Team Name: Freespeed
Location: Basel, Switzerland
Year Founded: 1996
Website: http://freespeed.ch/
Previous Windmill Appearances: 4
Highest Windmill Finish: 1st
Freespeed poses after clinching first place at Tom's Tournament in Bruges this year.
This fun-loving hodgepodge of men from Basel, Switzerland are a mixture of young talent and a more experienced core of “beardoes.” This formula has proven successful thus far this season, considering Freespeed’s dominant showing at Tom’s Tourney earlier this year, at which they took first place. One of Europe’s longest standing programs, Freespeed is looking to defend their reputation as one of Windmill Windup’s most competitive squads, and expects to play (and sing) their way into the finals once again.
Who are you and what is your team all about?
We’re a team consisting of about half a dozen of experienced players, most of them wearing a beard, that’s why we call them the “beardos”. The rest of the players are between 20 and 27 years old and would also like to have beards (but haven’t any yet).
How many years have you attended Windmill?
The first time Freespeed was in Adam was in 2007, when we didn’t bring enough players for the tough format and ended up behind the top 10. Then we came back 2009 and surprisingly won it somehow. It was, at the time, one of our biggest wins in the club history. 2010 and 11 we failed to win it again and got silver and bronze. So this is our fifth appearance in 2012.
How has your season been going so far this year?
We have only played two tournaments so far this season. At one of the them, the Tom’s Turney in Bruges, we won (notably the biggest European grass tournament after the Windmill Windup). So we’re hoping to do it again in Amsterdam.
Who are some of your top players? And what do they do best?
Sounds cliché, but our top player is the team.
What does your team do well?
On our team there are a few former semi-professional singers. That’s why we really like to sing together. Because of the numerous Ultimate practice sessions we are not able to rehearse singing that much. But after we received some real positive feedback after our last show in Belgium, we want to put more effort into the singing thing.
What makes your team unique?
Our brand new Under Armour jerseys. We’re really proud of them and very happy with the sponsoring. Besides that, we’re somewhat of the typical Ultimate team. We’re true friends and like to hang out together outside of practice.
If you’ve been to Windmill before, what are your favorite memories?
Of course our win in 2009, where we had a magical comeback in the quarterfinal and a very clean semifinal and final.
Why did you choose to go to Windmill this year?
The Windmill is a pretty set date in our seasonal planning. We like the tournament very much!
What are you most looking forward to this year at Windmill?
We’re looking forward to (hopefully) playing in the final on Sunday. We really want to do it again this year!
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