Paganello: Sunday

This is it, this was the day that made everyone miserable at Paga. The weather had been cold and windy, but not rainy, at least not too much.

Our first game of the day was not too early, so that was nice, but it was at this time that I noticed how tired I was. I thought that I was doing pretty well, but even with so many subs and not drinking all that much at the parties, and not even staying out too late, but the lactic acid was filling up quickly in my legs. This was my worst game by far. I had an extremely easy point block on me and an incredibly scrappy catch in the end zone. The thrower probably threw the disc two meters to me, and I was wide open, but for some reason, it still caught me off guard, and I fumbled with it twice, fell over, and ended up finally just holding it against my chest, which was how I kept posession of it. It was pretty much after that that I wasn't played all that much for the rest of the day. But I had also played a lot during the first two days of play, and Simon was trying to equal playing time (at least that is what I am telling myself). We ended up losing (again), with a score of 10:5, ouch.

Between our games we were all mingling, watching games and eating a bit. It was during this time that the cold rain started coming down. Everyone who wasn't playing ran into the giant circus tent, there was barely any room to move. That was something in itself though, fitting that many people into a small space. People were wet and cold, some were in good moods, some teams were trying to warm up for their games. I watched about ten minutes of another game before I gave up because it was so miserable out. The weather didn't let up for the rest of the day. And I am declaring those the worst conditions that I have ever played in, and hopefully will ever play in. Yes, I am from the Chicago area, and it gets cold and wet there. But I have lots of layers and cars to keep your stuff in, and also am always wearing shoes! That was the thing that really did it, it took about five minutes to lose all feeling in almost all of my toes. Both teams played really hard, the other team, Gronical D, called a lot of calls that normally aren't called at that level of frisbee, so that caught us off guard (like off sides). I finally got my lay-out D in the that game. For those of you who don't know, that is when I am on defense, and a disc is thrown to the player that I am guarding, and I need to dive to make sure she doesn't get it. It was something I had wanted all tournament. The teams kept just switching points, and the other team scored one upwind point, and that decided the outcome of the game. The final score was 7:6, them.

During and after the game, most of my team was asking how I was doing, if I was too cold. I thought that I was fine, and doing the same as everyone else, but apparently I looked a bit blue in the face. Our team had somewhat split up where we were staying , and some of the players' hotel was right by the beach, and Martin was going back to the hotel to warm up and suggested that I come. That was probably the best thing I could have done. It took about 15 minutes for me to warm up in the shower. Usually I am worried about my fingers and toes, but when my stomach took a while to warm back up, I realized that I really had been cold down to the core.

And our last game of the day, it was still cold and rainy, but it was the last game of the day. We went out and ready to finally win. It also helped that the team we played was pretty terrible. The only things I can really remember is standing and warming up by Alison (Si's wife) and hoping that my name would be called so I could go play some more. Early on in the tournament, two players had started calling me Hoff, which I am totally fine with, even encourage. But then Simon, who called the lines, started calling me that, but I wasn't used to that, I was used to hearing the e at the end of my name. Oh well, I still got to play.

I can't remember if it was this game, or if it was the last game on Saturday, but I made a play that I am still extremely proud of. Even though I have been playing frisbee for four years, I still feel like I have lots to learn, and really only learn when I go to tournaments because the teams I have played on were either at my level or below it. Anyway, one of our handler's, Andy, threw me a gorgeous disc to the end zone, but it was a floating and was a bit high. I needed to decide whether to jump up for the disc or turn and run for it. I knew that if I missed the disc, I would not have enough time to recover and run for it (which might have been a possibility on grass). In that split second, I turned and ran and had to lay out for it, but it was easily within reach. Things like that make me realize that I am getting better and playing smarter.

As I said, we had a fairly easy win with 5:11, finally! After the game, I pretty much ran into the tent, collected my stuff, then ran back to the hotel. But stupid me forgot that I was wearing another player's coat, and I had played the last point. When my name was called, I threw it to the sideline and totally forgot about it when I ran to the tent. I was reminded the next day of this, and went back to look for it, but it was gone, which sucks, a lot. It is just another way that I am still irresponsible. He said I didn't need to replace it, and it is one of those things I will pay forward.

That was also the first night that we didn't head directly to dinner, and had a fun time somewhat hanging out with the American Gladiators (mixed team from Chicago). We found out that we were playing them the next day for our last game. Food was great that night. The party was fun, we didn't dress up as anything crazy, it was the theme night, but oh well. I had made a bet with another player from another team the night before, and won that bet, so I got a free drink. After be bought my drink, we just stood next to the dance floor for about an hour in half talking to each other and other people who came up to us. It was quite fun just watching everything that was happening around us. We both had games at 8.30am the next morning, and were then really lame and headed back pretty early.