John Doherty

 

               

What year did you begin playing Ultimate Frisbee? 

September 2010   

 

How did you start playing?        

I was walking around UCC some weekend bored and there were a few club stands set up. Saw one for Ultimate, sat down for a while thinking if I'd head home, or go over to that stand first to see what it was all about. Decided to head over, and Ferg happened to be there, and after a quick chat about it and me he said ''You'd be great at it'' and sure I couldn't turn down the chance to be great , haha.

 

Who was your first frisbee crush?          

There was one or two alright looking wans in UCC when I joined. I was too busy being the smart man with them to make any progress though. But I didn't care, I had my fun, and that's all that matters.

 

What was the best frisbee tournament you ever attended and why?    

Whacking day 2010 was my first, and it was epic the way we won.

UK Nats 2013, because I finally won UK Nats, and was lucky enough to also be the captain the year it was won.

World u23s in Toronto. I really reconsidered my approach to the sport going forward after how that tournament went. I said to the team afterwards that going forward we should never let what happened to us happen to any team we are part of again. It's half the reason I decided to coach Juniors a few months later.
 

What was the worst frisbee tournament you ever attended and why? 

World u23s in Toronto. I thought I felt bad losing the UK Nats final in 2012, well I'd three games that felt worse losing at this event, all for their own reasons. However as I said, this actually was a benefit going forward. It was just a pretty terrible tournament for what we paid being honest.

 

If you were an animal that couldplay frisbee what animal would you like to be and why?

Maybe just for a few tournaments, a slug (But maybe not that slow). It would be interesting to see how much tougher I'd find it to play if I wasn't always the fastest player on the pitch. And no doubt I'd become a much better player technically if I couldn't rely on my speed so much.

 

If a theme song was played every time you were announced onto the pitch, what theme song would you choose?       

I've one song I listen to before every big game, but I'll never let people know what it is.

 

What was your best Ultimate Frisbee moment?

As a player, captaining UCC to winning UK Nats.

As a coach, Juniors coming joint 9th at Worlds. Losing almost every Junior from the year before from the team that came 9th at Euros, and then to essentially build a team in a few months that did better than that team was crazy. As Podge said to me after ''How the f*** did we get 9th?''

Winning UCC Club of the Year and UCC Club Person of the year the same night (Plus got the first shift off the girlfriend that night).

I still occasionally think about those three moments, and I sometimes just smile to myself remembering those moments. Also those events meant even more as they were three highlights of my life in what was a very tough one-two year period for me outside of frisbee. When you are having a bad time, it takes special moments to be things take can make you smile every time you think about them.

 

Which player did you look up to when you first began playing frisbee?

I think on the pitch in my year you couldn't look past Ferg. If the team needed someone to play a certain role, he did it. Need an under cutter to get it, Ferg got it, needed someone to sky someone deep, Ferg got it, needed someone to handle, Ferg could do it. Maybe I just admired him too much then, but I've never seen a player seem so much better than everyone he played against than Ferg did at times in my first year playing. He made other teams Irish senior players look like beginners when he played for UCC.

 

What player do you look up to at the moment 

There are different things I look up to in lots of people. One thing I do like though is seeing new players as eager to play as I was when I first started. If I had drive like that to improve every day, no doubt I'd be a much better player than I am now. Trying to get that drive to improve back again is not an easy task when you have been playing a few years.

 

Have you ever played a joke on one of your team mates?

When I play a joke on people, it tends to end badly. Best to leave them forgotten , haha.

 

Where do you see your frisbee self in 5 years time ?   

GOAT and Toronto Rush. I've been to Toronto, and would love to go back there. Now they have semi pro teams, which pay for your expenses to play the best players in the world, and they have one of the best club teams in the world. Defo going to go there for a year or two to play at some stage. Although I don't want to go over and not make the teams, so I'll have to get that drive to improve back again for a year or two before going.

Also, hopefully in the next year or two I sort my non-frisbee life out, and find some way to make a lot of money when I do go there. When I put my mind to something, it tends to end well, so now I just need to decide what I want to put my mind to.

 

What was the best frisbee team you ever played on and why?

IVs and UKs 2013. All round balance of the team was insane.         

 

What was the best frisbee party you were ever at and why?     

Believe it or not, I'm not really big into parties. I'll occasionally go a bit mad at one, but I've never really been at one where I couldn't wait to go back next year. I enjoy the craic with the lads in the hotel rooms and pitch side much more than the hitting the pub drinking aspect of weekends away with teams I'm on.

 

Do you have any other hobbies

Not really. I'm a bit useless the last year or two. Kind of just deciding what I want to do with my life, and until I fully decide and go for it, I'll probably just be playing and coaching frisbee.

 

Have you ever thought about quitting frisbee?             

I actually thought about quitting after the first session. I actually wasn't going to go back as it didn't seem that good. I just happened to be doing a few laps of the running track a week or so later, and saw the first team playing in a game that actually wasn't just turn after turn, and I decided I'd give it another go.

I've had lots of times where I felt I needed to take a break from playing, but didn't. I think last year coaching Juniors was my biggest break from playing, as I focused on coaching a team to do well, rather than pushing myself to do well.

I think something really bad or stupid would have to happen for me to ever completely cut myself off from being involved with frisbee. It really can be whatever you want it to be, serious, or fun, so you'll always find some aspect of the sport you are happy to spend time aiming towards. Not many sports can provide that in a team environment.

 

Why do you continue to play frisbee?  

I continue to be involved in it because I've gotten so much out of it, and continue to get so much out of it on a day to day basis. Where else can you play or coach for your national team inside 3-4 years playing. If I could find a way to make a real living off being involved in Ultimate, I'd do it no problem. Maybe in the coming years there will be some way to do that, and hopefully then all the time I've spent on it will pay off for me. And if it doesn't, who cares, because I've loved every minute of it up to now anyway. 

 

Choose your ideal frisbee player mush-up         

Myself if I could be 100% motivated all the time.

 

An interesting fact about you that people should know               

This is not the first interview I have been asked to do for a frisbee team. But the other one wasn't allowed to be shown to the public. This interview is me being as PG as I possibly can with my answers.

 

Which character below would you most like to be when playing frisbee?  Anchorman, Spiderman, Batman, or Harry Potter

Anchorman. Being honest, I hold back saying a lot of the things on the pitch. I feel Ron B would enable me to get away with saying all the things I want to say, because he doesn't care if you are offended, he speaks his mind, but does it with a touch of class so you can't tell if he serious or not.                 

 

If you had to pick one person on your frisbee team to be stuck in a submarine with for 9 days who would you choose and why?    

Emma O'B, for conversational reasons of course ;)

 

Do you ever wonder how different your life would be if frisbee didn't find you

 I'd imagine my life would be a lot more different than it would be for a lot of other people. I'd surely have done something with my life by now in terms of an actual career. I'd probably have a job, and given I don't want to be broke all my life, I'd probably be doing fairly well for myself by now. But at this present moment, I'm happy being constantly scrapping by and being able to do what I want, when I want within reason. In the next few years time I'll have to change that, but you're only young once, so you might aswell do what you want, rather than whats expected of someone your age if that's what makes you happy.

 

 

What is your dream job

Getting paid like a Premier League footballer to play frisbee

 

Do you have any nice saying - frisbee or just in general - you would like to share with us?

Handy that this is the last question. I can end it how I end numerous conversations, and I can say ''CC''.

 

Thanks Doc!!