Cakes qualified for 2nd division of the European Championships
Friday we started off the weekend in style, with both Michael and Paddy missing their flights -both for different reasons; spending too much time on printing free-beer-coupons and going to the wrong airport-, yes that's right.
We were picked up from the airport by Jane, our designated driver for the weekend. She drove us to the Church-hall that we were sleeping in, and after we dropped off our stuff we headed into town for some really good Mexican food at the cactus restaurant; Slam it, Spank it, Shove it (or something like that) was the restaurant's slogan...
The next morning we got to the fields early, despite having our first game at 11:00. We chilled out, not only because we are such a cool team, but the wind was chilly and more important; it was HARD. This would prove to be crucial for us during the day, but we'll get to that. Before we started our games we set ourselves some major goals for the tournament, wich were: 1) Staying positive, and letting the whole field know when somebody does something great. 2) Qualify for the second division at europeans.
We had four games to play on friday, and they were back to back. Wich meant that in theory we had 30 minutes rest in between games, but in practice in turned out we had about 5 to 15 minutes in between. Brutal! And not only timewise our schedule was pretty nasty; We played 3 of the top-10 UK teams in a row (Fire of London, Chevron and LeedsLeedsLeeds), and the Brussels Mooncatchers to finish off with.
Our first three games against the UK teams showed that we are well on our way, but have yet a long way to go. With lots of turnovers caused by the wind, points were long, but nevertheless we kept running and running and running. So our fitness, that we have been working on since november, is paying off for us. On the other hand, we showed that we are a developing team still. Quite often we displayed a lack of confidence and accuracy, giving our opponents plenty of opportunities to get their point on the board.
After three games, things weren't looking too bright for us; We lost all three, pretty badly (15 - 5, 10 - 3, 15 - 6). And our last game of the day didn't change a lot... Although we managed to put more points on the board, Mooncatchers came out on top, beating us 15 - 14. A very sour defeat...
On sunday we had two more games, of wich the first was against Fully Charched. Having brought only about 11 guys, who probably had a little less sleep than we did, Fully Charged was not even close to looking as sharp as Cakes were that morning. The Cakes D-team was able to stop their huck-and-hope game pretty well, and Cakes-O was just cruising through all of their defenses. Final score: 15 - 7. So then we had one more game to go... Against...
UFO.
This game was going to decide who would play second division, and who would play third division at europeans. So basically, it was the game that we came to play. And damn, did it show! Our O-line was so fired up that they went like a hot knife through butter, cutting trough the UFO defense, and putting points on the board. And then the D-line stepped it up even more, shutting down the cutters upfield, as well as the dumps, thus forcing UFO to turn over the disc, and then scoring the point. In a matter of minutes the score was 5 - 0, and we were not going to give up that lead anymore. In fact, for every point that UFO scored after that point, Cakes scored two, making the final score 15 - 5. And more important; Qualifying for second division at europeans!
Job well done.
So then we all made our flight back home (but not before bmibaby made about a hundred pounds off us, for not doing the only check-in, not giving extra information, or misspelling names on passports) and ready to start preparing for europeans in about a month.
Some important points that showed during the weekend:
- Our fitness is becoming more and more of a weapon. We were able to keep running throughout the whole weekend. Considering that europeans is a 4-day tourney, this will be of great importance.
- We need to work on our throws, especially in the wind. Just like at regionals last year, we suffered a lot from the wind, while we should not have to.
- We managed to stay positive, even when we were down and things weren't working for us. This makes a huge difference, especially when you are on the field. It feels good to have your teammates cheering you on, instead of having them scream negative things at you. It can really boost your performance.
So now with this tourney behind us, we can now start looking forward to, and preparing for Europeans. Our training-weekend in Bakkum will be a big part of this, but the regular training nights and track sessions will be too.
Cakes will play hard in London! Yeah!
Tim