Cape Town Ultimate

Next game is Sunday July 18, 2010…

10am: UCT A vs Chilli   // Khayoba vs UCT 1

12pm: UCT A vs Zebru // Khayoba vs Chilli

2pm: Zebru vs UCT 1   // Khayoba vs UCT A

The following winter league games are:

Sunday, August 22

Sunday, September 5

Nationals weekend is finally here!   12 teams will be vying for the top spot in Southern Africa and so who will it be there year?   Chili will be looking to defend their title for the third straight year, but they are sure to get plenty of challenges.   Nationals will be held at Bergvliet High School and starts on Friday night at 18h30 and finishes on Sunday with finals at 14h30.  See here for the full schedule.

Summer league 2010 will finish on 19 April, as defending champions Chilli take on up-and-coming Khayoba for first place and UCT’s Wachati take on Zebru for third place. These will be the last formal matches before SA Nationals are held in Cape Town (30 April – 2 May). The league has featured the birth and growth of several new teams, many windy Monday evenings at Wynberg Sports Club, and lots of zone defense.

Standings:
Khayoba: 7-1
Chilli: 7-1
Wachati: 3-5
Zebru: 3-5
Pancake Stackers: 0-8

Chilli has continued its 2009 dominance, but has found a formidable opponent in Khayoba, a new integrated squad of young players from Khayelitsha, Cape Town suburbs, and overseas. In the tightest match of the year, Chilli opened the season with a 14-13 victory over Khayoba in January. Khayoba returned the favor in March, however, defeating a short-handed Chilli squad 15-9. The teams finished league-play tied for first place with a record of 7 wins and 1 loss. Zebru and Wachati also traded victories over one another, entering the playoffs tied for third place.

With perfect conditions for the semi-final matches on 12 April, both Chilli and Khayoba cruised past their opponents. Chilli defeated Wachati 15-6, while Khayoba handled Zebru 15-0.  Both teams will be at full strength for the league finals on Monday, so the match promises not to disappoint. The match will begin at 7pm in Wynberg.

* Update by Zak

Summer League 2010 got off to an exciting start last Monday with all teams looking fired up and keen to get that first win.

Zebru and the UCT first team had a great game, but UCT took a little longer to settle into the game giving Zebru an early lead. After half time, and possibly a strong motivational talk by Jonno, UCT came out looking a lot more organised and started finding the endzone. The end result was 15-6 to Zebru.

Chilli faced Khayoba, the newly formed super team, in a heated match up. The tension was almost tangible off the pitch so one can only imagine the intensity on the field. Khayoba took the lead right up to 12-9 and then somehow let Chilli back into the game with a few scores. Chilli with the smell of victory motivating them, showed great Big Match Temperament to take the win 14-13 in an exciting finish to the match…

Keep an eye on the new League table on the right column of the website which should show the updated standings each week.

Last Monday we saw the final games of the 7 week long 2009 Spring League being battled out at Wynberg Sports Club.

The 6 teams were formed with an even split of experience across the board and the usual teams from summer league were split up as much as possible. Plenty of new faces joined the league which is really encouraging for Ultimate in Cape Town, and each of the teams then brought their own unique edge to the league. All the games were very well matched and closely fought which added even more excitement and tension to the league.

The last games of the league were the 3rd place playoff between Wasabi and Firestarter, and the final between Goldmember and Blue Steel.
The 3rd place game was a good match with Wasabi taking an early lead and Firestarter fighting back into the game in the second half. Although Wasabi prevailed to claim 3rd place in the final standings with a final score of 15-11.
The final looked like it was a great game with both teams really coming out with guns blazing. Blue Steel had the daunting task of bringing down the unbeaten Goldmember who in turn were there to prove that they did not need their superstar players to keep their winning streak in tact. In the end the Gold team lived up to their name and took first place with a final score of 15-10.

Congratulations to John Davidge and his team for playing so well and dominating the league.

Final standings:
1st – Goldmember
2nd – Blue Steel
3rd – Wasabi
4th – Firestarter
5th – Purple Haze
6th – Smashing Pumpkins

Thank you to all who joined us for the league, especially the new players who I hope we will continue to see on the field regularly. Summer League will start in mid January and until then there will be pickup games on Monday nights to keep those legs fresh and work off all the Christmas indulgence…

Have an excellent festive season!

The final round of the Spring League ‘pool’ games was completed last night in a typically gusty Cape Town wind. I noticed a lot of nervous glances between players that showed a lack of confidence playing in the wind. However, once the games were underway everyone seemed to get into the groove of the conditions and there were some epic battles being played out.

Gold Member continued their unbeaten run of domination and have claimed the first seed going into the playoffs. Wasabi had to work hard against a fired up Smashing Pumpkins to take the win and claim 2nd seed in the semi finals next week. Blue Steel have held their own and slide neatly into 3rd seed. Firestarter and Purple Haze faced off in what was effectively their playoff match to snag the last spot in the playoffs. Firestarter got off to an early lead, but soon Haze caught up and the lead changed hands a few times until the game was tied at 13. Firestarter then managed to find the endzone in the next 2 points and secured the 4th seed in the semi’s.

Next week’s lineup is as follows:
Semi 1: Gold Member vs Firestarter
Semi 2: Wasabi vs Blue Steel
5th Place: Purple Haze vs Smashing Pumkins

Check the league stats file here: Spring League 2009 Teams and Schedule

The 3rd round of Spring league was held last night with a gusty wind adding some spice to the games.

Gold Member (formerly known as Gold Rush) have streaked ahead with 3 wins, yet they still have a couple of tough games lined up. With only 2 more round robin games left, the battle for placement in the playoffs will be hotly contested. As it stands there is a chance that 4th seed into the semis will be determined by only points difference, it should be really exciting…

Check the league stats and schedule here: Spring League 2009 Teams and Schedule

The second round of Spring League was awarded with perfect Ultimate weather after plenty wet and miserable winter weather that got lost on its way to the Northern Hemisphere… We were very lucky to get enough of a break in the rain to be allowed to use the field.

The league standings remain very even so far with 4 teams seperated by just points difference, and only team Gold Rush stepping ahead with 2 wins under their belt.

Check the tables here: Spring League 2009 Teams and Schedule

See you next week!

The Spring League got off to a great start on Monday night will all three games being closely fought and from what I could tell, highly spirited. The turnout was incredible and I saw tons of new faces which is so encouraging. I don’t think I have ever seen that many people playing Ultimate on a Monday night in CT and I hope all the new players are feeling encouraged and excited about figuring out the game.

It took a bit of adjustment playing on the smaller field sizes with plenty hucks and pulls disappearing out the back of the endzone (mind the fence Nicola). I personally was practicing a new Face-to-Elbow D block technique on Stu and have since had to rethink its effectiveness or at least re-read the article on that Shaolin Temple Ultimate Blog I found. Other new (and hopefully more effective) strategies will surely develop to use the limited space wisely and find those tiny little endzones.

Well done to teams B, D and F for their wins, I hear that the game between D and C was an epic battle with points traded for most of the game. Hopefully I will receive an email from the various teams with a name for their team based on their theme colour so that I can update the list.

I have attached a link to the excel file which has the team lists, schedule and the results. I will try keep this updated throughout the league so keep checking back>>>  Spring League 2009 Teams and Schedule

See you next Monday!

Jmo