Ready to step up training intensity

On tour: Ashleigh Donaldson played ultimate frisbee in the Philippines last year and has been selected for the New Zealand under-20 Kahu team for the junior world championships in Sweden. Picture by JJ Jefferson

ASHLEIGH Donaldson has months of fitness work and training ahead of her and at the end of it is a ticket to Sweden for the World Junior Ultimate Championships.

The 14-year-old from Gisborne has been selected in New Zealand's ultimate frisbee under-20 Kahu squad for the event in July.

Ashleigh said she would have to step up the intensity of her training but the junior worlds were a strong motivator for sticking at it.

She was chosen after playing for Kahu at a tournament in the Philippines in December and then a training camp last month.

The 2020 tournament at Malmo, Sweden, will be the largest junior world championships that the sport has had, with 25 teams in the women's division and 26 in the men's.

The highest placing at the tournament for the New Zealand women's team — sixth — was at Poland in 2016, when Gisborne's Renee Holmes was the event's top points scorer and runner-up MVP (most valuable player).

Holmes has since gone on to excel in rugby, playing for Waikato in the Farah Palmer Cup last year, and she was identified by national selectors as an emerging talent in sevens.

The best result for the New Zealand men's ultimate u20 team, Katipo, was fifth at Canada in 2018.

Ashleigh, who also sings, is excited about going to the homeland of pop superstars ABBA.

“I'm going to sing ABBA the whole time while I'm over there,” she said.

Perhaps not the whole time — she will have discs to throw and catch, and short, sharp sprints to do at the two-week tournament.

Ashleigh said her team had two games a day for three days in the Philippines capital Manila for the Asia-Oceanic champs.

The Kahu side came fourth and Ashleigh said all their games were close.

In ultimate frisbee, both teams have seven players on the field at a time and they score a point when they complete a pass in the opposition's end zone.

It is not meant to be a contact sport but contact is inevitable when two players compete for possession of the disc.

Ashleigh said the weather was hot and humid in the Philippines and the grounds were “pretty hard”.

A few Kiwi players had to go to hospital with injuries such as concussion and Ashleigh sat out a game because of an ankle problem.

She said the players developed their teamwork at the Manila event and it was useful preparation for the junior world championships.

She was delighted to make the 21-strong squad for Sweden.

Ashleigh is putting her hand up for jobs such as babysitting to raise money to help cover the cost of the trip and a Givealittle page has been set up.

Cedenco Foods, BK's Palm Court Motor Lodge and Highway Motel chipped in with funds, she said.

The sport doesn't have regular fixtures in Gisborne but the Gisborne Ultimate Frisbee Facebook group has 125 members and they sometimes organise games or practice sessions.

Ashleigh will play for Lytton High School at the school nationals at Taupo in April.