So much for lucky sevens

By Andrea Bundon

A sport psychologist would say no one trains for seventh place. Still, the small and fairly inexperienced crew who represented the University of Calgary at Ultimate Frisbee Nationals didn’t exactly have a lot going for them.

“We came seventh out of the eight teams there,” explained team captain Kris Lundine. “We carried nine guys. By the end of it we were hurting pretty bad. We definitely had the fewest number of people on a squad of any team there.”

Ultimate teams usually have upwards of 15 players with seven on the field at any given time.

“We played really well, especially on the first day and Saturday morning,” said Lundine. “After that we started to get really tired. By Sunday everybody was out of wind.”

They started the tournament playing the three other teams in their pool. After beating the University of Manitoba, they lost to eventual champions Queen’s University and the University of Alberta.

In the second round they won a very tight match against Lakehead with a final score of 15-14 and lost to the University of Manitoba.

A loss in Saturday’s quarter-finals against UBC sent them to the consolation side of the tournament where they once again faced Lakehead, this time with less desirable results.

Still, for a team more concerned with promoting the sport on campus than competing, the tournament wasn’t a total loss.

“We had a good time,” said Lundine. “I think lots of guys got a lot of experience at a level they just don’t see in Calgary. Our captain on the field was Gian-Carlo ‘G-man’ Carra. He was very helpful with helping some of the guys who didn’t have as much experience get through some stuff they haven’t seen before.”

The team is already back training and recruiting for next year’s tournament.

“The more members that join, hopefully, the more the team will grow,” said Lundine. “It was not easy to field a team to go to Nationals.”

For more information about the ultimate team check out www.uofcultimate.com.