Scottish Club Season 2024: GUXYZ

Thinking about next season already and which team(s) to trial for? Or simply curious as to what’s going on in Scottish club ultimate? Well, it’s good you’re here, because The Release Point is bringing you summaries from each of the major Scottish ultimate clubs, direct from the clubs themselves.

First up, Corinne Foskey of GUXYZ took us through the team’s debut season!

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2024 marked the inaugural season for GUXYZ, Glasgow Ultimate’s second mixed team. Throughout the season they proved they were the best second team in the UK, and the most spirited in Scotland!

They may be second in Glasgow, but they’ll be first in your heart.

An Origin Story 

Going into the 2024 season, the newly elected captains of GUX, Glasgow’s elite competitive mixed team, were clear they intended to take a smaller squad for the first team. With an abundance of talented developing players from across Scotland, the winding down of SCRAM women’s team, and Glasgow’s reputation for high quality ultimate frisbee following on GUX’s qualification for Euros in 2023,  we knew there would theoretically be numbers to run a second competitive club team out Glasgow. The real question was would there be appetite and the organisation around it to actually make it happen. 

While there were warm conversations with people who may be interested in running the team, everyone wanted to trial for GUX first before committing to captaining a second squad.  This meant planning for the team didn’t begin in earnest until the end of February/March 2024, when myself, Charlie Cooper, Connie Hodge and Rob Aventour stepped forward as leaders for the second team.  

Early on, before we even had a name (our shared planning doc was called G-TBC), it was important to set out our vision, values and intention for the team. We would be: Glasgow Ultimate’s competitive second team, playing with joy and determination. Transparency and emphasis on clear communication was also a real priority for us.

As benevolent dictators we felt a sense of obligation and excitement of the opportunity to shape something new. We wanted to: 

• Set up a new team structure within the Glasgow Ultimate club
• Create a positive team culture that could be a legacy for the future. 
• Become recognised as a competitive team, with a focus on developing players and as a team. 
• Qualify for nationals (aim high, right?) 

For the leadership team it was a strange situation to start with – we didn’t have a final squad until GUX had finished with second re-trials. There were some challenges and ambiguity of would-there / wouldn’t-there be a team for trialists. But we got there in the end, and announced a squad of 33 with players from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Stirling as well as more locally based! (Plus our mascot Panda).  This spread is a testament to the drive and enthusiasm of players across Scotland to play high-level club ultimate.  

We made the decision to take a large squad, as we were keen to develop players. Over the course of the season, between injuries, changes in availability and summer travel, it was to our benefit to have a bigger squad. 

One of our biggest early season dilemmas was the team name! We wanted something that kept the connection with Glasgow Ultimate Mixed (GUX) while also carving out our own identity. Although there were a few contenders, one of my personal highlights for the season was coming up with GUXYZ and I am not ashamed to say that I campaigned hard for it. (There may have been a text at one point saying I’d only captain the team if that was what we called it). 

Our First Season

Having overcome that initial hurdle,, we moved to team building and season planning. We had our team weekend in March and, with the same intention as we had taken into establishing our vision and values as a leadership group, we asked the team what we wanted our combined goals and values to be. A few key themes emerged: 

• The first was on building chemistry and trust as a team. We wanted to commit to playing through everyone, and for each other. 
• The second was on the vibe and team culture – being positive, fun and competitive.
• The third focus area that emerged was a real emphasis on spirit. We set out goals to have an average of 10 or above across all tournaments with a stretch goal of being in the top half of spirit scores at all tournaments. 

Alistair Blincow and Amanda Chan were elected our spirit captains, Elsa Geeraedts our social media lead (thanks for all the cute branding) and Gavin Angus technically our fitness coordinator. Ali foregrounded our focus on spirit with a team presentation and spirit bingo! 

With our vision, values and goal set, the season started in earnest. It began with Manchester Mayhem, GUXYZ’s first ever tournament, where we had our first win! This was a tournament of universe points, with the side often falling behind by a few points and then bravely battling back. With such a large squad, we decided to implement a buddy system to hold people accountable and give a focus for sidelining if you weren’t on the pitch. GUXYZ finished 10th in the standings, with a 1st spot finish in spirit out of 16 teams! 

As captains, we were really pleased with the energy and positive attitude that came out from this tournament. We had a focus on decision-making going into it, which was grounded by a guest coach session from Kathrin Mobius (and inspired by Varun) prior to the tournament, and Phoebe Kwok was voted as best decision maker by the team. 

We returned to Manchester in June for Club Mixed Regionals, where we won 4 of 6 games to finish 7th and qualify for Division 2 Nationals. 

GUXYZ had some great team building, attending Taps Aff tournament organised by Brave Hucks. It was a fruitful trip to East Kilbride as the team won our first tournament! 

Division II Nationals was a slightly frustrating experience. We were tested against high quality teams and at times lost sight of our team plan to play through everyone and keep a calm composure. There were a lot of lessons for us as captains and as a team about how to adapt to different styles and maintain intensity – both of which we improved on significantly in day two of the tournament. A highlight was winning against Thundering Herd 2, which we’re claiming means we’re technically the best second team in the UK! We also had lots of fun at dinner with a custom GUXYZ Guess Who game courtesy of Elsa.  

Our final UKU sanctioned event was Birmingham, We All Play Mixed. . Day two was particularly competitive, with the last three games coming down to universe point.  Relying on our energy, enthusiasm and strong sideline, we came away winning 3 out of 7 games over the weekend. 

Our Tartan Tour showing continued with a second place finish at Surf’s Up beach tournament in Edinburgh, and a third place finish at Caledonia’s Call in Stirling – where we ended the inaugural outdoor season. 

There were stand out performances by everyone across the season, led by our MVP and MSPs:

Reflecting on Year One 

As a foundational year, there was a lot to learn and reflect on. Returning to our season goals, starting with Spirit, we wanted to have an average score of 10, and come in the top half of spirit at every tournament. It’s safe to say we smashed it. 

• Manchester: 1st out of 16
• Regionals: 4th out of 11
• Nationals: 1st out of 6
• We All Play Mixed: 1st out of 11

Ali Blincow gave us a deep dive on the data. GUXYZ played 24 games across 4 UKU tour events. At each of our four UKU tour events we achieved a 10 or higher: 

• Manchester Mayhem: 11.67
• Regionals: 10.67
• Div 2 Nationals: 11.50
• Birmingham: 11.29
  

A particularly proud achievement was receiving  a 4 in spirit at Manchester Mayhem, one of only two awarded in the club mixed outdoor season at all UKU events (shout out to Bristol for receiving the other)! This gave us an an average spirit score across the season of 11.28, making us the most spirited mixed team in Scotland*.

I know I speak on behalf of the Four C’s Leadership Quartet (Charlie, Connie, Corinne, C-Rob) when I say that we’re really proud of what GUXYZ achieved in it’s first year. We saw players grow and develop, the team build chemistry, and had some really memorable moments. We have room to grow on the competitive side and improve skills development. However it was the team culture and building a really positive strong foundation that was central to our vision at the start of the season, and we feel we achieved that. We’re so grateful for all the players who made the season and thrilled that there is tons of interest and momentum behind keeping GUXYZ going in 2025! 

It is an open-ended debate whether it is pronounced GUXYZee or GUXY-Zed (although according to our end of season poll, the North Americans appear to have been persuasive with 71% of the team voting GUXYZee). What is certain is that, while GUXYZ may be second in Glasgow, our first year was pretty special. 

*Stats available upon request, calculated from UKU Sanctioned Events.

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It’s so great to see the expansion of ultimate in Scotland, and who knows, maybe XYZ will be in full competition with it’s sibling team in the next few years? Stay tuned for 2025 trial info!

And look out for more club summaries coming your way!