GB Worlds Squad win MT2

With Mixed Tour 2 now done and dusted, eyes are firmly set on Mixed Tour Nationals (MT3) in two weekends time. The mixed season feels like it is passing in a flash but with Open and Womens Tour ready to kick off soon after and plenty of hat tourneys and fun team tourneys in and around the UK to go to throughout the summer there will be no shortage of Ultimate goings-on!

The weekend saw another top draw final between the GB world games squad and Jeremy Codhand. Unsurprisingly perhaps, GB won but JC put in a great fight with little seperating individual players in terms of disc skill with both teams bringing down there fair share of 50/50 discs. Another team that put in a top performance was the Principality of Sealand, not a name I'd heard before (apparently made up of Fusion West players) but they beat Chevron in their final game to jump massively from their original 14th seed position. Flump who performed awesomely in MT1 weren't able to hold their form with a combination of having lost a number of key players and coming up against some of the strongest teams in the country resulting in a distinct lack of wins. They will be seeded ~12 for nationals (MT3) and will hopefully be able to repeat their success of MT1. Other teams falling from their seeds included EMU and Bristol Plastic Factory with Thundering Herd and PoS moving upwards. Blue Arsed Flies played well all weekend proving that they belong amongst the top mixed teams in the UK.

Right now I can't imagine ever having played enough Ultimate and wanting to simply stop. Speaking to a number of people at the weekend however it became apparent that this can be the case. Reasons included injury, boredom, lack of success, work and family. Up until the age of ~26 a person is able to recover from a hard weekend of playing and bounce back from most injuries within a fairly short space of time. As we get older however the regenerative abilities of our bodies lessen meaning we ache and feel tired for longer after exercise. I think the bottom line for most players will be the point at which they no longer get the satisfaction and enjoyment out of the Ultimate they play that correlates to the effort and training they put in. Ultimate is far more than simply the physical exertions on the field however. A sense of community for example is one of the many things that makes Ultimate what it is. Belonging to a community can go a long way to negating those factors that lead a player to stopping. This means that playing Ultimate is something that can be enjoyed for years longer than most other sports. As a result, the friends and travels that come with playing Ultimate enable one to enjoy the sport far beyond what any level of success might wish to dictate, great news for the young and old alike...

Result Team

1   (=)     GB WG
2   (1)     Jeremy Codhand
3   (1)     Brighton 1
4   (1)     BAF 1
5   (9)     The Principality of Sealand
6   (=)     Chevron Mixed
7   (3)     Thundering Herd 1
8   (1)     Bristol Plastic Factory 1
9   (7)     Discuits Mixed
10  (2)     Don't Let Go
11  (7)     EMU
12  (4)     Flump
13  (4)     Leeds Loco
14  (3)     Ltd Release 1
15  (6)     High Altitude 1
16  (2)     Strange Blue
17  (5)     Catch Those
18  (5)     Flaming Galahs 1
19  (5)     BAF 2
20  (5)     Kent Mixed
21  (5)     The Brown
22  (2)     Thundering Herd 2
23  (2)     Brighton 2
24  (5)     ABH 1
25  (2)     Flash
26  (9)     Leamington Lemmings 1
27  (=)     Meat Pie
28  (=)     Oxford Ultimate
29  (5)     Devon
30  (2)     Curve
31  (2)     Ltd Release 2
32  (2)     Fugazees
33  (2)     ABH 2
34  (3)     Cottonopolis 1
35  (7)     Staffordshire Oatcakes
36  (2)     Cutty Sharks
37  (2)     Poke
38  (6)     Cottonopolis 2
39  (2)     Thundering Herd 3
40  (5)     Flaming Galahs 2
41  (8)     Sheffield Steal 1
42  (2)     Leamington Lemmings 2
43  (=)     DUFFA
44  (8)     Lucky Huckers