Showing posts with label mixed tour. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mixed tour. Show all posts

9 May 2014

Mixed Tour 3 Preview:




Can Bear Cav remain undefeated through the Mixed Tour?

Smatt: I see no reason why they can’t. Cambridge and Brighton finished 2nd and 3rd behind them at Mixed Tour 2, and they beat them twice over the weekend. Cambridge will once again provide the toughest matchup. They should find moving the disc easier without the Nottingham wind to slow down their possession based 3-4 underneath cutting strategy. However they also found it tough to contain the Bear Cav hucking game at MT1 without wind and MT2 with the wind.

Matt: Yes of course they can, but that would be boring. So I’m going to predict Cambridge to beat Bears in a pulsating final, which will tear onlookers from the grasp of their mobiles as they check last-day Premier League scores. The fields of Cheltenham will be scattered with shrapnel of nails as the nerve-racking final moments of the football season and Mixed Tour come to an end simultaneously.

Who will make the biggest climb at MT3?

Smatt: If Bristol Mixed get back all their top players, I think they can regain most if not all of the 8 places they dropped at MT2. Despite the impressive work Cambridge 2 have done so far (improving 13 places over the two tours) I don’t see them breaking the top 12.
Therefore I think the highest climbers will be Bristol Mixed breaking back into the top 8, or Birmingham breaking into the top 16, though, after two tours there shouldn’t as much movement as team rankings should have pretty much sorted themselves out by now.

Matt: Beast Mode – they’re massively under-seeded, smashed everyone at MT1
but didn’t play MT2 so got shafted again. Expect them to be making the seeders look silly by the end of the weekend.

Who will finish in the top 8/4?

Smatt: Top 4: Bear Cav, Black Eagles, Brighton, Cambridge
Top 8: Bear Cav, Black Eagles, Brighton, Cambridge, Herd, RGS, Meeples, Bristol

Matt: I’m going to be bold and predict all three World’s teams will finish in the top four (and yes, that includes RGS, who slipped out of the top eight at Tour 2. They’ll come together in Cheltenham and will start to gel as a team and what I saw of the Ka-pow players at Tom’s Tourney, they look set to impress in Chelters.

Best game of pool play?

Smatt: My games to watch in the top 4 pools are:
Brighton Breezy v Black Eagles – this could be an exciting game full of big throws and athletic plays from both teams. Herd 1 v Meeples – A rematch of the heated quarter final from MT2 that brought Meeples their first top 4 finish ever and dashed the Herd’s chance at a second finals appearance of 2014. Dyn-O-Mixed v Pingu Jam – PJ are on the rise and should be full of confidence after an undefeated MT2 and will face a similarly constructed team in Dyn-O-Mixed. RGS v Bristol – RGS have to be winning this group to gain some momentum into their top 8 crossover, and ultimately towards the rest of their preparations for Worlds, but if Bristol have their strongest set of players then they are a potential top 4 team.

Matt: Looking down the list, the only one that stuck out to me was Bears v Eagles because it got me wondering: who would actually win in a battle between those two creatures?


Upset predictions?

Smatt: Whilst the smart money is on a Bear Cav v Cambridge final again, a Cambridge v Brighton Breezy has potential for a big upset. Another game with upset potential is the Dyn-O-Mixed crossover up into the top 12. In any cross up matchup they should feel they have a decent shot, even more so if they get Peeps or Scarecrew.

Matt: My upset prediction will be RGS to be playing in the 3/4 bracket come Sunday afternoon. I expect Dyn-O-Mixed to finish the mixed season strong and grab a top 8 finish. Rumours are circling that the mighty James Hobley will be making a shock comeback and make his debut this weekend – a remarkable turnaround after being told he should never throw a Frisbee in anger ever again after his antics at Glastonbury last autumn. Bristol Mixed will be back up challenging for a top place too after an under-strength team in Nottingham.

Which team will do the best karaoke after the Eurovision party?

Smatt: Hard to narrow it down with so many teams going, but I’m going to have to go for Scarecrew as they practice singing before every game.

Matt: Dyn-o-mixed, hands-down. I had the pleasure of sharing a room (not a
bed) with Maddox last week and if he can sing in real life as well ashe sings in his sleep, they’ll blow their competition away. And then they also have James Hobbley, who plays the violin in the orchestra every Sunday, so he’ll have an advantage over most at MT3. So the real
question is: who’ll come second? And for that, I have no idea.

Can Meeples stay in the top 4?

Smatt: Based on the players they have, they definitely can, but I don’t think they will. I think their likely quarter finals matchup will be either Black Eagles or Brighton Breezy, and I don’t see Meeples coming out on top in either game, though they would both be fantastic quarter final matchups.

Matt: I don’t know why people are surprised at the rise of Meeples and their top 4 finish in Nottingham. Maybe they’re just very good at playing in god-awful weather and with a heat wave predicted in Cheltenham, they’ll have to adopt an alternative style of play. But they have some star players returning to the team this weekend and I fully expect them to be challenging for top four. I expect Bristol mixed to challenge for top four too as they won’t struggle for top players wanting to make the short journey up the M5.

18 April 2014

Mixed Tour 2 Review

Matthew "Smatt" Hodgson gives us his perspective of Mixed Tour 2.

From start to finish the wind the typical Nottingham wind meant every point at Mixed Tour 2 was hard fought against the elements as well as the opponents, with very few games making it to the hard cap even amongst the teams at the top of the standings


Dominating Bagel news was Flux, who left it until their 3rd game to get on the scoreboard before taking a dominating win of their own; 10-3 against Sheffield Steal 2. ABH B also took a 9-0 win over Bournemouth Heat, but once the pool stage was over the rankings worked themselves out with all teams getting points on the board.

ABH vs Pier Pressure at Mixed Tour 2. Photo courtesy of Graham Bailey.

11 April 2014

The Grapevine - 11/04

The Grapevine - bringing you a little bit of Ultimate from home and abroad.

Adding to Charlie Blair's great write up on the London Women's Ultimate Forum; Curve Women made a little promo (see below).


We have seen a lot of writing from Brummie over the last year but watch him talk about his playing and coaching to a non Ultimate audience here.

This weekend is MT2 expect: a Smatt vs Matt preview, drama and hopefully more Matt Dathan puns. Make sure to use #ukumt2 on twitter to ensure followers at home are up to date with scores and banter on the tagboard!

This week saw the release of the WUCC 2014 team list! Go check out the competition for this summers big tournament here.

The Flatball film has made its target and even exceeded it by $6000, awesome news and cannot wait to watch it!

Finally, check out this new page which collates information on teams and tournament from all over the world: ulti.info. In May you will be able to login and add yourself to your team rosters, want to help? Contact them from the site directly.



Curve Women from Laura Payne on Vimeo.

30 March 2014

UKU Mixed Tour 1 Preview

Matthew "Smatt" Hodgson starts his tSG career off with a quick preview of #ukumt1.

With teams attempting to prepare for the World Club Championships this year, the Tour will feel simultaneously significant and insignificant. Whilst results won’t “matter”, the worlds teams will want to prepare as best they can and notch some wins against the other teams going, and the teams not going to worlds will be eager to cause some upsets. (Note: as far as I’ve seen, the qualification method for EUCF in Frankfurt hasn’t been announced).

Below is an analysis of the top 10 seeded teams for UKU Mixed Tour 1 this weekend in Cardiff. 

Teams going to WUCC
Bear Cavalry: The focus for Bears is worlds. They have retained almost the entire squad from the European Championship winning team, brought in D line contributors, and comfortably handled business at Winter League (not conceding more than 5 points in a game). The Bears are out to win the tour and continue their legacy as a mixed powerhouse on their route to WUCC.

Cambridge: have taken the interesting decision to split their worlds team between O and D lines for Mixed tour 1 (and possibly beyond?). Whilst this will undoubtedly provide plenty of exposure to the highest level of mixed ultimate across the roster, and get more game time and grow connections along the two lines, I see them losing some games on the decision as well. Having said that, with this long to go before WUCC, losses likely won’t provide as much of a sting if the progression is there.

28 March 2014

The Grapevine - 28/03

The Grapevine.

Brummie is really getting around now with another skills clinic, this time in Croatia also featuring some guest US coaches. Get Horizontal mentioned the tournament last year that will run alongside the clinic. Sign up for both now, looks immense!

Mixed Tour 1 has gone paperless and exclusively online so make sure to follow all the updates on the #ukumt1 tagboard!

SkyD have released their 2014 Mock Draft (US ultimate minds creating their fantasy draft from the best players in the open game) and two UK players, Justin Foord and Tom Abrams (Clapham), made one of the teams.

The Flatball Film has been in production for sometime now but this exciting movie chronicling the history of ultimate needs our help! Go and support the maker now! Watch the trailer below. 



17 May 2013

Mixed Tour 3 (2013) - Cheltenham.

With the final installment of Mixed Tour this weekend, what have we got in store for Cheltenham?

The weather looks to be cold with some chance of rain later in the weekend. This never stopped us but please pack warm and stay warm camping! 

Sadly we still have no schedule (mostly down to late dropouts) but we know where to look for excitement. We will see the likes of RGS, World Games, Cambridge, Brighton, DED, Black Eagles and Herd fighting for top spots. Watch out for some of the next 8 fighting their way up, Bristol, Shiny Happy Meeples and U23's will not give up and will want to finish off the tour strongly.

Last chance saloon for Mixed tour glory. Keep an eye out for our review next week covering Mixed Tour as a whole and looking forward to Nationals and further. 
EDIT: Full standings (so far) can be found here
Schedule is now here.
See y'all there use the hashtag #ukumt3 for more info and results! Want to give us your opinion? Don't be scared! Like, share and contribute. tSG

1 May 2013

Mixed Tour 2 Review: A mixed bag.

A review of the second Mixed Tour event held in Manchester. 

Last weekend saw 52 teams from all around the UK converge on Manchester for Mixed Tour 2. The seedings for this Tour were, on the whole, more accurate as they were based on the finishing positions for Mixed Tour 1 but some teams still felt they had a lot to prove and wanted a shot at the top spot currently held by the World Games squad.
With the WG squad being selected we lost one team from the tour, as well as the Irish u23's. This paved the way for a couple of teams on the waiting list and bumped a few teams up a seed or two.
DED vs Herd 1: Matthew Hodgson grabs over his team mate whilst pressured by Luke T. Courtesy of BlockStack.

The info graphic below shows how teams moved from their initial seed to finishing place.
Fun fact - Five teams retained their initial seed: WG (1), DED (6), Bear Cav 2 (29), Brixton (46) and Flyght 2 (48).


Notables jumps:
  • Team Shark +13
  • Flyght +12
  • JR 1 +11
  • Devon +9
  • Magic Toast/Some Team 1 +8

...and falls:
  • Curve -11
  • Golden Ants/Lemmings -7
  • Peeps/Halcyon -6
This was Team Shark's first appearance of the season and they were probably slightly under seeded but a great jump up into top of the bottom half. Great work from Flyght, JR, Devon and Some Team to truly beat the system. Magic Toast (having picked up some of the WG trial players) got themselves back where they belong in the top 4.

The final, between World Games and Royal Goaltimate Society, started off a rather one sided affair with WG taking the first half convincingly. However, RGS were not going to sit back and let them win easily. A second half comeback brought them within a couple of points, but the athleticism and experience on the WG squad told in the end and they finally pulled away to take the title 15-8.  
Guess the WG player? Courtesy of Rien de Keyser.


My final note is one on the sadder side of our sport: injuries. In rather innocuous circumstances, a Scarecrew player suffered a dislocated knee and broken ankle that not only ended her game but the entire game. Josh and I would like to wish Eley Haslam a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing her on the field when the time is right.

To everyone else, please stay safe and do your fitness!! See you at Mixed Tour 3 in a couple of weeks in Cheltenham.

The ups and downs of Mixed Tour 2 (comparison of initial seed to final position).
Want to contribute please email us at showgameblog@gmail.com. Or simply like what you see? Comment, like, tweet any feedback is welcome! 

26 April 2013

Mixed Tour 2 (2013) - Manchester

A quick preview on this weekends Mixed Tour in Manchester.

The schedule is out, the weather doesn't look too bad. We are all in for a great weekend. 

Topping the tournament are the newly selected World Games squad, who look to hold onto that spot. They will be challenged by Brighton, RGS and Bristol tomorrow and most likely one of Black Eagles, Cambridge, DED or Bear Cavalry on Sunday.
Some great match ups there, go watch and support our GB teams!

Teams that did well last tour have been rewarded with their higher seedings, as expected. Sadly we are missing Ireland U23 but we have also gained some new faces: Halcyon, Team Shark, Devon and Brixton to name a few. Expect a few movers from this lot.

Finally, GB U23 are yet again using this event as training (pitch 24 for Open) with the Mixed squad out in full force once again and fundraising from the Women. Please find them give them money, water and support for Toronto.





Dont' forget to like, share and follow us and use the hashtag #ukumt2 for on the move results and news from the weekend!

The Grapevine - 26/04

Every Friday - A summary of some of the latest Ultimate based posts from UK, Europe and beyond...

Ka-Pow! repeat last year's win at the DED warm-up, write up by Eddy Van Der Kloot.

Our friend and contributor Mark Earley gives us another great interview with the Ireland u23 Open coach Leo Yoshida.


Barry O'Kane talks to the one and only Ultimate Rob in Episode 15 and aforementioned Mark Earley in Episode 16 (with a great shout-out cheers Mark!) on UTalkRaw.


UKU AGM takes place at MT2 in Manchester, agenda here.


PushPass have filmed 20 games at Uni Nationalsbuy and watch for only £8.99.
Also check out the latest post in 'Drama' discussing the recent ESPN/USA Ultimate deal.

Cardiff beat Swansea in their University varsity, watch some footage here.

WFDF announces the number of preliminary slots countries are allocated for their club teams at WUCC 2014 in Italy.


The GB World Games team was announced a fortnight ago for Cali 2013 



Do you own or know of a blog or website that should be here? Let us know!

15 April 2013

Mixed Tour 1 2013 - Cardiff

The British outdoor season kicked off again a week ago in Cardiff with the first instalment of the UKU Mixed Tour. David Pryce summarises the weekend's action.

A grand total of 52 teams descended on the University of Cardiff sports fields including two trialling (now selected) World Games teams, GB U23's and Ireland's U23 squad. 

Alongside these national squads the regulars of Bear Cavalry, Thundering Herd and Brighton were mixed in with newer/pick up squads Royal Goaltimate Society (RGS), Magic Toast and Meeples. Further down the seedings we saw the likes of Reading, JR, Guildford, ABH, Steal and many more battle it out for a possible higher seed at the next tour. 

Below is a graphic of how the teams rose or fell from their initial seeds. Of course, I know that the TD's struggled with the seedings this time round, not made easy by the new teams. Overall most teams stayed within a fair margin of their original seed so the TD did a great job there (and with the rest of tournament, as ever). However their were a few big jumps:
  • Ireland U23 +11
  • Reading +10
  • ABH C +10
  • Steal +10
and falls:
  • Choke Hazard -15
  • GU1 -14
  • St Albans -13
  • Flump -9
Some of these falls are most likely to do with strong players going to new teams or not playing at all but in general I think the returning national players missed over past few years now in the WG, Magic Toast, RGS teams has pushed the standard up once again.

The teams eating up seeds appear to have worked really hard and fought out every game, everyone loves a challenge and being that initial underdog can really work in your favour. 


Highly Notable: 
Black Eagles yet again perform well after a solid season last year.
Brighton are always high in the tour and remain solid at 4th.
Some Team rising from 38th to 29th have really found some flow.

Note of interest:
Bear Cav were missing their main man Dave Tyler and so didn't top the club team table but I wouldn't count them as out yet. For teams in the top 10 anything can happen.

National teams: 
GBWG really showed us what they plan to take to Cali with everyone able to pick the disc up and scoring easily with defences lagging behind. Look out for them as one team in Manchester.

Ireland U23 were probably a little under seeded but still came out strong. In a similar manner to their slightly older beach counterparts played a very good mixed game to secure some invaluable playing time together.


GB U23 had a great Saturday but struggled a little on Sunday with team dynamics holding them back at times. Some true moments of great ultimate were mixed in with a few too many turns and mis communications. These guys and gals will definitely be back next tour and will hopefully use the great training they are having to step it up ready for Worlds this summer.

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Final positions and how they have moved.