Kept the video short and had some technical issues with my new machine, otherwise would’ve loved to have mentioned how great Reading look heading into Worlds, and how I’m looking forward to seeing SMOG (and perhaps some other teams) bring out some Hex! If you see any being played, send me the link!
Follow the games I’ll be working production on live by subscribing to Fanseat – http://www.fanseat.com
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2018-07-11 16:32:422018-07-11 16:32:42Vlog - WUCC Preview, Amsterdam Hex Clinic, AO Allstars NA Tour
I will be in Moscow from 15-26th May, and on the 20-21st weekend I’ll be running a Hex Workshop! Russia has a well developed Ultimate community, so the primary aim of this visit is to train interested players, coaches and captains in Hex Offence and Flex Defence, so they can understand the advantages and disadvantages of strategies better and choose what is best for their team. I will also be having a meeting at an embassy with a view to starting a 10 Million Discs NE Europe / Baltics program, similar to the work we have been doing in the Balkans.
More info on the Hex Workshop can be found here on the Facebook event – if you have any frisbee playing friends in Moscow, please let them know about it and encourage them to sign up!
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2017-05-03 12:53:072017-11-03 11:37:17Felix is going to Russia!
Tom Aitken, Zach Fairclough, Charlie Butt, Luis Semple, Arran Belden, Christian Turvill, Chun Lee, Dan Prichard, Jake Betson. Kneeling: Chris Wastell, Desmond Mombo, Jonny Arthur, Will Seth, Dom Burnham, Ashley Yeo. Coaches: Felix Shardlow, John Maule, Glen Newell
University Outdoor Nationals took place in Nottingham this weekend, with Sussex Mohawks and UCL winning in the Men’s and Women’s divisions respectively.
Sussex faced St Andrews in their quarter final due to losing to Strathclyde in the group stage. It was a rematch of the Uni Indoor Final from earlier this season, with both teams programs culminating in a big year this year. The Brighton-based team saw the indoor champions off 7-4 in a well spirited match, went on to beat Birmingham 9-6 in the semi final using their alternative approach to defence, before facing Bath in the final – a rematch from the group stage. Both teams scored upwind multiple times, Sussex were able to take half with an incredible trailing edge catch from Luis Semple (below), and saw the game out 9-7 to take the National Championship title. This is the 4th Uni Men’s Outdoor title Sussex University have won – their third in the last 7 years with Felix Shardlow as coach (joined this year by John Maule and Glen Newell). Sussex now hold more Uni Open Outdoor titles than any other university in history.
Luis Semple with a fade-away layout save before Sussex get an upwind point for half. This angle is generally considered by those present to not do the play justice.
UCL Women came in with a small squad with the aim to use Nats as a development tournament for many of the freshers on the team. Despite losing some star players this past year, including Vanessa Lowe (Iceni), Alison Walker (ex-Iceni/Deep Space), Ruth Kilsby (on a year abroad in Texas), the team gelled and brought together a zone which threw off many of the teams they faced. On offence Alix Henry was instrumental, throwing many hucks. For some more perspectives, check this reddit thread.
Footage: I will be posting footage here when it surfaces – if you have any then please send me the links! Two short videos are available on the UK Ultimate Sofa Sideline group.
Some drama in the ro-sham-bo for the spirit prize between Sussex 2 and Oxford, as Oxford make a false-start call
Five players who have been on the Sussex team for 3 years – Chun Lee, Will Seth, Christian Turvill, Chris Wastell, Tom Aitken
Ashley Yeo, a returning post-graduate currently captaining GB Open Beach & Clapham Ultimate, picks up his 3rd Uni Open Outdoor gold medal & trophy
Summary of all divisions from UK Ultimate: Congratulations to all the teams and players for another fantastic BUCS Championships in Nottingham last weekend. The famous Nottingham wind made for very different conditions on Saturday and Sunday, but the standard of play was high throughout. In the Men’s Championships, Sussex won their third title in 7 years with victory over Bath in the final, recovering from a pool play defeat on Saturday to power through the bracket. Glasgow took the bronze with their second victory of the weekend over Birmingham. The Women’s Championships were won by UCL over Oxford in a strong showing for the East region, with Edinburgh taking the bronze. The big story in this division is the increasing parity and depth – 1st beat 8th in sudden death, 6th beat 16th in sudden death… Nottingham won the Men’s Trophy, in theory making them the best 4th placed team in the BUCS leagues and the most unlucky to miss out on Division 1 due to their tough region – except that their final opponents, Edinburgh, were actually 5th in Scottish 1A, and Scotland 4 (Strathclyde) made it as high as 5th in the Championship! Surrey took home the bronze. In the Women’s Trophy, Huddersfield dominated from start to finish, with their closest result a comfortable 8-3 win over Southampton in the final. Bath took the bronze. In the Men’s Conference Cup, the top 4 teams were very closely matched, with Oxford eventually seeing off Newcastle in the final and Southampton taking the bronze over Sheffield.
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2017-05-01 15:16:332017-11-03 11:37:00Sussex Mohawks win UKU Uni Men's Nationals 2017 - plus a look back to Uni 1989-2016 results
On 10th-19th April Felix will be travelling around Albania with the 10 Million Discs charity!
Along with Trent Simmons, Jason Morrison and Juan Amado, I will be delivering 3 sessions to High School PE teachers, 3 sessions to NGOs including to staff & detainees at Juvenile prison in Kavaje, 2 youth sessions, a training with a paraplegic community / wheelchair group, and an afternoon playing with Embassy staff + Marines, amongst other activities and meetings to set Ultimate into action in Albania in a big way.
Check back for updates!
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2017-04-05 09:28:242017-11-03 11:36:24Felix is going to Albania!
I’m currently in the Gauteng region of South Africa (around Johannesburg), coaching outreach teams, universities, club teams, and running clinics for leaders, coaches and players! You can follow my progress for now through these Facebook photos, and I’ll be putting up a full report afterwards.
Check out this video, created collaboratively between myself and Gauteng Ultimate, which explains more about South Africa’s history, what’s going on with Ultimate in the Gauteng region, and what I’m doing whilst out here:
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2017-01-20 13:19:352017-03-09 13:27:27Felix in South Africa!
I was contacted yesterday by Fergus Klein – Sussex University (Mohawks) alumni from 2013-14. Since graduating and moving back to Johannesburg, Fergus has got massively involved in Ultimate, and is now chairperson of the Gauteng region of South Africa – they have around 100 league players and 500 kids currently playing Ultimate!
The sun does not appear bigger in Africa because it’s closer to the equator.
South Africa (RSA) entered teams into the Men’s, Women’s, and Men’s Masters divisions of WUGC 2016, and at U23 Worlds 2015 their mixed team played against the GB team I was coaching, in the match for 5th place. Now they are hungry for more Ultimate knowledge & coaching techniques – to boost the development of the game in the country and raise the top level!
It’s currently being discussed within the Gauteng Ultimate committee, but the proposed idea is that I fly over for 3 weeks around March – half spent in Johannesburg, half spent in Cape Town, with a visit to Kruger National Park in the middle. That’s a park with impala, buffalo, zebra, elephant, rhinoceros, lions, leopards, giraffe, hippopotamus, black mamba, pythons, crocodiles, vultures, eagles…
I couldn’t find a picture with all the animals together for some reason
I heard that the RSA Masters team were playing Mex Offence at WUGC 2016 but I was too busy filming/commentating to check them out, and had no idea how it came to be – now the jigsaw pieces are starting to fall into place! It was Fergus’ idea and apparently it’s the “in” formation at the moment – he says “all the good teams in SA are using it now!” I’m really looking forward to the trip, where I’ll get to see Fergus and Ant Pascoe again (teammate from 2001-03 Smash & Grab era) – having never been anywhere in Africa before, I also can’t wait to check out the wondrous and abundant nature; maybe I’ll find some good hills / mountains to run up!
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2016-10-05 22:17:422017-11-03 11:39:23Felix is going to South Africa!
I asked Mario O’Brien what he thought of Hex strategies and had some positive back-and-forth with him. Mario is the Founder/CEO of RISE UP Ultimate + ULTACADEMY; Seattle Sockeye & Cascades O-handler; 2-time Manager Team USA Beach; SOTG gold medalist; International and local coach; and Team ERIC Coach), and he recently did an “Ask Me Anything” on /r/ultimate/:
Chatting to Mario helped me clarify my thoughts on & for the first time verbalise how poaching causes the progressive collapse of Flex D. I’ve now incorporated this specific example into the Flex theory clinic – it now feels like there is a frame in place, and we’re no longer fumbling in the dark trying to figure out & define ‘smart defence’; we’re working out what fills the frame & where the holes are. The task for the first time feels relatively finite.
I’ve got a lot of time for Sockeye – I hung out with them a little in Prague during WUCC 2010, I love a team that knows how to play hard, party, and isn’t afraid to innovate on the field and openly discuss new strategies and tactics.
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2016-09-26 10:22:142017-11-03 11:42:12Chat with Mario O'Brien
UKU Club Nationals 2016 is coming up on 20/21 August, and felixultimate.com can reveal there are some very exciting coverage plans currently being made! The UKU are currently putting together a media team to cover the event, including bringing in the 24/7 trucks which were seen at WUGC 2016 in London!
Regionals having been completed last weekend, below are the Nationals seedings just sent out by the UKU (Full schedules will appear on www.ukunationals.org along with other tournament information!):
Open Bracket:
1 Clapham 2 Manchester 3 Brighton City 4 Fire of London 5 BAF 6 Devon 7 Brighton Legends 8 Ka-Pow! 9 Glasgow 10 Chevron 11 Leeds 12 EMO 13 Reading 14 Flump 15 Bristol 16 Flyght Club
This is the first year that a new system has been employed, whereby the seeds are allocated to regional finishing positions based last year’s nationals results – e.g. because Chevron (N) and Manchester (N) finished 2nd and 10th at Nationals last year, the 1st and 2nd finishers from (N) regionals are seeded 2nd and 10th respectively – and with Manchester beating Chevron at Northern regionals, this means Manchester take the 2nd seed. Exciting pre-quarters to look out for are:
Ka-Pow v Glasgow Brighton Legends v Chevron Devon v LLLeeds BAF v EMO
Leading to (likely) quarters:
Clapham v Ka-Pow/Glasgow Manchester v Legends/Chevron Brighton City v Devon/LLLeeds Fire of London v BAF/EMO
Women’s Pools:
1 Iceni 3 SYC 6 Glasgow 8 Vurve
2 Nice Bristols 4 Leeds 5 Punt 7 Crown Jewels
Mixed Pools:
1 Reading 3 Brighton Breezy 6 SMOG 8 Birmingham
2 Black Eagles 4 JR 5 Thundering Herd 7 Cambridge
The aim is to have one, perhaps two pitches streamed live and in HD all weekend, delivered by the UKU Media Crew. Let us know who you want to hear commentating, and which games you want to see on the show pitch!
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2016-08-10 19:02:482016-08-10 19:04:16UKU Club Nationals 2016
Felix will be flying to Macedonia on 3rd-12th May 2016, to run a few workshops with teachers / students, and several sessions in high schools in Skopje, under a program put together between 10milliondiscs.org and the US Embassy in Macedonia. The Ultimate scene is just beginning over there, so Felix will be bringing over some discs and talking to players, coaches and organisers about how to play, how to coach, and how to set up sustainable systems for Ultimate clubs, leagues, and tournaments in the country. He’ll also be discussing his experiences in the UK University scene, and what can be used from these to build a scene in Macedonia!
https://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.png00Felix Shardlowhttps://felixultimate.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/felixultimate.com-3500x1140-banner-2-1024x334.pngFelix Shardlow2016-04-27 16:14:222016-04-28 11:16:41Felix going to Macedonia
Chatting to Mario helped me clarify my thoughts on & for the first time verbalise how poaching causes the progressive collapse of Flex D. I’ve now incorporated this specific example into the Flex theory clinic – it now feels like there is a frame in place, and we’re no longer fumbling in the dark trying to figure out & define ‘smart defence’; we’re working out what fills the frame & where the holes are. The task for the first time feels relatively finite.
I’ve got a lot of time for Sockeye – I hung out with them a little in Prague during WUCC 2010, I love a team that knows how to play hard, party, and isn’t afraid to innovate on the field and openly discuss new strategies and tactics.
To read Mario’s full AMA click here, and be sure to check out his new ULTACADEMY project.