We had the pleasure of chatting with Sean Colfer who will be playing with Thundering Herd Masters at the WMUCC this summer. Sean describes himself as decisive and organized – but is this what his team thinks about him? Find out more about Sean below!

What first got you playing ultimate

So before going to University I only ever played really like five aside with my friends and PE at school. At University I wanted to play American football but I’m not very big – really, I was about 5’7 and about eight stone. So I was very, very small and American football did not go very well for that reason. 

One of my housemates at the time had gone to frisbee because he thought it’d be a laugh and said I should give it a go. So I went along and liked playing it. I was one of the better beginners early on and when you’re good at something you tend to stick around with it. I kept playing through university and in my final year I tried out for Leads to see if I was good enough to play at that level. That was in 2011 and I’ve basically been playing club since. So it’s been 15 years which, in the context of the Masters division, probably isn’t that long but it feels like it’s been a long time.

And what was it that made you stay playing Ultimate?

It’s definitely the people that have kept me playing for as long as I have. All the friends I made at University were a huge reason why I kept going back. Then I made friends at the club team before moving to a different place and then made more friends there. So there’s lots of people I know because of Ultimate now. 

How would you say frisbee has changed you or has it changed you at all that way? You said the people and friendships you made had a huge impact but what about the sport itself?

The friends that I’ve made have been the biggest impact on my life. I’ve been to people’s weddings that I’ve met through frisbee. My girlfriend plays frisbee. A lot of my life has revolved around frisbee the last decade or so. It’s how I made friends each time I moved city. 

I think spirit is something most of the people who play the sport bear in mind at all times. I’ve never played against many people who were badly spirited and knowingly cheating. It doesn’t really happen. Even those at the beginning of their careers when they don’t know the spirit of the game very well. People generally are respectful and it’s just the way it goes. 

The main thing that changed me was taking on more responsibility within the team. When I was younger, I had a quick temper. I would get very annoyed when one of my teammates did something wrong, or if I did something wrong. For the last 6 years, I’ve been captaining teams and taking on that extra responsibility has definitely changed my approach to the game. I’m a lot calmer now on the pitch. I still shout at people every now and again – but it happens far less frequently. And largely, I feel I’m calmer and more mature on the pitch because of the extra responsibilities that I took on from playing.

Now tell me something about the team you are playing with for WMUCC.

The team that I’m going to Limerick with is Thundering Herd. I joined the team when I moved to London in 2015. I was captain for four years  from 2017 until last year. We won a national tour in the UK during the first season I played. The structures changed a bit now but at the time there used to be three of those events a year, so winning one of them was a pretty big deal. There’s definitely been times where we haven’t played our best and everyone gets annoyed at each other. But generally, we just go to the pub afterwards and work everything out and it usually ends up fine.

So how would you describe the team?

I would say the best way to describe the team is in one word, irreverent. Basically, everybody’s friends with one another. Everybody likes hanging out with each other. And that’s what the team is built on. Sometimes we try things and it goes spectacularly badly. And when that happens, we all shout at each other and generally go to the pub after. Everyone has a few too many pints and it all works itself out. I think if you talk to most of the team, we’re probably more of a drinking team with a Frisbee problem. But everyones really been working hard in the preparation for WMUCC.

And if I was to meet any member of your team, or even the whole team, how do you think they would describe you?

So I’m captaining the Masters team in Limerick and I would like to think they would say that I’m organized. That I’m decisive. That I try and make sure everyone feels like they’re fitting in and that their voice is being heard and they have a role to play. Some of them might say that I shout at them too much, or that I am a bit of a dictator, which wouldn’t necessarily be untrue. And a lot of them would make some kind of joke about either my height or Fernando Botero. But yeah, hopefully they focus more on the positive of being organized and decisive. 

How are preparations for WMUCC going for you all?

We’ve been training regularly as a Masters team, once every three weeks or so. The whole reason that we’re going is that most of us have all played with Thundering Herd over the years. Obviously, when we get to this kind of age, there are a lot of people who are thinking they might leave the sport at some point soon. And maybe this would be a nice kind of last hurrah for some people. We want this to be fun with our friends and have been very conscious not to force people to train every week. Some people don’t live in London anymore or have children and can’t dedicate that kind of time every week. So we set a training routine and as long as everyone stays in shape and is doing other stuff, then it’ll be fine. 

Have there been times when you’ve found the whole Ultimate world a bit challenging?

I think the difficult times have been when I was younger moving home after Uni with no Frisbee team nearby. I played with Leeds, but that was a three hour journey away. Then I moved to EMO which was still quite a long way away from me. I didn’t live near anybody so I wasn’t seeing any of my teammates at that stage. And that was challenging because if I wanted to stay playing I had to be very self-motivated. It wasn’t until I moved to London 7 years ago that I was able to be fully immersed.

Ok, it’s universe point and you’re heading out on O – what do you say to yourself and the team to get people over the line?

The big thing is you can’t be ranting and raving at that point. You’re just gonna make people nervous or they’ll be too amped up and frantic making mistakes. The message you want to send is we’ve done this 14 times in this game. We’ve been here before. We scored these points and we know we can score the next. There’s no reason for us to do anything different or get inside our heads. Let’s just go out there. Let’s score it. Let’s have fun and let’s go again. You need to remain calm and try to give people as much confidence as you can.