Women's Team Spirit Win World's 2004

2003 saw the first Irish Women's Team ever compete in EUC03 in France. We entered as a tyro team and finished 9th out of 9, Sparky and I as designated captains (from a bit of coaxing from Dominick and Brian) had begged, stolen and borrowed to get women on board......what we did manage was to gain a reputation of being a highly spirited team....this was somewhat accidental as our knowledge of the rules weren't the sharpest but perhaps we were known best for our off field antics....none the less we did well and represented Ireland to the best of our ability at that stage. Team list and results.

The experience of 2003 had certainly put fire in our bellies to improve and in 2004 we went to Finland as a non-tyro team. Team list and results. We were improving and managed to have a no bagel tournament. 

Irish Women's Team 2004:

A lot of hard work from Brian helped us gain knowledge and experience throughout the week (thank you Brian) and we really started to show our true colours on the field battling with determination and fairness! Especially in our tight games against the Russians. When we rocked up to watch the finals (well and truly hungover) we were absolutely over the moon to be announced as Spirit Winners!!!!! I think we owe a lot to the Irish Open Team (Open Division Spirit Winners) at the time who encouraged us the whole way through the tournament, it may have been easy to let our heads drop but the lads tirelessly cheered us on with countless renditions of 'You're just too good to be true'. World's 2004 blooded some of our strongest international tournaments to date and it really is a pleasure for me to say that I was part of the team who really started to make things happen for Irish Women's Ultimate. I just hope I've got more miles on the clock to experience another Spirit Win! To win alongside the Open Team was a great testament to the good reputation that Irish Ultimate holds, I just hope that we can all uphold this as we grow....the future is in our hands! I really think it is important to highlight for future National Teams that whilst you need to focus on your team's performance and your individual performance to have your fellow country men and women there supporting you in the green white and gold is something very special indeed!

World Women's Spirit Champions 2004 with the trophy:

Fiona Mc Donald