Team:
Luke Farmery

Mike Elliott

Adam Levi

James Stocker

Harry Sims

Tom Blackman

Eddy Currie

Ethan Fitzpatrick

Tom Bliss

​Jordan “On Loan” Sloane

Graham Flower

Gopithan Ganesathas

Alex Finch

Jack Grabham

Sam Jupp

 

Starting Seed – 27th
Final Seed – 26th

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​As you will all undoubtedly know following my last Tour report, which you have definitely read, Tour 1 didn’t go quite to plan, and somewhat mimicked the results of Tour 1 last year. It was a weekend that started with high expectations, had moments of brilliance, but a lack of chemistry held us back. It wasn’t till the second day that we gelled and started to work as a team.

 

As we had already mimicked Tour 1 from last year, we hoped to mimic Tour 2 from last year also. This would mean topping our pool and winning our B Tour crossover. Did it happen? Would Luke have to double-up on his B Tour rewards? Let’s find out.

 

Oh, we have a flag now too!

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Game 1 – St. Albans 10 – 11 (L)

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At Tour 1 we had struggled to put points in early, and tended to go down by several points early, and were determined not to do the same.

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St. Albans were not the St. Albans that everyone had played before. They had taken a lot of players from Curve and combined their teams. Whilst this may have strengthened their team individually, this would affect their team chemistry drastically.

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We started out in traditional Plymouth style, and went down by several points early. We went down 4-0 before we put a point in. St. Curve had some incredible break throws which we couldn’t shut down. We struggled to gain traction and St. Curve were up 6-1. This was early in the game, and we couldn’t afford to lose a game this important this early. We took a time-out and had some stern words. The words must have been taken straight from William Wallace’s notebook, because it worked. We dug in and shut them down. We figured out what they had, and took it away. We stormed back in to the game, with St. Curve only ahead by 2 at half. We traded for the remainder of the game up to 10-9. The rain picked up and we had a down wind point and the hooter goes. We smash it in and tie the game 10-10. Game to 11. St. Curve start on O and manage to put it in to take the game 11-10. It’s not the ideal start, and could seriously jeopardise our plans of getting in to B Tour.

 

Anyway, nothing we can do now except win the rest of our games and hope the Frisbee Gods could take time from stretching on their foam roller after a long day of Spikeball and Gibbon to get us to the top of the pool.

 

  

Game 2 – South Wales Storm 2 13 – 12 (W)

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We didn’t have a break before our next game, but headed in to the game confident we could put away a second team. They were a tall team with strong handlers, which mirrored our team somewhat. We hoped that we would have enough pizzazz and spice to get through the game with a win.

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We traded points up to 4-4, and then Storm got a couple of break points. They had a couple of points on us as we traded for the majority of the game, before the hooter went at 12-9. We got the point and it was a game to 13, but we couldn’t possibly score four in a row to win could we? COULD WE?! It’s 12-10 to Storm, and we put out our killer D line with pure animals like Blackman and Stocker. They have the wind on their side, but we have a Blackman. A Tom Blackman that is. We shut them down and put the up-wind in. With momentum and wind on our side we put the next point in and we are at 12-12. We are working against the wind again and have a final push to achieve the unexpected. With their height and throwing ability, Storm decide to rely solely on that and put it long. It doesn’t come off and we live another day. We work it up and turn it over. Storm go for EXACTLY THE SAME THING and put it long to no one. This happens a few times, with Storm hucking it long each time. We work it up again and get in front of the end zone in the corner. A blady rolling flick to Stocker who misreads the situation and runs out of the pitch before jumping back in to the endzone to “score”. Noone is buying it. Storm have possession and PUT IT LONG. Whodathunkit. We have another opportunity, and the handlers make some distance up the pitch past the brick mark. Storm shut down our options in the endzone. We swing the disc well and open up space, put in a floaty back hand to the corner to Blackman’s evil twin who is incapable of dropping anything. We get the point and win the game! Plymouth did it in typical South West style and won the hard way.

 

We have a game off, and feel like we still have a chance to top the pool. We had to the club house to refuel and hang with the highest density of people in the world who don’t give a shit about the World Cup. 

 

 

Game 3 – Cloud City 2 10 – 9 (W)

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After the last game we felt we had gelled, and knew that Cloud City were made up of Cloud City, PAF, plus some pick up players. They also had Horse, and how well Horse plays is generally an indication of how well the team does.

 

Cloud take an early lead and we trade for a while. Both sides have flaws in their defense, but have a strong offense. We give them far too much on the open side, but our offense is too much for them. There is nothing between us for the entire game, and at 8-8 the hooter goes. We have the disc and work against the wind. We put it in and it’s a game to 10. Cloud City sneak a point in to commence the arrival of our third Universe Point of the day in three games. We work it up with ease and get to within 10m of the endzone. 3 of us stack up in the endzone and Levi does what he does best and puts in a hammer to the break side. With a 6ft 4 piece of eye candy with unparalleled hops as the intended receiver, you’d think this was a certainty. Unfortunately, it’s misread and turned. We turn the D up to 11 and get the disc back. We get the disc back to the same point as before and stack up as before. Levi spends 8 seconds considering whether he has reasonable grounds to trademark the hammer as his own, and throws a Hammer    to the breakside. This one sails way over the head of the 6ft 4 piece of eye candy. Trademark registration denied. We get back on D and force them to turn. Back to the same place again, 3 receivers in the endzone, Levi on the disc. Hammer    to the breakside. The 6ft 4 piece of eye candy goes up for a risky 2-handed catch. Ballsy, but it pays off. We get the score and win the game.

 

We celebrate, have a big chat, and then start worrying about where we finish in the pool. With St Curve beating us but losing to the others, Storm beating everyone but us, Cloud City only beating St Curve, and us losing to St Curve but beating the others, we are in a stressful situation. If the pool goes on points difference, we have 1 to Storm’s 17. If it’s on head to head, we beat Storm and go through. We discuss it with people who are disc enough to know, but have minimal confidence in them. We speak to the TD who confirms it’s head-to-head. WE ARE TOP OF THE POOL. THE DREAM LIVES ON!!!

 

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We head back to our hotels / AirBnBs. The Chepstow contingent spend a few hours pretending to watch football, before heading to a pub to pretend to watch football. Early start tomorrow for our B Tour Crossover! 

 

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Game 4 – Leamington Lemmings 9 – 15 (L)

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Before the game our latest addition to the team, Jordan, had given us some key intel – Lemmings were down on players...really down on players.

 

We rocked up nice and early to see Lemmings huddled in the smallest of huddles. You could barely even call it a huddle. They had 7 players, and we felt pretty confident we could absolutely smash them. Especially as half of them would struggle to get on most of the rides at Thorpe Park. Lemmings start on O and come out with a lot of intensity. They aren’t the quickest, or most flashy players, but they were very clinical. On D they put out a zone which cut out our handler movements, which we so heavily rely on normally, and only gave us options for active cutters, who had yet to wake up. Before anyone knew it, Lemmings were up 5-1, and in command of the game. We couldn’t make any progress against their zone, and our D, if you can call it that, let them breeze through, offering points up on a plump velvet cushion. They cut on to the open side when they wanted, and threw to the break side whenever they wanted. They had gained a considerable lead by the time Nate rocked up to make the situation worse. He out-ran and out-frisbeed us. Lemmings stormed to a 15-9 win, and deserved it. It wasn’t a pretty game for us, and meant we couldn’t get in to B Tour. But we could still top C Tour.

 

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We grab some food, put our feet up before Schedule Bitch informs us that we are playing Devon 2. Could be awkward. Better not lose this one.

 

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Game 5 – Devon 2 14 – 7 (W)

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We do a bit of pre-game research to see what we’re up against, and find out that Devon 2 have lost all their games, scoring only 7 points in each. This was clearly not the Devon 2 of last year and seemed to be a 50/50 blend of quality players and inexperienced players.

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After the last game we had to make sure we stepped up. We came up with a lot of intensity, and force them to make mistakes. We go up 3-0 and maintain our lead. On their offence they worked it up well, but struggled to convert it in the last 10m. In contrast we put in nearly all of our possessions. We managed to score with long and short options, testing out the breadth of our offence. But credit to Devon, they cut down a lot of our longer options. We had gone up 12-6 when the hooter went. We put it in to go up 13-6. Game to 14. Devon had scored 7 in each game so far, and fate wanted them to repeat that feat. They work it up the pitch and turn near our end zone. Levi picks up the disc and no one cuts. I cut under for the disc and sense Palacios on my shoulder and slow down to clear out. This isn’t communicated to Levi who puts the swing out to a now stationary me. Palacios runs through and macks the disc on in to the end zone for the Callahan to get them to 7. Bit of a bummer, but we still have a 7 point lead. Nothing too fancy happens next. We put it in fairly easily and take the game. A great game against Devon.

 

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We have another game off, and then face ExeTour in the C Tour final!

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Game 6 – ExeTour 8-11 (L)

 

This was essentially the same team that took Devon 2 to the top of B Tour last year. And what they were doing in C Tour boggles the mind. They are a class team who can beat anyone on their day.

We come out of the blocks hard and get the first point in. Our heads pick up and feel pretty good about our prospects. Then ExeTour score 3 in a row. This team are a defensive nightmare. If you mark them too tightly they will out-run you to get to space. If you poach off they will throw to the break side and get to the space. Their short game works fantastically, but quite often they switched and looked for the long which we either shut down or they over threw. This limited them to their short game. ExeTour took the half 8-4.

Second half we came out stronger, slowing them down and cutting out their options. We twigged on to what they were doing on offence and shut them out. We tightened up our offence and cut out the mistakes, and brought it back to 10-7. The hooter goes and we bring it back to 10-8. We had come back from worse this weekend. We slow them right down but they sneak it in to take the game, and top C Tour. Well-deserved for them, but credit to us as well for keeping in the game and bringing the game back within reach.

 

It wasn’t where we wanted to be, but it was a good indicator of the development we have done this season, especially taking on several new players who hadn’t played at this level before, and getting them to compete well and give a good account of themselves.

 

Jack Grabham took MIP, really showing his pace, safe hands, strong throws and frisbee smarts. Will be a force to be reckoned with in no time at all, even though I can’t understand what he’s saying.

 

James Stocker took MVP, with so many votes that Levi would have struggled if we had asked him to count them. He was a machine on both sides of the disc and proved why he deserved to be in the GB U24 team last year. Big shout out to Blackman as well, who showed his class by building further on an impressive season and topping all the stat charts.

 

There are areas we need to work on for Tour 3, but there is no reason why we cant finish this season in B Tour! See you lads in Birmingham!