Bibione

This afternoon I am catching another flight, this time to Bibione to get some Beach Ultimate action. Bibione is in northern Italy on the Adriatic coast, near Venice.

I have never been to this beach tourney. I am really curious to see what Paul and the gang that also organise Burla (which, after Paganello, is Europe’s biggest beach tournament) have prepared for us.

I am co-captaining Splash, our super-duper, double-cool, hyper-awesome international mixed team.

Teams entered:

POOL A
Bavarian N.T.
WinonaRiders
Radical
Splash
Soul Gringos

POOL B
Mir San Mir
Zuf
Cheek 2 Cheek
Catch Up
PickUp

POOL C
Flugsaurier
4 Stazioni
HallodigazE
HernyHal'disco
GJB 2

POOL D
Upsadaisy
Espana
Flying Circus
RJP
Ultimate Pirates

POOL E
Zamperl
GJB 1
FreundEZkreis
The Hijackers
UltimatedeLux

Post Tournament report to follow.

Why Wonderful Copenhagen is wonderful

Because…

1. It’s the first high level tournament of the spring/summer season in Europe. Many of the big names are there. For some, it's the first tournament with decent weather. For others, it’s the first outdoor tournament of the season. For the better (top 8) teams it’s a chance to have some good intense fights. For the lesser teams it’s a chance to get their ass kicked - often quite hard.
2. The tournament organisation is very top notch. Mattias, Christian, and the WCU staff are pros.
3. Accommodation is good. In newly-built state-of-the-art 5-star hostel. At tournaments like this one, you usually have to either camp, sleep on a gym floor, or pay three times as much and get a hotel room.
4. There is always good music by the fields. I mean a DJ, a good sound system playing chilled grooves in the morning during breakfast, and more upbeat tracks during the day, all good stuff, and a good dose of German and Scandinavian hip-hop that you’d rarely hear otherwise.
5. There is always food, fruit, water and coffee by the fields. And shelter in case of rain.
6. The party rocks. Thee pool party was legendary. The Brazilian party (joint with the Capoeira group) was amazing. This year it was a bit different as there was not a women division. The organisers quickly realised that you can’t have a pool party with 400 guys and no girls. So they pulled out an excellent casino party.
7. Copenhagen is a great city.
8. Danish women are hot. Trust me on this one.

Wonderful Copenhagen 2008 - Roundup

A roundup from Mattias, the tournament organiser.

Friends!

The sixth edition of Wonderful Copenhagen Ultimate was concluded Sunday afternoon. 3 days of excellent weather, soft pitches, funky dj’s and intense ultimate came to an end Sunday afternoon with a couple of upsets!

After last years final I praised Skogs as the best Swedish team I had ever seen. And I’ve seen quite a few. The 2008 edition of Skogs looked even stronger. Return of strong Swedish handler Michael Hanski from retirement and a surprising pick up in defense super star Nasser Vogel M'Bae (former Ultimate Vibration, Clapham) improved to an already strong 20-piece roster. Strong enough to again take Skogs to the final after wins over KFUM Örebro in the quarter final and Andorra (UK Open defense) in the semi.

The final was to be a rematch of an already great WCU08-game: Lictenstein (UK Open Offense) beat Skogs in the Friday pool play, and they went head to head again in the final.

It was evident that the UK teams came better prepared to WCU than the Scandinavian teams. Skogs offense couldn’t cope with the UK defense – hard man-to-man or zone. And once the UK offense got fired up, they simply ran away from the Swedes.

Both games had similar character. UK coming out strong and gaining a 3-4 point lead early in the game. The teams then traded points before Skogs defense slowly, slowly gained momentum and worked the team back in the game.

The advantage early in the game was enough for Lichtenstein in the pool play. But it got very close in the final. UK’s relative small squad clearly suffered, and Skogs clinically took advantage of the UK mistakes. 13-11 to UK became 14-14 and sudden death to win WCU.

Final point, UK on offense. And the offense did what the offense is supposed to: score under pressure. A good setup isolated one player on the semi-deep for an easy score. Final score: 15-14.

Congratulations to Lichtenstein for an excellent tournament and a spot on the moon.

Skogs were also runner-ups in the Spirit Award. But since winners Kielstock already left for Germany, Skogs were presented with the award. Earlier this year Italian Londoner Daniel Dui took initiative to celebrate one of WCU’s great – Kuki. From now the spirit award is the Kuki Sprit Award. Daniel played with Kuki in The WCU All Stars 2004-2006, and it was in the spirit and memory of Kuki that Daniel presented WCU and Skogs with this trophy. We all miss Kuki, and this is a fantastic way to remember him. Thank you Daniel.

As always, WCU serves as the melting pot of Euro ultimate. This year 22 teams entered, and with Worlds in Vancouver coming up in august WCU was an excellent opportunity to check on the pre-season progress and preparations. Three national teams entered WCU: The Italian National team, Inside Rakete aka German National Team, and Lichtenstein and Andorra – or rather UK offense and UK defense. They all got what they came for – hard and interesting games. Local heroes Ragnarok finished third after a sweet win over Andorra (UK Open Defense), Viksjöfors (SWE) finally managed to enter top 8 with a win over local rivals KFUM Örebro for 5th spot. On the disappointing side were the Finns. Coming directly from the winter, the Finns suffered from the early date. None of the teams matched expectations; no3 seed Kahukopla missed out on quarters, and neither Sipoo or Helsinki managed to advance from the lower pools. Lucky for you that WCU09 is set for 8-10 of May!

Complete results are coming up on www.wcu.dk.

But please check out blockstack.tv - excellent podcast from the tournament with interviews, field action and funky shots of toxic twins Steve and Tom camping out in the hostel bed...

>From the whole WCU organization: Thanks to all the teams and players. Great ultimate, great spirit. You are all welcome back in 2009.


Cheers

Mattias Ahlgren
Wonderful Copenhagen Ultimate
www.wcu.dk

Results

Final standings

1. Lichtenstein (GB O)
2. Skogs Ultimate
3. Ragnarok
4. Andorra (GB D)
5. Viksjöfors IF
6. KFUM Örebro
7. Inside Rakete (Germany Open)
8. Italia
9. Sipoo Odd Stars
10. Cota Rica
11. Karhukopla
12. Helsinki Ultimate
13. Tooting Tigers
14. Kielstock
15. Cambo Cakes
16. Tørring
17. WCU Staff
18. Århus
19. Stockholm Syndromes
20. Lookfly Outernationals
21. KFK
22. Cph DJ's

Sprit scores

94.43% KielStock (DE)
91.29% Skogs Ultimate (SE)
88.00% København Frisbee Klub (DK)
87.64% Helsinki Ultimate (FI)
87.45% Lookfly Outernationals (All over)
87.14% Ragnarok (DE)
86.64% Disc Jockeys KBH (DK)
86.61% Liechtenstein (GB1)
85.50% Karhukopla (FI)
85.43% Cota Rica (IT)
84.92% Sipoo Odd Stars (FI)
82.14% Tooting Tigers (UK)
81.57% Viksjöfors IF (SE)
80.57% Tørring DiscControl (DK)
79.13% Inside Rakete (DE)
76.50% Italian National Team (IT)
76.33% Stockholm Syndromes (SE)
75.00% Andorra (GB)
75.00% Aarhus Ultimate (DK)
74.83% WCU Staff Team (DK)
74.29% Cambo Cakes (NL)
69.86% KFUM Örebro Frisbee (SE)

Picture by Tom Styles.

Wonderful Copenhagen 2008!

It’s wonderful! It’s wonderful! It’s Wonderful Copenhagen!

Tomorrow I am catching a flight to Denmark. I am for the fourth time to WCU. I want also in 2004, 2005, and 2006 playing with with the WCU All Stars (aka the pick up team). Then Kuki left us and last year I just did not feel like going.

This year I am playing with Italy Open and I am really looking forward for some very good Ultimate.

I also have the honour of bringing the spirit trophy, which was timely delivered to my flat in London today.

For those who don’t know, WCU is one of the top tournaments in Europe, it has managed to attract from the beginning the best teams in Europe: Clapham, Scogs, Fire, Ragnarok, etc. Several national teams enter the tournament and use it as a tune-up for competitions like Europeans and World.

The tournament uses an unusual “back door” format that allows underseeded teams to still make their way to the top.

These are the teams that entered this year and how they are seeded:

1. Skogs Ultimate
2. Ragnarok
3. Karhukopla
4. Liechtenstein (GB O)
5. Andorra (GB D)
6. Inside Rakete (Germany Open)
   
7. Sipoo Odd Stars
8. Italian National Team
9. Helsinki Ultimate
10. KFUM Örebro Frisbee
11. Cotarica
12. Viksjöfors IF
13. Tooting Tigers
14. KielStock
15. WCU Staff Team
16. Cambo Cakes
17. Tørring DiscControl
18. København Frisbee Klub
19. Aarhus Ultimate
20. Stockholm Syndromes
21. Lookfly Outernationals
22. Disc Jockeys KBH

In the past years the tournament had also a women’s division, but this year too few teams showed interst. I am pretty sure that the credit crunch is taking it’s toll around Europe and that players don’t have as much money to spend on international tournaments. As a result this year’s tournaments are smaller in size and the game quality is generally lower.

Ah yes… this is an expensive tournament. Not only because Denmark is an expensive place, but also because Mattias, the excellent organiser, always secures good fields, good accommodation, good food, and good parties.

Links

• Tournament website: www.wcu.dk