Interview #5 - Brian Henderson

Story Brian. Congrats on making the team. You missed out on U23s last time but have prior international experience in a mixed division. Tell us about your EUC experience from 2011.

It was brilliant, great players, great team and great result! To be part of a team that had so much
energy, passion and determination was an amazing experience. Every time we played together we
grew and found ourselves as a team, this was key to our good result in EUC, we all knew each other so well it was easy to be optimistic. I learned a great deal from all the players around me and I’m looking forward to doing the same over the course of 2013.

And that team out-performed all expectations and finished with a number of great results, right? That must have been awesome to be a part of!

Yes I think at the start of the season people had underestimated, not the players, but the division itself. If you look at the team that was playing player by player it was always going to perform well but no one really said much about mixed before that, well as far as I was concerned.

You also have some Juniors experience. How did you get on with that campaign?

A brave new generation? That was my first taste of what would be a huge part of my life, “Competitive Ultimate”. It was awesome, great bunch of lads, a lot of whom I haven’t seen since and some who are by my side on the line once again, we’re just a bit older and a lot better now.

Outside of Ireland teams you have been a big player for your college team, DCU, as well as your club team, OCS. Tell us about your time with both these teams. Are there many similarities in playing setup and playing style?

I’ve always had a fair bit of input in both teams so from that I guess there would be a lot of similarities but these days OCS has its own momentum behind it and new non DCU leadership so I would imagine the changes will start to show a bit more in 2013. I’m looking forward to seeing how they perform in the coming season.

You played at WUCC with Dublin Ultimate in 2010. At this tournament you would have played (with and against) and watched some awesome players. Was there anything in particular that you took away from this tournament?

The main thing I took from WUCC was the aim to get better, I thought I was a decent player before I went, came back a beginner. The standard was just so far ahead of me but DU were a great team and I enjoyed the “Learn fast” attitude that was shown to me. My favourite thing about WUCC looking back is “The Greatest Catch”, Andrew Fleming’s amazing catch; I was there and saw the whole thing. It was brilliant watching Ultimate in a stadium, it’s always a treat to have a crown.

This weekend you have Mixed Tour 1 in Cardiff. Are you excited? From your past experiences at Tour what can you expect to get out of this weekend?

Well training can only do so much. This is our first tournament as a team and it will show us where we
are, I can’t wait to play with these guys, fighting with everything we’ve got to get that win, I honestly can’t describe how excited I am, I have more faith in this team than any other I have ever played with.

Are there any games you would look forward to more than others at MT1?

I want to play the best; I want to see how we compare to the big teams. I really don’t want 17:2 wins or losses, I want games that come down to one D, universe points and really stressful situations, that’s where we are going to learn and I can only imagine how tight some games are going to be over the next few months, we will need every edge.

Have you any grudge matches for later in the season? Any teams at Windmill or in Toronto that you want to have a good battle with more than others?

GB are always a goal, we had a disappointing loss in EUC after an amazing start but there are just a few things that I personally would have liked to change about that game so I’ll just have to settle my memories against their younger team. I’m looking forward to playing Austria, I’ll leave that to my 2011 companions to remember why. Most of all I want to play America, Canada Columbia and Japan, all the big dogs or so I have been told for 5 years now, in all my travels I have never had a crack at any of them, can’t wait to put them to the test!

With a number of training weekends already under your belt, at the more recent one you were
switched from the O to D line and Conor Casey was in turn switched from D to O. Did this transition surprise you? Are you looking forward to playing with anyone in particular on this new line come Tour and after?

It was a surprise until I took a second to think about it, it was defiantly a nice surprise anyway, everyone always thinks I’ll make a good O-line handler but in practice there are much better options. I liked playing on the offence line but it just requires too much intelligence, I’m just a bit risky most
of the time, cocky and idiotic are in there somewhere to. Too much pressure really, maybe in a few years I’ll have the wisdom to make a good O-line handler but for now I’m pretty happy to hoof myself around a pitch after a Frisbee, also D-line opens up pulling AND Callaghan’s. I was going to name a few but then named everyone so I will just say DAVE FERGUSON! Honestly though I just don’t know, but I can’t wait to find out!

Lastly, make us laugh.

What cheese do you use to get a bear up a tree, camembert, camembert

Cheers Brian. Best of luck at the weekend and with the rest of the season.