ufo: tourney wrap-up
Got back from UFO last night. Had a fun tourney with the Bunnies — it was basically a pick-up team, with some Bunnies, some Squids, some experienced vets, some newbies, all jumbled together, so we weren’t used to playing together. So the fact that we won the games we did and were close in some of the others was a good thing.
Day One: Cloudy with wet fields, but NO RAIN (the UFO curse is over, at least for this year!).
First game was against SCUM from St. John NB. This game was the real heartbreaker of the weekend. We were up the entire game until they tied it up at the horn. So we go into the tie-breaker point and we played panicky and they played hard. End result: 10-9 SCUM.
Next game was against SMUTT, the second Moncton team. They were a very new team with a lot of new players. We took the game something like 13-4-ish, but it was fun because they were so eager. I love that new Ultimate player smell.
Next we played Black Fly from Maine, who have been one of the top three teams at UFO in the past chunk of years. So, a hard game for our team, but one that taught us a lesson: Simple is good, simple is good, simple is good. Especially when you are playing with a group that hasn’t had weeks and months of time to practice team plays and strategies, simple is good. We tried a 3-3-1 zone, we tried a 1-3-3 zone, we tried our horizontal O, we tried our superstar O. The number of those that worked: zero. However, straight up vertical O and man-on-man D with a flick force? Pure gold. More proof that the simple stuff often works because it is simple — everyone knows it, understands it, can run it without thinking. They won the game 13-4-ish.
Our last game on Saturday was our crossover vs. Spawn from Freddie, the tourney hosts. They had just played Dal and lost in a one-point squeaker, so I thought they might be a little grumpy, but as it was the last game of the day I really emphasised that we should keep the energy in the game positive, and it worked. They were happy and we were happy. We still played hard and they beat us, but we scored a solid 5 points on them, most in the second half when we started to get fired up. It was a good game for a lot of the people on the team that are still quite new to touring — it takes playing against a highly competitive team to show newer players that higher level that they have to bring themsleves to, a level that they aren’t used to playing at, let alone starting the game at. Good experience.
Day Two: Not only no rain, but honest-to-goodness SUNSHINE!
Heartbreak number two, losing to MUTT (formerly known as Mudslides). Why didn’t we win this game? Because we started the game so very slow and let the first five points be our warm-up. Not a good strategy. They went into the game fired up while we were sluggish and clumsy. We did warm-up and begin a comeback, but it was just a little too late. Final score: 10-9 MUTT.
Last game was then against SMUTT again. We won something like 15-4. Another really positive spiritied game. I did get very grumpy in my last point out there… but, I ask you, how many times can the force get changed, broken, or just plain not set up in a freaking row before going crazy is the only option left? Really, I ask you. (I’m over it though.)
Random thoughts/observations/props from the weekend:
- Props to Brad for composing some truly nasty slag cheers, a rarity in the Maritimes. When half of our team almost balked at even saying the words he had written, I knew he had written something special.
- The huck is not my only throw. It is not even my best throw. It is a good choice on a few occasions, not many occasions…
- I’m getting much better at keeping myself running. I am faster than I think I am. It’s not always fast enough, but it’s fast enough more often I think.
- Why does it take me, a resident of a different province, to find an open liquor store in Fredericton at 10:30 at night on a Saturday? Amateurs.
- Props to Dave for almost dislocating his shoulder on Day One and coming back on Day Two to catch and layout like Day One never happened.
- Bad idea: wet cleats + enclosed car. Oh-so-very bad.
- When will I ever win at Cups? Answer me that.
- I have no pictures of Ed Fong dressed as a little cowgirl, so you must simply imagine.
- And I would like to apologise to the residents of Blair’s apartment building who were woken up to the sounds of discs on pavement at 8:00 in the morning on Sunday… we’re sorry we couldn’t catch better, but we were still hungover. Deal with it.
UPDATED: Photos from UFO
