Wintercup @ Kaiserslautern
05/02/07 11:12
Wintercup Day 1, Kaiserslautern,
Germany - Feb. 4th, 2007.
Outcome: Top ranked after Day 1 (four out of four games won)
Summary: Go team! Wintercup Day 1 at Kaiserslautern was an absolute blow out. Not only did we win all our games, we won them convincingly. Our worst point spread was 3 points, and our best was in the double digits. We continued the progress we had made at Haan, but this time a bit more maturity and an easier line-up of opponents gave us a high confidence level, so even the occasional mistake never got us down. Not that there were that many mistakes-- good solid disc work, precise cutting, and almost no dropped discs were certainly the defining characteristics of the day. We were feeling so good about our play and ourselves, I think we could have taken on the world.
The day got off to a bit of a rough start-- but not at the hall, just getting there. Brendan had had some trouble finishing Saturday night's drinking by 11AM Sunday morning, and yours truly got the convoy lost at the very first turn. Still, we gave ourselves plenty of time, and we wound up getting there exactly one hour early.
Kaiserslautern had an excellent hall. Nice, airy, and well lit by the sun. They even had a secondary hall where we could practice throws and drills before the first game. We took advantage of this to do a quick dump drill, which worked admirably. Not one single dump was dropped the entire day, and in fact very few passes at all were missed.
The first game against Ars Ludendi from Darmstadt started off with a bang. Not the good kind though— the foul kind. The first minutes of the game were peppered by foul calls, none of which were particularly dubious. Still, it got a bit much, so after the third or fourth foul call during just one point both teams relaxed a bit. The rest of the game was easily in our favor, and we swept on to a 14-5 victory.
The second against Porta Partisanen from Trier started relatively evenly. Trier wound up finding three pick-up players so that their 6 players wouldn't be utterly dead at the end of the game, giving them 7 men and 2 women to our 5 men and three women. They gave us a bit of heartburn over one or two particularly nice full-field throws for a point. In the end, Ultimate deLux pulled away but it was a good battle. So good and seemingly close, in fact, that for five minutes afterwards, Steve was utterly convinced that Trier had won the game. (We did, though-- 12-7.)
The third against Frau Rauscher, Frankfurt's women's team, was a blowout of sorts. We played our women as much as possible to try to even things out, but the difference in size, speed, and experience between the two teams brought a flurry of points. We wound up 15 to 3 at the end. Maybe next time we'll have enough players so we won't have to field four veteran players against a beginner's women's team.
The fourth against Main umwerfendes Frankfurt was clearly the hardest. We started off by losing the toss, and then the point. We tied the game back up, lost the third point, tied again with the fourth point, and on the fifth point forced a turnover putting us ahead 3-2. After that it was neck and neck with us ahead by one point, and just once getting ahead by two, before almost giving up the lead a few minutes later. However, around 10-9, we rallied and slowly pulled ahead to a three-point lead, finishing 14-11.
Thanks to all who played. It was a great day. Along with the eight deLuxers, we reinforced our position as Mother Tongue's little home away from home, welcoming Wayne Ziants a second time into our flock. Special thanks goes out to him-- Mother Tongue's mother, so to speak-- for picking up with us.
Team Roster:
Kenn
Brendan
Ines
Thierry
Laura
Micha
Dani (couldn't play due to injury, but took some great photos)
Steve
Wayne Ziants (Frankfurt)
Outcome: Top ranked after Day 1 (four out of four games won)
Summary: Go team! Wintercup Day 1 at Kaiserslautern was an absolute blow out. Not only did we win all our games, we won them convincingly. Our worst point spread was 3 points, and our best was in the double digits. We continued the progress we had made at Haan, but this time a bit more maturity and an easier line-up of opponents gave us a high confidence level, so even the occasional mistake never got us down. Not that there were that many mistakes-- good solid disc work, precise cutting, and almost no dropped discs were certainly the defining characteristics of the day. We were feeling so good about our play and ourselves, I think we could have taken on the world.
The day got off to a bit of a rough start-- but not at the hall, just getting there. Brendan had had some trouble finishing Saturday night's drinking by 11AM Sunday morning, and yours truly got the convoy lost at the very first turn. Still, we gave ourselves plenty of time, and we wound up getting there exactly one hour early.
Kaiserslautern had an excellent hall. Nice, airy, and well lit by the sun. They even had a secondary hall where we could practice throws and drills before the first game. We took advantage of this to do a quick dump drill, which worked admirably. Not one single dump was dropped the entire day, and in fact very few passes at all were missed.
The first game against Ars Ludendi from Darmstadt started off with a bang. Not the good kind though— the foul kind. The first minutes of the game were peppered by foul calls, none of which were particularly dubious. Still, it got a bit much, so after the third or fourth foul call during just one point both teams relaxed a bit. The rest of the game was easily in our favor, and we swept on to a 14-5 victory.
The second against Porta Partisanen from Trier started relatively evenly. Trier wound up finding three pick-up players so that their 6 players wouldn't be utterly dead at the end of the game, giving them 7 men and 2 women to our 5 men and three women. They gave us a bit of heartburn over one or two particularly nice full-field throws for a point. In the end, Ultimate deLux pulled away but it was a good battle. So good and seemingly close, in fact, that for five minutes afterwards, Steve was utterly convinced that Trier had won the game. (We did, though-- 12-7.)
The third against Frau Rauscher, Frankfurt's women's team, was a blowout of sorts. We played our women as much as possible to try to even things out, but the difference in size, speed, and experience between the two teams brought a flurry of points. We wound up 15 to 3 at the end. Maybe next time we'll have enough players so we won't have to field four veteran players against a beginner's women's team.
The fourth against Main umwerfendes Frankfurt was clearly the hardest. We started off by losing the toss, and then the point. We tied the game back up, lost the third point, tied again with the fourth point, and on the fifth point forced a turnover putting us ahead 3-2. After that it was neck and neck with us ahead by one point, and just once getting ahead by two, before almost giving up the lead a few minutes later. However, around 10-9, we rallied and slowly pulled ahead to a three-point lead, finishing 14-11.
Thanks to all who played. It was a great day. Along with the eight deLuxers, we reinforced our position as Mother Tongue's little home away from home, welcoming Wayne Ziants a second time into our flock. Special thanks goes out to him-- Mother Tongue's mother, so to speak-- for picking up with us.
Team Roster:
Kenn
Brendan
Ines
Thierry
Laura
Micha
Dani (couldn't play due to injury, but took some great photos)
Steve
Wayne Ziants (Frankfurt)