Strange Blue Tournament Report

Hey Camdisc,

I'm afraid my report doesn't start with song lyrics, but with a transcript (there or thereabouts) of an interesting phone conversation I had with Kate on Saturday morning.

SD: "Hello"
Kate: "Yeah, so we were driving along and the indicator handle sort of.......came off"
SD: "WHAT?"
Kate: "Yeah, it just kind of ..... fell off"
SD (still with a tone of incredulity): "Well what are you going to do?"
Kate: "Oh, I don't know, just keep driving"
(Background noise): "Just jam it in"
SD: "In a straight line?"
Eleanor (background): "It's ok, I jammed it in"

Thus began our epic journey to Coventry, then back again, then back to Coventry, then back again (we came back on the Saturday if you didn't know).

The Team: Nick SD, Sam Turner, Tejas Guruswamy, Natman, Kris Cao, Megan Davies-Wykes, Jess Wong, Alicia Schep, Kate Poston and Eleanor Nicholson.

After finally arriving at the Alan Higgs centre via somewhat of a scenic route (we may have gotten lost), we warmed up outside (where it was cold, we only did this once, the second time I suggested it got vetoed by the entire team) and were ready for the first test that faced us.

Strange Blue v. DeMontford Demons

This was a good early test against a strong DeMontford side who had a few really big players, who didn't really seem to want to use their girls much, which we took to great advantage, playing our 3 girl offensive line (we sort of had an O-line and D-line for the weekend, but both lines played both, the O-line had 3 girls as this worked in our favour - we have awesome girls :D). SB started well and took an early lead, making the best of some turns and scoring a few successive points. Demons came back and scored a few points of their own, but SB worked it really well on O to seal the win.

Final Score: SB 8 - 4 Demons

Strange Blue v. Lincoln

A much tougher test against a Lincoln side who played a strong zone D. Now at SB, we tend to do one thing to zone Ds and one thing only, school them!!!! Which we pretty much did, despite it being their primary defence, after playing us for several points we forced them to switch to an unfamiliar man D, as we just kept finding holes in their zone and exploiting them time and time again. A particularly epic moment was when Sam and Natman pretty much homeboyed it the length of the pitch, it was SWEET. However on D, the story was different, Lincoln playing a variant on the Bears' 'Carousel' offence, which was difficult to deal with. Although we stopped the up the line looks, they usually got off with a break side scoober (or equivalent crap) which was difficult to deal with. In the end, this was really hard fought game and the result reflected that.

Final Score: SB 6 - 6 Lincoln

Strange Blue v. University of Birmingham Ultimate 2

Now UBU like their indoors and this was a solid example of a team that plays lots of indoors against a team that plays lots of outdoors. The final scoreline was close because after all, SB are a talented bunch, however as soon as UBU got the disc, they'd be looking to throw some sort of overhead throw to their tall dude in the endzone and it was difficult to beat that. We gave them a good run for their money though and nearly pulled it back.

Final Score: SB 4 - 5 UBU 2

Strange Blue v. Oxford University Ultimate (OW!)

From the moment we saw it, we knew this would be our toughest game and it certainly was, but we gave it our all. The best moments of the tournament (for me anyway) came in this game, namely in the form of a run-through D and layout D, both just outside the endzone which would otherwise have been scores. Everyone worked it really well and played hard, but were ultimately beaten by a stronger side.

Final Score: SB 4 - 10 OW!

The results resulted in us coming 3rd in our pool, namely 11th, meaning we had a crossover against the 5th seeds.

Strange Blue v. Loughborough Haze

After our exertions in the OW game, we came up against equally stiff opposition in Haze and once more we pulled out all the stops, a hard man D and solid looking O worked for some of the game, but eventually Haze just wore us down (and wore everyone else down, they ended up winning the thing).

Final Score: SB 4 - 11 Haze

The journey back to Cambridge was uneventful, the team went for a meal at Dojo's (I didn't, I had ahem..... other plans :D, as did Sam). Did anything interesting happen at Dojo's, I don't remember any stories? [Don't answer that question, I don't think Camdisc cares].

Anyway, onto the second day. Due to finishing 11th, we would be competing for the plate, which seemed like a good thing to aim for. Our attempt to win this started with a hard fought game:

Strange Blue v. Warwick Bears 2

Now we all know Bears have an effective indoor offense and it turns out that we now know how to stop it. Our hard man D really pushing them, they got a few off up the line, but overall we shut it down, which made them somewhat toothless and cuddly (geddit!!!). Some more solid O and we just scrapped it out for the win. At some point, I got a PB, I was happy.

Final Score: SB 6 - 5 Bears 2

Strange Blue v. Nottingham Fling 2

This was the game where it all came together, O, D, everything. Fling didn't know what hit them, SB taking point after point after point. The O line offence (handler to Natman in the iso position, long to Jess deep, followed by chilly end zone play) was indefatigable and it showed. We schooled them like noobs.

Final Score: SB 11 - 2 Fling 2

Strange Blue v. Loughborough Haze 2

The toughest game of the day so far against another strong Haze side against whom Natman got a point block on a hammer. It was awesome. Anyway, the whole game was very enjoyable, both teams working hard on O and D, SB pulling away early, but Haze fighting back. In the end a draw was a fair result.

Final Score: SB 5 - 5 Haze 2

Strange Blue v. University of Birmingham Ultimate 3

In a throwback to Mixed Tour, I think we should collectively agree never to talk about this game again.

Final Score: SB Some - Some More UBU 3

Which took us into the 11 v 12 playoff -

Strange Blue v Brookes Ultimate Frisbee

After the travesty that was the previous game, we really wanted this one and fought tooth and nail to get it. Some great work by everyone and a spectacular layout by Tejas and we won.

Final Score: SB 6 - 5 Brookes

All in all a very enjoyable weekend. Disappointment not to win or qualify for anything, but given the relative inexperience of our squad, especially at indoors, some of the performances were outstanding. Tournament MVP went to Natman, who's excellent iso cutting really made the O-line work.

Nick SD