The ShowGame Podcast

Sean rounds up what's happened at UK Nationals so far. Not too many big surprises, but some great games set up for tomorrow! Catch them on Ulti.TV's YouTube channel.

Sean discusses the women’s division at Nationals 2022 and speaks to four teams about what they are hoping for this weekend: Emily Potter from Spice, Lulu Boyd from SCRAM, Emma Healy and Lara Collier from Flame and Katie Allen from Horizon.

Bristol (1:46)

Iceni (3:40)

SYC (5:57)

LMU (8:17)

Spice (10:08)

SCRAM (24:39)

Gravity (34:38)

Flame (36:46)

Horizon (45:41)

Ladybugs (57: 11)

Predictions (58:23)

Sean talks about the mixed division at Nationals 2022, and speaks to Bex Palmer from Reading, Jimmy and Beth from Glasgow and Nate Sanders from Lemmings about their teams.

SMOG (0:50)

Reading (3:25)

Deep Space (10:55)

SMOG Rising (12:40)

Glasgow (14:13)

Lemmings (21:44)

Oxford (31:37)

Herd (32:50)

Birmingham (33:52)

Purple Cobras (35:00)

Nemesis (36:10)

Black Sheep (36:54)

Prediction (38:19)

Sean discusses the open division at Nationals 2022 and speaks to two people:  Cameron Mackie about Alba and Aidan Kelly about Ranelagh and the other Irish teams coming over to Nottingham.

Ranelagh (1:44)

Alba (3:51)

Clapham (12:01)

Chevron (14:47)

Smash'D (16:29)

Devon (18:05)

XVI, Rebel and Tribe (19:26)

Bristol (33:19)

Reading (35:33)

EDI (36:45)

Prediction (38:00)

In this episode Sean speaks to three of the commentary team that will be covering tournaments this season about the European season we’ve seen so far. First, Ali Thomas discusses the Elite Invite in Bologna and the storylines coming out of there. Then Rachel Douglas talks about Tom’s Tourney and the surprising results that happened in Bruges, and finally Benjy Rees discusses watching the European Masters’ Championships in Wroclaw and what we might see heading into Masters Worlds in Limerick.

RUNDOWN

Quick rundown on what’s been going on around the UK (0:40)

A brief note about the GB World Games team and their scrimmages against France and Germany (2:59)

Ali Thomas on Elite Invite (5:07)

Rachel Douglas on Tom’s Tourney (14:52)

Benjy Rees on EMUCC (38:08)

In this episode Sean chats to Conrad Wilson and Connor McHale from Clapham Ultimate about the upcoming London Invite and what people can expect from this brand-new tournament. He also chats with them about Clapham's season and goals, and what they're all looking forward to this year. Sean also promises a full look back at everything he missed in the last month coming next week!

Tickets for London Invite can be bought here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-invite-tickets-305917496467

In this episode Sean speaks to Sam Vile, one of the people running the Great Britain World Games team, about how the team has come together. They talk about the trial process, how difficult it was to make selections and some of the philosophies that have been guiding Sam and Lucy Barnes, his coaching partner, as they prepare to take on the best in the world in Birmingham, Alabama.

RUNDOWN

How was it when you found out you would be leading the World Games bid, and how did that come about? (3:00)

How different is it to manage at the World Games? (4:30)

You had three larger pre-trials, how were preparations for that and sifting through the first group of people who applied (9:20)

Were you surprised by how some of the players took to mixed given the high concentration of single-gender-focused players at trials? (15:30)

Who did you have helping out at the trials, what was the process there? (20:38)

How was getting from the pre-trials number to the number you took to the final trial? (24:45)

How was the main trial from a management perspective? (28:48)

How was it from a playing perspective, and how was it separating those two factors? (34:15)

The importance of being a good teammate in the process (39:00)

There is now a final 14 and a training squad, which means you've made cuts. How was that process of getting to the training squad? (42:45)

How have the early preparations as a squad been? (53:53)

Have you discussed aims or goals at this stage? (59:29)

Has it been fun up to this point? (62:58)

Sam talks about picking a team and the way to talk about how other people might have done things (65:24)

Some discussion about Deep Space (70:32)

A word on finishing on the podium at the ShowGame Awards (73:26)

In this episode Sean talks about university women’s and men’s indoor nationals, as well as about the World Games trials that are going on this weekend. He also catches up with ShowGame uni writer Nick Byrne about his experience at Division 1 men’s nats with Strathclyde and what it was like playing the stacky English.

RUNDOWN

Division one women’s (0:29)

Division two women’s (3:00)

Division two men’s (4:10)

Division one men’s, and a chat with Nick (5:15)

Who’s favourite for mixed indoor nationals? (13:05)

The strength in depth of a few teams, particularly Loughborough (15:11)

World Games trials this weekend in Edinburgh (17:38)

We are back! After a break following the awards Sean talks about the news that has gone on in the last month or so, previews some stuff we have coming up and discusses the new structure of the season very briefly. We'll be bringing you more views from a wide variety of people on this new structure soon and speaking to teams and players that will be playing at European and World level this year. Plus details on the Best Play award!

In this episode Sean speaks to Iceni's Becky Thompson about the issue with women from SMOG and the Yindoors tournament. SMOG published an article on their website today about the discrimination they challenged at Yindoors and how it affected them, and Sean and Becky discuss the situation, what we should learn from it and where we should go from here. They also discuss some of the news around UK ultimate at the back end of the pod.

RUNDOWN

A quick recap on the situation (2:00)

Becky’s reaction to the article, and her experiences of everyday sexism (3:34)

The importance of transparency and openness (9:16)

What is it that we all should learn from this? (11:03)

Becky’s message to the women involved (17:20)

Some news and notes on WUCC, European Indoors and the World Games trials (18:41)

Quick update on the ShowGame awards (24:15)

A very full episode this time around as Sean discusses the latest news on WUCC, the return of university frisbee and speaks to the first GB captain of the 2022 international cycle, Eyan Sham of GB beach women’s. He speaks to Magnus Oakes and Tanny Karimi about university regionals as well, so there’s something for everyone in this one! We’re still looking for some uni reporters so drop us a line if you fancy it.

RUNDOWN

WUCC news - more spots in mixed and women’s (0:14)

Uni fris returns with UXIRs, Sean covers the West Midlands and Wales tournament (3:55)

Magnus Oakes on the East and London region (7:30)

Tanny Karimi on Yorkshire and the East Midlands (13:58)

Eyan Sham on putting together a beach team amid COVID and looking forward to Los Angeles (21:18)

In this episode Sean discusses WUCC bids and the possibility that Great Britain gets more bids. It's important to note again that this is speculation, it is not sourced! Rule 5.7 says that you start from fourth at WUCC down, hence discounting the nations who already have three bids. He also talks to Iceni player Kathryn Elsby about what the World Games trials were like and how high the standard was, as well as what it was like playing elite women’s for the first time last season. There’s also a very brief mention of uni fris at the end of the pod - more to follow!

RUNDOWN

WUCC bids have been confirmed after the first round of allocations after some drop outs. How likely is more bids in each division? (0:36)

Kathryn Elsby on World Games trials and Iceni (16:41)

A quick nod to uni regionals happening this weekend (25:15)

In this episode Sean covers the news about the bids for WUCC being released and what it might mean for UK and Irish ultimate, recaps what happened at the mixed masters qualifiers in Leicester and then speaks to Aine Gilheany from Gravity and Max Larkinson from Smash’D about their xEUCF performances. He also talks about the busy time coming up in UK ultimate over the next few weeks, with uni fris starting back up and trial season beginning in earnest. If any students want to get involved with our university coverage, get in touch! There's also a brief mention of the Ultiworld membership drive, along with the Ulti.TV Patreon - support them both if you're able to!

RUNDOWN

WUCC bids announced (0:29)

WMUCC qualifiers recap (4:25)

Aine Gilheany from Dublin Gravity (10:40)

Max Larkinson from Smash’D (25:49)

Ultiworld membership drive - go and take a look! (39:33)

What’s coming up in the next few weeks, and students get in touch if you want to help cover uni fris! (40:24)

In this episode Sean discusses what’s going on in UK ultimate at the moment, taking a look back at xEUCF in Bruges and also looking forward to the masters qualification games this weekend. Then he talks to Helen Thompson from SMOG and from the University of Sheffield about playing Not Uni Nationals a few weeks back and what the uni season might look like this year.

RUNDOWN

How the UK and Irish teams did at xEUCF (0:14)

What it’s like working a tournament like xEUCF (7:01)

A brief look at mixed masters’ qualifiers this weekend (10:44)

Helen Thompson on university ultimate and playing with SMOG (14:23)

This week Sean spoke to Si Hill from UK Ultimate again for another check in, this time about the 2021 season and what we might be seeing in 2022. They talk about nationals, WUCC places seemingly reducing from the three per division the UK had in 2018, whether the system this season worked and what changes might be coming in future. There’s also some chat about the GB programme restarting in 2022 and how he’s feeling about the game in the UK after such a tough year.

RUNDOWN

How was nationals? (0:45)

Did the three equal divisions work, and is there any prospect of keeping it balanced out? (3:29)

The league and the cup were put in place this season, how did you think they went? (5:38)

Would you make the same decision again with SMOG women and Mighty Hucks in their respective leagues? (15:51)

What do you think the system might look like in 2022? Will the challenge league keep its place in the structure? (21:15)

How many places are we looking at for WUCC, is there any indication yet from WFDF? (38:21)

WMUCC is also next year, any news there? Happy to see a qualification process? (41:03)

Will there be any detrimental effect to EUCF places in 2022 based on this season? Bids are traditionally based on previous year’s results and we are only sending two open teams this year (42:39)

GB beach and indoors trials are soon, World Games trials are in October. How are you feeling about GB coming back? (45:35)

How are you feeling about the World Games process and how it’s coming together given the different process that was taken to get here? (48:55)

Si thanks the community for the support so far (51:59)

In this episode Sean speaks to Aine Gilheany from Gravity and Aidan Kelly from Ranelagh about All-Irelands last weekend, where both teams took home the title. Then Sean talks about what the three Irish teams that have qualified for xEUCF in Bruges in October can expect when they come up against Europe’s best teams.

RUNDOWN

Aine Gilheany from Gravity (1:35)

Aidan Kelly from Ranelagh (9:42)

A brief discussion about the Irish teams in Europe (18:45)

In this bumper episode Sean is joined by commentators Tom Styles and Benjy Rees to discuss being back at a tournament for the first time in two years and what happened at Nationals 2021. They also discuss whether or not geo-teams are the best approach for sustained success, who might do well at WUCC in 2022 and thoughts on the recently-announced World Games selection process.

RUNDOWN

What was it like being back at a tournament? (1:04)

Was it easy to drop back into commentary? (3:07)

What did you think of Smash’D in their first season? (9:20)

How do we think Clapham are set up for xEUCF? (12:20)

Will Alba be able to get over the Chevron hurdle at some stage? (19:29)

What about Chevron, where do they go from here? Is it harder as a non-geo team?(23:15)

SMOG are clearly the best mixed team in the country, which goes against the geo-team structure we’ve discussed. Why is that? (28:53)

What does the strength of SMOG mean for other teams? How hard is it to sustain a team beyond one life cycle? (33:51)

A quick discussion about the World Games structure (37:17)

Deep Space and their season (42:25)

What do Bristol have that sets them up well for these big games? (44:24)

That’s three silvers in a row for Iceni - what steps do they need to take now? (50:28)

A great first season for LMU (57:18)

Will SYC be disappointed with Nationals, or was this a good showing? What comes next? (60:00)

Ulti.tv are running a Patreon programme to fund their great ultimate coverage - Tom and Benjy talk about the project and the team. Get involved! (67:16)

Is eight teams in all three divisions the way forward? (72:58)

A tired Sean reviews what happened on day one of UK nationals, with a quick update on a couple of games of note. Semi-finals tomorrow, with all finals streamed live on YouTube! Keep tuned to our social media channels and we'll try to keep you updated on what's going on with the non-streamed games.

In this episode Sean speaks to SMOG and GB women's player Rachel Naden about the women’s division at UK nationals! They talk about the standard of the women’s division overall this year, the teams that have qualified for nationals and the battle for the semi-final places in both pools. Sean also speaks to SOUL captain Abi Cohman,

RUNDOWN

How was playing in the women’s division with SMOG this year? (0:51)

Pool C (1:58)

• Iceni (2:00)
• SYC (416)
• Spice (6:21)
• SOUL (8:26)
• Abi Cohman from SOUL (9:43)

Pool D (16:49)

• Bristol (16:51)
• London Masters Ultimate (19:52)
• SCRAM (21:45)
• Reading (23:52)
• Carla Link from Bristol (27:28)
• Charlotte Marriott from Reading (36:46)

The schedule

• Semi-final picks (42:37)
• Final picks (46:48)

In this episode Sean speaks to Becky Thompson about the mixed division at UK nationals! They discuss the teams making up the draw, talk about how they are all looking heading into the tournament and discuss what might happen over the course of the weekend. Sean also speaks to the captains of SMOG 1 (Emily McCabe and Tom Lees) and SMOG 2 (Katie Ackerley and Tiffany Anderson) about their season and their ambitions for nats, as well as to his own captain Alexandra Weinberg about the season with Herd.

RUNDOWN

Pool B (1:44)

• SMOG 1 (1:48)
• Deep Space (3:49)
• Oxford (6:06)
• Thundering Herd (7:56)

The strength of the division as a whole (10:19)

Pool A (11:26)

• Reading (11:37)
• Leamington Lemmings (13:07)
• SMOG 2 (14:07)
• Cambridge (15:38)

The SMOG 1 and 2 captains (17:23)

Alex Weinberg from Thundering Herd (31:01)

The schedule

• Semi-final picks (38:45)
• Final picks (sorry Helen) (45:14)
• Third place picks (47:48)

Becky on seeing her sister and looking forward to playing with Iceni (51:32)

In this episode Sean speaks to Harry Mason to preview the open division of UK nationals! They talk about each of the eight teams and how they got here, potential storylines to watch and Sean speaks to James Selley from Lemmings and Seb Allen from Chevron about their seasons and aims for nats.

RUNDOWN

Pool E (1:29)

• Clapham (1:37)
• Alba (3:46)
• Bristol and Lemmings (5:10)
• James Selley from Lemmings Open (9:10)

Pool F (17:20)

• Kapow (17:32)
• Devon (21:19)
• Smash’D (24:20)
• Chevron (29:15)
• Seb Allen from Chevron (29:59)

The schedule

• Will either pool not go to seed? (41:19)
• Semi-final and final picks (44:05)
• Third place picks (48:02)

This week Sean speaks to three people about the way the season worked, what worked and what didn’t and what we might be able to learn from it. First up is Conor ‘Hogi’ Hogan about the system as a whole, as well as two ideas on how things might work in future. Next is Hannah Pendlebury with her thoughts on the system and also on including teams like SMOG women and Might Hucks, and finally Ben Bruin from Mighty Hucks on their season.

RUNDOWN

Hogi Hogan

How was the league system for him and Deep Space? (3:45)

How was the travelling? (5:46)

The challenge league, and keeping it around (8:20)

Should we keep any element of the league and cup? (12:20)

Division two Nationals? (16:57)

Does Nationals need to move? (21:01)

Quick look ahead to what’s coming up on Send It (23:55)

Hannah Pendlebury

What are your thoughts on the overall structure? (25:47)

Positives about the league and cup (28:43)

Do we need to talk again about locking the divisions? Can we go back to Tour as it used to be? How do you give clubs something meaningful to play for, whatever the system? (31:16)

SMOG and Mighty Hucks were in the leagues this year but were not going for Nationals. Was that helpful for them, for the other teams, for the divisions they were in? (36:43)

Could the teams have been picked differently? (45:07)

Can we keep some elements of this system, in particular divisions? (50:09)

Ben Bruin

How has the season been for Hucks, with a new roster for most games? (55:22)

How do you think the structure worked, was it a good solution? (58:52)

Should you have been in the league? Do you understand that perspective? (61:10)

Would you enter Hucks again if this happened next season? (65:27)

Sean rounds up the end of the UK regular season, with the cup finals and the final qualification games now all but done, and speaks to Liam Grant from PELT and Kate Boylan from Flame about the EUCF qualifiers in Ireland last weekend as well! We’ll be looking back at the season so far next week and then doing in-depth previews for each division the week before Nationals so check back then for even more frisbee chat!

RUNDOWN

Cup vs league qualifier results (1:23)

• women’s (1:48)
• mixed (3:11)
• open (4:39)

Cup finals

• mixed (6:48)
• women’s (8:17)
• open (10:10)

Euros qualifiers in Ireland (12:28)

Liam Grant on PELT (13:54)

Kate Boylan on Flame (30:56)

A thank you from Sean! (45:13)

In this episode Sean previews the final qualifiers for nationals between league and cup teams, as well as the cup finals in each division. As part of that preview he speaks to Spice player Amy van Zyl about their first season and about playing the cup final against London Masters. Then he speaks to Ranelagh player Aidan Kelly about the EUCF qualifiers coming up this weekend in Ireland, what they might tell us about All-Irelands later in the year and what it's like getting ready to play again after so long.

RUNDOWN

The mixed division preview (1:19)

The women’s division preview (4:51)

Amy van Zyl from Spice about the cup final, playing against a team they know so well and how their first season has gone for the squad (6:32)

The open division preview (14:57)

Irish qualifiers preview with Aidan Kelly (21:31)

In this episode Sean reviews the action from the last weekend of the leagues and talks to the winners of each division about their season so far, how the leagues have been and what they’re looking towards in the future. Preview of the games coming up in the final regular season weekend coming up later today!

RUNDOWN

The last round of games in open (0:55)

The climax of the mixed league (2:10)

SMOG player Lucy Hyde on their win in the women’s league and what the rest of this season might hold (and whether they’ll play women’s next season) (4:55)

Reading captain Ryan Coones talks about their successful mixed campaign and their focus on carrying this through to Nationals (11:56)

Clapham captain Josh Briggs talks about Clapham’s season, being pushed by people despite one-sided scorelines and the way this season could inform future structures in UK ultimate (16:21)

In this episode Sean speaks to Becky Thompson about the open and women’s games last weekend and they preview the mixed and open games coming up this weekend. They also discuss the league and cup so far, the build up to nationals and Becky’s view on each division given she’s played in all three this year! Sean also speaks to Phil Robinson from Devon and to Max Larkinson from Smash’D about their respective seasons.

RUNDOWN

The women’s cup (1:30)

The women’s league (5:23)

The open cup (8:34)

Max Larkinson from Smash’D (10:30)

Finishing off the open cup and Lemmings’ strength in depth (19:15)

Phil Robinson from Devon (23:32)

The open league, otherwise known as ‘is this really news?’ (32:43)

The mixed league, featuring a (hopefully) barnstorming finale (36:15)

Excitement building for nats (39:23)

In the second part of this week’s pod, Sean and Harry discuss the women’s division and the open division. There’s some brief chat about the women’s cup, discussion about where the league sits and then with the open division the games of interest in the league this weekend and previewing the potential chaos in the cup after the upsets in round one. Chesca Tyler Weddell also joins Sean to talk about London Masters Ultimate and what they’re aiming for this season.

RUNDOWN

The two top seeds in the women’s cup - LMU and Spice - and who else to look for (1:02)

Chesca from LMU talks about the team, the reason it was established and what they’re hoping for from this season and in the future (5:01)

The women’s league this weekend (19:56)

The open league and the two games we’re interested in (24:59)

The open cup, and potential chaos (30:01)

In this episode Sean speaks to Harry Mason about the happenings in the mixed division last weekend. That includes a look at the league as we approach the end of the fixture list, a discussion about the cup and where we stand now that we know the finalists, and what the crossover qualification games might look like. Then Sean speaks to Nathan and Megan from Leamington Lemmings about their fantastic season so far.

RUNDOWN

SMOG, Mighty Hucks and Deep Space (2:00)

Glasgow, Reading and Birmingham (3:16)

The northern bracket of the cup (5:39)

The southern bracket (9:22)

Potential crossovers and qualification discussion (15:17)

Lemmings slander and cup final chat (18:52)

Nathan Sanders and Megan Daly from Lemmings (live from a menagerie, featuring birds and Bertie the dog with the occasional crash) (20:38)

In this episode Sean talks about the games we saw last week in the open and women’s Leagues and then previews the mixed competition this weekend. Rhona Gordon comes on the show to talk about SCRAM, while Conor ‘Hogi’ Hogan comes on to discuss Deep Space and the general structure of this season.

RUNDOWN

News from Ireland on EUCF qualification (0:42)

Open division recap (3:41)

Women’s division recap (7:07)

Rhona Gordon from SCRAM (9:10)

The mixed League (21:15)

Conor ‘Hogi’ Hogan from Deep Space and Send It (26:21)

The mixed Cup (44:08)

In this episode Sean talks about the mixed League games last weekend, the women’s and open games that are coming up this weekend and then discusses the women’s Cup and the women’s division more broadly with Hannah Pendlebury!

RUNDOWN

The mixed League (1:02)

Bex Palmer and Ryan Coones from Reading on their season so far (3:27)

The women’s League games this weekend (12:43)

Iceni president Cat Pope on their season and being excited for the games against Bristol and SMOG (15:41)

The open League games (24:10)

The women’s Cup draw (28:48)

Does this structure work for the women’s division? (49:40)

This week Sean and Harry caught up on another hectic weekend of National League and Cup play, and discussed what might happen next in the mixed division. Sean also spoke to Rupal Ghelani (SYC), Magnus Wilson (Clapham Legends) and Paddy Ward (Bristol) about their games and seasons so far.

RUNDOWN

Women’s division

Bristol vs Red (and some discussion about Spice) (2:19)

Iceni vs SYC (3:52)

Rupal Ghelani on SYC’s season so far, their aims and how they’re learning as they go. Plus some thoughts on Spice and the Iceni vs Bristol matchup (5:31)

Predictions on Iceni vs Bristol (17:13)

Open division

Fire 2 vs BLU (18:34)

Fire 1 vs Smash’d (21:00)

Brighton vs Clapham Legends (24:12)

Magnus Wilson on how Clapham Legends came about and what we might see from them this season (26:56)

Bristol vs Reading (34:02)

Paddy Ward from Bristol about the open teams, the wider Bristol ultimate community and how they’ve been helping the city develop into one of the strongest in each division in the country (37.35)

Flump vs Oxford (46:57)

York City vs EDI (51:01)

Devon 2 vs Bristol 2 (53:56)

Clapham vs Devon (56:16)

Chevron vs Alba (57:35)

Some off the cuff (and wildly biased) predictions on the mixed quarterfinals (1:01:55)

In this episode Sean talks to Harry Mason about the cup and league games last weekend, and previews the games coming up. They talk about the mixed results and what each team looks like with the quarter finals coming next weekend, and move on to what might happen with the women’s and open teams this weekend in the second half of the episode.

RUNDOWN

How was the first game? (2:03)

National League review

• Reading vs Mighty Hucks (2:53)
• Deep Space vs Birmingham (6:22)

National League preview

• SMOG vs Glasgow (recorded before this game was postponed) (8:10)

National Cup review

• SMOG 2 vs Black Sheep (10:30)
• Cambridge vs GFM (14:03)
• LeedsLeedsLeeds vs MUC (20:15)
• Lemmings vs Mythago (22:25)
• Bristol Mixed vs Plymouth (25:25)
• Thundering Herd vs Flyght Mixed (27:58)
• Oxford vs Zoo (29:30)
• Which losing team would have the best chance of overturning their score from this weekend if the teams played again? (33:15)

National League preview

• Bristol vs Red (35:16)
• SMOG vs SCRAM (this game is also now postponed) (36:40)
• SYC vs Iceni (38:04)
• EMO vs Kapow (this game is also now postponed) (40:52)
• Chevron vs Alba (41:37)
• Devon vs Clapham (44:27)

National Cup preview (46:23)

Who do we think will be the eight teams that make up the open division field at Nationals? (52:19)

In this episode Sean talks about the National League results from last weekend, preview this weekend’s mixed fixtures briefly and then moves on to discuss the National Cup, which starts this weekend. He also chats briefly to George Hudson, one of the Fire captains this year, about what his team are hoping for in 2021. Sean also makes some predictions, many of which will no doubt come back to haunt him.

RUNDOWN

Review of last weekend’s League games (1:19)

Look to this weekend’s mixed games (6:00)

The Mixed National Cup (8:40)

The Open National Cup (17:19)

A quick chat with George Hudson (25:41)

An update on the Women’s National Cup (35:19)

In the first-ever hostile takeover of the ShowGame Podcast, guest host Fi Rae talks to women in ultimate about the importance of team culture and how you can introduce and maintain it in your own teams. She talks to representatives from the three women’s teams at WUCC 2018 - Grainne McCarthy from Iceni, Carla Link from Bristol and Rupal Ghelani from SYC - as well as Tiff Anderson from UK mixed champions SMOG about the differences in mixed, and Emily Potter from new team Spice about starting a culture from scratch.

RUNDOWN

What is team culture for you? (3:06)

How do you decide your team’s culture? (08:30)

How do you introduce team culture? (16:48)

How do you introduce your culture to new players? (24:10)

What tips do you have for how to nail team culture, especially for a variety of different experience levels? (28:48)

How important is it to correct biases and to give people a variety of experiences, particularly early on? (44:31)

Can having a good team culture help address wider problems like gender equity or racial injustice? (50:30)

In this episode Sean spoke to commentator Benjy Rees about the new UKU competition structure. They discussed the merits of the new system, whether it will work and what parts might be here to stay. They also talked about the less obvious impacts that the system could have and whether players will like the drastic change from weekend tournaments, even if only for a season.

RUNDOWN

Sean talks about the recent announcement that WUCC will be in Cincinnati (0:56)

Benjy shares his initial thoughts on the new structure (5:09)

Weekend tournaments are what we're used to - what do you think of that? (6:54)

Are there similarities with this and BUCS league? Does the possibility for neutral venues offset that? (14:45)

How might this affect people joining nationally-spread teams as opposed to geo-teams? (22:19)

With far fewer games than at a weekend tournament, might we see smaller squads this season? Benjy also discusses the potential for less experienced players being given more structured roles (26:35)

Might single games mean more tailored and specific strategies since you can focus on one or two opponents? (30:45)

Do the teams in the National League look right? Sean talks about the specific cases of SMOG and Mighty Hucks, and a quick note of congratulations to RED (36:19)

What are your feelings on the Cup? Is the 3/2/3 split of League, Cup finalists and games to go right? (42:29)

The ELO league might have the best chance of sticking even when/if we return to weekend tournaments. What do you think of that? (45:50)

Does Benjy think the new system will stick around? (52:18)

How do we quantify success for this new system, what needs to happen for it to stick? (54:02)

Sean spoke with Si Hill about how the sport is going to come out of the pandemic in the UK, and what the 2021 season might look like. There’s discussion about making ultimate more accessible to a wider range of people by potentially moving away from weekend tournaments, a potential structure for Nationals this and future years and some chat about GB and the international calendar being absolutely packed in 2022.

If you’re making plans to get back to ultimate and you want to talk about it, let us know! We’d love to hear how you’re planning to get back to the field, and what you’re doing to make it happen.

RUNDOWN

How have the last few weeks been, getting the return to play protocols all ready? (2:17)

What kind of guidance have you had about numbers at training sessions? (5:55)

Ultimate as a reasonably high-risk team sport (9:15)

The statement from UKU was very definitive about Nationals; what might that look like, and why so confident? (11:16)

Away from Nationals, the importance of trying to encourage people to play games outside of tournaments (18:29)

How open are people, in Si’s experience, to experiments and testing new things? (24:52)

Do you have any concerns about people getting back up to speed and not injuring themselves after so long off? (28:10)

All the international tournaments this year have been cancelled but next year looks busy, particularly with the World Games coming up. When might we see things getting started for those? (32:24)

Next year will be busy - is it exciting? What are the feelings about it? (35:39)

What are the plans for university ultimate in the short to medium-term? (38:06)

Sean asked six indoors experts to take part in a draft to pick the best possible mixed indoors team. The only rule was that players had to be from (or largely based in) the UK, and all questions about pitch size and surface were sidestepped and ignored. The drafters: Marius Hutcheson, Andy Sluman, Jess Taylor, Giulia Newbery, Ben Bruin and Tarik 'Taz' Alrasheed. Plenty of national titles and Euros appearances between them, but who came out on top in picking the best team?

In this episode Sean spoke to Katie Flight, who's been playing for GB since she was 12 and works in a team at Imperial College that's working on a new coronavirus vaccine. They talked about vaccines, working under intense spotlight and pressure and also about the pandemic as a professional learning experience given the usual focus on science and academia. Then they moved on to frisbee, talking about playing for GB at a young age, getting back to playing soon and what else Katie has been doing to get that competitive spirit going.

RUNDOWN

How has the pandemic been personally? (2:10)

How about professionally? (6:50)

How has it been working in such a high-pressured environment with so much riding on your work? (9:26)

What stage is your work at? (11:47)

What's your sense of how the vaccine rollout is going? (13:40)

You must have had plenty of people asking your questions given your expertise, how has that been? (15:19)

What do you think this might all mean for frisbee this summer? (18:47)

What kind of things have you been doing without frisbee? (20:57)

What does this break mean for World Games and other things coming in the next few years? (25:09)

When and how did you start playing? Features how Katie's mom Ruth became the GB Junior Programme Manager (26:22)

What was the experience at Strathclyde like, when the team was so successful? And then how was it moving to Imperial? (29:35)

You've played mainly mixed in club - why is that? (33:18)

BEST LINE: Katie picks a mixed line with heavy Scottish influence (37:37)

What was it like moving from Scotland down to London? Features some insight on Australian national team training (42:58)

Sean finishes the series of reaction to WFDF’s decision to cancel WUGC by speaking to Aidan Kelly, ShowGame contributor and Ireland mixed player, and Emily O’Brien from the Irish women’s team. They talked about their views on the tournament not happening and about how things might be going in Ireland in 2021.

RUNDOWN

Worlds is off. How do you feel about it? (1:14)

The IFDA announced beforehand that Irish teams wouldn’t be going, how did that change your feelings when WFDF made their announcement? (4:10)

WUGC wasn’t the only thing that was called off - Emily was eligible for the under-24s tournament that was cancelled and talked about her feelings on that (7:21)

How do you think the decision-making process was handled? (08:31)

The international calendar has been cleared - what might 2021 look like in Ireland? Some good chat here about plans to still have a ‘Team Ireland’ this year (11:15)

Aidan talks about some positives to come out of this past 12 months, with a focus on fostering more elite mindsets in Irish ultimate, and more cohesion in the national programme (14:33)

Emily talks about the anticipation of the first tournament when we’ve come through the pandemic and can return to some normalcy (17:46)

In this episode, Sean spoke to players and captains from the three Great Britain teams about the decision to cancel Worlds, and how they felt about both the event being off and the process that led to the decision. There was also some great discussion about potential positives to come from this enforced break, and some valuable advice and chat about the importance of staying positive, the necessity of self-governance and realising that we’re not all in this alone.

RUNDOWN

GB WOMEN: Captain Hannah Brew on the event being off (2:16)

Do you agree with the decision? (5:02)

How did you feel about the approach from the UKU? (6:47)

What comes next - have you started thinking about the domestic season, or any club plans? Includes some discussion about getting more involved with the community and trying to work with UKU to reach out. (9:17)

GB OPEN: Captain Josh Briggs on the event being off (13:17)

What was the team reaction? (14:25)

What were your thoughts on the decision-making process? (16:16)

What do you think could happen domestically in 2021? (18:24)

Are you thinking about Clapham already? (21:11)

Josh talks about the importance of staying positive and focusing on what you can as a team leader (23:01)

GB MIXED: ShowGame editor and GB mixed player Josh Coxon-Kelly and team manager and player Lucy Barnes on the event being off (26:12)

What was the difference between this feeling and the feeling about the postponement? (30:09)

What about the rest of the team? (31:49)

How frequently were you talking as a team? (33:33)

How did you feel about the process by which we arrived at the cancellation, would you have liked more of a top-down decision to be made? (36:07)

The importance of self-governance and keeping that in the sport (43:42)

What do you think we might see in 2021? (48:54)

Lucy talks about shared feelings of isolation, and Josh talks about the importance of taking a step back from the sport so you can come back with a renewed love and appreciation for it (53:30)

Sean was joined by DP and Hani to talk about the news that WUGC 2021 has been cancelled by WFDF, and that Great Britain have qualified for the World Games through the backup qualification process. It morphs into a discussion about where we might go from here and what ultimate might look like when we all come back, and ends on a pretty positive note!

RUNDOWN

The 2021 international calendar has been cleared. Is this the right call? Is this the right time? (0:28)

With whom should this decision lie, is it one for the players or should the federations be making these decisions? (4:21)

The 2022 calendar looks packed now - how tough will it be to fit all of these tournaments in? (09:51)

How much pressure does this all put on players? What’s the impact on them? (11:41)

The good news (if there is any): Great Britain is in the World Games field. Do we deserve it, and how excited should we be? Features wild speculation! (14:45)

How might qualification for WUCC 2020 work, what will ultimate look like if nationals can’t happen as normal this year? Come for the considered views, stay for *someone* moaning about Irish teams (20:00)

What benefits might we see from the new normal following the pandemic? (26:14)

Final thoughts on trying to ensure the local set-up isn’t London-centric, and trying to harness the social trend of people leaving London, a ‘sinkhole’ according to one guest (31:33)

In this final decade review episode, Sean is joined by Hannah Pendlebury to talk about the players who defined the decade. While the open and women's division discussions are pretty straightforward, there's some disagreement about who to pick in mixed and plenty of chat about which played shaped the decade in UK ultimate and who might do so going forward. Also Hani moans about losing to draft champion Sean in 2017.

RUNDOWN

What do you factor in when thinking about the best players of the decade? (2:48)

How have the changes to the way ultimate works in the UK complicated this discussion? (4:52)

What attributes are you looking for in a player, is it playing style or team success or anything else? (9:32)

How do you factor in the mixed division? Features bitterness from Hani about historical events (12:07)

OPEN: Who is the best player of the 2010s in the open division, and is it really as simple as it seems? (14:03)

WOMEN’S: Is the discussion here slightly more complicated? (18:44)

What’s next for our two picks? (24:30)

MIXED: A much more complicated question given how transient success has been in mixed - is it even possible to pick someone here? (27:51)

Do we need two players for mixed? (38:42)

Who’s in the frame on the male side of the mixed division? (40:50)

What about on the female side? (45:04)

Who might be the players of the coming decade? (50:38)

BEST LINE: Hani picks a mixed line of people she’s played with in the UK (61:11)

Sean is joined by eternal student and longtime ShowGame uni editor Harry Mason to discuss the decade in uni ultimate, and work out who the best teams of the decade were using a highly scientific process. They also discuss the impact of BUCS, whether the quality is better now than it was in 2010 and the proliferation of divisions within the uni game.

RUNDOWN

Harry has finished his studies, finally (1:20)

What has been the biggest change in the last 10 years in uni ultimate? (02:18)

The impact of the difference between BUCS league and the usual ultimate structure (03:15)

Is uni ultimate better than it was the previous decade? (05:18)

There are a lot of divisions (08:25)

What would Harry change? (09:03)

THE COUNTDOWN (10:39)

11th and 10th (11:27)

9th (16:23)

8th (and this team’s legacy) (18:42)

7th, the only team with medals in two divisions and not all three (22:31)

6th and 5th, starting a run of four Scottish teams in a row (25:31)

4th and the biggest surprise to both of us (29:51)

3rd, the most consistent team of the decade (33:12)

2nd, featuring a special guest (36:18)

1st, which is probably quite obvious (51:13)

Who is the best single-year, single-division team of the decade? (58:08)

The decade review series continues, with Sean speaking to Fiona Mernagh, a player in the silver and gold medal winning Ireland teams in the 2010s, and Dominick Smyth, a longtime player and coach in Dublin, about what the last 10 years looked like in Ireland, how things changed over the course of the decade and what changes are being put in place to capitalise on the huge steps taken in that time.

RUNDOWN

How have things been since March? (1:42)

Where was Irish ultimate at the beginning of the decade? (4:12)

Was there a point where things started to change, or has it been a longer development road? (7:18)

How much has the college scene impacted the development of the clubs in Ireland? (10:08)

How important has it been that there’s more than one base for ultimate - Dublin, Cork and Limerick all developing teams and communities to push each other? (12:31)

Has there been a particular emphasis on physical conditioning, and being able to maintain fitness throughout a tournament and a season? (15:57)

The impact of the GAA and the foundation provided by Gaelic sports (22:21)

Is it fair to say that the depth across divisions isn’t there at the moment? How can that be changed if so? (25:25)

Are you seeing the younger generation of players coming through into the sport now? (28:00)

What plans are being put in place to ensure that the last few years haven’t just been a ’golden generation’, and that development continues? Features a discussion about the importance of good coaching (31:25)

BEST LINE: Fiona shares her best mixed line (36:35)

BEST LINE: Dominick shares his line, an open one (38:36)

In this episode, Sean speaks to Lookfly manager Jon Pugh about the fashion changes of the 2010s and what factors have changed what we all play in, including technological advances, more divergence in how people want to look while playing and the effects of more gym work! There's also some chat about changes Lookfly are making to how they describe their merch, and Pugh picks a best line.

RUNDOWN

How has the pandemic been for Pugh? (1:15)

How have things been since joining Lookfly? (2:10)

What changed for frisbee players in the 2010s? (3:35)

Have the designs and colours that are used for kit become more reserved? (8:33)

A change in socks - where have the long football and hockey-style socks gone? (11:20)

Let’s talk about shorts (and a shoutout to the skort wearer). (14:10)

Talking about the change to cut descriptions following a survey in the summer, changing to non-gendered descriptions. (19:16)

Why have there been so many changes with the different cuts? Features some advice for Valeria Cardenas. (23:23)

What’s behind the rise in tanks? (27:00)

What’s the coolest kit addition that Pugh has ever seen? (30:50)

What about the kit that has moved things on and been the most impactful? (32:30)

A moan about numbers! #keepthingsboring (33:59)

BEST LINE: Pugh picks his best line that goes against many of our rules and blames Sean for doing so. (35:19)

To kick off the decade review series, Sean is joined by the voice of ultimate Tom Styles to talk about the best performances of the decade, as well as reminisce about some of the less glamorous experiences they've had working together.

RUNDOWN

2:00: What Tom has been doing during the pandemic.

4:12: What are you looking for in a great performance?

7:34: GB’s performance in hosting tournaments last decade.

10:45: The performance by a number of parties in improving media and fan access to the sport.

15:38: The role of Game Advisors, and their performance.

21:52: GB won a number of tournaments that they came into as favourites - how do you assess those?

28:43: GB's performances on the beach, particularly in 2015 and 2017.

34:20: Bristol and Leeds winning UK Nationals.

36:20: Geo-focused mixed teams, particularly Reading, performing well throughout the decade.

39:45: The inevitable Clapham discussion and how you rate a team that doesn't lose.

44:31: A brief discussion of the best university performances (stay tuned for more).

49:08: GB reaching great heights but not necessarily performing as they’d like once there.

53:38: The red letter year for Irish women’s ultimate in 2019.

58:32: Tom struggles to pick a performance of the decade.

60:36: BEST LINE - Tom picks a best mixed line that asks an awful lot of the female players.

Sean is joined by commentator, WFDF athlete commission chair and TD of next year's planned World U24 Championships in sunny (?) Limerick, Liam Grant. They talked about all those things, what it's been like organising a tournament under the shadow of Covid, and how much they both loved Japan. Liam also turns in a stellar performance in BEST LINE, throwing shade at everyone else's line and claiming multiple players for Pelt.

How've you been during the pandemic? (1:24)

Under 24s next year in Limerick (3:30)

Why did you decide to put the bid in for this tournament? (4:11)

Is there anything else you might try to get there, any larger strategy? (7:15)

What are the facilities there like? (8:27)

How weird has it been organising this during Covid? (11:25)

Anything unexpectedly difficult? (16:38)

What's it been like on the athlete's commission? (19:20)

On commentary, has there been any event that stands out? (25:12)

BEST LINE: Liam picks a mixed team (28:37)

Sean spoke to Brummie, the founder of ultimate coaching resource Flik, longtime player and coach of several GB teams. Brummie talked about his experiences at the World Games, World Championships and what people can do during the lockdown to improve as players.

- How lockdown has been (1:00)

- Starting Flik, and how the journey so far has been (4:09)

- What's been the biggest challenge so far? (6:39)

- What can people do during lockdown and periods of other restrictions? (9:20)

- Importance of video analysis (12:16)

- The change in the availability and wealth of video footage, and researching opponents via ex-pats (16:58)

- What's next for Flik, and what else can you do? (18:57)

- What thing has changed the most during Brummie's brief, almost two-decade career? (24:21)

- And what hasn't developed as much, and how to improve at it? (26:34)

- LA28 reaction and multi-sport event experience at the World Games (29:41)

- What one thing is Brummie most proud of? Contains existential discussion on the nature of failure in sports (39:03)

- BEST LINE: Brummie picks his best line and blames Sean for any omissions he might have made (48:40)