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Outdoor Regionals 2011

First Team Report

Day 1
It was 6am when I awoke in a daze to take a shower and eat breakfast. A traditional pre match exit pipe clean was required. As I began the excavation, operations were halted by Rondo’s text:

“Tournament Cancelled?”

Staring in disbelief I sprinted, as much as a man can sprint with trousers by his ankles, to the laptop to check my emails.
Thank you Alex G for the false alarm.
I pulled out the girlfriend’s umbrella and made the walk down to the Victoria Park Car park to meet my fellow Jesters. Today was Regionals and neither rain nor poo, everyone would be there on time.
After splitting off into vehicles and everyone gawping at the crab mobile complete with leather interior, heated seats and probably a bar, we set off for Birmingham!
Due to loud music, rowdy voices and ear splitting chants Alex G managed to get a speeding ticket.
Karma G.
Karma.

Day 1 Match 1: Fling II
11-3? We had arrived early due to some errors in time calculations and were very warm. This was our first match so we came out hard with man D to test the water. We had a sizeable height advantage and took the first 3 points with an interesting upside down chicken wing by Rondo. We threw out our traditional Jesters zone, 1 chase, 3 cup, 2 wings, 1 deep. This forced a lot of pressure on their handlers allowing us to pull away further. However as the cup became tired they managed to find some holes. The lack of wind allowed them to throw high release. Lil Chris responded to their points with a layout D, and with that we switched to man and finished the game off.
Day1 Match 2 Bears II 11-1? After our first flourish we came in strong again. Our cup zone put on some high pressure on their handlers causing many unforced errors proving that the training was worth it.
Day1 Match 3 Apocalyptic Cows 11-3? We didn’t know what to expect from these guys. We started out with man and after the first 4 points decided to test our cup zone. Cows thought that because Dani was small for a wing they could throw overheads all day. In response, she D’d everything that came to her. We managed to score the next 3 points but eventually their handlers started to adapt and our cup became sluggish. Due to the lack of wind high release backhand swings were aplenty causing trouble for the tired cup, especially due to the length of the point. Man was called after they scored and we took the next 3 points. An absolutely filthy Backhand Greatest was provided by Mr Joe Holden, delivered to an open mouthed cracker in the end zone.
Cows: A very high-spirited team who looked like they were having fun all the time. A very enjoyable game.
Day 1 Match 4 Strange Blue 8-9 This was the match we had been waiting for. If we won this, nationals division 2 was a minimum. Moreover this was the strongest team in our pool. They would be fast, fearless in throwing long and willing to layout. But so would we. Man was decided, as their handlers would have no problem throwing around our cup, especially with the lack of wind. After the first 3 matches in our pool, the worry was our level of play would have dropped. My fears were quelled by starting on O and scoring the first point by a nice long put. They were able to get free from their undercuts as we poached off deep due to fear of hucks from their competent handlers. They had a similar structure to ours, whereby an under would receive the disc and the handler would make a cut parallel to receive again. They demonstrated the ability to move the disc off the line even under high pressure and break when required. Laying out was what I wanted. Laying out was what I got. Huge D by both teams caused many turnovers in every point, but Cambridge managed to pull away to 6-3 and take the half. We were down by 3 points. Could we pull it back? Well in true Jesters fashion, it had to go down to the wire. There was no doubt in mind that we all had more to give, whether it was support on the sideline or putting 100% into every cut and force. We started on D this time round and boy did we D. A sweet layout by medic changed possession and inspired us all. We put the next 3 points away and levelled the score to 6-6. No matter how many times either team put it long, a member from each managed to get there and D, regardless of how high you had to jump or far to travel. From then on it was point for point with each team digging their heels in and refusing to let up. As the buzzer went, it was 8-8 with Strange Blue in Possession in the centre of the pitch near our endzone. They put away the last point and I was still happy to have taken part in what was the highest calibre of Ultimate Frisbee I had ever played in my 2 years. I was very proud of my team for fighting until the end.
Well-Played Strange Blue!

Day 2 After a lovely sleep in our own beds we awoke to a different set of pitches. With quite a steep gradient, teams going downhill would have a massive advantage. We now had to take the long way round in qualifying for div 2, with teams such as fling 1, UBU 1 and Haze standing in our way. We managed to employ new tactics, using Cock and Little Chris as our Chases in a 2-3-2 zone formation with Medic in the middle of two wings shutting down any cuts into his area.
Match 1 Dark Side 11-4? As it was our first match of the day we didn’t want our traditional Sunday morning blues to take over. We went in strong with man to take the first few points but decided to switch it up to a 2-3-2 zone. It proved handy in shutting down their handlers and forcing them to make short ground making passes or break the chases. However they managed to find a way through downhill and downwind. We tightened up our zone and finished the game.
Match 2 UBU 8-7 We knew this would be a tough game. In the past UBU have always given us a great game through determination and competitiveness. The slanted pitches really started to take their toll on both teams whenever O was required to throw or run up the gradient. There was a fair bit of travelling which was called out and helped to slow the pace down.
We started with man and traded point for point, with each team willing displaying the ability to call and debate fairly. To mix things up the 2-3-2 zone was again employed and forced their handlers onto the line several times. Our chases, cock and Chris were on it. They were not being broken and forced small distance gaining up the line passes or risky over the tops that could be cut out 50/50 by our wings. UBU kept calm and waited for the opportune moment to huck long up the line to take an uphill point. We dug even deeper and responded with 2 points in a row and a final point downhill after many out calls. Super Joe after sustaining an injury to his thigh/knee/leg was injured and could no longer play. Kudos to Greg for playing amazing D as a wing and Gethn for being a huge Deep.
Match 3 Haze 5-9? Alas we suffered from the Haze curse yet again. They came in stronger than us, taking the first few points with many a layout. Many a time they trapped our handlers at the bottom of the incline and with cutters getting fatigued they had to swing till the cows came home. Our main D consisted of 2-3-2 Zone up and down hill. They managed to break through using many homeboy passes and take the win comfortably.
Match 4 Fling 4-9? Our final match against fling was much the same as the previous 2 matches. We had lot of unlucky drops but some incredibly good handling. Coach Joseph Holden threw in a tip about swinging past the middle handler to avoid their poach. We pulled out the 2-3-2 zone again which managed to slow them down, but they found the gaps to take the half. Medics D was hot jumping higher than a giraffe to get some sweet grabbies. JJ managed to get a shoulder to the face from Rondo destroying his nose and leaving him in a daze, (a highlight of the match).

MVP: Little Chris
MIP:

J2hO at Regionals (Birmingham -19th/20th Feb. 2011)



Day 1
At the ridiculous time of 7am- a time which many of us may well not have seen yet this year- we gathered on a rainy Victoria park car park to begin the grand adventure. Cramming into G’s car, the revelation of Scion’s lady friend kept us entertained, along with possibly the worst sat-nav ever. Proceeding to restart every 500m, the ensuing panic as tech-savvy Sion struggled to get to grips with the complicated mechanics and Crackers, Pete and I shouted helpful information from the back led to the first incident of the day as a flash turned out not to be lightning.... After failing to find the fields first time round, a tour of the hospital eventually led to us following demons – they obviously knew where they were going. At the roundabout, their clear attempt to follow us showed that this was not in fact the case. The ground was eventually reached to discover three waterlogged pitches. After possibly the first proper warm up in J2 history we were into the game against OW2.
Game 1- OW2 With the rain still coming down, drops, slips and dodgy catches were the order of the day. The first couple of points went with the throw, the massive downhill slope proving difficult to overcome. Then the monster point at 2-2. It must have been 20 minutes, but eventually the crucial breakthrough was made and Jesters grabbed a 3-2 lead. After this, the tiredness showed as the 8 man oxford put up little resistance in the last 5 minutes, a 4-2 win well deserved.
Game 2 – Demons On a high after the initial win combined with recent Demons performances, we went into the Demons game believing in victory. After some simple homeboy play and a diving roll catch from unbreakable, we raced into a 2-0 lead. But Demons got their game together and game back strongly, taking 7 points in a row to ease to a 7-2 victory.
Game 3 – Bears 1 After a disappointing loss, we headed into the two games against the top seeds in the group expecting little. With Bears 1 regulars at nationals and rarely defeated, we set the aim of not getting bagelled. It started badly. From the warm-up, you could see that Bears were small, well drilled and quick, and the discipline showed as they raced to a 10-0 victory despite some solid Jesters resistance. With the cap at 11, it wasn’t looking good, so we reverted to a good old huck and D. The long game worked like a charm, squeeks’ huck finding a leaping Dr. Victory in the endzone. Celebrated like we’d qualified for nationals, the point didn’t cause a resurgence, Bears claiming the next point to win 11-1
Game 4 – UBU 1 And then onto UBU. We got what we expected – the backbiting, temper tantrums and dodgy calls; but no angry UBU girl. Having raced to an 8-0 lead, the psychological games began with accusations of inability to throw (possibly true, we weren’t playing brilliantly – soon reinforced by a drop before it was released). But with some dump and swing play we worked the disc up to the end zone and scored the point. Cue some calls resulting in the disc returning to the thrower, only for the same thing to happen. A lengthy discussion gave us the point, but it seemed a bit petty at 8 points up. The speedy play tore up our zone in the subsequent points and we lost 11-1.
Game 5 – Strange Blue 2 Having beaten OW2 earlier in the day, and with Strange Blue 2 our closest competition in the group, we could sense the chance to claim a high finishing spot and the chance to win the travel budget. This was a real nail biter. Continuation up the line lead to even trading of points, if anything us not being chilly near the endzone costing us dear, as it had done most of the day. With the hooter going at 5-5, it was sudden death for the win. Now, I can’t really remember this point, so I’ll go with it being a thrilling point including several turnovers and quite a few ooo’s and aaar’s. Anyway, Blue got the point and took the game 6-5. So having guaranteed a higher seed than where we started, we headed home in 19th place.

Sunday Another 7am start and trip to Birmingham with the exciting prospect of a rematch with Strange Blue 2 – we’d really enjoyed the last game and were up for a rematch. But the schedulers thought otherwise as they switched the matches up to avoid the rematch. And so we had to play Bears 2.
Bears 2 – Bears started warming up, so unlike any other J2, we actually did a warm up. This gave us some confidence going into the game, and we grabbed the first point. After a couple of even points, a few mistakes let Bears grab a few points despite some of the best continuation of the weekend – chilly at the endzone was not the order of the day. Bears ran up a 7-3 lead, which soon became 8-3 as a total mis-throw by Jeff gifted the shortest girl on the pitch a Callahan. The sound of the hooter meant game to nine, and as a relaxed Bears strolled to the line, we took the long slow walk to the downhill end-zone lacking any hope. Someone suggested trying a zone, and with nothing to lose we did. The interchanging chases of Sion, Kap and Selby with some great cupping by everyone else forced Bears back, and with some chilly handling from Pete, Hurricane and Squeek we grabbed a point with little celebration. 8-4. Zone again, point again, zone, point, zone, point. Our new found zone was working a charm, and Bears were lacking confidence. As we scored to level at 8-8, the tables had turned – it was Bears trudging head down to the other end. And so the final point, a good twenty minutes after we should have finished and with haze and fling watching from the side, the pull went up and the zone got into position. But it was not to be. Several turnovers swung the game from end to end, but eventually the huck went up from Bears and despite a desperate chase, no one could stop their 6ft5 guy from catching it, the simple pass to the endzone routinely dispatched. We were gutted, and the description by Bears as “the best come back not to win the game” didn’t help with the feeling we’d been robbed. This was probably the best game I’ve ever played in, I thought we were beaten but we picked it up and everyone in those last 6 or 7 points was playing so well, the cuts were quick and well timed and with no pressure the play was so chilled, I don’t think anyone just picked it up and threw it. 8-9 to Bears 2.
Apocalyptic Cows- After the Bears game, we needed the break, and with the hour and a half changeover we got to the other pitches in plenty of time. We were playing Cranfield on pitch 6, which it turned out was a mudbath. Someone described it as a “ploughed field” – and it was. Unlike Saturday, where slides went a good 10ft, here you couldn’t tell whether you would slide or just stop, in most cases it was just stop. The Cows were decent, but no better than us – careless play let them get a 4-1 lead before we pegged it back to 4-4. They had a couple of dangerous players – the guy in the cap could sprint quickly even in the mud; but the majority seemed to be newer to the game. We probably should have used our height to our advantage in this game; a couple of points were scored by Rup and Rainbow taking discs high against the shorter opposition. At some point Sion, ruffian that he is, took out the only girl on their team – she needed sideline treatment for an ankle injury. We kept letting them get away, and then pulling it back, and so it turned into 12-10 at the hooter. We got the next two to ensure another sudden death finish, but cows grabbed the key point. 12-13 Cows.
BUF - And so, after 3 sudden death games in a row, we came up against a BUF reduced in size (they had 8 players) due to illness. They’d been dropping seeds all day and looked tired. It was a good game on the same pitch. The mud and tiredness was slowing everyone down, with some cuts looking more like a gentle stroll as we tried to avoid turning an ankle. Points were traded throughout, a two point lead was quickly clawed back at one point. 7-5 to BUF at the buzzer, but we dragged it back to 7-7, only to lose 8-7 despite the best efforts of everyone on the pitch. Almost every point in this game for both sides came from a continuation up the away side of the pitch. So, having played 8 games, won one and lost 4 on sudden death, we finished 20th (still one above our initial seeding). The J2 spirit was maintained alongside improved play, and there was plenty of improvements: excellent continuation, supremely chilly handling and a great zone D. With the lyrics: “After a hurricane, comes a rainbow” Katy Perry’s Firework is the new J2 song
And so to the awards:
MVP: Hurricane
MIP: Rupert
Spirit: Squeek
With an average of 16.8 (out of 20) we won the Spirit prize. Thanks to: Squeek, Pete, Alex G, Denied, Selby, Unbreakable, Rupert, Rainbow, Sion, Kap, Sam Horrell. Jeff (Hurricane) P.S. Apologies for all inaccuracies, I tend to forget the specifics.


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