Team List:

Anthony, Cookie, Nick V, Frosty, Kevin, Mike S, Mike G, Jen, Andy, Ian, Nick B, Jamie, Derek (Sun only)

Final Placing:

7th out of 32 in the B Tour.

MVP: Kevin

Yes that’s right ABH’s highest placing ever by a fair margin. How did it happen?

Friday: The first key factor was our Friday night viewing of top UPA action on the Above and Beyond DVD at Nick B’s parents very lovely abode. No doubt watching such top stars in action inspired us all! We certainly learnt a lot about tactical fouling, but fortunately managed not to put this into action. I discovered whom ABH's top snorers are and sought refuge in the kitchen for a good night’s sleep!

Saturday Cookie and I arrived for the Captain’s meeting and discovered the sun does indeed shine in Bristol on occasions. Our first game was not until 10.30, which proved very fortunate, as we’d forgotten Michael!! Poor Michael was left in the house after Nick B had locked up and set the alarm. Michael then set the alarm off. All this proves being over 6 foot doesn’t make you that conspicuous!

First game was against Schnell. Following a long Albatross/ABH tradition we truly sucked in our first game and were beaten 8-4. On top of this Nick V aggravated his hamstring injury and couldn’t play on. A drastic rethink was needed and then Kevin came up with a plan. The Brownie.

I can’t be bothered trying to explain it, but you’ll know about this zone soon enough as it proved to be our wonder D. It pays real testament to the team that we learnt it just before our 2nd game, but still managed to put it into action pretty damn effectively.

Finally we lived up to our name and tore apart the next two teams. We beat Aye Aye 10 – 2 and Beefy’s team Motion 11 – 2. They both found it almost impossible to break our zone. This combined with some really fluid O and some great hucks and, ok lets be honest some lucky hucks, meant our opposition just couldn’t get into the game. We were a different team to the one that lost to Schnell.

Three teams in our pool were tied on 2 wins each after Aye Aye pulled off a narrow victory over Schnell. Our superior point difference though meant that we topped the group and went straight into the top 16 of the B tour without having to play a crossover. The downside to this was that we had an 8 am game on Sunday morning. This was going to be the biggest game of the day, as it would decide if we went top 8.

Saturday night we celebrated our great day by finding possibly the worst curry house in Bristol, but hey it could seat 10 people and they did provide cutlery the second time that you asked! We decided to skip the party, although certain ‘members’ of our party were a little disappointed by this.

Sunday: after a near toilet paper crisis and several pledges never to eat curry on tour again we made it to the pitch with 20 minutes to spare. We even managed an end zone drill. Our opponents were Lucky Huckers. We made a great start taking a 3-0 lead. They fought back to 3-3 and then took the lead. They struggle against our zone particularly as the wind picked up and tried to pull a zone on us. But patient handling and some good popping allowed us to score an upwind point. They abandoned their zone. In the cap we got to 6-5 up with a game to 7. The next point had lots of turnovers and we had several opportunities to score but couldn’t quite complete. They scored to take it to sudden death. The next point decided who would go into the top 8. We made it a short one, a break pass and a huck for the score. Not only had we made it to the top 16, but to the top 8.

How would we fair against the big guns of the B tour? Timely reinforcements had arrived in the form of Derek. We played the number 2 seeds next UTB. After going 3 –0 down I started to feel maybe we’d bitten off more than we could chew, but after a timeout, we came back at them and got to 3 – 3. This took UTB a little by surprise and they were overheard saying ‘We need to take these guys seriously’! We traded points for a while, but their solid handling skills meant they coped with our zone much better than our previous opponents, and despite some great D from Kevin and Frosty they still managed to edge ahead and eventually win 9-6. But hey we gave them a scare.

The next game was against Discuits to try and move up to 5th place. Another really close game. We fought really hard and played some great O but they pipped us 11 – 9. But despite losing these two games they were very enjoyable. We were playing the big boys and looking like we should be there!

The last game was for 7th/8th place and was against Schnell again. They were down to one sub and were shattered. They made it very clear at the start they weren’t really up for competing. They pissed about a bit, but did manage to score a few. We were never in danger of losing and I think we won it 11 - 5.

Overall it was a really fantastic team performance and I echo Andy’s sentiments. If anyone player hadn’t been there I’m not sure we would have done quite so well. But who was the MVP. Well fairly unanimously, based on the responses I received, it was Kevin. And for far more than just introducing us to the Brownie! Great D, great O and great spirit. Here’s hoping you’ll turn out for us again.

Another real plus was the support within the team. There was no arguing amongst the team or finger pointing. There was just a great spirit, which really made this weekend some of the most enjoyable ultimate I’ve ever played. (OK and winning lots of games helped too).

So a great start to the season, lots to look forward too. I’m sure we can only get better. Thanks to everyone that played and made it such a fun weekend. Oh and of course a special Thanks to Nick B for putting up nearly the whole team.

(P.S. Tour reports will be a lot shorter once I’m back at work!)