The Ultimate Frisbee team in Rotterdam
4th and Final competition day
The 2016 season ended last Sunday in the wonderful fields of the National Rugby Association in Amsterdam. Rotterdamn’it was fighting in the 9th to 12th league (3rd division) after a dramatic lost universe point in the previous competition day that kept us out of quarters. Read more…
Veenendaal competition day
In the early Sunday morning (when most Rotterdam’ers were still asleep) we started our one-hour journey to the first outdoor matches in the third division this year. Since everyone trusted Joep’s weather forecast of 95% rain chance, we packed a lot of changing clothes (except for Boris). So, we drove with two fully packed cars to Veenendaal, where we arrived in cold weather and were welcomed in a warm ‘sports cafeteria’ with some opera-like music, which did not help a lot with waking up.
Vertigo 1
We started the first match against Vertigo 1, who were more difficult opponents than expected. Just before half time we were losing 8-3, but caught up to only a one point difference (11-10) in the second match half. Unfortunately, we could not keep the pressure and lost 15-10 in the end. Even though we were a bit disappointed, we were happy that it was sunny most of the time (Joep’s weather forecast was wrong!) and prepared some improved offense strategies for the upcoming match.
Break time
During the break we boosted our bodies with some nice food, mostly with very nice chocolate-peanuts. Also the music in the room changed and was more energizing, although some of our team members, especially James, were still not entirely satisfied with it.
Veenendaal Tijgers
In the second match we played against the Veenendaal Tijgers. As expected they had a strong defence as well as tall and fast guys in the offense. This made the game already quite difficult and losing one of our players to a very important flight to the States after the first game did not help either, as we were then left with only one sub. Despite all this, we had some nicely played points with a good handler game and a strong defence. This was also influenced by the typical April weather: at some point during the game hail storms were causing less sight, but at the same time also more mistakes of the opponents. But even though we were able to win some points back, we still lost 15-4 in the end.
Break again
The second break was quite long and everybody was almost asleep or just chilling. But the most important topic was the soccer game Feyenoord-Utrecht that started in the evening of the same day. Luckily the game started late, so we were able to get through Rotterdam without traffic and could still watch the game at home. Most importantly however, Feyenoord won and Rotterdam did not get trashed completely!
UFO 2
The third and last match of the day was against UFO 2. After losing the first two games, the only possibility how to stay in the third division was by winning this game. The match was very nice and spirited with an attitude to play for playing’s sake and only some calls, which were valid. So the game was a lot enjoyed by both teams, especially by our team, since we won the first game of the whole day (15-9). However, we had one last important duty to fulfil after the game had ended: we needed to eliminate some confusion in the opponent team, because James is not Oscar, but James.
So…
Overall, we had a challenging but nice second outdoor match day. We ran a lot due to a little number of subs, the weather was sunnier and less rainy than expected and we were able to practice/improve some offense strategies as well as to adjust our defence to each single opponent team. And once more our team represented the women of the open outdoor competition, since we had the only two ladies on the line within the whole third division.
In April we welcome inexperienced players to join our introduction trainings to learn the basics of Ultimate Frisbee FOR FREE.
EVERYONE WELCOME!!!! ALL GENDERS, ALL AGES, ALL PHYSICAL CONDITIONS !!
See you in out natural grass fields
When: Thursdays 21 & 28 April @ 19:00
Where: Max Planckplaats 300, Rotterdam (100m from Binnenhof metro station)
Rotterdamn’it drove early to Arnhem last Sunday with great hopes of doing well in the second bracket of the indoor competition (9th-16th). A solid team of 7 composed of Arend, Stoyan, Peter, Vincent, Joep, Deepak and Oscar. For once we had some height in our team.
Our start in quarters was not as we hoped for against the Vellesan Speedy’s. Lack of precision in offence was a constant over the match, which combined with low intensity in defense, lead to a well deserved 11-8 loss.
During the long long break between matches we learned a nonsense card game from Peter. The rules and the direction of the play kept on changing as our master saw fit. Great fun though.
Before the semis, and putting the playing cards to better use, we planned a zone defense to put to the test in the coming games.
We felt a bit down after having played our first match well below our level. We were ready to prove we could be better. Our next opponent was NUTS, against who we lost out last match of the previous competition day. Unlike our previous match our offence clicked and we had flow in our attack. A successful zone gave us some turns early in the game to gain a lead that grew until we reached a final score of 11-3. The point difference was big but it did not feel that way on the field. Always very nice to play against the Amsterdam university team.
A somehow shorter but still long brake after it was our turn to face the Veenendaal Tijgers for the 3rd time this season. I cannot tell the scores of any of the previous games, but they have always very close matches with intense defense being the key to the game. This time was not going to be different. This game was played in the main field with quite a crowd watching (or talking or reading, but you know, present) which gave an extra sense of relevance to the game. We started solid on offence and managed to chip away some break points. This short lead was maintained during the game with great offence and very focused defense. For once we were winning some air battles against a team that masters the high discs (Peter and Arend owned the skies). Final score was 7-12 for us, closing this season in a 13th place, the best we could do after losing our first match.
On the bright side, we ended up 9th on the spirit ranking, which over 40 is not bad at all.
So, to Veenendaal for the 3rd competition day of this indoor season.
With the positive vibe from the 2nd completion day fresh in or minds, spirits were high, but, given the holidays in between (no training/lots of food), we could only guess if our spirits would match our abilities. With only 1 sub we had our work cut out for us.
Traditionally, we start slow in the first match. This Januari, we managed to be somewhat sharp in the first match against the spinners. We opened the match trading point. Some minutes into the game the score was 6-3 leading. The margin being big enough, we tried a zone D which proved to be quit effective, winning the match in the end with 12-4.
Still psyched up from our previous win, we where up against DDT for our second match. Extra special since it was Deepak’s first outing against his former team mates. The match started out well, winning the toss for shirt color, since we both play in green. Intense man defense combined with a solid offence in which we didn’t give anything away, led to an exciting match in which dammit came out on top, 11-9
Next match would be the decider who would promote up to 2nd. Host Veenendaal Tijgers was our opponent. Having lost on universe the previous time we played each other, we were looking for a rematch.
We didn’t dare to play zone against DDT, but decided to give another try against The Tijgers. It proved a valuable strategy again and we managed a solid win with 12-8.
Three matches won meant we would promote to the 2nd division and play the brackets next meeting. EAT THE BABIES!!!
The realisation we would promote anyway, and given the state of our legs with only one sub, we tried to put up a good fight against NUTS. But the solid offence, with out drops or errors, was not fully there this match. Losing out on universe (8-9) is never nice, but the realisation we would promote to second, and winning against the top seeded DDT, made up for most of the disappointment.
All in all, an awesome, and very spirited 3rd competition day, GO DAMMIT!
Rotterdamn’it joined to celebrate the new year with the cheesy excuse of… well, eating cheese (sorry for that).
All (but not many) photos here
After our successful tournament on the 15th of November, the second Indoor competition day came upon us much quicker than anyone had expected. Despite the good team cohesion and the home ground, the anxiety was high as we were not sure if we can match our performance against a much tougher opposition.
Our first game was against our friends from Force Electro, who were set to test us to the limits as the favorites to win the competition. Despite the formidable opponent, we played our own style and our offense was unwavering. We kept our composure for the first 25 minutes of the game and turned this into a neck and neck opening to the tournament. With only few minutes until the end, the game was tied at 6:6 and it looked like it could go either way. Unfortunately, a few lapses in concentration cost us dearly in the final minutes of the game and Force was able to convert a few quick points in succession to get to the final score of 7:10.
Despite the loss, we were heartened by the fact that we played as equals against a supposedly superior team. As it turned out Force Electro went undefeated throughout the day and we came the closest of all teams to beating them. The great opening gave us wings and we swooped through the second game against WAF1. It was a very spirited game in which we continued to play our fast-paced handler offense and dominated the game from very early on. Despite WAF1’s best efforts we took the win home with a convincing score of 12:4.
Our next game against Veenendaal Tijgers Open was by far the closest and most competitive game of all that were played today. Through the day we could see that the Tijgers were really practiced at playing Indoor style and showed some incredible hammers, scoobers and blades as well as some sick layouts. We were definitely in the position of the underdogs, but we showed that dogs can also bite. We held our own on offense and we pushed them to the limits with our energetic defense. We both fought fiercely for every single point and as a result neither of the two teams went ahead by more than 1 point at any given time. The game went back and forth until at 10:10 the siren sounded with R’damnit in possession of the disc and the chance to finish off the golden point. Unfortunately, we were denied a hard-fought victory by a momentary loss of focus and a stray scoober that the Tigers pounced on to make it 10:11.
The closing game of the day was against Spinners1. Even though it was a physical game with relatively more body contacts, calls and stoppages, it was also a good one. Throughout the first half of the game we gained a lead of about 3-4 points and managed to maintain it. It seemed that during the last 10-15 minutes of the game we didn’t have the legs to press our advantage and to make the score line even more convincing, so we were content to keep playing point-for-point until the end. The final result was 10:6.
In the aftermath of these 4 games, it became clear that our promotion from division 4 was well deserved. Even though we came in to the tournament as underdogs, we managed to dominate 2 of the teams and to give the two best teams in the competition a run for their money. If anything, we proved that when we come together and play with energy, confidence and desire to win, we play as equals even with the best of teams. We are confident that no team in Division 3 will underestimate us the next time that we meet on the field.
Big news everyone! Yesterday R’damnit went undefeated (4-0-0) in the first indoor competition of the 2015-16 season. We were joined by Tilburg’s own Flying High, NUTS, Vellesan Speedy’s, and Panic.
I think I speak for all when I say that it was a physically demanding competition; but, what we may have lacked in youth, we certainly made up for in offensive chemistry and tireless defense. Here are the quick stats:
R’Damnit (15) – Flying Hight (7)
R’Damnit (9) – Vellesan Speedy’s (8)
R’Damnit (13) – Panic (7)
R’Damnit (11) – NUTS (5)
Although the point differential increased in the latter two games, it does not reflect the intensity of the matches — (this is especially the case for NUTS, who despite scoring the least against us, was probably the most capable of exploiting our defense).
Thanks to everyone for showing great spirit and bringing some high-caliber ultimate. If we continue this trend R’Damnit will become a solid club team.
