Spring Break, Week 2

Now to the actual tournament.  Monday started out pretty slow—we only played one game—but over the course of the entire five days we played twelve total games that were almost an hour and a half long each.  It was a lot of Ultimate Frisbee.  I didn’t play as much as I wanted to, though, because I was injured on the second day when I landed with all my weight on one knee and hyper-extended it (maybe a minor ACL sprain?).  I had to sit out the rest of that day, but on Wednesday I got it checked out by the physio and he cleared me to play.  Just needed an entire roll of tape around the knee for the next three days.  The hairs are actually just starting to grow back.

Hammertime!

Nonetheless, I still made meaningful contributions.  Like when we played Newcastle, who ended up finishing fourth in the tournament.  The day before (Wednesday) was our game against Macquarie, who we needed to beat to keep our medal hopes alive.  We ended up losing on Universe point (next-point-wins) and handed Newcastle our would-be spot in the semifinals.  So on Thursday against Newcastle we played for pride and a little revenge.  After falling behind early and down a couple points at half we fought back to tie the game at ten.  Then the hard cap went off (the time limit was reached) so it turned into a game to one—next point wins—the same situation we were in the day before.

I took myself out of the game because I thought I was a defensive liability.  I couldn’t move very well because, on account of all the tape on my leg, I couldn’t bend it more than 70 degrees.  Not ideal for sticking with your man.  So for the beginning of the point I watched from the sidelines.  That changed when one of our guys took an elbow to the nose and I got the call.  The rest of the story after the jump...

When I came into the game we were on defense and Newcastle had the disc around midfield.  I was on dump D marking the handler, or the safety option in case nothing opened up downfield.  The stall count approached 10 so I knew the disc was coming my way.  Sure enough it did and I got my hands up in the air and knocked the disc down.  But then I heard “foul” from the player I was marking.  The crowd (which had grown large at this point because everyone else had finished their games) gasped and there were groans of outrage.  All I said was “contest” (he claimed I knocked his arm with my elbow, but I don’t remember any contact) so the disc went back to the thrower with a high stall count. I blanketed the dump again with I think the best dump D I have ever played, and the guy with the disc was forced into a desperation throw that harmlessly landed on the grass.  Turnover.  Our disc.

MUtation 2010

Someone on my team picked it up and I cut out and then in, towards the disc.  My teammate threw it my way, but it was too short.  Without time to think I laid out, diving towards the disc, arm outstretched, hand open.  The disc was in my hand and then I was hit from the side as my defender (the same guy) laid out as well.  My hand released the disc and it skidded a couple feet away from me.  I stood up, paused, looked at the disc, called, “foul.”  The response was “uncontested.”  It was my disc.  I picked it up, tapped it in, then passed it off to a cutting teammate.  We went on to score on that possession and win the game.  The rest of the team rushed onto the field and we celebrated in the end zone.

After every game of Ultimate in Australia both teams get into a circle with arms around each other to talk about the game and everyone is supposed to be between two opponents.  You know who I ended up next to?  Yup, the guy I ended up marking on the last point (and who then marked me).  He did not look too happy.

Wow that kids has hops.

We ended up finishing fifth in the tournament out of 17 total teams (there were nine in the top division).  It was a real close tournament and there was a lot of parity among the top teams; we beat the fourth place team and lost to Monash, the first place team, only by the score 13-10.  These games were probably the most intense and meaningful ones I have played not just in Ultimate Frisbee, but any sport.  I’m glad I latched onto the team and got this opportunity.

Oh yeah, and the parties were great too.  People take partying during Uni Games almost as seriously as they take the games.  The organizers booked out multiple venues each night just for the Uni Games participants and every night had a theme.  I included a photo from the gender bender night for your viewing pleasure.  Enjoy.  I stuck around in Perth for a few days after Uni Games ended so I’ll write up one more post about Spring Break.

Yeah...