Alice Bates (she/her), talks about her experiences in volunteering and playing in the inaugural 4 Nations Ultimate tournament.
Playing history: University of Glasgow 2021-24, SCRAM 2023, GUX 2024-present, DDD 2024-present, Scotland 2025.
Alice with her iconic sunglasses after scoring a point.
Photo: Ru Wallace
Purpose of 4NU
An ultimate tournament which allows England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to compete under their own flags has been discussed for a long time within the Scottish Ultimate community. In 2018, a prominent member of our community, Matt Tomlinson, tragically lost his life in an accident. Matt was committed to growing the sport and exposing people to ultimate for the first time. After his death, the Tomlinson family raised money in Matt’s memory, wanting to give back to the sport and community he was so passionate about. As well as supporting several development projects in Scotland, funding was set aside to create a spectator-focused high-level ultimate event.
Organisers Cameron Mackie and Shaun Webb explored many ideas for an exhibition tournament which would be accessible for spectators and provide high-level competition for players from the home nations. Inspired by rugby 7s, with short games running back-to-back on one pitch, the initial plans for Four Nations Ultimate were established in 2019, but quickly disrupted by COVID. After a few years to allow teams to recover from the pandemic, we were finally able to host Four Nations Ultimate 2025 in Glasgow.
Team Scotland.
Photo: Tristan Millington @tristan.millington
How were teams formed?
Captains were appointed at the beginning of the year and were given free reign over how to select their national squad, with creative ideas explored and different processes in each nation.
The Scottish captains opted for the most traditional selection process, with applicants being selected to trial, following which a squad was drawn up.
Wales skipped the trial stage, selecting players from their applications.
Ireland took this a stage further, hand-picking players to call up to the squad.
England favoured democracy, putting together a people’s team. Each team that competed at UK nationals 2024 were asked to put forward shortlists of male-matching and female-matching players from each division who should make the draft. The overall highest-ranked players were selected for the English team.
It was great to see buy-in from top players throughout the UK and Ireland, with strong squads selected. There was also great engagement from the wider ultimate community through social media throughout the process.
Alice celebrating infront of a home crowd.
Photo: Terry Lafferty
The crowd turnout was great, especially given the typical scottish weather!
Photo: Dave Lee
Why did you apply to be involved:
Firstly, I got involved with the organisation side of things by joining a group of about 20 volunteers from different clubs in Scotland. I was excited about the potential for 4NU and to have a high-level event on our doorstep, so I joined the marketing team to help spread the word amongst the ultimate community and hopefully more widely! Volunteering opened my eyes to just how much work goes into hosting an event like this.
I signed up to trial for the Scottish team. Representing your country is a huge honour, and something I’ve always been drawn to, inspired in part by my Dad who plays on national masters badminton squads. Additionally, I was motivated by the fact that playing at 4NU would be a great opportunity to invite friends, family and colleagues along who don’t often get the chance to support when tournaments are usually in Nottingham, Belgium, Poland etc! I also signed up because it would be fun to trial with players from different Scottish clubs!
I actually learned a lot during the trial process. I thought it was pretty unlikely I’d make the squad, and usually I deal with the potential for failure or rejection by acting like I don’t care, even within myself, to avoid disappointment. This time however, I decided to lean into it, acknowledging that I did really want to make the team even if the chance of doing so was slim. Also, when trialling in the past, I inadvertently spent time thinking about other triallists, calculating who I’d have to ‘beat out’ to get a spot.
A key conversation with my friend and coach allowed me to see that this isn’t the most useful perspective, because if 6 incredible FMPs showed up to trial who were better than me, even if I played my best ultimate ever, there would be nothing I could do about it. Realising I can’t control the competition or the selection process helped me to take hold of my nerves, use them constructively and to just go out and have fun at the trial. This mindset might have got me a spot on the team to be honest, as I was able to play freely with great players, in the sun, and a few days later was offered a spot!
Alice in action during Scotland vs. England.
Photo: Daniel Bates
How were trainings structured
We just had one training weekend with the Scotland squad. It was exciting to get kit and play together! Thankfully we were one of the teams with the most pre-existing chemistry and connections, so training was just as much adjusting to the 6-aside format and getting on the same page with structures as it was learning to play together. On the Saturday, we had 2 scrims against GB mixed masters and a wholesome team BBQ, and on Sunday, while we worked on getting the disc off the sideline and handler switches, the real focus was trying not to end up on the ground, as (you’ll have seen if you follow @4nations.ultimate on Instagram,) the heavens opened.
On the organisation side of things, it was really fun to announce captains and rosters on Instagram and see posts shared by clubs and players across the UK and Ireland. We also aimed to engage with the local community; we asked businesses for sponsorship to make the event sustainable and put up posters around the West End inviting people. Scotland players had a session with a freelance photographer, and a couple of local news sites covered the event, which was cool. If I’m involved again with marketing, I’d put more effort into connecting with groups and businesses the ultimate community is already connected with. There can be a lot of noise and advertisements in a city so utilising personal connections can be most impactful.
England narrowly taking the win vs. Wales in the final.
Photo: Tristan Millington. @tristan.millington
Photo: Tristan Millington. @tristan.millington
Overview of results
On the day, it was exciting to see everything we’d been planning and working towards come to life! Volunteers were preparing the site and the teams arriving, dressed in the kit provided free of charge by BE Ultimate. We had sold upwards of 200 tickets in advance, so we were expecting a good crowd. Thankfully, the sideways rain that characterised the Scotland training weekend was nowhere to be seen, although it was replaced by blustery wind, which had a big impact throughout the group games. Alongside the games, there was a ‘fun-zone’, taster sessions, a BBQ and bar.
The tournament kicked off with Ireland coming out dominantly against Scotland, resulting in us going 4-0 down. Pride kicked in, and we brought the scoreline back to 6-6, before Ireland held (7-6), and we weren’t able to score in a scrappy, windy point before the buzzer sounded. Ireland took for first ever Four Nations game win. The group games were fast-paced and really short at just 40 minutes, with 45 seconds between each point in order to keep the crowd engaged. In the second game, contrary to many predictions, England and Wales (7-7). England narrowly beat Scotland (8-7) before Wales beat Ireland (7-5), guaranteeing them a place in the final. Scotland came out on top of Wales (9-5) and then England beat Ireland (11-6), which also sent them through to the final.
Overall, the group games were much tighter than I’d expected, making them more enjoyable both to play in and to watch. There’s no denying the wind had a big impact, and while the crowd may not have experienced the cleanest or most typical ultimate, there were plenty of big plays and last-minute saves to make up for it.
By the bronze-medal game, the wind had died down and the stands were full, and Scotland definitely had the home advantage save a few faithful Irish supporters. The players were piped onto the pitch and names announced over the speakers before play began. The finals were more typical 70 minute games, however there was no points cap, confusing some spectators and players alike. It was a well-fought game, with Scotland taking bronze 16-10. English and Wales players were piped onto the pitch for the final, with all other activities drawing to a close and everyone gathering to watch the finals. The crowd favoured the underdogs, Wales, who weren’t far behind, but ended up falling short to England 16-13, who became the inaugural Four Nations champions. They were presented the trophy by Matt Tomlinson’s father.
All games were streamed live, with commentary and are available on Ulti TV (YouTube). Overall, games were fiercely competitive, driven by national pride, but spirit was brilliant throughout. We succeeded in keeping calls very short for the crowd’s benefit, and all teams displayed excellent fairmindedness. As the Scottish team, we’d been very invested in hosting the event and seeing it come to life, so it was really encouraging to also hear from all of the other teams that they were glad to be invited, enjoyed playing in front of the crowd and that the journey was worth it!
UK Ultimate legend, Dickers' Dad, playing the bagpipes and supporting Team Scotland.
Photo: Ellis Stabler @unstable.shots
What do you think contributed to team success?
As a Scottish team, our games were very close, only losing by 1 point, so it was unfortunate not to make the final. In the first game especially, as you could see from the scoreline, we took a while to focus and get into the game. Bringing it back within such a short game testified to our strength. I wonder if being invoved in organising the event, or even preparing to welcome friends and family, however encouraging that was, led us to be less single-minded coming into games. When we played well however, we played through all of our team, at a good tempo, only occasionally sending ridiculous discs to Joel or Tait in the endzone. The crowd loved it. Mainly, we were motivated by representing Scotland and were proud to host the tournament and play in front of friends and family!
What's next for you?
I’m heading to Euros with my club GUX in September, where we’re hoping to improve our placement from last year, and I’m hoping to contribute more on the pitch. From September, I’m excited to get back on the uni circuit with Flung as I complete a research masters:)
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