GRUT - From a group of friends to European Mixed Ultimate Champion
Challenges
- How to build a junior team mixed
Background
GRUT is a mixed Ultimate Team based in Amsterdam. At the time when they won the European Mixed Championship most of the players were juniors.
Case Study
Several factors lead to the success of the Mixed Junior team
- Most of the players knew each other since they were 12-14 years old.
- Although they came from 4 different clubs, they saw each other regularly (nearly every month) when the Dutch federation restarted its national youth program in autumn 2012.
- these first practices were mixed in setup, although from early 2013 the players divided into a boys and a girls team. Still, everyone saw each other a lot and played against and with each other, also at monthly HAT competition days.
- Although they came from 4 different clubs, they saw each other regularly (nearly every month) when the Dutch federation restarted its national youth program in autumn 2012.
- It helped a lot that especially several girls were very good. The when playing with them saw that and for the boys it - being already boys natural to play alongside them - was no problem to keep doing so. No discs were not caught or thrown badly because they were 'just' girls. These girls (age 14-16) were as good as the guys, always had been.
- playing together as a Mixed team in the Dutch Mixed competition they saw that they, as a team, were already very good in comparison with adults (because of talent they had and the years they had already played)
- these young boys could hang with good adult men
- but especially several girls were better than most of the adult women
- that helped the team to win a national title already in ... 2015
- playing together as a Mixed team in the Dutch Mixed competition they saw that they, as a team, were already very good in comparison with adults (because of talent they had and the years they had already played)
- also at the European scene especially the strength of 4 female players in GRUT helped them to compete very well
- to be honest: the rest of the female players were being used much less (as to frustration of several of them who left the team.
- the guys on the team like a high flying and long gun type of play and tend to 'forget' the lesser female players (as you see in a lot of Mixed teams that don't play 'real' Mixed) but could easily depend on these 4 very good girls
now these strong female players are still the backbone of the team and they tend to train the most as well. The guys are more laid back.
- over the years they brought in several good adult players to bolster the team and that has also helped.
In short I would say that the success of GRUT comes from all the years of playing together naturally AND mostly the outstanding talent of several female players. (Although there are a few male players that lately also have made fame for themselves.)
