Last weekend saw the return of the Octopush Nationals, an annual competition hosted this year at Plymouth Life Centre, Plymouth’s prestigious sporting venue. Two teams representing the University of York Octopush Club competed separately against a number of teams, both amateur and professional, from universities across the UK. Whilst neither A nor B finished the day as victors, it was still a commendable effort from both teams.
York’s A team was constituted of predominantly second years and above, led by skipper Adam Matthews. With this experience behind them, the team were certainly a tour de force when faced with their opponents. In their league matches, York A won six out of eight, only losing to the two Barbarian (graduate) teams that they played. Whilst they may have lost their two playoff matches against Oxford and Sterling, their efforts granted them a respectable 8th place out of the student teams.
York B, led by Team Captain Sam Smith, is made up of mostly first year players, supported by some of the more advanced members. Considering this, their efforts could only be what the team made of it. As a result, despite a valiant effort from the group, York B lost all eight of their league matches, playing against the likes of professionals. Despite this, it didn’t stop them from conquering their first playoff match against Warwick B 3:2, thanks to good leadership from Smith. After a 4:1 loss to Pompey B, the team still claimed a well-deserved 12th place out of the 13 student teams.
Smith spoke on behalf of York B’s feat, telling Vision, “Although we were the least experienced team there, everyone fought tooth and nail in each game and were a credit to themselves; on top of that, winning against Warwick B was an amazing feeling and well deserved!”
Martina Pentrella, Octopush President, was delighted with the two teams’ efforts, saying, “Both teams played incredibly well and I’m very pleased with the outcome of the day. Everyone put in a superb effort into every aspect of the day, in particular the freshers and new members that started playing this year, who improved greatly during the tournament.
Everyone had a lot of fun over the weekend as a whole, which is really what it’s all about!”
University of York Octopush Club next compete this year at the 50th Roses competition from the 2nd-4th of May in Lancaster.