Ultimate frisbee. I haven't been active in the Ultimate scene for several years primarily due to age, but also due to getting more into windsurfing and surfing in SF area. So when I got the call to join up with a group of ex-singapore-ultimate players for a team in the upcoming Singapore tourney, I was a little unsure about how this would play out. In fact, it wasn't until I realized that the tournament was the weekend before an already planned work meeting in S'pore that I was even confirmed to play.
The above photo is of one of the original 'Angmo Freakshow' teams that traveled around Asia to play in Ultimate tourneys, this one, I think was in 1999 and was from a tourney we put on at Sentosa. I remember Dennis (second from top left) and Kenny (far bottom right) were two of the best players I'd ever played with at the time.
So 6 years later... I'm back. Having hardly touched a frisbee for the past 3 years, I had some definite kinks to work out of my game. The team name 'been there done that' was very fitting and had some really great players... the photo to the left includes Paul and Mark who I played with when I used to live in S'pore. Great to see those guys. The team organizers, Yayoi and Yohan matched their great on-field talent with a fun (yet competitive) spirit. Our first game was a sort of get-to-know each other game, then from there I think we just got better, winning our next few games, until we ran into the Manila team. These guys were almost entirely made of up local players (unheard of in my time) and totally kicked our asses! They had all the throws, well organized offense and defense strategies, and most important, ran us into the ground. We hung in there and I think only lost by 4 points or so, but they handled us pretty well. We finished day 1 with a 4-1 record, pretty good!
The next day I could barely walk. My legs more stiff than I can ever remember, almost laughable in fact. Anyway, we loosened up and played pretty well (except we lost a game that I think we should have won) for the rest of the tournament finishing I think 11th out of something like 25 teams. We easily beat the HK team, which was sort of satisfying since they were our main rivals in the old days.
Click here to see some great photos that Ana Paula snapped...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pradoteeple/sets/1216314/
3 comments:
UPPPPP!!!!
...and you throw the flat ball around!?!
You, my friend, are all right!
P.
i need to get back on the pitch... can't let another 5 years go by
my # 1 problem is that i get out there and feel this competitive urge to try to match steps w/ whom ever I'm covering (usually 10 years my junior)... then I turn an ankle or throw out my back...
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