UWE Ultimate Frisbee sent a mixed team over to Rimini in Italy to play university teams from around Britain in a beach tournament.
Back: Chris Deegan, Emily Kirk, Peter Rowlandson, Joe Friend, Ben Meredith, Ryan Fido
Middle: Charlie Hogg, Nicola Chivers, Tom Crocker
Front: Dave Pope, Oli Trafford (C).
On April 8th, UWE Ultimate Frisbee sent a mixed team over to Rimini in Italy to play university teams from around Britain in a beach tournament. Despite a thirty hour coach journey and some extensive partying beforehand, the team consisted mainly of inexperienced freshers which exceeded expectations. After coming second in the group stage, the team cruised through the quarter-final and semi-final games, stunning teams with fast movement and accurate throwing.
In the final they faced St Mary’s, the team which beat them previously in the group stages and it looked like the final would end the same way with St Mary’s taking a 4-2 lead in to the final 5 minutes. However, a monumental effort featuring some spectacular diving catches and solid defence from everyone brought the game back to 4-4 with a minute left. A quick turnover gave UWE the disc with 30 seconds to go, and some calm and quick passing led to Ryan Fido (the team’s youngest prospect) scoring a last second winner, handing UWE the Trophy.
Ultimate Frisbee is a game which prides itself on good sportsmanship and spirit hence, the most spirited team (voted by the other teams) is awarded a trophy at each tournament. Following a tremendous effort from the team to be fair and friendly throughout the tournament, UWE was voted top in this category and awarded the trophy, much to the surprise of the team, whose all action playing style often leads to contact fouls.
The success achieved in Italy rounded off a highly successful year for UWE Ultimate Frisbee and added to our ever-growing trophy collection. Following this year’s unbeaten BUCS league season and promotion, we venture into the highest BUCS division in the West where we hope to be challenging the very best. We also hope to emulate our successes in tournaments around the UK and overseas, striving to reach indoor nationals for the first time. The 2017/18 season will also allow us to continue growing our club, especially our exciting women's team, who we expect to be a real force over the coming years. Perhaps most importantly, will be getting revenge over Bristol in varsity, after a devastating one point loss in this year’s men’s match.