NL Junior and Senior teams place 4th and 6th at Canadian 4×4 Ultimate Championships

Newfoundland and Labrador’s Senior and Junior 4 on 4 teams set a new record for teams playing at the Canadian Ultimate Championships. Both teams traveled to Oshawa, Ontario to compete in the Canadian 4×4 Ultimate Championships April 1-2, 2023. Representing the province Bad Temperament, the Senior team, placed sixth out of 16 teams and Storm, the Junior team , placing fourth out of 8 teams.

Junior’s Storm

The tryouts for the Junior team were held on January 17 and 24, 2023 where 18 athletes attended tryouts with the hope of competing at the tournament. Coaches Hilary Walsh and Craig Stoyles selected 12 players of those who tried out. Players selected included Peter Dormody and Avery Pearcey, who were named Captains of the team, along with teammates  Zach Young, Morgan Hull, Jack Moores (Spirit Captain), Maria Dodd, Rowan Theriault, Hannah Power, Jaxon Montague, Juliette Hudson (Spirit Captain), Maconaughay Hodder, and Claire O’Brien. k Ben Pritchett was also selected as a practice player.

Team practices began shortly after team selection, with weekly practices being held Tuesdays at the new indoor complex in Mount Pearl. Many of the Ultimate athletes selected had previously played together on the Storm Junior Provincial 7×7 team, which was beneficial as the team had little time to prepare before the tournament in April.

During the first day of the tournament Storm played three games. The team’s first game against OJCUP (ON) resulted in a loss, 9-21. Their second game against the Prime Penguins (BC) was a hard-fought game but resulted in a loss, 10-16. The final game of the day against Ontario West saw them lose the game, 9-19.

The start of day two for the team began with playing the #1 in the seed, Canyon (BC), in the quarter finals. This game would be the team’s first win with a score of 14-13, which secured a spot in the semi-finals against Prime Penguins (BC) again. Storm fought hard and played a great game but ended up losing 11-20. Although they lost, this meant they got to play for third place overall, a major comeback for the junior team from their previous day.

The bronze game saw them play against Pull (QC). The game was intense with the team going point for point for the entire game, leading to a Storm loss of 12-13 which landed the junior team in a record breaking spot of fourth  overall, the highest placement for a Newfoundland team and also the highest-ranking achieved by a Newfoundland provincial team.

Avery Pearcey, the team’s female captain, reflected on her experience. “[It] was such an amazing experience. Playing on such a small team was so rewarding, we were able to play lots of ultimate together and learned so much. Coming into the tournament with no expectations, I think we all surprised ourselves with how well we did.”

Senior’s Bad Temperament

Tryouts for the Senior team were held on February 4 and 10, 2023 with 21 players attending, 10 female-matching and 11 male-matching, to get the opportunity to represent the province at the tournament. Based on the tryouts, a team of observers selected 12 players for the team. The two captains named to the team were Lauren Law and Nicholas House, along with teammates Nicholas Hiscock (Spirit Captain), Jasmine Bouhtiauy, David Whitney-Brown, Grace Beattie, Cameron Penney, Ava Whitten, Julian Costigan, Shannon Jones (Spirit Captain), Andrew Workman, and Madison Hull.

Team practices were held twice a week on Tuesdays and early mornings on Saturdays at the Techniplex in St. John’s. The captains took charge and rallied the team behind several plays, which would help the team succeed in many ways. Many players had previous experience at national competition level coming from the Junior Provincial Storm team, the provincial male matching and female matching provincial teams; Regiment and Tempest, as well as playing for the local university MUN.

On the first day Bad Temp. played four games,with one of them being live streamed on  Ultimate Canada’s  YouTube channel. The team’s first game was against NOMO (AB2) which resulted in a loss for BT, 16-28. Their second game was live streamed against YUM (ON1) which was a close game but another loss, 9-16. The third game was a win for BT against Melt (ON6). They played hard, and it showed in the score, 18-15. The last game of the day was the pre-quarter finals against Woodtruck (NS2), another close game which BT won 16-14 sending them into the quarter finals the following day.

The second day, Bad Temp. played three games; the quarter finals were their first game against Tetraphobia (ON7). This game was streamed on the UNL Instagram page. This game resulted in a close loss for BT, 17-20, sending them to the semi-finals for fifth place if they win and seventh if they lost. BT played against No Name (ON3) which they won 14-12 leading to them playing for 5th against WWD. BT ended up placing 6th overall after a loss to WWD (ON4), 15-22. Bad Temp. placing sixth is another record-breaking placement for a team from Newfoundland, the highest for a senior team overall.

Looking back on his experience, Andrew Workman says “It was a pleasure going, I am grateful I got to play with such an amazing team. We placed 6th which is one for the history books and I’m proud of us for that. I look forward to possibly going back again in the future.”

Overall, both teams experienced an amazing journey and results to be proud of against teams from across Canada. The 2023 C4UC’s was a successful performance for Newfoundland’s two teams.