10 of the UCC Ladies attend the SistaSession tournament held in Cergy, Paris on the 6th and 7th of February.

In early February, ten UCC Ladies players headed off to Paris to take part in an indoor tournament. The below is a report from Deirdre Corbett.

On the Friday we finally arrived at the tournament hotel, (taxi driver dropped us to the wrong one first!) we were able to relax and get ready for the matches the next day.

There were three teams in every group and depending on the results of those each team were put into another group stage.

On the Saturday morning our first game was against YAKA. We knew this was going to be a really tough game and it was. We went into the match hoping to gain experience and get comfortable playing in a full indoor pitch. YAKA were great at making catches in the air and a lot of defence was needed on our part. It took UCC a while to get into swing of things but by the end of the 25 minutes our zone was working well and our passes were becoming more fluid. Final score: YAKA 13, Skulltimate 1.

Our second game of the morning was against Miss Fair. This team were not as strong as our last components however we still had to fight hard to get points. The plays were lasting much longer in this game with many turnovers as the teams were more evenly matched, however , Miss Fair had the experience to finish out the points. Final score: Miss Fair 9, Skulltimate 2

Our third match of the day was against Oufettes. This game was really intense and competitive. Again our zone worked well however our play on offence was a bit weak and we were finding it hard to get the scores we deserved. Final score: Oufettes 10, Skulltimate 3.

Our final match on the Saturday was against the home team Sista Vibrations. Although it was the final match of the day everyone played really well and gave it their all. This was the most intense match of the day as both teams had lost all their previous matches and neither team wanted to lose. At one stage both teams were tied at 5-5. Unfortunately Sista Vibrations got the lead and the final score was Sista Vibrations 9, Skulltimate 6.

Although not the score we hoped, Skulltimate played really well and had gelled well as a team over the course of the day. Saturday night, all the teams went to a centre for a meal and the dance tournament. Each team had to perform a dance of at least 90 seconds. It was really good fun and there were mini buses ready to bring us back to the hotel when we were ready. (Skulltimate came second with our performance of 'I need a hero' - Bonnie Tyler!)

Sunday morning our first game was against Phoenix. Again, it took the UCC ladies a while to get into the swing of things and some of the continuation we had the day before was lost. Our defence was definitely our strongest point. Points lasted really long and fitness really came into play in this match. Final score: Phoneix 10, Skulltimate 5.

Our final match on the Sunday was against Tramuntara, a Spanish team. Unfortunately, things didn't go as well for us as they had in other matches. Tiredness was a contributing factor as everyone was wrecked after the weekend and we had lost the intensity in our zone that we had in other matches. Final score: Tramuntara 13, Skulltimate 2.

The final was between YAKA and Fillelis with Fillelis winning in universal point 13-12. It was an amazing match to watch and it was really interesting to see how other teams set their stack and put on a zone.

Overall , it was a great tournament and one that we will hopefully return too. It was really well run and all the teams were really welcoming. It was great to see so many woman players with a total of 18 teams entering.

The theme for the weekend was 'everything for the girls' (or something to that effect) so we had male cheerleaders entertaining us for some of the day. The facilities were really good with the Hotel in walking distance of the Main complex. The language barrier was a bit of a problem, especially when it came to speeches but with a lot of hand gestures and facial expressions we got through it!