The Australian Junior teams arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, last Friday. It is normal for the teams to spend about a week in Country before the World Championships because this gives them a good chance to get over the jet lag that comes from 22 flying hours. On this trip the teams took 2 days to get used to the long summer hours of daylight and to work the flight stiffness out of their legs. Some light runs along the Main river, lots of stretching, throwing sessions and being tourists have seen the Aussie juniors get ready to play.

Both Terra and Thunder have played 2 games already on German soil. The first games were in Frankfurt against the local open and women’s teams (and pick-ups). Thanks to the Youth Co-ordinator from the German Frisbee Association (David Robotham) we were able to attend their scheduled training and play against them as they prepare to play German nationals this weekend. I am not sure of the score in the women’s game, but Terra were comfortable winners. Thunder had a good victory too winning 12-4 and 7-2. The games were played in difficult conditions (it rained heavily and become quite cold late in the game) but both teams did well with disc handling.

The next day we moved our headquarters from Frankfurt to Heidlberg. Andrew Gruntovs (our manager) has found us great accommodation and the youth hostel in Heidlberg is fantastic. It is large, modern and clean. It is also close to the zoo and a simple tram ride into town. We settled in briefly and then got into our double deck touring coach (athletes on top and coaches / managers / parents / physios / doctors on the bottom deck) and headed to Bad Rappenau for our next game.

Bad Rappenau is a small town near Heilbronn (20kms away) which is home to the team ‘Bad Raps’. Thunder played Bad Raps and after a good start by the boys (6-1) the local team started to unleash their firepower and Thunder ended up taking half 8-7. The second half was a tough affair for both teams, but Bad Raps ended up taking the honours 15-13. I think that they are looking in good form for the upcoming German nationals. They have a small but talented contingent of players that have just returned from Florence and the German u23 open team.

Terra played against a pick-up team from Heilbronn (and surrounds) and had a good strong hit out. They ended up winning that game 12-9. Thanks to Robin Muller from Bad Raps and Stephanie Scholl from Heilbronn for setting this up for us. :-)

Today we had a rest from training and playing and took the tour bus to Luxembourg for a day as tourists. The team really enjoyed exploring the caves / palace / castle / restaurants / piazzas / museums of this beautiful city and it was a welcome change from our training regime. Tomorrow is a rest day in Heidlberg and on 30 July we will travel to Basel to play against the women from Freespeed and the Swiss u19 team.

You can see the draw for the World Junior Ultimate Championships at this website.

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