By Matthew Morrison
This has been a great year of Stirling University’s Ultimate Frisbee Team — Blaze. After losing a number of experienced players last year, many newer players had to step up and take on the burden.
The year started as always with the beginner tournament in Edinburgh and was a good chance for Stirling to blood their new players, and the future looked promising after the team managed to win the plate! The first outdoor tournament “Tune Up” was unfortunately rained off, so the next chance for Blaze to compete was in the Glasgow one day event.
Stirling Men managed to grind out an impressive 10th play finish, as did the women. This was all good practice for the team as they prepared for indoor regionals.
These were hosted all over the country, and the men again came tenth alongside the mixed team. The women on the other hand played some very impressive games and came 8th, which secured a place at the indoor nationals in Wolverhampton, where they later finished 12th.
Now fully into the outdoor season, the men’s regionals took place in St Andrews and a solid 5th place was earned. Nationals was potentially on the cards.
All that stood in their way was bitter rivals St Andrew’s 2nd, whom Stirling had failed to get the better of in an earlier league game. Confidence was high though, after a regionals win and nationals potential was ringing throughout the squad.
After a very close game, in some of the worst weather that the club has seen, Stirling were once again victorious over St Andrews and would be heading to nationals at the end of the season.
The mixed team also did well at the outdoor nationals, finishing in 17th place out of 30 strong teams. Stirling once again hosted the annual rookie rumble, where players who have played for two years or less are pitted against each other and both Stirling teams that entered did well; the 2nd team also won the Spirt Award.
The Alumni Hat Tournament took place on April 6 – this year in memory of Matt Tomlinson, a beloved member and coach of the university team.
Men’s Nationals and Aberdeen’s CUBE beach frisbee tournament remain, where Stirling are looking to end the season on a high.
A strong finish will hopefully attract a berth of new players, as many team members are graduating, including the club’s president, Gavin Miller. Everyone leaving will be missed, but Stirling’s ultimate frisbee society also boasts an exciting future.
We’re bringing you season summary pieces for sports teams all across the university, so check back at 2PM every day for another edition of Bleed Green Round-Up.
