free at tournament. 

Bottom picture of egg and spoon race courtesy of blockstack.tv 

tSG Review:
Manchester Hat was an oddity in the tournament scene last year, and we absolutely don't mean that in a bad way. Due to the combined hat format, relatively small size and excellent organisation and extra activities, it really was the tournament that you bonded most with your team for. It felt the most like an entire tournament enjoying Ultimate together, and it did feel like a community for a weekend. It's not what everyone looks for in a weekend of Ultimate, but for its first year it sure found its feet quickly. Expect big (well, small but well organised) things on its second outing.

Sounds fantastic, where can I go to find out more?:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/497009620408097/
Email: eleanor.white@hotmail.com

Sheffield Hat

Tournament Date: 6/7th September 2014

Sign-Up Date: Likely the end of June

Cost: £30-35 + £10 per tent camping charge. 
However, some of this does go to charity!

Capacity: 140 players

Tournament Director:

Si East (Mix & Mingle, ex-Indoors DOC, Competitions Committee member & more!)

So, what makes you unique then?

2014 will be the 5th Sheffield Hat, and the 3rd year at the current venue in Hillsborough. It is different to all the others because the venue is small so we use BULA (beach) sized pitches and play 5v5. That's right: 5 a side on grass!

We also raise money for charity; previously Right To Play and Access Sport but this year we will be supporting someone local to the event. A small % of the player fee goes to charity and any other amounts we can raise over the weekend. We always have a show-game on Saturday evening and spectators have the chance to raise money and have fun through playing Fantasy

Ultimate (with a cash prize on offer too!).

We always incorporate other disc games too, in 2013 we had a DDC pitch and held an accuracy competition. We hope to have at least the same this year, hopefully some disc golf too.

Lookfly have been fantastic supporters of this event since the beginning and in 2013 they provided Spirit and show-game prizes.  Catch The Spirit were also very supportive in 2013.

The other way we’re different is that there isn’t a big party (shock!).  This is a pretty chilled out weekend to finish your season so we just relax in the bar with some pub games until they close, then potter to bed.  We are planning an alternative option this year as well, likely discounted entry into one of Sheffield’s top nightspots so don’t be put off if you only go for the parties!

Anything else?
I think Hat tournaments are great (the Melbourne Hat was one of my first tournaments) and it is good that there are some successful ones in the UK.  DUFFA goes from strength to strength and it’s certainly good to see Durham back this year.  They all offer something different, but are equally all a great way of meeting new people and practising those Frisbee skills!

Sheffield Hat 2013 managed to raise £347 for Access Sport last year

tSG review:

Sheffield Hat’s strength lies in the fact it’s at the end of a season. It’s the perfect way to wind down from an intense summer of Ultimate, play some great games and in fact just relax with all the people you've probably been playing against all season. Whilst it is normally at the same weekend as Glastonbury, it’s relatively accessible location and extra touches (naturally I'm a fan of the show game, and the related Fantasy Ultimate was a personal highlight) mean it’s certainly proving more and more popular each year, and deservedly so.

Sounds fantastic, where can I go to find out more?

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ninety2ultimate

Website: www.ninety2ultimate.com/sheffield-hat

E-mail: simon@ninety2ultimate.com

In all, it's been great to see that Hat culture grow in the UK over the part few years. I've personally been to everyone one of these, and loved every moment. Each tournament really does have it's own culture and flavour, something which in no doubt thanks to the phenomenal effort placed into organising these things by the TDs, and of course the teams behind all of them. So there's no way I'd rather end than by wishing them the best of luck in the future, and thanking them all for their effort they put in to making these things happen every Summer. Really, hats off to you all. Now see you on the pitch.

Did you go to any hat tournaments last year? Are there any we've missed out? Do you have any memories from previous tournaments you'd like to share? Please comment below, we'd love to hear from you.

Northern Uni Open Indoor Regionals

Andrei Mandzuk from Bangor Ultimate takes us through the Northern Region.

The weekend marks the start of the Northern University indoors season, with teams from across the region converging on Leeds to battle it out for prestigious spots at Nationals. The north consistently proves itself to be a strong but very open region, with an array of teams feeling that they're in with a shot of qualifying. After going through what many felt was a developmental period for the region last year, it is expected to return to full strength with many key players reaching their final years of study.

I shall begin by providing short previews of top teams in the region in order of their predicted seeds. All content below is based on predictions from team captains and information gathered from the UK Ultimate rumour mill.

One of the biggest regions and what a region! Image courtesy of UK Ultimate.

UKU Regionals Results

This weekend saw 16 teams from 6 regions earn their place at UKU Nationals 2013 and the first round match ups they gain.

Full results

South West

1. Devon 1 (Q)
2. Devon 2 (Q)
3. Devon 3

South East

1. Brighton City (Q)
2. Reading Ultimate (Q)
3. Release (Q)
4. DED Open
5. DED Mixed
6. Guildford
7. Brighton Echo
8. Brighton Pier Pressure
9. Team Shark

UKU Regionals Preview - the North

Dale Walker tells us how he thinks the Northern region will pan out this weekend. The North has 2 bids to Nationals and will be held this Saturday.

With the introduction of the Regionals/Nationals structure to UK Ultimate over the past few seasons, the UKU has taken a glance across the pond to find a structure that allows for a flagship event to be created whilst encouraging local teams to come out and see the best in their proximity battle for the privilege of representing their region at the National Championships.

Whilst thinking about how best to introduce the Northern region and to truly describe the dynamic we have, my mind glanced across the pond as well for inspiration. Whilst not the learned observer I have been in years gone by, I still keep an eye out on the blogosphere and ultimate outlets to see the latest trends - where the talent is heading, who are the top contenders in USAU etc. - and whilst thinking of a direct comparison my attention swung to 2011 NW Regionals.

David Sparks makes a bid for LeedsLeedsLeeds at T2. Photo courtesy of Andrew Moss.

This particular tournament featured 4 of the best teams in the country at the time, battling for 2 spots to Nationals in a hugely under seeded region based on regional trends over the previous years. Revolver were at the peak of their powers - Kittredge, Cahill, Watson, Sherwood et al - and dominated the Regional and National scene. Sockeye had come off a very strong regular season, and were being heavily tipped to take the second berth to Nationals. Furious have been notoriously slow in the regular season and didn't look tooled up to keep Rhino down, nevermind knock Sockeye out. Rhino (with the addition of Seth Wiggins, Chasing Sarasota era) had come off their best ever year and threatened to break the monopoly the afore mentioned trio had enjoyed.

Revolver took the Region. Furious knocked Sockeye out. Furious had beaten the bookies, and despite not coming close all year had taken them down when it really mattered.

First off, I am not drawing a direct comparison in terms of ability between the North of England and the North West of North America. The comparison lies in a region with 2 berths and 4 teams fighting - whilst one spot might be sown up, the latter is completely up for grabs and is 2012 taught me anything it's that no-one is safe from the dark horse.

Chevron have been a powerhouse over the past few years in Northern ultimate. Their population is more diverse these days, featuring players from Manchester, Liverpool, London, Leicester, Leeds, Bristol, Exeter but the ethos remains the same - gritty, athletic ultimate with an explosive game based on dominant cutters. With some of the old guard moving on, Chevron have revamped in recent years and boast no fewer than 9 GB U23s in the Open team returning from Toronto. Lead by the Chevron veteran Matt Beavan and ably captained by 2010 U23 captains James Jackson, Mark Penny and Josh Coxon Kelly they will look to use Regionals as a tune up event having featured for the past 7 years in the top 4. Expect them to take the region comfortably.

Manchester Ultimate (the rebranded ManUp) have similarly rebooted their programme this year with an active focus on becoming the competitive arm of a hub of UK ultimate. Training weekly since October focusing on skills and fundamentals, Manchester were able to secure an 11th place finish Tour 3 having been promoted from B Tour earlier in the season. Losing in sudden death to KaPow and Ranelagh showed that this team can compete at the top and they are laying claim to be the dominant force in the North. Expect to see Adam Irving rip a few hucks to Nick "Bambi" Smith and Santiago Zuluaga make plays on both sides of the disc. Lead by captain Ewen Buckling bringing a humble intensity to the D line, with Sion Regan and Ben Brierley making explosive plays to keep the D line in with a shout against any team.

Having been part of the exodus from LLLeeds to Manchester between 2012 and 2013, this writer feared they may struggle to recover from the blow of losing 5 starters to Manchester. Leeds have done a superb job of starting from scratch and working with local talent to create a very strong team who have shown all year that youth can be a virtue. Bringing in talent from the local universities, Leeds managed to come up with Manchester at Tour 1 and have stayed in the top 16 so far. Rich Hims has been making plays all his career for LLL, and sets the tone for a young squad who don't lack in legs (although rumour has it he may be playing Mixed therefore ineligible for Regionals). Ben Bruin keeps the offence ticking over with solid throws and good speed, whilst Chris Rodd and Sam Rayner keep picking the legs up to threaten any D. Having lost to Manchester 3 times this year, they will be determined to make sure they stop the rot and give themselves a chance.

Vision have bled their best talent to their competitors in the past few seasons (Liam Kelly, Sion Regan and Paddy Hart to Chevron, Manchester and EMO respectively) but have always been focused on bringing through local junior talent and giving youth it's chance. They have always been a passionate team with a lot of fire, but have always struggled to retain depth to the squad and having lost the voice and wisdom of Mark Cooper and Mark Ansdell respectively this season they have relied on some newer faces to get the job done. Paddy Hart looks to control the offence with big throws and has willing runners in Pete Garnett and Dave Baxandall. Alex Walsh and Ben Smith Richards came through the GB Junior ranks together and possess pretty throws capable of hurting defences. Having secured a headturning sudden death victory over LLL in 2012 to secure a Nationals berth, don't put anything past them in 2013.

Filling out the field is Black Sheep 1 & 2 who have spent the season growing as a team and splitting relatively evenly in Tour events (featuring in the C Tour). They will be approaching the tournament with a view to learning and growing further, with a set of games against the region's top talent sure to boost them as a club in the future.

With the schedule just released, it appears the crunch game comes down to Manchester vs Leeds in the group stages. At this stage, it is unclear if both teams will elect to carry the result from the Group stage or potentially replay in the 2v3 (assuming Vision don't cause another upset) but with a place at Nationals on the line for the victor, expect a dogfight. With the results this season in Manchester's favour (15-10, 15-10 and 15-13 respectively all in crunch games) the smart money would be on Manchester joining Chevron in Southampton. 

I'm sure the smart money would have been on LLLeeds joining them last year.

What do you think? Tell us below, on FB, Tweet, email, ask away! DP @ tSG. 

Tour 2 Review - A Tour (ft. Alex Cragg)

Josh Coxon Kelly tells us the tale of A tour at Nottingham including the inside story from one of the Fire 1 captains Alex Cragg.

Players and teams came to Nottingham expecting stormy weather and were not disappointed. A stiff wind all weekend and rushes of rain ensured that Tour 2 was a test of throwing skill and team strategy where patience and discipline would pay dividends. Such conditions are also ripe for upset - particularly on pitches with clear up/down wind orientation - and in this category the A tour didn’t disappoint.

Pool A saw Clapham and GB u23 looking to hold onto the top two seeds in a straight to semis schedule. The meeting of these two teams was closer than at Tour 1, but despite an early lead due to an excellent start by GB, clapham showed their consistency and improved steadily throughout the game to come out victorious once again. Neither Ranelagh or KaPow managed to break into the top 2 of the pool, and a 10-9 loss in their match-up to Ranelagh saw the bottom two in the pool switch seeds.

Michael Speer (GB U23) bids on Matt Dathan (KaPow) in the pool stages. Photo courtesy of Graham Bailey.

In Pool B a reduced Chevron squad make light work of opposition including an opening grudge match against Fire (in recent seasons a frequent matchup, this was the first time the squads had met since Fire’s victory in the 2012 Nationals semi-final). Chevron came out strong and didn’t let up, winning 15-6 in a game that was to be ominous of Fire’s weekend to come. EMO held seed in a dramatic win against a stuttering Fire squad, confirming their place in the top 4 for a second tour running, a win that could turn out to have serious implications in terms of tour rankings for WUCC 2014...

Chevron stayed clinical despite the wind and repeated their tour 1 quarter final victory over the u23s on Sunday, this time for a place in the final to play Clapham. However Chevron’s high retention performances would not continue into the last game of the weekend. Clapham brought a smart game that capitalised early and played through the Chevron zone in both directions. Down early, Chevron were unable to recover and didn’t manage to adapt their more conservative playing style to the worsening conditions as well as their London rivals, who emerged comfortable winners.

Fire veteran Lewis Glover does just enough to beat David Ray (Leeds).
Photo Courtesy of Graham Bailey.

Movement from the second 8 was to create arguably the most dramatic storylines of this tour however, as a Devon squad bolstered by returning players (including Chevron D-line star Ben Hall) completed a dramatic victory over Fire 1 on Sunday morning in the crossover for top 8. Players arriving early at the food and physio tents were treated to a sudden death comeback victory for Devon featuring a completed world’s greatest and the most emphatic of celebrations as Fire’s weekend took a further turn for the worse.

Manchester converted their qualification, avoiding the relegation fate shared by BAF, Cambridge and Glasgow. The highest climber from the second 8 was Fire 2, who after beating KaPow found themselves in the top 8, eventually finishing one place above their first team. 
Fire 1 have long been a firm top 4 team, and have been no stranger to finals at Tour, Nationals and even European championships in the last 5 years. Dropping out of the top 8 is the first significant movement of one the top 3 teams of recent A-tour history - tSG spoke to captain Alex Cragg to gain some insight into the weekend’s events...

Quite a few of the results at tour 2 were obviously disappointing for you and your team. What do you think happened to cause the upsets?

We'd had a slightly lower finish than we'd hoped for at Tour 1, even given the international teams, but we knew we had the ability to play at the top; taking a strong Bad Skid to sudden death proved that.

Unfortunately, that confidence backfired and we presumed our games were foregone conclusions. We failed to take the Chevron game as enough of a sign that wasn't going to be the case. People wanted to beat us more than we wanted to beat them; our heads weren't in the right place and we lacked focus causing too many individual errors, which crippled any tactical adjustments.

Another problem was that we tried to play Ultimate... Some people might scoff at that, but we undervalued territory in those conditions. We know how to play through a zone, but it was only half way through the Devon game, 6 points down, that we started to play to our real strengths.

What actions did you take to turn around the team’s mentality after these losses?

We made sure that our pre-game preparation consisted of much more throwing, getting people's self belief back. We needed to salvage something from the weekend, and putting the prospect of losing all our games into context helped bring back some desire to win.

We'd probably placed too much focus on the bigger picture of World's qualification, so we brought things back to focus on one game at a time.

Unexpected losses are undeniably difficult to take, but they can give an opportunity to learn about your team - what lessons did you take from tour 2?

The main thing I think we learnt is that we probably haven't been exploiting our individual strengths enough, instead focussing on a team ethos that has seen some people's roles mutate.

Every single player was hugely disappointed with the weeked, and I think everyone's taking a bit more personal responsibility since then. We all know we can do better. We'll be a very different team at Tour 3 and Nationals.

The second team’s squad has been strong at all showings this year and performed very well to qualify for the top 8 in Nottingham - will this see much change in players between the teams for Tour 3?

Fire 2 have been brilliant this year. A lot of people wrote them off after last year, but they've proven that to have been a blip in a very strong history for a second team. They're definitely on track for their season goal of taking one of the 6 Euro's spots.

One of our ideas for the year was to allow each team to have its own identity, which has included playing and drilling in those teams at training sessions. This builds up the relationships players need to do well.

However, there has been a small amount of movement, with 2 players coming up from Fire 2. We've also moved a couple of Fire 1 players into the seconds to give them more experience playing against top 4 competition (with Fire 1 being locked out).

Outside of players will there be any significant shift in Fire’s approach to Tour 3 and the rest of the season?

Absolutely. After quite a few roster changes from last year, it's taken some time for everyone to find their role and for us to play in the best way to exploit our strengths. I think our experience at Tour 2 has brought us together more, and our passion and desire to win has only grown. We've also restructured how we call lines, which has lead to much better performances in training.

What are your team goals for Nationals and Europeans?

Barring a huge upset at Tour 3, we've now missed out on our first shot at World's qualification. There's enough time before Nationals to put everything we've learnt about ourselves into practice, and, like last year, our target is to make the final of Nationals and win. After that we'll have to see about Europeans. We've learnt to not look too far in the future!

Fire of London.

There is all to play for in the final tour of the season. Fire 1 will be looking to turn their season around in the lead up to Nationals. Clapham will be missing stars with the absence of World Games squad players, and Chevron, U23 and EMO will be looking to capitalise on this to hand them their first loss of the season. Ranelagh found the form they were looking for in Nottingham rising to 5th, but with the recent events at Tour 2 all A tour teams will be fighting hard for that giant killing that will send them up the rankings.

A Tour movers. Courtesy of Wayne Retter.

All ready for a heatwave in Cardiff? Don't forget your suncream and hats! Like, share, contribute and tweet! DP @ tSG.