A word from Adriano:

On Wednesday it was Varsity day here in Leicester. Every sports club from the two University played each other for the Varsity trophy, and so did Ultimate Frisbee.

We played a 75 minute game against Demons, and we won 14-5.

Good to see a full length game being played at a prestigious event! Roll on the summer term...

Regional champions Haze were out and playing Ladder League again this weekend - fielding two teams to battle against hosts Jesters, and arguably the oldest team in the UK, the Warwick Bears.

It was blowing a gale, meaning all four teams played zone defence all day, resulting in some really close games (see the results page for a full breakdown). The table has changed slightly, with Haze 2 moving up into the top half after getting some valuable points on some higher ranked teams in the wind (I'm looking forward to seeing them move further up and overtake the inactive teams), Haze 1 are still leading at the top (but not with the margin they hope for), and the battle for second place is looking exciting, with Jesters and Bears within 50 points of each other.

Regionals is approaching rapidly, so use the opportunity to spread the word to the inactive MULL teams - one clump around Birmingham with uBu, Airwolf, Mental Discs and UCE, another around Oxford with Brookes and Ow!, the two Welsh teams can arrange to play each other a couple of times a term (Mwnci See & Reservoir Discs), and Fly TNT and Desperados around Nottingham can be pursuaded into getting involved in the Leicester events.

The Midlands can be proud of currently being one of the most active Uni Ladder League regions though!

Hi everyone!

On saturday the 25th of February Jesters would like to host in Victoria Park, Leicester, another day of games to go towards the MULL.

Like last time the event is going to be free.

Hopefully see many of you at the EMO skills day

Adriano,
Jesters Club Captain

Adriano has written a great report on the MULL event last weekend:

On the 28th of January the first event ever of the MULL took place in Victoria Park, Leicester.
Jesters 1, Jesters 2 and Demons were joined by Random Fling, Bears and Haze for a full day of Ultimate.
The schedule consisted in every team playing 4 games against each other, and an hour break at noon for lunch. As every team had to play 4 games it meant that Jesters 1 avoided the clash with Jesters2, Haze didn't play Bears and Demons didn't get to play Random Fling.

The first set of games saw a very exciting game between Jesters 1 and Random Fling. Fling took 3 quick points as the game started, but Jesters managed to get a few scores in a row and keep the game close until the end. Eventually RF won 7:6. On the other pitches Bears confortably won 15:0 against a very inexperienced Jesters2 squad lacking any handlers, and Haze showed some great ultimate by winning 12:1 against Demons.

Second set of games saw an unexpected victory 7:3 by Demons against Bears. Bears found it almost impossible to break Demons' zone, and Demons managed to concretize a couple of upwind scores and win the game by 4 points. Jesters2, despite having picked up Simona from ReD, still got "bagelled" 15-0 by Random Fling, And Jesters1 managed to score 6 points against the current University Outdoor Champions, showing great improvements from last year.

Lunch was called at noon, and all teams went for a quick snack before the last two sets of games started at 1pm.

Third set of games started at 1 o'clock. As most Jesters had gone back home for a warm meal, Jesters1 failed to show the 7 on the line on time against Demons. After much discussing, it was agreed in a very controversial way (I'm totally unbiased here if anyone's wondering...) that Jesters were 2-0 down straight away. Jesters managed to get 4 points in a row as the game started and bring the score to 4-2 on their favour. But the wind got much stronger, and Demons incredibly tight zone - often switching to a 4 man cup - proved to be too much for Jesters offence, and they didnt manage to score any more upwind points. Demons managed to score 1 upwind instead, and during a very tense last 10 minutes Jesters managed to get the final point, and win the Leicester Derby for their first time in their history. On the other fields Jesters2 continued their bad day with another whitewash against Haze, and Random Fling easily beat Bears in a very spirited and well fought game.

Last set of games saw Demons' revenge against Jesters by whitewashing it's second team 15-0. Jesters2 almost managed to score their first point of the day, but their moment of glory was denied by a shocking drop in the endzone.
Jesters1 confortably won 10:4 in a very spirited and fun game against Bears, and on the 3rd pitch Random Fling took on Haze for the first place at the head of the MULL table and the victory of the event itself.
Haze put a strong zone on RF, but RF managed to keep it calm and score the first point straight away with some great patience on disc. Haze then stepped its game up and tightened its defence. Every point was really hard fought, and both teams were finding it difficult to score. But Haze's experience made the difference, and the Loughborough crew took the game 9:2.

Thanks for everyone for turning up to this event. It's been a great day of Ultimate, and I'm sure everyone had an awesome time.
It's time now to get the next MULL event organized! There are a couple of weekends free before Outdoor regionals. Organizing an event hardly takes any effort. All you have to do is send out e-mails to see if anyone's up for a day of games, then sort a schedule out, and set the fields up half an hour before the games start. Easy, isn't it?

Will Haze stay unbeaten (both indoors and outdoors) for the second year running in the region?
Will Bears manage field a stronger squad, and bring some more competition at the head of the table?
Will Random Fling get to play Haze again and finally beat them?
Will Jesters continue to improve, and have a rematch against Random Fling keeping the second position on the table?
Will Demons' zone take other teams by surprise again and cause more upsets?
And more importantly, what other clubs will be joining us for the next event?

Really looking forward to the next MULL!

Adriano

Sounds like the event was a blast for everyone involved, Adriano has pretty much said it all - I can't wait for more MULL events to happen, there are rumours of a fixture to be held at UCE's grounds in the not-too-distant future, but more can definitely be planned for late February...

The Leicester Victoria Park event went well - a report from Adriano will follow soon, but for now you can check out what the results were, and the new table standings. Haze have shown why they are champions and are pulling away at the top already - with Jesters and Fling battling it out for second place, and Bears right on the heels of Demons for forth place.
A quick note about the scores from the weekend and how they are reflected on the table; because Jesters 2 are so low down in the table, teams that played them barely got any points, despite resounding 15-0 victories. Unfortunately Jesters 2 didn't score any points on Saturday either, meaning their rank didn't improve and teams playing them still didn't gain much. As a matter of note, if they had scored a single point against Haze then they would've got 20 ranking points to their name.
This all explains why Fling, despite performing better than Jesters 1 on the day, lost their place on the table to them - Jesters effectively played an extra game. Remember that this is a trial season, and if you've any suggestions for changes to the scoring system then let them be known, or try them out for yourself. I'm starting to think about all second teams starting with 1000 points at the beginning of next season...

One thing you can be sure of though, is that if you play lots of games then you'll go up in the table, so now Adriano's event is over, why not arrange one of your own? Surely a Jesters vs Random Fling rematch is in order, this time at Fling's home ground? Maybe then Fly TNT and the new Desparados team will come along to join in the action.
How about a Brum event too - uBu, UCE, Mental Discs and Airwolf are all near enough to visit each other, so if they don't soon they might find themselves sat watching the other clubs in the region sail away and shock them all at Midlands Outdoor Regionals on 4/5 March in Oxford.

25th & 26th February are free dates in the calendar, so how about sorting yourself out with a Ladder League game?

I've received an update from Adriano:

Hey Felix,

Mental Discs have pulled out, Haze will replace them.

Teams are Jesters1, Jesters2, Demons, Random Fling, Bears and Haze. It's looking good!

Everything's going ahead as scheduled. We're trying to advertise the event as much as we can. We're writing an article for the students newspaper and trying to get the Leicester Mercury (the local evening paper) interested.

Hopefully we'll get some new recruits out of this event.

Adriano

Sounds like it's going to be an awesome event, now with the current Uni Outdoor National Champions taking part! Isn't it great to have the opportunity to play them before Regionals & Nationals? That's bound to step up a team's game...

There's no need to wait till this event is through before announcing one of your own though - take a look at your calendars and invite some teams over to your grounds for a weekend which is looking to be quiet at the moment - how about Febuary 18th or 19th? Ask Adriano or myself (or take a look at the How It Works section) if you want to organise an event but don't know how!

Adriano has organised the first Midlands Uni Ladder League event ever - Jesters 1 and 2 will be joined by the Warwick Bears, Random Fling, Demons, and Mental Discs on 28th January in Victoria Park, Leicester. This is a big event and will no doubt reward all the attending teams many points on the table, as well as providing them with valuable game experience and knowledge of some of the opponents they'll face at Regional Qualifiers in early March.

Big hand to Adriano for getting this organised - but for those teams not attending, why not arrange an event of your own and do yourselves justice on the table, before everyone else runs away with it? It's easy, just check out the How it works page for a simple guide to hosting your very own event, or even ask Adriano.

Check out the fixtures page for details on the Victoria Park event.

Word has arrived of a new team in the Midlands - Desparados from Derby University have come into existence, led by Russell Scott from EMO. Not much is known about this team at the moment, but maybe more will become apparent in the coming weeks. Why not send your second team over to Derby Uni to spar with them, and begin their Ladder League campaign?
This new arrival to the Midlands means that, along with the South East, it is the largest region in UK University Ultimate.
Contact details for the Desparados are on the teams page.

Today the Midlands Uni Ladder League was started, with a short season commencing for Spring & Summer terms 2006, before a full ladder league season in the academic year 06/07. From experience, activity tends to drop off in the summer term as students have exams, so get as many games in for the spring term as you can. There are 10-12 weeks this term, so get planning now as to which weeks you're going to be hosting teams & which weeks you'll be visiting teams.

Results from Midlands Outdoor Regionals, March 2005, used for seeding purposes:

1. Haze 1 (Champions)
2. Ow! 1
3. Fling 1
4. uBu
5. Bears 1
6. Haze 2
7. Ow! 3
8. Mwnci See
9. Haze 3 (Plate Winners)
10. Demons Ultimate
11. Oxford Brookes
12. Jesters
13. Ow! 2
14. Bears 2
15. Fling 2

The following Uni teams also exist in the Midlands - some came to Indoor Regionals in November 2005, others haven't been seen in a while; Reservoir Discs, Fly TNT, UCE, Mental Discs, Airwolf.
If you have any questions, or notice anything dodgy or inaccurate on this website, don't hesitate to get in touch with Felix, or your regional coordinator CG.
Email CG your contact details and team info for the teams page, check out the table to see where you're seeded, look at the teams page to see which teams practice near you, and then email them to make some fixtures!

Above all, enjoy, and keep playing ultimate,

Felix