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Saturday 13 July 2013

Player Profile - Sarah Cummins

Name: Sarah Cummins
Age: 21
Years Playing: 2
College Team: UCD
Club Team: Jabba the Huck
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaign? Getting to play for Ireland. Putting on that green is gonna be a proud moment :D And not getting heat stroke, that too.
Anyone you're particularly looking forward to play alongside? Honestly, I've had so much fun playing with this team over the last number of months, I can't wait to go and boss it in Canada with everyone. I don't think there's anyone that I'm not excited to play with! So much so that this almost turned into a compliment for everyone on the team, but it was taking too long...
Personal Paragraph: http://imgur.com/gallery/XTMRC

Friday 12 July 2013

Player Profile - Estelle Murchan

Name: Estelle Murchan
Age: 20
Years Playing: 2
College Team: DCU
Club Teams: LMS and a few tournies with Hammertime
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaign? A whole week of ultimate in general and playing against the Aussie!
Anyone you're particularly looking forward to play alongside? I've played with a couple for Juniors last year and I'm used to laying with the other DCU players, but I think I'm just looking forward to playing alongside player who I'd normally play against at club or college level
Personal Paragraph: I've always had an interest for sport, but developed a real love for Frisbee during my first year of college! I am also a great procrastinator...

Player Profile - Liam Fletcher

Name: Liam Fletcher
Age: 22
Years Playing: 
College Team: UCD
Club Team: Jabba The Huck
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaign: Playing with people who I have always played against, and competing at the top level.
Anyone you're particularly looking to play alongside:  It's hard to pick any one player really..everyone on the team is deadly, it's great playing with everyone!
Personal Paragraph: Just finished final year in UCD so this whole campaign has been a good excuse not to study whilst in college and is now a good reason not to look for a 'big boy' job yet..don't know what I will do when this is all over!

Player Profile - Aoife Blake

Name: Aoife Blake
Age: 19
Years Playing: Nearly 2
College Team: University College Cork
Club Team: Rebel Ultimate
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaign: Getting the chance to play alongside some of the most respected players in Irish Ultimate. Also, getting the chance to represent and do my part for my country at a world event. 
Anyone you're particularly looking to play alongside: Gráinne as I've only ever played against her up until now and she brings positivity and is great to play alongside. But I'm looking forward to playing with everyone really.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Player Profile - Jennifer Cooper

Name: Jennifer Cooper (Jen/Wildcard/Coop etc etc)
Age: 23
Years Playing: 4 years
College Team: Captain Huck DCU
Club Team: Jabba the Huck 
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaign? The challenge. Every team there is set to be a tough opposition and I can't wait to see how we fair after all the work and effort we've put in over the last 8 months. Hopefully we'll be able to make a big impact and do well.
Anyone you're particularly looking to play alongside? Watching the D line play is very exciting! They make ridiculous bids and get D after D. At this stage we've played as a O-line for so long I think we've all clicked. In short; everyone! 
Personal Paragraph: I read everyone else's paragraph in preparation for this and have still come up with nothing! Ultimate has taken over. Yay Frisbee!!
On an aside; I am reading Born to Run at the moment - if they can run ultra marathons, we've no excuses!

Interview #25 - Sarah Melvin

Hey Sarah, how're things? All set to fly next week?
Hey Hogi, things are great thanks. Hope all is well in Germany! I'm getting there. Just organizing the last few bits.

Congrats on making the team way back in October! As this is your first time making an Irish squad tell us what it meant to you when you got the call? Is there any added pressure being the only UL representative?
Thanks. I honestly couldn't believe it when I got the call. Well I actually missed the call and got a text but still couldn't believe it. I only put my name forward for the sake if it because I was going to miss the trials being on Erasmus so it was a huge surprise. I don't think there is any added pressure to be honest. The only pressure I feel is the pressure I put on myself before games.


When and how did you get involved with Ultimate? 
I first started ultimate in my second year of college, so two years ago but its only since I have come back from Germany that I have really become completely involved in the sport. Jamie Chambers is the only reason I started to play. He literally would turn up at my house and bring me to trainings. I was very reluctant at the start but soon realized how great it was.

Before Ultimate you were involved with some other sports. What did you play? And at how high a level did you play?
I have tried a lot of sports but the main two before ultimate were hockey and basketball. I played hockey very seriously for about  5 years and was lucky enough to play for Connaught and to make onto an Irish Summer development squad where I got my first cap for Ireland. Basketball took over then towards college and in my first year I played on the UL Ladies Varsity team and with UL Club Division 1.

Do you still play any of these sports? Or are you purely focused on Ultimate?
No unfortunately these sports had to make way when I started ultimate. With so many trainings and tournaments I really don't have time for mush else.

This year you got some exposure to Ultimate outside of Ireland, playing at UK Mixed Tour and Windmill Windup. Had you played at either of these events, or other foreign events, before?
No I had never played outside of Ireland before so both those tournaments were amazing experienced for me. UK Mixed Tour in particular because it was my first time playing with the team. Sadly I couldn't play windmill due to injury but it was still a great tournament for the team and an great experience.


Are there any standout highlights for you, personally, and the team so far this season?
I don't think I have any personal highlights. Hopefully they will come in Toronto. With the team for me I think it has to be the game against Stockholm Syndrome at Windmill. Everything seemed to work and we really showed how strong of a team we are. 


Looking ahead to Toronto, there are 10 teams in the Mixed division and some people are speculating that it will be a round robin format followed by placement games. How do you think this would suit the team?
I think what ever way they decide to format the games we will be ready for it. The round robin format would be cool though because we would get to play all the teams. 


With the possibility of playing everyone in the division on the cards, are there some teams that you look forward to playing more than others?
To be honest as I have never played against another national team I can't really say who I would like to play a particular team more. It will just be great to play against all the different styles that these teams will have. 


One of the Irish Ultimate public asks: If you could take one of the Irish U23 Open team and have him play Mixed, who would it be?
I think the team we have was selected for a reason and we have gelled really well. So I am very happy with the team and can't say who else I would take really. 

Similarly, if you had to take someone from the Mixed O line to play D line, who would you take?
I would probably take Caitlin. She is a fantastic player and I think it would be a wise choice to take a girl considering my injury rate ha

Lastly, tell us a joke.
Did you hear about the magic tractor? 

It drove down the lane and turned into a field 

Classic Irish banter about farming... Thanks for your time, Sarah. Best of luck in Toronto!
Cheers Hogi! Same to you.

Tuesday 9 July 2013

Interview #24 - Niall Macdermott

Hey Niall, first off, congrats on making the squad! You're the only player from NUI Galway on the team, does this add pressure to fly the flag for the lads from the West?
I haven't felt any added pressure by being the only player from the west on the team but representing Ireland is a big deal and I hope to do well and show what this squad is capable of.

As I mentioned, you're a NUIG lad. Is this where you started playing Ultimate? Or did you get into it elsewhere before college?
The first I ever heard of ultimate was at the clubs day in NUIG. I basically signed up to every sport in the college and gave everything a try. Ultimate is quite a unique sport and I once I started it I never planned on stopping.

Who do you play your club Ultimate with?
My main club team is called Snatch they we are a bunch of lads from the west of Ireland mostly NUIG and UL players and graduates. For some tournaments overseas such as Tour and Windmill Windup I have picked up with Rebel Ultimate.

Throughout this mixed season, you've been instrumental to the success of the D line, getting Ds all over the pitch and getting a bunch of goals to go with them. How have you found playing on the D line yourself?
It's been great playing on the Irish team really enjoying the whole experience. I really enjoy the atmosphere and the intensity and passion that people bring like Brian will always get me fired up and mad to make the extra effort the keep chasing any disk with what seems like no chance of being caught or throw your body into the ground to make an interception.
Yeah, he's alright in the air

In the last two warm up tournaments, what have been the highlights for you personally?
My personal highlight was a grab I make in Tour. I went up for a disc against a big group of people and came down with it. The reaction from the squad was amazing and it really got me pumped for the rest of the tournament.

And for the team? What were the biggest performances in your opinion?
I think our best performance was in the quarter final of windmill windup against Stockholm Syndromes. We were throwing difficult throws into a strong wind unphased and making big grabs and skys against a strong opposition. It was amazing to watch and hopefully we recreate that performance in Toronto.

You were a basketball player before playing Ultimate, right? Do you still play a bit? Or has Ultimate taken over completely?
I haven't played basketball since I went to college. I've basically dropped it in favor of Ultimate. Ultimate is my main sport at the moment I will sometimes play some Gaelic football for club back home.

Getting horizontal for Snatch

How did the skills you had from playing basketball translate to the Ultimate pitch?
The main transferable skills from basketball to ultimate are pivoting and jumping. I  lot of people find it hard to do a three step running jump effectively and I've been practicing that since I was 8, I've found that to be very useful on the ultimate field

Looking ahead to Worlds, what are you looking forward to most?
This is my first time representing Ireland and I look forward to seeing some of the best ultimate players in the world up close and personal. 

Is there one team you want to play more than others?
I don't have any team that I want to play more than others. I want to play any game that is competitive spirited and fun preferable with us winning. We recently got a message from the Aussie team and they seem up for a good game of ultimate so I look forward to seeing them on the field and maybe the bar after.

Lastly make a funny.
A dyslexic man walks into a bra
If you like funny videos this is pretty great http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBftA7V4xak
And this is the best story I've ever heard, it's worth a watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHfroJBMlVM 

Cheers bud, best of luck in Toronto

Player Profile - Caoimhe Quigley

NameCaoimhe Quigley
Age: 21
Years Playing3.5
College Team: Trinity
Club TeamLMS
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaignI'm very excited about the team as a group! There is a great freshness about the team. Everyone is so willing to put more than 100% in and strive towards being the best player they can be and together being the best team we can be. I love the atmosphere in the team. No one accepts how good they are now as a limit and everyone is pushing themselves to be even more amazing than they already are!
Anyone you're particularly looking to play alongsideObviously Ross...
Seriously though, there isn't a single player on this team that i'm not excited to call my team mate. In particular I'm excited to get to handle with Hogi and Gráinne (because we always end up marking each other at other training sessions!) There is such a mass of talent and determination on this team that it's hard to leave it at two, but i'll end up listing everyone on the team if I don't stop there.

Also a special shout out to Aoife and Estelle, very happy to have you both joining us!

I'm done with the happy clappy (but true!) stuff now, promise!

Personal ParagraphI started playing ultimate in Trinity in my first year and honestly didn't take it too seriously to begin with. I soon saw the the game was so much more fun when you were fitter, faster, stronger and better on the disc. This is now my third time playing for Ireland, my first time playing mixed. I'm very glad I realised how much more the sport had to offer when you up the intensity.

I'm not funny, so I won't put a joke here, instead here are some facts about me:

I won the LMS award for best cake maker. (I love to bake!)
I study environmental science, play Frisbee, cycle everywhere and may be slowly turning into a hippy.
I like cheesy music, I like to sing along and can regularly be caught dancing on the line before a point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXzK0AFpmcI

Sunday 7 July 2013

Interview #23 - Siobhán Abrook

So much determination doh...
Hey Siobhán, all well?
Hi Hogi! Yes not too bad, I’m back in Ireland for a few days for work.
Congrats on making the squad, your first time to represent the green. How did it feel when you got the call?
I was actually half asleep (after a day of moving country/house and travelling) when I found out but I was really ecstatic. I almost couldn’t believe it! I've also never been further West than Connemara and the Aran Islands so getting to go to Canada is huge for me as well.
Since the beginning you've been smashing it with the team's impressive D line. How has the team performed at their warm up tournaments in your opinion? Have they surpassed your expectations?
I think the thing with Irish players is that it is still quite a small community so we play against each other quite often but rarely get to play with the people you admire. What I really love about this team is I get to play with the people I have admired for their skill, knowledge and ability (but hate marking!). By playing the warm up tournaments you realise even more what people want to throw and how they think.
From the beginning to the end of Tour the team progressed so much. Being D line we did play a bit more than the O line but even watching from the sideline you could see the points that O line got to play they were really starting to work together. Then we moved onto Windmill. We had 2 training sessions after tour but there was a big gap between them because of exam time. The weekend before Windmill was one of the training weekends and we seemed a little rusty in playing with each other, trying to remember peoples speed and how they reacted in certain situations. We were going into windmill seeded quite low but the knowledge we had of the "Swiss draw" system meant we knew we had to fight for every single point because they made such a difference. We played our hearts out and I think we were rewarded by getting into the semi-finals. It was one place I hoped we would get to but at the time still didn’t quite believe it. We then came up against a few extremely experienced teams and we didn’t quite manage to get medals. I think we learnt more from this because we began to realise what teams might do and how we should change our game to react to different Ds and how to shut down different offensive plays. At the end of the day, we weren’t going to either tournaments to win but we were going there to challenge ourselves against some great teams and learn more about ourselves, which I think we did.
How did you get started playing Ultimate?
I started playing in my third year of college. I actually wanted to join in my first year, and a couple of friends signed up, but had no money left to join the club. Then in second year I actually managed to sign up but I was highly involved as Treasurer in Drama soc and the drama workshops were the same day and time as training. Finally in third year I signed up with the intention of definitely playing the sport because I missed the competitive edge.
Had you played any sports before Ultimate? How was the transition to this new one?
I played a lot of sports when I was younger but the main sports I was focused on were Gymnastics, Volleyball and Hockey. Gymnastics I was involved in from the age of 4 or 5 but I got heavily involved from age 9-11, usually training at least two hours on Monday, Tuesdays and Thursday plus training on Saturdays which sometimes lasted from 9-4. If you look at me know you wouldn’t expect it, mainly because I hit a growth spurt and got just that little bit too tall.
Then in secondary school I joined the volleyball and hockey teams and also played hockey with my local club. Volleyball I really enjoyed but I only played in school. While I was on the junior team the senior girls made it to the finals most years and won a lot as well.
While in hockey, unsurprisingly, even then I was all about the defence. I played as centre back, right back and sometimes goalie in hockey. I did have one incident when I was taking a free out from the top of the D, an opposition player managed to get the ball and when I went in for a tackle I angled my hockey stick the wrong way by mistake and the ball traveled up her stick and hit her in the face. A lot of blood and almost broke her nose, but she was OK in the end! I really enjoyed hockey and will probably go back to it in later years. Unfortunately I got very badly injured when I was 16, tearing ligaments all around my ankle and in my knee at the same time so it took a long time to recovery and then had a knock on effect with my hips. I tried to go back to volleyball for a while but my knee just wasn’t strong enough to get down on my knees to dig the ball up and then leaving cert caught up with me as well so I really cut back on playing hockey as well.
It took Ultimate to really get back into sport and I loved it from the very the beginning.  It is nothing like gymnastics which is very much a solo sport. While hockey is a team sport it isn’t really like Ultimate at all.  However, the defensive element of hockey and my instincts have never left me which has been really great. I suppose there is a small similarity with Volleyball because you are always trying to keep the ball/disc up in the air at all times. I just wish I hadn’t lost the instinct to dive to do this. I’m gradually getting back on track though!
What teams/colleges have you played with since? Are there any stand out memories from the last few seasons?
I started playing with DIT who didn’t have enough players for a full women's or mixed team so I played a lot of open as a beginner. DIT is also known to play a lot of zone D which took a while to understand but I really got into it.
I think in DIT there are two stand out memories, one from each year of playing. In my first year at the end of day one of Open Intervarsity’s we were playing UCC2 in a very tight match to get into the top 8. We were 2 or 3 points down when time was called, UCC2 only needed one point to win (I think). Then a thunder storm started so we had to stop play and finish the match the next morning before the quarterfinals. We managed to win the match, even though the first point we played was into the wind on defence. The second stand out memory was in second year as vice women’s captain and at women's indoor Intervarsity’s DIT got their first women's team out in history for any tournament. We were seeded quite low but managed to work our way up to 6th out of 13 teams.
I joined Jabba the Huck early enough in my first year so my first non-university tournament was a very high level Tour 3 in Cardiff. One stand out moment was getting a huge D on an experienced player and then going on to score the point a few passes later. Jabba haven’t been able to get rid of me since! :P
Earlier this summer you did some off the cuff PR work for the team, getting on the radio and promoting the team and tournament a little bit. How did that come about?
Well…. At one of our training weekends I was breaking in my sexy new American football boots (that cost an arm and a leg). It was a lovely sunny day so I was covered in sun cream from head to ankles. Unfortunately the boots gave me really bad blisters on the backs of my heels, tried to play through it but when they started bleeding as well I had to stop so I took off my boots. Rookie mistake, I didn’t put any sun cream on my feet so they ended up quite burnt.
The Monday morning I was listening to the radio while getting ready for work. There was a piece about getting burnt over the weekend and what were you doing when it happened. I text in about my burnt feet and blisters and mentioned that I was at Ireland training weekend. I got a call a while later to speak on the show about it, which I did. The presenter Hector asked about the team and I proceeded to explain that he had gotten some people on the show to talk about the World Juniors held in Dublin the previous year and then explained about the Mixed team, where the tournament would be and the basics of ultimate as a game.
You're now working in England (or has that finished?). Where are you situated? Have you got involved with the Ultimate community over there?
 It's been a very stressful year for me. This time last year I had just finished my finals and I was going through sets to qualify for a graduate program with a post-grad program joined onto it. I eventually got onto the program and got a job with Grosvenor Services as Marketing Coordinator. As part of the graduate program I had to move abroad for approximately one year. Try-outs for the Mixed team were second last weekend in October and I moved to Birmingham the next weekend. While in Birmingham I trained with Leamington Lemmings once a week indoors. I was based there until January when I moved back to Ireland. I was supposed to move back to the UK, to London, in August. However, at the beginning of June I was told I had to move before the end of the month to make sure I was as close to the one year abroad as possible. So since the 22nd of June I officially live in London but I am over and back to Dublin office for meetings. I have played one summer league match with Thundering Herd and one training session with Crown Jewels.
To be perfectly honest, I think I will have to wait and see if there is a major difference between the two communities. I haven't played enough in the UK to give major differences. I think one thing about Ultimate is that no matter what country you are in at the time, ultimate players are usually quite friendly and 'bond' to a certain extent over a sport that so many people do not fully understand. 
Focusing now on Worlds, what are your goals, personal and team goals, for Toronto?
A personal goal for me is to remain confident and to be really tight on defence. For the team I think it would be to play to the very best of our ability. Obviously I would love if we won! But I think making it to the semi-finals would be a huge achievement for the team.
Who do you want to play most, and why?
I really want to play Australia! Jabba the Huckers played a warm up match against the Aussie girls last year before World Juniors in Dublin and it was a really enjoyable match. I also have some cousins in Australia so would really love the bragging rights :P Other than that I want to play Colombia. Seeing the juniors last year in both the women's and open final was fantastic. Also, they were so up beat and sooo much chanting! I think if you ask any Irish player who they want to play GB will usually be on the list. Watching the Ireland Mixed Beach team at ECBU was really inspirational. On a personal level, again, I want the bragging rights because my Dad is English :P
Tell us a joke.
Not good at telling jokes but Google found me this 'so bad, it's good' joke :)
Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, 
which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. 

He also ate very little, which made him rather frail 

and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. 

This made him...

A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.
Thanks for the chat, Siobhán. Best of luck in Canada!
Thanks Hogi, see you soon :)

Friday 5 July 2013

Player Profile - Sarah Melvin

Name: Sarah Melvin
Age: 21
Years Playing: 2 years on and off
College Team: UL Ninjas 
Club Team: Living in Cork at the minute so currently training with Rebel 
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaign: Getting to play a higher level of ultimate than I have ever played before
Anyone you're particularly looking to play alongside: Everyone really! I have never played with anyone on the team before so it will be great to be playing with new teammates
Personal Paragraph: I love sports in general! Before ultimate I played hockey and basketball but they had to make way for frisbee once I was finally convinced to join. Now I have no life outside it :P

Player Profile - Conor Casey

Name: Conor Casey
Age: 23
Years Playing: 7
College Team: UCD
Club Team: Jabba the Huck
What are you most looking forward to in the upcoming campaignGotta be the playing the Aussies. If I could play them in every game I could. They're just great!!
Anyone you're particularly looking to play alongsideIt's quite fun playing with Keith, he's savage! I'm so used to playing with Emer now, I pass to her even when we're on opposing teams, that's got to be a connection! Also it's great to play with the UCC, UL and NUIG heads, finally we have all our skills on the same side!
Personal ParagraphHogi smells... that's pretty personal right? Before Ultimate, I played chess internationally, unfortunately a finger injury kept me from continuing my playing career. I had to switch to something less physically strenuous.

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Interview #22 - Ross Andreucetti

Hey Ross, what's the craic?
Alright Hogi, not a lot of craic really. Most of my time at the moment is taken up with my thesis and when I'm not doing that I'm usually training or doing something Frisbee related!

Congrats on making your second U23 Mixed team, your third Irish setup overall! You were a member of the team that went to Florence in 2010, so tell us how that week went for you.
Florence was a tough week, I think myself and a lot of other members of the team were naive going into the tournament and didn't know what to expect. What games got tough we didn't really have anyone experienced enough at an international level to turn to and that meant the results never really went our way.

Are there any highs and lows that stood out more than others from the tournament?
Ah yeah, there was plenty I liked about it alright. The team were a great bunch and we really did our best in every game despite our small squad and the hot conditions. I played as a handler that week which was something I have ended up doing every time I represented Ireland until now for some reason so I got quite a bit of the disc and learned a lot which was cool! Obvious things I didn't enjoy was the heat, getting sun-stroke and never getting a win! Oh the pool party was an experience too and becoming super-mates with Juno!

In 2009, you played at EYUC with the Irish Junior team. As this was still within your first year of play, you were still pretty new to the game. What did you learn most from your year at Juniors?
EYUC was class! It was the first time I'd really taken Frisbee seriously, before that it was a lot about the boozing and that. Arriving in Austria really showed me the level of athleticism that was in the sport that I was pretty ignorant of up until that point. I learned that if I wanted to properly compete at that level I'd need to start putting the work in and that's how I became that tank I am today ;) 

Before all that, you had to start somewhere. Where was that and who was your coach?
I started in DCU in 2008. Brian, Louis Free and myself all signed up and went to the first training session and were given a rake of free beer so we never looked back. After a few months I even began to enjoy the sport! Back then Dominick used to coach us in DCU and he was great! The club itself was going through a bit of a change that year after losing big players like Rory and Rob but at the time I was just happy to be playing and didn't worry too much about results at the time :)

Since the inception of the club, you were an OCS man. What was the best thing about playing with "the boys"?
Yeah we set up the club in 2009 so we could enter All-Irelands and from there we found our player base growing and we started to win some games! The best part of OCS for me was the players on the team, we all got along really well and enjoyed working for one another. But the team really got going when we moved our training session  to a state of the art facility in the city centre, there we saw well attended sessions every single week where we really tore the hole off it!

Who do you train with now? Is there a big difference in setup between OCS and your new club?
This year I'm training with Ranelagh which is completely different I guess. In Ranelagh the team is made up of people who are really looking to play and get results at the top level, on top of that everyone is willing to put in the work at training and with their fitness. I guess the biggest difference between the clubs is that in OCS players wanted to club to go in many different directions which led to a few problems along the way but they're back to training now which is great and I'm sure they'll have a good season!

Pulling face win

How has this Mixed season gone for you so far? 
Great! It was a little strange at the start going from training with an open team every week to changing to mixed mode for our training weekends but I think I've got the hang of it! I've played 2 warm up tournaments with the team so far (Mixed Tour 1 and Windmill Windup) both were absolutely fantastic. We went into both tournaments with a squad full of talent that have been putting the work in since October and the results were great too! I'm playing on the O-line for the team which is something completely new to me and a real mental test sometimes but it's really quite enjoyable and there's no better feeling than marching the disc upwind for the score to put the D-line animals back in the game!

And the team? Have they been performing to the standard you would expect from them?
Absolutely. We're receiving top class coaching and everyone's really bought into the team. I think at this stage everyone has really gotten to know their role on the team and is doing it with great success. We were great at MT1 and WW so I'm really excited for when the team peaks at Toronto!

Is there something you look forward to most in Toronto?
It's hard to pick just one thing really. Ever since I got the phone call from Emer offering a place on the squad Toronto has been my number one priority (thankfully I was able to juggle some of the other commitments in my life :P) So I guess what I'm looking forward to most is them really tough games which we'll win on the hard work that's gone in since October! And the theme park.

Who do you want to play most?
Hard to pick just one really, I'm looking forward to playing the likes of USA and Canada. There's something I really enjoy about going into a game as underdogs!

Make us laugh.
How do teddies keep cool?
Bear conditioning.

Cheers Ross. Best of luck at Worlds!
No bodz xx

Monday 1 July 2013

Interview #21 - Gráinne McCarthy

Hey Gráinne, how are you feeling coming up to Worlds?  
We've been working hard for this for so long at this stage I just want to get over and start smashing it!

You've been one of the stand out players on the D line so far this season, how have things gone for the D line at your two warm up tournaments? 
Cheers Hogi! I think D line has gone fantastically well, there is such a hunger that has shown through its going to be exciting to see what happens in Toronto,

And the O line have been pretty sweet too, no? If you could take one of their players for the D line who would it be?
O line have been exceptional, scoring the points no matter what it takes.  I think Caitlin is an exceptional cutter and I think a hidden weapon for the O line, wouldn't mind bringing her to the D side....

When, and how, did you get into Ultimate?
It came about when I was 17 when a guy crush asked to play with his team from Terenure college, in a thing called Whacking day. We were called Multiple Scorecagsms. I was the only girl... Even after all the jokes I still wanted to play again

Since then you've gone on to play play with the Irish team in the Mixed division at EUC, coming 6th. Tell us about the successful week you had in Maribor.
It was incredible! I learned so much from both playing other teams and watching my team mates. We had a sensational team, all capable of incredible things, which led to our success. I think it helped that we went in just wanting to play as best we could and we proved our best was a force to be reckoned with!

You've played on some pretty successful Trinity College and LMS teams too, have you any personal highlights from the past few years that aren't from international duty?
There something very tribal about playing with a club or college, you want to show that you are part of the best. Playing UK nationals final was sensational, I have NEVER played with such an innate belief in all of my team mates and how much we all wanted to win.

Recently at Windmill the team came 4th, surpassing a lot of expectations. What game stood out for you as the best in your opinion?
When we played Stockholm Syndrome, I felt like it was then we were a team. Every little victory was shared and we all played phenomenally well. It showed the potential of the team and when our attitude is right everything else falls into place

So far this season have you had the opportunity to see any other U23 Mixed teams at the warm up tournaments?
I haven't and I tried not to. It gets in my head about who I'm marking if I see them play. Of course knowing their strengths like they huck a lot is helpful. However I'm happier going into a game not knowing, feeling like I am as good if not better than my opponent. You can't go into a game scared.

What are you focusing on now in the last three weeks ahead of Worlds?
To be as prepared as possible, knowing my role on the team and how best to fulfill that when we get there.

What would be an ideal week for you in Toronto?
I want to finish each game knowing both the team and myself have been pushed. This is our chance to see our full potential and  I want us all to feel that we achieved something regardless of score.

Who do you want to play most, and why?
We lost to the German mixed team for 5th last year and I would like to prove we should have had that spot. Also the GB teams are always incredible, after the Open teams win I look forward to seeing what we can do!

To close, finish with a joke.
Two fish are in a tank. One turns to the other and says, "Hey, do you know how to drive this thing?"

Thanks for your time and best of luck in Toronto!