Interview #9 - Richard Buggy (Coach)

Hey Buggy, you're the first coach to get interviewed - hurray! - tell us how you got into ultimate.
The credit has to go to Dangerous Dave. I’d known him for about 5 years and when he went to DCU he kept going on about Ultimate. So I signed up in DIT with no real intentions of playing but I went to whacking day, won it and thought hey this might be worth keeping up.


How has the ultimate scene in Ireland changed since you started?
The biggest change has to be clubs. When I started in 2006 there was only a handful of clubs which at the time looked great to us college nobodies, but none of them trained and wouldn’t stand a chance against the likes of Rebel, Ranelagh, LMS and Jabba today. Also the increased number of events has been great. When I started the only official IFDA events were Outdoors Open Intervarsities along with Indoor Open and Woman’s (barely). Now between All Ireland’s and Intervarsities there are 11 events.


So you've played your college ultimate with DIT and your club ultimate with Jabba, who's strengths traditionally lie in their Mixed team. How was the club developed since it's beginning?
Like most teams at the time Jabba started back in 2007 as a fun laid back team with no dreams of competitiveness. We began training regularly not because we wanted to win but more because we enjoyed each other’s company and training was a great way to get together each week. However entering xEUCF in 2009 set the club onto a different path. Since then there hasn’t been any massive changes. Just each year we add new players and step things up to a higher level with improving results every year since.


Last year saw the peak of the development of Jabba with 3 teams entered in Mixed All-Irelands with Jabba1 taking the Gold. Tell us what that felt like after years of training and commitment with the same bunch of players to finally achieve that goal.
It truly was the greatest achievement of my career. To win Mixed All Ireland’s, the clubs aim for 4 years, in our home training ground and for me where I grew up. And for nearly half the squad including myself it was the first tournament of any kind we had won. For years our opponents had complimented us for all our training and recruitment but finally they were able to compliment us for being the best team out there.

All Ireland Mixed Champions 2012

What are the goals for the club this year?
Win the All Ireland’s treble. Our fitness campaign started in early March. Mixed All Ireland’s teams are picked and we’re training 4 times a week. Once we defend our mixed title we’re going to take the same level of commitment into the Open and Woman’s season.


You were part of the U23 Mixed team that went to Florence in 2010. How did that week go for you personally?
It was a tough week for everyone. The now famous Florence heat obviously caused nothing but problems. Our team was lacking big game experience, handlers and preparation. The end result was we finished last without a victory but looking back at that team we all learned so much from it and while it wasn’t very strong at the time, out of it was come a multitude of Intervarsities and All Ireland’s winners, college and club captains and senior level Ireland players.


And in 2011 you were a member of the very successful Irish Mixed team that went to EUC in Maribor. Tell us about that tournament from your team's perspective.
A completely different week for me. I’d gone from being the team’s sole experienced handler in 2010 to being the safety keep my head down wing handler in 2011 and it was a role I reveled in. Our O line was incredibly efficient at putting away scores first time and sure if we got into trouble we just flung it to Fiona. It was a joy to watch and the end result was we equalled the highest ever finish achieved by an Irish team. Made all the sweeter by the numerous doubters we had before the tournament.


Is this Irish U23 team the first team in which you've been involved with the coaching setup?
Yes. I’d had done a small bit of coaching with DIT and Jabba but nothing near this level.

How was training been going so far?
It’s been good but I wouldn’t say easy. Having the team formed and training earlier than any Irish national team in history has been a huge asset and the level of commitment of those at training sessions has been great. Obviously with the 3 coaches and 2 captains all coming from Jabba the
team may be borrowing a system or two from the club and getting everybody on the same wave length has been tricky at times but it’s all starting to come together nicely.


Do you think the U23 mixed division is stronger this time around? How do you think the team will fair?
It’s a completely different division. The last U23’s was only announced in January and got a venue in February so everything was rushed. The end result was an 8 team division with only European teams. This time around disappointingly there are only 9 teams in the mixed division but the giants of the sport are all there. USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, GB, Colombia, Austria and Germany. It really is a who’s who of Ultimate and on history you would have to say Ireland and Austria are in for a long week. But what people won’t realised is this Irish team, along with the Open team are very well prepared and I think that making the semi finals should be the team’s goal.


Windmill Windup is the next warm up tournament for the team, having been to this tournament before, what can the team expect from this tournament? With a bit of momentum behind them from Mixed Tour should the team be more confident going into this week in June?
Windmill is the perfect step up from Tour. The team will get long games which a vital considering the bizarre systems we use in this sport with people only playing full length games at international events. The schedule at windmill ensures that all bar maybe your first game should be a close contest and best of all you’ll get 3 days of play and will have to learn how to conserve your body for the extra day of matches. So long as everyone behaves themselves and gets to bed good and early I can see the team fighting for medals.

You're known to make a good highlight reel (and lowlight reel) of the tournaments you've attended. Can the Irish fans expect something similar post Toronto?
The camera is coming to Toronto for sure and hopefully if our accommodation has decent internet I might even upload some game footage during the week to keep the ravenous information craving hordes at home happy. As for highlights videos, wait and see. I never give anything away.

Always the comedian

Lastly, tell us a joke
Brodie Smith

I'd say he'll appreciate the support... Thanks for your time Richard!

Interview #10 - Estelle Murchan

Bonjour Estelle, ça va?
Salut Hogi! Ça va très bien, merci. 

I could try do this whole interview in French but I would embarrass myself immensely. Congrats on making the team! This is your second involvement with an Irish team, tell us about your WJUC experience last year.
Haha so I won’t let you embarrass yourself, I shall continue in English. Thank you, I was delighted to have been selected to play with an Irish team for the second year in a row. WJUC 2012 was such a good week. I’d only started playing ultimate four months before the trial and was nearly not going to try out but then I decided sure I may as well give it a go! And I was happy I did, as I got to experience playing a high level of ultimate against teams from all around the world and I learned a lot about different aspects of ultimate during the week which I can carry on with me while playing on this team. 

You finished the week strong by beating Finland, a team you had lost to earlier in the week. That must have felt pretty good at the end of a tough campaign.
Definitely. After having lost to them earlier in the week, we wanted nothing more than to beat them. There were a couple of teams we had to play twice but I’m glad we got a second chance at playing Finland. I felt we were pretty even with them the first time we played them, but we just didn’t get the scores in the end. So in our last game of the tournament we got to play them again. We knew we had to come out fighting and give it everything we had, and we did, and ended up beating them on universal point. It was a really great feeling to finish the tournament on a high like that. 

How are you finding the training so far? Is it a big step up or similar to what you're used to with the Juniors last year?
It sure is, not the same kind of intensity as last year, but I like it. Having made this team just shortly after everyone else, I’ve missed out on two of the first training weekends but I’ve done my best to catch up on fitness and it’s definitely tougher than it was for juniors. The team set-up is also very different having an O-Line and D-Line, which is nice, we didn’t have that last year. In our trainings this year we do a lot of our drills separately which is good as you get more used to playing with the players on your own line. 

You play your college ultimate with DCU, how did you get involved in the first place?
Well I guess I just wanted to try something new, I saw a Frisbee lying around on clubs and socs day and I thought “wouldn’t it be fun to throw that thing around”. I’d heard it was really quite enjoyable to play, so I signed up for it. I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into, but myself and a friend decided to come along to the trainings and and after a couple of tournaments I really enjoyed it, so I just stuck around since then. 

And now you've become ladies captain, congrats! Do you think you'll take much of what you're learning here with the U23s and implement it in the DCU team next year?
Cheers! Of course. I mean playing juniors last year and being on the U23 mixed team this year is hugely beneficial to me. We learn so many different tactics and forms of play which  I can take with me. As we don’t have an official coach I guess I’m going to have to be the one teaching the other girls! Also playing on a women’s team last year and a mixed team this year is another advantage I feel as I’m learning entirely different things that I can bring with me to the DCU womens’s team and playing DCU mixed also.We only had six players at women’s indoor, we were mixed with a few Trinity girls for Siege and couldn’t even send down a team for women’s outdoors, so hopefully we can recruit a few more girls for next year and maybe try and win something!   

You're part of the D line which perhaps over achieved in some respects (no complaints though!) at Mixed Tour in Cardiff, what do you think contributed most to the cohesion and performance of the D line that weekend?
Oh yeah, not complaining about that! This was our first tournament as a team we didn’t really know what to expect. We didn’t come out for the wins but to learn from mistakes and to stay positive really no matter what the outcome and just playing with teammates in general. I think we performed exceptionally well as a D-Line over the weekend considering we hadn’t played together as a team before. I think we just stayed calm really, and didn’t get too cocky when we were ahead and that helped the flow of our game. 

With Mixed Tour behind you and with Windmill and Toronto fast approaching, what are you working on most to get ready for the challenges ahead?
Fitness I’d say will play a huge role in any of our coming games, especially with Toronto being a week long tournament. We can’t afford to be slowing our game down because we’re tired. I’m also going to work on a lot of throwing a catching. Generally just being fit, staying healthy and try not get injured anytime before now and Toronto. 

Before playing Ultimate, you played a bit of camogie. Do you still play?
Yeah I’ve played camogie for about 10 years, and did a bit of athletics as well. I still play but not as much since I’ve been playing so much ultimate, like Oisin said, I too find myself putting a force on players or occasionally asking people do they want to ‘throw’ before a game!  

Do you find (m)any similarities between the two sports?
They are two completely different sports, I played camogie as a competitive sport, then when I got to college I and started playing ultimate it was really just for the fun side of it, I really didn’t think of playing it competitively but after having played WJUC and playing U23s this year I learned to take it a little more seriously. Coming from an athletic background helped a lot in playing ultimate, but apart from that I can’t see too many similarities, which is good, it’s a nice change. 

Just to finish with the usual closing questions; Who do you want to play most in Toronto?
Any team we'd come up against I'd be happy to play, but it'd be nice to play GB and have an Irish team beat them! I'd also like to play the likes of Australia, USA, or Colombia, and of course, Canada and maybe even try beat them on their home ground, that'd be pretty sweet. 

Give us a laugh.
How do you organise a space party?
You planet. 

Merci Estelle, bonne chance avec le reste de la campagne

Interview #8 - Rob Holland

Hey Rob, how're things?
Things are grand, Hogi. I'm old so don't have exams, but trudging away with the Masters.

Congrats on a big weekend at Tour followed by a big weekend at Intervarsities! Tell us briefly about your mixed tour experiences.

Mixed Tour was an incredible weekend. I wasn't completely expecting the cohesiveness that we showed on the pitch to occur so naturally, but in the first game we clicked and it was actually really easy to play with the team. We beat our seed by 11 places, which is more than any other team at the tournament, so I feel like it was a successful experience! I do have some good memories like Niall skying a load of people and Oisín gunning it deep every time Kieth got the disc. There were also many a decent grab by Estelle and Sarah, and I scored a Callaghan which was nice. Losing the last game and dropping a would-be Callaghan were less enjoyable though.

This is the first time that the whole  squad (or almost all of it) has played together competitively. Is there anyone you especially enjoyed playing with?
Everybody on the team was fantastic to play with. Playing defence, all seven players on the pitch have to shut down their opponent. And considering how many turns we did get, I'd say everyone did a tremendous job. It was also fun to slot them in consistently too, with everybody playing a role.

Rob gets horizontal

And last weekend we saw your college team Trinity College become runners up at the Irish Intervarsities tournament. Was the weekend a good one despite falling just short of first place?
Yeah it was a bittersweet weekend. In once sense it was rewarding to have overcome the teams that finished third, fourth, and fifth on the way to the final, but being second place on a Sunday evening is not pleasant. Having been beaten by UCC in the final last year we were really geared up for it, but they are an impressive team and took the trophy back down to Cork with them. That being said, Trinity played well and we were especially happy to have beaten UCD in a kind of ridiculous match (from which there's a lovely photo of me jumping into you).

Tell us, how did you get into Ultimate?
Sam Meighan's ma is friend's with Donal Murphy's ma (two Irish Ultimate players' mothers) and told her that Sam plays Ultimate. Donal's a friend from school and he produced a disc one day in fifth or sixth year. So I was aware of the sports existence. Then a group of us played summer league a couple of years ago for the laugh (Deco and Stein were actually on our team) and I joined the Trinity Ultimate club and hung around.

You've not played as long as some of the other squad members but you have played with Irish powerhouses Trinity, OCS, Broc and Ranelagh - some achievement in a short time. What are some of your highlights from the last 3 years?
I always find playing with Trinity to be very enjoyable. With the people there and ultimate it is a great place to play, with IVs last year probably being my favourite tournament to date. Also, foreign tournaments are always particularly memorable as highlights. I had hardly been playing a year before playing two Tours with OCS and the final of All-Irelands with Broc so they were incredible learning experiences. The Ranelagh performance at All-Irelands last year was also pretty good, coming third with the second team, and I'm really looking forward to this year.

Again, not vertical

In June the team will travel to Windmill. After your experiences at Tour do you think the team will continue to get results? Or will you find tougher match ups here?
I'm not entirely sure what to expect from the teams at Windmill. Having never been I don't know what the standard is like, but I think it's safe to assume that the games will be tough. We'll play each team as they come and I hope we expect to put in an honest account of ourselves.

Are there any teams attending Windmill you want to play more than others?
I'm actually not sure of the other teams going to Windmill, but it doesn't really bother me who we play. I think Germany are going so that would be exciting, but I may have made that up.

Describe an ideal week for the team at U23s in July.
It's really sunny and warm and there's lemonade and we win absolutely everything. Realistically it will be tough but I'd like to think that we would reproduce our performance from Tour and take a few big shcalps. And I don't get injured.


Teammate Declan Grogan has a question about  your defensive mindset. He asks "what makes you so motivated to go get the D every time?". I guess as an O-line player we have to explain these things to him!
Making lives difficult and messing up the other team is fun. It sounds kinda jerky, but it's true! It's a feels great when you prevent someone from getting what they want for the benefit of your team. I enjoy marking handlers because it's generally considered easy to "just dump it", but if you mess with the resets the other team gets flustered and it is really really fun to watch.

Robert Problems

You've an unfortunate history of freak injuries. Can you contain your recklessness long enough to "smash it" at Windmill and Toronto?
Ha, I'd like to think of it as premeditated recklessness, but with commitments I have now I think I'll most definitely have to be more prudent than before. I do get injured a lot. I think I could only play at around 5 club training sessions last year. But I'm currently feel healthy and intend on seeing out the summer that way. 


The usual closing questions: Who do you want to play most in Toronto?
Canada. It would be nice to play the hosts and if they play as physically as I think they will, it would be a decent match.


Make us laugh.
Two silk worms were in a race. They ended up in a tie.


Cheers Rob. Best of luck with the next few months!
Cheers, buddy.

Interview #7 - Anne Leahy

Hey Anne, how are you?
Hey Hogi, I'm great. Really not pleased that exams are fast approaching though!


Firstly, congrats on making the team! This is your second international team appearance though as you captained the Irish Junior women in 2011. Tell us about that week in Poland
Thanks, I'm very happy to be on the team! Poland was a huge amount of fun. We were a very young and inexperienced team but I think we made up for it in raw energy. EYUC was the first tournament most of the girls had played, so it really was a learning curve but that meant that every small achievement was incredibly exciting. I was very proud to see us improve and actually start to play as a team over the course of a week and beating Poland on universe point will always be a very fond memory!

At Tour 2 weeks ago the O-line saw limited game time due to the good form of the D line, but despite that did you learn anything that you will take forward for the rest of the season?
Tour was great, I had forgotten just how much fun it was to put on an Irish Jersey and go out and cheer for your country. Having been training with the team for so long it was a much needed incentive to stay focused and enthusiastic. I have never played on a team with O and D lines before, it is very different but I do feel like I have a very definite role on the team because of it. What I'll take most from Tour is the need to always stay switched on while you're on the sideline as it can be difficult to come onto the pitch and play clinical offence if you haven't been on for 6 or 7 points. 


And outside Irish setups you're the captain of the Trinity College women's team. How did the year go for you and the team?
The year was more challenging than I would have hoped. Disappointingly recruitment did not go as planned and having lost a few of our big players last year we struggled to find some of the same motivation that has been there in the past. However we had some strong performances and are in a good position to take back some trophies next year!

Would you deem it a successful year as captain despite some close losses?
Losing varsities was hard! But this year we lost to a very deserving UCC team and had a couple of great matches along the way so that definitely did ease the pain. I'm not sure I would classify it as a super successful year as Captain but it was great to see our rookies improve hugely and I certainly really enjoyed it. 

You play club ultimate for Dublin based LMS. How much has training with them since Juniors developed your game?
Since I have started playing I have been very lucky to be consistently training with really great players. LMS is full of very talented players with loads of experience, it has been a huge advantage to be able to learn from them, they're also just great craic.

What's next for you this season? Mixed All-Ireland's? Windmill? Cologne with LMS again?
I will most likely play Mixed All-Ireland's but next definite tournament on the calender is Windmill. I'm excited about that as I've never been before and have heard many stories of how amazing it is, looking forward to good fun and lots of high level ultimate. Sadly I'm not going to Cologne this year (definitely one of my favourite tournaments), I'm sure LMS will smash it up though and I know that there are lots of people vying for my place as winner of the crap-olympics!

O-Line can play good D too

What are you most looking forward to about the rest of the season?
I love playing with this team. I'm really looking forward to going to Windmill and Toronto and playing hard and fighting to get that win. This team has huge potential and I want to see us live up to it.


Fellow team mate, Oisín says "This team is mighty craic and we're always able to have a good laugh in our downtime. So who do you think is the funniest on the O-Line?"
Think I'm going to have to go with Keith, he does try!

Are there any teams you want to play in Toronto more than others? Any grudge matches?
Playing GB is always exciting, but I really do want to go to Toronto and play against the best so its got to be the US and Canada. If Poland or the Czech Republic happen to sign up I would love to smash them and get some pay back for Juniors.

Tell us a joke, Anne!
(I apologise in advance)
What do you call a couch, a table and a chair made out of plants?
Ferniture. 
Oof, that was painful. Thanks for your time. Best of luck and enjoy the rest of the season.
Cheers Hogi!

Interview #6 - Liam Fletcher (C)

A man of many talents is Liam

Hey Liam, all well?

Doing well thanks!..taking a well deserved break from final year nonsense to do this..

Along with Emer and the coaches, you guys have put together a pretty tidy team for Worlds. Talk us through the process from getting captaincy to selecting your panel.

Emer was the driving force for putting together the initial bid for the captaincy. It was her idea and she put all the work into the bid (and has continued to do most of the work throughout), I kind of just went along with it! We selected Ian French as our head coach because he has coached us both for the past few years and we knew he would be the right person for the job. When we were selecting the panel, we wanted to make a team as opposed to a group of the 'best' players. Before the trial, we made a list of specific positions and we set about filling these with the most suitable players. It made the selection process a bit easier for me as people were competing for different positions as opposed to one of the 20 or so in the squad.

Ah she does great work altogether! Last weekend saw the team have its first warm up tournament, UK Mixed Tour 1. What was the team's approach to the weekend? Were results high on your list of priorities?

We treated it as just that - a warm up tournament. We wanted to go and just play our game and learn. Results really didn't matter, as long as we were learning form the games and staying positive.

How did Day 1 go? Where were you seeded and what was the competition like?
Day one went really well. We were probably under seeded a bit so our group games could have been more competitive. Our D-line preformed amazingly, keeping our O-line off the pitch for most of the day but when they did finally come on they calmly put away the score.

You can't stop me!
Liamo rips a disc down over 2 defenders and a teammate

And what changed, if anything, on Day 2?

Day 2 for the most part went the same way as Day 1. Our games were a little closer with teams like Golden Ants having very experienced players and different zone defences causing problems to both of our lines, but in the end we came out on top in the first two games. Our last game of the weekend was against a strong team in Magic Toast. They had a very experienced team full of players from some of the biggest clubs in the uk. They played very physical defence and rattled us with their rough marks. We traded for most of the game but in the end lost it 14-12.

So you came away with just the one loss in the last game. That's great going! What do the team need to work on to improve from here?

Yeah it was great. I think it was the best outcome for the team. Everyone will remember the feeling of losing that tight game and it will hopefully spur them on in their training and fitness over the coming months. I think the mental part of our game is a big aspect we need to work on. We let teams get in our heads at times, especially in the last game and it affected our performance.  

Next up is Windmill Windup in June. How do you expect the team to get on?

I think Windmill will be a great challenge for the team. The format should help us get the competitive games we need, especially for the O-line, who didn't get much pitch time in Cardiff. We're very excited to play some of the top mixed teams in Europe at such an amazing tournament. Again, results won't be very important to us, we'll just be looking to keep building until the main event in July. 

Liam skys two UCC defenders
(one being Irish teammate Oisín)

You've had some success in the Mixed division before playing with some strong outfits in the past, UCD and Jabba to be specific. Tell us about your 2012 Mixed season.

The 2012 season was incredible. For UCD, we had a really strong, experienced core of players and it just kind of came together on the day. We only had a couple of mixed training sessions before hand so we weren't incredibly well prepared but the talent in our team gave us the confidence and belief that we coud win. It was great to win the trophy at ours as well and to have UCD alumni come out to spur us on in the final.

Jabba's 2012 season was a completely different story. The club as a whole worked exceptionally hard all year, often training twice on Saturday and at least once during the week. It was amazing to field 3 competitive teams, filled mostly by people who attend these numerous training sessions. To finally lift the trophy that the club have chased for a few years was unbelievable. I look forward to defending the title next month.

Something we haven't done before, but might make a trend of, is asking the public to ask the team questions. What one UCD and Jabba teammate would like to know is: 

Are there similarities between captaining an Irish team and last year's UCD team, as both team had/have high expectations both internally and externally?

Ian French coached both teams so I guess they have a very similar playing styles / mentality. Another similarity is the level of experience. At the college level, you always have various degrees of experience ranging from beginners to people playing for years. On this Irish team there are huge fluctuations in level of playing experience. There are people who have played juniors, u23 or senior ultimate (with some having played all 3!) internationally and then there are people such as myself who have never been lucky enough to represent our country. 

As far as captioning goes they are quite similar teams, even sharing a few players from last year's UCD team, but the circumstances are very different.  Representing your country always carries a certain weight of expectations and I hope I can lead the team to fufill these.

Standard question: Who do you want to play/beat most in Toronto?

I want to play everyone to be honest! I know that every team there will be top quality so they will all be great opponents. 

Tell us your best joke.

'Doctor, I can't stop singing 'Sex Bomb''.

'That sounds like Tom Jones syndrome' he said.

'Is it common?' I asked. 

'It's not unusual' he replied.

Cheers Liam, best of luck with the rest of the season.

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.

Interview #4 - Caitlin Looney

Hey Caitlin, how're things? Studying hard no doubt...
Hello Hogi, thing's are good. Well I'm trying to anyway.

Congrats on making your first Irish team outside of the Juniors setup! I'd say you're excited to say the least. Tell us about your last two years of playing experience.
Thanks a million. You're right, I'm very excited! Toronto's not too far away now. The last two years have flown being honest. My first competitive tournament was EYUC 2011, it was a thoroughly enjoyable week. You learn a huge amount being immersed in the sport for that amount of time. After EYUC I was lucky enough to become involved on a club level with Rebel Ultimate. 2012 brought with it the opportunity to compete at Junior Level again; I was thrilled to be selected again to represent Ireland at the World Championships and given the honour to captain the Junior Women on home turf. Now heading into the Summer of 2013 I'm lucky enough to be heading to Toronto and Cologne with U23 and Junior's respectively. It's mad!

Your partnership with Leanne O'Neill is something of a local legend at Irish Junior level, however she couldn't commit fully to the U23s season and very unfortunately had to drop out. How are you finding playing without her for the first time?
Playing without Leanne is different to say the least. In the past two years I don't think we've ever strayed too far from each other on the pitch. Some might call it a touch of 'tunnel vision'. Fortunately this U23 team couldn't have provided a better base of players to adjust with. I'm really enjoying getting to know all the players as individuals and seeing us beginning to gel as a unit.

And how have you found the transition to an U23 setup so far? How does it differ from what you're used to?
Challenging. With Juniors there's always a majority of new recruits here everyone is an established player. Things are more specific so we always learn something new that will improve us in certain roles. So that's different to Juniors where you can find yourself in lots of different positions. It's a more generalised training.

You play your club ultimate with Rebel and have traveled to Windmill Windup with them in the past. What was your impression of this unique tournament and the atmosphere around it?
Windmill was all that it was made out to be; lot's of craic and a high level of ultimate.

Have you been to UK Tour events as well? Or will Mixed Tour be your first exposure to the UK ultimate scene?
I have indeed; played Mixed Tour with Rebel Ultimate last year. So I'm looking forward to getting to play the likes of Thundering Herd and Bear Cavalry again.

Outside of ultimate you're fairly active with Gaelic sports and you have competed at an inter-county level for Cork. How have your teams performed in past championships/leagues?
With Cork Camogie we didn't having a great run of things in the two years I was there. Losing to Galway and Tipperary in the Munster and All Ireland series. In regards Club and school we were more successful at an All-Ireland, Munster and county level. 2010 turned out to be quite the year! Inniscarra Camogie Club won both the Junior and Senior County Championships. The Seniors then went on to win the Munster title soon after but lost to a better side in the big final. Colaiste Choilm managed to pip them to the post taking all three honours that year. It was an amazing journey and I was so fortunate to be a part of such a talented group of players! Since then it's been hard to keep the momentum going. My last year in Colaiste Choilm has been full of mixed emotion; losing both Camogie and Football Munster Finals was heartbreaking but it's been such an amazing five years I can't complain.

Will we be seeing you on any senior Football/Camogie teams in the future playing in Croke Park and the likes?
Oh dear, I don't know! I'll just have to see what the next few years bring.

Returning to Ultimate for a moment; You're part of the Junior Women's team going to Cologne and you've just had your first training weekend. How did it go? How is the team looking, or is it too early to say?
I'll admit I was nervous heading to our first training with so many players leaving, I just didn't know what to expect. My fears were quickly alayed though. The team seems to be really athletic and took everything on board. I'm really looking forward to the season ahead.

Who do you want to play against most in Toronto and Cologne? Any personal grudge matches from the last 2 years?
For Cologne it's simple really. Czech Republic and GB. In the last two years we've come tantalisingly close to them both, I'd love to be in with another chance! At U23s I'd love to play Canada at home. Also Colombia are a team of such spirit and skill that I think it would be impossible not to enjoy a game against them.

Here is the real question everyone wants answered: Where will you be in college next year?! All this changing of your college application is awful confusing for would-be teammates!
I wish I knew myself! I'm quite an indecisive person so having such a broad choice doesn't really suite. At the moment I'm thinking a general Science degree in UCC to keep my options open in the future. But then again I could change my mind tomorrow. September should be fun!

Lastly, make us laugh
Two atoms were walking across a road when one of them said: "I think I
lost an electron!"
"Really" the other said. "Are you sure?"
"I'm absolutely positive!"

Apparently everyone has heard it?


Thanks for your time Caitlin. Best of luck with the Leaving Cert andyour multiple summer campaigns

Interview #3 - Jennifer Cooper

Hey Jen, all well?
Everything good with me, thanks. . I’m very excited about Tour this weekend!


Congrats on making the team. You must be chuffed!
Thank you. Yup, I’m absolutely delighted. My plans for the year were dependant on whether I made the team or not so I’m very happy that I made it and get to represent Ireland this summer!


You played on the Women's team in Italy 3 years ago, how did that week go for you?
I did. I really enjoyed the experience of playing an international tournament. I was a lot less experienced at the time, as was a lot of the team so I’m realising now how much was going over my head, but it was great to get a chance to play with all the girls and to learn from their experience. The week itself is a bit of a blur but it was great fun, with lots of hard fought ultimate and lovely weather ;) Unfortunately I ended up playing that week on a fractured foot so I’m really hoping that this time round I’ll be at full fitness. (That’s what all the core is for, right Frenchi ?)


And since then you've been playing your club ultimate with Jabba the Huck. It must give confidence to the good chunk of the squad who have played together with Jabba before as well as having familiar faces as your coaches. How have you found the process of getting used to playing with new teammates?
The Jabba aspect of the U23 team is proving very beneficial as I’ve way less tactics to remember. Its also nice to know that everything we’re doing at training each week is to the benefit of both teams, so it really feels like its all connected and not just a training weekend once a month. The O line has a lot of DCU and Jabba players on it so I’ve played with a lot of them before. Learning to work with handlers is always an interesting process especially for those of us who like to run deep a lot. We came back after lunch at a recent training day and Casey says “Jen, I’ve been practicing my hucks for you”. It was music to my ears! So I’m definitely looking forward to working with him. Everyone on the O line is versatile while all having something specific they’re very good at ... we’ve been working hard on identifying and using these things, so hopefully we’ll see it all come together this weekend.


When this team was announced were there any players that straight away you were excited to be on the same team as?
I must say I was very excited to get to play with all these incredible junior girls I had heard so much about. They’ve definitely lived up to their reputation!


You've been quite successful with Jabba in recent years with the club gaining depth in numbers and really excelling in its Mixed division. Tell us about the Mixed season for Jabba last year.
Best season yet! It was a great year for the club as we grew so much in numbers and across all divisions. Everybody in the club put in a huge effort throughout the season and we were getting up to 40 people out at training on quite a regular basis. We attended all three mixed tours and worked really hard at being a team unit ,which stood to all 3 teams at mixed nationals. Mixed Nationals was the perfect end to the season and is definitely a highlight of my ultimate career so far!



Your Women's and Men's teams weren't too shabby either collecting a number of trophies along the way. Can the same be expected from the club this year?
A lot more can be expected I hope. We’re building on everything we achieved last year in all divisions. Both the Open and women’s teams are hoping to travel to tournaments abroad and to put up a serious challenge at All-Ireland’s come September. My focus will be much more on mixed this season as I’ll miss most of the lead up to Women’s All-Irelands again this year, unfortunately.



You might say that you are rather "artsy" and you're known to have your camera out at tournaments getting some quality snaps. What sparked this interest?
I guess you could say that! I’m known to have a camera whenever I can beg, borrow or steal one. Unfortunately I do not yet own a DSLR although hopefully that will change before the summer. I guess I’ve always been creative and in to art and making things, as anyone who has ever won anything at a tournament I’ve hosted will attest to! I studied photography as a part of my degree so last minute Ultimate shots from whatever tourney was on the weekend before featured a lot in my assignments. Luckily Ultimate is a good sport for the dramatic shots!



Are you excited to get some good photos from the various tournaments that the team will attend this year? Or will you leave that to someone else and just concentrate on playing?
It’ll all depend on whether I’ve a camera by then I guess, but I think for the most part I’ll concentrate on playing!




Back to Ultimate; UK Mixed Tour 1 is the first stop on the team's travels this year. Have you attended this tournament before? How do you think the team will fair?
You have no idea how excited I am about this tournament!! I can’t wait to play
together as a team. I was at this tournament last year with Jabba and it was a great weekend, full of really good intense ultimate and surprisingly good weather. You go to Tour to play intense, high level ultimate and that’s exactly what we’ll get. I don’t know much about the other teams that will be there or where we’ll be seeded or anything like that so I’m not too worried about how we finish, but it’ll be a very important weekend for us as a team. It’ll show us what we’re capable of as a unit and what we still need to work on before the summer. It’s our first tournament together so there are bound to be some hiccups, but once we play intense ultimate and try play the way we’ve set out to play I’ll be happy. It’d also be nice if it didn’t rain/snow and we win some games, that’d be ideal!


As I'm asking everyone else, I'll ask you too: Who do you want to play most in Toronto?
The Canadian game is one of the games that stands out the most from Florence so it’d be great to see where they’re at now! Apart from that I guess USA and GB are the obvious ones. But I want to play everyone . . .everyone will bring a new challenge. So excited, can’t wait !!


Lastly, you love a good laugh. Tell us a joke!

I do love a good laugh! I’m absolutely rubbish at jokes though, but since its Easter . . .
What happens when you tell an egg a joke?

. . . . .

It cracks up!


Classic! Nice one Jen, best of luck with the campaign
Thanks Hogi