World Ultimate Championships 2024 | Joel Terry

After becoming an EUF silver medalist last year with GB Open, and despite having shoulder surgery earlier this year, Joel Terry is back in action and ready for WUC. He’ll be playing for the GBO squad once more and is reprising his role as spirit captain. Joel is 27 and currently based in Glasgow, after a childhood in Nottingham. He captains Alba, coaches Glasgow University Ultimate (FarFlung), and does a PhD on the side. He spoke with Elise Camilleri-Brennan about his favourite team experiences, his thoughts on being a GB athlete, and how unimpressed he is with Australia.

(Featured photo by Showgame)

When and why did you first start playing ultimate? Did you play any other sports at the time?

I started playing during my first year of univeristy in Glasgow when I was 18. I get asked this question a lot but I am not really sure why I started playing. I do remember it being the one sport I actively looked out for at the sports fayre. I think I had watched Brodie Smith’s trick shots video and had maybe seen a few highlights before. But yeah, I can’t remember the actual reason for wanting to start playing. 

Before uni, I wasn’t actively playing any sports other than some casual cycling. I played football when I was younger, but that was quite rough as I’d feel battered for most of the week after. That wasn’t fun, so I stopped. 

What Scottish teams have you played for and which team experience has been your favourite? 

I have played for Glasgow Uni, GUX, Alba and Rampant.  They have all been very different experiences so it’s quite hard to identify my favourite. Some of the big highlights would be captaining FarFlung to two national championships, my first trip to club nationals with GUX and beating Bad Skid at WUCC in 2022 with Alba, placing us unexpectedly in the top 25. 

What was it about that nationals outing with GUX that you enjoyed so much?

Really that it was my first big outing to nationals. We beat Reading, who were meant to be really good, in the first game of the tournament. But, we lost the game to go to Worlds. So we did well as a team, just not well enough. It’s those moments which add to the whole experience and help you build for future years. This was in 2017 and I’d just finished my 2nd year of uni. I’d say it was my first and last time playing with no pressure and no expectations going into it. I was just a young and inexperienced lad.

Do you have a particularly fond memory of playing university ultimate?

I think the best thing about uni ultimate is the amount of time you spend with everyone, so you get some really deep and strong friendships which you may not get with club teams. There’s something about training at 6:30AM in the middle of the winter which really brings everyone together. Plus all the inter-club drama can be exciting.

Back in those early days, was there another player that had a big influence on you?

I tried to pick stuff little things from most of the “better” players back in the day to add to my toolbox. But I think Axel [Ahmala], Phil [Webb], and Shaun [Webb] had the biggest influence on me, with a lot of that influence coming in the form of off-pitch stuff like the tactics, leadership, and understanding of the game.  

Did you have a favourite Scottish fresher tournament? 

I always liked Glasgow One Day the most. It was the first proper competitive outing where you could see how you were stacking up against the other teams. Plus, being only one day was lovely and it meant I had a day to catch up on my uni work. 

Other than the upcoming WUC, when else have you repped GB?

I got selected for the u24s open team, after getting dropped from the mixed team, in 2019. That wasn’t a great tournament – I twisted my ankle pulling on the second day, 20 minutes before my parents arrived to watch, and didn’t really get to play again. But, it did give me an insight into what a week long event is like in terms of the mental and physical toll it takes on you. 

I also was part of the open GB team last summer at EUF. We lost in the final, so that kinda sucked too. But at the same time it was also my favourite experience, in particular the very first training camp. Making a GB senior team was one of my bucket list items. I was fortunate enough to watch some of the 2016 World Championships and I remember thinking “f*ck me they are so good, it would be mental if I could get to that level”. And so to turn up to that first training camp and play alongside some of those players, was unreal.  

So, dislocating your shoulder in the final at EUF wasn’t the lowlight of the tournament for you?

Not really, it’s just part and parcel of playing the sport. If you put your body on the line for the team, you might get injured. It happens.

Not everyone can say they’re a GB athlete. What does it mean to you to represent your country?

Um, I have mixed thoughts on it. In the context of the ultimate community, I feel really proud of the achievement. It’s taken a lot of work to get to this level and I think people are more understanding of that. When it comes to my non-frisbee friends, I feel kinda awkward about it. It’s quite a stupid sport really, and it feels very weird that I’m representing Great Britain and spending all this money and time on my hobby.

Playing ultimate in general, let alone GB too, can be pretty expensive and time-consuming. Why did you decide to re-trial for WUC?

It has been rather gruelling sometimes. Leaving the flat at 6am on Saturday morning and getting back on Sunday after midnight for each training camp hasn’t been the most enjoyable experience. But, that commitment and sacrifice is part of the deal if you want to be a top player, and to be a top player you need to play on the top teams. In saying all that, getting to match up against the best players in Europe is great fun. Sometimes you win your match up, sometimes you lose, but it’s always tough and really pushes me, which I love. 

Do you remember the first time you decided to trial for a senior GB team?

I actually had a trial back in 2018 for the mixed team and I had zero expectations going into that. That felt very out of the blue. I had just signed up as the trial was in Glasgow and thought it would be cool if I got a chance. It give me some really good experience.  

But this cycle was my first proper “I want to make GB” trial. I kinda finished the trial knowing that I had a good trial. I was able to show my expertise and didn’t do anything stupid, so I felt quietly confident. But at the same time, with so many amazing players there with miles more experience than me, I could very easily see them being selected over me. 

What was that feeling like when you found out you got selected? 

I actually found out I made the team mid-way through coaching a training session. Shocking behaviour checking my phone. But yeah, I was really excited when I got the news, it felt very unreal. 

What preparation are you doing to get WUC-ready?

Nothing huge. There are a few fitness adjustments I have been making. There is a greater focus on endurance and running, less so strength training. While you play 2 games a day at these events, the real kicker is having to do that for 3 or 4 days in a row, so I’ve been focusing more on trying to ensure my body has the foundation to withstand that. I have also done some double training days to try simulate that two game a day feeling, letting my body get some experience recovering from that. I’ve been a lot more focused on my rehab and making sure that any niggles I have are getting the attention they require on a consistent basis. 

As well as the above, I’ve been throwing lots, but I would be doing that normally in the build up to nationals. I try to go daily. Even if it’s just 10 minutes in the back garden, I can still toss over 100 discs which is probably more throws than I will throw at Worlds.  

How do you feel about WUC being in Australia?

I guess I’m looking forward to just being there. I went to the last WUGC [now-named WUC] in London and it was crazy to watch those players play at that level. To know I’m going to be there competing is crazy to me. 

In terms of the location, I’m not very hyped by the Gold Coast, I won’t lie. The costs are super high and that means the field is much smaller compared to London, which is sad to see. Also, I’m personally not massively fussed by Australia. There’s not much to do there. I’m sure it will be fun, but I would have prefered it to be in Nottingham.  

Do you feel an increased sense of responsibility or pressure when playing for Alba because you’re on a GB team?

Not hugely due to playing for GB. It’s more pressure due to my previous standards and needing to try match them or better them. When I’m not able to meet those expectations, it’s tough, and it’s normally mid-game so I don’t really have time to make big adjustments or go back to the drawing board. But when I’m in those situations I just try to focus on doing my job to the best of my ability, and go back to the simple things of catching and dumping and trying to take my match-up out of the game to hopefully give a teammate an opportunty to pick up my slack.

Do you need to make any adjustments when playing with your GB team after playing with Alba?

I don’t make too many adjustments, I think the main one is that I will take on less risky options when playing for GB compared to when I play Alba. At that level it’s so hard to get the disc, so once you have it you need to put it in cleanly. I’m also quite fortunate that GB run a very systematic offence, so if you run the systems and set patterns properly, you end up doing the right thing. That just means chemistry is less important, which has really helped.

The biggest hardship is that both GB and Alba have identical plays but with different names, so trying to get the right name for the right training session is always a struggle. 

If you could give your younger self some ultimate-based advice, what would it be? 

I think I have ended up in a good place, so I wouldn’t want to make too many changes to the journey. I guess just sticking with the mantra “fake it till you make it”. That, often delusional, self-belief really made me the player I was. The game is evolving so you need players with the ability to take on more aggressive options, which are often higher risk. So yes, at the start you will turn over or it might not all be perfect. But if you have that self-belief to push through, then at some point it will start to click and that’s when you become more of a threatening player. 

Tell us one big thing you’ve learned about yourself through repping GB. 

You don’t give me easy questions do you…perhaps that playing for GB isn’t really that big of a deal to make it a life-altering thing. It’s just like a normal club team, but more expensive and time consuming. If I had to say something, I’ve learned that I have it in me to play at an even higher level, it’s just going to require a lot more work. 

If you could go back and play for any team again, what would it be and why?

I really regret not being able to play for GUX at Worlds in 2018 so it would definitely be that. I couldn’t afford two world campaigns in back to back years, so I chose to focus on u24s the next year and had to miss out on WUCC. 

What’s the future looking like for you?

In the short term, I will keep pushing for hopefully World Games trials this year. I have low expectations but the experience will be invaluable and you never know what could happen. Longer term, not sure. The last 3 years have been a lot with WUCC, EUC and now WUC, so I would like a little more time to myself. But, the FOMO is real so I will probably keep at it.  

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Hope Australia isn’t too disappointing for you, Joel! Good luck at the tournament! Look out for our interview with Ellie Taylor!