In February, Fulford Ultimate sent six teams to the National Indoor Championships in the Under-14 and Under-17 age groups. These teams had qualified for Nationals at the Qualifier event back in November, and had been training hard since then to prepare.
We travelled from school on the Friday afternoon, arriving at our hotel ready for dinner and some last-minute reminders and team meetings ahead of the tournament starting the next day.
The U14 and U17 divisions each had 16 teams from across the country, and Fulford had been the most successful team at Qualifiers, with 3 teams in each division. The standard of competition in both age groups was extraordinarily high, and Fulford teams were contributing to that everywhere you looked.
In the U14 division, Fulford were ready to show the country what they were made of. After finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd at the Manchester Qualifier event, we were quietly confident of a podium finish at Nationals. The U14 first team made a fantastic start, finishing the group stages with a combined score of 62-15, the best in the division by far. The U14 Fulford 2 and U14 Fulford 3 teams also played very well, with Fulford 2 also sneaking into the top 8 by the end of the group stage.
In the U17 division, the expectations were varied. For Fulford 1, they were hungry to compete for a medal, and with most players being Y11, they were towards the older end of the U17 age group. The second and third team had lots of Y9 and Y10 players, who were ready to try their hardest and gain valuable experience for future tournaments. Fulford 1 won all their group games, with a combined score of 60-9. Importantly and excitingly, this included a brilliantly fought 8-7 revenge win over the team who had beaten them in the Qualifiers final.
Saturday night brought the opportunity for rest and reset. After a long day of competition for all the players, getting the chance to get off their feet and reflect on the day was really valuable for the players. The first teams in each division had important meetings with Mr Carson to help guide their focus for the Sunday as they aimed to be amongst the very best teams in the country.
Sunday arrived and the players woke ready and raring to go. Straightforward quarter-final victories for both the U14 and U17 first teams meant we were guaranteed to be top 4 in the country in both age groups – a fantastic achievement already. In the semi-finals, the U14 first team calmly dispatched their opponents 8-5 in a close, high quality game. The U17s had a bit of a closer call in their semi-final, after going down 1-4 early on, and 3-6 with only 8 minutes left, a time-out offered the chance for a debrief and some renewed focus. They emerged from this time-out a different team, and with the other 45 Fulford players supporting from the sideline, they fought their way back to 8-8. In the final point, the opponents had possession until a sensational end-zone-line block from captain Josh Holmes gave Fulford the chance to advance to the final. Two passes later Josh caught the disc at the other end of the pitch to seal the victory and Fulford advanced to the final.
To see Fulford compete in both gold medal matches was a special moment for the club, and the guarantee of medals in each division was a worthwhile testament to how hard the players have worked. Given both U14 and U17 age groups had been training at 7am before school in the run-up to the tournament, it was fair to say we had achieved the results we deserved after all that hard work.
As the finals started (simultaneously, side by side!) it was worth reflecting on what a brilliant moment it was to see Fulford competing at the very top of the country in both age groups, and when that is combined with the U20s getting their indoor gold medal only a few weeks prior, it really had been an amazing indoor season. The players were told that they’d done the hard work already, they’d made their teammates and their coach proud already, and the final was about enjoying the moment and doing their best.
The U14 first team had been truly stunning all weekend. In the final they met their match and were really pushed for the first time. A combination of the extra pressure from the excellent opponents, a clever tactic from them that Coach Carson didn’t see coming, and a little bit of final nerves, Fulford unfortunately came away second best. Still a brilliant achievement and the players knew they’d done really well to get silver. Fulford U14 1 player Sebastien Harker said: “Qualifying for and playing in the Indoor National Championships has been the highlight of the U14 frisbee year so far. We battled some great teams in the qualifiers, winning all but one of our games, giving us the confidence at the National Finals to aim for gold. The weekend was brilliant fun with all the Fulford teams motivating each other and celebrating their wins together. Throughout the weekend all players helped and picked each other up when they needed it most and encouraged each other to carry on doing amazingly in their games.
The team has been training exceptionally hard all year with early morning starts and plenty of after school sessions. The commitment from all players has been phenomenal as well as the incredible commitment from Mr Carson to lead all Fulford teams to many tournaments and many finals.
Facing some of the top teams in the country was very exciting but also very difficult. Beating our long-standing rivals in the semis was a great feeling! We went into the final feeling strong but couldn’t quite match their defence, yet we still kept our heads high and played our best until the end. Coming home with silver is something we are immensely proud of accomplishing this year!
Now we all have the mindset to go to the outdoor tournament in June and bring home a gold medal for Fulford.”
Meanwhile, on the adjacent pitch…
The U17s went into their final with almost everyone in the room thinking they were destined for second place. Their opponents had been unbeaten and flawless all weekend, including a solid semi-final victory. But Fulford Ultimate have a different mentality. They went toe-to-toe with their rivals from the start, and went a couple of points up early on in the game – a lead which would turn out to be crucial. As their opponents turned up the pressure, and Mr Carson was distracted by the simultaneous U14 final, the U17 first team were on their own. All they had was each other as the final few points approached… but that was all they needed. As the whistle went, Fulford were one point up, and their opponents were in possession. Fulford’s defence was focussed, intense, intelligent and unwary as they were tested and probed and examined to see if there was a weakness. But Fulford could not be broken. A risky pass by the other team, and a clever peel-off by Rufus Pickering, meant we intercepted the disc and WON the gold medal game.
The pitch was rushed by Fulford players of all ages, as Rufus slammed the disc into the floor in celebration. We were National Champions again.
Fulford have now won: U14 Indoors 2025, U20 Outdoors 2025, U20 Indoors 2026, and U17 Indoors 2024 AND 2026.
U17 captain Josh Holmes had this to say: “2026 indoor national championships was a great weekend for all Fulford teams. For my team, U17 1st team, we had an amazing run of games throughout the weekend and ended up winning the tournament unbeaten in all games. Although there were about 5 other teams who definitely had a chance at winning the tournament, we kept our strong team spirit throughout the weekend and the close nature of our team is a big part of what helped us to go all the way.
We had an exciting route to the final, including many close games such as beating Flux and Windsor Wolves which both came down to sudden death, where we scored the winning goal under lots of pressure. We also had a very close game in the final where we had our backs against the wall against a very talented team, but came back and won by one goal again.
As a team, we have so much to be proud of, this result was incredible and I’m so proud of every one of my teammates. The hard work we have put in preparing for the tournament was challenging, we often trained 3 times a week, but it proved to be worthwhile.”