EUCF 'ELITE' Interview II : SILENCE

Here is number 2 in the series of interviews with the Elite teams who are going to play the European Ultimate Championship Finals (EUCF) in Bruges on 30/09 and 1-2/10 : SILENCE from Czech Republic. All questions answered by Carlos.

Get Ho’ : How has the preparation gone ? Did you play any tournaments or championships in preparation for the EUCF ?

Carlos : “Most of the players in Silence also play for the Czech national team, so the preparation was kind of mixed for both of these events - EUC and EUCS. We went to Hamburg, Tom's Tourney, Windmill in Amsterdam and have had regular practices before these events.“

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 ?

Carlos : “Well I think there is no other good option to have it at some different time. Maybe one or two weeks earlier, but it depends on other events - international or domestic. There are other events in summer like EUC, WCBU, in other years different big tournaments, so it influences this competition as well as domestic nationals and I can't really see other part of the season suitable for this tournament. It only affects our team in terms of length of the season, which is long, so people run out of money or have injuries.”

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 ?

Carlos : “We are not in full force and miss few key players. We have had actually problems to put the team together for this tournament, partly because of the injuries, partly because some people can't afford it due to the price.  So we will have less players than last year. “

Get Ho’ : Silence is relatively new to the EUCF compared to the other teams in the Elite division. What is your opinion about that and being seeded 7th ?

Carlos : “We are glad that we made it to the Elite division, but that was also because of the new structure of the competition. It would be nice to finish as we are seeded, which will be difficult as we are not going in full force. Our best result was 9th last year, so anything better than that will be success for us”.

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 ?

Carlos : “I think the level of Ultimate is growing, but the question is if it is enough to be more competitive with the rest of the world. They are growing as well and if you look at the Worlds from last year, Europe didn't do that well. So I would say, it hasn't been growing big enough.“

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 ? What are your ambitions for this year ?

Carlos : “I wouldn't say that we are going for the title. We will try to do our best though. I think the favorites are as usual teams from GB - Clapham and Chevron, Swiss teams - FAB and Freespeed and Skogs. German teams can suprise as Germany played great at EUC in Maribor. We actually won against FAB last year at EUCF, so it would be nice to beat some of the Elite division teams this year too.“

Get Ho’ : Anything else you would like to share with the Ultimate community ? Any thoughts or comments about the EUCF?

Carlos : “I think the competition has still been finding its place among the European ultimate community. If you look at the USA Ultimate nationals, it is the major event for their teams, they focus on this and it is their priority, they adjust their plans to this event, but in Europe it is different. There are nationals in each country which takes place in different parts of the season, than there are big events like EUC, WBUC, WUGC, WUCC in summer, also there some traditional and popular tournaments every year, which means many event and it might not be easy for EUCS competition, as still kind of new thing, to be or become as important for teams as it might be or even should be.

EUCF could also be a bit less expensive tournament. I don't know how it is for other teams, but by experience from Czech teams, it is too much for some players. There is not much of a interest in organizing EUCF so in a way I understand why it costs this much. But it might be good for EUF to investigate if there are some ways how to put the price down or at least to offer some better price range, going from low price for very basic service to the top quality service if there are teams want to have it. It is not the key thing, but it might help.

And I guess it also needs more time. There is new structure and some changes this year, so we will see if that helps.“

Keep on reading ! 
Plenty more to come !