3rd @ Womens Indoor Regionals

Last weekend saw Halcyenne entering three teams into Northern Womens Regionals. With the first team seeded second and aiming high and the second and third team determined to beat their seeds, we travelled to Sheffield in a mini bus and two cars!

After a mad rush on Saturday morning with the second and third teams playing iron man while the drivers got lost in Sheffield, the weekend started off hecticly.

The first team were fired up for this tournament. After finishing second last year we were determined to get into that final again and win. With only three members of last years first team and a lot less experience than normal, we had trained hard for this tournament. After a warm up friendly against Leeds and Liverpool weeks before, and winning mixed regionals, there were rumours around the sports hall that we were the ones to beat this year. We entered this tournament with a lot of pressure!

On Saturday we breezed through the group stages beating all teams by a fair few points (including bagelling a few teams)! The second and third teams played a lot of first teams and played extremely well, improving with every game.

Saturday night saw the minibus get stuck in the snow on a hill and us stranded for at least half an hour in the freezing cold. Our manly cheerleaders attempted pushing the minibus up the hill but to no avail. We ended up just rolling down backwards to the bottom again. It also saw 2 members of the team sitting on the motorway for 6 hours in the snow. We all then went to a lovely warm pub to fill up on food and alcohol.

We went into Sunday excited and raring to go. Our quarter final against Sheffield was a game we all desperately wanted to win. The game was competitive and heated, but we ended up beating them by 4 points and faced a semi final against Newcastle. Newcastle looked like a very strong team. They were fast, fit and used similar tactics to ourselves, recycling the disc and constantly moving. After watching their semi-final we knew what to expect and talked about how we would beat them.

Unfortunately we immediately went two points down and from then on we traded points. Their fantastic handler plays and long shots won them the game. We played incredibly well but Newcastle had the edge and they ended up beating us 8-6. After a few tears from the team we got our heads back in the game and entered the 3v4 to qualify for nationals.

Leeds were less experienced than us, however were unbelievably fit and fast. Our skills on offense and fantastic fitness and aggression on defensive won us this game and we finished third and qualified for nationals! Newcastle ended up winning the tournament.

Sunday saw the second team win two games and beat their seed and the third team improve massively, as well as finishing second in spirit. Impressive since most of the second and third teams had only been playing for a few months.

All in all a very successful weekend for all 25 girls!

2nd @ Open Indoor Nationals

After nine weeks of hard training, three warm up tournaments and the toughest regionals in a few years the time had come. Nationals baby! One bronze and one silver in the last two years was not enough, gold was on our minds as we headed down to Coventry on Friday night.

Despite our high ambitions, we had to take it one game at a time. Any opponent at nationals is capable of beating any other and every game is important. We took that mentality into our first group game against Imperial and it served us well. They were a quality side but we had a bit more in our locker and came out with win by 2 that felt more comfortable than the score line suggested.

The next game was against Stirling, they had never qualified for nationals before so we knew they lacked experience. We played well in all areas and they never really got going against our tough man defence. In the end we ran away with it by a few points.

The final group game was against Oxford, we had played them a few times both open and mixed in the last few years so we knew what they were about. However we lost our focus in this game, we weren't playing our trademark flowing offence. We were putting in workmanlike points to trade to about 5 minutes left until suddenly they found some extra gas. A couple of vital breaks won them the game and we were left shocked. Other results meant that there was a three way tie and eventually it was worked out that we would carry our loss to oxford to the top power pool. Not ideal.

The Oxford performance showed us that we had to fight harder and push more for every point we were in. That is exactly what we did in our first power pool game against Sussex. They beat us in the semi last year so we wanted revenge. We came out all guns blazing, shut down their quality deep game and were clinical when they made mistakes. We beat the reigning champions by two.

At this point morale was high, all we had to do was beat Dundee to gain top seed going to quarters. That was easier said than done though. Dundee's line was much improved from last year and we struggled to shut down "number 4" for most of the match. After some contentious calls we had a shot to score in sudden death. The knife to the end zone didn't come off and they took it to the other end to finish the game. A gutting loss. Worse still quirks in the results meant it pushed us to bottom of our power pool. A bad way to end Saturday but we knew we were still in with a shot if we won our crossover. Nocte, Pizza, Jacuzzis and sleep were the order of Saturday night.

Sunday morning. Our crossover was against Bristol who we were surprised to see that low in the tournament. Early on they took a 3 point lead and we were struggling to stop their long shots. We were on the brink of crashing out but again we drew on our experience and character. We didn't panic and scored 6 points on the trot to take control of the game and the spot in quarters.

The quarter final was against Portsmouth, they had beaten us in the final two years ago so it was revenge time again. They came down in a tricky zone that resulted in extremely long points, it didn't look like either team was going to score at some points. We were working incredibly hard on defence to keep them out only to turnover after dozens of passes. But as the game wore on their gaps appeared and we exploited them ruthlessly. We gritted and grafted to a win by two points.

Now things got interesting. Semi final rematch against Dundee. After feeling they had used the rules to their advantage to win the power pool game tensions were high. We brought huge intensity to this game, we would not allow ourselves to lose. That being said, this game was much better spirited than the previous one. By now we were familiar with how they would play and we had the extra step mentally to go along with the intensity. We won by three to go to the final.

Final Time. Exeter had had a simpler route to the final and were more rested but we didn't care about that. We had been here before and we just wanted to play our game. Unfortunately that is exactly what didn't happen. Our man defence, which had pushed us to this point disappeared. We were making careless individual errors and they capitalised and rushed out to a big lead. Mid way through the game we recovered and started to gain some ground back but by then it was too late. They had the quality and composure to hold on and win by two in the end.

It always sucks to lose a final but in a tournament where probably half of the teams had a legitimate shot of winning we did exceptionally to come second. We were on the brink of elimination and we had to show grit and balls and guts to fight our way to the final. There's always next year eh!

Champions @ Mixed Indoor Regionals

Last weekend we headed to Liverpool for Mixed Indoor Regionals, hoping to win the tournament we had won in the previous two years. Having Liverpool in our pool was worrying as they looked good at open indoors the weekend before, but having two second teams first gave us the chance to warm up!

Fish 2 15-2

Our first game was against Lancasters second team. After practising how we would play as a mixed team at one training session the Tuesday before, we used this game to practise the plays we had learnt. Recycling of the disc was a new tactic for the women but they picked it up quickly, and we ran way with a 15-2 win.

Durham 2 13-3

Similar to the first game, we had better disc skills, we were fitter and we looked like we trained as a team often. We made use of any drops they made, and turned them into points for us. Another easy win.

Liverpool 9-6

Liverpool looked strong at open indoor regionals the weekend before, as well as in their first games of this tournament. They also trained as a mixed team weekly, so we knew it would be a game of a completely different intensity as the two games before. They took the first point, and we traded points to 3-3. We raised our game, and our fitness levels (and legs) showed as we got the next few points, eventually winning the game 9-6. The longer game (27 minutes) obviously suited us well. After a worrying start, we talked in our “office” about how we would win our semi final the next morning.

Fish 8-5

Being given a nice lie in, we turned up refreshed on Sunday morning to warm up for our semi final. We moved the disc quickly on offence, and ran our legs off on defence, providing us with a 4-0 lead. Fish then brought it back to 4-4, by playing a zone a few of our players hadnt seen before. After figuring out how to beat it, we stayed calm and managed to win the game easily 8-5.

Newcastle 9-7

Having watched Pies in their semi-final against Huddersfield, they looked a strong team but we knew what to expect from them. A repeat of the previous two years finals, we approached it pumped to win the game, and win the tournament! With our girls standing under of their girls, as we knew they were no threat deep, we prevented them from keeping the disc, making them throw away numerous times. We tried our zone on them which again caused them to turn over, unable to deal with the pressure we put upon them. Our fantastic D won us this game and we were again Mixed Indoor Regional Champions for the third year running!

Champions @ Open Indoor Regionals

For the third year in a row we came into this tournament as first seeds, heavy favourites and with a big target on our backs.

Hull and Lancaster were the biggest tests of the group stage. Due to Danbots chronic inability to show up on time we started the Hull game without the full team but still managed an easy win. Lancaster was a tougher proposition, they had a very tall team who came down with a lot of big takes but our class shone through after a tight start and we took it 12-5. The rest of the group games were against second teams, despite the odd first point Callahan given away we breezed through to the semi finals the next day which would be against Sheffield.

We knew Sheffield had improved greatly since last year, the addition of Halcyon alumnus Adam Irving being a big bonus for them this season. Having scouted their offence earlier in the tournament we got our defence spot on for the first few points, we shut down their iso and went 4-1 up. At that point our intensity dropped a bit, they reverted to a normal stack and started closing the gap. Our offence managed to forget 5 weeks worth of training and were reverting to deep shots which weren't on. After a few very close in/out calls and some spicy play on both sides of the disc the whistle went during the point at 6-6. Sudden death. We turned it over on a shot to the end zone and it was heart in mouth time. After holding the disc for 9 or 10 passes they finally overthrew a dump and we jumped on the short field chance to win it by the skin of our teeth.

Leeds had beaten Liverpool, also in sudden death, in the other semi so it was the predictable regional final once again. After having one of the worst offensive games in memory against Sheffield we turned it around in the final to have one of our best. We got the balance between deep shots and under play spot on and had almost no turnovers. We traded to 3-3 but our pressure all over the pitch eventually told and we started to pull away, eventually winning 8-4 without conceding a break all game. Regional champions once again! Bring on nationals!

4th @ Leeds Warm up

In preparation for open indoor regionals this year we sent a warm up team to Leeds experienced tournament. The competition included many of our regional rivals and a strong Halcyon alumni team.

We stormed through the group stages with strong performances against Leeds Met and Durham. The Scottish team, Johnny Foreigner, provided a more stern test of our defence but despite going a couple of points down we worked out their isolation offence and went on a big D roll to take the game. The slightly unusual tournament schedule meant we now had to play two crossovers which we took in style against Nottingham and Leeds. By the end of our first day our offence was running our plays effectively and the defence was ramping up the pressure. Hamish to Jake became a deadly connection with countless goals between the pair on Saturday.

After suitably drunken escapades on Saturday night we were ready as we would ever be for the quarter finals on Sunday morning against Liverpool. Despite their strong overhead play we had enough all over the pitch to come away with the win. Next up: semi final grudge match against Halcyon alumni. The match was high on banter and intensity but low on offensive quality with way too many turnovers from both teams. The game went to 6-6, sudden death and we just couldn't quite punch it in. A gutting loss put us into the 3-4 rematch against Johnny Foreigner. We were suffering from a lack of fitness and fatigue from the night before, they sharpened up their iso and put on a funky zone that we couldn't work out. It resulted in a slightly lopsided loss and some high tempers in a spicy game that they ran away with in the end. We ended up in fourth place overall and undefeated against university opposition.

7th @ Open Outdoor Nationals

Halcyon went into the weekend with the 7th seed and high hopes on beating that position, in the jacuzzi on friday night the team was in a confident mood despite us being drawn in the "pool of death" with Mohawks, Uriel and St. Andrews.

Our first game was against St. Andrews, the teams have met in several heated contests in the last couple of years and it is safe to say we are not the best of friends. Despite the history this was a highly spirited game with plenty of top quality ultimate. The lack of wind meant that deep shots were coming left, right and center and we won the match on the back of sweet hucks and our D eating up their lower percentage deep shots. It was a good game to start nationals but we were never truly tested and ran out 13-5 winners.

The next game was against Uriel who had just come off a very tight loss to top seed Mohawks. With their heads down we came out hard and didn't let up, taking the half 7-3. Throughout the game the depth in our squad was on show and with the big names often cancelling each other out the rest of the team took the responsibility to push on for the win. Despite loosing 4 of the last 5 points we took the game 13-7.

This left the pool poised so the winner of Halcyon v Mohawks would win the group and take the coveted first seed. Again the story of the game was told through the hucking game of both sides. Their dynamic handler movement allowed them to keep the disc moving until one of their cutters was free deep and their throws were on the money more often than not. Conversely, as the wind picked up, our deep game was not as seamless as it had been earlier. The game started and ended close but they took it away from us in the middle and won 13-8 leaving us frustrated that we couldn't stop such an obvious game plan.

This left us second in our pool with a crossover against 10th seed Dundee. For some reason we did not show up for the first half of this game, we were having big problems with their 3-4 and when we did get a turnover our offence seemed to be running on empty. Dundee took the half 7-5 and we were in big trouble. Dropping out of the top 8 was not something that this team would allow to happen and that desire was obvious in the second half. On the back of a huge sideline presence we turned up our man defence to its max and suddenly we looked like a different team. We went on a barnstorming 7 point D roll and took the game 13-8.

Saturday night we got our weary legs into the pool, watched I Bleed Black and looked forward to a sunday morning quarter final with Edinburgh Ro Sham Bo.

We knew RoSham would look deep to one or two outstanding receivers and after the Mohawks game we were determined to shut it down. Early in the game we were left cursing our luck as we consistently got multiple bodies under their long discs and they still kept bringing them down. Our offence was not working at 100% but we were hanging in there in a hotly contested and call filled game. But just when we needed to step up our game we faltered and they took the half 7-5 with an upwind point. Once again we had to draw on our reserves of character to try and salvage our tournament. And once again we upped our defence, we started coming down with the 50-50 discs and looked more clinical on offence. We clawed the game back and went ahead 10-8, but that was not the final momentum swing in this game. With the victory in touching distance we stopped playing with the intensity that got us the lead and payed dearly for it. They scored 2 upwind breaks on the way to a 12-10 win. A heartbreaking loss in quarter finals for the 3rd consecutive year left us stunned and silent.

After a game off we had to gather ourselves for the 6-7 against Warwick. Frankly the less said about this game the better. They came down in a very good zone that we struggled to break down and our man defence was inexcusably poor. We had a bit of success hucking against the zone in the second half but we struggled throughout and lost by an embarrassing 13-3 scoreline.

The last game of the tournament was the 7-8 against Cardiff. We wanted to end the weekend on a high and this game was the perfect place to do it, both teams came down in hard man defence and vertical stacks. We came in firing on all cylinders and took the first 5 points in a row. We locked them down all game long and won the game convincingly against very talented opposition 12-7.

A weekend filled with great highs and crushing lows ended with us holding our 7th seed and dreaming of what could have been with 2 more good points against Ro Sham. Will we ever not finish 7th at nationals?!

Champions @ Open Outdoor Regionals

Halcyon came into this tournament as heavy favourites to win and take home the trophy an impressive 3rd year running. Nonetheless we knew there were teams at this tournament who could beat us on their day and we needed to perform at a high level all weekend to ensure victory.

We started slow and sloppy against Lancaster fish but in the end our quality shone through and we ran out 11-6 winners with a lot to work on. The next two games went more smoothly, our defense stepped up a notch and we were hitting deep shots with ease in the perfect weather and on a slightly short pitch. We cruised past DUF 2 and Phat 'Eds 2 11-1 and 11-0 respectively. Liverpool 1 was our final pool game and, despite loosing to fish, we knew they had some quality and some legs in their massive 17 man squad. Once again we upped our game and put in a very accomplished performance to win 11-2. Special mention goes to Jake's ridiculous pulls which allowed us to score 4 callahans in the first 4 games!

This set us up for a semi final on sunday against Phat 'Eds 1. We were supporting the second team in their narrow crossover loss to Fish 1 right up to 5 minutes before the game which left us mentally unprepared to play at the level we want to. Luckily after a terrible first point we righted the ship and eventually brushed aside a weakened sheffield team 11-3. After our game finished we watched Leeds take the other semi final in sudden death against Newcastle, Halcyon would meet Leeds in a Northern Regionals final once again.

The final was by far the most challenging game of the weekend, the two teams know each other very well and familiar match ups were deciding the play in both directions. Leeds poached our handlers very effectively in the first half leading us to become frustrated, which in turn led to more careless individual errors from our offence. Our deep game was not as strong as it had been all weekend but our defence was still good enough to allow us to take the half 6-4. As the game wore on we learned to play against the poach better and the errors started to drop out of our game. We were playing better and feeling more confident but Leeds are a quality side and they kept battling, in the end we took the game 9-6.

We also finished 3rd overall in spirit with an average of 15.6/20, its always great to see a very competitive team do very well in spirit so we should all be proud of that.

9th @ Mixed Indoor Nationals

After winning Northern Regionals and having performed well in this competition on previous occasions, Halcyon came into this tournament confident and expecting some success. The opening victory against Stirling Blaze was comfortable, despite the team not looking at their sharpest. The next match was against Sussex Mohawks, who had defeated us in the semi-finals of Open Nationals and who were eventually beaten finalists in this competition. Mohawks took a lead of a few points as we started sluggishly and, despite a valiant fightback, it proved enough for them to take the victory by a single point. The following match followed a similar pattern, with a disappointing performance allowing Nottingham (Random Fling) to cling on to a one-point win. This left us with a crossover against Oxford to make the top 8. Unfortunately, our poor form continued and although this time we took the lead ourselves, the loss of Gull to a bad injury and a lack of energy all-round allowed Oxford to overturn the deficit - another loss by just one point!

With only the plate trophy to play for on Sunday, we kicked off with a hard-fought game against Bath. The lack of confidence in the team was evident, but hard work and a very patient offence point against zone led us to a sudden death victory. This gave the team the boost it needed and we went on to record a convincing victory over Reading Dragons to make the Plate final. With a long break between matches, a game of bowling was necessary to ease the unbearable tension caused by the impending plate final (or we were a bit bored). Thankfully, we didn't lose our focus, putting in our best performance of the weekend to beat Portsmouth Sublime, take 9th place and add a little more silverware to the trophy cabinet. It wasn't the success story we'd been hoping for, but the character involved in turning our fortunes around on the Sunday was commendable.

3rd @ Open Indoor Nationals

After a successful build up to Open Indoor Nationals we had high hopes for the tournament, but knowing little about many of the teams made it somewhat of unknown. Our initial pool included Imperial, Southampton and Norwich. The day started with a comfortable victory against Imperial of 14-2. Our last two games were against more experienced opposition but we picked out the main threats from Southampton and Norwich and shut them down to the best of our abilities which lead to victories of 10-2 and 13-6 respectively.

Coming out of our group as top left us in a power pool with Exeter, Oxford and Southampton. As we had already played Southampton the result carried over meaning we didn't have to play them again. Exeter was therefore our first power pool game and we had recognised that these may be one of the teams challenging for the top, with a number of talented players. We played very good man D in this game and our patience on offence lead us to take control from the outset and came away with a 9-6 victory. The final game of the saturday was against Oxford in which we produced another confident performance and consequently won 15-8. The victories from the power pool put us straight into the quarters on Sunday.

Our quarter final was against Warwick who we had faced a number of times in the last couple of years. There style of offence was very hard to shut down and lead to a close game, it only came down to one break, with the game ending with a win of 9-7. This set us up for a semi-final against Brighton who had also produced a number of impressive wins so far. From the outset it proved to be a physical and hard fought game which lead to points pretty much being traded for the first half of the game. Halcyon did take the lead with a couple of breaks, at this point it became ours to lose. After a number of throw aways by us, Brighton capitalised and we had to then chase the game. Some impressive man D, notably a layout from Ceri, and a number of shots to score allowed us to take it to sudden death. However we couldn't turn Brighton in the final point an they took the game 10-9. This left us in the 3-4 against Southampton who we had played the previously day, and although disappointed with the previous result we put in a good performance and took 3rd place with a score of 10-5.

2nd @ Women's Indoor Regionals

Despite losing a few key members of the squad at the end of last year, Halycenne went into Indoor Regionals seeking qualification after a convincing performance against Leeds and Liverpool the previous weekend in a friendly. On Saturday we had very comfortable games against Liverpool's and Newcastle's 2nd teams. We were confronted with zones from York and Durham and although initially a little shaky we went on to win comfortably 6-2 and 5-1 respectively.

Our 4th game of the day was against Bangor, we knew they had beaten Leeds so this was potentially the game to win the group. We struggled against their zone, especially the 4 on the line. However, we were effectively able to shut them down on offence and this was what eventually won us the game 4-3. Not brilliant but enough. Our final game was versus Leeds to win the group. Unlike the previous weekend they played zone which worked to their advantage. Whenever we turned over they converted quickly and won 4-1. Despite this setback we finished 2nd in our group and put ourselves in a good position for Sunday and qualification.

Our Sunday crossover was versus Sheffield. We were apprehensive initially and the first point seemed close. However our man defence was superb and we completely shut them down. At 5-0 we threw our zone. This was effective as we went on to comfortably win 9-1, but still needed perfecting.

Our semi-final was against Newcastle, the only undefeated team in the tournament. Both teams played man defence and we quite simply out ran them. We forced them to throw things that weren't on and I think EVERYONE got a D or two. Our offence was clinical, and although tense throughout we comfortably won 8-6.

It was final time! We were once again playing Leeds and decided that as they easily beat us man we would try our zone. This had the required effect and we traded points until around 12 minutes. They took advantage of our turnovers quickly though and were suddenly 2 points up with 5 minutes to go. We got a point back in the last minute but ultimately their long game won them the final. We were all disappointed but we had beaten our seed, qualified for nationals and were officially the most successful Manchester women's team EVER.

The 2nd team played exceptionally well considering their lack of experience, and went on to win the spoon. Pretty successful weekend all around.

Champions @ Mixed Indoor Regionals

Despite having had only one training to prepare for the tournament, we came in with high hopes of retaining our title from last year. On Saturday, despite a close game with Bangor, everything went to plan. We were playing confidently against the various zones we were faced with and we knew there was more in our tank.

Sunday morning we came into our semi against Durham a little worse for wear, the late night and hard wood floor to sleep on did not provide the best preparation for a day of Frisbee. Our long shots were failing and we were making too many careless errors. One point down with less than a minute left we managed to work it for a buzzer score to take the game to sudden death in dramatic style. Sudden death was long and nervy but eventually we punched it through their zone to set up a final with Newcastle.

Newcastle had been tearing up the tournament with their isolation offence (iso for short). A pre-game team meeting to work out how to play against it was crucial. We started the game going 7-0 up against their iso. They then switched to a vertical stack and the game was much closer but we were always confident of victory, the final score was 11-6.

Champions @ Open Indoor Regionals

We entered this tournament with high hopes of retaining the title and living up to our seeding of first. We knew however that we couldn't take anything for granted as we didn't know much about many of the teams that we would be facing. The Saturday started with a few comfortable victories, but Liverpool was our final game of the day and the most difficult test. The whole team stepped it up for this game and while at no point did it feel easy, Halcyon came away with a victory of 11-5.

The Sunday started with a semi-final against Sheffield Hallam, and after watching them the previous day we had a good idea of how to shut them down. We played extremely well as a team and forced turns out of them, this combined with our confidence on the disc lead to a win of 11-1. This set us up for a final against Leeds and the chance to be Northern Indoor Champions for the second year in a row. This was the most talented team we had faced over the weekend and therefore the game was played at a high intensity. Our defence really paid off in this game and we got the turns that we needed and once again with our clinical offence lead us to a victory of 11-5. This tournament began to show the level at which we want to play this season but hopefully come Nationals we will step every part of our game up even further.

Champions @ Liverpool Beginners

Liverpool was the last tournament of the year on the beginners front, and we entered a strong team of guys who'd already had some experience at Manchester Beginners. We won our group comfortably with three wins and went on to the knock-out stages. It wasn't until the semi-finals that we came across any real competition, beating Chester in sudden-death.

In the final, we came up against a zone defence - something completely new to our players - and went down 4-2 with not long to go. But we played it cool, and with some great throws and movement off the disc, we managed to get back to level pegging, and eventually took the winning point with only moments to spare! This was Manchester's first beginners tournament victory in its history!

2nd @ Liverpool Warm-up

Liverpool was our last chance to play competitively before regionals the following weekend. We won this tournament last year so there was added pressure to retain our title!

The tournament was a 9 team round-robin including many of our regional university rivals and "Smoke The Twigs" a team containing four ex-Halcyon and several GB under-23 players. Our lightning fast offence and tight D were too much for our opponents to handle. Despite some closely fought games, we went undefeated in the round-robin including a tense, one point victory over Smoke The Twigs.

This set up a re-match final against Smoke The Twigs in front of the crowd on Sunday. It was a tight game but they upped the standard and we couldn't quite match it, we battled until the end but lost 7-5. Having the highest finishing university team in two tournaments in a row bodes well for Halcyon at regionals!

5th @ Leeds Beginners

We narrowly missed the semi-finals by losing in sudden-death in the quarters. However, the team was redeemed when we won both of the subsequent games, coming 5th and bringing home the plate!

Everyone at the tournament was friendly, and I was really impressed by the quality of all the beginners playing, especially our own who had to play iron-man for the entire tournament. A great start to the year for the club as a whole.

3rd @ Leeds Warm-up

This tournament provided us with the first opportunity of the year to play competitively as a split squad and play against some of the teams we will be facing in the coming months. The quality of all the teams there was extremely high, with some of the top players in the country in attendance.

We continued where we left off last year, putting in a series of dominating performances to take joint top of our group on the Saturday. After winning the quarter final on Sunday, we lost 13-11 in the semi-final and eventually ended up taking 3rd place as the highest university team. Great preparation from regionals in 2 weeks time!

5th @ Manchester Beginners

We entered five of our own teams which finished in 5th, 7th, 12th, 14th and 15th!

2010's tournament was a brilliant weekend all-round. There were so many close games won by 1 or 2 points, and sack loads of draws on Saturday, really showing how competitive and hard-fought the weekend was. Everyone enjoyed the atmosphere, and this was definitely the case at the party, with some bloody great priceumes! The weekend was really well spirited, with lots of good scores coming in. Roll on Manchester Beginners 2011!