Wednesday Gym

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Single arm Kettlebell swings (3 * 10 / arm @ 12kg)
2. Yoga Table (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3. Front Plank + Side Plank both sides (3 * 5 deep breaths / front and each side)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 12kg)
2. Chin Ups (3 * 5)
3. Wide Leg Push up taps (3 * 10)

C
1. Skater squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 2.5kg)
2. Lateral Bound + Stick (3 * 6)
3. Single Arm Dumbell Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 12.5 kg*increase*)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

Last week's fitness

Last Thursday went to yoga again. Pretty good session with a lot of 4 way hip mobility work which fits in nicely with the gym sessions and the advice from Tim Morrill. Apparently the instructor has something tough planned for my last session, so I'm looking forward to that this week.

Friday Gym

Had the office Xmas meal last Thursday, so when I hit the gym the day after I was partially working off the food, and partially trying to wake up (I most definitely 100% wasn't hungover). Still managed to do a full session and I felt so much better for going (even though before hand I had been debating just skipping it).

I did the altered session 2 as part of my new plan.

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Single arm Kettlebell swings (3 * 10 / arm @ 12kg *new*)
2. Yoga Table (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3. Front Plank + Side Plank (3 * 5 deep breaths on front and each side *new*)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 12kg)
2. Chin Ups (3 * 5)
3. Wide Leg Push up taps (3 * 10)

C
1. Skater squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 2.5kg)
2. Lateral Bound + Stick (3 * 6)
3. Single Arm Dumbell Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 10kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

This session wasn't as changed as session 1.

Sunday Mixed Winter League 2 with Bear Cavalry

Another really strong day for Bear Cav. Despite missing Dave Tyler we still won all our games by scores of 13-4, 13-2 and 13-4 (I think) against Scarefarians, PAF and Shiny Happy Meeple.
Scarefarians were pretty short handed but played hard and put up a good fight.
PAF had managed to take a scalp against Thundering Herd in their first game, but we overmatched them and managed to beat them with not a lot of resistance.
Shiny Happy Meeple had picked up a couple of Clapham players, but that didn't stop us taking the half 7-0. They had a run after half, but we finished off the game after rallying our offence.

Tuesday Gym 17th Dec'

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Dumbell Snatch (3 * 5 / arm @ 15kg *increase*)
2. Yoga Bridge (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3.  Swiss Ball Rollouts (3 * 10)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 12kg)
2. Dumbell Row (3 * 10 / arm @ 15kg *increase*)
3. Dead bug series (3 * 5 / leg / movement)

C
1. Rear foot elevated Split squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 30kg)
2. Single Leg Plate Hop + Stick (3 * 6 / leg)
3. Single Arm Kettlebell Curl to Overhead Press (3 * 5 / arm @ 12kg *new*)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching

SMR

I had forgotten to replace the Single arm dumbell overhead presses with the Single arm Kettle Bell curl to Overhead presses last week so they were put in today.

Plan for the rest of this week is:
Gym Wednesday
Yoga Thursday
and Surrey Slingfest Indoors tournament this weekend.

I also finish my current job next Monday. I will have time off for Christmas (both work, and fitness to an extent) and I start my new job on January 2nd 2014.
A benefit of my new job is free gym membership, so hopefully I'll be able to set that up pretty soon after starting my new job and I won't be missing the gym for too long.

The last week

Tuesday 3rd Dec' Gym:

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Dumbell Snatch (3 * 5 / arm @ 10kg *increase*)
2. Yoga Bridge (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3. Front Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 12kg *increase*)
2. Dumbell Row (3 * 10 / arm @ 10kg *increase*)
3. Dead bug series (3 * 5 / leg / movement)

C
1. Rear foot elevated Split squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 25kg)
2. Single Leg Plate Hop + Stick (3 * 6 / leg)
3. Half Kneeling Overhead Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 8kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

Thursday Yoga:

A pretty good session, with quite a lot of core work, and some good hip stretching poses on the inside and outside, finishing with shoulder stand holds and variations off of shoulder stands.

Friday Gym:

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Double arm Kettlebell swings (3 * 20 @ 12kg)
2. Yoga Table (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3. Side Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths / side)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 12kg)
2. Chin Ups (3 * 5)
3. Wide Leg Push up taps (3 * 10)

C
1. Skater squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 2.5kg)
2. Lateral Bound + Stick (3 * 6)
3. Single Arm Dumbell Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 10kg*increase*)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

Friday Bear Cavalry Training

Another good session with Bear Cav. Mainly drills again, with focuses on continuation cutting, cutting after catching a huck short of the endzone and breaking a no behind force to a dump cut, before finishing on some 5 v 5 and heading to a warm pub!

Tuesday 10th Dec' Gym

Changed up the gym routine a bit. Keeping the same mix of exercise groups, but swapping in some different exercises in the groups and increasing the weights on some.

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Dumbell Snatch (3 * 5 / arm @ 12.5kg *increase*)
2. Single Leg Yoga Bridge (3 * 5 deep breaths/leg *new*)
3. Swiss Ball Rollouts (3 * 10 *new*)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 12kg)
2. Dumbell Row (3 * 10 / arm @ 12.5kg *increase*)
3. Dead bug series (3 * 5 / leg / movement)

C
1. Rear foot elevated Split squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 30kg *increase*)
2. Single Leg Plate Hop + Stick (3 * 6 / leg)
3. Half Kneeling Overhead Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 12kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

London Winter League 1 – Mixed

It was my first competitive outing with Bear Cavalry on Sunday, and all things considered, I thought it went pretty well. The day before, the team had been sent out a pretty thorough email containing information on what the team and individuals should be focussing on throughout the day. It’s 9 months until Worlds and it felt good to have a focus point from the first point of the first tournament in the pre-season.
DT also spoke to me when I turned up. Apparently, my job was to be on the D line and mark the opponent’s best player all the time… I was also told not to worry about turnovers while I gelled with the team. Then we got to work.

Bear Cavalry vs Scarecrew (BC win 13-5)
Scarecrew had just come off a game against Thundering Herd that was pretty close, whereas this was Bear Cavalry’s first game. We started on O and scored. We went on for D and broke them. The defensive pressure was the difference with lots of hucks to no-one for Scarecrew. They got a few back at the end by working the unders a bit more and heavily involving their strong girls, but the result was pretty safe in the end.
Bear Cavalry vs Thundering Herd (BC win 11-4)
We had just come off our game against Scarecrew and the herd had a break. It felt like a different game to the game against Scarecrew, with the herd able to work it under early, which opened up a couple of completed hucks, but they weren’t able to take advantage of good field position when they got close to the endzone. They also struggled to gain any ground after resetting the disc at various points. It did feel weird playing against the herd, but at no point did it ever feel strange to be playing for Bear Cavalry. I wish the Herd luck for this year, and enjoyed playing against them in this game so I hope we match up against them in plenty of games during the season.
Bear Cavalry vs Cambridge (BC win 13-5)
The day finished with a rematch of the UKUNationals 2013 final, and, though it is the preseason, you could tell, with both teams winning their two group games, they each wanted to leave with a 3-0 record. Cambridge had brought a pretty big squad, featuring (as far as I could tell) a close enough to being complete roster. The opening shots were fired by Bear Cavalry, started with a score on O and then a break to go up 2-0. After that, the teams traded to 3-2 with the game looking fairly evenly matched. Cambridge were able to set up some middling range hucks off some solid under cutting. A couple of adjustments to the Bear Cavalry defence, including a force direction change managed to cause some trouble to the Cambridge offence, and even when the Bear Cavalry offence turned over, they were able to get the disc back, with more than a few poach based interceptions. The Bears managed to pull away and Cambridge never got any momentum. Even when Cambridge got a goal, the Bears would put in our offence with seeming ease. No doubt we’ll have more games with Cambridge during the season as both teams build towards worlds.
Starting out the season undefeated was pretty nice. On a personal note, I felt like my speed wasn’t affected by my time off, but towards the end of the day my stamina was. Hopefully the Winter Leagues, being only ~3 games and one day, will provide a good gradual re-introduction to tournament fitness, before the season begins in earnest.
#roadtoworlds

Friday Gym

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Double arm Kettlebell swings (3 * 20 @ 12kg)
2. Yoga Table (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3. Side Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths / side)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 12kg *increase*)
2. Chin Ups (3 * 5)
3. Wide Leg Push up taps (3 * 10)

C
1. Skater squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 2.5kg)
2. Lateral Bound + Stick (3 * 6)
3. Single Arm Dumbell Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 7.5kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

I am now SOOOOO READY FOR THE WEEKEND!
The Ka-Pow! AGM and end of season party is going to be epic!

Tuesday Gym

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Dumbell Snatch (3 * 5 / arm @ 7.5kg)
2. Yoga Bridge (3 * 10 thrusts)
3. Front Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 8kg)
2. Dumbell Row (3 * 10 / arm @ 7.5kg)
3. Dead bug series (3 * 5 / leg / movement)

C
1. Rear foot elevated Split squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 25kg)
2. Single Leg Plate Hop + Stick (3 * 6 / leg)
3. Half Kneeling Overhead Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 8kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

The rest of last week

Wednesday Gym:

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Double arm Kettlebell swings (3 * 20 @ 12kg)
2. Yoga Table (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3. Side Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths / side)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 8kg)
2. Chin Ups (3 * 5)
3. Wide Leg Push up taps (3 * 10)

C
1. Skater squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 2.5kg)
2. Lateral Bound + Stick (3 * 6)
3. Single Arm Dumbell Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 7.5kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

Thursday Yoga:

Another session which wasn't as tough as the yoga sessions have been before, but again there were some new people there. Still had a lot of good poses with plenty of hamstring stretches and 4 way hip positions.

Friday Bear Cavalry Training:

My first Ultimate session on the road to worlds (and the first proper (read: non-indoor)) ultimate session since xEUCF. Friday evenings aren't great for me most weeks but was able to get to this session and had wanted to get into it so I had some proper disc time with the team before Winter League. They ran a nice range of drills, some focussing on game like situations and others forcing you into a difficult situation that may arise in a game but isn't common, before finishing with some 4 v 4 on a short wide field with the rules that you couldn't have a player situated in the dump position. Was a good session, but I was pretty rusty, especially with throwing.

Saturday Ka-Pow! Housewarming party at The Fortress of Lol-itude

Lolz

Monday Gym

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Dumbell Snatch (3 * 5 / arm @ 7.5kg)
2. Yoga Bridge (3 * 10 thrusts)
3. Front Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 8kg)
2. Dumbell Row (3 * 10 / arm @ 7.5kg)
3. Dead bug series (3 * 5 / leg / movement)

C
1. Rear foot elevated Split squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 25kg)
2. Single Leg Plate Hop + Stick (3 * 6 / leg)
3. Half Kneeling Overhead Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 8kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

Seemed to get most of the exercises at the right weight last week so not too much alteration of the routine.

Thursday Yoga + Friday Gym

Yoga on Thursday was really good. There was plenty of difficult positions including shoulder stand, but with some newer faces it wasn't as tough as some previous sessions have been. Plenty of positions that were helping with internal hip rotation, but not quite so many hip stretching in the other directions... Will have to work on that.

On Friday I hit the gym again.

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Double arm Kettlebell swings (3 * 20 @ 12kg)
2. Yoga Table (3 * 10 deep breaths)
3. Side Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths / side)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 8kg)
2. Chin Ups (3 * 5)
3. Wide Leg Push up taps (3 * 10)

C
1. Skater squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 2kg)
2. Lateral Bound + Stick (3 * 6)
3. Single Arm Dumbell Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 5kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

Again, as it was the first go at Session 2 I was aiming to get the weights worked out, before starting it in earnest next week.

That's 3 days on heading into a weekend off. Next week I go into the first proper week of pre-preseason mode. Should look like:
(Cycling every day)
Monday: Gym
Tuesday: Off or Field fitness
Wednesday: Gym
Thursday: Yoga
Friday: Training
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off or Field fitness

Wednesday Gym

For the first time in over two months (excluding the Tim Morril session) I went to the gym.
It's not that I haven't enjoyed the "offseason", it's given me a chance to heal injuries and relax, but I've also felt noticeably weaker and more unfit, and I hated it. And being back in the gym felt really good!
The session was built in the Tim Morrill sessions, and is part of a 2 day/3 week programme (though I'm going to extend it to 4 weeks as I use this first week to figure out starting weights and get the excercise tekkers right).

Warm up

Medium pace short run
Internal/External Shoulder Rotations (1*15 @ 8kg)
4 way hip stretching
SMR (Foam Rolling and Hockey Balling)

Main Session

A
1. Dumbell Snatch (3 * 5 / arm @ 7.5kg)
2. Yoga Bridge (3 * 10 thrusts)
3. Front Plank (3 * 10 deep breaths)

B
1. Single Leg Deadlifts (3 * 10 / leg @ 8kg)
2. Dumbell Row (3 * 10 / arm @ 7.5kg)
3. Dead bug series (3 * 5 / leg / movement)

C
1. Rear foot elevated Split squats (3 * 10 / leg @ 30kg)
2. Single Leg Plate Hop + Stick (3 * 6 / leg)
3. Half Kneeling Overhead Press (3 * 10 / arm @ 8kg)

Warm Down

4 way hip stretching
Hamstring stretching
SMR

The pre-preseason has begun!

Morrill Performance Fitness sessions

Over last weekend, I attended two Ultimate related fitness sessions hosted by Tim Morrill of Morrill Performance. The two sessions were structured like involved classes where Tim would teach us about the foundations and theory behind what fitness Ultimate players should be doing and why. The first session I attended was around Strength and Power and was held in a gym.

The beginning was an explanation of common problems with the makeup of an Ultimate player including asymmetry caused by throwing/pivoting and the need to not only produce force but absorb it also with a note that injuries happen on deceleration a lot more than acceleration, as well as what a typical regime should look like.

The rest of the session was surrounding the categories of exercises which should be included in gym sessions and example exercises to do with demonstrations of them and time to practice them to ensure we were getting the form right. This also included a 3 minute kettle-bell swing-a-thon by all participants which certainly caused a few tight hamstrings.

We also had time to build our own gym routine at the end, with a plan which included exercises from all the categories in an easy to follow structure.

I really found this session very helpful. Not only did I learn a lot about the theories behind why certain exercises are useful and got help planning a comprehensive gym routine which I will be using going forward, but I also used it to figure out which parts were directly related to areas of deficiency in my personal fitness.

The second session I attended was around Speed and Agility and was held on an artificial turf field. This session was similar in structure to the strength and power with the start dedicated to teaching the theory, before moving onto specific exercises and drills which would help build up Ultimate fitness and could be used as a training/tournament warm up.

The first part was discussing Self Myofascial Release. I already owned a hockey ball and a muscle massaging stick (and I’m buying a foam roller soon) and I knew the benefits of using these, but Tim showed us specific points where it would be useful to release and some of these I hadn’t known about before and so it was useful to go over these.

4 way Hip stretching was a big part of this session (as was as Glute Activation) and we were also shown plenty of ways to do this.

His warmup routine had a lot of similarities with the one’s Pedro has been running with Ka-Pow! this year so during that part I felt pretty comfortable, but there were some additional parts which I think we will be incorporating into our warmups for next year. We also ran ladder drills and agility drills which included serpentines, shuttles and 10 cut drills.

In some ways it was a shame that these sessions were scheduled during the offseason as I felt pretty tired and unfit completing these drills, but it was also highly advantageous to know what I should be taking into my own fitness going forward.

I had been intending to start my offseason fitness program this week with my program being influenced by these sessions, but I managed to catch some sort of bug which had been going around the office, and so I have been unable to go to the gym or yoga this week.

Speaking of Yoga, it was good to hear Tim talking about Yoga principles, positions and movements throughout both sessions as it validated my decision to take it up and use it as an additional session to include in my fitness program, both in the past and going forward.

Offseason fitness starts next week!

Keeping busy...

Been cycling, played some indoors and been to Yoga a couple of times.

Excited about Tim Morrill Sessions this Saturday. This will influence my gym work going forward, and I'm hoping to learn a lot.

Furthermore, the Ka-Pow! AGM is coming up in November. Really excited about where this club is going forward!

Lastly... #RoadtoWorlds

xEUCF2013 and Season Wrapup

What a season!

And it’s now over…

We went to Bordeaux with an almost full strength squad, but had unfortunately lost one of our D Line captains (Jake) as he couldn't get time off work. I was moved from O line to D line after coming up with some big blocks in the EMO game at Nationals and was preparing myself mentally to try and make an impact. Unfortunately, I feel I may have been partially limited after not being able to keep up fitness due to my rib injury shortly before the tournament.

I felt I mostly played well though, I made some key blocks again (no layout Ds at this tournament though, and I was a little disappointed about this) and overall I felt my man defense was really strong, as I was usually put on a big matchup and I felt I was able to restrict them from getting the disc. I did miss playing offense though. I feel that whilst I can play defense well, and can make a difference on that side of the disc, my strengths play more to the offensive side of the game.

Ka-Pow! went into the tournament as the 6^th qualifying team out of 6 from the UK and started as 21^st seeds out of 24 teams in the open division. Opinions seemed to vary as to our chances, and this seemed to be down to it being a lot of our player’s first international club tournament (that we’ve had to qualify for), mine included.

I played GB Under 19s and Under 23s, but I was anticipating this tournament so much more than either of those. During my ultimate career, the biggest club tournament I’ve qualified for is UKUNationals, so I was eager to take the field on this big stage and show just what Ka-Pow! was all about and what I’d been working for since joining two years ago.

Game 1 vs Mooncatchers (Loss 15-10)

Our first game was against the Belgian National Champions. Our last game at Windmill Windup had been against the very same team and we’d come away with a close loss with a small squad. We came out and appeared to be playing nervously. Our O line, who had only really played up to their full potential at Nationals against EMO, continued to struggle. The D line were able to generate blocks but weren’t able to convert all the time. I put up a big huck after we had got a block, which was called back on a dubious foul call and Mooncatchers turned up the pressure and got the block back. We were never able to get that big play to provide a spark or pull back the difference that slowly increased throughout the game and unfortunately they took the game fairly comfortably. This was a really disappointing start to the tournament, but was only the first game. We tried to look forward to the rest of the tournament.

Game 2 vs Prague Devils (Loss 15-13)

The first game against Czech opposition of the tournament for us (of 4). This team were pretty big and comfortable making big plays. I don’t really remember much of this game. I do remember the heat, which seemed to affect our team quite badly, and that our defence couldn’t put consistent pressure on their offence. We forced a turnover on some good dump marking from me combined with good upfield marking from the rest of the line, and as the disc fell to the ground I streaked deep, the huck that went up was pretty bad and was batted away. It was pretty deflating as even when we got a block we couldn’t do anything with it.

So we finished day 1 with 2 losses in 2 games. Again, people were pretty disappointed but determined to turn it around come day 2.

Game 3 vs Tree Monkeys (Win 15-11)

We were told over breakfast on this day that we would be catching a shuttle bus to some satellite pitches for all our games on day 2 (organization issue number 1). We managed to catch the first bus and luckily had Will C and his campervan to ferry people over and it meant that we were set up at the pitches before our opponents. Whether this affected the game in our favour I don’t know, but we did play as though we were prepared and confident in our preparation. It felt good to get this game under our belt and finish with our first win. Players seemed to relax after this game and throughout the game you could see players getting comfortable in our systems. We were confident in our gameplan on both offence and defence and scored fairly easily, and converted breaks throughout the game.

Game 4 vs Lucky Grass (Loss 15-13)

We knew that our second game of the day would be against the Russian national champions. Like the games we had already played this team liked the long ball. Running with a squad of 15 (ish?) seemed like it would take it’s toll on Lucky Grass, but their fitness was tremendous and they really ground out this win against us by sticking to their strategy and playing tough defence. In the end we weren’t able to take the final steps in this game, and Lucky Grass finished as deserving winners.

Game 5 vs FUJ (Win 15-13)

We had heard that FUJ had beaten Lucky Grass earlier in the day and we could still grab ourselves a crossover on the next day if we nabbed a win over FUJ in our final game. Our O line held for most of the first half but gave up a couple of breaks, and our D line despite putting on plenty of pressure wasn’t able to generate a break early on, which lead to a first half which finished 8-5 (I think). However, the second half was a different performance. Early on, I managed to intercept a cross pitch hammer by poaching off my man, which lead to a fast break score and from then on our defence started winning us the game. We went up 13-11, but FUJ brought it back to 13-13 after our offence faltered. Our offence took the point to make it 14-13 and we won the game on defence! This was a huge game for us and was one of the best performances we put in at xeucf (especially the D line) and meant we started day 3 with a crossover which would take us to the middle 8 if we won.

Game 6 vs Tchac (Loss 15-11)

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to take advantage of the position we had earned on the previous day. Our offensive struggles continued and though the D line grabbed a couple of breaks, Tchac proved too clinical to allow us a comeback. This along with the game against Mooncatchers were probably the most disappointing performances of the weekend for us, as we felt not that the opponents were just better than us, but that we hadn’t given a proper representation of our abilities.

Game 7 vs KFUM Örebro (Win 14-12)

Despite coming from a disappointing game, we were still looking forward to the remainder of our tournament. We wanted to at least improve our seeding at Euros and with a win in this game we would guarantee to achieve this. The swedes were playing an interesting O strategy, employing a hybrid split/horizontal stack offence which provided a lot of space for their big players to play in, but relied quite a lot on these big players, with some of their cutters remaining largely unused. Their team were tall and very athletic, but our D line were able to generate some breaks to turn this game around after our offence gave up a couple of breaks. We ended up taking this game away towards the end and were all pleased to have guaranteed to improve on our seed. But we wanted to keep fighting and keep climbing the rankings.

This win set us up with a “Semi” against Devon. Both Devon and Ka-Pow! didn’t particularly want to have come to Euros to play against a British team, so Pichler and the Devon captain wandered around the site trying to get the other two teams in our bracket to switch. In the end Devon organised a match against FUJ and we set up a game against Uprising.

Then the lightning happened. The plan had been communicated amongst teams that if the impending lightning storm came too close to the pitches the call would be made across the tournament that all people on site should head to the velodrome until the storm had passed. The tournament directors managed to time the call perfectly, as the last few players walked through the door the rain was starting to go from light to heavy, and within minutes was torrential with forks of lightning lighting up the sky and thunder booming.

After the rain, thunder and lightning stopped, everyone headed back to their pitches and were given 15 minutes warm up time before clocks started.

Game 8 vs Uprising (Win 15-12)

This game would be our third matchup against Uprising in our two years as a club. Our first game came at Tom’s Tourney in 2012 where we won fairly comfortably and our second came at Windmill Windup this year where they avenged that loss by taking us down in sudden death. At Euros, we came out of the lightning delay much quicker than Uprising and were able to convert early breaks to take a 4-0 lead. Though Uprising came back, earning some breaks late on, we maintained control throughout this game to set up the 17v18 final with a rematch against FUJ.

Game 9 vs FUJ (15-13)

Pichler had said that we were allowed to let our hair down on the Saturday night. We had improved on our seed and the difference between 17^th and 18^th isn’t very much. Despite one of our injured sideliners getting pretty drunk, there seemed to be an unspoken agreement between most of the team that we wanted to finish Euros with a win and wanted to come out the next morning able to play a good game. FUJ enticed some of our players into a drinking circle, but FUJ were at the pitches earlier than us and looked ready for a game, with whispers going round that they were pumped to avenge the loss we had handed them earlier in the tournament. We circled up, said we were going to not call lines and just play loose and relaxed and this seemed to get us off to a strong start. We maintained a hold on the game throughout, and played with a smile and a song. It was pretty good to see we could still get a strong win when playing without strict lines and without two of our star players.

And that was the end of Euros and the end of the season.

It’s been such a pleasure to see the progression throughout the season of my team mates as individuals and of Ka-Pow! as a club. There have been good games and bad games, but we have come out with a great result. We came into this season with only 10 players returning from our first season (two of which dropped out half way through the season), but the new additions made big plays throughout the season and picked up our fairly complicated systems really well.
Discussions have already started surrounding where we can look to improve for next year. Despite not taking one of the spots to Worlds, enthusiasm is still high and we will be looking to get a spot to Euros for the second year in a row and improve on our finish from this year.

We will also be looking to push the envelope on what merchandise we can get our logo on and will look to retain the friendly but competitive attitude which lead us to winning spirit at Nationals and Europeans.

It’s been a hell of a year!

Ka-Pow!

Final preparations for #xEUCF2013

Sunday:
Ka-Pow! would take on Fire in a warmup game before Europeans. Both teams will be aiming to improve on their seeding at xEUCF2013 and both teams used this scrimmage as an opportunity to sharpen up the last few things before heading to Bordeaux.
The final score was 14-8 to Fire, with the D-Lines of both teams earning breaks going on runs, and both teams were playing not at full strength. We played a lot of Zone defence with plenty of transitions and got blocks with both Zone and Man defence. Whilst we didn't finish our prep with a win, we played well and everybody feels confident going into the tournament. We've worked so hard and we're aiming to return with plenty to show for it.
Monday:
I finished off my Euros prep with a throwing session on Monday evening. I was hoping to get one in over Monday lunch time as well, but didn't get the time. Again, based on the GB throwing routine, it was really beneficial and showed what I need to focus on going into xEUCF.

Time's up, I head out to Bordeaux this evening. Time to show what we're made of!

Ka-Pow!

Short update

In my quest to be a broken player for Euros, I took a tumble off my bike on Thursday (luckily it only caused grazed knees) after being in A & E on Saturday night.

As of today, my ribs only hurt if I twist in a certain way and the fall off my bike hasn't affected me too much.

Ka-Pow! weekend session

An interesting weekend just gone. The Saturday would be focussed on offence and defence would be left for the Sunday. Overall, both the sessions were beneficial and improvement was made in both sessions.
Unfortunately, during the Saturday session, I layed out at an awkward angle and landed hard. At first I felt winded and subbed out expecting to catch my breath and get back in the game.
During a time out, I tried throwing some short passes to warm my hands up again and my ribs were in a lot of pain so I decided to sit out the rest of the session (it was near the end anyway).
Fast forward to that evening and I'm in agony sat having finished my dinner. I got walked to a local A & E (thanks Phil) and was having trouble breathing. A couple of examinations and a chest X-Ray later (my first X-Ray ever) and luckily I was diagnosed as not having any broken ribs or lung damage, but had just strained/pulled some muscles in my chest/ribs.
It sucked, and as of today I still have a constant ache in my ribs which feels like a healing bruise. I sat out of Sunday's session (though I still went to sideline and overview the defence based practice) and will not be going to the gym or doing my throwing sessions this week, but the goal is Europeans.
I am not going to jeopardise my ability to play at xEUCF in any way. It's what I've been building for since I joined Ka-Pow! (and it's been one of my aims for even longer). I aim to be able to take the field and do everything I can for my team, it's been a helluva season so far and I've got more to give.

This week

This week ended up being nice and busy. Tuesday I borrowed Anna's bike and cycled to/from work.
Wednesday I cycled and went to Midweek Ka-Pow! practice.
We didn't have too many numbers and so did a mostly throwing based session with drills based on the GB Throwing routine. One of the drills I misunderstood and I got pretty frustrated with myself, but overall I felt it was a beneficial session. It highlighted that with 2 weeks off training after nationals throwing is something that I should have practiced more.
Thursday I cycled and went to Yoga during lunch. Yoga was a tough session again with Dolphin Headstand, Shoulder stand and Wall Handstand as some of the tougher poses this week and again it was a good routine. Next week there will be a different instructor who has been told to do a slightly less taxing session, which should be good so I don't do too much in the week before Euros. Thursday night I also had another throwing session based on the GB Throwing Routine. I had been contacted about another Ultimate player living in Basingstoke who was looking to do some throwing sessions in the run up to xEUCF. She plays for SYC and it was a beneficial session and I was able to consolidate the drills that had gone well on Wednesday evening and sort out the things that hadn't gone so well. We're going to get another throwing session in next week at some point too, which should be useful.

Today, I cycled again and hit the gym at lunch. I read this SkydMagazine Article earlier in the week and adjusted my routine. Still felt like a tough session, but didn't leave feeling as tired as I had after Monday's session.

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

1 * 5 Dumbell Single Leg Deadlifts (15kg) - per leg

1 * 5 Frog Squat Jumps (20 kg)

1 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (38 kg)

Back Squats (3 @ 90 kg, 2 @ 110kg, 1 @ 130kg, 1 @ 150kg)

1 * Max Wide arm Pull ups (7)

1 * 30s Dynamic Plank

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

This weekend is the first of two full weekend Ka-Pow! practices in a row. This is the culmination of our season, the final push before our biggest tournament as a squad. I have represented GB twice before, but xEUCF will be by far the biggest and most competitive tournament I've ever been to and my first international club tournament (excluding Paganello, Tom's Tourney and Windmill). I absolutely cannot wait to take the field in Bordeaux!

Monday Gym

Thought I would go to the gym on the Monday this week after having the weekend off again. Unfortunately, I felt tired all Sunday (for what appears to be no reason: plenty of sleep, good diet) and that ran over to Monday as well. I still went to the gym but felt tired at the gym, even with another shortened session due to time.

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (20 kg)
3 * 8 Dumbell Single Leg Deadlifts (12.5kg) - per leg}

Deadlifts (5 @ 68 kg, 4 @ 78kg, 3 @ 88kg, 2 @ 98kg, 1 @ 108kg)

Squats (5 @ 90 kg, 4 @ 100kg, 3 @ 110kg, 2 @ 120kg)

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Spending the afternoon hockey balling my feet to try loosen my legs a bit more.

Will take Tuesday off (including no cycling due to a broken back axle on my bike getting fixed).
Wednesday may just be cycling, depending on whether I can make it to Ka-Pow! midweek (and whether it's on). Thursday may just be cycling and Yoga, and Friday should be cycling and gym (with a possible throwing session as well some time this week).

Thursday Yoga and Friday Gym

Another tough yoga session on Thursday. Managed to do wheel pose and almost managed a dolphin/supported headstand. The instructor is really good and provides easier poses for those less confident, but there is a core of people who go every week and have good strength who she challenges. Yoga has pushed me more than before in the last two weeks and I really feel it's doing a lot of good. My hamstrings which, until the training before nationals were pretty stiff/sore are feeling great and I feel stronger when I hit the gym. Speaking of which...

Friday Gym:

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (20 kg)
3 * 8 Dumbell Single Leg Deadlifts (12.5kg) - per leg}

Split Squats (5 @ 60 kg, 4 @ 70kg, 3 @ 80kg, 2 @ 90kg, 1 @ 100kg, 1 @ 110kg, 1 @ 120kg) - per leg *increase*

3 * Max Wide arm Pull ups (8, 5, 6)

3 * 30s Dynamic Plank

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Shorter routine than usual due to time constraints but still felt like a good session.

Tuesday Gym (3/9/13)

Gym today. Felt strong today. Had the weekend off, which I feel let me hit the gym hard today and started with squats. Was able to really push myself with the squats, but unfortunately couldn't go as hard as previously on the dead lifts. Got a lot done in a quiet gym so overall a good session!

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

Back Squats (5 @ 90 kg, 4 @ 100kg, 3 @ 110kg, 2 @ 120kg, 1 @ 130kg, 1 @ 140kg, 1 @ 150kg) *increase*

3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (30.5 kg *increase*)

Dead lifts (5 @ 68kg, 4 @ 78 kg, 3 @ 88kg, 2 @ 98kg)

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (20 kg)
3 * 8 Dumbell Single Leg Deadlifts (12.5kg) - per leg}

3 * Max Wide arm Pull ups (7, 6, 6)

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

This week's fitness

Monday Gym

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (17.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}

Back Squats (5 @ 60 kg, 4 @ 70kg, 3 @ 80kg, 2 @ 90kg, 1 @ 100kg, 1 @ 110kg)

Dead lifts (5 @ 58kg, 4 @ 68 kg, 3 @ 78kg, 2 @ 88kg)

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching

Foam rolling

Shorter session on Tuesday due to time restrictions.

Wednesday just cycled.
Thursday went to yoga. Was just me and two other experienced guys so the instructor went pretty hard on us including some pretty tough poses including wall plank, dolphin plank and wheel. Was a good session and really felt it afterwards.

Friday was gym again.

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (20 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Dumbell Single Leg Deadlifts (12.5kg) - per leg *increase*}

Back Squats (5 @ 80 kg, 4 @ 90kg, 3 @ 100kg, 2 @ 110kg, 1 @ 120kg, 1 @ 130kg, 1 @ 140kg) *increase*

Dead lifts (5 @ 68kg, 4 @ 78 kg, 3 @ 88kg, 2 @ 98kg, 1 @ 108kg)

3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (27 kg)

3 * 5 Wide arm Pull ups

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Felt really good about the squats. It's the first time I've got up to 140kg and it was a tough session.

Keep building to Euros!

Bordeaux Bound!

What a weekend! There were ups and downs but by the end we had punched our tickets to Europeans.

Game 1 vs EMO 2 (5 v 12): Ka-Pow! win 15-3

Our first game of the weekend was a relatively easy one to get our systems working and our defence sharp. We finished this game relatively unchallenged leaving ourselves a bit of a gap before our second game.

Game 2 vs Brighton City (5 v 4): Ka-Pow! lose 15-13

This game was tough from start to finish, Brighton had a great start to the game against us and our defence, despite getting plenty of turns, wasn’t able to convert enough to earn us the lead at any point. We went on a run towards the end of the game with aims of the big upset in the final moments, and despite having the disc with an opportunity to take the game to sudden death, we dropped the disc in the endzone and Brighton converted clinically to take the win and the Semi finals spot. Looking at the Brighton roster, it was the strongest it has been all season, and they had really sharpened their Hexagon offence and tightened their zone defences, but we definitely came out of this game thinking we could have won.

Game 3 vs Devon (5 v 8): Ka-Pow! lose 15-13

Devon took a break to start the game and got loud. They kept their energy up for the entire game, their offence was efficient and their defence kept the pressure on us. Again, towards the end we made a run at them in an attempt to steal the game at the final whistle, but again we came up slightly short.

Devon have a habit of riding the waves of their energy and emotion and when they're on the crest of the wave and everything is going right they are a great team, and this weekend they used this to take 4th and a spot at Euros.

This would mean that our route for Euros qualification would require us to take either 5th or 6th and would mean we would start Saturday with a game to stay in the top 8 of the tournament.

Game 4 vs Fire 2 (8 v 9): Ka-Pow! win 15-5

We started the game down, with wind and rain and Fire 2 going up early. Fire 2 had got the better of us on more than one occasion this year and we knew that if we didn’t tighten up this game could get away from us. We had switched lines up at the end of Saturday and mid way through the first half things began to click for all the lines. The D-lines started to absolutely shut down Fire’s options and the O-Line began to look fluid and efficient. Despite this game starting close we would eventually take the victory with a comfortable score.

Game 5 vs EMO 1 (6 v 8): Ka-Pow! win 15-12

This was the game to go. The winner would qualify for Europeans. EMO started strongly getting an early break and scoring deep on almost every O point they had, despite pressured catches and throws. Being down a break at 7-7 and starting on defence, we put out a big line who were able to get the block and punch it in to take the half. We were happy, we were loud, but we knew that it was only half a job. EMO proved they were not going anywhere by taking their offence point coming out of half and breaking our O line again. Points were then traded until 11-11 when Nick Roberts made the play of the tournament, getting a massive layout catch block on a huck to Rich Gale (edit: the Huck was to Dave Povey not Rich Gale). He hit the ground hard and had to go off injured, but that play provided the spark for our team for the rest of the game. We converted that point to break back and take a lead which we would hold for the rest of the game. Suddenly our D line was stifling to a level where we got a block on each of the remaining points and converted all but 1. I got 2 layout blocks in those points and Ka-Pow! were fired up. When we scored the final point the sidelines erupted and we charged the field, knowing our aim for the season was realised. This game was season defining, and was probably some of the best ultimate we have played.

Game 6 vs Fire 1 (5 v 6): Ka-Pow! lose 14-5

At the end of the EMO 1 game everyone had a smile on their face, but we agreed that we would go hard in our last game. It felt like it would be a great precursor to Euros, not just for the competition, but also to improve our seeding.
Unfortunately, by the time we had all sat down and spoken to plenty of people about our win and watched half the open final the energy was gone. We warmed up and drilled, but the drills weren’t the best quality. We went into the game and started ok, but were dragged into a game filled with calls and heated discussion. Our sideline wasn’t as loud as it had been in previous games and Fire were able to capitalise on our mistakes and get the disc back even when we got blocks.
The game was a downer, but after it finished we agreed that there was nothing we could do about it now and that we would learn from it and move on.
Spirits were still high from our qualification and we later learned that we had won the Spirit of the game award as well which was fantastic.

Overall, this weekend was incredible. There were ups and downs, but qualification left everyone with massive grins on their faces. We know we’ve still got plenty to do before Europeans, but I for one am definitely looking forward to the trainings almost as much as Euros itself.

The week before nationals...

After having a tough weekend I wanted to follow it with a stretching session in order to loosen up the muscles which were a bit achey/sore.

I went to the Gym and did a warmup similar to the one I usually do followed by a 30 minute stretching/foam rolling session.

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
30s Dynamics plank > 30s plank

Then I followed the stretching routine which I originally learned when playing for the GB Under 23s in 2010, but which is the same as that used by Ka-Pow! when Jonny Clarke is leading warm downs, so I know it well. I also added in some arm stretches which aren't usually included and then did the same foam rolling routine that I do after gym sessions.

Shorter than usual routine today as I didn't want to overdo it and I knew I'd be busy at work today, but wanted to get in one more gym session before nationals.

Tuesday Gym:

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (27 kg)

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (17.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}

3 * 5 Split squats (70kg) - per leg

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

The rest of the week was: Wednesday cycling and stretching, and Friday cycling and stretching.

This weekend is going to be BIG!!!

UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Open

The Open division at Nationals looks set to be competitive at the top and bottom, but perhaps not between the top and bottom 8 teams. With players and clubs switching to the Mixed division (and in some cases Masters) the Open division contains a lot of teams who can challenge for qualification to Euros, mixed with some teams that started the year in C-Tour (the third tier of competition in the UKU structure). Whilst this means the first round could feature a few blowout wins by the higher seeds, it also means any team wanting to compete in Semis and avoid the back door bracket to Europeans better not start off round 2 slowly.

Round 1:

Game to watch: In what should be the closest game in the first round Manchester find themselves starting as the number 2 seed after a sudden death Northern regional final win over Chevron, and Fire 2 find themselves as 15^th seed after winning the game to go in the London Region over Burro. Considering the Tour finishing positions (Fire 2: 8^th and Manchester: 11^th) this should be the closest and most entertaining of the first round matchups.

Ka-Pow!: We start against EMO 2. We should be using this game to get warmed up for Round 2 and get all our systems going early. We can also use this to get our fundamentals (throwing, catching, man defence) working early. EMO 2 had an average tour finish of 22^nd, but could have picked up other players who played for other Midlands Open teams (particularly the Non-Masters contingent of BAF), so whilst it won’t be an easy game we should be looking for a comfortable win.

Round 1 predictions: Clapham over Devon 2, Devon 1 over Reading, Ka-Pow! over EMO 2, Brighton City over Birmingham, EMO1 over Release, Fire 1 over Glasgow, Chevron over Flump, Manchester over Fire 2

Round 2: (going on assumption that all predictions above are correct).

Top 8: All the games in the top bracket should be worth watching so I’ll give a little preview here.

The Northern Regional Final rematch between Chevron and Manchester should prove very interesting because it will be the first regional rematch at Nationals and, whilst Manchester took the region, Chevron were reported to have only sent half a squad (the half that actually lives in the North). Regardless, Manchester will be pumped to prove it wasn’t a one off and Chevron will be out for some revenge (it’s the first time they haven’t won their Region since regionals were introduced).

Clapham vs Devon should prove interesting because if there’s anything Devon loves it’s an upset in a game against a physically challenging opponent that they can get fired up against. Clapham have just flown back from the East Coast of the USA where they attended the Chesapeake Open Invite tournament. They had a fantastic set of results, beating Ring of Fire (who finished tied 3rd at USAU Nationals last year), Chain Lightning (who finished tied 7th at USAU Nationals last year) and a close game against Ironside (tied 3rd with Ring of Fire at USAU Nationals last year). Whilst they will be riding high on such a great international showing in the states, it remains to be seen whether fatigue of so much travel by Clapham (including some of their players who also flew out/back to Colombia for World Games or Toronto for Under 23s not long ago) could play a part in Clapham's performances later in the tournament. Regardless of this, they should feel comfortable about making Semis by beating Devon 1 and 2 in their first two games.

EMO 1 vs Fire 1: Fire 1 will be very disappointed after such a down season. Considering they made the Nationals Final last year they must have been hoping for a better Tour. They are a better team than they showed throughout the year and will be hoping to bring it all together at Nationals. EMO1 on the other hand, have been the big story of the year so far. After qualifying for Euros for the first (???) time last year they built in the offseason with strong leadership from their GB stars Colonel and Rich Gale. The pairing of some of the best game managing, level headed players in the UK with a wealth of young talent coming up through strong university clubs has brought EMO a fantastic Tour season and a comfortable Regional title. Both teams will be looking to make Semis and avoid the backdoor route to Euros. However, looking at EMO 1’s roster Colonel appears to not be playing, which could play a part in this game.

Brighton City vs Ka-Pow!: We have faced off against Brighton only twice as Ka-Pow! in our two years as a club, at Tour 3 2012 and Tour 3 2013 and both times we ground out tough wins in our undefeated campaigns. At nationals last year though, Brighton brought the best squad they had been able to put together all year and absolutely dominated DED in the second round after they had lost to them in the South East regional final, going on to qualify for Euros. Last year, Ka-Pow! weren’t able to put together a good weekend at Nationals after an undefeated Tour 3 and ended up 9^th. This game will be tough and, like EMO vs Fire, should be a game both teams will go into thinking that they have what it takes to make Semis and wanting to avoid the back door to Euros.

Bottom 8: Game to Watch

Again, assuming all games in Round 1 go to my predictions, I see the game to watch in Round 2 being the London Regional rematch between Flump and Fire 2. After another strong season, Fire 2 found themselves in the game to go to nationals after losing to Flump, a team who hadn’t played in the A-Tour, in their 3-6 bracket Semi final. They will be pumped for revenge and should have come off a closer matchup against Manchester than Flump will have had against Chevron. Both teams will probably still have eyes on either 5^th or 6^th and their associated European Qualification spots and would love to play spoiler to the other team’s tournament.

I will not be doing any predictions this year for the Open division.

UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Mixed

The mixed division features only 8 teams again, but with all teams except ABH and JR having top 10 Mixed tour finishes and with only 3 spots compared to the open division’s 6, the Mixed division could be a more competitive tournament than some attendees may have been hoping.

Round 1:

Games to watch:

Thundering Herd vs DED & Bear Cavalry vs Brighton Breezy: The herd played DED a couple of times over the Mixed Tour coming away with both wins and losses. Bear Cavalry are aiming to defend their national title on their journey to Worlds next year but had a disappointing tour after winning all Tour and national events in both 2011 and 2012. Brighton always find a way to play the Bears tough, but will be playing with a weaker team than the one that went to tour, due to the majority of the male players choosing the Open division. I’m going to predict these as the closest of the first round games (with the assumption that Black Eagles and Cambridge should earn easy wins over the bottom two seeds) and therefore the best ones to watch, but if I were a gambling man my money would be on DED over the Herd and Bears over Brighton.

Round 2: (going on assumption that all predictions above are correct)

Games to watch:

Cambridge vs Bears should be good but with them both guaranteed a 1 and 2 seed going into the knockout phase and easy looking quarters this may be a little lacklustre. DED vs Black Eagles should be the more entertaining game in the second round, with many of the Scots on Black Eagles getting back into the swing of competition after many were not competing in the Open and Women’s tours this season and DED looking to consolidate their (presumed) win over the Herd in the first round.

After Round 2 it’s straight knock out and my final finishing position predictions look like this:

1.       Bear Cavalry (Euro Q1)

2.       Black Eagles (Euro Q2)

3.       Cambridge (Euro Q3)

4.       DED

5.       Thundering Herd

6.       Brighton Breezy

7.       ABH

8.       JR

Though I wish all the best of luck to my Thundering Herd team mates and hope they prove me wrong.

UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Womens'

The Women’s division looks pretty cut and dry to me in terms of the 4 European Qualification spots going to only 6 teams entered. The mixed division has, this year even more than last year, disrupted the Women’s division. With the first round being all 6 teams in a round robin, Curve (did not enter Women’s tour) and Dragon Knights (Tour finish of 15^th out of 21) will be tough pressed to snatch any wins against the other four teams who will befirm favourites to take the 4 euro spots and who will be aiming to make the final. After the round robin there is a Final between the two teams who finished 1^st and 2^nd and no game to go to Euros with the top 4 qualifying automatically. This means that games between the top 4 should be tough fought throughout, but the end of the weekend may prove to be an anti-climax, which is disappointing since, in my experience, Women’s finals are more exciting to watch that Open finals.

Games to watch in pool play:

The best games in each round should be:

Round 1: Iceni vs LeedsLeedsLeeds. Whilst Iceni should feel confident in their abilities to beat Leeds, this should be the most competitive game of the round

Round 2: Iceni vs Bristol: The rematch of the Tour 3 final and what should be the tip for the Nationals final should be electric, but subdued as neither team will want to lose and make their job of getting to the final slightly harder, but will know they have 3 more games after this one to get themselves there.

Round 3: SYC’s first “game” of the tournament. When SYC are fired up they can take on last years champions so they will have used their first two games to tighten up their systems and loosen up their bodies and nerves. (Nice Bristols vs Leeds should also be a good battle).

Round 4: Assuming Leeds don’t beat Iceni or Bristol in Rounds 1 and 3, they could be out of running for the final unless they beat SYC and hope for a three way tie. SYC face Bristol in Round 5, which could be the game to go to the final if they beat Leeds in this round.

Round 5: Making assumptions that by this point Iceni have made the final and Leeds can do nothing more than beat down Curve SYC vs Bristol could be an even better game than the final as both teams fight to make the final.

The top 4/bottom 2 split seems obvious to predict, but the finishing positions aren’t, so here’s my attempt:

1.       Iceni (Euro Q1)

2.       Bristol (Euro Q2)

3.       SYC (Euro Q3)

4.       LeedsLeedsLeeds

5.       Curve

6.       Dragon Knights

UKU Nationals 2013 Preview - Masters' Division

The Masters’ Division (like Womens) looks pretty clear and will hand out 2 spots to 3 entrants! Whilst it shouldn’t be competitive, it is an interesting first step into the separation of teams in the UK. This division will start on Saturday at 12:00 and will finish on Saturday before 18:00.

Since there are only 3 teams entered and three games that will be played, instead of “Games to Watch” I’ll just preview the three teams and predict their finishing positions.

Zimmer: In the first draft of this preview, I confused Zimmer with the team Age against the Machine who entered Euro/World clubs in the last cycle. Having a look at their roster on the UKUNationals website, their team looks STACKED full of some of the best players to have played in the Open division this year with Masters eligibility, as well as some great players coming out of “retirement”. It is also a very close match with the GB Open Masters Beach squad which annihilated all competition at the European Beach championships earlier this summer.

Blue Arse Flies: BAF are the first of the two (what could be seen as) true Masters’ clubs in the tournament. BAF entered open tour with (I would estimate) a 50/50 split of Masters and younger players and have sent teams which could enter Masters’ divisions to international tournaments like Tom’s Tourney before. Interestingly, schedule wise, the first game could be the championship game with Zimmer facing BAF in round 1. Whilst they have had to pick up some players to fill out the squad, the core of this team has been playing together as a team for years and may find their stride quicker in game 1 than Zimmer may like.

Trigger Happy: TH also entered open tour, finishing 34^th, a whole 20 places lower than BAF, and as far as I know have never been to a national or international tournament in any capacity. Whilst they could pick up masters players not playing for a qualified Open/Women’s/Mixed club, I don’t see them challenging for either the title or the 2^nd Euro spot against BAF or Zimmer.

Predictions:

11.Zimmer

22. BAF

33.Trigger Happy

BAF will play Zimmer tough in game 1, but with the talent on the Zimmer squad there isn’t a way I can see them coming away with anything but Gold. BAF should be able to handle Trigger Happy to take the Silver and the 2^nd Euro spot.

Ka-Pow! weekend session

Ka-Pow! were out in numbers this weekend for the last session before we hit Nationals at Wide Lane Sports Ground, Southampton.

On Saturday, Pichler had organised a Ka-Pow! sports day. We split the team into the O-Line and each D-Line and competed against each other in a variety of events, before playing games to 3. Each event was worth 3 points for line that won, or the individual from the line that won for his line.

The first set of events were Physical and involved an agility arrow relay, an endzone to endzone sprint, a single legged and double legged bounding contest and "animal warmup" relay races. Other people may have seen our "animal warmup" routine at tournaments which we've been to and, whilst unconvensional looking, always do the job. Some of our players have been more adaptable to them than others and it was pretty funny to watch a relay race of the "Cheetah run" in particular.

The second set of challenges were Technical and involved a Pulling competition, a throwing accuracy competition and a 3 man break mark drill competition.

After that we moved onto games to three, between each line. Scoring across the Physical and Technical events left O-Line slightly behind in points, but when it came to the games we seemed to be taking control, winning our first game 3-0 and our second game 3-1. Unfortunately, by the end of the games we hadn't managed to bring it back enough with the final scores being:

3rd: O-Line (26 points)
2nd: Jake's D-Line (30 points)
1st: Jonny's D-Line (31 points)

After that we went to a nice "quiet" pub to have our social. Pringle had sent out a questionnaire to everyone and the evening was spent laughing at everyone's answers.

The next day we headed to White City to have a focussed and intense last training session before Nationals. It became clear that even though the Sports Day had been a good laugh and a tough session, we were all itching to play some ultimate.
We started with drills focussing on the important fundamental skills of defensive mark positioning, forcing and skying.
After that we played some games to 3 which were broken up with more drills (one working on hucking, one working on dump swinging) before just playing games to 3 until the end of the session.

It was a great weekend to finish our preparation on. It was tough, but our players remained focussed and intent on getting the best out of the sessions and I know we're all very excited for Nationals next weekend.

Look out for my previews of each division coming this week!

Weds + Thurs

I was planning on hitting the gym on Wednesday, but instead went to Ka-Pow! midweek training. It was a good session even if it started raining about half an hour in.
We started with a warm up and then, because Timmy wanted to do some sprints before going into drills, we did a 6 Huck drill adaptation.
Usually on the 6 Huck drill, we do a 5 metre shuttle with 3 pressups before throwing a huck, 6 times (1 open side flick, 1 break side flick, 1 open side backhand, 1 break side backhand, 2 straight up mark hucks).
Since we had only limited players and discs, but wanted to do plenty of running we adapted it to 4 hucks upwind with the shuttle (1 open side flick, 1 break side flick, 1 open side backhand, 1 break side backhand) then a roughly 50 yard sprint to where the hucks were aimed before throwing 4 hucks downwind with the shuttle and another 50 yard sprint.
We moved on to some technical leading pass drills with a defender, throwing to open side and break side cuts with both way marks.
We then moved on to some iron man mini (3v3) which at times was sloppy due to tired legs and the rain, but was mostly high intensity.

Today I went to Yoga and the session was pretty ideal for me with a heavy focus on poses strengthening/stretching hamstrings (which I've been having a little soreness with lately) and shoulders (which I've had injuries to in the past). Felt good to get back to Yoga and Hamstrings definitely felt a little looser after the session.
Friday I will have off (apart from cycling) so I go into this weekend's Ka-Pow! training fresh and fighting fit!
Really looking forward to this weekend, because I know that Pichler has some really interesting plans for Saturday's session, I'm really looking forward to training on Sunday as we're using 3G again (with the idea being that we'll have to play on 3G at nationals if we make Semi finals) and because the Saturday evening social sounds like a lot of fun!

It's been a while...

I was between last Wednesday (7th) and yesteday (12th) which is why there's not been any new content. Here's what's happened:

Last Tuesday I went to the gym but wasn't able to get the session written up before I went away, here it is:

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

Dead lifts (5 @ 58kg, 4 @ 68 kg, 3 @ 78kg, 2 @ 88kg, 1 @ 98kg, 1 @ 108kg) *increase*

3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (28 kg *increase*)

Back Squats (5 @ 70 kg, 4 @ 80kg, 3 @ 90kg, 2 @ 100kg, 1 @ 110kg, 1 @ 120kg) *increase*

Split squats (5 @ 60kg, 4 @ 70kg, 3 @ 80kg, 2 @ 90kg, 1 @ 100kg) - per leg *increase*

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (15 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}

3 * Max Wide arm Pull ups (8, 5, 5)

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

I'm starting to get the hang of all the new exercises and it's building up nicely. It's been slow going with the amount I've been away, but I should get a session in tomorrow, another in next week before Nationals and then ramp up to Euros!

In other news I had another article published by Ultiworld. I enjoyed writing this, and it seems to have sparked quite a lot of conversation (it was linked by The Show Game in their weekly wrapup and it was also mentioned by Benji of Understanding Ultimate in his piece on "Powerless Observers" which was a really interesting read). All three of my articles for Ultiworld are now linked on the sidebar of this blog.

This week, as already mentioned, I will hit the gym, go to Yoga on Thursday, and then Ka-Pow! are having our last practice (a full weekend) before UKUNationals. Look out for a preview of that beforehand!

UKURegionals 2013 - Wrapup

Here is my preview which I put out last week. I think overall I am happy with my predictions! The Show Game also put out a set of predictions and previews for each region. Let's see how we did (1 point for correct team in correct qualifying position, 1/2 point for correct team in incorrect qualifying position).

Scotland
Apparently, Black Eagles (Mixed) almost caused a big commotion in the Scottish national Tournament, by only losing their Semi final in sudden death and, though I don't know their opponents, if they had gone to the final and won it would have caused a lot of chatter prior to nationals and they have to feel good about their results from this tournament and their season as a whole when going into Mixed nationals. The region was won by Glasgow Ultimate who took the only Nationals spot over Fusion. Correct predictions by myself and TSG so 1 point each.

North
No-one was tipping anyone but Chevron to take this region, but they were bested in a Sudden death Final game by Manchester Ultimate who took the regional title and the better seed going into nationals. Chevron took the second spot in convincing fashion:

Season ends with @chevronultimate taking out their frustrations: clinical 13-2 victory as we make too many mistakes #UKURegionals #BeersNow
— LeedsLeedsLeeds (@lllufc) August 3, 2013

Neither myself or TSG called this and the piece on TSG was written by a Manchester Ultimate player. If rumours are to be believed, Chevron took a small squad and will be fine for Nationals, but this does present an interesting job for the UKUltimate team who will be seeding Nationals. Chevron finished 2nd at Tour, but should be placed below Manchester due to their regional defeat. Manchester, on the other hand, finished Tour 11th and so it will be interesting to see how high they climb. TSG and I picked the two qualifying teams correctly, but in the wrong order so I'll give us each a half point per team. (Me: 2 TSG: 2).

Midlands
In the Midlands EMO were in control and took first place. Second were EMO 2 with Birmingham finishing third and taking the last spot to Nationals. This will be a good end to a good first season for a young Birmingham squad who started in the C-Tour and also shows EMO's strength in depth to take 1st/2nd. I predicted Birmingham 2nd, but their semi was against EMO 1 so that didn't happen. TSG: 5 Me: 4

South West
Don't think anything more needs to be said here. 1st: Devon 1, 2nd: Devon 2, 3rd: Devon 3
TSG: 8, Me: 7

South East
Here's where things get interesting. Again there was a dominant team at the top (Brighton City) and like the Midlands the action was for the other qualification spots. With DED concentrating on Mixed, their Open squad was weakened and was scared early in the day by the likes of Guildford Open. My predictions put them outside of qualification, but at the end of the day they were in the game to go against Release (who I had put as taking the 3rd spot). The game finished 10-7 to Release, another team to start the year in the C-Tour. Whilst DED were weakened through the mixed focus, this should still be going down as a massive upset by the home team who TSG predicted would finish in 7th place in the region. My other call of Reading making the final was spot on meaning I went 3 for 3 in this region. TSG: 9, Me: 10

London
I'll finish the running score there as I only predicted the 4th and 5th spot finishers in London, and TSG didn't provide any predictions (also, it conveniently finishes with me taking the win!). London regionals was a great day featuring upsets and one dominant team similar to most of the other regions. Clapham (despite going down 3-2 to Curve) would retain their title and the 1 seed at nationals.
I was quietly confident about Ka-Pow's chances going into the day, hoping to build on our momentum from Tour 3 and the high quality training sessions since then. We won our group against Jekyll and Hyde 2 (13-0) and Tooting Tigers who were winding down a tough and disappointing season with 9 players (some of whom would be playing in the mixed division anyway) (13-5). We went into our Semi final against Fire 1 with a bigger break after they had longer group games and took the early lead. The short game times meant that we were almost at the end of the game when we took half 7-3 (I think). The buzzer went at 8-4 (?) and we closed the game out 9-5 to advance to the Final and automatic qualification. Fire 1 were able to take the third spot and hold seed, but did not have the best of days. In the final, we stayed with Clapham early. They had taken a smaller squad but not small enough to make a difference with only 2 games (one of which was a 13-3 blowout) and so legs weren't a factor. Clapham were making mistakes and so were we, but they just made less and managed to pull away. The final score was 13-7, but we were still happy with our day and holding the second London seed to take the higher start position at Nationals which could prove to be a big difference maker given the other regional results.
As mentioned earlier, Fire 1 would go on to take 3rd. Their 3 v 4 was against Flump who upset Fire 2 in their "qualification semi" (3-6 bracket). Another team who started their season in C-Tour came up big at regionals to guarantee a nationals berth and beat a Fire 2 team who have had another strong year.
In the game to go, Fire 2 beat out Burro electrico to take the final spot.

The interesting outcome of this weekend is the (already started) Nationals seeding rumour mill. If it was purely based on this year's tour rankings (of the finishes based on spots in each region) and regionals finishes, the seeding would look like this:
1. (GL1 - Tour 1st: Clapham) Clapham
2. (N1 - Tour 2nd: Chevron) Manchester (Tour 11th)
3. (ML1 - Tour 3rd: EMO 1) EMO 1
4. (SE1 - Tour 5th: Brighton City) Brighton City
5. (GL2 - Tour 6th: Ka-Pow!) Ka-Pow!
6. (GL3 - Tour 7th: Fire 1) Fire of London 1
7. (GL4 - Tour 8th: Fire 2) Flump (Tour 23rd)
8. (SW1 - Tour 9th: Devon 1) Devon 1
9. (SE2 - Tour 10th: DED) Reading (Tour 17th)
10. (N2 - Tour 11th: Manchester) Chevron Action Flash (Tour 2nd)
11. (SC1 - Tour 12th: Glasgow) Glasgow
12. (ML2 - Tour 14th: BAF) EMO 2 (Tour 22nd)
13. (ML3 - Tour 15th: Cambridge) Birmingham (Tour 25th)
14. (SE3 - Tour 17th: Reading) Release (Tour 33rd)
15. (GL5 - Tour 18th: Tooting Tigers) Fire 2 (Tour 8th)
16. (SW2 - Tour 24th: Devon 2) Devon 2

This would provide some interesting first round matchups including: Manchester v Fire 2 and Flump v Chevron (with Flump as the higher seed!).
In the grand scheme of things though, seeding Chevron 10th would put them in a quarter final rematch against Manchester. Given that Chevron would go into that game with a full squad, Manchester should feel hard done by with that matchup. Arguments could be made that Manchester should be preparing to hold their seed against all comers, but the likelihood is that seedings will be slightly altered based on where each team finished at Tour rather than based on the finish of each regional spot was at tour. If I was in charge (and I'm glad I'm not) I probably produce a nationals seeding that would look like this:

1. (GL1 - Tour 1st: Clapham) Clapham
2. (ML1 - Tour 3rd: EMO 1) EMO 1
3. (SE1 - Tour 5th: Brighton City) Brighton City
4. (N1 - Tour 2nd: Chevron) Manchester (Tour 11th)
5. (GL2 - Tour 6th: Ka-Pow!) Ka-Pow!
6. (N2 - Tour 11th: Manchester) Chevron Action Flash (Tour 2nd)
7. (GL3 - Tour 7th: Fire 1) Fire of London 1
8. (SW1 - Tour 9th: Devon 1) Devon 1
9. (GL4 - Tour 8th: Fire 2) Flump (Tour 23rd)
10. (GL5 - Tour 18th: Tooting Tigers) Fire 2 (Tour 8th)
11. (SC1 - Tour 12th: Glasgow) Glasgow
12. (SE2 - Tour 10th: DED) Reading (Tour 17th)
13. (ML2 - Tour 14th: BAF) EMO 2 (Tour 22nd)
14. (ML3 - Tour 15th: Cambridge) Birmingham (Tour 25th)
15. (SW2 - Tour 24th: Devon 2) Devon 2
16. (SE3 - Tour 17th: Reading) Release (Tour 33rd)
On paper this looks fairer, with the bottom 4 teams being put in as the teams with the lowest tour rankings and alters the seed of Fire 2, Manchester and Chevron based on their tour finish whilst ensuring the regionals results aren't ignored. It also puts all the regional winners (except Glasgow) in the top 8.
The problems don't all go away with this solution though, with Brighton City drawing the quarter final matchup against Chevron and EMO 1 drawing a quarter against Fire 1. I think the organisers are in for a couple of headaches along the way, but if I'm being honest, there does appear to be a quite clear top 6 teams going to this tournament and if I was going to list them (in alphabetical order) they would be:
Brighton City, Chevron, Clapham, EMO1, Fire 1, Ka-Pow!. The next four, based on Tour would be Devon 1, Glasgow, Manchester and Fire 2 and then the rest, but we saw at Regionals that Flump were able to upset Fire 2, so why should Flump start below Fire 2 and who's to say they couldn't cause a few more upsets.
All I can say is good luck to the schedulers/tournament organisers and bring on Nationals!

UKU Regionals Preview - 2013

Last year's Regionals Preview was one of my favourite pieces I did for my blog and my predictions were mostly accurate. With some interesting points to discuss, I'm excited to have another crack at it this year!

Scotland (1 Spot)

With the Glasgow/Fusion split meaning that the highest finishing Tour team from Scotland was 12th, with Fusion taking a massive tumble to 46th at Tour overall (only entering Tour 1 and finishing 33rd) after just missing out on the Euro spot last year (6th) and Black Eagles attempting to consolidate a strong Mixed season with a European berth, the Scottish Champions may not be a big part of the Open division at Nationals this year. Glasgow would appear to be the tip to take it, but it could all depend on how many and which players choose Mixed over open in the end. Prediction: 1st: Glasgow.

North (2 bids)

There have been grumblings about the low number of bids allocated to the North this year and it's easy to see why. The North received 3 bids last year, but weren't able to make as much impact as they would have hoped with Chevron finishing 3rd (dropping one seed) and with Man Up! finishing 11th and Vision finishing last. This year, Chevron finished 2nd, Manchester finished 11th and Leeds finished 13th which is a more successful Tour season for the North than last year (Chevron 2nd, Leeds 14th) and yet they have one less bid. Last year, Chevron took the north easily, with Man Up! making a late season push on the back of a contingent of Leeds players switching sides (which is part of the reason Manchester have been as strong as they are this year) and the 3rd and remaining spot going to Vision (over The Brown who chose to enter Mixed, and Leeds). This year, the top spot shouldn't be a shock with Chevron favourites to once again take the region. We should expect to see Manchester and Leeds to be duking it out for the final spot. If the tour is anything to go by this should be a fierce matchup with Manchester looking to have the advantage, over the other Northern teams with National registrations completed: Vision and Black Sheep.

Midlands (3 spots)

EMO should be strong favourites to take the region after a very strong Tour season. The Midlands' tour season overall was weaker than last year though, with both BAF and Cambridge just holding onto the top 16 despite EMOs improvements. The interesting developments this year are Cambridge hedging their bets by entering Mixed (with the kicker being that Punt are not entered at all) and BAF entering a Masters division team which appears to give a 1 in 3 chance of a European spot. This leaves room for up and coming team Birmingham and EMO's second team to challenge for the remaining spots which look fairly open. Dependent on the quality of the Open teams being sent by Cambridge and BAF I see the region looking like this come the end of play. 1st: EMO, 2nd: Birmingham/Cambridge 3rd: Birmingham/Cambridge/EMO 2/BAF. If I had to guess it would be 1st: EMO, 2nd: Birmingham, 3rd: EMO 2.

South West and Wales (2 Spots)

This region has already been previewed by The Show Game. With the writer having knowledge of the South West regional entries, there is no chance for confusion. Devon are the only entered club with 3 teams in attendance. It will be little more than a training session and will leave the South West represented at Nationals by Devon 1 and 2. Whilst this could be good for Devon, all predictions would be towards Devon 2 finishing dead last at Nationals 2013 and the South West only receiving a single bid to 2014's Nationals. This could further weaken what is already one of the weaker and less populated regions. That's not to say Devon 1 won't or can't make noise at Nationals 2013 (they can definitely do that figuratively and literally), but it could lead to further exoduses from the region to the more established clubs in the future. Devon is also the only entered team from this region in the Mixed division so it's not like Cardiff Storm (Tour 2013: 32nd, Nationals 2012: 14th) and Bristol Open (Tour 2013: 28th) are focussing on Mixed. A very disappointing showing and there should definitely be a concise effort to expand Ultimate in the South West in the coming years.

South East (3 spots)

After DED open had a fantastic first tour season in 2012 (4th Overall) and winning the South East region, they were blown out of the water at Nationals by a greatly strengthened Brighton team who went on to qualify for Europeans. Brighton went on to have the stronger 2013 Open tour season (4th overall) and DED appear to have decided to concentrated on Mixed after a strong Mixed tour. As earlier mentioned, Punt have not entered the women's division and with their women playing for either DED or Cambridge mixed, and with both of these teams having strong Mixed seasons, this could be where the Oxford (or Thame) vs Cambridge rivalry plays out this season.
DED have still registered in the Open division, so they could be attempting to split their squads between the 2 divisions, but that would be difficult for the club. With Wessex dispanding after just one season, the number 2 and 3 spots open up to Reading, Brighton Echo (2) and Release. With Brighton also entering 2 teams into the Mixed division, their second team may be weakened enough that Release could challenge for the 3rd spot (assuming 1st: Brighton City (1) and 2nd: Reading). Knowing the players coming to Release for Regionals, and with them having home field advantage I can see them with a shot at sneaking the 3rd bid away from Brighton Echo, with the players from Echo focussing on Mixed where, at xEUCF2009 Brighton won the European Mixed division. Predictions: 1st: Brighton City, 2nd: Reading, 3rd: Release.

London (5 spots)

London should be the region most hotly contested at the top. Though Clapham are once again the established front runners, Ka-Pow! go in ahead of Fire 1 as 2nd seed and Fire 2 have to like their chances to secure a bid with victories over Ka-Pow! and higher finishing positions than their first team at Tours 2 and 3. The fifth bid should also be hotly contested between Flump who had a fairly strong year especially considering their start in the C-Tour, Burro who finished strong after a small down year and Tooting who will be eager to regain their form after a disappointing Tour year. The exciting action in this region should be for the podium positions and in particular the semi final with (what seems likely to be) the matchup between Ka-Pow! and Fire 1. I really don't know how this game will shake out assuming everything goes to seed, but both teams will be fired up to make the final and have a shot at Clapham and a higher seed going into Nationals. An interesting note here is that Clapham and Fire will be affected by players returning from World Games duty on what will be a downer (Justin, Gash and Mum for Clapham and Parslow for Fire).
My prediction after the top 3 would be: 4th: Fire 2, 5th: Burro.

Saturday Ka-Pow! training and Monday Gym

Last week, this week and next week I have holiday booked from work. As such:
- last week I only cycled three days, went to the gym on Tuesday and went to Ka-Pow! training.
- this week I will only be cycling 2 days, I went to the gym today and will be playing UKU London Regionals on Saturday,
- next week I will be cycling 2 days and going to the gym on Tuesday.

Saturday went pretty well. Once again we had a good turnout and were able to put together a really useful session, looking again at our offensive systems. We did a lot of sideline reset drills and end zone drills. For regular readers, it may seem we just can't get this right, however I think it's encouraging that our regular offense has gotten to a point where we can have such a big focus on two critical parts where the pressure from the defense is at it's highest.
The sideline drills also had us focussing on sideline defense as well as offense, and we finished with some games.

Today's gym session again featured some adaptations to my regular routine in order to continue building to what I want my gym routine to look like in the final weeks building up to Nationals and Euros.

Warm up:

1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling

Main routine:

Back Squats (5 @ 60 kg, 4 @ 70kg, 3 @ 80kg, 2 @ 90kg, 1 @ 100kg, 1 @ 110kg, 1 @ 120kg) *increase*

Split squats (5 @ 55kg, 4 @ 65kg, 3 @ 75kg, 2 @ 85kg, 1 @ 95kg) - per leg

{3 * 8 Frog Squat Jumps (12.5 kg *increase*)
3 * 8 Kettlebell Single Leg Deadlifts (12kg) - per leg}

3 * Max Wide arm Pull ups (8, 6, 6)

Dead lifts (5 @ 48kg, 4 @ 58 kg, 3 @ 68kg, 2 @ 88kg)

3 * 5 Hang Clean to Front Squats (18 kg *new exercise*)

Warm down:

Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling

Since I haven't done front squats before, or any sort of Olympic lifting I was looking to really perfect the technique on the Hang Clean to Front Squats. I will be aiming to up the weight in the coming sessions and refine the sets/reps of some exercises further to really get this routine right. Already felt the benefit though with my 120 kg back squat!

This week I will put up my Regionals preview again! It was one of my favourite posts to do last year and it should be an interesting weekend with many regions being wide open and the allure of Mixed qualification to Euros over Open.