BUOC Preview !!

Well, there you have it.

Belgian Ultimate Outdoor Championships.

Here to rock your world again, bring some flavour to your year or just calm the competition beast that lives inside of you.

A 'tournament' like any other for some, a true championship and highlight of the year for others.

Count me and my team in the second category.

Not that everything depends on being champion or not, but being able to have some good games at the highest level in our small country is something you've been working for for a few months now.

We all like ultimate for more than one reason, but one of those reasons, next to having a lot of fun, is getting to see what you are worth as a team against another team.

And yes, it's only 25 days from now !!!!

It almost seems impossible that this is already so close, so you better be ready !

-1st weekend 20-21/03/10: Jet Set: Division 1, Gentle: Division 2 & 3.
-2nd weekend 17-18/04/10: Gentle: Div. 1, 2, 3.

I believe this year will have another big clash between what seem to be my personal 4 favourites for the championship.

Mooncatchers, two time defending champion and in full preparation of the WUCC in Prague; Jetset as Kings of the Beach (Belgian Beach Cup champs)and always a good competitor at BUOC's; Gentle as former belgian outdoor champs in 2006 and 2007 and always a top seed at BUOC's, and FreezzzBeezzz with a high standard and a bunch of young guys (and some phenomenons?)....

I don't want to pretend these 4 teams will be best(in division1), it's just my first guess because of what I've been hearing and seeing around; I'm not going to underestimate Slijpschijven,XLR8RS,Schijnwerpers and Huyltimate (in random order) at all !!!

This year's BUOC will also be very special due to the new schedule:

In short it means that every game is important, not only quarter finals, semis and final.

So your team needs to perform on a high level from the very first till the last point of every game of every weekend.

There's two weekends in which teams can deserve points.

Whoever comes out on top with most points at the end of the second weekend is the new Belgian Outdoor Champion.

Here's the official explanation by VLUFF (Vlaamse Ultimate Frisbee Federatie-who are organising this year's BUOC, more info on belgian federation and the francophone federation coming soon)  :

 3 subdivisions of 8 teams

 1 champion

 2 weekends

 Each weekend is a tournament with a final

 Every team plays minimum 5 games maximum 6 per weekend

 Each team receives points for it’s position per weekend (ex the 1st team receives 36 points, the 2nd 34, the 24th 9 points)

 The team with the most points, both weekends added up, is the national champion.

 If 2 teams have equal points after adding up both weekends, the team that has the highest ranking the second weekend gets the highest position.

Longer version:

This format is based on the idea of the tour in the UK.

It’s goal is to stimulate competition and to try to avoid games without importance.

The BUOC will exist out of 2 tournaments. Each weekend a tournament will be played and the ranking in that tournament gives corresponding points. The Belgian Open Champion will be the team with the most points added up after 2 weekends (see list points per position).

The list of points is made with the possibility to grow to 32 teams if this format would be kept for the next couple of years.

The tournament format for each weekend will be:



 Per division 2 pools of 4
 round robin. The 1st team of every pool goes straight to the semi-finals, the 2nd team plays a crossover game with the 3rd team of the other pool. The 4th team goes straight down to the bottom brackets.
 Semi-finals
 Finals


Length of the games:


1st division:
-poolgames: 70 minutes, cap + 2, = 80 minutes for each game.
-crossover games, semi finals and finals: 75 minutes, cap + 2, =90 minutes for each game
-big final: until one team reaches 15 points (no time cap)


2nd and 3rd division:
-poolgames: 60 minutes, cap + 2, = 70 minutes for each game.
-crossover games, semi finals and finals: 75 minutes, cap + 2, =90 minutes for each game
-big final: until one team reaches 15 points (no time cap)


The ranking of the first weekend will be used to determine the seeding of the second weekend. There are two exceptions: after the 1st weekend the last team of the 1st division switches position with the first team of the 2nd division, and the two last teams of the 2nd division with the two 1st and 2nd of the 3rd division.


After the ranking the second weekend points of both weekends will be added up and the team with the most points will be champion. If 2 teams have equal points after adding up both weekends, the team that has the highest ranking the second weekend gets the highest position.


By creating subdivisions of 8 it not only ensures more competitive matches between the teams it also makes it possible to divide the Belgian competition over 3 location. This is not ideal but with the difficulty of finding good locations in mind it gives more options. The second weekend will be held at 1 location and if possible the first weekend too.

Here are the teams in each division, based upon ranking from BUOC 2009 (and so this was last year's final ranking):

Div 1
Mooncatchers
XLR8RS
Gentle A
Schijnwerpers
Freezzzbeezzz
Slijpschijven
Jet Set
Huyltimate

Div 2
Diabolic Heaven 1
Gentle B
F*** Hellfish
Freespect
ULB
Gentle C
Diabolic Heaven 2
Pixels

Div 3
Mooncatchers 2
Propellers
Gentle E
Gentle D
Skywalkers
Zeppelins
Frisbier

Let's go, Belgium !