EUC Preview - INTERVIEW : Sion 'Brummie' Scone , Coach of European Title Defender GREAT BRITAIN OPEN

Check out this interview with Sion 'Brummie'Scone , the coach of the Great Britain Open team, winners of the gold medal at EUC2007 in Southampton.

GetHo' : How's the GB squad looking this year ? Have you lost any key players to the mixed team ? A lot of players from EUC2007 in Southampton ?

Sion 'Brummie' Scone : "The GB Open squad that is playing in Maribor is a completely new team from the one in Southampton - only three players remain.
We lost a lot of players to the Masters team! :-)
GB Open now have a very young and athletic team and we're playing well together after only a short amount of time."

GetHo' : According to everyone's favourite website Ffindr.com you seem to be
having 27 persons on the squad , amongst who 1 guest, , 1 coach and 1
captain. This means 25 players ? How did the selections go ? Was it a
conscious choice of taking 25 players ? Did you cut a lot of others ?

Sion 'Brummie' Scone : "We have 25 players attending EUC.
Our current squad is 30 strong, and we had more than 60 players who came to open tryouts in the autumn."

 GetHo' : How are the ambitions this year ? GB feeling strong enough to defend the Open title of EUC2007 in Southampton ?

Sion 'Brummie' Scone :
"Our long term sights are set on Worlds 2012; last time around we missed out on a medal by three points.
So we are using a week-long EUC to get lots of experience for our younger players before we head to Labor Day in Santa Cruz (USA) in September to play against the top North American teams.
Then we'll be making some adjustments and continuing to push hard until WUGC.

GB Open are of course looking to win Gold in Maribor.

But it doesn't really feel like we are defending anything since so few of us were there in 2007.
As a new team we will look to go and win, and it will feel like we've done it for the first time.
If we don't win then we will use the lessons we learn to push us forward to 2012, as I'm sure will all of the other teams."

GetHo' : Any teams you're looking forward to play ? Any teams you believe might be strong contenders in the Open division ? Maybe a surprise of one of the lesser known East-European teams ? How bout the Swiss domination at last year's EUCF in Spain ?


Sion 'Brummie' Scone :
"It has been so long since the European nations played each other that this is a tough one to answer.
We're always excited to play against new opponents.
In the past we have had great battles with the Swiss team, who must be feeling very confident on the back of an excellent season for FAB and Freespeed last year.
But I'd also expect strong teams from Finland, Russia, Italy and Denmark.
I saw the German team this year and they look great, and the Irish team have been building all season.
Oh, did I mention Sweden?
We love playing those guys.
At this level no team is easy to beat and every game is a fight.
Lots of tough opposition, and we're looking forward to playing all of them."

GetHo' : How did the preparations go ? A lot of tournaments ? UK Tour ? Training weekends ?

Sion 'Brummie' Scone :
"Training weekends monthly since February, two UK Tour events and a friendly.
Fortunately there are some very good teams that we've played domestically that has helped us to gel nicely.
But EUC will be our first tournament all together as a squad, so in the grand scheme of things we're still untested at a high level.
We've been working very hard in the gym and track, with fitness testing and a fitness coach to keep us all in shape so that we can battle with the best this year and next."

 GetHo' : You looking forward to Maribor ? Did you prepare for hot weather ?

Sion 'Brummie' Scone :
"We are British, we are prepared for light rain and gusty winds.
We haven't done anything specifically for hot weather but we'll cope just fine, we have some excellent athletes.
I think we're all looking forward to sampling the local food & drink, I heard the pizza is good..."

GetHo' : Any other notes/comments on this year's EUC ?

Sion 'Brummie' Scone : "It's great to see a new country hosting, hopefully we can put on a
great show for the locals! Good luck to all."

 
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See you all at Maribor in 11 days !