South African Ultimate Nationals 2010 Gallery

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South African Ultimate National Championships 2010

The 9th South African Ultimate National Championship was held recently in Bergvliet, Cape Town on the 1st and 2nd of May.

Cape Town’s Chilli were crowned the champions as they held off the Long Donkeys from Pietermaritzburg by 12 points to 11 in a highly competitive final. It was a thrilling climax to an amazing tournament, which saw 12 teams, from seven different cities, playing Ultimate over three days. Chilli went into the tournament as defending champions having previously won the tournament in 2008 and 2009 but they were certainly not outright favourites.

Speaking ahead of the event double nationals winner Keren Middlekoop commented: “At previous Nationals you always had the feeling that there was one team who wanted it more and which had worked harder than all the other sides. But this year there are a whole lot of teams who want it.”

The 12 teams were broken into two pool of six with the top four from each pool going through to the quarters and the bottom four getting to contest the plate.

Pool play saw some interesting upsets with both Stellenbosch and Cape Town Universities managing to score narrow wins over Ultitude, the second seeds in Pool A.

Meanwhile Pool B proved the tougher of the two groups with Saturday nights showcase game between Khayoba and Long Donkeys one of the highlights of the tournament. The Pietermaritzburg outfit ran out winners in a tight contest to top the group and hold their seed, while Khayoba finished second and Mozswati placed third.

Khayoba’s second placed finish in Pool play meant that the two giants of Cape Town Ultimate, Chilli and Khayoba were destined to meet in the semi-finals. It was a rematch of the recent Summer League final between the two sides and it was much anticipated.

Khayoba started well and at 7-4 they were one away from the half and sitting on a comfortable lead. But Chilli are nothing if not experienced and after a well used time-out and a couple of big plays from their first-choice defensive line, Chilli fought back to claim the half on the back of four unanswered points.

The second half was equally tense and it eventually came down to sudden death with Chilli banging the disc into the endzone to complete a famous win, seconds after Khayoba had turned the disc over at the other end looking to complete matters with a hammer pass.

In the other semi Donkey’s comfortably overcame Mozswati and so the 2010 final was to be a repeat of the 2009 final. In fact such has been the dominance of these two teams that the last three major finals in South African tournament play has seen these two sides clash.

Long Donkeys are a big and physical side, packed with former professional basketball players with a penchant for zone defence. Chilli on the other hand are a team of throwers who like to work the spaces and take the options given to them.

Thus the final was a real see-saw affair. The lead changed hands several times and both sides came to the party with some superb play. Chilli’s Jack Marsh did well to curtail the Donkey’s game with his sensational aerial prowess while at the other end Lauren Bluck, Rob Skelton and Robbie Bitting gave Chilli a scoring edge.

Once again it came down to sudden death and once again Chilli looked to be dead and buried as Donkeys threw a pass into the endzone. But handler Jenna Larsen was perfectly positioned to intercept the potential score. She immediately launched an attack and seconds later it was Chilli who were celebrating a third consecutive title.

Speaking after the game Chilli captain Ant Pascoe said, “This was definitely the toughest and the most meaningful of all our titles. We didn’t play our best but we played for each other.”

Player/coach Chris Webster, who has now won the title four times added, “It feels great beating teams that expect to beat you; teams that want it as much as you do.”

“That was definitely our best result as a team yet. I am very happy about it.”

*Many thanks to Ant Pascoe for the article and photo contributions.

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