Date: Sat 2nd July 2016
Arthur Terry once again entered the U16 UK Ultimate national
schools championships, which took place at Moor Lane Pavilions in Birmingham on
Sat 2nd July. The team competed under the name of our
traditional team ‘Arctic’ title, in a competition that had the largest number
of school team entries in recent years. Unfortunately, the Arctic squad
had just the minimum number of 5 players turn up to represent the team in the
5-a-side competition, which meant that the boys were required to play every
minute of every game – known in the sport as ‘iron-manning’.
After a great start in the opening match, the team
unfortunately struggled to hold onto the initial lead they had taken.
After conceding a goal during the last play of the game, the result
finished with a very unfortunate 6-7 defeat to ‘RGS Ravens’ (Surrey). Two
further defeats came from two of the top seeded teams in the group, ‘Flux’
(Twycross) and ‘Air Badgers 2’, but a comprehensive 9-3 win in the last game
against team ‘Venom’ was enough for the team to qualify for the ‘second tier
knock-out stage’ shield competition.
The opening game of this 8 team knock-out section saw the ‘Arctic’
boys take on Manchester based side ‘Hydras’. The game was very close;
with the score being level at 4-4 going into the final minute it literally came
down to a next point wins scenario, which the boys managed to secure and
progress through to the semi-finals. The semi-final match was against
‘Air Badgers 3’ and this proved to be a more comfortable contest. The
boys dominated the game and secured their place in the final with a clinical
6-2 win.
A slight fairy-tale ending was presented in the final, when
it emerged that the opponents for this last game would be ‘RGS Ravens’, the
team that the Arctic Boys had narrowly lost to in the opening match of the
tournament - …the chance to avenge this defeat and win the shield provided in
one game! The match proved to be just as close as the first game had
been, which reflected in a tug-of-war type score line throughout the
game. With just 3 mins left to play the score was 5-5, and once again it
looked to be heading towards the scenario of next point wins. Using every
last ounce of energy that was left in the tanks, the boys not only managed to
score the next goal, but also forced a further turnover and to score another
goal to extend the score-line to an unassailable 7-5 lead. After regulation
time had finished, the opponents managed to score the last goal to close the
play and make the official score 7-6. This of course proved only to be a
small consolation against the Arctic team who were absolutely thrilled to
avenge their opening defeat and obtain the shield victory!
The final ranking for the boys was 9th place
overall in the championships – but the effort, determination and teamwork that
all of the 5 boys displayed throughout the day proved to be the real
achievement that they could all take away and be extremely proud of.
Every opponent that they played identified the boys in their ‘top 3 spirit
nominations’, which reflected the tremendous effort that they displayed
throughout the day - Well done lads!!
