Player Profile: James D. Glover, Ph.D.

By Tom McClintock

Hello again everybody. In this installment of Player Profiles we'll be getting to know the beloved James Glover. You may know him from Ro Sham Bo, Flatball, Fusion, or any of the local nudie bars around the city. As you'll soon come to realize, Glover is no stranger to top level ultimate, and with Outdoor Nationals coming up Glover is looking to lead his teammates to a championship. We'll also hear a little bit about the work he does in the lab, his future plans, and the story behind his chest hair. Thus, if you feel prepared, read on at your own risk.

People want to know the man behind the muscles. When and where did you start playing ultimate, and what drew you to the sport?

I started playing in my second week at uni in St Andrews. The pitches were next to our student accommodation, so my flatmates and I thought we would go check out the 'taster' session. We enjoyed the first session and then swiftly went to the social in the evening. We got absolutely hammered, got on really well with people in the club and the rest is history. I played two tournaments in my first month and from then on was hooked. 

Tell us about your involvement with Fusion and Black Eagles.

I have been involved with Fusion in one way or another since my first 6 months playing. I played tour with them in my 3rd year and then when I moved to Edinburgh I got very involved. I have been one of the captains of Fusion for the last two seasons, and we have been regularly competing for a top four place in the UK and have qualified for Europeans 2 years in a row. The year when it was Noblett's stag was the best, ask him about the teddy bear! It's a brilliant club to play with, the camaraderie in the team is second to none and we have had numerous players represent GB. In the last few years we have been trying to bring young players into our team, get them experiencing ultimate at the top level and generally increase the level of ultimate across Scotland. Been involved with Fusion is probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of ultimate for me.

Black eagles is a completely different kettle of fish. Me and Gordon drunkenly conceived the team whilst at a party. The name came first, followed by that kit! Most of you have probably seen it, it looks like a Danish death metal band's album cover, with eagles fighting bears. However the team itself is actually quite talented. We finished 6th at MT1 this year, having never played together, winning 3 games in sudden death. Our eventual plan is to go to worlds with this team, and just party. 

Reflecting on your many years on the Uni ultimate scene, what have been some highlights for you?

I have 3 experiences which really stand out for me. Firstly in my 2nd year at St Andrews we came 3rd at indoor nationals. This was the first time medals were up for grabs at tournaments and we had to play Bristol in a 3 vs 4 match. After losing heavily to them in pool play the day before, we got our revenge and won in sudden death. We also won spirit at this tournament, along with every other uni tournament that year.

My second highlight is from my final year in St Andrews. We were in the quarter final against Cambridge on the Sunday morning of outdoor nationals. At half time were 7-0 down. The sh*t had already hit the fan, and covered everything around so the only thing left to do was just fight. We came out on offense and scored 8 points in a row, eventually winning the game 11-9. I will always remember a team coming together in one moment and just believing in themselves. Plus it was hilarious because the captain from Cambridge looked like a Hamster, and when we won his sad droopy face was a picture.

The third experience that really stands out for me is outdoor nationals in my first year at Ro Sham. Again in a quarter final, I found myself in a team down at half, this time it was against dirty dirty Manchester. We rallied back to win in sudden death, with a cheeky hammer from Cosmic. We continued on to win the semi against Warwick and played Portsmouth in the final. We sadly lost the final, but the team ethos was fantastic and it was just a really great time. Plus we had topless rugby watching and an epic songwriting session on the coach down. That year we also had 6 players represent Great Britain in Florence, which demonstrated the caliber of players that Edinburgh continues to produce. 

I understand you're doing a PhD here in Edinburgh, what type of research do you do?

I am a biologist and primarily work on a type of stem cell. Basically if you ask anybody what I do, they say I make green chickens. This is not exactly true, I don't spend my days creating a Frankensteinian zoo, although that I do work on chickens. I am primarily looking at what keeps a sex cell, a sex cell and not revert back to another type of body tissue. And that's enough about my work...

(If you're interested in reading about some of Glover's work, his two publications can be found here:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2993963/

and here:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0015518

The first paper is free to download from, no joke, the Journal of Poultry Science, while the second is unfortunately proprietary.)

What are your plans after graduate school? Will ultimate still be part of your life?

I am not sure of my exact plans after I graduate, again. I am thinking about moving to Canada, so if I move there I will probably continue to play one or two seasons with either Goat or Furious. But seen as though all of my friends are in Edinburgh and the rest of the UK, I will most likely end up pussying out and stay here. If that happens I will play Fusion until my legs eventually pack up then pursue my life goal of becoming a professional figure skater.

Were you born with a hairy chest, or did you use Rogaine when you hit puberty?

I was actually born with a hairy chest and beard. I'll try and dig out the pictures. My dad had always questioned my mothers fidelity, as he is convinced she got a bit 'too intimate' with a wolf.

You know, some say that the only way to kill Glover is to shoot his chest hair with a silver bullet, or stab it with a silver stake, or trim it with silver scissors. Whatever the case, the man has some super-human ultimate powers, so beware if you see him step onto the pitch. If you want to see Glover in action, check him out at this Sunday's Edinburgh Invitational or next weekend at University Outdoor Nationals. Until next time, thanks again for reading Ro Sham Blogs.