Welcome to Wonderland
Welcome to PAGANELLO

Our team, Cambo Cakes, sprouted from the Amsterdam Ultimate club Crunch. Despite being one of the largest clubs in the Netherlands, Crunch didn’t have a top contending tournament team… yet.

As the desire arose amongst some of its members to play high level ultimate and be serious European competitors, a few bright minds got together over a nice steamy meal of Cambodian Pancakes and devised the team’s goals. To become a top contender on the European stage and increase the quality and level of ultimate played in Amsterdam.

Priority is given to the development of younger players, oftentimes in conjunction with the local student team NUTS. The Cambo Cakes today strive to step up their standing in the European competition through continuous improvement of the fundamentals, develop cutting edge plays and tactics and keep getting fitter, faster and hungrier!

In their short history we’ve always shown to be very eager for the disc. Sometimes this wasn’t channeled optimally, which sometimes resulted in somewhat poor Spirit feedback. Therefore we’ve made a specific effort past season to improve this part of our game. We were very proud to see that rewarded in a third place at last years xEUCF Spirit ranking.

Last year was the Cakes first stab at Paga. We narrowly beat our seed to finish in the top half at 23rd. Obviously we’re looking to improve on that this year, and we’ve brought a pretty stacked team to make that happen. We’re bringing our mean handlers and receivers to Paga city for a nice mix of huck and flow.

The one to watch this year will be Strawberry Tom, our D-machine. Fast, Furious, and way better looking than Vin Diesel. But teams that play us will also have to worry about our height. Don’t be surprised when our combined length is much taller than yours – to the extent that the difference adds up to an additional player. You might end up playing 5 on 6 in terms of tall.

One of last years Top Moments must have been beating Fire of London in an all out hangover fest during the first game of some morning after some party. Our great hope this year too is that we’ll play games when hung-over and win them. A true Cake doesn’t fear the headache.

Our goals for Paga this year are simple. Beat our seed, and have a great time. Paganello is a great tournament to square off with high level players from all over Europe and the world, but for us Cakes it’s mostly a social tournament where the parties are as important as the games.

See you there!!

by Steve Giguere (Blockstack TV)

Every year a good number of us travel around Europe playing connect-the-dots between age old events like Tom’s Tourney, to herb infused mega-tournaments like Windmill Windup, to the private party feel of Bar do Piexe, and to the end of season chill-outs like the Copa Cabana. Of course the combination highlight / kick-start of a year of good times is always the full monty, the mother-load, the World Beach Ultimate Cup known as Paganello.

For each of these beloved events, many of the teams we see on the schedule are known to us only by reputation or name, infamy or fame. A well travelled player would need to experience all divisions at all levels to meet the full spectrum. That said, there is a team out there that represents this entire spectrum and has grown in recent years spanning the divisional boundaries at many events offering all on-comers a spirited competitive game combined with a “joie de vivre” found only in one country.
Ah Ouh PUC is the largest club in France and represents a true melting pot of players of more than 20 nationalities, brought together around a common passion : Ultimate frisbee.

The players of Ah Ouh PUC embrace the spirit of the game and enjoying the sacred honour of participating in the only sport without referees. These values drive team members to become the best player and person possible both on and off the pitch while providing a welcoming atmosphere for new players to learn the game.
Since its early days in 1989, the club receives dozens of players each year from all across the Frisbee playing planet who are drawn to the City of Love. Starting out initially on the Invalides Place at the heart of Paris and known that as ‘Invalides’, the tradition from spring to autumn was to play every Wednesday in an incredible league style.  Countless players have enjoyed the unique French hospitality on these splendid fields, sharing the evening drinks and spirit of a Parisian sunset nestled between the Grand Palais, the Golden Cupola and the Eiffel tower.
In 2006, with the quality of the fields were showing the signs of years of competitive play, they took the opportunity to change their Invalides ways and moved house to the ultra modern site of the Paris Université Club or…PUC. Players fortunate to have played in the 2008 EUCF will confirm often with envy that this venue and it’s hot shower cloak rooms and perfect turf is nothing short of incredible. With this strength behind the newly rebranded Ah Ouh PUC (a demon of Mayan origins), they expanded from 45 players to more than 100 in 2008.

In spite of the growing pains associated with such a large club, Ah Ouh PUC continue their culture of sharing and learning (the mantra of the Invalides) by organising free competitions for local and national teams.Additionally with the success of EUCF behind them they are also planning to launch more larger scale tournament in Paris.  Keep your eyes on the ffindr for France!
This season Ah Ouh PUC are back to enjoy the good vibes on the Rimini Beach.
Loic Fromentin from Ah Ouh PUC: “We are coming for the fourth time in a row in the mixed division and every year the club makes of Paganello a climax in the season.”
“What is the best souvenir for us ? It is about what happens on the fields each year is a new experience. In 2007 a third of the team was Australian and brought us an incredible “head up ! cheer up !” Spirit. In 2008, we played hard under the rain, wind and the cold, but results were only better in the end. In 2009 the Invalides coming in open division made the party even bigger for the club, cheering each other until the break of dawn.“
All of us have been tempted to say that what happens in Paganello stays in Paganello. For Ah Ouh PUC however, they will be meeting all of their old mates and new friends who have shared games with them at Paganello many times throughout many events in the coming season. “That will make the Paganello spirit last all year long.  Amarcord!”
So if anyone is thinking of visiting France, look them up,  bring your shorts and jersey and know that you’ve got a French connection in the city of Paris!

by Steve Giguere (Blockstack TV)

Paganello regulars and specifically those open players who compete amongst the elite are familiar with some of the powerhouses that have graced the sands of Rimini over Paganello’s 19 year run. These include No Tsu Oh!, Collard Greens, Scandal, local favourites Cota Rica, SeXXXpensive and of course the recent 2009 victors and baby blue bastions of Beach, UTI.
My first encounter with UTI was on the grass back in 2000. It was UTI’s final year on grass and my first season playing in the UK. One of the first matches I watched featured UTI and I thought to myself that Great Britain has got something up its sleeve that the rest of the World was going to find out about very soon.  At the time teams from Britain weren’t considered anywhere near the international contender they are now. The following year in 2001 in their 4th Paganello appearance UTI came to their first Paganello as a dedicated Beach team since hanging up their grass boots. They won the Open division.

Alex Bowers has been there from the start and not only was a cornerstone of UTI, but also the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the UTI’s legendary grass presence, Clapham Ultimate. Alex Bowers: “We were a bunch of ex-students who formed a team to challenge Shotgun who had won everything in the UK as long as anyone could remember. We let anyone play for us who was young, stupid and could put up with being yelled at constantly by Guy Bowles. We were successful, winning UK Nationals and the Tour twice before disbanding in 2000 when everyone moved away from London. People used to like watching us because we’d make amazing layout Ds then have no idea what to do on offence, and every so often Guy’s raging fits would turn emotional and he’d have a nervous breakdown on the pitch. Now we’re just a Paganello team.”

UTI stands for “Under The Influence”. The name implies a certain willingness to join the other 1500+ party goes for 4 nights of near obligatory carnage. Some might say that gone are the days when UTI were compared with younger Paganello wildcards like Huck and Sea who consistently attempt the near impossible feat of winning at both party and pitch.  That does not mean however that UTI do not earn their moniker! Alex Bowers: “I took part in the inaugural socks vs no-socks game on pitch 1, 3am on Paga Sunday in 1998. A couple of hours later our numbers had swelled to about 20 naked players on each team (zone defence was proving effective) including a couple of Italian passers-by who had no idea what we were doing but happily removed their clothes. It was only broken up by a police raid, but they were having just as much fun trying to hit us with truncheons as we ran to retrieve our clothes. I think in order to compete at Paga a team needs to put in as much to the parties as they put into the Ultimate, and things will work out from there.”

It’s 2010 and after 12 years of UTI at Paganello and 3 Open Division titles, UTI has changed from what was primarily a squad of the UK’s finest to what appears to be a 50/50 split between Clapham’s Beach lovers and faces you might recognise from the Swiss Ultimate National squad. I asked Rob (Randy) Alpen how this transformation took place and what we could expect UTI to bring to the table for the 20th anniversary edition of Paganello.

Rob Alpen: “The 50/50 split was born from the barnburners played between Clapham and Flying Angels over the years in European club matches. We always had a very high respect for each other, both from a sporting and a spirit perspective, so we decided that we had to team up at some point and Paganello seemed like the perfect venue. We had some heartbreaks along the way and almost didn’t even reform in 2007, but I’m glad we did! As for cohesion, I think it’s really the fusion of the Clapham and Flying Angels playing styles that keeps us on the same page. We all know the roles that we need to play and we never blame each other, we just get one with the job and have a never say die attitude. It also doesn’t hurt when you have a man like Lorenz putting up those beautiful discs!
UTI is fairly similar to last year with the exception that we lost Adam Holt who is now living back in Seattle, but 2007 UTI Championship team member Steve Dugan (famous for his sudden death hand block vs Catch 22 in the 2007 semi) is coming back into the fold. Clapham captains Colin Shaw and Marc Guilbert (2007 team member) will also be joining us this year to bolster the ranks. I however am one year older, slower, and fatter and don’t really play very much these days, so that should balance out any gains from fresh blood.”

Those of us who were there for the UTI vs Los Ox final last year will remember Rob’s extended layout take over USA legend Alex De Frondeville. Speculators are already reserving seats for the anticipated final of UTI vs Los Tiger (a reformed Los Ox). Can they do it again, will be it the year of the Tiger, or will any one of SeXXX, Stinks or Scandal shake up the party?

I asked Rob for his top Paganello Moment…
“2007 and 2009 winning assist, I threw both of them. Nothing sweeter than watching that disc sail through the air knowing you’ve just won the best tournament in the world with the favourite bunch of guys you’ve ever stepped on a pitch with”