University Men’s Indoor Nationals 2026
Featured photo by Ellis Stabler @unstable.shots
Written by AJ Strang and Dan Lindsay
AJ: We’re back! After a hopefully relaxing winter break, the Uni Ultimate calendar is back under way with Division 1 University Men and Women’s Indoor Nationals taking place this weekend down in Nottingham and Division 2. Apologies to Herriot-Watt for forgetting to cover Div 2 Men’s Nationals, but in fairness, it appears Edi also forgot it was happening.
Dan: Hope everyone is excited for the long journey down to Nottingham (once again). It’ll be fun to have the Scottish teams cheering each other on for once because there’s no better common ground than hating on English teams.
AJ: Pretty weird sentiment coming from someone who lives in London, Dan, but before we get to our battles against the English (and Welsh?), we should first recap Scotland’s Men’s Indoor Regionals. Sorry in advance about the Saints glaze; I promise our mixed and women’s recaps will be less favorable.
UMIR Recap
Most Surprising Team: Saints 2 (2nd, Div 1)
Dan: It’s not often you can say you qualified two teams for Div 1 Nationals, but for them to both make the final and beat all other competitors on the way is a unique achievement for the 2s. It really shows that the ‘power of friendship and vibes’ can bring you a long way.
AJ: That’s true, Dan, but even then, I would never have predicted this. The Hawk Tuahs immediately meshed, taking down the first teams of Stirling, Aberdeen (twice), Edinburgh, and Glasgow on their rampage to the final. I honestly think only having 7 on the weekend helped them, allowing them to quickly build impeccable chemistry and clearly delineate team roles.
Honorable Mentions: Heriot-Watt 1, Saints 4
Game of the Tournament: Saints 2 v Edi 1 (8-7, Power Pools)
AJ: With respect to all the close contests in Bracket Play, the most hype game of the weekend took place on the Saturday as Saints 2 avenged mixed regionals with a huge upset in the power pools. It wasn’t a perfect game, with both teams suffering a couple key drops, but by the end you could visibly see the 2s learning from their early mistakes and punishing a clearly rattled opponent. After seeing Simeon Gruber seal the victory with his now infamous spike and somersault celly, Edi’s Coach and Saints alum Matt Miller surely couldn’t believe the monster he had created.
Dan: Yeah, having some of the Edi women and all three other Saints teams on the sideline made this game electric. This is the game where we really started to realize that the ceiling may not exist for Saints 2 and that the injuries and absences on traditional powerhouses Edinburgh and Glasgow could pave the way for them to go all the way to Div 1.
AJ: Shoutout though to our honorable mentions. You could feel the intensity nigh on desperation in the game between Glasgow and Heriot-Watt to go to Division 1, whereas the Saints vs Strath semifinal was perhaps the cleanest ultimate played all tournament.
Dan: I know you picked the semi-finals because it was the only time you played well all weekend, AJ.
Hon. Mentions: Glasgow 1 v. Heriot-Watt 1 (7-6, GTG to Div 1), Saints 1 v. Strathclyde 1 (9-6, Semi-finals)
Breakout Player: Liahm Yard (Heriot-Watt 1)
AJ: Heriot-Watt’s defense may have relied on a fundamentally-sound zone, but Watt’s Captain Liahm Yard served as the fulcrum of his team’s offense, reigning in a few of his more rash impulses that defined him last year and earlier in the season. Especially after losing some key players that allowed Watt to make their surprising run to Div 1 last year, Liahm deserves credit as captain for bringing through a strong class of freshers and leading this team to only 1 point from making it back to Nottingham.
Dan: Fully agree, and Liahm’s team appears to have backed their strong regionals performance with another solid result, finishing 5th yet again at Div 2 Nationals this past weekend. Shoutout to James for being a workhorse in the endzone all weekend, to Max for throwing some insane blades to kickstart the 2s offense, and to Jamie, who AJ felt compelled to look up after rewatching all our footage.
AJ: Somebody’s gotta do the research for these articles, Dan.
Hon. Mentions: James Yuen (Saints 2), Jamie Gatherar (Aberdeen 1), Max McNeil (Saints 2)
MVP of the Tournament: Tony Kavalam (Saints 2)
AJ: I know Dan is still salty he didn’t win Saint of the Week, but his fellow training co-ordinator’s performance as the creator-in-chief for a surging Saints 2 just cannot be overlooked. The trust Tony’s teammates had in him to create offense from the iso space just simplified the game for everyone else. Showcasing incredible chemistry with his flatmate Max McNeil, Tony proved too much for most teams to handle in the air and was absolutely visionary picking teams apart with his airbounce backhand. He even seemed to enjoy playing indoors for once!
Dan: Didn’t help him in the final though.
Hon. Mentions: Angus Bain (Strathclyde 1), Daniel Lindsay (Saints 1)
AJ and Dan’s Team of the Tournament:
- Angus Bain (Strathclyde 1)
- Daniel Lindsay (Saints 1)
- Gavin Angus (Glasgow 1)
- Jack Clydesdale (Saints 1)
- Tony Kavalam (Saints 2)
Hon. Mentions: Daniel Heltberg (Aberdeen 1), Kabir Adkoli (Glasgow 1), Jake Telford (Saints 1), Max McNeil (Saints 2), Struan McCartney (Saints 1), Joe Hurley (Edinburgh 1), Logan Norris-Lambe (Heriot-Watt 1), Will Harrison (Stirling 1)
UMIN Predictions:
AJ: It’s harder to be as confident about these placements as we don’t know as much about the competition, but I personally think this Saints team is deeper than the one that finished fourth last year. I like Saints 1 to go one better and finally earn a Men’s Nationals medal.
Dan: I agree with AJ, if we can step up when we get to the showcase games, this team can go all the way. Unfortunately, I can’t see Glasgow 1 having a very good weekend. Injuries have hit Flung hard, losing three members of their Regionals squad in the last couple months. Hopefully their call-ups can pickup some slack, but it’s tough to be called up for Nationals.
AJ: So true, which is maybe why Strath has taken the opposite approach, bringing a smaller squad to Nats. Strath players have claimed to me that they would’ve beaten Saints 2 if they had crossed paths at UMIR, and I’m excited to see whether they’ll get the chance this weekend. For now, I have them over a Saints 2 team full of players that have been complaining about having to play on hardcourt, but I’m afraid we can’t see either of them making the bracket.
Dan: Or this could all just be a ploy to motivate the Hawk Tuahs once again.
Saints 1: 3rd Place
Strathclyde 1: 11th Place
Saints 2: 12th Place
Glasgow 1: 16th Place
Winner Pick: Leeds 1
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Thanks for reading! Information about the weekend can be found here.