This is Keen's match report:
So, we got in as NOLO but turned up as UCL Alums, with Jack Laloe representing the current young blood. It was looking pretty good.
However, Day 1 was a lesson in taking things too easy and expecting too much from too little practice together (read: no practice together).
So, after a thrilling start against the GB Masters club team Age Against the Machine (eventually finished 5th), where we were head to head into the cap and lost by 3 points, we proceeded to drink beers in between matches and duly underperform - granted in between bouts of grand fun and derring-do. We were in a tough pool which included the eventual championes MLF, whom we actually did some good work against. The nadir was when Bristol Plastic Factory creamed us 9-4 in the third game of the day. Grim, grim, grim.
NOTE: Remember this, because the happy ending depends on it ...
A few jokes and some sobering up later, we walked straight into the fourth game against 20th seed Skumy to keep our 13th seed and the right to stay out of the bottom 8. We duly did the business and served them up a neat defeat, barely breaking a sweat.
The most fun of the day was then had at a private Lovers campsite BBQ with enough food to feed a refugee camp and booze that even Easy was too tired to really make a go of. Pasta did his best with some Hoogarden Gran Cru but it had been a long long day in soft sticky sand, and we called it a night at 11pm. Great laughs, though, and it warmed my heart to see old friends again around a fire on a clear night in the woods, randomly abusing everyone (of course), and listening to Chris play guitar songs that nobody knew the words to.
Day 2, the first game was against MILF from Southampton, to take 12th place. We stormed it with a zone D and some very sweet O. The still air allowed my hucks to actually land within 15 feet of target, which Chris G and Jack L, and even sunstroked Baggy, scored with to great shouts of acclamation along the lines of 'Thank God, we don't suck anymore!'
The next game for 9th place was against DHB / Exeter Uni and it should have been glorious. However dropped pulls and bad throws from just about everyone, especially me, meant it was a truly depressing failure by cest moi of keeping my cool. Apologies for shaking the heavens with my curses of rage, everyone, but it was a truly dismal display.
The only way, and I mean the ONLY way Beachfest could end with a high for us was if we could regain some dignity against Bristol Plastic, whom we were meeting again in the match for 11th place. And, oh yes, did we ever!
Showing the kind of ballsy, hard-running, Fuckit Huckit spirit, with the legendary Jedi-strength magic of a 5-of-spades zone, we absolutely blitzed BPF. They were deer in the headlights, and we were the NRA. True proof o character all round, and especially notable was Easy and Chris G anchoring the team with bloody-minded determination that literally dripped from their pores. Chris' layout blocks reminded me of brutal Winter League battles back in the day when he'd regularly leave pints of blood on the pitch, while Easy dominated every matchup he had turning most of them into cowering bowls of 'How-the-fuck-did-he-get-that?' BTW, I think Pasta actually got faster as the day went on ...
Jack L continues to impress for a rookie, and gets props for playing the entire tourney with a busted foot. The rest of us had various degrees of pain but Pasta was dealing Vitamin I, and we were all mostly used to it anyway. :)
Final score, 11-2 to UCL and 11th place overall.
Thanks to Difranco, Easy, Chris D, Pasta, Baggy, and Jack L. It was a helluva weekend ... Next: Britopen!
Cheers and POST-match beers,
Adam Keen
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Porró Open - Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Oct 30 - Nov 1 2004 (beach/hat)
This tournament is famous for being a lot of fun. When in central and northern Europe Autumn starts to set, in Catalonia the sun is still warm and the beach is still inviting.
It's a there-day tournament: Saturday 30, Sunday 31, and Monday 1. In Spain the 1st of November is a holiday. I booked my tickets from Friday the 29th to Thursday the 4th. I have had never been in Barcelona and I wanted to spend a few more days there.
Two friends of mine, Miguel and Carlos, live in Barcelona and I was hoping to sleep on one of their floors for the extra nights. Miguel had offered his floor, but a couple of days before leaving he sent me an email explaining that his flatmate, who is in charge for the flat, decided that the flat was already too crowded and did not wanted me on his floor for more than one day. In retrospect that was too bad a news as his flat is really crappy and he's staying there temporarily until he can move in a more decent place. So I emailed Carlos and he told me that he is also pretty much squatting in a shoe-box-size room in his cousin's flat, and that he could not have guests. That left me with the only option to stay in a hostel.
Friday night: Welcome Party.
The welcome party was held at the Bar Glaciar in Paca Reial. I went there after dropping my backpack at Miguel's flat and having some food. Unsurprisingly many of the people there were well known international disc sluts that I had already met in other tournaments (Alian, Lucy, Claudia, Dominick, Peter, Ikram, etc.) and in London (Milja, Beef Cake, Jason, Dribbles, Matt, Diane, etc.).
Darren
I was surprised to see Darren. I had seen his name way down on the waiting list and I was not expecting him to show up. I had already met him in May in Copanhagen and he has become since an Ultimate legend in Europe. This is his story: He used to be a factory manager from Iowa with some money saved and considering to buy a house. Then he thought “fuck it”. He left his jobs and started travelling around, mostly in Europe, hopping from tournament to tournament. He told me that this was going to be his last tournament in Europe and that he was going back to the States. His plans are to find a job, apparently he has one already lined up, save some more money and come back to Europe because he is in love with European Ultimate. We all hope to see him again soon.
Gala Lincoln
This is a hat tournament and on the fist day the first thing that comes to your mind is: What my team will be like? Who am I playing with?
This year's theme is Salvador Dali and all teams are named after Dali paintings. My team was called Gala Lincoln. This is what the painting looks like:
Team Members:
Myself
Rocky
Staphan
Minsu
Nadia
Nick
June
Helena
...
I have already forgotten a lot of names...
more to come...
Matchday One
Surreal Party
Matchday Two
Second Party
Matchday Three
Other Stuff
It's a there-day tournament: Saturday 30, Sunday 31, and Monday 1. In Spain the 1st of November is a holiday. I booked my tickets from Friday the 29th to Thursday the 4th. I have had never been in Barcelona and I wanted to spend a few more days there.
Two friends of mine, Miguel and Carlos, live in Barcelona and I was hoping to sleep on one of their floors for the extra nights. Miguel had offered his floor, but a couple of days before leaving he sent me an email explaining that his flatmate, who is in charge for the flat, decided that the flat was already too crowded and did not wanted me on his floor for more than one day. In retrospect that was too bad a news as his flat is really crappy and he's staying there temporarily until he can move in a more decent place. So I emailed Carlos and he told me that he is also pretty much squatting in a shoe-box-size room in his cousin's flat, and that he could not have guests. That left me with the only option to stay in a hostel.
Friday night: Welcome Party.
The welcome party was held at the Bar Glaciar in Paca Reial. I went there after dropping my backpack at Miguel's flat and having some food. Unsurprisingly many of the people there were well known international disc sluts that I had already met in other tournaments (Alian, Lucy, Claudia, Dominick, Peter, Ikram, etc.) and in London (Milja, Beef Cake, Jason, Dribbles, Matt, Diane, etc.).
Darren
I was surprised to see Darren. I had seen his name way down on the waiting list and I was not expecting him to show up. I had already met him in May in Copanhagen and he has become since an Ultimate legend in Europe. This is his story: He used to be a factory manager from Iowa with some money saved and considering to buy a house. Then he thought “fuck it”. He left his jobs and started travelling around, mostly in Europe, hopping from tournament to tournament. He told me that this was going to be his last tournament in Europe and that he was going back to the States. His plans are to find a job, apparently he has one already lined up, save some more money and come back to Europe because he is in love with European Ultimate. We all hope to see him again soon.
Gala Lincoln
This is a hat tournament and on the fist day the first thing that comes to your mind is: What my team will be like? Who am I playing with?
This year's theme is Salvador Dali and all teams are named after Dali paintings. My team was called Gala Lincoln. This is what the painting looks like:
Team Members:
Myself
Rocky
Staphan
Minsu
Nadia
Nick
June
Helena
...
I have already forgotten a lot of names...
more to come...
Matchday One
Surreal Party
Matchday Two
Second Party
Matchday Three
Other Stuff
Friday, September 24, 2004
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Friday, August 06, 2004
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Friday, April 09, 2004
Friday, April 25, 2003
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