My last tourney update from across the ocean (for a while)

As my adoring public (ok, Wayne) has mentioned, I have yet to update about last weekend, so here goes!

My weekend actually started at 13.22, when I caught the train to Rostock and had to pedal as fast as I could to get to the train station, so I would have enough time to ask if anyone had room on their group tickets. Two guys did, which meant I payed 5euros, instead of 8.50! Once I got to Rostock, I met up with the guy who was driving all the way to Duesseldorf, and he decided to only charge my 25 euros instead of the advertised 30, again, awesome! After being in the car for about six hours, and that was with only minimal traffic, he drove me all the way to the fields (it was about 10 minutes off the highway, score!). But I didn't really know where to go once he dropped me off, so I walked around in the rain for about 30 minutes. Luckily, some of my teammates had arrived and were setting up the tent, so I eventually saw them (thanks Adam for being so tall).

That evening we were only 6 tongues, with the oldest being Garrett, who is 24. I guess the young kids were the ones who were willing to brave it out with the rain. Well, Sonia apparently arrived on Friday night, but came in so late that everyone was in bed. That night we met Kyle, a student from OSU. So of course he knows Toan, and we both got really excited!

A few more tongues slowly arrived the next morning, including Choi who called me up around 7.30am and Meike who arrived during breakfast, and we shared a very long hug. We were still only 9 deep for our first game against the team from Strasbourg. After scoring the first point and being somewhat tired, Kyle was warming up with his team next to the field, so we called and gladly played the game with us. We were also quite lady heavy, which was quite fine. We had the wonderful Lanna again, and it has been really fun to see how she has improved during the year, she has quite hot hands. The first round of games were only 25 minutes. It was really a strange set up, with having four games that were 25 minutes, then the second round of pool play, they were 40 minutes (again, still quite short). Anyway, Wayne showed up in the middle of the game, and Katy made her way to the fields as well (since she came with him and Ian). We won the game 5-2, which is a surprise for MT to win their first game, but a good surprise.

By the end of the game, we had all of our players, which included Ian! Ian tore his acl last year, so it was his first tournament back, and he is always a fun person to have around, and he brought his kids, which was also really adorable! And Ifan, who lives in Duesseldorf, so why he was late, I have no idea.

Our second game was against the German masters. They were using this tournament as practice for worlds. We knew that it we were going to lose the game, but we still fought for every point. Our two greatest points happened in that game. One was one that Louis, Ian's 11 year old son scored, which is great in itself. The other was a long throw to the endzone that our opponents' appeared to have d'ed, but instead of catching the disc, they knocked it down, and it was then fobbling it's way to the ground between about four people, two from our team, two from the other. And as it was doing a ping pong trick against all four of these people, Ian just kinda of grabbed it out of the shuffle. That is why you always try to catch your D's.

Game three was against a team named Bad Skid II (yes, it is a terrible name). It was a team made up of mostly high schoolers, and then three older guys. So the older, more experienced guys would throw it long so the young players could just run to the endzone. We decided to throw a zone on them, which was pretty useful, but then they adjusted to it, and ended up winning it 6-5 (I think, Wayne?).

The last of the 25 minute games was against the host of the tournament, Frisbee Family. Biscuit had trained with the team for about 6 months, and really didn't like them so really wanted to win. And that is just what we did. We won 6-3, I think. It was a total surprise, because when they sounded the horn, I looked at the score, and thought, well, dang it, we lost, but no, the score was in our favor!

After the first pool play, we had a break, and Sonia and I were going to go for a dip (the tournament was called Splash, because it was next to a pool, and that was included in the player's fee) but it was a bit too cold for me, and then it thundered, so they called all the swimmers out anyway. Instead, I decided that napping was a good option, and then had time to hang out with the team and eat a little bit of something.

Our afternoon games have completely blurred together (and I wrote down in my notebook on Sunday how the weekend went), we tied our first game, and then lost the other two. It rained in between the games, but never while we were playing, which was pretty sweet.

After the last game, we had to rush, rush, rush to catch the U-bahn into the city. Since April came along to be our wonderful motivator and also reservation maker, she found a fantastic Mexican restaurant. I know, anyone who has been to Germany, will think that good Mexican doesn't exist, but she found it! A group of us shared a pitcher of delicious margaritas, they gave us complimentary chips and salsa and my meal was a combination of beef with raisins and bananas. It was different, and worth ordering, because of trying new things.

By the time we got back to the party, it was 1am and there were probably only about 20 people at the party (this is a tournament that had 23 teams). The tongues were all hanging outside, and then the bar man decided to be nice to us and give us drink specials (ok, Garrett did haggle him for them), but then once he found out that we were playing them again in the morning, all of sudden the drinks became free. I held back from drinking too much and, with Katy, was just enjoying watching Garrett, Ben and Adam be hilarious. Kyle hung out with us, and gave me a huge compliment on my playing, which still makes me feel great as a frisbee player. We (me and Katy) eventually went to bed, but the boys were determined to win the party, which I heard ended in an arm wrestle which they managed to pull out with the W!

Unfortunately, the next morning didn't go so well, seeing as we lost, quite badly as well. I guess Niko did his job the night before. We were playing quite sloppily, and he was just sitting in his chair watching our drops. Right before last point was called, Ben told him to get out of his chair and play a point. We were on offense, but of course dropped the disc in the endzone. And then we heard Wayne call out, "All right tongues, once the disc comes in." Those of us on the sideline had no idea what was going on, but once the offensive player established his pivot foot, all the tongues on the field (except for little Annabell (Ian's daughter) ran and tackled Niko. The player with the disc put up a long pass, which they managed to drop (probably so scared from little Annabell). We were then able to work up in the field, with a catch and completed pass from Annabell, then eventually a throw to Jo in the endzone, which she had to grab it in between to guys. And she did, then spiked the disc, and it was the greatest point ever.

Our next point was against the French team again, because out of 23 teams, we managed to play two teams twice. But this game was far better for us, and we won. We brought the zone back, and it worked very well in our favor. I also got my first point of the tournament here. Yeah, first point, which is really surprising. Normally I am a top scorer for most teams I play on (unless I am handling), but I just couldn't get open in the endzone, or would pull myself out to handle so we wouldn't clog. Another thing is that it was an open tournament, and we came as a very mixed team. Most teams had a few girls, but would usually play 1-2 at a time, and we usually had three girls on the line. Since I am quite speedy, I would always match up or be matched up against a male, so I usually played in the middle.

Our last game was played against the team from Hamburg, they were only 8 people deep, but were all tall men, oh goody. So we put up a zone, and it worked beautifully, they just kept throwing swill. Awesome! I scored another point, which came from a great D by Wayne and intensity from the cup. It always feels good to win the last game.

We ended up 13th out of 23, so not so bad. Everyone else jumped in the pool, but I had to rush into the shower and get my stuff together. Katy was great enough to wait for me to get showered and ate and chatted with me. It was sad saying goodbye to her, but at least I know that I will be seeing her. When I went to say goodbye to everyone, they got out of the pool right before, so I couldn't find them as quickly as I needed, which was a huge bummer. And the my ride was a bit late, but again, the ride went smoothly again. We got into Rostock at 20.10, but I had to wait until 21.00 for the next train, then wait another hour at another train station, so I didn't even get home until 23.30, but it was all worth it (as it always is).