EUCF 'ELITE' Interview I : FREESPEED

 

So, as you may have guessed by the title of this blogpost I'm trying to do an interview with each team that's going to play in the Elite Division at EUCF 2011 (European Ultimate Championship Finals) in Bruges on 30/09/11 and 1-2/10/11.

First off is the reigning Swiss champion, bronze medalist of last year's EUCF in Lloret De Mar and definitely one of the teams to look out for : FREESPEED.

Have a look at this little interview with Tobias and Robin, 2 of the captains/coaches of Freespeed from Basel,Switzerland.

-Get Ho' : How has the preparation gone ? Which tournaments and championships have you  played as preparation for EUCF ?

Tobias and Robin : "There was no special preparation for EUCR & F. Since we play as a team the whole season, we played several International Tournaments. And of course, the title in the swiss championship gave us confidence for Brugge."

-Get Ho' : Do you think it's difficult that these finals happen at the end of sept/beginning of octobre?  Does it affect your team that this is after summer ?

Tobias and Robin : "Our national finals were just a few days ago, and we are prepared for this long season. The players that didn’t play in Maribor or Lignano also had a mid-season break of four weeks, so we think the energy should last until 2nd of Oct."

-Get Ho' : Is the team in full force ? Are all the key players there and in shape ? Any adjustments to the roster since last year's EUCF ? Any new/old "pick-ups" or new team members ?

Tobias and Robin : "Yes we are nearly in full force, one or two key players are missing. We tried to get the same Team as in 2010, but  we had to change one of our two pick up players."

-Get Ho' : Freespeed has been growing and getting better than ever in the last few years. A 3rd spot at EUCF last year and a fresh national championship. How will this affect your playing and what are the expectations for this year ? Can you do better than last year ?

Tobias and Robin : "Last year we had a magic EUCF. We hope to get the same groove like 2010 but it wont be easy to confirm the 3d place. Actually we would be pretty happy to enter the quarters."

-Get Ho' : What do you think about the level in Europe ? Has the level been rising over the last few years ? Does EUCF have anything to do with that ? How did the game change in the last few years ? Is there a shift in powerteams going on ?

Tobias and Robin : "Ultimate probably got better in Europe. But we assume that the development of All-Star-Teams won’t be a good thing for the high-level Ultimate in Europe on the long run. There are a few Teams like Clapham, where you could find a strong team over the past years and there will probably a good team in the next years. In other teams there is almost no will to get young (unexpierienced) players into the team. Those teams will probably face hard times in future.
The EUCF is in our oppinion the main reason for the development in Europes top Ultimate. It’s important to have an official season highlight where every team shows up as strong as possible".

-Get Ho' : Who would be the biggest opponents for the title ? Who do you believe might make it to the semis ? Any one who should be seen as top favourite ? Defending champs FAB ? 

 Tobias and Robin :  "As we already said, we do not expect to play in the final. We think Clapham will make it this year. Of course FAB, with their nice Pick-ups is strong as well, we lost against them in EUCR-final. "

Keep on reading ! Plenty more to come !

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See you in Bruges.