REGIONAL INTEREST
BC Ultimate Launches 4v4 Winter Series
Written by: Troe Weston and Alex Davis
B.C.
opportunity to camp on the beach inside, or pull an all nighter playing some beach volleyball! After the finals on Sunday morning, Golden Oldies from Vancouver came out on top in the Open division in a close Final against Nelson Homegrown. Victoria team, Skunk in the Face, went home with a third place finish. In the women’s division, it was UBC based team, Baywatch who came away with the win against Vancouver teams TFC, who finished second and Where’s my Phyr, who finished third.
Richmond 4v4 beach action Photo: Nkolakovic
The Lower Mainland of British Columbia is not used to being told to stay indoors in the winter. So it came as a surprise to a lot of players when BC Ultimate said that it was launching a 4v4 series -- a format most had never even heard of. A 4 on 4 format is a part of Ultimate Canada’s long term strategic plan and Quebec and Ontario have already had much success with it. The series had two main goals, the first was simply to get more people in the province playing Ultimate. The second goal was to encourage university teams to enter in order to foster growth, particularly in the smaller universities where fielding a 7 on 7 player team is more challenging. BCU’s winter series was comprised of 3 tournaments, each with its own unique challenges. Everyone is used to the 7 on 7 format and set of rules, so it was a challenge in itself to learn and adapt to the new rules of this format. Plus, teams had the added twist of mastering three different kinds of environments!
The first in the series, which was held in Richmond at an indoor beach facility, would prove to be the most popular with teams travelling from as far as Nelson and Victoria to compete. With ten teams in the open division and five teams in the women’s division, there was some good competition in both divisions. Games went from mid afternoon until well into the night where player had the
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Round two of the series took place on the University of Victoria campus. Teams braved the brisk February temperatures to play on outdoor turf. While the turn out was a bit lower, the competition was still fierce. Palm Bros from Vancouver/Victoria came out on top in the open division with Skunk in the Face moving up in the ranks to finish second. The University team, the Vikes came in third. Where’s my Phyr also moved up in ranks to finish first in the women’s division over The Sloppy Lizards (making their second appearance in the series) and the Uvixens (from UVic) finished third.
Victoria 4v4 turf play
Photo: Nkolakovic
The final round brought the tournament back indoors, this time on turf in Kelowna. With a few teams vying for the top spot in the series, making the trek to Kelowna was going to be ‘make or break’ for the series champions. After missing the Victoria’s leg, Nelson Homegrown showed up big time. Losing on day one to the Vernon Jerseys, Homegrown found themselves facing off against them in the final and with some huge grabs and some tight D, Homegrown pulled out a win and went home tournament and series champions. Third place
Ultimate Canada Magazine -
www.canadianultimate.com
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