Timeout with… Rob Schumacher!

Welcome to the first post in a new series (hopefully!). SB produces players who go onto great and wonderful things that, sadly, us peeps still stuck in Cambridge don’t often hear about. We’re gonna try and find those interesting people and ask them a few questions, to see what Cambridge Ultimate did (or does) for them, and where they’ve gone since leaving this little patch of the fens…

Rob was here from ’06-’09, where he had a stellar career mixing high living and high skying huge groups of people. He’s since moved to London town where he plays with Fire and for GB Open (as well as a number of other teams I’m not even gonna try to list).

Enjoy!

TO: How long did you play with Cambridge and at what levels?

RS: I played with SB for 3 years. I started playing at Jesus college in the second team and then worked my way up to the SB first team. In the second team where I started we were happy to score a single point in the second game we played. And the first team played in A tour, so there is quite a gap, and I played everywhere in-between.

TO: Looking back, how did your time with Cambridge impact on you as a player?

RS: Well, it changed my life! I still play a lot of ultimate these days, and Cambridge is where I learnt about the sport. I’d never even heard of it before! I had a lot of time, doing a maths degree, to throw every day. I learnt all the basics, how to catch, throw and poach at SB.

TO: What was your sweetest moment in a Cambridge shirt?

RS: Scoring the universe point in an upset quarter final victory against ro sham bo at uni nationals. Pretty much any tournament with SB was a lot of fun though!

TO: What’s gone down since you left Cambridge?

RS: Since Cambridge I’ve played for countless fun teams, including the mixed team Good Lord, with lots of great and fun players. I’ve also represented my country (Germany) at beach worlds, coming 2nd in the mixed division, and my other country (GB) at Euros coming 2nd in the open division. I’m hoping to upgrade some 2’s into 1’s in the future and actually win some stuff. In London I play for and captain Fire of London, which I joined because I knew Nick (Wing Wong) Wong and (Fatty) Jon Middleton and stayed there because it’s fun! I like picking up for good teams all over the place – it’s nice to play different styles of ultimate, and meeting new people.

TO: Have you got any hints, tips or advice for up-and-coming players?

RS: To get better when you’re at uni is quite easy: Find a throwing partner that likes throwing as well and throw lots! Throwing is the aspect of your game that will improve quickest, and you’ll get the most out of! When you know the basics of the game a great way to improve is watching other people do things they do well, and seeing why. I like watching great throwers throw, great cutters cut, and learn from what they do well. Even if someone is a “worse” player than you, they might be better at some aspect of the game, and you can learn from watching them!

TO: In one sentence: what is your ultimate philosophy?

RS: Play hard, have fun.

TO: Anything else you’d like to say?

RS: Play with as many different people as possible, it’s part of what makes ultimate so fun.

Thanks to Rob for answer our questions! Tune in next time…