World Ultimate Championships 2024 | Andrew Warnock

Andrew, commonly referred to as his surname, started his ultimate journey at Strathclyde University. He’s had plenty of experience repping Great Britain, and even earned himself a silver medal at EUF last year with GB open. After playing WUCC with GUX and being a part of the Alba squad for a few years, Warnock made a move to Bristol, where he now plays for Bristol Open. And next week, Warnock will once more be playing with the GB open squad at WUC. In the final interview in this series, Warnock speaks about his favourite team experiences and gives advice to the younger generations of ultimate athletes.

(Featured photo by Showgame)

When did you first start playing ultimate, and why? 

I started playing ultimate at the very start of uni in 2016, when I was 17. More than anything, I wanted to make friends, and find a community of people I got along with. Little did I know how successful a choice turning up would end up being! I didn’t do a huge amount of sport otherwise, apart from a little bit of golf when I was a kid and going to the gym because I thought nice biceps impressed girls.

What uni and club teams did you play for in Scotland, and what was your favourite experience?

I played for Strathclyde [University], Glasgow Ultimate, and Alba. Each offered something very different. With Strathclyde, we had a lot of success and I’ll always have a soft spot for the people from here because it’s where it all started for me. The medals really are just a bonus, a pretty good one I’ll give you that one though…GU was my first taste of high level club Frisbee, going from my first tournament with the 2nd open team at London Calling, captained by Matt Tomlinson, all the way up to playing at WUCC in Cincinnati with GU mixed. It gave me a good idea of the level of play I could begin to look at playing towards. And then with Alba, I was really starting to push those high level boundaries a little more, reaching a nationals final and qualifying for a second WUCC along the way. I potentially have unfinished business there, but have no plans of a return quite yet.

Cast your mind back to those years playing ultimate at Uni. What’s your fondest memory from this time? Do you still have your medals? 

There really does feel like too many to choose from. The weekends away at tournaments were always fun because it was such a nice group of people. The medals are probably in a drawer somewhere in my mum’s house. I should probably check that.

Do you remember the first time you decided to trial for a senior GB team? How many times did you trial before being selected for a team?

Not totally sure actually. I always used to just show up to them because I knew the quality would be better than usual so it was a chance to learn a bit without any of the pressure as I never really considered being picked was a possibility. To some extent it’s how I approached the one before being picked for the team for the first time last year. Mainly because I had an assumption about it being all Clapham guys, but I remember coming away pissed that I knew I was good enough, but not playing for [Clapham] would go against me.

Is this the first time you’ve repped GB? Which experience has been your favourite so far and why? 

I started out in u20’s, the only good thing about turning up to uni as a 17 year old. I played u24’s as well but there is nothing quite like the senior team. The “professionalism” at trainings and tournaments is on a completely different scale and I’ve become a much more rounded player from it.

What does it mean to you to represent your country?

It’s not really about representing my country for me. I see it more as a bit of validation about me as a player and where I stand against everybody else that plays around the country. Potentially just cause I’m Scottish but not sure. I probably won’t be learning God save the King anytime soon though.

What motivates you to keep pushing yourself to make the GB squad each time? Is the trialling process still daunting, or are you used to it?

I go into the trials with basically no expectations and just enjoying winning my individual matchups, for no other reason than I know the people there are the best and I like being competitive. Difficult to say what pushes me…I think I enjoy reflecting back to see progression I’ve made from started out as a little-r acne riddled 17 year old, to the GB team now. And where I can still see progression ahead, I’ll keep pushing to improve. I can’t see myself just hanging around when I’ve plateaued unless I can really contribute in ways others cannot.

What are you looking forward to the most about WUC this year, and how do you feel about the location? 

I’ve never been this side of the world before so very excited for a lot of exploration. 

In the run-up to WUC, are you doing any specific preparations to get yourself tournament ready?

Slightly trickier for me as I’m working in Bangkok for a couple weeks beforehand. Preparation for me will be getting out in the heat for a few runs (which is hopefully much cooler in Australia), watching some film of teams I think we might come across, and avoid the Bangkok go-go girls.

Do you feel pressure when playing at such a high level?

Whether they admit it or not everybody feels the pressure to some degree. Experience probably helps more than anything. Other than that, playing with a similar mindset of how I mentioned approaching trials earlier: not worrying about my own performance, but putting everything into winning a one-on-one matchup and get one up on the best players from all over the world.

Do you have an ultimate “career highlight” so far?

2018, Burla Beach, 2nd place.

Do you have any advice for someone who is considering making the push to represent GB in future years? 

I used to think GB wasn’t really an option because there were so few Scots that did it. Pretty soon people like Agnew were making the team and I realised it was kinda up to me if I wanted to really go for it. If you go out and want to play at the top level nobody is going to do it for you. You just have to kind of put yourself out there and maybe it’ll work out. If not, well then at least you gave it a proper go. Most people can’t actually say that.

If you had to give younger Warnock some ultimate-based advice, what would it be? 

Making mistakes, and reflecting/learning from them is the only way to get better.

What is something that playing high level sport/trying for that goal has taught you about yourself?

Discipline is good for me. Staying on schedule helps me out in pretty much every aspect of my life.

Do you have a favourite “thing” in ultimate?

The fact I was able to just move to Bristol and pretty much have a ready-made community of people to hang out with is pretty cool. Nothing related to Frisbee is actually cool though.

What does the future look like for you in terms of ultimate?

I’ve not looked much past this year yet. Kind of looking forward to next year being less intensely Frisbee, but I think I say that every year.

***

Thanks Warnock! Enjoy WUC and hope to see you still playing in the future!

And that marks the end of our WUC 2024 interviews, we hope you’ve enjoyed! Thanks again to the athletes for your time, couldn’t have done it without you! Good luck in Australia, we’ll be cheering you on from home!

If you want info about the tournament itself, check out our earlier article which has all the links you’ll need. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and leave a like below!