Mixed Nationals Report 2009
5:30am last Saturday saw coed OW! - better known as COW! - gather at the Eagle and Child to watch the sun rise and start the long and tortuous journey up to Nottingham. Two hours later we found ourselves at the pitches, an hour before they opened. Cursing those who had made us get up unnecessarily early, we nevertheless made the best of it by refinding the greasy spoon by the train station that had served us so well at indoor regionals.
Back at the pitches, we started off with a game against Cambridge, our old rivals. They had some good handler movement and a strong deep game, taking the game 11-4, or thereabouts. A similar story in the next game against Positive Mojo (Aberdeen).
After a games' gap, we were up against Hungry Sweaty Beavers (LSE). We took a few nice points against them, but ultimately the scoreline went their way. We dominated the call though - apparently LSEers can't handle "Phil Phil Phil Phil Phil Phil Phil don't touch me don't touch me don't touch me Phil don't touch me Phil Phil don't touch me Phil Phil Phil Phil I'm underage I'm underage" etc. I can now never introduce myself to anyone at LSE without probably getting arrested...
Our last game of Saturday was against Too Many Pies (Newcastle). This was a close game, with both teams working short and long. In the end we came out winners 10-9, celebrating a victory, but again cursing the scheduling that had made us get up at 5:30 to be finished by 2:30. Grr.
We basically lost the party. As captain, I take the blame.
Sunday saw our promised lie-in, 24 hours too late, followed by games against Phat 'Eds (Sheffield) and Bears (Warwick). Bears showed all the skill we were expecting, after seeing them win Open Nationals without really trying, and fed us a bagel. That put us in the 11 v 12 game against Haze to try to break seed (innuendoes on the back of a postcard please). High winds and general tiredness from the weekend, along with loss of a few players to illness/injury meant both teams had trouble this game, and we had some monster points. The final scoreline went their way, but we had some nice play, and a good demonstration of how we'd managed to gel as a team over the course of the weekend, with great cutting and flow.
All in all a great weekend, especially the unusual opportunity to play at least one day of a tournament in beautiful weather. Special thanks to Hugo, Jonny and Alex for taking care of the organisation, and to Harry, Andy and Josie for driving us there and back.
Phil