The most fun you can have in Amsterdam
We're hanging with Herbie this weekend. You're invited too!
Friends, it’s that time of the year again. The world-famous, wonderful weekend of Windmill is here! Teams from all over the world are travelling to the Netherlands for a festival of frisbee and, if you aren’t able to be there, we’ll be bringing you all the best action from the whole event!
For those of you who haven’t played Windmill before, it starts today and is run with a Swiss draw. That means the schedule is set just before the games are played so, other than the first games of the tournament, we have no idea who will be playing who. But the Swiss draw does mean that there’ll be more matchups between the best teams, so the games you’ll be seeing will be even more exciting!
The mixed division is the biggest at Windmill, with 40 teams. There’s established club teams from the USA (NOISE, from Madison in Wisconsin, finished second at USAU Nationals last year), Australia (Ellipsis are one of the top teams in whatever division they’re in in the world) and across Europe (GRUT, the reigning Windmill champs, and Disconnection are two of the best mixed teams in Europe) as well as an amazing 15 national teams as they prepare for EUC next month. There’s also some great representation stories, with Chang Chi and the Legend of the 20ish rings made up of elite Asian American players, Rainbow Brigade again returning with a team full of LGBTQ+ players from around the world and Pampered Cats representing as the reigning Middle East and North African champions. There’s something for everyone in this division, and the tussle for the title will be thrilling with the projected top four teams at EUC all competing - reigning champs Great Britain, France, Germany and Ireland.
The open division has 20 teams, and is another with some amazing teams taking part. Condors, from San Diego in California, return to try and go one better than in 2019 where they won silver. Chilly have been one of the best clubs in Australia for some time and will be here too, alongside elite European clubs like Clapham, Mooncatchers and Gentle. There are six national teams here too, with Czech Republic and France dark horses for the title in Amsterdam. We saw Clapham and Mooncatchers last time out, but the Londoners have a roster much closer to full strength this time around and you know they’ll be looking for revenge; if they meet again, it’ll be fireworks for sure.
The women’s division also has 20 teams and looks like another that will be dictated by the strength of the national teams. There’s nine teams preparing for EUC, and we’ll get our first look at one of the favourites; Germany. The Germans have a very strong roster and will be looking to build towards EUC with a strong showing here. France, Czech Republic and Belgium will be teams to watch as well, alongside the elite club teams like jinX, Seagulls, 3SB and Bristol. Electroclit will be taking part from the USA and will probably take home the best name prize too.
This long weekend is going to be amazing. What better way to spend yours than kick back, crack open a solidarity Heineken and enjoy three days of amazing frisbee with your friends from Ulti.TV? Thanks to our wonderful patrons we can bring you games featuring dozens of incredible teams from all over the world. You can join them and help us keep the streams going by contributing to our Patreon!
See you next week for the wrap-up, and to prepare for yet more frisbee from London!