The Story: Club Mixed Indoor Nationals
Alrighty folks, this is the big one! Well... Big for me. See, Fly Hard never puts me on the first team; I’ve been told in the past it’s because of my spirit and my patience, so they need me to keep morale up on the second team, and to be ‘the experienced one’. With this, I’ve never been on a first team. I have also ever been to a Nationals tournament - despite the fact I’ve been playing for three years - because I’ve only just started picking up for teams, and I’ve never had the opportunity before. So you can only imagine my excitement, anxiety, and confusion when Reading Ultimate - who has the second best open Ultimate team in the country, and went to International outdoors last year - called me and asked me not only to play for them, but on the first team. Wow. I haven’t slept or eaten in the past 3 weeks, and it is all due to the lead up to this tournament. And here it is, followers: Club Mixed Indoor Nationals.
I went up to Reading a day early so that I could get some indoor training in with the university team, and then outdoor training with the people with whom I’d be competing over the weekend. Unfortunately anxiety got the better of me - as usual - and I was unable to participate in the latter. However, watching Reading Ultimate’s impeccable cuts and flawless discs was a real eye-opener to just how high a level I’d be playing over the weekend, and a way to help me realise how much I needed to step up my game for the occasion. The next night, we made our 3-hour car journey to Sheffield. Here, we would be staying in a Scout Hut, sprawled out on air mattresses, roll mats, and huddling into sleeping bags for warmth. There was a small kitchen, an office, and the toilets were outside in an outhouse. My frisbee experience is getting weirder and weirder. Anyway! We stayed up pretty late playing board games and card games, and then settled down to sleep.
Dan’s alarm woke everyone at 8am, though I was already awake due to the sun streaming through the window directly in front of us at dawn. I raced to get into my brand new kit - and the wonderful red shorts loaned to me by Mark - and shovel some cereal into my gob. Bags packed and adrenaline pumping, we jumped into the cars and headed over to Ponds Forge. Arriving and checking out all of the kits I had seen before, it only just clicked what Nationals really was: all of the teams Fly Hard could never beat at Regionals; all of the teams that were our hardest of the day normally, were every single one of our games for the next two days. Even though the team was seeded at 7th and was perfectly capable, I did not feel the same way. ‘Don’t panic’, was all I could think. ‘Don’t Panic, don’t panic, don’t panic...’
No time to panic anyway! The first game of Nationals was at 9.20 against Phat ‘Eds, who were the University of Sheffield team. They didn’t need to tell us in the call that they were dominantly made up of beginners; it was clear in the unsure cutting, the wobbly discs, and frequent drops. Nerves were definitely getting the better of them, but that didn’t slow us down. A bloody good warm up for the team, we were able to practice feeding those overheads into the iso, and getting that instant continuation to the end zone. Some strong defence play alongside some really spot-on discs, and the game ended 10-1. They only thing I remember of my personal game was dropping the first point in the whole game... No reason. I just fumbled and dropped and looked like a tit. Ugh.
Alas, Reading 1 met Chesham Kites on pitch an hour later. I recognised the team from Sicko, but none of the players; these guys were much better. Their girls were competent with the disc, and had some strong defence, so I struggled to put a lot of pressure on them. They utilised turn overs without any issues, and they forced us to work for every pass, let alone every point. Some silly decisions were made by Reading here; unnecessary showy throws, and overconfidence causing drops. A loss at 7-4 hit us in the face a little: we needed to step it up if we were going places, because that game definitely should have been ours. Particularly when they were seeded 23rd... Woops.
Now for our third game, and time to redeem ourselves: Black Sheep. I don’t wanna brag here, but I rocked this game. Like, I was a damn machine. Gunbie got me in a running iso with Bex or Tree, and Joe helped me to position myself in the end zone. With these slight changes and a bit more clarity on my movements, I was on it: 4 points scored by me, and at least one assist on top of that. Everyone was digging deep to make the positive play. We also threw a zone in to slow them down, which was reasonably effective; the mids kept the disc swinging a lot, and the deep definitely took out their overhead options on multiple occasions. Even on man, we were chasing down discs and putting on incredible pressure for tougher grabs. A win we needed at 11-2, and the confidence was back up.
Gotta Catch ‘Em All easily had the best kit at the tournament, with pixelated pokeballs and other graphics on them, and then instead of their names, names of their favourite Pokemons: genius. Anyways! They had some tight flow and read each other’s movements well, but they weren’t the best team there by any means. Having watched them already - and having had such a great game before - I was confident we’d take the win. They didn’t make it easy, though! The false sense of security put our guards down, and we kept letting in sneaky points at the last moment. We struggled to keep our defence tight enough - once again switching to zone later on - and let too many deep runs follow through. Even still, our discs were a little more accurate than theirs, and our iso play was almost undefeated. The score never had more than one or two points between once everything was in full swing, and everything remained intense throughout. However some amazing bids - from Bex in particular - took them by surprise, and by using that split second to pop the disc out again, it allowed us to pull away 7-5. Unhappy as we were at how tight the game was, we were relieved to have taken the victory.
Last but definitely not least were Dazed + Confused, seeded first. They were always on when we were off, so I’d watched all of their games that day, and was getting extremely nervous. I didn’t know which girl I was most terrified to man mark, how we’d break down a zone as tight as theirs, or how I’d outrun any of them when the time came. Despite my fears, our performance in this game gave them the shakes as well. Having come into the game a little too confident, we took the pitch by storm. Despite them starting stronger, we didn’t make it easy, and clawed our way back up on the scoreboard consistently. The zone definitely slowed us down a lot, but we worked through it multiple times; sometimes we fumbled by the end zone, and sometimes the efforts paid off. Either way, we weren’t completely trounced when we lost 9-5, and they definitely respected some of our play by the end of the game, despite dropping to 12th seed at the end of day one. For me, though - regardless of numbers and stats - to have kept up in a game that intense with such experienced players was a big deal, and I left on a high.
The set-up of the tournament meant we were done by lunch time, so we scrambled to get our stuff together just as the third and fourth pools were streaming in, and made our way to Wetherspoons for food and recaps of the day. Once our food had gone down, a trip to Primark for those who needed swimming costumes were in order... What, we weren’t going to go swimming for two hours after the tournament!? Psshh. All I can remember is Ben getting stuck in one of the foam rings, Gunbie trying to get his knees onto the foam board, Fidler and Ryan consistently trying to dunk people by going under water and pulling their feet from under them, and literally being thrown. Other than the funsies that took place, the water actually soothed a lot of budding injuries, and made for a shared calm demeanour.
Once dried and dressed, we drove back to the scout hall, where card games instantly resumed their power over the group. A group went to Tesco to buy an unholy amount of pasta and mince, and made a colossal amount of Bolognese in the teeny kitchen with the giant saucepans - which reminded me of old-school tin baths. I ended up having a kip through dinner because I was so shattered, but woke up in time to join the others in a card game introduced by Louisie, and then the longest game of Munchkin I will ever witness. The latter kept everyone up until about midnight, and then everyone threw their jimmers back on and settled down for another rough night on the floor. I didn’t sleep Saturday night, mainly due to what felt like oncoming pneumonia, but also anxiety about keeping my performance up for day 2. When the alarm sounded at 8am, I was so. Not. Ready. Alas, a repeat of the previous morning, plus the mission of cleaning the hall and packing up our things, we were on the road again.
Nerves were kicking back in, in time for the first game of the day, but I did my best to carry my confidence from my previous games onto the pitch with me, facing Flyght Club. Now, I’ve watched these guys win Iron Fives - one of the girls at Nats both handled and chased in the final of the former without ever slowing down, and I just wanted to bow at her feet - and had also seen them go far in other, smaller tournaments. They were intimidating both on and off pitch, and it was a bit of a harsh way to begin the day. Even still, I wasn’t the only one aware of their skill, so we went in fighting. Though having been in a tough pool the day before, they were a little over confident and came in a bit causal. Even still, the points flowed onto the board a bit too easily at the beginning whilst we were warming up. Their defence play only kept us at bay for a few moments before we got our courage together to work the iso, though. We made some silly decisions - which they cheered for, as if it was their good defence as opposed to our poor offence - and that made us a little shaky. Despite the drops, we built ourselves up and forced them to work for their points later in the game, and followed theirs up with our own. The buzzer went at 5-5, and we were on offence. Nerves kicked in, but our final five went in fighting. Three turnovers, over the top throws, and finger-tip drops later, Flyght Club pulled in that last point with a simple pop past a marker. Frustrating and horrifying, we lost. Ugh.
A painfully long wait for our game against Mustard, and we came striding onto the pitch with great confidence. Having watched them over the weekend, we thought we had the edge on them: not just because we had more experience, but because we knew a few of their traits by now. You know, this girl will catch anything, and this guy is super quick, sort of thing. Anyways, we weren’t quite as solid as we thought. They demonstrated some very tight flow, and trusted each other’s hands immensely. Beautiful grabs and generally accurate discs meant a constant intake of points onto the board. Our defence fought against them pretty hard, though: we let them get that under, and kept a tight force, and put a lot of pressure on the longer catches. Using those turn overs made all the difference for us, and we never let them get ahead of us, and ended up winning 8-6. Phew!
Yet again, we waited so long for our next game that I’m almost certain if I slept, I would’ve gotten a full REM cycle. Anyway, it was time for Mixeter - Exeter’s mixed team. Now, I have a little story about Exeter... Two years ago at my first ever tournament, I had serious anxiety issues. I hadn’t competed in a sporting event since I was 12, and had no idea what to do in such an intense environment. Exeter was seeded the highest in our pool, and was our first game of the day. Stepping on the pitch against them had me shaking and ready to vomit, but I had to do it; my team was counting on me to participate. The girl that was on me was a fan of front-marking, and was agile as heck. She stared me down and didn’t let me move more than a foot at a time. When the disc turned over, and I set off to follow her, I suddenly found myself unable to see, and my legs felt weighted. Yes, ladies and gents: I fainted. Except when I fell, I smacked my head on the floor, and woke up instantly. Whilst I was out, Exeter scored. I walked off the pitch and found my team mates laughing, thinking I’d just tripped myself up. Nope. Exeter made me so nervous, I decided to temporarily die to get out of playing. Seeing Exeter at Nats - and not only Exeter, but the girl who marked me - was terrifying. I finally caught them up and was playing on a team at their level, and I just wanted to redeem myself. And I - we - did.
I didn’t spend a lot of time on offence in this game - I mostly came on for the defence points, and then stayed at the back during the iso, letting Bex or Tree or Joe get the assist and score once we turned. Anyways, I felt okay about my defence game - I stayed super tight, and my men didn’t get the disc very often. When we switched to zone, I moved from chase to mid, and fell comfortably and effectively into that. They struggled to move through our defence play a lot, and ended up putting out a lot of shabby throws, usually going too far or catching the net on the sideline. Once again, we used our turns effectively and got some gorgeous points - a couple of beauties from Maura - and came out with a winning score of 8-5.
With that second win of the day in place, we were up for the plate, facing Shake Down for the spot. Another team I’d met at Iron Fives, I had a vague idea of their skill level, and knew that even though we were better, they would make us fight and work and beg for our points. I wasn’t wrong, readers! Unfortunately, I wasn’t very involved in this game, and I can’t really remember a lot of details. I recall some uncharacteristic drops from a few players, but I also remember some incredible interceptions, and some very quick turn overs from us. Tight D and good sideline communication slowed them down, but they eventually snuck past us for points every time. No one was pulling away, and both teams were crawling up the scoreboard very consistently. Despite how close and intense the game was, the spirit was great. In the end, we came down to another tie-breaker on the buzzer, and similarly to our game with Flyght Club, it was some silly decisions that kept turning over the disc for both teams. Unfortunately, Shake Down stayed true to form and got the disc past us one last time for that winning point, and took the plate with 8 points to our 7. A real blow for Reading, and a finishing seed of 13th.
Subway, Starbucks, the Avenue Q soundtrack, and a 4-hour drive later, we were back home in Reading. I can’t help but let my mind keep drifting to this experience, and I continue to reflect on performance. Of course, I don’t need to think about Reading’s performance too much: they were tight, intense, quick, and spirited consistently throughout the weekend, and I was incredibly proud to wear their kit. What I keep thinking back to is me: did I do everything I could? Like I said, the first two games on Saturday were overruled by nerves, but once I found my feet, I remained as strong as my team mates for the duration of the day, my confidence growing stronger and stronger. Sunday, though... Not great. I didn’t feel involved or important in our play, and my belief in my ability on offence was dwindling. My defence was fine - good, even - but it wasn’t enough to make me feel sufficient to be on those pitches. I’m hoping my next experience at Nationals will give me more consistent confidence and proof of skill, but we’ll see. Until then, I am in Reading’s debt for giving me such an amazing opportunity, and for including me in their Indoor fight. You guys are fab, and I do hope I get to share a line with you again one day.
Just in case anyone was interested, the following are Reading 2′s scores:
R2 3-7 Gotta Catch ‘Em All
