NM - Norwegian Championship 2015

Dear readers of Ultimate news at the OSI website

I have the pleasure of informing you about an exciting and high-quality Ultimate tournament at this year’s Norwegian championships! The Championship was played in Lørenskog outside of Oslo, where eight teams fought for honour and glory. The OSI team improved their good play from Hønefoss about a month ago, and had many exciting games, which sometimes tipped in our favour, and sometimes—unfortunately—not.

Day One

When all jerseys and all players had arrived, the first game was against Trondheim. In Hønefoss, Trondheim got a clear 10-5 victory, but today OSI would follow them even closer. We kept pace with the winners of the Norwegian series for some time, but were eventually defeated. The game was tight, however, with a slim 9-7 win to Trondheim in the end.

The next game, against BSI from Bergen, was another close game. Tension was high, and the game mattered much for both teams. Following an ambitious OSI attacking play, a long and intense debate about the legality of the play arose. The discussions—second only to the discussion about when lunch started and whether or not coffee was served—ended after no less than 5-6 minutes. After the incident, the game continued and ended 8-6 for BSI.

The final game of the day for OSI was against Ekeberg; our training companions, friends and Ultimate-rivals. As always, the game was close. This time around, however, OSI got the upper edge. The OSIers fought their way and won the game 8-6! Moderate celebrations followed. After all, there was only a night of partying before the Championships were to be concluded.

Day Two

With wet but clean jerseys after Ole graciously washed them—but did not have time to dry them—OSI embarked on day two of the championships. Having finished third in the group, we played number four in the other group. The game against the Wizzards of Ås was an exciting game for OSIers. Taking advantage of our height and over-head-throws, we won the game 13-2.

The final game—the game for fifth place—was against the hard-hitting hitters from HIT. Though counting no more than five people, HIT was a tough nut to crack. In fact, OSI was losing 4-1 early on. However, with bravery and hunger and courage (and great Ultimating), we got back on our feet and scored 5-5 towards the end of the game. With long arms, good throws and an impressive endurance, however, the furious five from Bø got their victory in the end.

Summary

What a tournament! Three wins and two losses are part of the story. Another part is that we never lost a game with more than two points!

The team OSI played with at the Championships was very similar to the one at Hønefoss. That way, we could build on what we achieved there. This time around, we had closer games and better play and could—perhaps with a bit of luck—have gone to the semi-finals. Next time, we will make our Ds harder, run faster and do all those crazy layouts! Watch out, world!

Thank you all for a great tournament! In addition to our regulars from Oslo, we would also like to thank our Swedish excellences Johan and Martin for their participation!

These days, April turns into May, and we should all get ready for some windy games on grass and Astroturf in the beautiful Oslo-ian spring and summer! Coming up first is Pancake Trophy on May 30th! Heads!