Eight Nations Championship

Booked my flights with Ryanair, heres the info:

GOING OUT

From Dublin (DUB) to Barcelona (Girona) (GRO)
Fri, 24Jul09 Flight FR7036 Depart DUB at 18:25 and arrive GRO at 21:40

COMING BACK

From Barcelona (Girona) (GRO) to Dublin (DUB)
Sun, 26Jul09 Flight FR7037 Depart GRO at 21:50 and arrive DUB at 23:20

Yes, count me in for preliminary numbers. Summer plans are vague right now but this sounds fantastic!

I want to go too!
As for right now, I don't have the cash. When is the deadline for the players fees and everything?

Hey Everyone,

In case you haven't seen the e-mail sent out on Irishladies, here it is:

Greetings all you fabulous female frisbeers!

As most of you have heard through the grapevine or read in the e-mails from Heather, myself and Laura have taken on the delectable positions of co-captains for the 8 Nations this summer to be held in sunny sunny Spain! I know a lot of you have shown an instant interest in this on the ladies forum but for those of you who might think the opportunity has passed or were hesitant to put your names forward, here's your second chance. If you're currently straddling the fence in a frustratingly indecisive manner, let us present to you the many fantastic aspects of this tournament:

* it's your chance to wear an Irish jersey,
* competition includes Spain, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, France, GB and Sweden,
* it's a fantastic learning opportunity (ideal for beginners and advancing players)
* we can get flights there on Fri and back Sunday evening- so people dont have to miss much work
* Airport is 10mins from the pitches and there will be free shuttle buses!
* We get to sleep in comfy beds and swim in a swimming pool (I'm particularly excited about this )
* 90euro player fee includes fri dinner, sat brekkie,lunch and dinner and sunday brekkie and lunch as well as 2 parties
* It will cost roughly €100 for everything!!! Very cheap!!!
* heres a picture of it http://www.elcollel l.net/eng/ index.html
* Theres a farm! (Laura is particularly excited about this)


If those reasons don't get you hooked I'm not sure what will. We'd really like to ascertain numbers so please, even if you've expressed interest on the forum, send an e-mail to either myself, pingpongfi@yahoo.com, or Laura, shouldie@gmail.com, to confirm that you're interested and are committed to this tournament. It is completely open to all levels and there are no restrictions to the size of the team, assuming it doesn't grow to astronomical proportions. If numbers do become an issue then, as Laura mentioned on the forum, it will be simply a case of your level of commitment and involvement that will be taken into account. There will be a few training days leading up to the tournament and you'll be expected to partake in fitness (on your own or in small groups if you can get in contact with others) but it's all about making the most out of this tournament with no pressure to do more than enjoy it the most you can, and that includes the build-up.

We also recommend that people get their minds made up soon as flight prices are, well, flying high one might say.

We look forward to hearing from you all, this is going to be an amazing tournament!!!!!!!

Fiona and Laura x

Shite. I'm out. Sorry, forgot I have a wedding to go to that weekend.

Booked my flights now, same as Laura above! €161

im in
confirm me up. very excited

Just booked my flights from Cork. Exciting times ahead

woohoo just booked my flights there same as Laura and Fiona above €111.74 at the mo.

Just booked the flights for this-worked out as 82euro without checking a bag-reckon I can manage without since we're getting beds provided, won't need to bring a sleeping bag or any of that stuff

didnt book a bag either, reckon I can do without- although we may need sleeping bags, they havent got back to me about this yet, think it may be similar to the bunkers in Geneva and Basel, cant wait!

Viva La Girona! I am in, and the flight is booked (same Ryanair flight as previous ladies), down to 80Euro at the mo (no bag checked), so book if you haven't!

Hi,
I'd definetly be interested in this tournie! just wondering, are beginners allowed to go or is it mainly just experienced players going?
Deirdre ucc

This tournament is open to everyone one to go to...... Would be great to have you on the team Deirdre!

cool! in that case i'm in! wow... my first foreign tournie!

Hello ladies!!

Looks like we have a beautiful squad coming together for this amazing cheap amazing tournament. Its actually going to be deadly!

Okay so as far as I can see we have a couple of options for jerseys for this tournament

1. Wear Irish jerseys, possibly re-order the worlds ones without Vancouver written underneath for those without jerseys/euro ones. Or else design completly new Irish jerseys.
2. Get cheaper Irish t-shirts made in keeping with the cheap theme of the tournament.
3. Cheapest option of them all, wear any green jerseys and go for the "40 shades of green". I for one have millions of green jerseys to dish out if people need them.

Okay so what does the team want? We will go with majority rules so voice your opinions, alternatively if you have any other jersey suggestions speak up, this was all I could think of

Training dates will be released soon!

Laura

Hmm, i'm not sure really. It's up to those who don't have irish jerseys already to decide I imagine. I have no problems leanding ones, in Tenerife we lent jerseys to those with an EUC or WUGC one and that worked well.

Booked my flight over, I'm taking holidays after so that's why I didn't get a return. Still cost me 88 yo including bag but not airport check in.

Really looking forward to training and preparing for this!

Hey ladies,

Myself and Fiona will be having 5 training sessions in total before we head off to Girona. They are open to everyone (all experience levels) and we are encouraging everyone to come even if they cant make Girona. For those playing at 8 nations we would expect players to be able to make at least one session. If this is not possible please e-mail either of us and we can try and work something out.

Training dates are as follows:

May 17th (Sunday): Offense 2-5
June 7th (Sunday): Offense 3-4
June 27th&28th (Sat&Sun): Zone O&D
July 12th: Man-D

This is roughly what the plan is. The dates are the most important thing so stick them in your diarys now! Hopefully they suit the majority

Cheers,
Laura

8 Nations Tournament
The 8 Nations kicked off with the arrival of a bus load of Irish people at the tournament venue at around 11pm. First impressions were the intense smell of farm- a mix of pungent goats cheese and poo which we gradually accustomed to over the weekend. We were greeted by the lovely tournament organiser who brought us to a big building which housed about 50 teenagers who were enjoying a late night disco. Needless to say we didn't get a fantastic nights sleep. But on a plus side we got one big "team Ireland" room for all the Irish players, everyone got a bed and we were 5 minutes walk from everything.

Saturday kicked off for the ladies with a game against a UK Dream Team at 11.20am. After slapping on endless amounts of sunscreen we braved the intensely hot elements and played our first great game of ultimate. Weeks of training were put into practice and the Irish ladies played calm offense and intense defense. We made use of the fact that we had literally twice as many players as they had and ran them around the pitch. Everything worked for us and we won the game well.
Final Score 17:8, MVP: Laura

Our second game took place at the hottest time of the day, 3pm! The lack of shade during our time off and increasing temperatures took their toll on us mentally and physically. And we were playing a famous Irish rival team; Yaka, the french club team. Needless to say this wasn't our best game of the tournament. Games against Yaka are never pretty and this was no exception. They had a strong experienced team (who went on to win the final) and scored point after point. We definitely could have given them a better game but with our heads down, a rise in temperature along with 90minutes of ultimate we were fighting a losing battle. All in all this gave us some perspective and was a great learning experience for the team. We had to fight if we were to beat the teams at 8 nations.
Final Score 7:16, MVP: Fiona

Our third and final game of the day was against the only other women's team to match us for numbers: Primavera from the Netherlands. With rumours that they were looking for a place in the final we knew that it was going to be an intense game. We started the game well and made a few mistakes which they took advantage of. Because of this our heads dropped and we found ourselves in the lull of the previous game against Yaka as they continued to score the points. We called a time out. Things had to change. Our intensity had to increase. We needed to get back into the game mentally. After some words of encouragement mixed with lots of "lets friggin* do this!!". We returned to the pitch. The sideline were up on their feet shouting encouragement as we watched the 7 players on the pitch fight for the disc. The mental switch had completely changed. We had a new energy about us and had completely upped the intensity on defense. This made for a late comeback. Unfortunately we were too far behind at this point and lost the game well in the end but as a team we were alot happier finishing on a high knowing that for the second half of the game we had given it everything we had.
Final Score 7:17, MVP: Catherine

Sunday saw us setting our alarms for 6.30am to eat and warm up for a game against the Belgium ladies, Miss B, at 8am. After a late breakfast and a hilarious incident with the sprinklers we were on the pitch warmed up and ready to play. 8am suited us down to the ground. We were well awake, the sun had not yet raised the temperature and there were little bits of shade to be found around the pitch. Initially our less experienced team made some mistakes on offense which cost us a few points against a team of very experienced belgium ladies. We were playing well but the points weren't converting. Before we knew it we were 5-1 down. Less mistakes, calm offense and intense defensive let us finish the half with a more respectable 8-5 to them. We were still energetic and focused when we went into the second half and it showed. We ended up scoring the next five points in a row to make it 8-10. Time was called and a game to 12 ensued. An unhappy Belgium side decided to pick themselves back up and tried to make a late comeback. But in the end they were a beaten team by the less experienced but completely enthusiatic and competitive Irish side.
Final Score 12-10, MVP: Finola

Our last and final game was against the Spanish ladies team. A team that had battled with Miss B the previous day and lost by 1 point. We knew it was going to be another tough, intense but enjoyable game to finish off what was an amazing tournament. We started the game well and before we knew it were 5-1 up and took the half at 8-5- the complete opposite of the previous game. The second half unfortunately was our downfall. The spanish ladies put on a clever little zone which we hadn't yet seen at the tournament. Our mistakes under the pressure of this zone were converted into points by the Spanish. We didnt adjust to the zone in time and lost the game by the same margin as we'd won the previous.
Final Score 14-12, MVP: Sparky

As Miss B had beaten Spain and Spain had beaten us the three of us were tied on games won and lost. Points were taken into consideration and we took 4th place with Miss B finishing 3rd and Spain finishing 5th. Its a result we are happy with and gives us a good mark to beat next year

Everyone played extremely well at the weekend and myself and Fiona are both delighted and proud to have captained such a great team. Thanks to everyone for the support and good luck messages!

A Game of the Tournament went to Deirdre Corbett
MSP went to Linda and Laura
MVP went to Fiona and Laura

Laura and Fiona


*words may have been altered slightly...