Flowerbowl

On the familiar fields of WUGC 2008, I played my first tournament with a US team. Sockeye had split up in two teams, I was on team Black.

On Saturday we played Beefshark (UBC College players), Rhino (Portland) and Furious George's O team. We won all these games, only the Rhino game felt like a tight match, 9-8.

At the end of the day we played a showcase game against Furious. This match was played with the full, combined teams. It was really exciting to play with such a big team and the energy was high the whole time. We won the game, 13-9.

Score in the showcase game. Photo by Jeff Bell

We went out to get all-you-can-eat sushi in downtown Vancouver on Saturday night. It was a bit expensive but definitely worth it. Especially because we got a free circus to go with it: The Vancouver team had won an important hockey game, so there was a big party in the streets. Zebra crossings had changed into high five lines, people were hugging random strangers, people were running on the streets to high five people in cars. It was pretty awesome.

The next day started off with a game against the other Sockeye team. We had scrimmaged them on Monday and won 13-5. This time we could not bring it, our D was weak and we made some silly drops. I was not playing very well myself, I feel like I spend most of the game trailing either MC or Ray. We lost 9-13.

We played Blackfish directly after. We were fired up after our loss to team Red. We got some easy D's with our four man cup and they could not really pressure us to make turns. End score: 13-5.

That was the end of the round robin. Normally the number one and two would play each other in the final. But the two Sockeye teams ended up number one and two, so we combined and played the Furious George D team that took some extra pick ups. It was once again an intense game, but we were clearly the better team. 13-8

Tournaments here are very different from what I am used to. This is what stood out most:
- We slept in a hotel, in a four-person room without windows that could open, with 9 people.
- We often played two games in a row, with only a 15 minute break in between.
- There was no price ceremony, no spirit circles, no central tent where players hung out.
- People kept stepping on my feet, it happened at least 5 times.
- There is so much more contact here. Instead of going around you to get to space, most players just go through you.

Next up: Solstice June 18th and 19th in Eugene, Oregon.