After four years, I owe this club so much. From my first beginners tournament in 2007, to this year's freshers, I've made friends I never want to lose. Three summers resisting playing for a decent tour team, two trips to the beautiful grass of Bourg d'Oisans and the incredible brass band. Then there was Cornwall and the most girls I'm ever likely to share a tent with. Three unforgettable Easter tours, and three ski trips - always with an eclectic mix of people, always amazing. Four seasons that have turned me from non-competitive to casually competitive and more tournaments than exams (I've checked).
I started at Manchester in 2006 as a GB Junior who thought he knew it all, and couldn't throw a sidearm. Nothing's really changed.
Playing for Halcyon has been the highlight of my time at Manchester University (well, apart from Zain's Krispy Chicken). I am proud to have captained the team to their best competitive season in 2010, and to leave with such a vibrant booming club behind me.
Thanks to Ben and the rest of the committee in the club's first year after splitting from Fingers for allowing myself, Phil and Dale to come in unvoted as a coaching committee and help develop the club.
I am really proud to have been part of the club's initial development and getting Halcyon to both indoor and outdoor nationals in the first three years.
What else can I say? Great parties, great people, and every now and then some decent Ultimate too!
I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to be involved in the team from the start and I'm proud to have seen how well it's developed in such a short space of time.
Like many others I first spotted the club at the sports fair in Fresher's week. I had never played Ultimate before I started uni and four years later I have won the European Club Championships with Chevron, represented Great Britain at U23 level and spent two years on the Halcyon committee. I made some amazing friends and have wonderful memories of my time playing for Halcyon. I hope that future recruits will enjoy playing for the club as much as I did.
Back in 2006 the frisbee situation for a ManUni student was pretty average... one and a half practices a week, lousy socials at the Footage, three spots on the first team, all in all quite a sausage fest and all that not even for our own university! So a bunch of us decided to start the University of Manchester Ultimate Frisbee Club - Halcyon. We knew what we wanted: a club that was fun and welcoming off the pitch and a force on the pitch.
So all over that summer and the following year all of us on the committee and in the club did everything to get it there. At the end of that first year we had heaps of practices, a weekly socials, kits, hoodies, discs, loads and loads of tournies both at home and abroad, our own beginners tourny, the first sniffs of victory, a clicking committee and most importantly the sense that we could make things even better. So the following year we pushed on with Halcyenne, our women's team, and lots and lots of other things...
And then my time was up. Graduation swept me out of being a ManUni student and more importantly away from the club I had spent more time with than lectures, labs and library put together. I hold many dear memories from my time with Halcyon/enne and I am very proud of where I left it, though I am even more happy to see it grow further yet.