Australian Uni Games
IT IS TIME. I present to you the long overdue post on all the memorable ulty action, parties and associated capers that took place in Adelaide from 24-29 September.
I've mentioned many times before, not to y'all perhaps, about how fortunate I am to have joined the Melb Uni team at this stage in its life cycle. But 6 months in competitive play and I've been to two top-level tournaments already and received a gold and a bronze medal respectively. By the looks of it, I'm well on my way to becoming the most decorated rookie in rookiedom. More significantly though, this year's team (with its fair number of American imports) has been unbelievable. I've had the opportunity to learn from and train with some of Victoria's (and Australia's) top players, be a part of a close-knit, fun and enthusiastic community and basically soak up everything there is to playing ultimate here and with these people.
Enough with the soppy stuff. You're probably more interested in knowing...
How we got there:
Some flew, some road-tripped. As you might remember, I fell in the latter group. I spent 8 hours in severely cramped conditions, because the car was smaller than we bargained for, there was a Southern-drawling, sleep-deprived oaf (i.e. Chuck) in the backseat with me and many, many log-sized sports bags/rucksacks filling in whatever available space there was left. The ride back after the finals on Friday was a lot more pleasant. We went in a different car, everyone was more awake and thrilled about the bronze medal and we played car games. Mostly a bastardised version of 6 Degrees (on crack). Chuck and Steve were really the ones who were any good at it; Suse and I were hopeless, but had fun setting seemingly insurmountable puzzles for the guys. Chuck, with his formidable store of movie trivia, managed to get from Maggie Gyllenhaal to Meryl Streep via Stand By Me, albeit after half an hour. Before we knew it we were back in Melbourne.
Where we stayed:
The Hilton. That's right, the Hilton. While Monash was piled away in some shady backpackers motel, we were livin' it up at the Hilton. I love Melb Uni Sport - it is so well funded. We made the most of it all right, ordering from the Pillow Menu and recuperating in the pool, spa and sauna.
How we played:
We played a total of 10 matches over the week, and remained undefeated up till the 2nd last pool match against University of Queensland, losing 9-10 on universal point. We came back in the quarterfinal to defeat Adelaide Uni 10-7 (which, incidentally, was the team we beat at SUG for the gold). Macquarie Uni fought hard to take the semis from us 14-8, but we whooped Newcastle 15-5 in the bronze medal playoff. In a way, I suppose it felt good winning to take the bronze than losing to receive the silver. It was the best ever finish for Melb Uni and a Southern region team; our previous best was 8th place.
Adelaide Uni - time out
Hard to tell, but that's my grab for a score while huge solid mass of Ballarat guy dives for it. Scary.
Unfortunately, that was probably the highlight of my watery performance at AUG. I felt I played a lot better at SUG, in a sense that I felt more useful and had more of a presence on the field. Admittedly, considering that we had half a different team and obviously different circumstances, the dynamic would have been, and was, indeed, different. But I still think I could have played better. It's a little frustrating; I put a lot expectation on my performance on the field, but for lack of skill and experience, am frequently disappointed in myself. How I'd love to skip the growing pains and go straight to the part where I play brilliantly. =)
Why half the team was drunk/hungover on Thursday:
The ultimate frisbee party.
Johnny expending excess energy
Pat: Chuck heard that we might need women for AUG and was willing to step up.
Alica and Barrie - the token couple
Me and Pat. There was a bit of the 'Asian glow' there, as I was probably on my 4th drink then. Pat narrowly missed out winning Best Hair, but did win Most Doable Guy. The (drunk) Ballarat girls were all over him, literally and metaphorically, and were chanting "Paaat Crosbyyy Paaaat Crosbyyy" all night.
The rest of the team:
Back: Freise, Chris, Frankie, Chuck
Middle: Barrie, Johnny, Rich, Pat, Steve
Front: Nicole, me, Michelle, Alica, Suse, KP
Freise & Johnny - Green and Gold medallists (the ultimate ulty squad - 20 or so of the best players from any team)
What else we did:
(i) Kissed everyone
(ii) Moho Man
Moho is the name of the Melb Uni team. It's been the butt of many jokes, like, if you say it long enough, eventually it becomes: mo-ho, mo-ho, mo ho mo ho-mo, ho-mo, ho-mo...
(iii) Um...
(iv) Ummmm...
(v) Bask
(vi) Play frisket (frisbee-cricket)
(vii) Watch the final
What happened at the post-tournament party:
Lots and lots of fun, starting with a barbecue at Johnny's. In the midst of food, alcohol and general banter and silliness, I was named Rookie of the Year while Freise was named Import of the Year. Suse was so pleased at having won the bronze medal (it was her last tournament - she's submitting her thesis soon) she bought us all a huge box of bananas. For those of you who don't know the significance of this - cyclone struck Queensland, wiped out 90% banana crop, prices skyrocketed, banana gains cult status. We had a very good laugh about it and pigged on bananas, but wow, it must have cost her a bomb.
From thereon, we progressed to a nearby pub on Sydney Rd. I stayed out till 2am, and some of them carried it on till 6.30am. At the pub, Pat went on a mission to get me drunk and get everyone in on it as well. As a result, I ended up drinking...a fair bit. It failed, much to his chagrin. I felt a bit sick at the end, but was nowhere near the definition of drunk. The upside was, I didn't have to fork out a cent for drinks. People took turns buying me them. If I remember right, I had, in the approximate order - vodka punch, vodka punch, beer, beer, alcoholic smoothie, cowboy, cowboy, gin and tonic, tequila, jager, sambuca, raspberry vodka and vodka orange.
The first 5 were at Johnny's place. So believe it or not, all in all, I had 5 shots and 3 mixes at the pub, each bought by and taken with a different team member in the span of a coupla hours. I was amazed I was still standing. I somewhat expected a deadly hangover the next morning, but surprisingly, I woke up early, feeling more refreshed than I've felt in awhile. Admittedly, I spewed out most of the alcohol when I reached home, which was probably why I felt all right the next day.
When I'm going to end this post:
Very, very soon. Work a-calling. It's been back to the grind for 2+ weeks now, but not before going through the usual PTD (Post Tournament Depression). I think most of us did. The last leg of the car ride home was the most depressing of all. Having spent one glorious week in an ultimate frisbee bubble with the best kinds of people, the prospect of having to return to reality and uni and exams seemed too bleak to bear.
But, as Barrie said to me once, we get by in the end - we just live from one frisbee tournament to the next. He also said, it's not called Cultimate for nothing.
Cheers!
I've mentioned many times before, not to y'all perhaps, about how fortunate I am to have joined the Melb Uni team at this stage in its life cycle. But 6 months in competitive play and I've been to two top-level tournaments already and received a gold and a bronze medal respectively. By the looks of it, I'm well on my way to becoming the most decorated rookie in rookiedom. More significantly though, this year's team (with its fair number of American imports) has been unbelievable. I've had the opportunity to learn from and train with some of Victoria's (and Australia's) top players, be a part of a close-knit, fun and enthusiastic community and basically soak up everything there is to playing ultimate here and with these people.
Enough with the soppy stuff. You're probably more interested in knowing...
How we got there:
Some flew, some road-tripped. As you might remember, I fell in the latter group. I spent 8 hours in severely cramped conditions, because the car was smaller than we bargained for, there was a Southern-drawling, sleep-deprived oaf (i.e. Chuck) in the backseat with me and many, many log-sized sports bags/rucksacks filling in whatever available space there was left. The ride back after the finals on Friday was a lot more pleasant. We went in a different car, everyone was more awake and thrilled about the bronze medal and we played car games. Mostly a bastardised version of 6 Degrees (on crack). Chuck and Steve were really the ones who were any good at it; Suse and I were hopeless, but had fun setting seemingly insurmountable puzzles for the guys. Chuck, with his formidable store of movie trivia, managed to get from Maggie Gyllenhaal to Meryl Streep via Stand By Me, albeit after half an hour. Before we knew it we were back in Melbourne.
Where we stayed:
The Hilton. That's right, the Hilton. While Monash was piled away in some shady backpackers motel, we were livin' it up at the Hilton. I love Melb Uni Sport - it is so well funded. We made the most of it all right, ordering from the Pillow Menu and recuperating in the pool, spa and sauna.
How we played:
We played a total of 10 matches over the week, and remained undefeated up till the 2nd last pool match against University of Queensland, losing 9-10 on universal point. We came back in the quarterfinal to defeat Adelaide Uni 10-7 (which, incidentally, was the team we beat at SUG for the gold). Macquarie Uni fought hard to take the semis from us 14-8, but we whooped Newcastle 15-5 in the bronze medal playoff. In a way, I suppose it felt good winning to take the bronze than losing to receive the silver. It was the best ever finish for Melb Uni and a Southern region team; our previous best was 8th place.
Adelaide Uni - time out
Hard to tell, but that's my grab for a score while huge solid mass of Ballarat guy dives for it. Scary.
Unfortunately, that was probably the highlight of my watery performance at AUG. I felt I played a lot better at SUG, in a sense that I felt more useful and had more of a presence on the field. Admittedly, considering that we had half a different team and obviously different circumstances, the dynamic would have been, and was, indeed, different. But I still think I could have played better. It's a little frustrating; I put a lot expectation on my performance on the field, but for lack of skill and experience, am frequently disappointed in myself. How I'd love to skip the growing pains and go straight to the part where I play brilliantly. =)
Why half the team was drunk/hungover on Thursday:
The ultimate frisbee party.
Johnny expending excess energy
Pat: Chuck heard that we might need women for AUG and was willing to step up.
Alica and Barrie - the token couple
Me and Pat. There was a bit of the 'Asian glow' there, as I was probably on my 4th drink then. Pat narrowly missed out winning Best Hair, but did win Most Doable Guy. The (drunk) Ballarat girls were all over him, literally and metaphorically, and were chanting "Paaat Crosbyyy Paaaat Crosbyyy" all night.
The rest of the team:
Back: Freise, Chris, Frankie, Chuck
Middle: Barrie, Johnny, Rich, Pat, Steve
Front: Nicole, me, Michelle, Alica, Suse, KP
Freise & Johnny - Green and Gold medallists (the ultimate ulty squad - 20 or so of the best players from any team)
What else we did:
(i) Kissed everyone
(ii) Moho Man
Moho is the name of the Melb Uni team. It's been the butt of many jokes, like, if you say it long enough, eventually it becomes: mo-ho, mo-ho, mo ho mo ho-mo, ho-mo, ho-mo...
(iii) Um...
(iv) Ummmm...
(v) Bask
(vi) Play frisket (frisbee-cricket)
(vii) Watch the final
What happened at the post-tournament party:
Lots and lots of fun, starting with a barbecue at Johnny's. In the midst of food, alcohol and general banter and silliness, I was named Rookie of the Year while Freise was named Import of the Year. Suse was so pleased at having won the bronze medal (it was her last tournament - she's submitting her thesis soon) she bought us all a huge box of bananas. For those of you who don't know the significance of this - cyclone struck Queensland, wiped out 90% banana crop, prices skyrocketed, banana gains cult status. We had a very good laugh about it and pigged on bananas, but wow, it must have cost her a bomb.
From thereon, we progressed to a nearby pub on Sydney Rd. I stayed out till 2am, and some of them carried it on till 6.30am. At the pub, Pat went on a mission to get me drunk and get everyone in on it as well. As a result, I ended up drinking...a fair bit. It failed, much to his chagrin. I felt a bit sick at the end, but was nowhere near the definition of drunk. The upside was, I didn't have to fork out a cent for drinks. People took turns buying me them. If I remember right, I had, in the approximate order - vodka punch, vodka punch, beer, beer, alcoholic smoothie, cowboy, cowboy, gin and tonic, tequila, jager, sambuca, raspberry vodka and vodka orange.
The first 5 were at Johnny's place. So believe it or not, all in all, I had 5 shots and 3 mixes at the pub, each bought by and taken with a different team member in the span of a coupla hours. I was amazed I was still standing. I somewhat expected a deadly hangover the next morning, but surprisingly, I woke up early, feeling more refreshed than I've felt in awhile. Admittedly, I spewed out most of the alcohol when I reached home, which was probably why I felt all right the next day.
When I'm going to end this post:
Very, very soon. Work a-calling. It's been back to the grind for 2+ weeks now, but not before going through the usual PTD (Post Tournament Depression). I think most of us did. The last leg of the car ride home was the most depressing of all. Having spent one glorious week in an ultimate frisbee bubble with the best kinds of people, the prospect of having to return to reality and uni and exams seemed too bleak to bear.
But, as Barrie said to me once, we get by in the end - we just live from one frisbee tournament to the next. He also said, it's not called Cultimate for nothing.
Cheers!
Labels: Sports, Ultimate Frisbee
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