Nov 28, 2020

It’s been a very strange and difficult year but, denied a chance to show what they could do in 2020, Bristol Open’s players and committee have been hard at work training, planning and preparing to ensure that 2021 more than makes up for it.

Bristol Open’s plan for this season is to build on the exciting foundations laid last year and continue to hone our unique fast-paced play style while improving results, growing the sport, and promoting the city. Recent years have seen the BrO Squad grow and results improve, we have:

• Qualified for 3 out of the last 4 UKU Outdoor Nationals,
• Been invited to compete at top international tournaments,
• Competed against and beaten some of the top teams in the country, 
• Regularly featured large strong second teams,
• Built our partnership with the local university teams through coaching, skills days and regular friendlies, 
• Worked with the rest of Bristol Ultimate to develop a host of new top ultimate talent. 

Regardless of the challenges that 2021 may bring, Bristol Open are looking forward to continuing to build our identity and rise up the rankings. To do this we are creating a new Elite Squad to offer a higher level of training and coaching to the top end of the team than ever before. As well as offering more to these players, more will be asked from them in regards to fitness and commitment in return. The Elite Squad will be made up of approximately 20 players and selected after a series of trials in early spring 2021, this will allow us to make sure that we can recruit the best players possible.

The Elite Squad will form part of a larger Bristol Open squad with the aim of continuing to offer opportunities to players from across Bristol. Future Bristol Open training sessions will see everyone present however drills and games will be sometimes split to allow the highest level play to push the top of the squad and so specialised drills and game scenarios can push developing players to the next level. 

The current team management is highly experienced in building the squad and we will also be introducing a new 2nd team manager to make sure that every player on the team is represented within the management structure. Training sessions will be at least once a week alongside whole squad monthly training weekends throughout the season. The elite squad may evolve over the course of the season but will always form the core of any tournament first team as well as providing senior figures for the second team where necessary.

We want to make it clear that the Elite Squad is part of the larger Bristol Open team not separate from it – all players are expected to work hard for the team and represent Bristol Ultimate. If you get onboard with us then we promise to commit to helping you become the best ultimate player you can be.

2021 Rough Dates (covid regulations dependent) – 

Jan – Expression of Interest Form

Feb – Bristol Skills Day

March – Elite Squad Trials

April – Training Weekends

May – Warm Up Tournament (Hopefully an international tournament)

June – Training Weekends/Start of UKU ranking season

July – UKU Ranking Season

August – Regionals/Nationals