woensdag 31 augustus 2011
WCBU Trivia - Swiss Comeback Caught On Video !
The massive comeback of the Swiss at the World Championships of Beach Ultimate I posted about before, was caught on video.
Check it out above and no it wasn't a layout callahan as mentioned before but a nice layout grab by Flo on a pass from Lorenz for the winning score at sudden death.
Nice stuff !
dinsdag 30 augustus 2011
WCBU Video - Hammertime Filipino Style !
Check out this amazing hammer and great layout catch during the Open final of the World Championship of Beach Ultimate between USA (Gold medalist) and Phillipines (Silver medal).
This is how it's supposed to be done.
Booya !
donderdag 25 augustus 2011
WCBU Update IV - Trivia : "Massive Comeback"
Check out this amazing gameplay and maaaassive comeback by the Swiss in the open division.
Easily my favourite team of the tournament and what a way to prove that a game is never over until it's finished !
Oh, and have I mentioned the final point ? Yes, there's no assist meaning only one thing : layout CALLAHAN for winning a universe point by Flo !!!
WCBU Update III - Belgian MIXED
All statistics and gameplays ofour mixed friends available at http://www.wcbu2011.org/scores/?view=teamcard&Team=1046
The girls are even taking care of fine details to represent our country :
woensdag 24 augustus 2011
WCBU - Connection trouble :
Will try again later.
Do keep on reading, I'm gathering lots of info and pics.
Do keep on reading, I'm gathering lots of info and pics.
WCBU Update II - MissB, Belgian Ladies
Check out a picture of the Belgian Ladies, aka MissB, after winning their game with a smashing 12-6 against the number 2 seed Japan. This seemed like a little surprise even for the belgian girls but each and every one of them was on fire (with Ine and Ella leading the example, in my personal opinion) !
The asian girls seem to be struggling on the Italian beach, having already lost against France, Germany and our very own belgian ladies. The MissB crew won against Spain and Japan, and they are feeling pretty good out there on the hot sand. Great Britain and USA were just a size too big (figuratively speaking that is) for them and the loss against Finland seemed like a really hard battle ending at 10-7. The atmosphere is really great, but unfortunately Nele is out with a back injury (which might still get better in a a day or two, let's hope so!) and Femke who's down with fever... I'm sure they will keep on having good games and let's hope all Belgian ladies get to shine together even more this week at the WCBU.
The asian girls seem to be struggling on the Italian beach, having already lost against France, Germany and our very own belgian ladies. The MissB crew won against Spain and Japan, and they are feeling pretty good out there on the hot sand. Great Britain and USA were just a size too big (figuratively speaking that is) for them and the loss against Finland seemed like a really hard battle ending at 10-7. The atmosphere is really great, but unfortunately Nele is out with a back injury (which might still get better in a a day or two, let's hope so!) and Femke who's down with fever... I'm sure they will keep on having good games and let's hope all Belgian ladies get to shine together even more this week at the WCBU.
WCBU Update I - Hot Times !
First things first : Lignano Sabbiadore is hot (and so are we :) )
The temperature is rising to an amazing 37° C and this is a huge bummer for running your *ss off on the hot sand (on which you can't walk without flipflops or sandsocks from about 11 till 4 ).
Concerning the holiday aspect it couldn't be better. I am loving it to sit on the beach, have a swim in the ocean for over an hour, drink a beer after a hard fought game, have some laughs, swim in the pool on the campsite, get some nice dinner and most important of all : enjoying the sunshinec
It is a World Championship but the atmosphere feels like one of the best holidays I've ever had...
More posts to come, keep on reading !
More posts to come, keep on reading !
vrijdag 19 augustus 2011
WCBU Preview - Belgian Open Team Picture
Check out this year's Belgian Open team for the World Championships of Beach Ultimate in Italy next week.
Hakke (Jetset) is not on the picture as he couldn't make it to last practice, and Joren (Slijpschijven) unfortunately is badly injured at his shoulder.
Still the team is looking good and we'll definitely come out for some big battles on the beach.
We'll do some chilling as well and anything is possible !
Some more updates tomorrow !
Still the team is looking good and we'll definitely come out for some big battles on the beach.
We'll do some chilling as well and anything is possible !
Some more updates tomorrow !
Interesting WCBU Preview by SKYD Magazine - Check It !
Check out this interesting preview of the upcoming World Championships of Beach Ultimate :
A little excerpt :"First things first: this tournament is much bigger and will be much more competitive than WCBU2007 in Brazil. There are several reasons for this: location, the passage of time and growing acceptance of beach ultimate, and more support from major governing organizations like WFDF and USAU."
donderdag 18 augustus 2011
Random Picture - WCBU2011 Weather Forecast
-"So you're going to the World Championships of Beach Ultimate in Italy ? And where is it ?"
-"It's in Lignano Sabbiadore."
-"Never heard about it. Can you tell me something about it ?"
-"No I can't. But I do have this picture" :
-"It's in Lignano Sabbiadore."
-"Never heard about it. Can you tell me something about it ?"
-"No I can't. But I do have this picture" :
Sunshiiiiiiine baby ! It's gonna be hot !
Belgian U20 Win SPIRIT @ EYUC2011 + Tom Honings Interview !
As you can see above, our very own Belgian Juniors have won the Spirit of the Game award in the Under20 division at the European Youth Ultimate Championships in Wroclaw,Poland.
These young guns, lead by coaches Olli (Mooncatchers) and Eric (Jetset/Funkadelic) and captain Tom (Diabolic Heaven) took a good example from all the other Belgian teams who have won spirit awards troughout the year and continued the tradition.
Belgian is known for having a good spirit tradition and it's something I'm particularly proud of, even though sometimes the heat can get going in decisive games.
Spirit is something that should be thaught to young players and that is why they need good examples.
It's the most important aspect of our game, and so we should all be really proud of our youngsters who are all very talented.
Note : This interview was freely translated by myself.
GetHo’ : How did the Belgians do ? How bout the level of play ?
"I was under the impression that the level had changed a little. This was probably caused by the fact that a lot juniors from previous EYUC’s were too old to still play in the U20 division.
As far as the Belgians go, we had a great level for such a young team. Our average age was 17 and that’s quite amazing in the Under20 division where 2 or 3 more years of experience can change a lot.
In the end we got to the 8th place out of 13 and without any preparation and only having 14 players this was quite an accomplishment ! We also had a few players who played for the national team for the very first time and with a little more preparation who knows what will be possible in the next few years !"
GetHo’ : Any teams you really looked forward to playing ? Or looked up to ?
"Germany was really the best team at the EYUC. They strolled through the tournament without getting any real opposition…
Great Britain was also pretty impressive, but very unlike the other EYUC’s I’ve seen them play. They didn’t seem as unbeatable as other times and it seemed like they had a whole new team without any real superstarts except for maybe one or two real exceptional players.. They usually have a whole team of exceptionally talented youngsters.
To me Austria was the revelation of the year !
In Southampton they lost every game with scores like 15-2 and 15-3 and now they played finals against Germany !
They also played with a really high spirit and the combination of skills and spirit really made them my favourites.
Another team that looked really strong was Italy , they had a lot of players who already played in the Italian Open team from teams like Cota Rica and CUS Bologna.
In my opinion our team ended at a nice ranking after teams like these…"
GetHo’ : What was your general impression of the Championship ?
"Unfortunately we didn’t have enough players in our 14man squad. We always had somebody who had to miss a game due to an injury or some aches and pains... In the end we only had about 10 players left and that was far from enough.
Next year we’ll definitely will bring 20 players !
What made this EYUC stand out from others was that there were only 13 teams in the Under20 division… I believe this could be way more.
Next to that it was really cool to stay,play and walk around in an Olympic village ! Even the finals were played in the big stadium !
It also seemed that the level was a little lower than other years.."
GetHo’ : Any other special events during the week ?
"When one of our coaches Olivier (Mooncatchers) had his birthday and when the Germans started speeching during the ceremony after their convincing win they got the whole crowd singing happy birthday for him. That was pretty amazing !"
GetHo’ : Anything else to add ?
"I’ve already played 6 European Championships and I believe that Spirit of the Game is really Belgium’s highlight ! Playing like we are supposed to without taking advantage of the rules.
I also believe we have so much potential with the Belgian junior teams but when we compare ourselves to teams who really come prepared and take everything really serious, that we aren’t really doing a great job. We could do much more if we had a little more practices in our small country. We heard that the Germand youngsters had 2 practices a month and that’s really something to learn from. Next to that it’s also massively important to be in good shape to be able to make that extra cut or do that extra run and keep up with your man. I think that with enough players and the right amount of preparation Belgium will be able to (“break some pots”) show some amazing stuff.
I get to play with Under20 one more year so it would be super if we could accomplish some nice things with a superteam next year !!"
Belgian is known for having a good spirit tradition and it's something I'm particularly proud of, even though sometimes the heat can get going in decisive games.
Spirit is something that should be thaught to young players and that is why they need good examples.
It's the most important aspect of our game, and so we should all be really proud of our youngsters who are all very talented.
Here's a little interview with Tom Honings , who is one of the bright young talented Diabolic Heaven players, the youngest to attend the Belgian Open team at EUC2011 (European Ultimate Championships,Slovenia) and the captain of the Belgian Under20 Team at EYUC2011.
At the age of 18 he already played 5(!!) European Youth Championships and 1 EUC !!Note : This interview was freely translated by myself.
GetHo’ : How did the Belgians do ? How bout the level of play ?
"I was under the impression that the level had changed a little. This was probably caused by the fact that a lot juniors from previous EYUC’s were too old to still play in the U20 division.
As far as the Belgians go, we had a great level for such a young team. Our average age was 17 and that’s quite amazing in the Under20 division where 2 or 3 more years of experience can change a lot.
In the end we got to the 8th place out of 13 and without any preparation and only having 14 players this was quite an accomplishment ! We also had a few players who played for the national team for the very first time and with a little more preparation who knows what will be possible in the next few years !"
GetHo’ : Any teams you really looked forward to playing ? Or looked up to ?
"Germany was really the best team at the EYUC. They strolled through the tournament without getting any real opposition…
Great Britain was also pretty impressive, but very unlike the other EYUC’s I’ve seen them play. They didn’t seem as unbeatable as other times and it seemed like they had a whole new team without any real superstarts except for maybe one or two real exceptional players.. They usually have a whole team of exceptionally talented youngsters.
To me Austria was the revelation of the year !
In Southampton they lost every game with scores like 15-2 and 15-3 and now they played finals against Germany !
They also played with a really high spirit and the combination of skills and spirit really made them my favourites.
Another team that looked really strong was Italy , they had a lot of players who already played in the Italian Open team from teams like Cota Rica and CUS Bologna.
In my opinion our team ended at a nice ranking after teams like these…"
GetHo’ : What was your general impression of the Championship ?
"Unfortunately we didn’t have enough players in our 14man squad. We always had somebody who had to miss a game due to an injury or some aches and pains... In the end we only had about 10 players left and that was far from enough.
Next year we’ll definitely will bring 20 players !
What made this EYUC stand out from others was that there were only 13 teams in the Under20 division… I believe this could be way more.
Next to that it was really cool to stay,play and walk around in an Olympic village ! Even the finals were played in the big stadium !
It also seemed that the level was a little lower than other years.."
GetHo’ : Any other special events during the week ?
"When one of our coaches Olivier (Mooncatchers) had his birthday and when the Germans started speeching during the ceremony after their convincing win they got the whole crowd singing happy birthday for him. That was pretty amazing !"
GetHo’ : Anything else to add ?
"I’ve already played 6 European Championships and I believe that Spirit of the Game is really Belgium’s highlight ! Playing like we are supposed to without taking advantage of the rules.
I also believe we have so much potential with the Belgian junior teams but when we compare ourselves to teams who really come prepared and take everything really serious, that we aren’t really doing a great job. We could do much more if we had a little more practices in our small country. We heard that the Germand youngsters had 2 practices a month and that’s really something to learn from. Next to that it’s also massively important to be in good shape to be able to make that extra cut or do that extra run and keep up with your man. I think that with enough players and the right amount of preparation Belgium will be able to (“break some pots”) show some amazing stuff.
I get to play with Under20 one more year so it would be super if we could accomplish some nice things with a superteam next year !!"
woensdag 17 augustus 2011
Random Picture - Belgian Open SPIRIT Winners at EUC2011
Check out this picture by JOSE PIRES of the Belgian Open team winning the SPIRIT of the GAME award at European Ultimate Championships 2011 in Maribor, Slovenia.
One for the history books !
Really proud of this bunch of youngsters.
Click picture for a bigger view or download.
Random Picture - French Ladies @ WCBU
Check out this picture by Mathie Chessel with the French ladies team preparing for the World Championship of Beach Ultimate 2011.
Looks like these 'CHUPA' ladies (as their team will be called) are gonna look even better than ever !
WCBU in 4 days, looking forward !
More updates to come.
PS If you wanna see some more team pictures of the upcoming WCBU , make sure to check out this facebook page : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Get-Horizontal/249162602651#!/media/albums/?id=241718072535032
dinsdag 16 augustus 2011
Video - Plan B Representing Belgium @ Villa Vanthilt
Okay, we've been on national television.
Only in Dutch, but still a nice show to see a cosy interview with Ine and myself, representing Plan B (Belgian National Mixed Team) and some nice throws on the market square of Roeselare during the VILLA VANTHILT show :
Big thanks to Wouter S & Nele for uploading this footage !
A huge thank you to the team members who came out for some throwing, not always as much in the picture as we were but still doing some real nice stuff.
It's always great to see Ultimate get some exposure or air-time on national television, and it's a good thing that we get to promote the sport like this.
Next to the video there are also a bunch of nice pictures by Wouter Struyf (Plan B/Schijnwerpers) who is a quite amazing photographer ! Check out the pics below (#hoe wij Villa Vanthilt beleefden)
Only in Dutch, but still a nice show to see a cosy interview with Ine and myself, representing Plan B (Belgian National Mixed Team) and some nice throws on the market square of Roeselare during the VILLA VANTHILT show :
Big thanks to Wouter S & Nele for uploading this footage !
A huge thank you to the team members who came out for some throwing, not always as much in the picture as we were but still doing some real nice stuff.
It's always great to see Ultimate get some exposure or air-time on national television, and it's a good thing that we get to promote the sport like this.
Next to the video there are also a bunch of nice pictures by Wouter Struyf (Plan B/Schijnwerpers) who is a quite amazing photographer ! Check out the pics below (#hoe wij Villa Vanthilt beleefden)
WCBU - Schedule Update - Countdown 5 Days !
A short post just to let you know the schedule for the World Beach Ultimate Championships has slightly been updated.
Check out the final version by clicking this link : http://www.beachultimate.org/blog/WCBU2011-schedule-FINAL.pdf
More posts to come tonight and tomorrow, a lot of News to be posted ! :)
Keep on reading !
Check out the final version by clicking this link : http://www.beachultimate.org/blog/WCBU2011-schedule-FINAL.pdf
More posts to come tonight and tomorrow, a lot of News to be posted ! :)
Keep on reading !
vrijdag 12 augustus 2011
EUC 2011 Report - BLOCKSTACK TV
Takes a while to watch, but sure as hell beats some crappy soapseries on your regular tv !
Check out the nice report made by the Blockstack crew on the past European Ultimate Championships in Maribor,Slovenia.
Give them some heads up for the massive amount of work they put into making these shows.
Keep up the good work !
Belgian Juniors @ European Youth Ultimate Championships
Back when I started playing Ultimate, the best event I could play at was something like a belgian indoor championship day with the "African Killer Beezzz".
Bigger championships may have been around for ever , but as a young player it was pretty difficult getting at one of those championships..
Now these youngsters get to play European Ultimate Championships at the age of about 16
(players for Junior division must be born in '92 or later and for Under 17 division '95 or later)
Seems like these kids will be bangin with experienc in just a few years now.
After seeing the EYUC DVD "A brave generation" I can only imagine the level at this year's European Youth Ultimate Championships.
Our very own belgian team, Under20 lead by Eric and Ollie, seems to be doing more than okay, playing great games with scores like these :
Belgium - Russia 13 - 5
Belgium - Ireland 17 - 11 Belgium - Great Britain 10 - 16
Italy - Belgium 17 - 9
Czech Republic - Belgium 17 - 7
Italy - Belgium 17 - 9
Czech Republic - Belgium 17 - 7
Picture by Tom's father Ludo (merci!!)
And for those of you who want to read some post-game-writings by coach Eric Delafortrie (founder of Funkadlic Disc Band - pre Jetset team!) here they are :
" ==> Day 2:
Waw, what a start, First game at 9AM, breakfast at 7h15...quit a challenge for some of our players...
Game 1: Belgium – Russia (9am):
Good start from our side, Quickly leading by 3 points, not realy giving in and keeping our advantage.
Most Russian players are bigger, faster, are with more, but our guys have (the most of them) quit some years of experience already and have always been competing in the regular BE competition, and that shows.
Calm, very composed plays, no issues at all in playing against the Russian Zone defense, doesn’t seem to impress them at all.
2 times 45 minutes of play and winning with 13-5, clear victor (not so simple as the score might suggest though).
After lunch (great Pollish sausage with bread, vegetables, a little Nap, and some drills on Zone defense and offense against zone defense, we are of for our 2nd game:
Game 2: Belgium Ireland (17pm):
Oepffff...in not time Ireland leads by 3-0, 4-1....but after our guys got their focus back we saw a belgian team fighting back and slowly but surely doing great defenses and scoring subsequently...and the the wind picked up, ahh Ireland does not like to play against a zone leading to a half time score of 9-8 for Belgium. Ireland is basically scoring all their point with deep passes...
A good zone defense in second half (when ireland is against wind) and a changed Force Middle defense in second half (when ireland is with wind) allows us to make quit some turnovers and score most of them....
Our Play is not that good, a bit chaotic but we also seem to have found our deep passes (Hucks) which will allow us over the game to score some 6 points.
In the second half Belgium Scored 8 points, Ireland 3, so final result is Belgium 17, Ireland 11...and another win, great way to start the tournament.
I do think after having seen Italy, Great Britain and Czechoslowakia, that we might have played the easier teams in our pool.
On Day 3 we only have 1 game, against Great Britain, surely not a game to expect too much, but certainly will learn us how strong we really are.
Well that is it for now, getting ready, breakfast, warm-up and then...Probably our toughest game at EYUC 2011 against Great Britain!
==> Day 3:
Today we thought was going to learn us the real strength of our team...a game against GB juniors, the defending champions.
Our team was good spirited, relaxed, hey...othing to Loose in this game.
So we started off really well, leading by a 2-0 and a bit later by 4-2, (don’t believe the gameplay report, is not accurate)
GB had quit some issues with our newly introduced Horizontal stack which really worked out well, the guys are smart and executed to near perfection the Horizontal Stack play.
But then, GB is with 24 players, we are with 13 left, (Jules from Gentle is slightly Injured (ankle twist) so we decided to have him rest for today) and as the game prgresses we start feeling that a bit, Half time score GB:9, Belgium:6
After Half time we came back to 9-7, even had a point for 9-8 , just a few meters away from the end-zone, but didn’t score, so GB 10, BE 7, then GB really made use of their number advantage, our guys getting a bit tired, leading to a 16-10 score for GB.
But, what a game, really well played, if we would have had the numbers (3 or 4 guys more) i think we would have been creating the first Upset of the tournament by beating GB, but we didn’t...
Now the really important games are tomorrow,
First against Italy at 11am, then against Czech at 17 pm, these will determine who we play against n the layoff as of tomorrow, winning 1 means we avoir Germany and would possibly have France or Austria as opponents in the quarter finals (if all goes well and we don’t get serious beatings...otherwise we will play for places 9-12)
Well that is it for now, getting ready, warm-up and then...hoepfully win them, or at least 1!
==> Day 4:
Back with 14 players today, Jules has been taped in, no pain, and can play, that is the good news, for the rest, tough tough games for us and fatigue really starts showing. But we made it to the quarter finals.
Italy – Belgium: 17 –9, It took our guys a while to get rolling again, which led to a 9-4 lead for Italy at Half time, Second half was much better, (8-5 for italy) leading to a 17-9 end score. This was after all a good game from Belgium, definitely the numbers play against us, 14 players is tough, especially since the other teams all have 20 –25 players on their team.
Our Game against Chezh we should forget as soon as possible, i think we dropped 1 out of 3 passes, we can’t win if we we don’t keep the disc going of course. I am not going to g in any detail here, end score 17-7.
Today (Day 5) we play the quarter finals , so this is GOOD, the bad news is it is against Germany, they have played 6 games until now, and only had 30 goals against them, so this will be tough, near impossible, if we win we will play the semifinal and will be competing for places 1-4, if we loose the game we will be competing for places 5-8
Well that is it for now, getting ready, warm-up and then...!
Read summary 5 tomorrow!"
Keep on reading, and definitely support your national juniors, they are the future of our game and they are the ones who will be beating you in just a few years now (or will be joining you to beat others,haha)
Let's go Belgium !
woensdag 10 augustus 2011
WCBU Schedule Is Out !
Check out the final schedule of the Worlds Beach Ultimate Championships starting in about a week and a half in Italy !
http://www.beachultimate.org/blog/WCBU2011-schedule-FINAL.pdfMore posts coming soon, sick at home and really low energy level for now.
Keep on reading !
vrijdag 5 augustus 2011
EUC Update - Final Day + Livestream on Saturday !
So,
for most of the players the championship is over.
Only 3 more finals to check out tomorrow and we are all enjoying our bronze medal really hard.
Not that we have seen it yet, but the vibe is definitely here and there are only smiling faces.
The small final for the 3rd place was another real intense battle where Plan B had to give it their all to hold off the French.
The 3-3 opening score was quickly converted into a 9-4 for Belgium at halftime.
In the second half things got a little intense but as we are good buddies with the frenchies everything was worked out correctly and Plan B kept on scoring for a 14-9 lead in a game until 16.
Just when it seemed like we could no longer give it away, the french started putting on some more pressure and we started making some errors. After France Mixed came back for a 15-13 score we were finally able to end the game after a quite stressing travel call just in front of the endzone but after everybody got a little too excited Lode still managed to throw a blady sidearm for the win to PJ.
Game over for the French, who may have been a little tired after their real intense battle against the Russians (who made a massive comeback) but still gave us a perfect battle in the end, and the road to glory for Plan B, winning the first ever medal at a European Championship (except for the belgian juniors last year !).
Really excited to see that a team with so many potential made it to this medal. I think we deserve it, even though we had some hard battles against several teams (universe point win over the Austrians, loss from Germany, ass-whooping by GB) but in the end all is well and we can be very proud.
Great Britain was one size too big for us, and since they put on massive pressure from point one in the halftime we started making some mistakes. The Brits punished each and every one mistake and we simply didn't score the points we needed to. Not to say that it was a bad game for us, we all just feel we didn't give it the best we had. GB did say after the game that this was one of the hardest games of the week. The Frenchies scored 10 points on them, we even did less.
In the Open Division our very own Belgian Open took the 16th place out 17 teams with a very young team full of potential, leaving only the Spanish behind them.
The boys really don't have to be disappointed as they gave a lot of teams a very hard battle.
I'm really excited about seeing where this bunch of guys will end up at for example the EUC in 2015 :)
For the rest of the Open Division I'm a bit disappointed that Switzerland didn't make it into the finals, but I'm pretty sure that Sweden and Great Britain will give us a game to never forget.
Cool thing is: tomorrow (yes, on saturday!) you get to follow a LIVESTREAM showing of all the finals in all 3 divisions (open, women, mixed) from your lazy chair behind your computer. We will be looking from the sideline and make sure to look out for some belgian flags !
Here's the direct link to the livestream which are happening at these times :
9.50 Mixed Final
11.50 Womens Final
13.50 Open Final !
http://www.strizna.cz/program-vysilani.aspx
PS If these livestreams don't work, do check out http://www.euc2011.com/ because there's a videobox below on the homepage.
for most of the players the championship is over.
Only 3 more finals to check out tomorrow and we are all enjoying our bronze medal really hard.
Not that we have seen it yet, but the vibe is definitely here and there are only smiling faces.
The small final for the 3rd place was another real intense battle where Plan B had to give it their all to hold off the French.
The 3-3 opening score was quickly converted into a 9-4 for Belgium at halftime.
In the second half things got a little intense but as we are good buddies with the frenchies everything was worked out correctly and Plan B kept on scoring for a 14-9 lead in a game until 16.
Just when it seemed like we could no longer give it away, the french started putting on some more pressure and we started making some errors. After France Mixed came back for a 15-13 score we were finally able to end the game after a quite stressing travel call just in front of the endzone but after everybody got a little too excited Lode still managed to throw a blady sidearm for the win to PJ.
Game over for the French, who may have been a little tired after their real intense battle against the Russians (who made a massive comeback) but still gave us a perfect battle in the end, and the road to glory for Plan B, winning the first ever medal at a European Championship (except for the belgian juniors last year !).
Really excited to see that a team with so many potential made it to this medal. I think we deserve it, even though we had some hard battles against several teams (universe point win over the Austrians, loss from Germany, ass-whooping by GB) but in the end all is well and we can be very proud.
Great Britain was one size too big for us, and since they put on massive pressure from point one in the halftime we started making some mistakes. The Brits punished each and every one mistake and we simply didn't score the points we needed to. Not to say that it was a bad game for us, we all just feel we didn't give it the best we had. GB did say after the game that this was one of the hardest games of the week. The Frenchies scored 10 points on them, we even did less.
In the Open Division our very own Belgian Open took the 16th place out 17 teams with a very young team full of potential, leaving only the Spanish behind them.
The boys really don't have to be disappointed as they gave a lot of teams a very hard battle.
I'm really excited about seeing where this bunch of guys will end up at for example the EUC in 2015 :)
For the rest of the Open Division I'm a bit disappointed that Switzerland didn't make it into the finals, but I'm pretty sure that Sweden and Great Britain will give us a game to never forget.
In the women's division Germany will face GB in the final, and the small final is between Finland and Italy (might already have been played but I have no results)
Here's the direct link to the livestream which are happening at these times :
9.50 Mixed Final
11.50 Womens Final
13.50 Open Final !
http://www.strizna.cz/program-vysilani.aspx
PS If these livestreams don't work, do check out http://www.euc2011.com/ because there's a videobox below on the homepage.
EUC Update - BELGIAN MIXED PLAN B WINS BRONZE !!!
Click picture for bigger size !
Plan B won the bronze medal !!!
So proud of my team !
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah !!!
EUC - Belgian Outfits - This Is How We Do It !
Check out the Belgian style at EUC 2011 !
Looking good !
"NEVER GIVE UP" !
EUC Update - SEMI FINAL DAY !
BELGIUM vs Great Britain
France vs Russia
OPEN DIVISION :
Sweden vs Switzerland
Germany vs Great Britain
WOMEN's DIVISION :
Germany vs Finland
Great Britain vs Italy
MASTERS DIVISION :
Great Britain won gold over Finland with a 17-10 victory in a rainy game yesterday.
(Really wondering how the guy with the apparently huge injury is doing..)
Seems like today will be a day with some great Ultimate.
Every single game to be played is going to be a battle to remember.
These European Championships have proved to be very exciting and the end is coming near.
Now it's time to shine and see who had the bests preparation to still keep on going after already 5 full days of Ultimate.
It's gonna go hard and you better believe Plan B is also gonna play hard.
One of the good things is that we won't have too much pressure against GB, because they should be the better team on paper. I'm quite confident we can beat them but it's gonna take our A-game. If we don't we will fight for bronze, but one thing I'm pretty sure of : we won't go down without a fight.
Game time, game day, and time to shine.
I'm so excited about this day and I'm sure many other people are too.
It's a big day for Belgium and a big day for all of the teams I wrote up there in the beginning of this post.
For some it sounds like a preparation for the WUGC in Japan next year (freshly announced by the WFDF yesterday), for others it's the chance of their lifetime !
In the Open division there have already been some upsets where GB already lost from France (amazing battle by the way !) but I belive the best 4 teams made it to the top. I'm kind of cheering for Switzerland but mostly wanting some huge bigtime Ultimate during the semifinals and finals.
EUC, even though I'm feeling a little tired after a week of playing and sleeping on an inflatable matress which doesn't inflate anymore, I love it.
It's hard but so nice and Plan B is making it better and better each and every minute I see this team together.
Keep on reading !
donderdag 4 augustus 2011
EUC Update IX - PLAN B in SEMI FINALS !
Quick update just to tell you that Plan B is in the semifinal of the European Ultimate Championships in Maribor, Slovenia after beating Austria in the quarter final on universe point with 16-15 !!!
It was an amazing , really intense game with a few too much calls and lots of nervous reactions, but I will tell you more about it after taking some time off while watching the Open quarter finals.
Keep on reading !
It was an amazing , really intense game with a few too much calls and lots of nervous reactions, but I will tell you more about it after taking some time off while watching the Open quarter finals.
Keep on reading !
woensdag 3 augustus 2011
EUC Update VIII - Belgian Open Wins ! Plan B In Quarter Finals !
For the first time this week the Belgian Open managed to win a game, and how !
They played in the boiling heat against a Spain who's used to temperatures like this but didn't manage to find their game.
Bigtime diving D's by the whole belgian open team, but mainly Robainz and Raf forced the Spanish to try crazy stuff and make errors the whole time. The belgians kept on putting massive pressure and showed the espagnola's that they were a bunch of fired up,enthousiastic,talented and wicked players.
Even youngster Jens from Slijpschijven had his first two scores of the week, one of them after skying 2 Spaniards for a big defense and then a double happiness score.
All of the boys were really excited and the idea of getting a beer after their win fired them up to end the game at 17-8. Joren lead his troops well and all of the boys shined ! A lot of belgian smiles on the pitch !
In mixed division Plan B made it to the quarter finals but the fairytale turned out different than expected.
A good warmup saw us all being ready to face Ze Germans under a boiling hot Slovenian sun. The Germans came out overexcited and willing to get revenge for their G-Spot loss and took a quick lead in the game scoring 3-1.
We quickly responded and took halftime by getting all fired up and score 5-7 !
During our comeback we unfortunately suffered a big injury by Wouter Struyf who did a greatest (!!) and landed on his shoulder, during which he broke his collar bone. The comeback was also a dedication to Wouter who knew his championship and maybe so much more is over...
After halftime we had another not-so-great moment and ended up getting whipped to 13-9.
We gave them a little comeback till 13-11 but some uncharacteristic fouls and mostly some unforced throw-aways later the game ended in a disappointing 15-12 defeat.
Ending up 2nd in our poule we still made it to the quarter finals of the European Ultimate Championships.
Which means Plan B is playing top 8 in Europe and we should all be quite proud of this.
Quarter finals tomorrow against Austria and we're all looking forward to it.
Getting a good night's rest is what we're gonna do and you better believe we're gonna be ready !
Keep on reading and showing support, we love all the comments below, the facebook comments, the emails, the text messages, the phonecalls and your telepathic thoughts !
Let's go Belgium !
( PS : Belgian Open heeft gewonnen; EN ZE WETEN HET ! )
PS2 more pics coming ! need some relaxing time after all these heavy game times :)
Bigtime diving D's by the whole belgian open team, but mainly Robainz and Raf forced the Spanish to try crazy stuff and make errors the whole time. The belgians kept on putting massive pressure and showed the espagnola's that they were a bunch of fired up,enthousiastic,talented and wicked players.
Even youngster Jens from Slijpschijven had his first two scores of the week, one of them after skying 2 Spaniards for a big defense and then a double happiness score.
All of the boys were really excited and the idea of getting a beer after their win fired them up to end the game at 17-8. Joren lead his troops well and all of the boys shined ! A lot of belgian smiles on the pitch !
In mixed division Plan B made it to the quarter finals but the fairytale turned out different than expected.
A good warmup saw us all being ready to face Ze Germans under a boiling hot Slovenian sun. The Germans came out overexcited and willing to get revenge for their G-Spot loss and took a quick lead in the game scoring 3-1.
We quickly responded and took halftime by getting all fired up and score 5-7 !
During our comeback we unfortunately suffered a big injury by Wouter Struyf who did a greatest (!!) and landed on his shoulder, during which he broke his collar bone. The comeback was also a dedication to Wouter who knew his championship and maybe so much more is over...
After halftime we had another not-so-great moment and ended up getting whipped to 13-9.
We gave them a little comeback till 13-11 but some uncharacteristic fouls and mostly some unforced throw-aways later the game ended in a disappointing 15-12 defeat.
Ending up 2nd in our poule we still made it to the quarter finals of the European Ultimate Championships.
Which means Plan B is playing top 8 in Europe and we should all be quite proud of this.
Quarter finals tomorrow against Austria and we're all looking forward to it.
Getting a good night's rest is what we're gonna do and you better believe we're gonna be ready !
Keep on reading and showing support, we love all the comments below, the facebook comments, the emails, the text messages, the phonecalls and your telepathic thoughts !
Let's go Belgium !
( PS : Belgian Open heeft gewonnen; EN ZE WETEN HET ! )
PS2 more pics coming ! need some relaxing time after all these heavy game times :)
EUC Update VII - Plan B : Test Day !!
Yesterday Plan B, the Belgian National MixedTeam, had what seemed to be our worst game yet.
We did win against Slovakia but it was a close call in the end, making it 17-14 after a very nervous, really hard fought game with a little too many calls and fouls.
At halftime we were up 8-7 but we had do something to stop their hucking game, since they had 2 really strong players making all the plays (big catches, good cuts, deep hucks,..) and our zone defense proved to be really effective. We got a break and pushed it up until 15-10.
After that the Slovakians kept on coming back and we had some troubles finding our best game but did manage to end the game at 17-14 after a very nervous last half with, as I said before, too many calls and fouls and travels and whatever...
We were kind of glad this game was finished because it was mentally really intense.
After that we didn't get a too long break since the previous game lasted way over time and we had to get some lunch soon to power up the batteries.
At 13.30 we started playing the Polish under a burning hot sun which caused us to not play as intense as we're used to.
We started trading points but then took halftime at 8-6 and then never gave our lead away ending the game at 17-12. Another hardfought game for the win.
Plan B on fire , but the real test still had to come.
As I am writing this we are all getting mentally prepared for the battle against Ze Germans, who we have to play in a small 2 hours.
They also have won all their games, won Windmill Windup, and are also battling for a top3 spot.
We beat them with one point at G-Spot and believe we can do so again but it's gonna take our best game.
Whoever wins this game is probably going to avoid Great Britain in the semifinals so this seems like a must-win game.
After having played so many nice games, this is the real game time, the first big test at the European Ultimate Championships for this lovely team Plan B.
We will play until we drop down, and as our shirts say we will never give up.
Even if we lose we will be more pumped to go for the top3 medal but as you know every game still has to be played.
I have lots of confidence in this team and I will do my very best as will all my teammates.
WHAT TIME IS IT ?
GAME TIME !!!!
We did win against Slovakia but it was a close call in the end, making it 17-14 after a very nervous, really hard fought game with a little too many calls and fouls.
At halftime we were up 8-7 but we had do something to stop their hucking game, since they had 2 really strong players making all the plays (big catches, good cuts, deep hucks,..) and our zone defense proved to be really effective. We got a break and pushed it up until 15-10.
After that the Slovakians kept on coming back and we had some troubles finding our best game but did manage to end the game at 17-14 after a very nervous last half with, as I said before, too many calls and fouls and travels and whatever...
We were kind of glad this game was finished because it was mentally really intense.
After that we didn't get a too long break since the previous game lasted way over time and we had to get some lunch soon to power up the batteries.
At 13.30 we started playing the Polish under a burning hot sun which caused us to not play as intense as we're used to.
We started trading points but then took halftime at 8-6 and then never gave our lead away ending the game at 17-12. Another hardfought game for the win.
Plan B on fire , but the real test still had to come.
As I am writing this we are all getting mentally prepared for the battle against Ze Germans, who we have to play in a small 2 hours.
They also have won all their games, won Windmill Windup, and are also battling for a top3 spot.
We beat them with one point at G-Spot and believe we can do so again but it's gonna take our best game.
Whoever wins this game is probably going to avoid Great Britain in the semifinals so this seems like a must-win game.
After having played so many nice games, this is the real game time, the first big test at the European Ultimate Championships for this lovely team Plan B.
We will play until we drop down, and as our shirts say we will never give up.
Even if we lose we will be more pumped to go for the top3 medal but as you know every game still has to be played.
I have lots of confidence in this team and I will do my very best as will all my teammates.
WHAT TIME IS IT ?
GAME TIME !!!!
EUC Update VI - Belgian Open Gameplay
After the picture here's the gameplay of the Belgian Open team so far :
==> Belgian Open vs Ireland (Sunday morning) : 9-17
The Irish put up massive pressure so our belgian youngsters quickly got down 1-5.
The Belgian Open unfortunately started realising that they didn't have enough practice for this EUC to blindly find eachother on the field. They all have great skills and so they were able to give the Irish somewhat of a game making it 5-9 for the halftime.
That halftime took a little too long for the belgians and the concentration was a little off.
Robainz did lay out completely horizontal for a big pancake catch but unfortunately dropped the disc during his landing.
The Irish kept on putting loads of pressure, since we all knew that have been training like beasts ever since last year and even last EUC in 2007.
I do believe the Irish are the "next-best-thing" in Europe, showing great dedication and great preparation.
The boys in green took the 8-13 score to a 9-17 for the win.
Quote by the belgians : "They were simply too strong..."
==>Belgian Open vs Italy (Monday morning) : 5-17
The Italians started off with an impressive zone putting our boys down an amazing 0-10 !
A bit intimidated by the Italian stallions and their hard zone defense the belgians simply didn't find their game.With a lot of stress Boris finally managed to put a disc in the endzone for the first belgian score of the game by Broeske.
After halftime it got a little better and both teams traded some points while Italy released some pressure.
Italia kept on playing zone D and showed some beautiful hucks,unstoppable for the belgians (while captain Davide just lead his troops from the sideline in the second half.)
Italia took the game making it 5-17...
The belgian Open continued it search for a victory but knew no easier opponents were coming with GB next..
==>Belgian Open vs Great Britain (Monday afternoon) : 8-17
The belgians started out really enthousiastic as they knew they didn't have anything to lose against the reigning European champions Great Britain.
They started out playing without any pressure and the intention to just stay in the game for as long as possible.
GB played really efficient and the belgians stopped their hucking game by putting up a smart zone defense.
The belgians even forced the Brits to get a little nervous but their quality still showed and the belgians had no solution to their tight defense and efficient offense.
GB never got in trouble even though the belgians managed to score some points.
Endscore of the game : 8-17.
I might say I'm quite proud of the Belgian Open for still giving them such a hard game.
Funny thing was the Brits tried to throw an upside over Raf, who really isn't that tall, and he managed to some kind of a backwards layout D on it.
After the game Rhino himself (Rien) was voted MVP after skying a Brit bigger than him twice !
==> Belgian Open vs Netherlands (Tuesday morning) : 16-17
One word : thriller !
The battle of the lowlands was a must-win game for the belgians as they knew this was the team to beat.
After a very hard beginning the belgians were up 7-5 with Raf also doing an amazing diving grab D just in front of the endzone, one meter short for the callahan score.
Talking about which, it was a callahan that gave the Dutch their comeback with 3 points in a row to make it 7-8 for the dutchies at halftime.
After halftime both teams started trading points up untill 12-12 when the Dutch made a very spirited call by overruling one of their own team player's calls by calling a disc down.
The game went on with both teams scoring nice points up until 16-16 where a universe point would decide the end of the game.
The belgians started out on defense in the double game point but the Dutchies quickly scored by throwing a full-field huck just before the endzone and scored with a little give and go pass.
The belgians knew they gave it all but our youngsters were all very disappointed by the outcome of this game.
I'm pretty sure games like these will be part of the motivation to keep up the practice with the Belgian Open team to definitely get a revenge sometime soon !
==> Belgian Open vs Israël (Tuesday afternoon) : 11-16
The belgians kind of missed the start of the game by getting down 1-5 by lacking some concentration and enthousiasm..
After a while the whole belgian mixed team arrived at the field for the first game we could see of the belgians in the whole week and the enthousiasm started flowing in this highly spirited game.
The belgians found their game and made a comeback till 8-11
The mixed team kept on shouting and runnign around the field with belgian flags and the boys made some nice scores (including Jasper aka "Iron Claw" who caught 2 amazing high passes in the endzone) to make it 10-12d
After a truly amazing diving D by Robainz (in the endzone to prevent an Israelic score) the Israelites managed to supervette diving d van robainzget a too easy callahan after nobody was cutting since Jasper just left the field with an injury call due to a bug in his eye.
The confusion on the middlefield caused this game to end at 11-16.
Conclusion of the Belgian Open :
They are all doing really well, but are lacking some experience to make it through the big games.
Their average age is 22,9 years old ! Rien,Arent and Mikael are the only ones pulling up the age average.
Eeven though most of them are really young the team is starting to find it's game.
The Brits even told them that if they are all so young they have a bright and shiny future ahead !
I couldn't agree more with that.
There's a good atmosphere in the team and I'm pretty sure that each and every one of them will fight until they drop for that first victory at EUC.
Keep checking their results, scores and stats online at http://euc2011.ultiorganizer.net/?view=frontpage
==> Belgian Open vs Ireland (Sunday morning) : 9-17
The Irish put up massive pressure so our belgian youngsters quickly got down 1-5.
The Belgian Open unfortunately started realising that they didn't have enough practice for this EUC to blindly find eachother on the field. They all have great skills and so they were able to give the Irish somewhat of a game making it 5-9 for the halftime.
That halftime took a little too long for the belgians and the concentration was a little off.
Robainz did lay out completely horizontal for a big pancake catch but unfortunately dropped the disc during his landing.
The Irish kept on putting loads of pressure, since we all knew that have been training like beasts ever since last year and even last EUC in 2007.
I do believe the Irish are the "next-best-thing" in Europe, showing great dedication and great preparation.
The boys in green took the 8-13 score to a 9-17 for the win.
Quote by the belgians : "They were simply too strong..."
==>Belgian Open vs Italy (Monday morning) : 5-17
The Italians started off with an impressive zone putting our boys down an amazing 0-10 !
A bit intimidated by the Italian stallions and their hard zone defense the belgians simply didn't find their game.With a lot of stress Boris finally managed to put a disc in the endzone for the first belgian score of the game by Broeske.
After halftime it got a little better and both teams traded some points while Italy released some pressure.
Italia kept on playing zone D and showed some beautiful hucks,unstoppable for the belgians (while captain Davide just lead his troops from the sideline in the second half.)
Italia took the game making it 5-17...
The belgian Open continued it search for a victory but knew no easier opponents were coming with GB next..
==>Belgian Open vs Great Britain (Monday afternoon) : 8-17
The belgians started out really enthousiastic as they knew they didn't have anything to lose against the reigning European champions Great Britain.
They started out playing without any pressure and the intention to just stay in the game for as long as possible.
GB played really efficient and the belgians stopped their hucking game by putting up a smart zone defense.
The belgians even forced the Brits to get a little nervous but their quality still showed and the belgians had no solution to their tight defense and efficient offense.
GB never got in trouble even though the belgians managed to score some points.
Endscore of the game : 8-17.
I might say I'm quite proud of the Belgian Open for still giving them such a hard game.
Funny thing was the Brits tried to throw an upside over Raf, who really isn't that tall, and he managed to some kind of a backwards layout D on it.
After the game Rhino himself (Rien) was voted MVP after skying a Brit bigger than him twice !
==> Belgian Open vs Netherlands (Tuesday morning) : 16-17
One word : thriller !
The battle of the lowlands was a must-win game for the belgians as they knew this was the team to beat.
After a very hard beginning the belgians were up 7-5 with Raf also doing an amazing diving grab D just in front of the endzone, one meter short for the callahan score.
Talking about which, it was a callahan that gave the Dutch their comeback with 3 points in a row to make it 7-8 for the dutchies at halftime.
After halftime both teams started trading points up untill 12-12 when the Dutch made a very spirited call by overruling one of their own team player's calls by calling a disc down.
The game went on with both teams scoring nice points up until 16-16 where a universe point would decide the end of the game.
The belgians started out on defense in the double game point but the Dutchies quickly scored by throwing a full-field huck just before the endzone and scored with a little give and go pass.
The belgians knew they gave it all but our youngsters were all very disappointed by the outcome of this game.
I'm pretty sure games like these will be part of the motivation to keep up the practice with the Belgian Open team to definitely get a revenge sometime soon !
==> Belgian Open vs Israël (Tuesday afternoon) : 11-16
The belgians kind of missed the start of the game by getting down 1-5 by lacking some concentration and enthousiasm..
After a while the whole belgian mixed team arrived at the field for the first game we could see of the belgians in the whole week and the enthousiasm started flowing in this highly spirited game.
The belgians found their game and made a comeback till 8-11
The mixed team kept on shouting and runnign around the field with belgian flags and the boys made some nice scores (including Jasper aka "Iron Claw" who caught 2 amazing high passes in the endzone) to make it 10-12d
After a truly amazing diving D by Robainz (in the endzone to prevent an Israelic score) the Israelites managed to supervette diving d van robainzget a too easy callahan after nobody was cutting since Jasper just left the field with an injury call due to a bug in his eye.
The confusion on the middlefield caused this game to end at 11-16.
Conclusion of the Belgian Open :
They are all doing really well, but are lacking some experience to make it through the big games.
Their average age is 22,9 years old ! Rien,Arent and Mikael are the only ones pulling up the age average.
Eeven though most of them are really young the team is starting to find it's game.
The Brits even told them that if they are all so young they have a bright and shiny future ahead !
I couldn't agree more with that.
There's a good atmosphere in the team and I'm pretty sure that each and every one of them will fight until they drop for that first victory at EUC.
Keep checking their results, scores and stats online at http://euc2011.ultiorganizer.net/?view=frontpage
maandag 1 augustus 2011
EUC Update V - FUNNY TACTICS VIDEO of Plan B Zone Defense
Check out this funny tactics video of the Plan B zone defense.
Starring Hakke en Vondynamite, 2 of our 3 tactical coaches.
Showcase Game - Swiss vs Finland OPEN
Today's showcase game between Switzerland Open and Finland Open is over : 17-10.
Could it be the year of the confirmation of the Swiss after last year's 'Rise of the Swiss' at EUCF ?
I believe so; and I would love to see them play finals against GB Open, but that's a long way to go from here :)
Keep on reading !
Could it be the year of the confirmation of the Swiss after last year's 'Rise of the Swiss' at EUCF ?
Keep on reading !
EUC Update IV - Scoreboard in Mixed Pool
Check out the scoreboard in our Mixed Pool.
3 of top 5 players are Plan B members ! Looking good !
More stats and scores right here : http://euc2011.ultiorganizer.net/?view=poolstatus&Pool=1154
EUC Update III - Belgian Mixed on Tuesday - Gameplay
Another great day where Plan B, the belgian Mixed team, are confirming the abilities with two nice victories over Switzerland and Ireland.
First game at 9 in the morning got us getting up at 6.30 in the morning to have another breakfast of champions. Even though we all had a good night's rest this still was pretty early to get up, but the focus in the entire team was there from the very first minute.
We knew in advance that Switzerland should be a team we could beat without really getting in trouble, but as you know every game still needs to be played. Although the Swiss put on a lot of pressure on the handlers, we got a lot of room on the middle of the field and this space qwas quickly used for some early breaks.
The Swiss handlers were looking for some deep scores but didn't really find their targets and so we ended this game with a quite comfortable win of 17-4. Our Swiss friends wished us a lot of luck for the rest of the tournament and said they had loads of confidence in us. We love the confidence given, and hope it can bring us as far as possible in this high level championship.
The next game was one we didn't really know what to expect. Ireland had played some nice games and gave everybody a hard fight. We've seen a lot of hucks from them and we were all pumped up to give them a hard time on the field !
A quite nervous beginning of the game settled the score at 4-4 where Ireland put an amount of pressure on us we weren't really used to. Their amazing #11 woman (Fiona) scored a hell of a lot of points or just put up some great assists and amazing cuts. Our ladies had to go big to hold her of the disc but eventually managed to do so. After changing our defense a few times our super-PJ did a massive defense for a good break making it 4-8. The weather was great and this seemed to be our hardest game so far. The Irish kept on putting lots of pressure but Plan B was finally really on fire and every single player showed it ! Unfortunately Anouk sprained her ankle but Plan B kept on going to make a 15-8. For the next point Kevin decided to test my own fitness level and threw a low , way too far backhand into the endzone for me to sprint like I never did before and lay out for a (sorry if I say so myself) quite spectacular catch in the endzone for the 16-8 score. The game point was scored after Nonkel Hakke did a spectacular layout (full body stretch!) defense in the endzone on a swing, after which Esther and Wouter S scored the point together by catching the disc simultaneously. 17-9 for the win.
Plan B is on fire but the real real challenges still have to come.
Tomorrow we're playing against Slovakia and Poland (we like to call it Oostblok-Tuesday) and on wednesday we'll be playing our biggest rivals for the first place in our poule.
Whoever ends first in our poule will probably avoid the Great Britains in the semi final and that is exactly what we are aiming for.
Next to this gaming it's such a pleasure to be at the European Championships.
This is unlike any tourney I've ever been before (maybe just a little like Worlds in Prague last year, but that was a bit too overcrowded).
You know so many players and it's such a pleasure to see everybody cheer and play and laugh and swim (yes there's swimming pools and the weather is quite good for it) and all where their team jerseys with pride.
I love this atmosphere where the off-time kind of feels like a holiday. Being in Slovenia in between the mountains with so many nice people (especially my lovely teammates) brings out the best in me.
Johnny even managed to shave off my beard after I started joking about it. Funny view. More pics coming :)
Keep on reading and please give us a little shoutout in the comment box below, or on the facebook page to let us know you are supporting us.
I'll be posting a few funny things in some hours as well as some gameplay of the Belgian Open (Belgium vs Ireland 9-17, Belgium vs Great Britain 8-17)
First game at 9 in the morning got us getting up at 6.30 in the morning to have another breakfast of champions. Even though we all had a good night's rest this still was pretty early to get up, but the focus in the entire team was there from the very first minute.
We knew in advance that Switzerland should be a team we could beat without really getting in trouble, but as you know every game still needs to be played. Although the Swiss put on a lot of pressure on the handlers, we got a lot of room on the middle of the field and this space qwas quickly used for some early breaks.
The Swiss handlers were looking for some deep scores but didn't really find their targets and so we ended this game with a quite comfortable win of 17-4. Our Swiss friends wished us a lot of luck for the rest of the tournament and said they had loads of confidence in us. We love the confidence given, and hope it can bring us as far as possible in this high level championship.
The next game was one we didn't really know what to expect. Ireland had played some nice games and gave everybody a hard fight. We've seen a lot of hucks from them and we were all pumped up to give them a hard time on the field !
A quite nervous beginning of the game settled the score at 4-4 where Ireland put an amount of pressure on us we weren't really used to. Their amazing #11 woman (Fiona) scored a hell of a lot of points or just put up some great assists and amazing cuts. Our ladies had to go big to hold her of the disc but eventually managed to do so. After changing our defense a few times our super-PJ did a massive defense for a good break making it 4-8. The weather was great and this seemed to be our hardest game so far. The Irish kept on putting lots of pressure but Plan B was finally really on fire and every single player showed it ! Unfortunately Anouk sprained her ankle but Plan B kept on going to make a 15-8. For the next point Kevin decided to test my own fitness level and threw a low , way too far backhand into the endzone for me to sprint like I never did before and lay out for a (sorry if I say so myself) quite spectacular catch in the endzone for the 16-8 score. The game point was scored after Nonkel Hakke did a spectacular layout (full body stretch!) defense in the endzone on a swing, after which Esther and Wouter S scored the point together by catching the disc simultaneously. 17-9 for the win.
Plan B is on fire but the real real challenges still have to come.
Tomorrow we're playing against Slovakia and Poland (we like to call it Oostblok-Tuesday) and on wednesday we'll be playing our biggest rivals for the first place in our poule.
Whoever ends first in our poule will probably avoid the Great Britains in the semi final and that is exactly what we are aiming for.
Next to this gaming it's such a pleasure to be at the European Championships.
This is unlike any tourney I've ever been before (maybe just a little like Worlds in Prague last year, but that was a bit too overcrowded).
You know so many players and it's such a pleasure to see everybody cheer and play and laugh and swim (yes there's swimming pools and the weather is quite good for it) and all where their team jerseys with pride.
I love this atmosphere where the off-time kind of feels like a holiday. Being in Slovenia in between the mountains with so many nice people (especially my lovely teammates) brings out the best in me.
Johnny even managed to shave off my beard after I started joking about it. Funny view. More pics coming :)
Keep on reading and please give us a little shoutout in the comment box below, or on the facebook page to let us know you are supporting us.
I'll be posting a few funny things in some hours as well as some gameplay of the Belgian Open (Belgium vs Ireland 9-17, Belgium vs Great Britain 8-17)
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