I started off June in an awesome way. First came a massive train ride, the 1st leg of which was delayed by almost 2 hrs. But I got to München fine, with 15mins to spare to catch my long night train all the way north to Düsseldorf.
Got to Düsseldorf with an indian lady shoving her feet into me throughout the 8hr journey. With all my travel plans proper, something just HAS to fail right? So I arrived into Düsseldorf, expecting there to be MORE U-bahns available due to the drupa trade fair, but to my disappointment, not only was the numbers of trains not increased, the stop where the Rheinbad is was getting bypassed due to drupa! *Growl* So I ended up taking another U-bahn to the last identical stop and walking. And due to the fact that I didn’t know when another U-bahn would come rushing onto the same tracks, I decided to not be suicidal and not walk on the tracks. So I walked at least 20mins with a full backpack, and reached the campsite at 8am. Perfect timing. Just right to washup, change and head onto the fields!
The 1st games of both MT and deLux overlapped, so I decided to help out deLux, since people like JT and Chunk were not there yet. I can’t really say much about the games, coz I played SO MANY. Don’t really remember tiny tiny details. But I do remember, for the 1st morning of games, I was still getting used to the teams. I think I scored once and got a D? I am totally not sure. But morning was really just trying to shake off the fatigue from the train ride, get a bit of adrenaline going round and figuring out team dynamics and stuff like that. But I felt that with every game I was getting more into the flow of things. So 1st round, I played 7 games, all back to back except the 1st one.
Afternoon games were based on the seedings. It was both more difficult and easier at the same time. Coz 1st round, you could have played the worst team, and the best team in the tournament, depending on which teams were in the pool. But after seeding, its playing against teams which are much closer to the same level. MT was seeded 12th while deLux was seeded 10th. I remember playing really great games with both teams, finally figured out roughly how the flow goes. I do remember there was one game with MT which I played pretty good offense, and one deLux point where JT threw away a disc and Chunk was laughing at him. deLux did pretty well, winning all their afternoon games. MT didn’t have that much luck though. Especially the last game. Sudden death point. I wanted to win, but unfortunately, the last point went the other way.
And then it was the mad rush to shower and get to the next U-bahn to get grub. Numerous calls to rush were ignored and we ended up having to run up and down the escalators at the U-bahn station, with only 1 minute to spare. And I almost choked on the head of a Gummibärchen that I had kidnapped from Wayne. Oh and Sonia (who flew all the way for Poland!) bought a bottle of Polski Wodka along, orange flavoured. It was nice stuff.
Dinner was Mexican. Nice place, reasonable price, yummy strawberry margaritas, delicious food and best company. EVER. Unfortunately, I think I am responsible for the almost casualty, Katy, who we left at the restaurant while she was in the bathroom. Sorry Katy, small details evade me when I have had 2 margaritas. Thank goodness she had a good memory and found us all right.
Then it was back to the Rheinbad, this time involving the long walk coz the U-bahns had already stopped. Walking on the tracks, and almost got tripped by Wayne with his umbrella. OMG Lori has my umbrella! Just remembered. Anyway, in the tradition of Ultimate parties, this one was WAYYYY quiet. Guess many people decided to sleep after a long 9.30-8pm day of games. MT, however, will always be committed to winning the party. I was actually feeling quite sober, until the residential bartender, Nico, from the Frisbee Family (the hosts) came over, and decided to convince the whole of MT, including lightweight me, to take tequila shots together. Garrett the haggler decided to bargain for it, and so it was 10 shots for the price of 6. And so total alcohol consumed by me at that point of time was, 3 mouthfuls of Polish vodka, 2 margaritas, 1 tequila shot. Somehow, all that food I ate just disappeared, because the alcohol just went straight to my head and start putting me to sleep.
Then Nico, trying to be nice, but obviously up to some nefarious plan, came up with this bottle of something. Killepitsch, which is supposed to be loved by tequila haters and tastes like Jagermeister. Nico was kind enough to hand Garrett the whole bottle, who promptly poured out shots for everyone again. I got half a shot, and it was pretty nice. Maybe everything tastes nice after too much of it. Nico continued to offer alcohol after alcohol. But before Garrett, Adam and Ben managed to consume the whole bar, my head was already so so so heavy. Not throbbing or anything, and I was not drunk, just really really exhausted. That was when I started to fall asleep sitting at the table, and Lori decided it was time to abandon me in the tent. And thus, I got dragged off to the tent and fell asleep really really quickly. The next time I woke up was when Lori came in. I remember exclaiming Company! and fell asleep again. The next disturbance was more annoying. Garrett came in saying something about 10 shots, finishing bottleS, arm wrestling and winning the party of course. And soon after that I heard Adam and Ben talking really loudly in the tent next to ours and omg I just so wanted to sleep.
I got woken up pretty early, from the heat (omg it was boiling and like a sauna in the tent once the sun came up) and from the numerous planes flying overhead. And thirst was driving me mad too, coz my water bottle was buried somewhere in the pile of backpacks and I just wanted to sleep more.
9.30 game, against the Family. Guess their 1 man alcoholic cup defense worked, coz MT got smashed by the Family. It was pretty bad. And the thing was, the loss was not because we were not equal to them, but it was just a massive turnover festival for us. And while we were struggling, Nico the Family’s Sacrifice for the night just sat down on his comfy chair laughing at us. Finally, when it was clear that the Family was going to win, Nico came to play the last point. At the next turnover, Wayne enacted emergency plan A, and Nico was promptly rendered immobile under a big pile of MT players. The rest of us looked upon it in astonishment, as did our most valuable defense player on the field, Annabelle, who managed to force a turnover! MT got back to the game, and went away with the final point of the game. Sweet victory!
After that 1st game, I turned to deLux, who scraped a victory in their 1st game. It was close, but we were one step closer to playing in the Finals! MT had a next game against Sesquidistus, which we won. I only remember Sesquidistus being the crazy team who I have seen at, Bibione, Lake Como AND Konstanz. Basically, everywhere. Those 2 games were back to back, so I was glad for the break inbetween. The 2nd deLux game didn’t go so well, we lost it in the 1st half, managed to crawl back a bit in the 2nd half, but time was not on our side, and we didn’t manage to catch up, losing to the reigning champions, 11-4. That was tough. But I thought it was a game well played, they had good people, they were a strong team and had good women on their team.
I decided to skip the last MT game, because I didn’t want to kill myself and be a liability for deLux during a tough game for 3rd or 4th position. But we played against the Mainz team, and as known before, they were a tough team, each of them pretty good with the disc, athletic, and deLux unfortunately just didn’t get an edge against them, and we lost, to get 4th position. The thing is, if maybe it was seeded differently, maybe if we played semis against the german masters, I think deLux could have been playing the finals.
Anyway, final recap of the weekend. I am glad to have met MT, and some more of deLux. And I have to mention Lori, who’s the sweetest friend ever, because she gave me her one and only (I really mean one and only!) white Paga beanie. And even though its not my original, I think I will cherish it more than ever, because its not only THE paga beanie, but also, most importantly, with love from Lori. And playing wise, I think double teaming, was both a bad and a good idea. I am glad that I managed to get through the tournament, playing 16 games, 11 on the 1st day, 5 on the 2nd. And I am really thankful that I didn’t really aggravate my hip injury, even though it was slightly uncomfortable on Sunday. And also, quite proud that I did not throw away any discs, except once. Which I still feel bad for coz it was a crucial point. But I guess that gives me more to work on (Backhand breaks). Playing so many games really made me push myself past the fatigue and proves the point that you can never get enough of Ultimate.
With every passing tournament, it really brings me closer to my departure from Europe. I am sad, because this is the 1st time I played with MT, and probably the last time I will play with them in a really long time. I really wished I could be a more permanent MT player, but thats only going to be reality in the distant future. And with deLux, I hope maybe I can play 4ferkel with them, but probably not, but hopefully I WILL make it to 4ferkel and at least get to see deLux again. I leave each weekend with wonderful memories, only to long for the next time I stand on the field waiting for the pull again.
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