By Niamh Delaney (captain)

Hi Far Flung.

As many of you will have heard, the Far Flung ladies had a bit of an exciting weekend competing at women's nationals in Loughborough. I don't normally do write-ups, but I thought this tournament merited one...

Saturday's play was in peer-pools but still we had one ridiculous walkover - beating Sublisco something like 14-1. Against Pies, Bears and Ro Sham Bo we came out a little tentative, generally trading to about three and then pulling away to win by 4 or 5 once we'd figured them out. At the end of the day we threw a game to Chichester; tiredness getting the better of us. We let them get a few points up on us and weren't really able to find the fight to pull it back. A disappointing way to end the day but valuable lessons were learnt. Luckily they had lost two of their earlier games (to Ro Sham and Bears) so we still topped the group to take first seed at the end of play on Saturday.

First game on Sunday was against Strange Blue and basically followed the same pattern as the bulk of our Saturday games. We came out a little shaky and took a few points to work them out, but won by about 5 in the end I think. On the pitch next to us Flatball, who had started the day as second seeds, lost in a sudden death battle with Chichester. They went on to win an easy second crossover meaning that we had a two hour wait before taking on our old rivals in a 1vs8 quarter final match.

Flatball have a habit of beating us in the games that matter and, with this looming large in my mind, I don't think I've ever been so nervous for a game in my life. A standard mosh warm-up combined with our by now customary obnoxious cheer ensured that such adrenaline was chanelled in exactly the right direction. We came out as hard as we knew we had to, going up by three early on. They pulled it back a little before we pulled away again with another three point run. After that, I think it was beyond doubt. We won 8-4, beating them through hard and smart D. We retained first seed, knocking FB out of the top four.

In the next game the only other Scottish team left in the top four, RSB, chumped it to Bears (a team they had beaten decisively the day before). And so we were left to carry the flag, but we were also now champions of Scotland (in my mind anyway).

Our semi-final was against Urielle. Reminiscent of the Chichester game, we found it hard to get into our groove and went down by two despite starting on O. To our credit, we fought back. On the buzzer we were tied at fives - sudden death time. On a stall of seven their main handler put up a speculative, loopy disc. It got caught. In the endzone. No final for Far Flung. Heart-break.

But we rallied. Our 3-4 final was against Bears again. We never let them have a look-in, taking out all of the resentment of the previous defeat. Much like the Mojo game at regionals, we relaxed and had fun and the result was some spectacularly good ultimate. I believe we went 8 points up before they even scored one. Final score 10-3. A nice way to finish the tournament and, according to Aoife, to end an era.

And so Far Flung finished 3rd, which is the highest we've ever come at women's nationals. Leaving Glasgow on Friday night, I would never have anticipated us finishing so highly. Leaving Loughborough on Sunday, I couldn't help but feel a bit gutted we never got to play that final.

But lets not let that take away from what was an outstanding display by the Far Flung ladies. Probably unsurprisingly two of the highlights of the weekend were beating Ro Sham and beating Flatball, not only because of the Scottish connection but also because they are brilliant competitors. They pushed us to play our best and we rose to the challenge like never before. In both games we used what we had learnt from playing them at regionals to demolish their flow on O - getting turnovers time and time again, capitalising on the more speculative aspects of their play. On O we played the calmest I've ever seen us play (especially against Ro Sham, working it around with incredible composure, waiting for 100% passes). We trusted one another and in these games we fulfilled the potential this team has had in us for years now. We finally showed that we are the best team in Scotland and that felt very, very good.

My sincerest thanks to all of the girls who came along this weekend. Special mention to Sally for driving and to Shona for organising the minibus. Huge thanks also to Tex, who's motivational expertise helped us overcome many of the crises of confidence that have so often hindered us in the past. Final mention goes to Karolina, who had a tough task joining the team at such a late date yet played as if she had been a member of the team all along. She never made a mistake on D and got us out of more than one tricky situation on O through well-timed cuts. She showed that it may be the end of one era, but a new one has just begun. Who wants in?

Finally, I have to mention Phil. I don't think people realise how important Phil is to the success of the women's team - we definitely could not have done it without him.

Now to the mixed season...

Niamh