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.
We were seeded second in a group with Picnic, 4 Minotaurus 1 = 3 (Bristol Uni), and FXU. Going into the first match rusty and playing iron man, this wasn’t going to be easy but we knew we just had to brace the storm to be with with a title shot for Sunday. Oh, and it was Becks’ birthday too.
Bristol University are one of the stronger sides on the student ultimate scene. We’ve played them many, many times over the years and they’re always a quality outfit to compete against and they’re very friendly to boot. We knew we’d have some cobwebs to blow out considering we’d not played our zone in a long time but nevertheless slammed it on against the Mythago side and proceeded to punish the opposition for any mistake they made. While we coughed up the odd error here and there (including me dropping a couple of discs), we chewed through their defence with iso and racked up our own scoreline. Taking the game 10-1 in the end. We breathed a sigh of relief in the knowledge that, if we could continue that form, we could do enough to stay in contention even if we lost a couple of games on Sat.
FXU’s team have been a regular presence in all South West events for a number of years. However, with most of their key players having graduated, we were confident we could do well against them and proceeded to dish out the same zone and iso combo that had been so fruitful in the first game of the day. The tactics work like a charm as Luke continues to play chase all game, while Mop, Becks and I play ‘get the disc to Mike’. We carve through their D and put a flurry of points on the board. The game ends with us having scored 11 while they were able to respond once.
Under the tutelage of Jamie, Picnic have been looking pretty strong lately. Even so, with an iron man squad we were confident going in that the zone would do its job. We score the first point and after that we had a punishing lesson in humility as Picnic took every opportunity they had and every one came off. Realising what a weapon they had in Jamie’s height (we taught him that), they sensibly opted to go for high discs to score regularly. As we succumbed to frustration, they closed out the game have dealt with the zone brilliantly. Throughout the rest of the tournament, it was abundantly clear that going man would have served us better but we didn’t mind as the aim at this stage was to just do enough. The game ended 8-3 in their favour. At one point we flooded and I ended up as chase – ordinarily a bad idea, I did get Jamie to throw it away. So there’s that.
With a clash meaning we had to swap Luke out for this match, DHSB’s Oscar lent us a helping hand for this match. As the Plymouth grads and friends had done well in their group, we didn’t expect an easy game. We nevertheless went with our tried and tested method and applied it right out of the blocks. Shutting down all progress, Trump did the damage we hoped it would but a tad less effectively that the uni teams. Still, it got us ahead to a comfortable 6-3 victory in the end so we were happy with that.
Our Exeter friends were up for the last game of the day and, despite their being second seeds, we were confident we could deliver the goods. We storm onto the pitch (this time with Nate Saunders playing instead of Luke) and we proceed to drill in three unanswered goals. They start responding and, at the halfway mark, we begin to lose steam and they get the smell of blood in their nostrils. We keep them at bay and stay ahead of most of the match but, as the seconds ticked away, they levelled and we turned. With them in possession, they float a scoober into the zone for the score and the win in an absolute nailbiter of a match. Our heads drop as it was so close, and we look up to see their hefty squad walking towards us to shake hands. We realise what an admirable job we’d done with our iron man squad and felt better. They noted how good a performance it was and we all headed off as the games were done.
We’d retained 5th seed and had remained in contention for the silverware. Phew!
Following the games, we headed off to Abi’s trying to get hold of her as she’d taken baby Lucia swimming. We parked up at the side of the road like drug dealers while Melliott trolled us over messenger. We eventually got the address, showered and headed into town for the usual trip to JD’s Grill for Becks’ birthday meal. We ate meat and a very sweet birthday cake before going to a gin bar to meet Wilf. After one drink at a table next to their bogs, we headed to Bac Bar for a drink or two before sensibly retiring to Abi’s. During the evening, we had a few questions to ask Jamie, so we set up a group.
We woke up on Sunday and swiftly headed to McDonald’s for the requisite breakfast. We got to the venue – this time with reinforcements as we were able to take a bit more of a breather as Robin, Chris Redd, and Wilf arrived to bolster our ranks.
We flew out of the gate against our Welsh opponents. The zone did the damage we needed it to and on O, we blended iso with some lightning cuts from Robin and Redd and blazed ahead. The game closed out with us winning 9-3 and going into the top eight. Nice.
The Exeter grads have been a strong force in the South West for a while but for some reason, we’ve very rarely had opportunity to play them. They’d ben looking very sharp at this event too, taking down a lot of teams on their way to the quarters. We put the zone on and it does the job. We creep ahead and somewhere in the middle a bit of carelessness slips in and they’re able to claw it back. We’re level at 4-4 as the minutes tick down. We slot the last one in and take the game 5-4 against a great, friendly side, putting us into the semis and the top four, beating our initial seed (5th).
The Plymouth grad team have played together a lot and we knew they could do damage if we gave them a sniff. Knowing they’d rely heavily on a particular player, we chose to use an assassin version of the zone which worked with good effect and slowed them right down – taking them out of their comfort zone. We responded with iso and fast cutting and took the game away from them. Final score was 8-4, putting us into the final.
After a three hour gap, we had a rematch of the final in 2015 as we took on St. Peter’s School’s side which predictably boasted a lot of GB Juniors but, primarily, a heap of FC players. Still, we weren’t intimidated as we were that confident in the zone but also knew they could work it around with endless patience. We lose the toss and realise that could be key to whether or not we won the game. We apply the zone and, predictably, they spend a long time working it around to finally score. We make an error and they go two up before we respond. We continue trading points for the remainder of the match pretty much until they extend their lead to three as our rushed mistakes creep in. We claw it back to score on the buzzer to keep it within two but nowhere near enough to stop the Badgers dishing out a deserved 6-4 victory, leaving us with the silver.