Ontario Open Regionals 2010 - Rain, Pain, and a lot to Gain!

Phoenix edge out the Moondoggies for first seed to Nationals.

The drive up to Waterloo on that humid Saturday morning was soon overshadowed, quite literally, by rain clouds threatening to burst out into an orchestra of thunderstorms. I had the pleasure of driving two very experienced players to the 2010 Ontario Open Regionals, both of whom picked up with Moondoggies (GOAT's pickup team). During the ride, I got to hear about their experiences playing for several teams, including their worldy exploits.

Maverick's Dan Benvenuti (middle) scores a great point.

When we reached the premier outlined fields at Kiwanis Park, Waterloo, Maverick was already running drills to warm up. On the eastern most field, Too Bad was setting up a tent and Grand Trunk was gathering up its forces. The western field had ROY gearing up for their big game against the Moondoggies. A slight south-westerly breeze rolled in as the warm-ups ensued. At ten minutes to nine, a horn sounded signalling the matches to commence shortly. The excitement was building all around as Phoenix and Maverick, huddled in their own teams, expressed their eagerness to start the game with deafening roars!

The game started exactly at nine and attracted the most attention in the first round of matches. Phoenix, with only two lines worth of players, was making its presence felt in the quality of its offence. At one point, they were leading Maverick quite commandingly. But Maverick was not deterred. Following some great disk movement by the handlers and forcing a few great layout-D’s, Maverick was able to catch up and the game was tied at twelve’s when the hard cap horn sounded. Universe Point! With an easy break force throw near the end zone, Maverick torched the mythical bird, and took the game 13-12. 

Bryan Cunningham(51) plays hard defence as Phoenix's Aaron Kucherawy (47) plans the next cut

Too Bad fought hard in the weekend, but failed to qualify.

Moondoggies' Andrew Butler (right) snatches the disk for a point.

During this time, Too Bad was trying desperately to break through Grand Trunk’s defence. Too Bad players on the sideline were supporting their teammates on the field through a barrage of verbal cues. Upon Too Bad turning over the disk, one sideline player commented, “We’re making some bad decisions; we just need to make better decisions.” Unfortunately, those decisions didn’t come soon enough as Grand Trunk overwhelmed them and won 15-8. 

On the opposite side of the park, the Moondoggies left ROY howling as they asserted their 15-0 win. The Moondoggies held true to their abilities and fought each battle tirelessly. They defeated Grand Trunk 15-9 by forcing amazing turnovers and running great give-and-go's. Their seemingly victorious day was ended by a loss to the athleticisim of Phoenix. Andrew Carroll got two amazing layout-D's, one of which halted the Phoenix offence at their end zone. Phoenix took the game to half at 8-3 and won it 11-9. Despite beating the Moondoggies, one Phoenix player couldn't help but drown himself in an ocean of F-bombs for every failed attempt at scoring.  It came to a point where, my group of friends chose to relocate to a safer viewing distance before things got out of hand. 

Calm, cool, and collected. The Moondoggies prepare for their next game.

 ROY's Nathaniel Brown leads his team from the front lines.

Too Bad faced ROY and the weather started to get worse. With strong winds and an irritating level of precipitation, both teams had to focus extra hard to stay in the game. ROY's offence was being tested by Too Bad's strong cup. They were able to break through a couple of times, but turned it over further down the field. Nathaniel Brown could be seen running as fast as he can with his knee brace coming lose. It reminded me of the scene from Forrest Gump. Too Bad was able to weave through ROY's defences with their unorthodox playing style. There were some great attempts to score on both sides, but Too Bad ultimately took the victory 11-8.

The first day ended with a brutal four game loss for ROY, who were now contemplating their chances at qualifying for Nationals. Maverick defeated Phoenix, Grand Trunk defeated Maverick, Moondoggies defeated Grand Trunk, and Phoenix defeated Moondoggies. What more was needed? This resulted in a three-way tie for first place between Phoenix, Moondoggies, and Maverick. After Grand Trunk's universe point win against Maverick, one player couldn't contain his frustration about the unexpected turn of events as he said, "I can't believe [Phoenix, Moondoggies, and Maverick] are all tied up now, that f**ks everything up!" 

Firebird grabbing some unexpected wins. Photo by Tushar (iamultimate.com)

Firebird turned some heads as they won 13-11 against Grand Trunk and 14-7 against Too Bad. In the second day, Firebird and ROY faced off in their playoff game. Despite sustaining many injuries, Firebird was able to pull through and win 12-8. Firebird's game against Maverick resulted in a universe point loss for Firebird placing them in the 4th seed. ROY, placed in the 7th seed, had to face Firebird again. Many of the injured players on ROY decided to play this game to the finish. Through sheer determination and quality playing, ROY was able to defeat Firebird 10-9 in a universe point win.  After taking even more injuries during their ROY game, Firebird did not lose hope. Now, Firebird had to face Too Bad in the Game to Go. Firebird was able to dominate from the start and sealed their victory and a seat at Nationals with a 11-8 win. It was too bad for Too Bad, but they will be tenacious as ever in the coming seasons. 

  

The final seed going into Nationals are as follows:

1. Phoenix

2. Moondoggies

3. Maverick

4. Grand Trunk

5. ROY

6. Firebird

Phew, I'm glad that's over. Now the exciting part: Nationals!

Ulti-blog: Toronto Ultimate Teams, Leagues and Clubs

Taken from article "Toronto Ultimate Teams, Leagues and Clubs" (April 22, 2009) by Jennifer Tse. Photo by Ed Kung.

While browsing casually through the articles of my fellow Ultimate players, I came across a well-written piece about the opportunities available for Ultimate in Toronto. The article, titled Toronto Ultimate Teams, Leagues and Clubs delves deep into the structure of the sport and offers great tips on improving one's game. The author, Jennifer Tse, is a close friend and a great Ultimate player in the Toronto region. She is a frequent contributor to blogTO, a popular Toronto blog. Her articles have reached a wide circle of readers in varying fields who all share the common thread of this sport. Her fresh and dynamic style of writing brings flavour to the world of Ultimate. Tell her, "Isn't [Ultimate] a game for dogs? Or stoned hippies in a park?" Chances are she'll give you a more than convincing lecture on the sport and it's growth. Jen's contributions to this sport have been well received albeit she never really likes taking credit for it.

Here's a little snippet of her work:

"The ultimate community is special in that it's large enough for one to attend satisfyingly huge events (think 2-day, 31-team tournaments at Sunnybrook Park), but close-knit enough for those serendipitous connections to happen. If you know an ultimate player, chances are he or she knows someone who knows someone who knows you." (Jennifer Tse, April 22, 2009)

To Flick, or not to flick

A few days ago, I was reading some Shakespeare (I think you might recognize which play based on the title of this post), and I became inspired to write the following:

"To Flick or not to flick- that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The curses and taunts of getting D'ed,
Or to take aim down the field,
And, by throwing, crush them. To layout, to get D'ed
No more - and by getting D'ed to say we end
The joy and thousand cheers
That scoring is heir to - 'tis a situation
Rarely to be wished. To layout, to get D'ed
To get D'ed, perchance to score. Ay, there's the stuff,
For in that field of dreams what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled up our O-line,
Must give us cause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of opponents alike.
For who would D the flicks and hucks of O-line,
Th' opponent's wrong, the better team wins,
The pride of coming first, the game's delay,

The insolence of trapping, and the turnovers

That patient merit of th' Cup makes,

When we ourselves might play Junk D

With a close upline? Who would handlers dare,

To bleed and sweat under a fiery sky, 

But that the joy of something after scoring,

The undiscovered player from whose run

No defender can stop, puzzles the D

And makes us rather score the points we have

Than try the throw that we know not of? 

Thus experience does make leaders of us all,

And thus the creative hue of imagination

Is drizzled o'er the new cleats we've bought,

And the prizes of great reach and moment

With this wind their throws turn awry, 

And they lose the game of nations. -Soft throws now!

The clear Sunnybrook! There, in thy field

Be all my skills remembered."

Hope you liked it. It took me about an hour or so to write, so I'm not sure if it's the best work I've done so far. I might change up the words here and there depending on my mood. By "Cup", I'm refering to zone-defence. I chose to write, "the clear Sunnybrook", with reference to Sunnybrook Park in Toronto. I've had many tournaments on this field and I absolutely love it. Premier fields. Well maintained. Great for layouts!

My Ulti-ventures: Mixed Regionals 2010

Tired. Noxious. And severely jet-lagged. That’s how I’d describe my initial experience at the Mixed Regional Championships. It was a weekend-long tournament in Burlington, Ontario for the several co-ed touring teams in the region to qualify for the few seats to the Canadian Ultimate Championships taking place this August in Sherbrooke, Quebec.

My plane from Mumbai had landed the night before and I felt energized to get back into the game. It had been almost a month since I had played serious Ultimate and I could feel my cardio level dip below zero (not the greatest feeling going into a competition that qualifies for nationals). After reaching the fields, I received a warm welcome from my Tundra teammates and a new set of jerseys. It felt comforting to have the number “5” on the back of my new sublimated jersey and to be accepted back this quickly, but I knew I’d have to earn my spot on the field.

One bad throw after another. I tried to adjust after every throw, but I figured it was something deeper. I had to teach myself how to focus on the game once again. What I had normally considered to be warm-ups left me more tired than any competitive game I had played before. Almost like a shock to the system, I could feel the lethargy and lard of a month’s worth of stuffing my face and doing almost no exercise.

Ever had one of those days where you feel completely out of sync with your body? Where your body just won’t respond to anything you try?

“What’re you? 18?” heckled a teammate.

“Yeah, on paper,” I responded.

I pushed forward with the drills while trying to suppress the strong urge to vomit.

Our first game was against Zen, our training buddies from Toronto. I played for a few points, trying to keep up with my friend on the other team. They gave a great fight, but our quick disk movement was able to set the pace for the rest of the game. We took that battle with a 15-3 victory. Our next game was against Big Hammers, also a strong team from Toronto. After many fouls, picks, and yells, the game was lost, 8-9, at universe point due to a hard cap rule. We had another close game against Bytown Flatball Club (BFC), but we ultimately took it for an 11-10 victory. The last game on the Saturday was against MuD, a fast-paced team from Guelph. We weren’t able to capitalize on the few turnovers we received. The battle was fought hard by both sides, but we lost 8-15.

The next day, my teammates came back with vigour and a positive attitude. We all wanted to qualify for nationals. Two more wins would guarantee us a spot, but we convinced ourselves that it’d take four more wins. We started off down at the lower fields against Big Fish, a feeder team to BFC from Ottawa. We picked up our energy from the start to keep the momentum throughout the day. Big Fish is a team that relies heavily on momentum and energy. If they score a point, the sidelines erupt into a “Big...Fish!” chant. We were able to seal our 9-6 victory with a few great hucks. Monster is a solid team from Toronto and we had to really shift gears to keep up. We knew we had it within us to defeat Monster, but with a few breaks they took it 8-11. Our next game was against Druid, a team from London. We exchanged the first few points, but after a timeout we were able to successfully claim our spot for Nationals with a 12-4 win. Our final game for the weekend was against Mayhem, a Hamilton team that went undefeated. Both teams had already qualified, so this was sort of a test game to gauge each other’s abilities. We started off strong and exchanged points till halftime. In the second half, there were great scoring attempts and layouts from both sides, but we simply couldn’t contain Mayhem’s offence. We lost the game 9-12.

It was a great experience to be with my team. I value every minute I spent with them because it gave me a chance to bond with them after a month’s break. I also got to learn a lot from observing the games and tried to play my part as an active sideline. I look forward to a great season with this team!

My Ulti-ventures: Mumbai

Ultimate is a sport that transcends all borders. At least that's what I realized when I played a pickup game with Mumbai's team, the Storm Chasers, this summer. I met this team on the beaches of Mumbai one Saturday morning, after getting in touch with them in advance. Although the sport is only two years old in India, the players were very skilled and well-versed in the rules. Their captain mentioned that most of their development was through watching and learning from 'Ultimate' videos on YouTube. They did have American players who visited and contributed to their start-up, but they have progressed much further on their own. When I was told that some of their players were away at a tournament in Southern India, I began to realize just how quickly the sport was growing in India. After the hugely successful 'Ahmedabad Ultimate's First Official Tournament' back in July of 2006, there have been attempts to host several other tournaments around the country. One major tournament is 'Chennai Heat', which was highly regarded by the Storm Chasers for its quality of fields.

I asked why the Storm Chasers weren't playing on fields and was immediately answered. Fields, or a lack of them, are a great problem for any sport activity in Mumbai. If there is a field, it is usually reserved for cricket, field hockey, or is private or flooded. So instead of enjoying the freedom to layout for a disk on grass, the team is forced to hold practice on a small strip of the somewhat unclean and unsafe beach. The team said they savoured the time they spent in Chennai playing Ultimate.

"Most of us have jobs or school or both," said the captain, "but we all still find time to meet at least once a week to play together and improve." With strategies and throws quite different from what I was used to, I found it quite hard to keep up. I was really impressed by their skills and team mentality. It renewed my spirits as I came back to Toronto for a season with my own touring team. I did take part in the 'Ultimate Exchange', which is essentially a trade of Ultimate gear between two international parties. The Storm Chasers' captain offered his jersey without anything in return. I couldn't simply walk away with it, so I gave him my Toronto Ultimate Club disc and a cotton Canada shirt.

For a relatively new sport, it took quite a while to reach this far in terms of growth in the western world. When I was at the Mixed Division Tryouts in Toronto, a confused and upset soccer player asked me why there were so many people on the field chasing discs. Although he phrased it in a vulgar fashion, I remained as diplomatic as possible as I explained the rules of the sport. Historically, one of the main reasons is the lack of exposure in the media to this high-pace sport. However, even the slightest mention of a tournament in India sends newspapers on a frenzy. Just check the exposure 'Chennai Heat 2009' got! These days, there is usually a news crew at any major tournament in Canada. Sometimes, there are even games shown on TV! But, it's the dedication of the players and the opportunistic nature of organizations like UltiVillage that make it possible for the masses to view games live over the Internet from anywhere in the world.

Ultimate is now played in most major cities in India and chances are you will come across a pickup game. If you are visiting Mumbai, and would like to get in touch with the Storm Chasers, I recommend checking out their Facebook page, or getting their contact information from PickupUltimate.com.