Stirling Tune Up 2014

I think it is fair to say that everyone who came to Stirling Tune Up had an incredible time and returned to Edinburgh already reminiscing about the weekend and suffering from post-tournament depression.

Both teams played hard and partied even harder!
RoShamJoe, captained by Joe Gayeski of course, performed outstandingly over the weekend with impressive flow, communication and pace to their game and came 7th place in the tournament. 


RoShamJoe


The RoShamDollaz team, captained by Matt Fletcher, demonstrated some impressive play on the field and fought hard for every single point. After some extremely close scores and unfortunate losses at universe point, RoShamDollar came 14th place, narrowly beating the place for the spoon award much to the captain's disappointment.


 

RoShamDollaz

So, we asked the captains to give a description of each of the members and what each individual brought to the team. First up is from captain Joe:

Ro Sham Joe

Kate – This weekend we saw Stafford undergo an ultimate metamorphosis from a wide-eyed beginner into an authoritative cutter (who still has some pretty big eyes). Littleton MA’s finest made her potential known when few marks could handle her cuts under, forcing them to trail woefully behind and admire that cat tattoo. While her marks were spacing out, Kate was in the space, ready to get her claws on that disc. Kate “Cake” Stafford proved a reliable part of The Machine, and is set to keep the flow going on the pitch AND at the party for the next four years.

Rocket – the Beast of the Borders. The Red Rocket. Mr. Burrows, Christopher. All names that strike fear in the hearts of those unlucky enough to mark him. Rocket’s cutting pattern was the essential link from handler to endzone, and this weekend we saw his confidence behind the disc as well. We owe it to Rocket for lubing The Machine with the tears of his defenders as their hamstrings tightened in defeat.

 Banjo – Berkeley must be hurtin’ while their tree-tall Crimson Dynamo demonstrates his mastery of the 175g with us here in Scotland. Banjo handled. Banjo moved. Banjo laid out. Banjo partied. Add that together and what do you have? A turbo-boost into The Machine that secured discs in the endzone. A turbo boost, my friends, that won games AND the party.

 Jay – Jays eternal smile can be read two ways: as a friendly inviting gesture, or as the sinister grin of Beezlebub as he breaks and destroys his marks as if there was nothing holy in this world. Jay’s reliable throws ensured our cutters put their hands on the plastic, and his handler movement kept The Machine grinding. Despite my advice, Jay’s signature Raining Hammers led to some beautiful scores. Leyla would have been proud to see them.

 Alyshia – If you haven’t heard, Alyshia is f’ing serious, ya cheeky wee deck. The rookie from Dollar Academy tore up the field and dialed in her cuts more and more each game. Scottish Ultimate should be shaking in its boots – Ms. McCracken is a storm abrewin’, about to unleash lighting and suffering upon her opponents. Ro Sham, get psyched: Alyshia will be a thunderous part of The Machine for years to come.

 Lizzie “Giroux” LeCompe – Ro Sham is lucky that the proud captain of the Philadelphia Flyers could take time out of the busy NHL season to throw plastic at us. Lizzie LeCompe (a.k.a Lindsey Giroux) made blinding cuts and was always chilly behind the disc – chillier than all the summits of each Rocky Mountain combined. That ice-cold pressure defines LeCompe/Giroux/Lindsay’s style of play, and enabled The Machine to send chills down spines all day both days.

 Rick – Rick is a man of his word. A visionary, if you will. When he says he’ll do something, you bet your bottom pound he’s sure has hell gonna do it. He envisioned a cuts so deep you’ll need stitches, and when those cuts brought down discs in the endzone, he had the other team receiving dental-floss sutures from veterinarians in hostel bathrooms. Rick proved himself a versatile player – confident in both cutting positions and in utility. Rick’s versatility strengthened The Machine and brought it into four-wheel drive.

 Tobias – Everyone on both the pitch and the sideline was left in an awestruck admiration of Toby’s hybrid animalism – One moment he was tip-toeing the endzone line to bring down points like a proud cat on a fence, the next he was a f’ing Danish hawk on defense, tearing down discs out of the sky. When not providing deep existential commentary to Scotland’s chipshop employees, Tobias keeps himself busy by destroying offences and punishing weak defenses Scandinavian-style.  He also had The Machine’s best beard (by default).

 Ming – The Monster of Malaysia, ming’s quick-step style of play was spicier than his motherland’s noodles. Ming was the key cut from the utility position for the swing, and swing, swing, swing he did. Ming’s lightning cuts provided for our continuation up the pitch, a mighty piston within the engine of The Machine.  If he’s from KL, well lemme tell ya, he was KL’in it!

Chris Habgood – “Good Evening. Welcome to BBC World Service News, I’m Christopher Habgood. Last weekend, several ultimate frisbee teams from across Scotland came to compete against my team, Edinburgh University’s Ro Sham Bo. Despite valiant efforts, I crushed their dreams with my bare hands. Unconfirmed sources report many young hopeful opponents retreated teary-eyed to their mums. Our senior analysts conclude my success was due to my gargantuan reach, intelligent cutting, and increasingly consistent throws. As of now, no apologies are expected from The Machine. Thank you for listening, I’m Christopher Habgood, in Edinburgh. Good night”

 Avi Sheldon – Avi plays ultimate like the traffic in his home state – aggressive, unapologetic, and merciless. Our resident Masshole was a magnet in the endzone, and he even had a big fat hat trick. Mr. Sheldon mystified opponents by finding open space where there seemed to be none – the mark of true cutting talent. Avi’s goal-scoring cuts were a punishing mechanism of The Machine: just keep that kid away from libraries, OK?

 Julia – Our Gateway to the Midwest became their Gateway to Distress as Julia left the pitch in absolute shreds. The Washington University import exhibited surgical precision in her cutting and quick learning in the utility position – they must teach them somethin’ in Missouri. She ain’t all Midwest though – the native New Englander showed her classic regional stubbornness when she wouldn’t concede a damn thing to Mojo in our last game on Saturday. Julia accelerated The Machine to victory. Put that on the fridge at home.

Kristi – The team mom we were proud to make proud. Her cookies fueled The Machine and her banter contributed to Ro Sham’s party victory. She also has an extra-special sweetspot for certain Disney characters, so that’s kind of funny. Thanks for holding the spirit sheets, Team Mom!

and next from Captain Fletch:

Ro Sham Dollaz

More than a team, this was a journey, a voyage of discovery.
 
Captain $$$ Matthew Fletcher Get real. Who writes about themselves in these things?
 

Andy "not that one" Murray - Introducing one of Ro Sham's 4 year Grad Entry students. Andy was our go to handler all weekend. Despite managing to wreck his calf, he played on like a troop. Andrew has more hammers than a hardware store and i was never one to turn them down, does he like throwing scores? yes. Did he and then some? Yes.
 

Ben "Flatmate's Choice" Preston- I'd like to remind everyone that Preston started playing frisbee in September 2013. YEAH, SERIOUSLY. If there was a pull play that needed running or a deep shot was worth taking,
I put Preston there as our handler, his throws and competence are just excellent.
 
Matt "The Arm" Woods - The Arm. Thats a noun because his arm deserves more respect from you than anyone else in your life. I've been fending off call's from Billy Beane after his performance this weekend. It transpires that woodsy has a brutal flick huck so became a one man pull play for the weekend. As he won both MVP and MIP for the team, you can see how that panned out.
 
Eleanor "GODDAMNIT FLETCH I'M OPEN" Moir -There comes a point at stall 7 when you really would appreciate someone open on the field. Not only open but somehow 10m clear of their defender and switched on to receive with the throws to make use of their position. "Oh Hi Eleanor". All weekend Eleanor was our much needed panic button, ready to receive with an upfield look, thank you.
 

Tamsin "I'll be here next point too" McIver -Tamsin likes to get open on the undercut, she really likes doing that. Like really. She also likes catching things, like really. She is also very patient and makes few poor decisions. All of the above are useful skills for a frisbee player, the last skill is a golden trait. It was said at the end of the weekend that Tamsin has consistency and goddamnit they weren't lying.
 
Andreea "The Executor" Lee- As a captain it's helpful when you have receptive players that listen to your instructions and execute. Andreea is pretty good at not requiring the instructions! I remember zero times when i had to correct something she was doing or give her a pointer. She was focused throughout and did exactly what was required after hearing it once. Definitely a girl to watch.

Blinne "Mariana Trench" Finnegan -. There is one thing you need to know about the Mariana trench, it's the deepest place on earth. I'm gonna assume thats where Blinne is from because damn this girl can run. I believed in Blinne's deep looks so much that she was my go-to threat in a pull play. I reckon that with a little more practise, we could have walked our way to first place with the Wood's flick huck to Blinne score. Magic was being made.
 
Benji "One more on the board please" P-s Every team needs a decent end zone threat that gets on board with a handler and gets some synergy going. Enter Benji, who was my continuity specialist. Brilliant security on the disc made this guy a strong end zone target. The astonishing thing was that due to the language barrier it was towards the end of day one that the "Open side" was explained properly, he'd been doing in instinctively! Abosolutely incredible.
 
Megan "PHD - Potential Hyperawesome Disorder" Melanson- If i could chat here about dance moves and party abilities in face of the fact that you have a PHD waiting for you back at home I'd start talking about Megan. But that isn't what we're talking about here. Megan revealed something in the circle at the end of the tourney "i need to work on my flick - i didn't throw one all weekend…" wait a minute. We were forced flick ALL WEEKEND. I also never noticed this happening, as she never threw the disc away. that means that we may have on our hands the first Ro Sham player to throw an ENTIRE tournament's worth of breaks!! Now if you aren't even vaguely impressed by that, i don't know what you will be.

Erasamus "Big Guy" Haggblom- Blaze could only identify erasamus as "the big guy" on the line and to be honest, it kind of suits him. Erasamus is a presence on the field, his confidence is a big help on the line. But confidence doesn't score points, but Erasamus does! Scores galore from this guy. The Finn was able to cruise by marks into the space. Word of Warning, he has an lethal high-five after scoring so maybe settle for a pat on the back…

Angus "ANGUS ANGUS ANGUS" Millar- Our JTM needs little in the way of an introduction. He's a D Machine, huge wide force makes breaking a nightmare and my word he touches the sky a lot. The famous ANGUS ANGUS point with all of Ro Sham Joe watching his back was definitely a tourney highlight for me. Huge sky D, followed by a turn, followed by ANOTHER SKY D. We like turning over just to watch him play D again.
 
Tobias "The German Utility" Griessler- "Tobi, what do you wanna do?" "hmm, utility" Tobi was alongside Eleanor in the panic button core. A utility specialist, he would (dare i say arrogantly) pounce from the front of stack just as you were about to start crying at the lack of options , sweep up the disc and move it on before you could say "Ein Gross Bier Bitte?" Another reminder here is that alongside Preston, Tobi is another member of the class of '13. 
  OVERALL.... a fantastic tournament....

and did we mention we won the party prize?? SPRRIIINNNGG BREEAAAKK!