LeedsLeedsLeeds Ultimate Frisbee Club (LUFC)

Post date: 18 May 2009

Intended to be a chance for our young guns to experience some European Ultimate, we ended up giving more of an opportunity to friends of LeedsLeedsLeeds to enjoy some Belgian hospitality, bringing Dave G back into the squad, welcoming Kenny to get some pitch time while his girlfriend won the women's title, and being joined by some Vision rivals by virtue of a long-standing friendly rivalry.

Perhaps this mishmash squad - talented as all individuals were - could be blamed for our patchy performances, and particularly the slow starts. Sadly, the format of the tournament meant that, having gone behind, there was little opportunity to make up the gap, and it was easier to sit on a lead once established. No excuses, however: having lost early on to the incredibly rangy Dji Sam Soe, we failed to make a later chance at revenge count, so both losses were probably deserved.
Our second game, against Fruehsport 0.2 (the worst team name in Ultimate, according to the Hawaii committee back in 2002) was a reminder both of what we were capable of, and why European ultimate can be so frustrating. After a horrendous foul call - that one of his teammates disagreed with, but said nothing, and his captain refused to comment on - we got ourselves fired up & took a lead, only for the Germans to play very displined ultimate and refuse to match us in an enjoyable, high risk huck fest. Despite these two losses, we beat Cambo cakes & Freez Beeez easily to earn ourselves a shot at the innovative 'challenge' game, at which point tired legs against the competent Friselis meant we were consistently trailing by just enough to make it easy for them. Hence, the next day's matchup against another French team, Iznogood, had a little more incentive, and frankly we destroyed them.

Whilst disappointed that we couldn't get our full squad out, the journey home on the train gave us plenty of time to lick our wounds & plan a much stronger invasion of Europe next time around.