So the mixed outdoor season kicked things off this weekend as Shakedown returned to Cardiff for the event formerly known as Mixed Tour 1 – Y Ddraig Goch. The squad consisted of Luke, Sophie (C), Becky, Hannah, Luke, Cathy, George, Katie, Lizi, Chubb (C), Luke, JB (C), Mop, Hector, Luke, Horse, Mike Elliott, Mike O’Sullivan, Steve, and Rob and Luke.

Seeded 22nd out of 56, We knew we had a good squad and could piggyback off the success of the indoor season. However we were in a tough pool with Guildford and Cosmic Manatees.

Game 1 – GU Mixed 1
We’ve faced Guildford many times over the years and they’re a quality outfit. This year was no exception and they swiftly showed us what teams can do when they train together regularly. Despite practically no real defensive pressure from GU, we managed to fall victim to soft turnovers time and time again. GU were absolutely methodical in converting the turns and went up 8-0 to take the half within what seemed a matter of minutes. However, everyone on the squad knew it was just teething troubles and we remained positive. We came out in the second half and stomped in a score. They answered right back, we put another in and they nullified it with another of their own before cruising to an easy victory. a disappointing performance from us, but we knew what to work on.

Game 2 – Cosmic Manatees
The Brighton squad had dispatched GU1 with relative ease and we expected an ass-kicking. However, the game played out as a gritty scrap that saw us click into our usual style of play. noting it being far more successful than turning ourselves over with zero pressure, we worked hard and remained within a point or two of Manatees for most of the game. The second half saw the gap extend, but again there was plenty for us to be positive about – especially after Lizi showed us what we should have been doing from 9.00am that day when she lobbed a disc over her mark into space for a receiver. We lost the match 15-9 in the end, finishing last in the pool of 3, holding seed at 22 and putting us into a crossover with the team that finished second in group H.

Game 3 – Black Sheep 1
The Manchester side did well last year and finished above us. Considering our track record against them, we were confident and had now found our mojo (figuratively, not Joe). They sowed zero issue in banging in the first score but we put our foot down and ran away with it. The girls took their opportunities to shred them, primarily due to Becky’s I/O breaks, Hannah’s stamina and Sophie’s choice to poach the other half of the pitch to her mark and STILL get back in time whenever she got the disc. With the guys putting in the points on O, we relaxed a little in the second half and Sheep seized the opportunities given. Clawing away at the deficit wasn’t enough – the damage was done and we ran out victorious 12-8. Mop took Katie and Ed home during the break and didn’t come back until Sunday. Having made the top 20, we headed off to our respective places of stay-ment.

Game 4 – EXƎ
Greg and Jess’ Exeter team were in the way of our progression on Sunday morning. With the weather having turned, we appeared a little sluggish and the errors returned. They punished our weak forcing and showed composure, racing ahead. After about 4 points where I’d continually cocked up, I opted to not go back on and to let the rest of our many guys do their thing. in the second half, we turned a corner after more I/O breaks and some nice hucks. It wasn’t enough though and we all felt it as the game descended into comedy between the two friendly teams. They won 12-5.

Game 5 – MUC
We always seem to play MUC and it’s always a really well spirited fun game – the sort of matches that you start playing the sport for. This was no exception. The Merseyside outfit had done well on the Saturday and e were ready for them. They kicked proceedings off with a score and immediately slapped us with a zone which we promptly ripped to bits. The game was level throughout, pretty much but with them always trading up. Towards the end of the match they push ahead, then we take the lead. The game levelled out as proceedings entered sudden death. Their Chevron handler Penny caught the pull and flung the disc out the side of the pitch, only for it to drift towards the back corner of the our zone where on of their receivers secured it with a superb full-stretch layout. Spectacular stuff. MUC won this tight game 10-9.

Game 6 – GU Mixed 1
A rematch against GU marked our final match of the weekend. Having kicked things of spectacularly badly at the start of the tournament, we knew we were a little better oiled this time. We marked intelligently and played what we were given. This time, the match was a far close affair. Still, a weekend’s worth of running took its toll compared to the big GU squad and we eventually ran out of steam as some thrown went out of reach when they wouldn’t have earlier in the day. GU went ahead 3-0 to begin before we answered right back. For the the most part, it was neck and neck before we crept in front. They equalised and managed to pull away just as our tanks emptied. The final score was 11-6 to GU but we knew it could have gone the other way under different circumstances. A great game nevertheless and well spirited. The loss put us in 20th position for the tournament.

Thanks to everyone for their hard work throughout the weekend. MVPs were Sophie and Mop – despite the latter not being present when we did win a game. Still, his tenacity to try and get a D was insane – especially when he shot EXƎ players a look that said, “How very DARE you not let me get a block!” #alunwyngiggstrevarthen

As for Sophie, her work rate was exceptional. She showed unyielding speed and stamina on D by poaching on the opposite side of the field! Also, against black Sheep, they hucked it, caught it just shy of the end zone line and Soph hared it downfield and got a block in front of the intended receiver. I don’t know how she did it but it was jaw dropping. A great performance considering she has ZERO protein in her diet.

The rest of you were all amazing too. Massive thanks to Lizi for playing and actually reminding us how we normally play – despite this being her first event with us. Thanks also to George for coming out of retirement. We finished 8th in spirit as well which is a huge step up from 52nd. Well done, all.

Once again, Shakedown headed to Derby to compete in Club Mixed Indoor Nationals. While two years back we came fourth, last year’s effort saw us come up with a 15th finish – which was less than ideal. After a relatively successful Plymouth Beginners, another Inferno victory and decent showings at Open Regionals and Nationals, we fancied our chances a bit. With our usual iron man core of myself, Slen, Becks, Mop and Chubb, we bolstered our ranks with Hannah, Jazz, Mike and Horse and aimed for gold, Grouped into the morning pools, we headed up to Bristol the night before and set off early, arriving at Derby Arena about 20 minutes before our first game, After travelling for about 3 hours, we went into our first match against a team from the same city as most of Shakedown.

Game 1: GLaDOS
The luminescent offshoot of Bristol and Disco Biscuits were keen to get stuck into the game. Within a few minutes, something became apparent though – the pitches were very short and the lines we were using were black ones that pretty much blended into the floor. Cue a bunch of overthrown discs an d it appeared we were in a battle to try and see who can rein in their game enough to come out on top. Using our girls to apply pressure, we generated the turns and got a lead to win 6-3.

Game 2: The Brown
After a one-game break, we were up against Newcastle’s finest. Seeing some familiar faces, we cracked on and continued trying to get our eye in with regards to the pitches – which were hampering Beck’s lasers a little. We opt to run discs in rather than rely too much on iso and adjust properly to take this fun match at 7 points to 3.

Game 3: Mighty Hucks
We were doing well now but the real test of our mettle would come when we faced down the tournament’s second seeds. The game begins and we slot two in straight away. Hucks answer back and both teams roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. After a while Hucks level and creep in front before slip into another gear and take the lead after Becky gets an interception on their biggest guy and slots a beautiful high disc to Horse, putting us one point ahead about three seconds before the buzzer went. Unfortunately though, this is a UKU event and so they then had to play the possession where they had one opportunity to score. They took two risky shots and came down with a score to level the match at 5-5. If only Hannah was an inch taller, we’d have won.

Game 4: Prone
After a lengthy break, we were up against Prestron’s team – who we’d never faced before, somehow. Having now hit our stride, we went into this with confidence knowing that we’d have to keep Foggy at bay because he was a) very, very good and b) miffed that we’d dropped him this year*. We pressured the receivers and had to work hard to stop one of their girls who was particularly awesome. We did the job though and got a nose in front early on, scoring a mess of points before they clawed things back. It wasn’t enough though as we took the 7-5 victory before we did speeches and raced off to watch the rugby. *I’d forgotten to ask him after he’d not been available for the last few.

Game 5: Birmingham 2
After a break, we went up against Brum’s second team, who we knew would be good. We stuck with our tactics, pressured turns and used some shrewd iso play to get a healthy lead. While both teams seemed to be having a good game, something was clearly going wrong. There was an incident where Hannah got clobbered but it was resolved properly. However at the halfway point, they used a tight triangle stack downfield and ran through the “stack” to try and cut, generating picks – which were promptly called. After a while, there was another incident with a foul that got resolved properly. Despite these points, the game continued and we raced to a 7-2 victory.

After the match, their captain had something to discuss with Sophie, as the rest of us went back to the rugby. Following the match we went to the hotel which didn’t have a scalding shower or a wok in place of a toilet (see previous years’ reports), got ready and watched England give Italy a hammering before heading to Chiquito for food where we were given free sombreros. Looking at the group we realised that, in order to top it, we needed to beat Red 2 by 8 points in the last pool game in the morning. After Mexican munch and a drink in the Harvester, we retired to bed fairly early and got up raring to go against Leicester’s second team.

Game 6: Red 2
Knowing we needed to get a hefty score, we went nuts on poor Red 2 – who were also looking to get a decent scoreline to avoid a tie further down the table. We used iso and fast movement to swiftly convert Ds and develop a huge lead. After a pair of incidents where I’d thrown a disc into a space with nobody there and another one where the timing was misjudged, a few comments about it saw me see red and take myself off the pitch – to the bemusement of Red who were baffled why I was so angry when we were 8 points in front. Not my best moment – apologies all. Anyway, we closed out the game having gone 10-1 up. We topped the group, gave ourselves a game off, and went into the top eight. Nice.

Game 7- Quarter Final: Brixton 1
While our record against the London outfit is good, this was a whole different kettle of fish. Led by former Clapham supremo, Gash, Brixton used their own iso play to get on the board while tight man D saw them pressure turns from us. I managed to do a good bit when I threw a break to Chubb for a score, other than that though, we had to take what we were given. Brixton held their nerve and despite a surge of intensity toward the end, they capitalised on turns and saw out the game 8-4, knocking us out of the run for the title.

Game 8: Prone
A rematch for our penultimate game of the weekend saw us once again competing with Foggy and his cohorts who’d since acquired a couple of very good teammates including an insanely good ex-Bangor player who the girls were wondering how they’d ever mark her. For the first three points, Prone punish us by slotting in their O and having the bare-faced cheek to use zone to convert us twice. It was an awesome defence from them. However, as they went for their iso play, it eventually crumbled. Becks had asked a couple of Sandwedge players for advice on how to mark out an iso, which she applied here. Suddenly the shots to their star player dried up and, with Prone being forced to play a much shorter game, Horse went hunting for Ds and swiftly found them, turning the tide of the match in our favour. We stuck in five points while they responded once. The buzzer sounded with us up by one. Not risking the callahan, I slammed a sidearm towards Mike in the endzone but it got Ded. No matter though – we’d won 5-4 and put us into the 5v6 match.

Game 9: Mighty Hucks
Unhappy at having to play a crossover and getting knocked out by Danger, Hucks and their returned missing players were more than ready for this match. The game is tight but we’re faster out of the blocks and put points on the board. They manage to level things and convert us to go ahead and we chase the game. I think we levelled it as well but towards the end a last ditch effort saw them get a nose in front and keep it there. As we tired, they were two points ahead and holding the disc when the hooter went. A throwaway saw them finish the game 7-5 in front. A great fun end to the tournament, leaving us as the country’s 6th best mixed indoor team.

Thanks to everyone for playing. Sophie, awesome as ever but particularly great on D – we’re all very sorry about your leggings. Chubb, great grabs – don’t think you put a foot wrong! Becks, after initial pitch size related hiccups, you adapted with aplomb and even reined in the power of your throws – who’d have thought it? You really shone on D though. Mike, you were fast and caused opposition no end of issues – again, particularly great on defense. Mop, safe hands a level head, you also didn’t put a foot wrong and led the way as always. Hannah, end zone machine and great grabs, you continue to be our dark horse against the opposition. Speaking of the equine, Horse you were monumental on D and I felt turned the tide for us against Prone – the best I’ve seen you play. Jazz, so, so fast! Always providing an option, your work rate was crazy. Thank you so much for picking up with us. As for me, that was without a doubt one of the worst performances I’ve delivered in years. Sorry for letting you guys down with how I played and my frustration. Glad you were able to carry me to 6th best in the UK!

Three times on the bounce. That’s what we’d achieved over the past few years at Disco Inferno. Since they introduced a Mixed Division, we’d won 24 consecutive matches at the event. Before it went mixed, we’d enter Inferno with a mixed team and still finish in the top four. Couple our track record with Mike Lewis expertly helming the ship, and it’s easy to see why this is many of Shake’s favourite tournament.

The indoor season has been a little up and down so far this year – we came second at Plymouth Beginners – Experienced Division and only managed top eight at Iron Five (yes, we know that’s a good result but we won it the year before).

After an extended break due to Steve selfishly getting hitched, Shakedown reunited for their usual indoor
season opener down in Plymouth. With Captain Sophie disgracefully bailing on the squad in the run-up to the event, we went down with a strong core for Saturday knowing that we’d have reinforcements on Sunday. Saturday’s team included myself, Becks, Mop, Melliott, Abi and Luke with Oscar Parsons and Nathan Saunders filling in when Luke was playing with Snatch.

Recently, it was noted that Meeklah was probably a little busy to continue with his captaining responsibilities. With a baby on the way (congrats) and studying while working, his weekends aren’t as free as they used to be. As a result, his skills have been reapplied to the off-field stuff as the club’s co-founder becomes its President. Josh’s enthusiasm for his club hasn’t wavered in ten years and it’s great that he’s taken on this role.

Of course, in Josh’s move to becoming Shakedown’s head honcho, it meant there was a space for captaincy. Sure, I’ve been one of the men’s captains for nine years and I could maybe do it by myself, but Shakedown has always benefitted from a pool of people working together. In this regard, Josh, Sophie and I discussed who should fill the position and came to the conclusion that there was really only one man for the job – Chubby.

Chubby has donned the kit with pride since the team’s first outing in Cardiff in 2009 and has also been one of the core members of Shake & Bake as well. He knows what works for the club on field and is a fantastic motivator. With me doing a lot of team wrangling and pre-tournament tactics, Chubbs will be able to provide a better on-pitch voice than I can sometimes. Working together, I think Shakedown will continue to go from strength to strength.

So that leaves Shakedown with a captaincy tripod of myself, Sleonard and Chubb. Josh is President and Becky is unofficial ‘Admin Captain’ as Sophie crowned her at MT1. I’m sure it’ll pay off as we head into MT3 with a strong, decent sized squad featuring some old faces.

This season saw the introduction of the first ever Mixed Tour 2 – South. With the main event being in Durham, most of us couldn’t head just shy of the Scottish border due to not being back in time for work the next day. Thankfully, UKU realised this and set up a smaller (much smaller) event in Glastonbury. Based on the standings at MT1, we were seeded second and we approached this with an aim to win. In doing so, we opted to take a slightly smaller squad and work on being a little more cohesive. However, in the run up to the event, Foggy had to drop out and due to some family issues, Rob and Cathy also had to bail. We managed to draft in some replacements but, with a back injury causing one of them to also drop out and for one of the backups to then be unavailable, we attended the event with a barebones team. Still, our squad was strong and included myself, Sophie, Chubb, Steve, Cam, Jarod, Mel, Emily, Liv, Jess – who guested for us and Mop for Saturday, and Mojo and Mike Johnson for Sunday.

Game 1 – Curve
We thunder out of the gate and in the space of three seconds stick 5 on the board. After this, we relax a ridiculous amount and just let the buffer do the hard work for us. We make a meal of the match really and allow Curve back into the game. We keep screwing up with soft turnovers and they eat up the deficit. They eventually claw it back to within a point at 8-9. The hooter sounds and we slam our right foot down and bang in two goals to take this incredibly tough game 11-8.

Game 2 – Meridian
Meridian were a nice bunch of players who’d done terribly at MT1. Now, when I say they’d done terribly, that’s not meant as a criticism of their ability, but of what must have been a dire performance because they were certainly not a team you would associate with the dregs of the circuit. They had flow, they worked hard on D and they had hucks that came off well. They are a good team and they showed that at this second outing for their squad. They gained a lead but we knew we could be a little more methodical and began chasing the game about two points behind. I managed to snaffle a D but, in doing so, I land badly due to the surface of the pitch and roll my ankle, putting me out of action for the remainder of the game. We score and I go to get treatment. A slight hiccough on our part sees them score again after we level it and from then on, we again show some second half prowess, gain a lead and extend it to two as Meridian’s tactics are rendered less effective. The game closes out with us taking the win 13-11.

Game 3 – Brixton
Prior to the weekend, I’d predicted that Brixton would have a decent squad and that we could be in trouble if they’d brought Gash – which they had. Over the course of the weekend, Brixton trained hard and warmed up and it became apparent that they were being coached by their resident international superstar. We were a tad apprehensive and that didn’t help much when a local came up to me and Cam while we were throwing around to tell us that we were to get “wrecked by them” as they were doing a warm up and drills. I pointed out that we were throwing a disc around a little bit, but our spectator said it wasn’t enough and, effectively noted that we were in for a world of hurt. We asked if he wanted to stick around and put a wager on rather than the sweepstake he was peddling for the Grand National, but he declined. Anyway, to Sophie’s delight, we lost the toss for kit and went red and set our sights on toppling Brixton and their army. It didn’t go well. While they came out hot, we spent the first 5 points doing our own warm up when it suddenly clicks. Everything that we’d struggled with in the previous two games started to come together and we rapidly chewed up the deficit. Scoring 7 points while they took 3, we took the half. We aimed to take the next point in which we began on O, but they turned us and scored. During the next point, Steve played heromaker and bust out a huge lay that saw him crush his beloved, priceless Cheerios Shake & Bake cap. As he looked at his fallen comrade in anguish and said something about how it was a valuable piece of history, one of their team said “Not anymore, it’s not.” and, in doing so, sealed their fate as we scored another six unanswered points to take the game 15-8. After the match, I noted that this was probably the nicest, most well-spirited match I’d ever played in and Sophie yelled that she was going to say that. We finished second, topped the group and finished top 4. Nice.

We then headed off to wherever we were all staying and headed back the next day for the semi-final.

Game 4: Semi final – St Albans
We played St Albans at MT1 and didn’t foresee much of an issue here. We were wrong. Very wrong. They had a far stronger side than they did in Cardiff and swiftly set about making life difficult for us on pitch two. Fresh rain and an unpredictable wind saw us try to play conservatively and safely, but with fatigue having set in and the conditions begging for tons of cuts on soft, energy-sapping mud, we soon found ourselves in trouble and St Albans capitalised. While we shied from long shots downwind, they pretty much used huck and D. Conversely, when we were going upwind, we played better and scored a few from Chubby hucking it. Downwind, it was as though we felt we’d have an easier time and, rather than bung it ourselves, we opted to force tough lateral swings that made no ground and were too far to be unaffected by the gusts. We therefore turned ourselves plenty and they capitalised to eak ahead. I think we also assumed they wouldn’t be able to bang in their upwind scores, when they absolutely could. In short, we didn’t give them the credit or respect they deserved and we paid dearly. Towards the end of the match, we found some of the good stuff in our pocket and pushed them a bit harder. By this stage, they were far enough ahead to take chances and, flukey as some of the shots were, they nearly all came off. St Albans knocked us out and deservedly proceeded to the final. Early in this match, the ground saw Sophie and Cam twist ankles – putting Sophie out for that match and Cam out for the next.

Game 5 – Curve
Everything that had gone wrong in the previous game reared its head again. While we were annoyed at missing our chance, Curve relished the idea of a rematch having done a lot better since our opening game. They went to town on us, punching in goals while we struggled with shorter passes when we should have been a bit more ballsy and gone for the longer shots. We scored a fair amount but, when we did there was silence. They however celebrated every point they slotted in. It was abundantly clear who wanted it more. At 11-8, the hooter sounded and I remember thinking “if we can just get this one, we’ll be within two and we can win from there”. It was not to be. Clissold banged in a score and we had to get five consecutive goals to win. Then something amazing happened. We score the downwind and Chubby unleashes an amazing pull as the wind dropped for a second, and jammed them right on the sideline. With the swing stood in the middle of the pitch, their handler throws a backhand but Steve has sprinted at full tilt up the pitch and intercepted it, pretty much on their line. We work it around and reduce the gap to within two points. Curve, rocked cough up another two turns and we convert them to level things. The game enters sudden death and they work it downfield. We turn them and a slight lack of communication sees us turn. They quickly take a shot and it comes off to seal the victory for them – 13-12. A superb comeback effort from us, but it wasn’t to be. Hopefully we’ll get to play them again at MT3.

Thanks for a great weekend guys.

For some reason we tend to have had a bit of a block when it comes to MT2 in recent years. Don’t get me wrong, we take it seriously and we compete. In fact, our highest ever finish has been at a MT2 event. Still, we do tend to see significant drop off in numbers for the second event compared to the usually more local MT1 and MT3.

It’s a bit of a shame really as last year, they hosted it in Durham and we were unable to go. A good proportion of our ladies work in schools and couldn’t take holiday to account for not being able to get back in time – even if they flew. With many of the rest of the squad not relishing the idea of a trip that far North, we opted to do something we hadn’t done in nine seasons – miss an event.

Now, I get that Scottish teams will travel huge distances for most events and that they need to do this more regularly blah, blah, blah. However, just because somebody else is in a worse position doesn’t magically fix your own logistic situation. For a start, their teams have access to reasonably priced airports – we have Exeter International – a Portakabin that’ll get you to where you need via a budget airline – but not for a budget price. The other factor is that, when you’re used to travelling long distances for tournaments, you’re more used to it and not going to take to the pitch like a zombie. Trust me, I went to uni in Aberystwyth and every tournament bar our own took upwards of three hours to get to.

We’d seen it one year when we headed up to Sheffield in the morning for CXIN and found ourselves in a daze in the afternoon. Similarly, MT2 events at Manchester saw us severely depleted in energy compared to other years where the event was more accessible. Still, we would undoubtedly go to Durham if we could. We’re just a little hamstrung by teachers and selfish doctors and geologists that have to undertake shift work. Even though we would undoubtedly not play to our best, we’d have gone – and most likely done so with a barebones team, looking dishevelled at not having the blast that we did at MT1.

Thankfully this year, UKU has opted to introduce a smaller Southern event to accommodate those teams that either couldn’t get to Durham or for whom it simply wasn’t worth it considering they were lower down the table. Perfectly understandable, but not fun for UKU who lose a hefty batch of teams and not fun for the teams that have to miss out and subsequently enter MT3 without the cohesion that a second event brings.

This year, the UK’s governing body weighed it up and, last minute, were able to get an event organised thanks to the assistance of a handsome Welsh handler who shall remain nameless. Suggesting the venue at Glastonbury made sense as we UKU had already been in touch to organise Masters Nationals and it was easily accessible for teams – especially as most knew it from the annual Glastonbury Tor-nament. Unfortunately this year, it’s an eight team event as many of the local teams had understandably opted to play in Bristol’s South West Super Cup before MT2 was unveiled. Still, it should be a neat little intimate event.

We’re seeded second at MT2 – South and, at the time of writing, in a group with Brixton, Curve and Meridian Ultimate. We’re at the top of the group in terms of seeding and, with the other teams being waaaay below us after MT1, I’m hoping there’ll be no issues.

Having said that, things are going to be very different from MT1. Where we took to Cardiff with an army just over two weeks ago, that’s whittled down to a platoon. However, that’s not due to lack of interest. A bunch of the guys went for the Super Cup as they thought the tournament wouldn’t happen and a few more were booked up anyway.

We do however have most of our core intact. Becky is on holiday so she’ll be missing the weekend – not that she’d have been playing anyway as she was going to host it. Sian can;t get time off and Hannah was never free that weekend anyway. Still, we have Sophie on Captain’s duties, Jess Taylor will make her long overdue debut, and Cathy and Mel will be back (however, she has potentially broken a rib so we’ll see). We’ll also have Emily and Liv making their season debuts. While MT1 saw some issues with girls not getting enough pitch time, this should alleviate that somewhat.

As for guys, they’ve been dropping like flies. Something came up meaning Foggy is unfortunately done for the season. Mojo can only do one day now after being double-booked. We have the three regulars (me, Chubby and Mop) but CG-T can only do one day. That kinda works out though as Mojo can only do one as well. Elsewhere, we’ve got Steve back and Cam will grace the team with his incredibly lanky presence after missing MT1 with a back injury. Of course we’ve also got Rob, meaning there are two flavours of long threat. We may have another but, right now he’s not confirmed. So while we have a smaller squad, we definitely don’t have a small squad. This should mean a little less subbing and far more cohesion, which will hopefully give us a better performance and therefore the edge over Purple Cobras should we meet in the final.

I can’t wait for this event. While it’s a bit teeny, it should be good fun and allows us the opportunity to take on some of the teams we ordinarily don’t play. I think we’ll be stronger than we were at MT1. Chubby, Steve and I didn’t really go on enough in Cardiff so this should be a great opportunity for us to stretch our legs and make a mark. This is also our first opportunity to win a tournament as Shakedown. Sure, we’ve gone undefeated at events in the past and we’ve won others – but always while named as Shake & Bake. Here’s hoping the team doesn’t change too much before then.

So in conclusion, there’s no easy solution for the team doing worse when having to travel so far. When we returned to Sheffield after we did crap the one year, we headed there the night before and did a lot better. Still, that’s not always possible and, even when it’s on your doorstep, you can find yourselves struggling for numbers comparatively. The thing is, as long as you’re not iron manning the event, you can be okay as long as the mentality is right. The team seems a lot happier this season with the rebuild, so it remains to be seen if it’ll work or not.

Cohesion is what we’re going to focus on this weekend. Shake has a core of players that represent the club regularly (at both outdoors and indoors) – myself, Chubby, Mop, Becky, Sophie, Mel and Mojo primarily – plus Hector when he’s not broken. As long as the team has this core working together, we should be able to achieve consistency over the whole tour. Fingers crossed.

JB, Becky, Chubb, Sophie, Mop

Last time we attended High Octane, we walked away with our lowest finish ever – 17th. Thanks to a schedule cock-up after two teams dropped out, teams that had won a match ended up having to defend their seed against teams that hadn’t, while two teams that lost everything avoided the bottom round robin despite winning nothing. We were the only team to lose our crossover and went crashing from 1st seed to 17th. We had played one or two friendlies with the teams that had a bye and subsequently gave them a beating. Still, even had we not been in that unfortunate position, it was a weak showing for Shake regardless. This year, we were considerably more up for it.

With our new kit arriving in time for MT1, we changed the team name from Shake & Bake to Shakedown and hit Marjon ready to see if Shake Mixed could do the double and win mixed Iron Five as well as Open. First things first though, we’d have to go up against the team that knocked us out last year.

Game 1 – Second Wind
The former Met Office team have improved immensely over the past few years. We knew this wouldn’t be an easy ride and that, being a team that trains with zone a lot, this was the best chance to get it right. We storm out and use Trump to cause them trouble. Becks uses her laser to tear them to shreds and everybody swiftly clicks into a flow and the points pile up. Towards the end of the game, we ease up and Second Wind take the opportunity to get some pretty audacious points. Still, we’ve done more than enough and a good first game sees us take a 10-5 victory.

Game 2 – Revenge of the Fifth
With three members of last year’s runners-up Frothy For It (now more widely known as GFM) amongst their ranks and the remaining two being Herd players, we knew that this London mash-up would be tough competition, and they were. They go up by two points straight away and we answer right back with something like four on the bounce. They convert a turn to get closer later and work hard to get another to level it. For the second half of the match, we’re trading with us up each time. As long as the hooter went with us up by one, we’d be fine. With about a minute to go, they score to even the match and eventually I have the disc and am expecting a shout for thirty or ten seconds – anything. Nothing comes except for the hooter to signal a hard fought draw. Had we had a shout, who knows what could have happened. It was a great game though against a bunch of bloody lovely people that we ended up getting drunk with later that evening. Final score was 8-all.

Game 3 – Caterpillars
Our last pool game and last match of the day was against Banbury Big Worms’ iron team – Caterpillars. They’d lost heavily to Revenge earlier and we knew that to top the tie, we’d need to pile as many points on them as we could. However, they’d worked out that, thanks to our draw with ROTF, if they kicked the shit out of us, they’d likely have a more comfortable trip to the top 8. We start off with the zone and they smash through it. We score and, after a while, we’re scrambling to try and and get a nose in front. They make life pretty difficult with some patient play and, at about the halfway mark, we switch to man and decide to use what was left in the tank at this stage after playing zone for the previous two matches. We pile the pressure on and finally those turns start coming. They cut hard and we’re on them more than ever and slowly put the squeeze on and convert. The hooter signals the end of the match and we’ve ground out a win that was a lot tougher than we’d anticipated. We won 8-4 which wasn’t enough to top the group (particularly after Revenge had beaten Second Wind by a greater margin anyway), and so we finished the Saturday second in the pool, holding 7th seed.

After taking a look at the schedule and going to work out the results, it became apparent that I’d seeded the pools perfectly and everybody had held seed. We headed off to the hotel and checked some reviews while we waited for 45 minutes for the owner of the place to answer the door. The reviews were ever so slightly less than enthusiastic to say the least. Still, this was a team that had narrowly avoided hepatitis at the International Hotel in Derby, so we knew we had the mettle to handle a night in Plymouth 10457th best accommodation. I’m being mean, it was okay. It was clean at least and it had…ahem…character. Mop, Becks and I had the downstairs room and were delighted to see that the bathroom was alright compared to Derby that one year. We also discovered a fridge in the corner that had some chicken drumsticks in the freezer section. We declined the opportunity to whip them up and give ourselves the runs and instead headed to a pan-Asian buffet. From there, we headed to Cuba for moptails and drinking games from Slen, before meeting with the rest of the Shakedown players and heading to Bac Bar. ITD (the team we would play first thing) were there and we were soon joined by Caterpillars and Revenge. Dancing occurred, Sophie flirted with Wonder Woman, we all got hammered and, by two, we’d all grabbed cheesy chips and headed off. We got to the hotel and Sophie clumsily fell into a bush. We got some shut eye and got up slightly worse for wear for our 9am match.

Game 4: Crossover – Iron Tusk Division (ITD)
ITD were a nice bunch of people. Sporting players from Purple Cobras, Reading and BRB, they had made Danger! High Voltage work very hard during their first game and we knew they’d be tough – especially as they’d gone home earlier than us after buying me two pints. Somehow though, we knew that some nice safe play was the order of the morning,and set about putting our Os in and using the zone properly. It worked. We risked less and ensured that we were accurate and the hangover seemed to melt away. Sophie thanked us for throwing directly to her chest when she cut and, as the night before became a distant memory, we looked more dangerous as we pushed on. Threading discs into the zone, pinpoint knives and iso play saw us race ahead. They scrambled to contain us with their own zone, and eventually Chubby launches a wayward scoober to me as I charge to their endzone. Somehow, I reach back and snag it and finally assist it to Chubbs. By now we were way ahead of a very, very good team that refused to let up. The hooter signaled the end of the match and we’d won something like 11-3.

Game 5: Quarter Final – V
Up against Greg and his bunch, we knew this would be the toughest match of the weekend so far, and it was. We went 3-1 down early on and it looked like V were out of sight. We stepped on it though and clawed it back to put the game level. We went up, they equalised, they went up and we equalised and we spent the rest of the game chasing them. Still, we were getting turns on them. The only issues were that Greg was poaching in the lane and we dropped a few in the zone. Still, with mere seconds left, we’re down by a point and attack their zone. Mop spots an opening as long as I’ve seen it too. My mark, on the wrong foot, took his eye off me for half a second and left a space at the front of the zone. As the seconds die, I cut hard, Mop pops the disc up as I jump and we equalise with the hooter going seconds later. We enter a sudden death game and pull to them and they work it around well until they fire it into the zone and their receiver fumbles it, only gaining control once he’s straddled the line. We work it around and cuts dry up. We go for a shot down the line and Greg lurks waiting for it. He gets the D and they finally put the game to bed to knock us out of the running and out of the top 4. Final score 9-8 or similar.

Game 6 – Mike and the Throbbing Peacocks
A Plymouth team with three Shakedown players in Mike, Hannah and Luke, the Peacocks knew our tactics and after a few points, we needed to switch up to man. As with Caterpillars, we glued to them and tried to ensure they couldn’t go for their signature shot to Mike. Working hard, we ran our asses off and eventually the conversions started coming as did our confidence. At one stage I threw a disc to Chubb that was, I thought, way too high and he brought it down somehow. Another point saw Sophie on 7, pitch the disc only for Becks to chase it as hard as she could as it went over her head, she jumped, grabbed and scored a point so awesome that my words can’t do it justice. They refused to roll over, but we’d done enough when the game ended and we were up something like 10-5. Actually I have no idea what the score was.

Game 7 – Five Spice
Jess and her mates were initially seeded top four and for good reason. They had Robin for a start and their team knew how we play. With a bit of energy still, we went man for a lot of this game. Things started off fairly tight but we kept a pressured defense going and eventually turned them over and scored a couple of times. As the clock ticked the match away, they had to start forcing stuff. Some of it came off, other bits not so much. Each time, we had a sniff of an opportunity, we seized it as we knew that if we relented for a second, they could turn it around. Sophie bosses her cuts, Mop gets amongst every other disc and Chubby handles as well (including a ridiculous millimetres-from-the-floor airbounce assist). Becky and I run hard as well and it all flows beautifully – except when I hit her in the face with a disc. She still scored. The game ended and we’d won on account of how hard we’d worked. The score was something like 11-6 against superb opponents.

We’d not finished top 4, but nevertheless, we’d finished in a fifth spot that felt like a well-earned victory. We only lost one game all weekend and that was by one point. It was a brilliant performance from the club’s core and showed a fluidity and flexibility we’d sometimes lacked in the past.

Chubby, you dished out one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from you. Incredible jumps and brilliant handling when the games called for it.

Soph, you were awesome as our zone’s chase and we had to make you go wing at stages. You worked amazingly hard and communicated better than anyone, particularly when you finally got tired and told us what you needed from the handlers.

Becks, one of your best stints. You’ve worked hard and lost a ton of weight recently (not that you were big or anything) and with that, your defensive capabilities and confidence have shone. You were more bloodthirsty and attacking than ever.

Mop, when ‘solid and dependable’ is the very baseline of what you can do, it’s no surprise that you put in another stellar performance. Leading from the front, dictating the play and launching pinpoint discs, you orchestrated our play and your trademark input was invaluable.

As for me, I was happy that I cut more.

Thank you for a lovely game of Iron Fives.

Luke, Chubby, Foggy, JB (c), Mike, Mop, Hayden, Steve, Rob
Issy, Mel, Sleonard (c), Becky (c), Hannah, Sian, Cathy.

After last season was all but written off by us, this time around we were ready and raring to go. A new roster with new kit meant that Shakedown turned up to Cardiff’s traditional season opener in style. Becky and I met with the rest of the team at pitch 15 and dispensed kit and niceties and everyone swiftly favoured the black tops. Donning our new threads, we then huddled up and prepared for our first opponents – a team that we were well familiar with, but had beaten us 15-5 at MT3 last year.

Game 1 – St Albans
We wasted no time as we applied the zone and piled pressure onto the pool’s top seeds. St. Alban’s showed seemingly endless patience on disc, but we looked to snipe any opportunities they threw our way. They worked hard and scored plenty themselves, but before long, we had built up a lead that we gradually extended. When the score was 11 – 8, the hooter sounded for a game to 12 and we relaxed hard. St. Albans, sniffing an opportunity for an upset, went to town on us for three points before we collected ourselves and snagged the last point to win 12-11. A little closer than we’d have liked in the end but a good result against strong opposition.

Game 2 – GreyBH
We thought we were going up against MUC but UK had reshuffled the seedings somewhat. Last time we played ABH, we did not have fun. They’d entered Mixed Tour 2016 with a bunch of new faces that were a little less than spirited. As such, it was nothing short of a delight to see the classic ABH of old that we’d faced in our very first tournament together. While we’d won that match back in 2009, GreyBH took no prisoners and macheted through our zone with relative ease as they aimed to gel for the Masters division at Worlds. We worked hard to get back on track – especially as this was a team we’d beaten before – but we’d all mentally written the game off and eventually opted to just have fun. They won 14-4 in the end and we wish them all the best for Cincinnati.

Game 3 – PAF City
We went into this match not knowing what to expect, really. Personally, I hadn’t seen them play last season but we’d lost to them fairly convincingly at MT1. Being Horse’s local team and based on the fact they finished stronger than we did last year, he opted to play for them this season to push himself further. Naturally, we were out to prove him wrong. The game started slightly later after they had a 20 minute pre-cap point against St Albans and they huddled to discuss the match against us while we were waiting. In fairness, they thanked us for our patience later and said how it was just so they could get their breath back. As the time ticked on, Cathy marched down to them to urge them to kick the game off and we were underway. The zone gave them a lot of issues and, as we crept in front, they scrambled to get back onto it, taking risky shots and long efforts.Some paid off, others didn’t as we communicated and shut down enough of what they threw at us. They did start to work out the zone, so we switched to man and ground out the remainder of this competitive, friendly match. The game ended with us having won a comfortable 13-5 against a fatigued side. I have no doubt it would have been closer had it not been a back-to-back match. With the win, we went to second in the group. Another win in the morning would guarantee we would beat our original seed of 30th.

After the game, we all headed off and reconvened on Sunday morning to go up against a familiar team.

Game 4 – Flyght Club 1
I’m not sure if we played Flyght last year and, if we didn’t, well that sucks because we tend to play them a lot and it’s always fun and this was no exception. We come out on O and the still conditions coupled with their zone allow he to sling a big ol’ hammer upfield to Rob and for him to huck it on for us to score pretty quickly. From then, we go man and keep the pressure on to cause a lot of turns. About halfway through the match, we’re about 7 points ahead when everything I touch turns to shit. I cause two converted turnovers on the bounce and my mark scores a third. I take myself off to collect myself a little and eventually go back on. We try zone for a point while we had a buffer, just to see how we got on and Flyght massacred it. We revert back to man, crack on with what works best and I start playing alright again. We keep the pressure on but Nottingham don’t let up. The hooter signals the end of the match and we stomp in the last score to win 15-7.

Game 5 – Bristol Mixed
Having worked hard against Flyght Club and running on empty stomachs, the back-to-back format really did us over here. We went a few points down, our heads dropped and we never recovered. Bristol took their opportunities and used their strong former Schweffes players well. They effortlessly chewed up everything we threw at them and our O was beyond sloppy. Still, we were having fun. The highlight of the match for everyone but me seemed to be when I layed out for a dump pass from Mop and had to call a stoppage because my shorts had come down and my arse and knob were out – apparently that was funny. I followed it up with a terrible throwaway too. Anyway, Bristol gave us a 15-5 kicking and highlighted a problem for us – a tendency to roll over as soon as we go down a few points. We’d need to rectify this ASAP.

Game 6 – Sneeekys
In between games, it was determined by all that Becky be the other women’s captain on account of how organised she is. Her first duty was to inform us that we were up against DK and to chastise Chubby whenever he suggested it stood for Dragon Knights. Turned out the schedule was messed up and we were up against Sneeekys.

The game begins, Sneeekys play well and go 4-1 up. We refuse to let it happen again, collect ourselves and score 4 of our own when they call a time out. We score another 4 points before they score again and the game is ours. We shut down their main players and convert turns. Luke is a one man army against them and they struggle to claw things back. Steve brings down some crazy high stuff, Hannah is bossing anyone that marks her, Becky is getting Ds and causing turns and eventually Sneeekys try some risky stuff to get a few on the board – which they do. It’s too little too late though as they score another two while we get another three and close things out 11-7 to come 27th.

So, in all it was a successful weekend for Shakedown. MVPs were Hannah and Luke for some fantastic performances over the course of the weekend. Thanks to everybody for playing so well though. See you at MT2!