Friday, February 6, 2009

Regionals With The Fish

Friday (1/30) started off by me sleeping in till noon. When I finally came to I made a sandwich and headed down to Trev for a some afternoon tea. After a few hours of chatting with the usuals I headed back to my flat to get packed for the trip to regionals. At 6pm the team met up outside the Chaplaincy Centre to load up the van and head out. With 10 members of the team tucked away in the van we hit the road to Manchester, which was about 1.5 hrs away. Between listening to RHCP and listening to the team rip on each other constantly, the ride was great.

In Manchester we stayed at the house of the team captain, Max. We unloaded the van, then gorged ourselves on an awesome pasta dinner made by Max's mom. After dinner we just hung out and watched some TV till about 11:30 when we decided to pass out. I didn't have a sleeping bag so I ended up freezing my ass off over night, and apparently I snored something terrible.

In the morning we all got suited up in several layers for the cold day of games ahead. The weather was about 40 degrees with 15-20 mph winds, not the greatest conditions for an ultimate tournament. All geared up we loaded up in the van for the drive to Liverpool, about 1.5 hours.

At the fields we unloaded the van and headed out to claim a spot amongst the other teams. There were 16 teams in total. We came in as the 8th seed. After a short warmup it was time to kick things off.

Our first game was against a team called Duff 2. We ended up smashing them 10 - 2. I played pretty well, throwing 3 points and catching 2.

Our second game was against Pies 1, the #1 seed. Obviously we expected to lose to them, but it was a hard fought game. We started off trading points and then they took off. We ended up losing 2 - 11.

Our third game was against Hull, who is historically a pretty even match with the Fish. The game was really tight the whole way through, but we ended up losing 5 - 7. Also, about half way through the game I hurt my leg, which had me sidelined. I think I hyperextended my quad in my left leg. Whatever it was it hurt and it pretty much eliminated my ability to sprint or make sharp cuts.

Our fourth, and final, game of day 1 was against Phat'Eds. With everyone tired and our team banged up we were no match for them. We lost 1-12.

In between all of our games we went into a building near the fields and sat under heat lights to warm up and eat a snack. After the games we piled back into the van and drove back to Manchester. When we got back to Max's house we all took turns with the showers. Cleaned up and relieved to be in a warm house and out of our game clothes, we all just chilled in the TV room. His mom made dinner for us again, this time it was ribs and pizza. The ribs were without a doubt the best ribs I've ever had. After dinner we decided to watch No Country For Old Men. I'd seen the movie before, but it was just as good the 2nd time around. Here are the only pictures I got of the weekend:


Left to Right: Max, Ross, Harris, Charles


Sam and Anett


Left to Right: Rick, John, Martin, Mike

There was one other member of the team who was not in the pictures because he only came for the 2nd day.

Sunday morning went in similar fashion to Saturday. Everyone grabbed a bite to eat and got suited up, then we loaded up the van to head back to Liverpool. At the fields we set up just like the day before and got warmed up.

Our first game of the 2nd day was against Phat'Eds 2. We beat them in convincingly with a final score of 2-11.

Our second game was against Halcyon 2. This was the closest, and hardest fought, game of the tournament for us, but in the end it was the wind who defeated us and we lost 7-8.

Our third game of day 2 and final game of the tournament was against Pies 2. This game went down to the final point, which we managed to score after about 20 minutes. Final score 8-7 us.

Tournament Summary:

Record: 3-4
Final Place: 11th
Team Injuries: Max, Martin, Anett, and Me

Despite the previous stats, it was a great tournament. After the last game we said goodbye to the other teams and hit the road. The ride home was so relaxing, everyone was comforted by the fact that we wouldn't have to play anymore freezing cold games for several days.

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