This weekend, four FE players (Robbert, Ravi, Lutz and Hildo) travelled all the way to Gent (Belgium) to play with the rest of the Dutch National Mixed Team at the amazing GSpot tournament. This amazing 20-team mixed tournament is known for its great organization, excellent food, high-quality artificial grass pitches and amazing weather. And indeed, all these qualities were once more present this year.
The tournament started off with a Swiss Draw round of three matches. Our first game was against the Spanish Quijotes. It was a nice and easy introductory match and we took an easy 13-6 victory, though with some more effort, this victory could (and perhaps should) have been bigger. Next up was Ah Ouh Puc from Paris. This game started off even, but during the mid part of the match we slacked off. The Parisians scored 4 points in a row. We then got our game back together, but we couldn't close the gap. This resulted in a 10-7 loss. Then (due to a not-so-clever Swiss Draw set-up of the organization) we had to face the French National Mixed Team. This would prove to be a very tough match. If you would ignore the part where the French people (with their quite unspirited play) scored 9 points in a row, we actually won the match 5-4. But yeah, in reality we lost 5-13.
This loss left us in the 14th spot of the overal ranking, which is something we weren't satisfied with. However, in the upcoming quarters-semis-finals system we could climb up to the 9th spot. If we did well, that is. The quarter final (for the ninth spot) was against the Rusty Bikes from Amsterdam. Although they played well, we finally got the ferocity up and running within the team. There were some great defensive plays and amazing offensive combinations, resulting in a good victory. The next morning (after a great dinner and a bit of a smoky party) we had to play Ah Ouh Puc again. This time though, we weren't so eager to slack off. Instead, most of us had gone to bed early, so we were wide awake. With really nice plays and solid combinations, we managed to secure a relatively easy 13-6 victory. This ensured us a top 10 spot! However, we still wanted to go for place 9. The last match was against Fruhsport (Fruh Mixed), who were known for their very tight defense. This caused us to make quite a couple of turnovers, and since Fruhsport didn't follow suit, they got a bit of an easy victory there. So, 10th spot it was.
All in all it was a great tournament, in which the whole National Team got to know each other well and showed tremendous improvements. Still, as the last match showed, there is still a lot more to be improved. Luckily, the World Cup is still 7 weeks away, leaving us quite some more time to become awesome. And of course, we'll keep all of you devoted fans (it's OK to roll your eyes here) fully up to date on the progress.
FE1 was in the second division and FE2 in the sixth division, but both teams were eager for promotion. But would they be able to accomplish this? That was the big question of this third competition day.
FE2 had a very strong start against BFrisbee2s 2. Despite having only 9 players, they managed to take half-time with a staggering 8-3 lead. Keeping up the high level of play, they continued to dominate the match, winning it with a 14-5 score. Next up was the underdog WAF 2. This again resulted in a 14-5 victory, though with some more effort the score difference could've been bigger. The tiredness started to kick in and risky passes were the result. The final match for promotion would be against Crunch 4. FE2 started off strong again, but in the end, the lack of sufficient substitutes became a dominant factor. Tiredness resulted in sloppiness, which resulted in Crunch 4 taking the game with a 10-5 score. Too bad! However, next time, with one or two extra players, promotion will be within reach for FE2.
FE1 was off to a bit of a bad start, with 3 players getting lost somewhere in Enschede. Because of it, the game against DDT started a bit chaotic. Instead of putting up the pressure and taking the lead, FE1 simply traded points with DDT. Eventually, this resulted in a universe point, in which FE1 had ample opportunity to score, but failed to do so due to a lot of quick risky Spanish knife-like throws into the endzone. DDT snatched the victory away. Next up was UFO 1 - also a tough team. This time FE1 started hard, took a 7-5 lead and almost managed to take half-time as well. However, due to some illnesses and injuries of players, there was a shortage of subs and tiredness kicked in again. UFO 1 had plenty of subs, so they steamrolled over FE1 and took the 8-10 victory. Too bad! The last game of the day was against BFrisbee2s 1, which had less subs than FE1, so this was an easy 15-6 victory for FE1. Still, with one or two more subs, promotion would've again been within reach.
All in all it was an exciting day for FE, and there are definitely high hopes for the next competition day on June 10th, when the number of players is a bit higher for both teams.
The City League has kicked off to a lightning start! A group of ten enthusiasts joined us in the sunny weather for a crash course on what Ultimate is all about. After the four basic rules of Ultimate were explained, we continued practicing the four basic skills required to play Ultimate. In the match at the end, some amazing progress was shown: great throws and catches, splendid offensive and defensive actions and above all an awesome spirit. Next week we'll see day two of the City League!