Strange Blue Tournament Report

Womens Tour 1

BLIIIIIIMEY, what a weekend! still on such a high, although rather tired too!

sb women came into the tourney seeded 11 out of 16 teams, not really knowing where we should be seeded. 16 womens teams!!!!!! fantastic.
here was the squad: anna, cynthia, hannah, patricia, dani, susanna, alex c-b, kelly and jen (sun only), and 4 norwich ladies - flo, nics, amanda, and becky

game 1 vs. gb juniors 2
first game, no idea what to expect, came out hard...until we realised these girls were half our age - no wait, MUCH less than half our age! they did manage to score one point on us, unfortunately, but it was a good chance for us to figure out our offense and try out our different defenses. was also a good chance to see who was comfortable playing where, as we had never played as a team before!!! details, details...final score: 15-1

game 2 vs the brown from newcastle
this was also a new team to womens ultimate, so again, we weren't sure what to expect. this was an upwind-downwind game all the way through and we scored most all of our upwinds!! we played some KILLER junk with susanna and dani doing some great chasing and me and nics and amanda making sure nothign went long. the brown couldn't do much with our killer d and we turned it on our side of the pitch every point. final score: 15-2

game 3 vs discuits
i had watched these guys play the brown earler on saturday and they were looking good. they have some solid players with lots of experience and they have played together as a team for the last two years. so this was going to be our toughest game - they were seeded top of our pool. we came out really firing on all cylindars. everyone was well-psyched up for this match and we took it to them. before they knew it we were 8-1 up at the half!!! and they never scored again. i'd also like to say thanks to ryan for having so much faith in my playing that he went negative for me in fantasy and won by miles!!!! ;) final score: 15-1

so we finished day one with 4 points scored against us!!!!!!! not a bad result for our first appearance!

sunday...
quarterfinals vs limited release (southampton)
this was our chance to bust into the top 8 - our only chance, in fact! we needed to step it up even another notch from our discuits game the day before, and we managed it! we were a bit sleepy at first and they scored a couple and we scored a couple. it was close throughout. the game was capped i think at 12-7 (us), game to 14 and at 13-7 we had the longest point in the history of ultimate, i am sure. we had the disc within 20 m of the endzone about 10 different times to score and were just too keen to score ;) but we managed finally, and took the game 14-7. TOP EIGHT, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!

semis against swift (scotland)
these girls have been in the tour for the last few years and have been playing together for ages. they had lost to the finalists by 2 and the semifinalists in sudden death, so they were out for revenge. they deserved to be in the semis and they played like they were in the final against us. we coped well through the downpouring rain and wind, but clearly have a ways to go before we catch up to that tier of ultimate. we did put 5 points on the board which is FANTASTIC!!!! i think the main thing we learned is that we justneed to play together more to get the link-ups. we have the throws and the catches and the d's but we need to connections that these other teams have that have been playing for longer. so back to jesus green for more womens training! final score: 15-5 (bad guys)

finals for 7th place vs mu (midlands ultimate)
these guys have a fantastic side with five gb women. it was a very fun well spirited game to end on. there were hucks from both sides, layout catches from jen, some great run-through d's by dani, and just good solid play from everyone on both sides. we were down probably 8-4 at half and then all of a sudden it was 14-8 i think game to 15. we brought it back to 14-12 before they scored teh winnign point. final score 15-12 (bad guys).

we then proceeded to have an emotional end of tourney huddle (sorry about that!) where i tried to express how impressed i was with everyone's playing and how psyched i was that we had a womens team out. it was all a bit much for me though and kelly had to finish thigns up for me ;) thanks again everyone, i had a WIKKID time playing with you and i can't wait for more of it at tour 2.

so SB women finished EIGHTH at their first tour EVER!!!! AND WE TOOK SPIRIT!!!!! no one was there to collect it so i've asked if we can collect it at tour 2. yay!!

cool, see you all sooon! well done everyone and thanks to the boys for the heckling ;) x