Prague Winter is an important fixture in Mantis’ tournament schedule. It’s a great way to start into the new year and also serves as a teambuilding weekend. This year’s Prague Winter also served as Mantis tournament debut of Juliette Sanseigne, Olga Kovalenko and Isasbel Hagenlocher – wonderful new players who will change up our flow. A special shout-out goes to long-time member Cosima Brodure, who came on the night train from Switzerland especially to play with us.
Prague Winter is an international 5vs5 Open and Women’s indoor-tournament on artificial-grass fields under a bubble dome at Strahov Stadium. 12 Open and 12 Women’s teams compete in 30-minute games on two days. Mantis started in the afternoon pool on Saturday, together with 3SB, Poland Women’s National Team, ZUF, Vychodni blok and OutSistersz. While it was freezing outside, it was comfortably warm under the bubble dome and with always only half an hour between our games, we never got a chance to grow cold.
We secured a win in our first two games against 3SB and the Poland Women’s National Team, but lost the following games against ZUF and Vychodni blok. With a win over the OutSisterz in the last game, we ended the day as third of our pool.
Defying ice and cold, we made our way through the park and down the hill to the party, sliding down the frozen paths and stairs any way we could. At Le Mirage, our host generously provided Mojito buckets to all who danced, but even without that encouragement, Mantis tore up the dance floor, sang with the DJ, played table soccer, socialised with friends both old and new and generally partied until the early morning hours. Of course, we got our fair share of Mojito too.
On Sunday we started at nine o’clock with a game against our best frenemies Box, which we lost, unfortunately. After two more losses against Vychodni blok and ZUF, we ended the tournament in 8th place, but came 2nd in the Spirit rankings.
Overall, it was a marvellous tournament experience. We want to express our thanks to the wonderful organisers of Prague Winter, who were excellent hosts and all the participating teams, who provided great mood and great spirit on and off the playing fields. Also, a special thanks goes to our non-playing coach and captains, Katharina Meissl and Linda Liebig, who provided coaching, called the tactics, and kept the volume on the sidelines high.
Mantis Roster
Nele, Yvi, Lisa, Julia L., Ting, Juliette, Kathi M., Cosi, Linda, Isi, Paula, Flo, Olga
