Blackfish Ultimate Frisbee Club upbeat ahead of beach tournament

Kisumu Blackfish Ultimate Frisbee club pose for a photo after winning a past tournament [Courtesy]

Kisumu Blackfish Ultimate Frisbee club captain Esther Omuseni is confident they have what it takes by becoming the first team to win two consecutive tournaments in a row this season when the Frisbee East African beach Tournament kicks off at Tiwi Beach in Mombasa during Easter.

In an interview with The Standard Sports, Omuseni said the team is at their best form having started the year on top after last year’s achievement that saw them represent Kenya in the World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) in Cincinnati Ohio.

“We understand the magnitude and significance of Frisbee championships as a sport and that’s why we have done quite enough training and the team is charged up ready to perform at its best,” she said.

Blackfish Ultimate defeated Uganda Undisputed 11-10 to win the third edition of the 2019 Crying Stone Frisbee Ultimate Championships held at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology in Kakamega over the weekend.

The lakeside team edged out Masinde Muliro’s Kakamega Wolves (i) 8-6 to reach the finals after winning four out of five matches in the round-robin plays against KEMRI Frisbee Club, Kakamega Wolves (i) and (ii), and Nairobi Cool Waters.

The champions lost only one game against their rivals Uganda Ultimate who claimed a 6-3 victory in the round-robin plays of which they recovered to win against the same club in the finals and Omuseni believes they can learn from the loss.

“We lost only one game out of the seven we played and that shows that we are not invincible. The team has to continue training and working hard for us to emerge victorious in the upcoming beach tournament in Mombasa this month,” she added.

Seven teams including two-time champion Kisumu Blackfish Ultimate Frisbee club, Nairobi’s Cool Waters Frisbee Club, KEMRI, Masinde Muliro’s Kakamega Wolves 1, Kakamega Wolves 2, Blackfish Ultimate Academy and Uganda Undisputed participated in the Kakamega tourney.

Kenya will be fielding six teams with the other team coming from our fellow archrivals Uganda.

The Crying Stone Frisbee Ultimate Championships is part of the six annual tournaments within the East African region namely 1000 Discs tournament (February in Kigali) Crying stone in Kakamega (March), Frisbee East African Sand Tournament (FEAST) over the Easter weekend, Lake Victoria Ultimate Grass tournament (June), National Championship (December) and 7 hills Classic (September in Kampala).

Frisbee is a team sport played using a flying disc. The objective of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposite end zone, similar to the in-goal area in rugby. Players may not run with the disc and must keep a pivot while holding the disc.