The scores have been posted, the final results tallied and medals awarded: WCBU2011 ended on a high note in the Discraft Beach Arena in front of thousands of players and curious onlookers witnessing six championship games of excellent beach ultimate.
From the beginning to the end Beach Worlds was a memorable experience filled with spirited fun on the beach and top competition on the field. It's no coincidence that the field is the beach and the beach the field… fair-minded spirit and competitive fire were united at this tournament.
OPEN DIVISION
The result can't be a surprise: the United States defeated the Philippines 13-9 in the finals and brought home gold as predicted. The Philippines—primarily represented by the club team Boracay Dragons— are known worldwide as masterful beach specialists and repeated as silver medalists.
Switzerland, led by Paganello stars Lorenz Stauffer and Robin Brüderlin, stifled Italy to claim bronze in the third place game.
The USA-Philippines finals gave fans everything they wanted: spectacular layout grabs, waves of speedy defenders, well-executed offensive sets and two teams prepared to compete for gold.
In the end too many early unforced errors from the Filipino side and too much firepower from the Americans proved the difference.
Twice the Philippines got caught looking for the next pass and dropped easy hammers: Perhaps USA's changing defensive sets and junky zones disrupted the Filipino flow just enough.
On offense the Americans were able to send in lines featuring cutters with just as much foot speed as fleet Filipino defenders Panoy de los Santos and Jeffrey Rodriguez. Coupled with the steady handling and deep-look options from veterans Tyler Kinley, Adam Simon and Webster McBride and a healthy height advantage the American offense proved tough to contain.
Still the Philippines fought: Down three breaks 0-3 to start they tied it at 3s before USA separated again with three straight and the counterpunching began. A spectacular hammer layout goal from Rodriguez closed it to 9-7 but was followed by a score and layout D from American Teddy Browar-Jarus to up the lead to 11-7. A double happiness D and score from Hendrix Manning was matched by a step-back flick huck from Simon to make it 12-8. There was some parity here, even if the Philippines' electric fast-moving "Dragon style" offense of quick passes proved unmatched on the beach and the Americans' calm under pressure rarely wavered. The match finally drew to a close with a Kinley throw to speedy Asa Wilson.
For the USA the tournament ended with a healthy respect for the competition and a satisfying win over a worthy opponent.
It was also notable for the USA's 12-10 showcase loss to Italy that confirmed what was suspected beforehand: even sending a hand-picked All-Star team from a nation of 40,000 full-time ultimate players isn't enough to overcome a steady and determined opponent.
For the Philippines they had to be happy getting back to the finals in what was clearly a more difficult field of competition than WCBU2007—down a break late in their quarterfinal against an upstart and largely unheralded Canadian squad, for instance, the Philippines had to run off two straight to win on double-game point.
In their semifinal against Italy, however—which initially started as a physical call-fest interrupted by a spirit-circle time-out—they strung together five straight scores twice to win in a blow-out.
But WCBU2011 in some ways may be the end of an era for the Philippines and the Dragons. The Filipino team we saw was the same group from four years ago and age may steal away some of their stars for future tournaments. Only a handful of players on this team are in their 20s and if the Philippines wants to get back to the finals in 2015 they will have to start a youth rebuilding process soon.
The Italians looked strong all tournament in defeating the USA and the Philippines in crowd-pleasing Beach Arena showcase games before mysteriously battling nerves and a sense of fear before taking the field in their doomed semifinal against the Philippines. Still the Italians proved their style of play marked by an aggressively opportunistic offense and fearless defense was a solid and successful model.
And finally we have to remember Switzerland as a presence here and a team we can expect to see more of in the future. Their tight 12-10 loss to the USA in semifinals said as much about their talent and savvy as anything.
One final note: as mentioned in the preview, competition-wise, this tournament suffered from its proximity to the European Championships. Grass is still considered superior for most of Europe and players from EUC Open finalists Sweden and Great Britain were not in attendance. GB's best player, Si Weeks, fitted himself on the Mixed Masters team, for instance.
But that takes nothing away from the players that did come to compete and a tournament environment that produced absolutely awesome displays of competition, spirit, fun and entertainment for players and spectators alike.
BULA has made it clear that it wants the ethos of beach ultimate to be different than that of the grass field game and if WCB2011 was any indication they have succeeded.
Monday, August 29, 2011
the Great Delay
Beach Worlds is over!
By, like, 2 days now. I'm an avid baseball fan. Phillies, if you must know. About 11 minutes after a routine Phillies game ends there's a complete write-up with video recaps, photos and statistics up online.
When an ultimate tournament ends there's a delay because one guy (me) is kinda maybe supposed to—although never explicitly stated—write up the results.
And i'm at a hotel outside the airport in Venice begging for spare change and emailing like a hound chasing a rabbit trying desperately to get photos of the tournament so i can put them up on Skyd.
It's sad but true. But we're getting better and we're getting closer. Any day now, any day.
Did I mention I now have a gold medallion? Traded for it. Traded my SOUL. Just kidding. In actuality I spent 23 years playing this ridiculous game to get it. Not bad, certainly better than playing 23 years without winning a championship of any kind....
By, like, 2 days now. I'm an avid baseball fan. Phillies, if you must know. About 11 minutes after a routine Phillies game ends there's a complete write-up with video recaps, photos and statistics up online.
When an ultimate tournament ends there's a delay because one guy (me) is kinda maybe supposed to—although never explicitly stated—write up the results.
And i'm at a hotel outside the airport in Venice begging for spare change and emailing like a hound chasing a rabbit trying desperately to get photos of the tournament so i can put them up on Skyd.
It's sad but true. But we're getting better and we're getting closer. Any day now, any day.
Did I mention I now have a gold medallion? Traded for it. Traded my SOUL. Just kidding. In actuality I spent 23 years playing this ridiculous game to get it. Not bad, certainly better than playing 23 years without winning a championship of any kind....
Friday, August 26, 2011
USA Women, Great Britian Mixed Masters, USA Grandmasters win Gold
The beach arena is an excellent location to showcase ultimate. The track is fast, the stands are high and echo the cheers of the many countries there to watch the big games.
The action started this afternoon with USA versus Austria in Grandmasters. With precision offense and big ups the U.S. team hardly had a turnover on offense en route to a convincing win, albeit not a blowout.
In Mixed Masters the upstart Great Britain team led by an unstoppable Si Weeks began the day by upsetting the German team in semis before storming out of the gates on defense and offense against undefeated USA in the finals. It never seemed that USA could find a proper rhythm as miscommunications led to far too many turnovers for the USA O line. GB's squad, bolstered with women who won WCBU Gold in Brazil and Paganello Mixed division winners Poughkeepsie were stacked from the start so the question was how did they actually manage to lose to both USA and Germany twice in pool play—twice?
I talked to them after the game and it turns out that they played the numbers very well, using a large squad to rest top players like Weeks and Lucy Byrne over the course of pool play games before letting them fully anchor the team in the finals. They also saved up energy for the final and used heavy defensive pressure coming in waves to completely dismantle the American O.
The women's final was the highlight of the night. Both teams looked to come out of the gates hard and fast, knowing that the first 2-3 points of a quick 45 minute game can really set the pace. And that they did, blistering speedsters running down on defense, huge hucks from Canada's Malissa Lundgren (who, incidentally, dominated the leaderboard for the weekend with 44 goal shots, an average of 4.4 a game) massive ground-eating under cuts from USA's Marie Maderas and physical marks and hard D: this game was defined as a battle from the beginning.
Breaking the O and D proved not too difficult as turnovers weren't uncommon. But neither squad could find the right D-line handlers to withstand the pressure and more often than not the D would prevail. USA went up a break late in the game, 9-7, and held on as the cap went into effect meaning it was a game to 10 and Canada had the weight on their shoulders to score.
The O line managed to make it happen giving the Americans two chances on O to win. when the first one failed, however, the score was tied at 9s and the pressure returned to the American shoulders. With so much speed out there I felt the defense had the advantage and this almost proved correct after two USA turnovers had given Canada a chance to win the game. But it was not to be -- the defense of the USA proved equally stout and refusing to give in and the Canadians forced up two throws for turnovers. Finally with both crowds of stands roaring, the Americans, bailed out by a foul call on an IO throw that initially looked clean, converted the break after the same IO connected and won, 10-9, a stunning and anticlimactic end to a fantastic game.
The action started this afternoon with USA versus Austria in Grandmasters. With precision offense and big ups the U.S. team hardly had a turnover on offense en route to a convincing win, albeit not a blowout.
In Mixed Masters the upstart Great Britain team led by an unstoppable Si Weeks began the day by upsetting the German team in semis before storming out of the gates on defense and offense against undefeated USA in the finals. It never seemed that USA could find a proper rhythm as miscommunications led to far too many turnovers for the USA O line. GB's squad, bolstered with women who won WCBU Gold in Brazil and Paganello Mixed division winners Poughkeepsie were stacked from the start so the question was how did they actually manage to lose to both USA and Germany twice in pool play—twice?
I talked to them after the game and it turns out that they played the numbers very well, using a large squad to rest top players like Weeks and Lucy Byrne over the course of pool play games before letting them fully anchor the team in the finals. They also saved up energy for the final and used heavy defensive pressure coming in waves to completely dismantle the American O.
The women's final was the highlight of the night. Both teams looked to come out of the gates hard and fast, knowing that the first 2-3 points of a quick 45 minute game can really set the pace. And that they did, blistering speedsters running down on defense, huge hucks from Canada's Malissa Lundgren (who, incidentally, dominated the leaderboard for the weekend with 44 goal shots, an average of 4.4 a game) massive ground-eating under cuts from USA's Marie Maderas and physical marks and hard D: this game was defined as a battle from the beginning.
Breaking the O and D proved not too difficult as turnovers weren't uncommon. But neither squad could find the right D-line handlers to withstand the pressure and more often than not the D would prevail. USA went up a break late in the game, 9-7, and held on as the cap went into effect meaning it was a game to 10 and Canada had the weight on their shoulders to score.
The O line managed to make it happen giving the Americans two chances on O to win. when the first one failed, however, the score was tied at 9s and the pressure returned to the American shoulders. With so much speed out there I felt the defense had the advantage and this almost proved correct after two USA turnovers had given Canada a chance to win the game. But it was not to be -- the defense of the USA proved equally stout and refusing to give in and the Canadians forced up two throws for turnovers. Finally with both crowds of stands roaring, the Americans, bailed out by a foul call on an IO throw that initially looked clean, converted the break after the same IO connected and won, 10-9, a stunning and anticlimactic end to a fantastic game.
WCBU2011: Masters, MixMastas, GrandMasters Semis and Beyond....
MASTERS
The Masters division here has two things going for it: parity and some serious height. It seems that the taller guys keep playing longer as teams across the board tend to outsize their Open counterparts. Or maybe a little extra girth makes them look taller.
Pool play has finally ended this morning and settled final positions for the playoffs. Perhaps expected, perhaps not, the Canadians managed to defeat the top-seeded Austrians this morning at 9am even though the game meant little to either team. Austria, crafty, tall, perhaps not as good looking as the U.S. Masters team, knew that win or lose they would likely face France in the semis.
France defeated Austria 11-10 and will be fired-up to do so again and make it to the finals. The French team is young, hungry and they run quite well so it will be interesting to see if they can do it again.
With the Austrian loss the U.S. regained the top spot and face off against Spain whom they defeated 13-6 yesterday—although it was clear in some ways that Spain was not putting out their best effort in the game, perhaps holding reserves for the likely semifinal re-match.
Of note is that if the U.S. and Austria win their semis we can expect a raucous crowd for the re-match in the finals. Wednesday's Austrian upset win over USA was punctuated by an energized and active sideline of fans waving flags, cheering loudly before and during plays and at one point rushing the field with four giant Austrian flags during a timeout. It was an impressive display that seemed to rattle the Americans and if they meet again we can expect more of the same—which is great for the game and great for the fans.
Both teams have been warily eyeing each other since that electrifying Austrian win and the scouting ledgers have increased. If this game happens, it will be a good one.
GRANDMASTERS
Following their countrymen, the Austrian GM team rattled of the last two of the game on defense with Johannes Petz connecting with Stefan Pichler to upset the favored Americans on Thursday and tie them for the top spot in the pool. However, USA had defeated Austria earlier by more points meaning they retained their top spot.
Still the Austrian win is a big one for their confidence even if it does motivate the Americans now to seek revenge and come out fired-up. After what should be an easy semi for the Americans against either Great Britain or France and a more difficult one for the Austrians against Germany, we'll find out tonight who's planned better for the expected rubber match to be broadcast live.
MIXED MASTERS
Great Britain upset Germany in semifinals this morning, 11-9, perhaps a shock to the German system and will now face an undefeated USA team in the finals this evening.
USA earlier outlasted Austria in their semifinal 13-6 led by their height, Jeremy Clark, Kimberly Beach and Sarah VanWagenen. In GB they will see a familiar Paganello foe, a team with several ex-Poughkeepsie and Iceni players and some serious goal-scoring from captain Si Weeks.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Thursday Recap of the Week and Semis Preview for WCBU2011
THURSDAY NIGHT RUNDOWN
As we peek into matchups coming up for quarters and semis let's remember that there's been a fair amount of close games and the parity and spirit here is a pleasure to experience.
Where once it looked like USA might run away with all six divisions the results from yesterday have upset that prediction and placed USA in a weaker position heading towards the finals.
The biggest upset may have been in the Open division as Italy overtook and outplayed the United States in a showcase match at the Beach Arena. Playing loose, relaxed and connecting on wild scoobers and long hucks, the Italians seemed to get in the heads of the tight Americans whose number of unforced errors was remarkably high.
It may have been a good thing for the Americans to knock them down a notch early enough in the tournament to not suffer any real loss of positioning. The next game after the loss the American offense that looked quite shoddy in the showcase match went 8-8 against the Germans to put away a tough opponent.
The upset placed Italy atop the pool, followed by United States, Philippines and Germany and all four teams looked solid on the beach with tight games against each other. The strength of this "pool of death" will strongly test Pool A in quarters as what appears to be a weaker side with Switzerland at the top (but let's not forget they have more than a few Paga all-stars on the team) followed by Canada, Spain -- unexpectedly, in my book -- and Austria.
It's interesting to note that the teams that are closest to Venice -- Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Spain—have been the biggest surprises of the tournament so perhaps a regional advantage exists.
WOMEN
The news is already out that Great Britain squeaked by USA on double game point yesterday sending the Americans to their first loss and propelling GB atop the leader board. It didn't last long however. By the end of the day today the American women re-adjusted their cuts to orient less on massive deeps and unders and more on shorter more economical maneuvering appropriate for the beach. It must've worked as they put up enough points on Canada in a 10-6 win to virtually lock up first place as Canada had earlier defeated Great Britain 9-7.
Fighting to make semis are Germany and Finland, both at 6-3 and both playing 8-1 teams tomorrow (Great Britain and Canada). Germany has the edge with a win and tiebreaker over Finland and Finland is rumored to be losing some of their players tomorrow meaning semis should look like this:
USA (1) versus Germany (4). Pool play result was a USA win 11-8.
Great Britain (2) vs. Canada (3). Pool play was a Canada win 9-7.
These four teams are evenly matched and the GB-Canada game is expected to be quite a battle.
MIXED
Estonia's Sexy Legs, despite their thrilling come-from-behind win over a top-loaded Australian squad, are out of the running for quarterfinals. At 4-4 they appear to have a shot with one more game tomorrow to close at 5-3 and tie Poland if Poland falls to the Netherlands. However, head-to-head Poland wins a tie so they are locked into the fourth seed in pool B meaning Poland—coming out of an initial #17 seeding—will cross over to play the British tomorrow in quarters.
Rounding out pool B will be Switzerland in the second spot presuming they take care of business with Italy. Riding high with an impressive showing and the pedigree is Germany, defending silver medalists and frequent beach tournament winners. Tonight they play Australia under the lights in the highlight match which will certainly be their strongest test yet but one they are expected to overcome.
What it looks like at the moment is this:
USA (1) versus Australia (3)
Germany (1) versus Portugal (3)
Great Britain (2) versus Poland (4)
Switzerland (2) versus Austria (4)
Some note here: Poland's team is based on the club team Grandmaster Flash and their run to success here is somewhat of a surprise and a great thing for growing ultimate in the country.
If my guess at the snake is correct (its what Open is doing) then Australia's mixed team, the one expected to medal, could be relegated to a fight for 5th pretty quickly.
Switzerland's success caught me off guard, I was not privy to knowing what kind of team they put together and have not seen a Swiss mixed team to my knowledge at Paganello in recent years.
Great Britain's resurgence behind the Forth twins is for real and the do have every mean of defending their title.
Germany, you just have a sense, could be the team whose year has arrived. Led by international jet-setter playboy Ruë and his merry band of Munich-stein raisers, they will have a lot of mojo on their side.
As we peek into matchups coming up for quarters and semis let's remember that there's been a fair amount of close games and the parity and spirit here is a pleasure to experience.
Where once it looked like USA might run away with all six divisions the results from yesterday have upset that prediction and placed USA in a weaker position heading towards the finals.
The biggest upset may have been in the Open division as Italy overtook and outplayed the United States in a showcase match at the Beach Arena. Playing loose, relaxed and connecting on wild scoobers and long hucks, the Italians seemed to get in the heads of the tight Americans whose number of unforced errors was remarkably high.
It may have been a good thing for the Americans to knock them down a notch early enough in the tournament to not suffer any real loss of positioning. The next game after the loss the American offense that looked quite shoddy in the showcase match went 8-8 against the Germans to put away a tough opponent.
The upset placed Italy atop the pool, followed by United States, Philippines and Germany and all four teams looked solid on the beach with tight games against each other. The strength of this "pool of death" will strongly test Pool A in quarters as what appears to be a weaker side with Switzerland at the top (but let's not forget they have more than a few Paga all-stars on the team) followed by Canada, Spain -- unexpectedly, in my book -- and Austria.
It's interesting to note that the teams that are closest to Venice -- Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Spain—have been the biggest surprises of the tournament so perhaps a regional advantage exists.
WOMEN
The news is already out that Great Britain squeaked by USA on double game point yesterday sending the Americans to their first loss and propelling GB atop the leader board. It didn't last long however. By the end of the day today the American women re-adjusted their cuts to orient less on massive deeps and unders and more on shorter more economical maneuvering appropriate for the beach. It must've worked as they put up enough points on Canada in a 10-6 win to virtually lock up first place as Canada had earlier defeated Great Britain 9-7.
Fighting to make semis are Germany and Finland, both at 6-3 and both playing 8-1 teams tomorrow (Great Britain and Canada). Germany has the edge with a win and tiebreaker over Finland and Finland is rumored to be losing some of their players tomorrow meaning semis should look like this:
USA (1) versus Germany (4). Pool play result was a USA win 11-8.
Great Britain (2) vs. Canada (3). Pool play was a Canada win 9-7.
These four teams are evenly matched and the GB-Canada game is expected to be quite a battle.
MIXED
Estonia's Sexy Legs, despite their thrilling come-from-behind win over a top-loaded Australian squad, are out of the running for quarterfinals. At 4-4 they appear to have a shot with one more game tomorrow to close at 5-3 and tie Poland if Poland falls to the Netherlands. However, head-to-head Poland wins a tie so they are locked into the fourth seed in pool B meaning Poland—coming out of an initial #17 seeding—will cross over to play the British tomorrow in quarters.
Rounding out pool B will be Switzerland in the second spot presuming they take care of business with Italy. Riding high with an impressive showing and the pedigree is Germany, defending silver medalists and frequent beach tournament winners. Tonight they play Australia under the lights in the highlight match which will certainly be their strongest test yet but one they are expected to overcome.
What it looks like at the moment is this:
USA (1) versus Australia (3)
Germany (1) versus Portugal (3)
Great Britain (2) versus Poland (4)
Switzerland (2) versus Austria (4)
Some note here: Poland's team is based on the club team Grandmaster Flash and their run to success here is somewhat of a surprise and a great thing for growing ultimate in the country.
If my guess at the snake is correct (its what Open is doing) then Australia's mixed team, the one expected to medal, could be relegated to a fight for 5th pretty quickly.
Switzerland's success caught me off guard, I was not privy to knowing what kind of team they put together and have not seen a Swiss mixed team to my knowledge at Paganello in recent years.
Great Britain's resurgence behind the Forth twins is for real and the do have every mean of defending their title.
Germany, you just have a sense, could be the team whose year has arrived. Led by international jet-setter playboy Ruë and his merry band of Munich-stein raisers, they will have a lot of mojo on their side.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Interview with Karen Cabrera
simple piece
Boracay Interview post game
Make sure to check out the livestream webcasts I will be doing this week from WCBU throughout. Check out the fcebook page for more info
www.facebook.com/wcbu2011
Boracay Interview post game
Make sure to check out the livestream webcasts I will be doing this week from WCBU throughout. Check out the fcebook page for more info
www.facebook.com/wcbu2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
Beach Ultimate: The Place Where the Surf Meets the Sky
[Note: most of my posts are also simulcast on Skyd Magazine's Beach Blog]
In the late 1990s when the Pacific Northwest-oriented mixed division (then called co-ed) was introduced to the National Championships in the United States it brought with it a high regard—both in principle and regulation— for the Spirit of the Game.
Teams were encouraged to have fun, express themselves and bring back a love of the game that didn't necessitate winning. Spirit scores were tallied assessing whether teams played fairly and "spirited." It seems commonplace now but at the time it was both controversial and neo-revolutionary.
More importantly, the new free-spirited division brought back the joy of play and the camaraderie of the worldwide ultimate community.
Co-ed teams were organized around groups of friends and not captains and juntas making cuts. Costumes, parties and general amounts of silliness were encouraged and rewarded. Co-ed brought a different way of thinking to the competitive North American arena of the Open and Women's divisions and thrust summer fun tournaments to the forefront.
In much the same way, the World Championships of Beach Ultimate—a spinoff of the high-spirited, rollicking beach party tournament Paganello—calls upon that same level of fun and fair play.
It's not a coincidence that WCBU was founded by the Beach Ultimate Lover's Association (BULA) and its leader Patrick van der Valk, an energetic, ebulllient man known for peculiar headwear (a fake horned viking helmet) and playing with a bacchic, pleasure-seking Paganello team that proudly sports sleek banana hammocks when not playing in costume.
So even as beach tournaments have mutiplied around the world in the short decade since BULA's founding (I would estimate perhaps 100 beach tournaments now and less than 10 in 2001) the emphasis on good parties, Spirited play and beach malarkey has remained.
If you've been to Van der Valk's supremely ecstatic Bar do Peixe tournament in Portugal you would see all of this in action as Van der Valk truly believes in the power of the party to expand ultimate's base. He is now the chairperson for the Spirit of the Game committee of WFDF and reminded WCBU teams to keep SOTG high on the priority list with this recent Facebook post:
During the WCBU, at the end of each day, all SOTG scores are evaluated. Teams with significantly low spirit scores will be talked to in order to understand the facts and for them to have constructive feedback to improve.
Teams that do not improve low spirit scores during the event run the risk of not being eligible to play in the semi finals. We think this will not happen, but I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of this BULA rule.
Denying a team a chance to play in semifinals would never happen under Patrick's watch and would be considered shocking at any BULA event. In fact, I doubt van der Valk's sense of Spirit of the Game would even allow such a thing to happen!
Or as Lukas Kahwe Smith posted recently on the WCBU page,
"We meet next week to celebrate sprit of the game, winning medals is just a sideshow. So captains, encourage your players to give it 110% when it comes to spirit. Players speak up if your captains forget and when in doubt .. give a hug .. see you all there :)"
So leave the real world behind and join us on the beach where the surf meets the sky and the horizon is endless.
In the late 1990s when the Pacific Northwest-oriented mixed division (then called co-ed) was introduced to the National Championships in the United States it brought with it a high regard—both in principle and regulation— for the Spirit of the Game.
Teams were encouraged to have fun, express themselves and bring back a love of the game that didn't necessitate winning. Spirit scores were tallied assessing whether teams played fairly and "spirited." It seems commonplace now but at the time it was both controversial and neo-revolutionary.
More importantly, the new free-spirited division brought back the joy of play and the camaraderie of the worldwide ultimate community.
Co-ed teams were organized around groups of friends and not captains and juntas making cuts. Costumes, parties and general amounts of silliness were encouraged and rewarded. Co-ed brought a different way of thinking to the competitive North American arena of the Open and Women's divisions and thrust summer fun tournaments to the forefront.
In much the same way, the World Championships of Beach Ultimate—a spinoff of the high-spirited, rollicking beach party tournament Paganello—calls upon that same level of fun and fair play.
It's not a coincidence that WCBU was founded by the Beach Ultimate Lover's Association (BULA) and its leader Patrick van der Valk, an energetic, ebulllient man known for peculiar headwear (a fake horned viking helmet) and playing with a bacchic, pleasure-seking Paganello team that proudly sports sleek banana hammocks when not playing in costume.
So even as beach tournaments have mutiplied around the world in the short decade since BULA's founding (I would estimate perhaps 100 beach tournaments now and less than 10 in 2001) the emphasis on good parties, Spirited play and beach malarkey has remained.
If you've been to Van der Valk's supremely ecstatic Bar do Peixe tournament in Portugal you would see all of this in action as Van der Valk truly believes in the power of the party to expand ultimate's base. He is now the chairperson for the Spirit of the Game committee of WFDF and reminded WCBU teams to keep SOTG high on the priority list with this recent Facebook post:
During the WCBU, at the end of each day, all SOTG scores are evaluated. Teams with significantly low spirit scores will be talked to in order to understand the facts and for them to have constructive feedback to improve.
Teams that do not improve low spirit scores during the event run the risk of not being eligible to play in the semi finals. We think this will not happen, but I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of this BULA rule.
Denying a team a chance to play in semifinals would never happen under Patrick's watch and would be considered shocking at any BULA event. In fact, I doubt van der Valk's sense of Spirit of the Game would even allow such a thing to happen!
Or as Lukas Kahwe Smith posted recently on the WCBU page,
"We meet next week to celebrate sprit of the game, winning medals is just a sideshow. So captains, encourage your players to give it 110% when it comes to spirit. Players speak up if your captains forget and when in doubt .. give a hug .. see you all there :)"
So leave the real world behind and join us on the beach where the surf meets the sky and the horizon is endless.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Uganda Article
my article on Uganda ultimate is up on Sky'd finally.
Update on the team is that the captain/founder Alex Matovu is going to a meeting at the Italian Embassy in Uganda to see if he can swing a deal to get the team to come.
The question is whether or not some players will defect to Italy/Europe and not return to Uganda. It may be a valid question, I don't know enough of the team or the process to pass judgment. But at the moment that is a sticking point -- the Ugandans need to find a way to prove or insure their return to Kampala.
anyway, here is the article
Seven Hills to the Sands of Lignano Sabbiadoro
Update on the team is that the captain/founder Alex Matovu is going to a meeting at the Italian Embassy in Uganda to see if he can swing a deal to get the team to come.
The question is whether or not some players will defect to Italy/Europe and not return to Uganda. It may be a valid question, I don't know enough of the team or the process to pass judgment. But at the moment that is a sticking point -- the Ugandans need to find a way to prove or insure their return to Kampala.
anyway, here is the article
Seven Hills to the Sands of Lignano Sabbiadoro
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
All the Wildwood 2011 Results At Once
if you just click on this one link! Guaranteed!
All Sorts of Sandy: Wildwood 2011
Except for the following bits which I learned in the last few hours about the competitive 2-2 division, parties and USA vs PoNY showcase game.
Party Q&A Number 1: Friday
Was there beer served for the 400+ captains who had to wait hours in line to register? Apparently not. Fail.
Was there a lotta dancing at the Bolero and fun n games on the Boardwalk? Yes.
Party Q&A Number 2: Saturday
Was the tournament video shot on Saturday and edited that night kinda cool? Yep
Did the beer at the beer tent on the sand run out with 400 people waiting? Yep. And one has to wonder: for a tournament gathering in which a staggering $143,000 is generated just by team registration (and an equally unsightly low number representing expenditures is conjoined) how is it humanly possible to run out of beer? There should be 150 kegs just on standby. There is simply no excuse for that. This tournament used to have free and very tasty food after the games and that's gone and the expense is the same. I would wager tournament organizers are pocketing 10-15K easily from this tournament. Turns out that capitalism and ultimate DO go together, who knew?
USA vs PoNY Showcase Game
During the aforementioned beer freeze and, I guess, some of the beer consuming too, the tournament set up a showcase match between USA and a gathering of New York PoNY players who were down for the weekend competing on various different teams. This would be USA's first and only real 5-on-5 open game before Italy as sand events preceding had either been coed (Sandblast, Wildwood), scrimmages (versus us, Team USA Masters) or 4-on-4 (Wildwood again). but in this game they extended the field to BULA 5-on-5 and brought out the big guns and wow -- what a difference. The conservative give and go offense that looked, at times, ineffective for USA at Sandblast and WW was nowhere to be seen. Instead nothing but streaking deeps, massive under cuts and huge field length bombs for scores by both teams but far more effectively by Team USA. Their defensive speed and pressure was also highlighted as they put a thorough beatdown on PoNY and impressed all watching and the video crew filming it [full discretion: i was a commentator for the action and if it ever sees the light of day you can heckle me for my miscues].
Except for those at the beer tent because they were blocked from watching the game by ugly plastic neon orange terrorist fence material used at Guantanamo Bay. So you either had the choice of drinking beer (at least it was good beer -- Magic Hat came from one of the taps) or watching the showcase game but you couldn't do both. Or if you were wise you waited until the $143,000 worth of beer ran out and ran over to watch the action.
Competitive (called the Open division) 2-2
Here's what I got from Kim Tischler and Drew Jones who played in this division on the team People I Like (Plus Drew Jones)
Drew: "We lost in semis to Hennessy [at Halftime] 13-16. Stout, Teddy and Cal were tough to overcome."
Kim: "We lost in the semis to Hennessey. Great game. Mostly everything we did ran through our women. They mainly used their men namely Stout and Calvin. O-Pig bested them [Hennessey] in the finals in a big way. Fans were denied a third game."
All Sorts of Sandy: Wildwood 2011
Except for the following bits which I learned in the last few hours about the competitive 2-2 division, parties and USA vs PoNY showcase game.
Party Q&A Number 1: Friday
Was there beer served for the 400+ captains who had to wait hours in line to register? Apparently not. Fail.
Was there a lotta dancing at the Bolero and fun n games on the Boardwalk? Yes.
Party Q&A Number 2: Saturday
Was the tournament video shot on Saturday and edited that night kinda cool? Yep
Did the beer at the beer tent on the sand run out with 400 people waiting? Yep. And one has to wonder: for a tournament gathering in which a staggering $143,000 is generated just by team registration (and an equally unsightly low number representing expenditures is conjoined) how is it humanly possible to run out of beer? There should be 150 kegs just on standby. There is simply no excuse for that. This tournament used to have free and very tasty food after the games and that's gone and the expense is the same. I would wager tournament organizers are pocketing 10-15K easily from this tournament. Turns out that capitalism and ultimate DO go together, who knew?
USA vs PoNY Showcase Game
During the aforementioned beer freeze and, I guess, some of the beer consuming too, the tournament set up a showcase match between USA and a gathering of New York PoNY players who were down for the weekend competing on various different teams. This would be USA's first and only real 5-on-5 open game before Italy as sand events preceding had either been coed (Sandblast, Wildwood), scrimmages (versus us, Team USA Masters) or 4-on-4 (Wildwood again). but in this game they extended the field to BULA 5-on-5 and brought out the big guns and wow -- what a difference. The conservative give and go offense that looked, at times, ineffective for USA at Sandblast and WW was nowhere to be seen. Instead nothing but streaking deeps, massive under cuts and huge field length bombs for scores by both teams but far more effectively by Team USA. Their defensive speed and pressure was also highlighted as they put a thorough beatdown on PoNY and impressed all watching and the video crew filming it [full discretion: i was a commentator for the action and if it ever sees the light of day you can heckle me for my miscues].
Except for those at the beer tent because they were blocked from watching the game by ugly plastic neon orange terrorist fence material used at Guantanamo Bay. So you either had the choice of drinking beer (at least it was good beer -- Magic Hat came from one of the taps) or watching the showcase game but you couldn't do both. Or if you were wise you waited until the $143,000 worth of beer ran out and ran over to watch the action.
Competitive (called the Open division) 2-2
Here's what I got from Kim Tischler and Drew Jones who played in this division on the team People I Like (Plus Drew Jones)
Drew: "We lost in semis to Hennessy [at Halftime] 13-16. Stout, Teddy and Cal were tough to overcome."
Kim: "We lost in the semis to Hennessey. Great game. Mostly everything we did ran through our women. They mainly used their men namely Stout and Calvin. O-Pig bested them [Hennessey] in the finals in a big way. Fans were denied a third game."
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Coming Up: The Ultimate Scenes in Kampala, Uganda and Chennai, India
For this years WCBU11, aka, Beach Worlds 2011 in Italy this August, I have been interviewing two unique teams coming to the tournament for the first time: the Kampala-based Team Uganda and the Chennai-based Team India.
Their stories are similar but different and will be recognizable to all who have played ultimate in developing nations. Typically, expats and NGO workers from UK, USA, Canada, Australia and the like support ultimate in local "international" schools and show up for informal pick-up games in towns and cities.
Eventually local players start to fill out the ranks and build up viable clubs, leagues and traveling teams.
Team Uganda, long-time leader Alex "Queenie" Matovu explained to me, used to be 70% expats and NGO workers but is now reversed with 90% Ugandans (with a few Kenyans and Rwandans in the mix).
Team India founder Narayan has a twist on this story however, as the Chennai team was founded by Indians who studied in the United States and played ultimate, returned to India and started up the scene.
This week look for full interviews with both Queenie and Narayan on the WCBU11 site and the Beach Blog on Sky'd Magazine.
Their stories are similar but different and will be recognizable to all who have played ultimate in developing nations. Typically, expats and NGO workers from UK, USA, Canada, Australia and the like support ultimate in local "international" schools and show up for informal pick-up games in towns and cities.
Eventually local players start to fill out the ranks and build up viable clubs, leagues and traveling teams.
Team Uganda, long-time leader Alex "Queenie" Matovu explained to me, used to be 70% expats and NGO workers but is now reversed with 90% Ugandans (with a few Kenyans and Rwandans in the mix).
Team India founder Narayan has a twist on this story however, as the Chennai team was founded by Indians who studied in the United States and played ultimate, returned to India and started up the scene.
This week look for full interviews with both Queenie and Narayan on the WCBU11 site and the Beach Blog on Sky'd Magazine.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
“Even Shameless, Pathetic Losers Occasionally Bumble Their Way to The Top"
One has to ask -- when does age disqualify you from success in Summer League?
If you have an 80 yard bomb in your arsenal and a savvy knowledge of throwing lanes why can't you dominate a seasonal series filled with part-timers, college undergraduates and parking lot drunks? My guess from both experience and from this particularly noteworthy roster--
Westchester Summer League (NY) - Team White Open Draft Division
-- suggests that, well, most readers here, even those on this team, have a few generations to go before age prevents them from playing at a sustainable summer league level.
But therein lies a conundrum. Can an aging core (conveniently labeled [core] in this roster) get by with skills and thrills in a league where speed is cheap? From my experience playing Open league WSL there's a ton of wheels out there and trying to cover all of them is like trying to eradicate graft in Afghanistan.
So even if Team Red has been labeled a bunch of shameless losers by a veteran war hand who knows how to put down an insurgency or two, will it matter in the end?
I don't know a single name on the Red roster. On White I've played with half of them and at 38 I pre-date that half. Put that White roster circa 1996 up against PoNY circa 2006 and I think White's got more than a chance. But maybe, just maybe, an ungrateful shameless foul bunch of losers like Red circa 2011 have more than a shot against the aging former champs.
Only time will tell.
If you have an 80 yard bomb in your arsenal and a savvy knowledge of throwing lanes why can't you dominate a seasonal series filled with part-timers, college undergraduates and parking lot drunks? My guess from both experience and from this particularly noteworthy roster--
Westchester Summer League (NY) - Team White Open Draft Division
-- suggests that, well, most readers here, even those on this team, have a few generations to go before age prevents them from playing at a sustainable summer league level.
But therein lies a conundrum. Can an aging core (conveniently labeled [core] in this roster) get by with skills and thrills in a league where speed is cheap? From my experience playing Open league WSL there's a ton of wheels out there and trying to cover all of them is like trying to eradicate graft in Afghanistan.
So even if Team Red has been labeled a bunch of shameless losers by a veteran war hand who knows how to put down an insurgency or two, will it matter in the end?
I don't know a single name on the Red roster. On White I've played with half of them and at 38 I pre-date that half. Put that White roster circa 1996 up against PoNY circa 2006 and I think White's got more than a chance. But maybe, just maybe, an ungrateful shameless foul bunch of losers like Red circa 2011 have more than a shot against the aging former champs.
Only time will tell.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Chicago Sandblast Sunday Finals
Sandblast Final Results
Sandblast finals Sunday
The clouds came in the afternoon today making for a temperate finals with a touch of wind. Great weather for watching.
As expected, top seed Team USA was in the finals with their deep bench and bounty of speed. They matched up against Drazba XX, presumably a team going back to the Southern Illinois days or at least named in homage to the SIU captain killed in a car crash in 1985.
Now a Chicago-based core who has played together for more than ten years, Drazba added Ron Kubulanza and Alicia White to the mix, formidable pickups for any team. The combination proved effective as Drazba took half 8-7.
Team USA finally reeled in Drazba by converting giveaways and looked to close it out at 14-11 before Chicago rebounded with two straight to make it 14-13. Finally a Jared Inselmann forehand down the line to a streaking Brett Matsuzaka provided the win for the Beach Worlds team.
In semis, it was Drazba over Team USA2, aka the Masters team, 15-12. A sloppy game for the most part on both sides but Drazba proved more up to the task, completing the big plays and buckling down when needed. It ended a nice run for us (Team USA 2), playing together for the first time and initially seeded 11th.
In the other semi Team USA defeated Red Stripe. Red Stripe then removed their Speedos, donned velour tracksuits, set up the loudspeaker, and live commentated/heckled the finals entirely in Italian. To understand more, you have to see the DVD.
Beachface, the ND alumni team always sporting the camouflage, took the betty pool with three straight in the morning to win out for 9th and an overall 6-1 record.
In the Sky'd writers versus Sky'd writers II (who knew so many Chicagoans?), Team USA 2 defeated Randy Graves and the Kansas-Deerfield combo team Beach for America in quarters. This was the game I learned the bro-smash and hope to employ it as a psych-up tool at the next tournament.
As usual tournament director Twirly provided plenty of giveaways for everyone. Spirit winners Drunkards and Dragons received some nice schwag, the tournament champions on Team USA got shirts and a free bid for next year (!?) and everyone got plenty of drinks from Fuze, 5 Hr. Energy and Cruzan Rum at the Saturday night party.
No, actually, no one paid me to write that. I just thought it would be nice if I did.
Sandblast finals Sunday
The clouds came in the afternoon today making for a temperate finals with a touch of wind. Great weather for watching.
As expected, top seed Team USA was in the finals with their deep bench and bounty of speed. They matched up against Drazba XX, presumably a team going back to the Southern Illinois days or at least named in homage to the SIU captain killed in a car crash in 1985.
Now a Chicago-based core who has played together for more than ten years, Drazba added Ron Kubulanza and Alicia White to the mix, formidable pickups for any team. The combination proved effective as Drazba took half 8-7.
Team USA finally reeled in Drazba by converting giveaways and looked to close it out at 14-11 before Chicago rebounded with two straight to make it 14-13. Finally a Jared Inselmann forehand down the line to a streaking Brett Matsuzaka provided the win for the Beach Worlds team.
In semis, it was Drazba over Team USA2, aka the Masters team, 15-12. A sloppy game for the most part on both sides but Drazba proved more up to the task, completing the big plays and buckling down when needed. It ended a nice run for us (Team USA 2), playing together for the first time and initially seeded 11th.
In the other semi Team USA defeated Red Stripe. Red Stripe then removed their Speedos, donned velour tracksuits, set up the loudspeaker, and live commentated/heckled the finals entirely in Italian. To understand more, you have to see the DVD.
Beachface, the ND alumni team always sporting the camouflage, took the betty pool with three straight in the morning to win out for 9th and an overall 6-1 record.
In the Sky'd writers versus Sky'd writers II (who knew so many Chicagoans?), Team USA 2 defeated Randy Graves and the Kansas-Deerfield combo team Beach for America in quarters. This was the game I learned the bro-smash and hope to employ it as a psych-up tool at the next tournament.
As usual tournament director Twirly provided plenty of giveaways for everyone. Spirit winners Drunkards and Dragons received some nice schwag, the tournament champions on Team USA got shirts and a free bid for next year (!?) and everyone got plenty of drinks from Fuze, 5 Hr. Energy and Cruzan Rum at the Saturday night party.
No, actually, no one paid me to write that. I just thought it would be nice if I did.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Chicago Sandblast Saturday
Sandblast Saturday
First, some answers from Thursday's preview.
1) Team "Threat Level Magna" is actually a typo as the team is supposed to be Threat Level Magenta. In the high-stakes action on the beach today the defending champions TLM were upset by Scottie's Revenge, a team entirely outfitted in Scottie Pippen #33 Chicago Bulls pinnies. Led by some monster with huge ups named Tyler, the Scotties rolled as TLM faltered badly.
2) Team USA – will they lose in the semis like that Potlatch year or win the whole thing like several other iterations? Right now their number one seed looks spot-on as they rolled. Their speed is just too much for most teams and when you realize it's Team USA Open + Team USA Women's then you kind of get how good they are with very little fall-off top to bottom.
3) Team USA 2 found themselves in the aforementioned pool with TLM and the Scottie Pippens and finished 4-0 fairly easily, ending the day with a thrashing of the TLM defending champions who never looked comfortable. "On second thought we shouldn't have gone with a roster of 21," reflected captain Matt Davidman afterwards. The USA2 win also ended a personal challenge as I defeated Sky'd founder Elliot Trotter and he owes me a six-pack.
4) Number of teams representing the Midwest with an over/under of 48. This is a tricky one. Of the 20 teams I polled, only four weren't local. You do the math.
In other news, in the Spirit division the Teenage Mutant Ninja BUFF squad, alumni and undergraduates from Bradley University playing in the D5 position and dressed entirely in Donatellos, Leonardos, Michelangelos and Raphaels, won 13-12 on double game point in the last game of the day.
Euro-themed Red Stripe sporting swank banana hammocks underneath their Euro-styled velour warm-ups, finished 3-1 with a win over the 2nd place team to advance. I think this is actually the same group of guys from the original Speedo team I remember from 2005.
Notre Dame alumni Beachface fell to North Park (Chicago-based, likely alumni) in a reversal of College Regionals past. Beachface may have a chance to advance to quarters based on point differential.
Party tonight is at a rather large bar eatery called Mad River on North Sheffield. Much drinking to be had by all as wristbands get competitors free beer for some amount of time.
First, some answers from Thursday's preview.
1) Team "Threat Level Magna" is actually a typo as the team is supposed to be Threat Level Magenta. In the high-stakes action on the beach today the defending champions TLM were upset by Scottie's Revenge, a team entirely outfitted in Scottie Pippen #33 Chicago Bulls pinnies. Led by some monster with huge ups named Tyler, the Scotties rolled as TLM faltered badly.
2) Team USA – will they lose in the semis like that Potlatch year or win the whole thing like several other iterations? Right now their number one seed looks spot-on as they rolled. Their speed is just too much for most teams and when you realize it's Team USA Open + Team USA Women's then you kind of get how good they are with very little fall-off top to bottom.
3) Team USA 2 found themselves in the aforementioned pool with TLM and the Scottie Pippens and finished 4-0 fairly easily, ending the day with a thrashing of the TLM defending champions who never looked comfortable. "On second thought we shouldn't have gone with a roster of 21," reflected captain Matt Davidman afterwards. The USA2 win also ended a personal challenge as I defeated Sky'd founder Elliot Trotter and he owes me a six-pack.
4) Number of teams representing the Midwest with an over/under of 48. This is a tricky one. Of the 20 teams I polled, only four weren't local. You do the math.
In other news, in the Spirit division the Teenage Mutant Ninja BUFF squad, alumni and undergraduates from Bradley University playing in the D5 position and dressed entirely in Donatellos, Leonardos, Michelangelos and Raphaels, won 13-12 on double game point in the last game of the day.
Euro-themed Red Stripe sporting swank banana hammocks underneath their Euro-styled velour warm-ups, finished 3-1 with a win over the 2nd place team to advance. I think this is actually the same group of guys from the original Speedo team I remember from 2005.
Notre Dame alumni Beachface fell to North Park (Chicago-based, likely alumni) in a reversal of College Regionals past. Beachface may have a chance to advance to quarters based on point differential.
Party tonight is at a rather large bar eatery called Mad River on North Sheffield. Much drinking to be had by all as wristbands get competitors free beer for some amount of time.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Sandblast 2011 Preview
This may also be posted on Sky'd Magazine as we are doing a cross-promotional beach tour '11.
---
My last trip to Sandblast was in 2005. That year I shot, edited and commentated the finals for the tournament DVD and played with Hurt Locker. Back then there were several teams that could make finals but you couldn't tell who they were. The crew wearing thick tans and thin Speedos? Bunch of guys and girls in button-downs and ties? And there were friends you didn't recognize because you weren't used to seeing them on sand.
I'm back for 2011 and have to wonder about the tournament and how much it's changed or remained the same. Here's a few questions I am asking myself for the overdue return to Chicago.
---
Defending champions Team Esquire changing their name to Threat Level Magna — mistake, typo or savvy marketing? (answer tomorrow from captain Matt Davidman).
Team USA @ Sandblast – Potlatch semis losers or Poultry Day champions?
Team USA 2 – First losers, second-tier winners or the age-defying 2011 Dallas Mavericks?
Number of teams representing the Midwest out of 60 total across both divisions. Over/under: 48.
Quantity of Fuze drinks given away by Fuze, the Official Sponsor of Chicago Sandblast 2011. I'm gonna guess 750.
A question we've all wanted to find out the answer to: who plays better on the sand, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids or Sheboygan?
Beach etiquette: should I call that travel or just maybe hold it back because the sand is really deep today and heck, it's only beach?
Looking at the pools I see eight teams with dirty, double entendre names referring to adult situations. How many more can there be?? The eight I have are: Ski Unit, Highlighter Nation, Labor Party, Hoffman's Mom, Big Fun, Crunkzilla, Team USA2 and Beach for America. Gnarly stuff.
Crystal Ball: Looking to the future USA Ultimate is starting a Beach Division in 2012. There's a theory that the beach game could go big like beach volleyball's raging success in the 1980s. Let's say the ruse works and beach ultimate is the hippest activity on the planet. Does Zima provide the first major sponsorship? Or Kangol?
How many months away is the 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate this August 21-28?
If something happens on the beach, does it stay on the beach?
---
Answers to some of these questions, a Q&A with Davidman and other burning answers tomorrow sometime.
---
My last trip to Sandblast was in 2005. That year I shot, edited and commentated the finals for the tournament DVD and played with Hurt Locker. Back then there were several teams that could make finals but you couldn't tell who they were. The crew wearing thick tans and thin Speedos? Bunch of guys and girls in button-downs and ties? And there were friends you didn't recognize because you weren't used to seeing them on sand.
I'm back for 2011 and have to wonder about the tournament and how much it's changed or remained the same. Here's a few questions I am asking myself for the overdue return to Chicago.
---
Defending champions Team Esquire changing their name to Threat Level Magna — mistake, typo or savvy marketing? (answer tomorrow from captain Matt Davidman).
Team USA @ Sandblast – Potlatch semis losers or Poultry Day champions?
Team USA 2 – First losers, second-tier winners or the age-defying 2011 Dallas Mavericks?
Number of teams representing the Midwest out of 60 total across both divisions. Over/under: 48.
Quantity of Fuze drinks given away by Fuze, the Official Sponsor of Chicago Sandblast 2011. I'm gonna guess 750.
A question we've all wanted to find out the answer to: who plays better on the sand, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids or Sheboygan?
Beach etiquette: should I call that travel or just maybe hold it back because the sand is really deep today and heck, it's only beach?
Looking at the pools I see eight teams with dirty, double entendre names referring to adult situations. How many more can there be?? The eight I have are: Ski Unit, Highlighter Nation, Labor Party, Hoffman's Mom, Big Fun, Crunkzilla, Team USA2 and Beach for America. Gnarly stuff.
Crystal Ball: Looking to the future USA Ultimate is starting a Beach Division in 2012. There's a theory that the beach game could go big like beach volleyball's raging success in the 1980s. Let's say the ruse works and beach ultimate is the hippest activity on the planet. Does Zima provide the first major sponsorship? Or Kangol?
How many months away is the 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate this August 21-28?
If something happens on the beach, does it stay on the beach?
---
Answers to some of these questions, a Q&A with Davidman and other burning answers tomorrow sometime.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Team USA's Beach Tour 2011 -- Chicago Sandblast
my return trip to Sandblast is just around the corner. It's been far too long since I've experienced the tournament. THe giveaways, always a treat in this low-profile sport.
The radio station at the fields. The effervescence of Tournament Director Adam "Twirly" Levy. The team that plays in speedos. The warm water. Heck, Chicago is even in its early summer glory.
Six years have passed since my last trip to Chicago for the tournament. Last time I got to throw down with a pretty good bunch of Wisco and CUT guys and girls. This year I have the privilege of playing for Team USA in the masters division at Beach Worlds and one of our "training" tournaments is Sandblast.
Of course Sandblast doesn't have age-specific divisions and is 100% mixed male and female. So it's not quite so much a practice in terms of strategy and structure. More like a chance to get out on the sand, comingle with teammates, and TAKE DOWN REIGNING CHAMPS ESQUIRE!
There. It's been said. Bring it.
The radio station at the fields. The effervescence of Tournament Director Adam "Twirly" Levy. The team that plays in speedos. The warm water. Heck, Chicago is even in its early summer glory.
Six years have passed since my last trip to Chicago for the tournament. Last time I got to throw down with a pretty good bunch of Wisco and CUT guys and girls. This year I have the privilege of playing for Team USA in the masters division at Beach Worlds and one of our "training" tournaments is Sandblast.
Of course Sandblast doesn't have age-specific divisions and is 100% mixed male and female. So it's not quite so much a practice in terms of strategy and structure. More like a chance to get out on the sand, comingle with teammates, and TAKE DOWN REIGNING CHAMPS ESQUIRE!
There. It's been said. Bring it.
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