DD2 Match Report: Student Outdoor Regionals 2005

SATURDAY

(Royal Holloway) Holloway Hammers 1 vs dD2

10 - 0

The weather was fantastic for the first game as dD2 huddled together for a team talk and "peanut power" call. dD2 captain Ian (Munky) had won the toss, breaking the disc doctor curse of losing it. At the start of the match dD2 lacked a bit of flow and Hammers had no problem grinding the dD2 offence to halt. Always one step ahead, Holloway used their height advantage to throw a number of deep overheads, which dD2 struggled to stop. By the time dD2 had rediscovered their funky-rhythm, it was a little too late. They had held Holloway off well; they were the only team to not be beaten by the 13-point cap of the first game.

(Cambridge) Strange Blue1 vs dD2

13 - 2

This game was likely to have been dD2's hardest match up. Strange Blue, the second seed, had a reputation of being a consistent team, never short of Ultimate talent (pun intended). As predicted SB started the scoring, again taking advantage of dD2's lack of deep players. DD2 kept SB on their toes with quick cuts out of the stack, allowing them to move the disc up field quickly. Towards the end dD2 changed their playing style: Munky tried some more long upfields to Stas who got a few but who was beaten in the air by some of the taller SB players. Thanks to some sweet cutting by Snazzy, Mary and George, dD2 managed to score 2 points against a very sporting Strange Blue.

(Cambridge) Strange Blue2 vs dD2

12 - 6

In the next "Battle of the 2nds' " dD took on a very determined SB2. Eager to show their strength SB2 worked quickly to score the first 3 points of the game, but dD2 who were determined to stop them, brought back the score to 6-4 to SB2. dD2 attempted to break the constant SB2 line force with some "dump and swing" tactics, whilst simultaneously playing their own line force. With Manny's KKK scheme on their mind, dD2 fought to try and gain some more points. Hats off to Denim and Snazzy who caught some very high discs with hands safer than an international cricketer. Unfortunately Strange Blue 2 walked away with the win, but dD2 felt they have played a lot better during this match.

Surrey Scorpions vs dD2

6 - 5

The last pool game of the day and dD2 were shocked to see Cedric who had turned up around half a day late! Still, better than never. The team made Cedric run hard as punishment for sleeping all morning, as dD2 attempted to wear-out an Iron man team of Scorpions. The Doctors found themselves in a good position early on scoring the first few points. With the sun glaring down all day, playing was tough, but thanks to great handling by Toby dD2 flew up field quicker than Jo was getting sunburnt (By the end of the day he had panda eyes. Not as bad as the K-man though!)

Despite Jay lying by the sideline showing his support for dD2, the guys (and girls) began losing their lead over Surrey. A few unlucky turnovers left both teams fighting for the match at 5-5 after time. dD2 had a very good opportunity to win, but didn't manage to stop Surrey from getting the final point. A close match indeed and both teams fought well and the score could have gone either way.

SUNDAY

Since dD2 had retained their original seed in the pool, they were put into a three-way round-robin with Aye Aye 2 & Holloway Hammers 2.

After losing all their pool matches, the only way for dD2 was up! Well, they could have gone down further, but were determined to win, inspired by the progress of the first team. Despite losing Finnish, Toby and Cedric on the Sunday, dD2 still had a good roster of enthusiastic players, ready to take on Aye Aye 2.

dD2 - (UEA, Norwich) Aye Aye 2

15 - 4

The Aye Aye bunch are renownd for being a very spirited team. They are regularly found singing songs and chanting, up until the point that everyone within about a 2 km radius is about to beat them to the ground with their Frisbees. They sang this one song about how "Will is the captain of their ship" and how "their ship is a tanker and Will is a .." well, you get the idea.

dD2 got off to a good start forcing sideline and trapping Aye Aye play. Aye Aye made quite a few mistakes allowing dD2 to send the disc up field to Lisa and Stas, who worked hard to get to some of the longer throws. With a few points under their belt, dD2 decided to throw a zone. The "Junk" caught Aye Aye 2 off guard and it took them a while to get used to it. By this time dD2 had the match well under control and were working very well as a team, even playing calls of "Princes Gardens" where the last player would run deep for a long overhead.

It was a fun match to play. Both teams were friendly towards each other and everyone had a laugh at the end, playing a game that involved slapping each other on the ass … cheeky.

dD2 - Holloway Hammers 2

9 - 2

It did seem that all the way out on pitch 6, the number of spectators had more than quadrupled as Holloway Hammers 2 brought along all their support with them. DD2 still had full, uninjured team (apart from Snazzy who had received a mild case of "Disc in the Groin". Luckily it wasn't terminal!).

Disc doctors fought well against the home team advantage. They played a number of zone variations and Munky even managed a Point block whilst chasing! Hammers 2 tried playing a lot of long overheads, whilst handling with their bigger players. Luckily dD2 had it all covered and turnovers were quick. Skilled handling from Jo and Denim combined with great play from G and Mary in the middle kept Disc Doctors ahead.

At full time Disc Doctors 2 had proved themselves as one of the best 2nd teams in the region by winning the game 9 - 2. Overall they had finished just behind Strange Blue 2 in the table. This commendable achievement was thanks to every player on the team, all of which had worked hard for it. All the players had really enjoyed the weekend and the experience had clearly improved everyone's game.

Written by Ian "Munky" Ballantyne