Blogs

By Murray Alexander

Last weekend a team of battle-hardened veterans and fresh-faced rising stars descended upon Aberdeen Sports Village, assuming the role of plucky underdogs with the sole intention of ruffling a few feathers and stealing a little attention now and then from their more celebrated associates. Disclaimer: Match scores may not be correct (or even specifically mentioned) but everything here happened exactly as this account says.

The fight began with a bleary-eyed match against Blaze in which I remember very little of what happened. I'm not sure it even did. It's possible that we were brainwashed and just told that we were beaten, no witnesses exist of this match. Either way, the weekend began with a "loss".

Next to be put to the sword were the old enemy Ro Sham Bo. Despite a valiant effort, Ro Sham broke our sword. However, a moral (much preferable to an actual) victory was claimed as FF2 fought hard and disrupted the play of RSB, forcing several turnovers and managing to get the disc moving better than in the "match" against Blaze and were unlucky not to register some points in an admirable performance against the eventual champions.

The following match contained the first points of the weekend for FF2 in a very tight match with Mojo 2. FF2 took a lead of a couple of points as we began to get into gear and get things moving in a strong start. Mojo 2 fought back to tie the score and in the end the game was won 5-4 after Martha cut expertly in the endzone into an incoming blade and caught the disc, with her tiptoes just inside the endzone. First win of the weekend ground out.

Sadly it was to prove to be the only victory of the day as losses to Flatball, Shooting Stars 2 and another tight game, this time against Mojo 3, followed as superior ability at being tall was exploited by the opposition and try as we might we just couldn't grow a couple inches in between games.

Sunday started early for some with a tough match against Shooting Stars. In Farflung tradition we started slowly against a motivated Stars team and were beaten by a few but there was a clear indication of a better day ahead as the disc zipped from flunger to flinger despite by this point many members being held together only by sticky tape and bits of string.

The upwards curve began against RSB3 when the offence really clicked for the first time as the handlers effortlessly moved the disc around the pitch and everyone stretched their legs to use the entire length of the pitch in a comfortable win that set up FF2 for a good run of wins.

FF2 were pitted against Blaze in a grudge match akin to Frazier v Ali post-racial antagonism. Two teams well-fired up took to the pitch and a very hard game was fought where FF2 produced their most perfect performance of the weekend. Incredibly patient offence combined with a hard-working defence created the basis for a brilliant win. This match also witnessed an incredible ubergrab by Marou as she soared through the air stretching her arm out like Michael Jordan in Space Jam to prevent a turnover. Trading points throughout the match as the team ran and ran and ran until the whistle with the score tied at 6-6. With FF2 starting on O, Blaze managed to get the turnover but the team never stopped working and a pile of players forced a turnover on the edge of FF2's enzone and then quickly moved the disc up the pitch to get the winning score with Martin working himself some space and calmly waiting the half hour the disc was in the air and catching to win the game (giving further credence to the idea that the Blaze "loss" never happened...).

A dominant performance in the Plate semi against Flatball 2 led to a convincing win as FF2 kept up the level of the previous performance, giving FB2 nothing to work with and clinically putting away opportunities off the back of repeated turnovers. Patient offence was once again the weapon and FF2 proceeded to the Plate Final and playoff for the last spot at Division 2 Nationals against local rivals Dark Horses.

Sadly, it proved to be a match too far at the end of what was a very long weekend as FF2 fell prey to a well-worked long game by Horses though they never stopped working throughout the match. A bum note to end on but it failed to take the shine off an amazing second day in which everybody gave everything they had to contribute to one of my favourite days of Ultimate that I've been involved in.

Webb-style 2nd Team highlights:

Anja - Calmness personified. Never rushed and used her impressive throwing ability to get things going on O and her experience proved invaluable throughout the weekend
Greg - Showed a lot of versatility in his game, playing as a handler and a cutter. Threw some perfectly weighted backhands into space to create scoring opportunities
Hadassah - Despite an ankle injury, ran all weekend and constantly got free. Showed intelligent cutting to help the offence get into gear and get the points on the board.
Nigel - Like Anja, was ice-cold on offence. Also put in an impressive performance on D despite only having the use of one arm for the majority of Sunday.
Martha - Contributed incredibly important endzone play and showed trademark tenacity on defence, battering the disc to the ground when it came near. Made the funniest "double-team" call of all-time.
Martin - A black and yellow blur. Stretched the pitch with his pace, dragging his marker around and creating space for others. Was dominant on D on Sunday.
Marou - Always seemed to find the final pass around the endzone and always was in space when needed, helping the team work the disc up the pitch with lots of 1-2s. Showed important confidence around the endzone.

By Shaun Webb (coach)

Great weekend everyone, well played. I was asked to write a report so here goes:

Last weekend Far Flung traveled to Aberdeen to take on the best Scottish teams with the aim of qualifying for the UK university indoor mixed national championships. Saturday started well for the first team, bageling St Andrews second team 10-0. After a few turnovers in the first point the team soon settled in to the smooth offensive style we see every Wednesday night and individually we were too good to let Flatball 2 put in a point. The second game against Dark Horses had been earmarked as a potential slip up and the first real test of the day. However, the game was eventually abandoned after an endzone collision resulted in a broken neck with Far Flung 1-0 up. After the ambulance had given the all clear it was agreed to replay the game at the end of the day. Next up were Dundee, one of the pre-tournament favourites to qualify. Once again we produced clinical offense with very few turnovers against man and zone offense. It was our own defense that got us the early breaks and we constantly forced Shooting Stars to throw away by putting on good forces and staying close to our marks. We went 3 up early in the game then traded points to win 7-4. This was the first big victory of the day and we followed it up by routinely dispatching Ro Sham Bo 2 (9-4) and Ro Sham Bo 3 (7-1) and the news started to spread that Far Flung were serious contenders, some people were actually scared. We had used the Ro Sham Bo games to sharpen our offense and use the large pitch more efficiently. Mojo 1 posed a different challenge, playing a well drilled zone that had worked against every other team in the group. A win here would launch Far Flung from 5th seeds at the start of the day up to the top spot. We spent a little time talking about how to adapt our offense and the results were evident from the start. Through a combination of short sharp passes through the zone, well timed discs over the top, cutters occupying free space and some very patient endzone play, we were able to score every time we took possession. Girls put on a lot of pressure on the force and boys took everything down in the air, limiting Aberdeen to only 2 points. The game finished 7-2. The final game was the replay of the Strathclyde game, with the team full of confidence we came out strong from the start and scored a lot of points in only a 15 minute game, 9-2 Far Flung and top seeds at the end of day 1!

Far Flung 2 suffered converse fortunes opening up with 2 heavy defeats to Stirling and Edinburghs first teams. Despite the score lines FF put in a brave performance against Ro Sham Bo, the reigning champs. They managed to force turnovers on just about every point, Murry in particular made sure he bled with some good poach D on the Iso. However, they found it hard to get to grips with the large pitch and struggled to get the disc moving. In the next match they concentrated on giving themselves more room to cut in to and get the first pass away. They managed to put the points away and edged out a crucial win against Mojo 2 (5-4). Other tough games followed Flatball (9-1), Shooting Stars (8-3) and FF2 were unlucky not to claim another win against Mojo 3, losing out by 1 in the end.

Saturday nights entertainment included laughing at fat people on Total Wipeout, 15-inch pizzas, wearing trainers and showing up at the party to let everyone else know who the number 1 team were.

Saturdays heroics earned the first team a long lie in. Meanwhile the second team were up early to battle it out in the crossovers. After a good nights rest the team looked transformed and put in a big performance against Dundee 1. Anja and Nigel kept the disc moving at the back and Greg and Martha were constantly available for first cuts. We stopped throwing the disc through the middle of the pitch and used the long option to good effect. Dundee defended well in the endzone and constantly thwarted Far Flungs final attack, Dundee win 10-2. The second game of the day pitted FF2 up against RSB3 in the knockout stages. Far Flung had now found a style of play that worked for them with Martin showing his athletic prowess cutting the length of the pitch to intercept stray passes and Hadassah racking up points in the endzone (10 -2 win!).  The first team showed up some time in the afternoon for another showdown with Dark Horses in the quarter finals. It was a typical scrappy game to begin Sundays play, Strathclyde showed a lot more fight after winning their early crossover and always looked likely of pulling off a shock win. In the end we were able to shut down the Horses long game by leaving a man deep to eat up any high discs. Far Flung pulled away towards the end and took the game 6-3 to make the semi finals. This match was immediately followed by FF2s semi final against the Stirling 1st team and the team kept on getting better. This was one of the most exciting games all weekend. Far Flung took an early two point lead and no matter how hard Stirling fought back team fling always found the pass to stay 1 point up. Marou kept the team in it with a huge layout and a great scoring pass to Martin as he left his marker behind. Far Flung took the lead with 30 seconds to go and held out for the win. We carried momentum in to the next game and looked unstoppable aginst the Flatball second team, destroying them 7-2 to earn a final game against Dark Horses with the plate and a place at Division 2 Nationals the stake.

Far Flung 1 went in to the semi final one win away from Division 1 qualification. So far they had been convincing victors but St Andrews had already proved they were a step above after narrowly losing to RSB1 in an epic game the previous day. It was time to bring out the big plays and the team looked fired up from the start. We took an early lead and never looked back, offensive was smooth and controlled, defense was thriving on adrenalin and the crowd were constantly entertained by some epic 1 on 1 battles going on all over the pitch. We took the game convincingly (9-6), qualified for Nationals and showed the crowd why we were still the team to beat.

Far Fung 2 had a final game against Strathclyde who had battled hard all weekend with an injury hit small squad. Horses were one battle too far and got their game together to win 7-2. Nevertheless, Far Flung showed they could compete against first teams and wound up the weekend in 9th place. An incredible performance and result and the team showed a lot of spirit to improve all weekend. They may still have a chance to compete at National level after finishing in one of the reserve places.

After a hot chocolate and a dancing warmup in the Sky Studio Far Flung were keen to take home some silverware. However, we started the game looking sluggish  and the old nemesis, Ro Sham Bo, were able to capitalise on our slow start, racking up a 4-1 lead.  They played a more intense, closed defense, that we were yet to come across. We managed to get it together, got a few turnovers and put in some points. Just when it looked as if we could claw our way back, Ro Sham grabbed a calahan score and stole the momentum. Ro Sham Bo went on to take the title 8-4. For Far Flung the tournament was a massive success, qualifying for Nationals and many players competing in their first final. The final match has shown us exactly what we need to do to step up and win Nationals in one month time!

1st team highlights:

Joe - Joe led the team from the front line, managed to shutdown both of Flatball and Ro Shams main endzone players with some huge grabs and layout Ds and apparently threw one amazing disc.
Niamh - MVP of the final as she constantly got free and made passes to keep us in the game. I heard several people comment "Niamh is ridiculous" over the weekend
Ben - Shone in the Sunday games with tremendous energy, great feet and a sweet winning pass to Aoife in the semi final
Amata - Did such a good job as a deep player that she complained about being bored. Caught everything, shut down opposition cuts and filled in with some patient handling when required.
Shona - Smartest player on the pitch for much of the weekend. Constantly in the right areas and found space to score crucial points.
Doug - Very few turnovers all weekend (2?) , got a superb poach layout D vs flatball, killed a man.
Aoife - Made crucial cuts, catches and throws playing hugely reliable offense. Added a handful of blocks by working hard and getting in the right positions.
Chris - played a lot of D points shutting his man down on in cuts. Made throws look easy and picked up assists from all over the pitch. His inspired chat kept morale high. Probably the  fastest player on the team...

Great Weekend!
Keep it up.

The Glasgow Guardian has written an article about us...

"I have to admit my sporting knowledge of Frisbee amounted to memories of playing it during lazy summers in Kelvingrove Park and on California’s sandy beaches. But guzzling cold beers, and avoiding tenacious dogs while doing so, didn’t exactly take a lot of exertion. So I was slightly cynical about the “sport” of Ultimate Frisbee as I joined the Ultimate team, (dropping the frisbee element as there are issues over copyright), at one of their weekly training sessions in the Kelvin Hall."

Read the full article here.

By Niamh Delaney (captain)

Hi Far Flung.

As many of you will have heard, the Far Flung ladies had a bit of an exciting weekend competing at women's nationals in Loughborough. I don't normally do write-ups, but I thought this tournament merited one...

Saturday's play was in peer-pools but still we had one ridiculous walkover - beating Sublisco something like 14-1. Against Pies, Bears and Ro Sham Bo we came out a little tentative, generally trading to about three and then pulling away to win by 4 or 5 once we'd figured them out. At the end of the day we threw a game to Chichester; tiredness getting the better of us. We let them get a few points up on us and weren't really able to find the fight to pull it back. A disappointing way to end the day but valuable lessons were learnt. Luckily they had lost two of their earlier games (to Ro Sham and Bears) so we still topped the group to take first seed at the end of play on Saturday.

First game on Sunday was against Strange Blue and basically followed the same pattern as the bulk of our Saturday games. We came out a little shaky and took a few points to work them out, but won by about 5 in the end I think. On the pitch next to us Flatball, who had started the day as second seeds, lost in a sudden death battle with Chichester. They went on to win an easy second crossover meaning that we had a two hour wait before taking on our old rivals in a 1vs8 quarter final match.

Flatball have a habit of beating us in the games that matter and, with this looming large in my mind, I don't think I've ever been so nervous for a game in my life. A standard mosh warm-up combined with our by now customary obnoxious cheer ensured that such adrenaline was chanelled in exactly the right direction. We came out as hard as we knew we had to, going up by three early on. They pulled it back a little before we pulled away again with another three point run. After that, I think it was beyond doubt. We won 8-4, beating them through hard and smart D. We retained first seed, knocking FB out of the top four.

In the next game the only other Scottish team left in the top four, RSB, chumped it to Bears (a team they had beaten decisively the day before). And so we were left to carry the flag, but we were also now champions of Scotland (in my mind anyway).

Our semi-final was against Urielle. Reminiscent of the Chichester game, we found it hard to get into our groove and went down by two despite starting on O. To our credit, we fought back. On the buzzer we were tied at fives - sudden death time. On a stall of seven their main handler put up a speculative, loopy disc. It got caught. In the endzone. No final for Far Flung. Heart-break.

But we rallied. Our 3-4 final was against Bears again. We never let them have a look-in, taking out all of the resentment of the previous defeat. Much like the Mojo game at regionals, we relaxed and had fun and the result was some spectacularly good ultimate. I believe we went 8 points up before they even scored one. Final score 10-3. A nice way to finish the tournament and, according to Aoife, to end an era.

And so Far Flung finished 3rd, which is the highest we've ever come at women's nationals. Leaving Glasgow on Friday night, I would never have anticipated us finishing so highly. Leaving Loughborough on Sunday, I couldn't help but feel a bit gutted we never got to play that final.

But lets not let that take away from what was an outstanding display by the Far Flung ladies. Probably unsurprisingly two of the highlights of the weekend were beating Ro Sham and beating Flatball, not only because of the Scottish connection but also because they are brilliant competitors. They pushed us to play our best and we rose to the challenge like never before. In both games we used what we had learnt from playing them at regionals to demolish their flow on O - getting turnovers time and time again, capitalising on the more speculative aspects of their play. On O we played the calmest I've ever seen us play (especially against Ro Sham, working it around with incredible composure, waiting for 100% passes). We trusted one another and in these games we fulfilled the potential this team has had in us for years now. We finally showed that we are the best team in Scotland and that felt very, very good.

My sincerest thanks to all of the girls who came along this weekend. Special mention to Sally for driving and to Shona for organising the minibus. Huge thanks also to Tex, who's motivational expertise helped us overcome many of the crises of confidence that have so often hindered us in the past. Final mention goes to Karolina, who had a tough task joining the team at such a late date yet played as if she had been a member of the team all along. She never made a mistake on D and got us out of more than one tricky situation on O through well-timed cuts. She showed that it may be the end of one era, but a new one has just begun. Who wants in?

Finally, I have to mention Phil. I don't think people realise how important Phil is to the success of the women's team - we definitely could not have done it without him.

Now to the mixed season...

Niamh

Hey guys,

Hope you all had a great summer and are eager to get off to a flying start to the new season.

First of all I would like to say welcome to any freshers that have joined and well done for signing up so quickly.

A quick overview of training this week is:

Wednesday 23rd Sept, Kelvin Hall, 7-9pm, all welcome
Friday 25th Sept, Kelvin Hall, 6-9pm, all welcome

All this information can also be found on our calender via our awesome website, created by Phil Chan, which is guultimate.com .

After trainings there will be a social gathering, most probably at PJ Champs on Byres Road. This is a great opportunity for freshers and experienced players to get to know each other off the pitch. If any freshers don't know where that is then here is a google maps link, otherwise just follow the experienced players. For more information ask Aoife at training or via email. Also if anyone has any questions regarding trainings etc then please feel free to email me:

elastoman [at] hotmail.com

See everyone on Wednesday. :)

Cheers,
Ben (Club Captain)