The Wolfenden twins, Michael and Trevor, led the Calgary Canons’ to a successful showing at the U18 Ultimate Frisbee Nationals in Ottawa as team captains.
The pair credits their experience at Nationals in Edmonton last year to their being named as co-captains this year.
“We, apparently, we demonstrate good leadership roles,” said Michael.
The leadership displayed by the twins helped to move the Canon’s up the standings at Nationals.
Due to the nature of the tournament, the Canon’s couldn’t have placed on the podium this year.
They came into the tournament as the 24 seed, dead last. Their goal was to move up the standings as part of the team’s long-term plan to compete for the gold medal two years from now.
“We came out of the tournament at 17th,” said Trevor.
“So we jumped seed…which is all we wanted, so that was perfect,” he said.
Coming in as a close second to succeeding in their goal was watching their teammate and fellow Chestermerian Easton Fritz complete one of the toughest plays in Ultimate Frisbee.
“He intercepted in the endzone and got a point off it,” said Michael.
“It’s one of the top plays you can do,” he said, “we stormed the field picked him up and packed him off because that kind of stuff happens once in a blue moon.”
Along with their successes on the field, they both believed that the tournament was a really good learning experience, especially for the rookie players on the team.
Another advantage for the Canons next year is that all but three of their players are eligible to return to the team next year, meaning the experienced gained this year will continue forward with the team.
As team captains, the Wolfenden’s were able to play key a part in the team’s learning experience.
Going into the tournament, neither of the twins was expecting to be named captain. They said that the coach pulled them aside and gave them a heads up that they would be the captains at Nationals.
“We were honoured,” he said, “we didn’t expect it was just a big surprise.”
Fortunately, the additional roles didn’t add any extra pressure to the boys as the prepared for their games.
“We just played how we normally did,” said Trevor.
They said that while their role meant they had to provide leadership to the team, it wasn’t actually stressful on the field.
“Most of our roles are very rule based on how we have to act in the tournament,” said Michael.
Amongst their duties was participating in the disc flip, Ultimate’s version of the coin toss and calling the lines during the game.
Beyond the experience and elation of finding success on the field, both Michael and Trevor had a lot of fun being tourists with their team. This was the twins first time visiting Ottawa.
“We all jumped on a plane to Ottawa,” said Trevor, “all stayed at the University together.”
“This is so cool,” he said.
They both really enjoyed the experience of staying at the University for the tournament and eating their meals on campus.
The meals, specifically having chocolate milk on tap at the cafeteria was a highlight for Trevor.
“That was so cool,” he said.
The team also had fun off campus taking a tour of Parliament together as well as visiting the Canadian Mint.
