brad

Turku Photos

Over 1000 Photos from the World Ultimate Championships 2004 in Turku

Unfortunately none of my games it seems.

Turku Thursday

I can’t believe we only have one game more to play. I can believe we have only scored like 17 points. Tomorrow we play our last game for the wooden spoon or cellar or whatever you want to call it.

The weather has turned fantastic and I know the Zulu (Xhosa) words we sing better now. Unfortunately I�m only typing one-handed since my left arm just got immobilized when I wanted pain killers for a shoulder that just got a lot worse in a 4-17 loss to Hungary/Austria. I�d been playing with a pulled muscle (somewher between shoulder and back) since the Spain game, but it may now be a tear and tomorrow is looking dodgy. No idea of our chances against Belarus.

look here for results

the links seem to have heaps of general info, sorry this is so short. Buses were late or didn�t show the couple times I planned some time to write. One thing you won�t find elsewhere, we got industrious and have been buying extra crates of beer and doing good trade, subsidising our own consumption. yay south africa!

Turku Day 2

So Internet usage isn�t as easy and frequent as I�d maybe like, so here the little bit I can get down now.

First up, its great to be at Worlds. Frisbee people everywhere. The logistics here are hopeless. Fields and hotels spread all over the place and no organised parties. Its practically impossible to spectate and properly catch up with friends. And Internet. The bus timetable is awfully scarce and they don�t always turn up, meaning you lose time getting anywhere. Hopefully that will get better or we�ll find ways around it.

The opening ceremony involved meeting at Cathedral square where it proceded to piss down in buckets. Everybody wet. By this time I�d met some of the South Africans and the Xhosa players (mainly juniors) responded in voice, singing, stomping (dancing) and smiling in the torrential rain. The other teams loved it. The finnish dancers in white tshirts on the stairs got both wet and photographed. After a walk to the stadium and an uneventful (from where I was) opening ceremony, Australia took on Finland. Hopefully there is lots about this on the links on the left column. The Aussies made mistakes and fell behind, but two stretches of fantastic defense, brought them back and put them ahead to win 17-15. Pottsy played a HUGE first half and great game. YES AUSTRALIA. I split my time between South African and Australian contingents meeting the first and making reunions in the second, even if Mel came back with “I don�t know who you are”. Ooops. She got it eventually.

Our first game against Canada, went to 1-1. Wow. It ended 2-17. Their offense wasn�t working, but we don�t actually have one. This was a fun game. They handed out some presents for Male MVP (the other Brad (Swimmer)), Female MVP (Abby) and gave me Most Spirited Player which was nice. GB on the muddies and squishiest pitch ever also went 2-17. Voodoo unfortunately rested this one and Tina took a while to see me. Mud smelt shitty. I laid out repeatedly. I played as a handler and in a zone (we played a weak version of huck and zone, but its not at all windy) I played deep-deep. Ummm… I shouldn�t really be doing that at Worlds. Its all good.

Nighttime hassles with buses and a �15 taxi later, dinner was eaten (Bolognese) and South Africa went for Beers and dancing on a boat on the river. It was good. These people are fantastic. The walk home wasn�t.

Today we only had one game against the French and I was a bit surprised, but unfortunately we�re excellent at achieveing 2-17 scorelines. Before that we did some drills and things, with enough beginners on the team that they are learning simple things like run a deep and a short cut.

I eventually got to see the Australians play Germany in the mixed division, where Oz did not bringe their A-game and I had to watch my friends beat them convincingly. I only knew 3 of the Australians, but watched with Broken leg Sacha and Mel. Kel presented me with T-shirt and CD for Portugal. Yeah Australia. Sch�n gespielt Fruende.

Back to the main fields, failed to get washing in (tomorrow the bus for 9am game leaves at 7:50 and the washing arrives at 8), dinnered (curry and rice) and showered with the Germans and their Vodka. German Ultimate has its positive sides and they only held it a little against me that I�d cheared against them (but for them as individuals…)

Other results that I picked up, Oz juniors (male) are 2-2, Mixed beat Switzerland convincingly (after losing in Zurich pretournament), Canada women beat USA including an 8-1 run (I caught the start of the game and said “Aaron said I should say Hi Gwen”), USA crushed Australia (Open) where apparently they didn�t bring their game.

I hope the results are up in more detail on the WUGC website.

cya,
brad

Worlds Anticipation

I�ve started a new category, optimistically predicting that I can put up some information on WORLDS. I’ve no idea what the Internet access from the tournament will be like. Hopefully they realise that geeks like me, will try and keep people like you informed on what’s going on. I’ve added some links on the my page’s left column where you will most likely find information focussing on teams from different parts of the globe. Hopefully the Tournament site itself will update current results and rankings.

My U-Bahn leaves at 8am, my stuff is basically packed and I am edgy with anticipation. I guess its excitement, but it feels like nerves which is strange, considering I don’t actually have any expectations other than do my best and enjoy as much as I can. If we win a game, bonus, we’ll have to see my South African team first to judge the chance of that. The schedule pits us first day against Canada and Great Britain. Maybe the nerves are fear of forgetting something rather than a first day score 0-38. We only start at 09:00 once in the first round, but judging by the events schedule only containing parties after Friday (day 6!), this may be less significant than I’m used to.

The weather (see link in left column) forecast for Turku looks cool, very wet, but not too windy. I�ve packed tights and waterproof pants, so am hopefully ready for whatever it can throw at me. 25 degrees with a mix of sun and cloud would be nice.

In that vein, I’ll continue my wish list of lush green fields, an injury free tournament, universal high spirit and a decent party or two. Packing up Munich I realised exactly how many Ultimate Tshirts one collects and have sorted things with an aim to trading some in Turku. I never seem to throw them out. On the other end of the scale, I only have one set of cleats, which doesn’t seem enough. Hopefully they and my body get through the week in good condition.

Ok, I need to hit the sack. Fingers crossed, next post from Finland.