Nashi United

There was an ultimate tournament this weekend at Tajima Dome in Hyogo. Even though our team of 11 (8 men and 3 women) had less than a half dozen "practices" together, we had a respectable but (to me) disappointing showing of 4th out of 12 teams.

We were the best team out of our 3 team bracket, losing to Small Axe (arguably THE team to beat, last year's champion who came all the way from Tokyo to play in this tournament) in the semi's, and lost to the Gifu team in the bronze medal game. Final score: 11 to 10. I went for the potential game winning throw just 3 yards out of the endzone, a break-force backhand to Jason that was swatted down by a guy with man tits. The following possesion Gifu scored, and then time expired before we completed our 2nd pass.

I was arguably the 2nd or 3rd best handler on our team (a bad sign for our team), and was the consensus fast guy on our team (another bad sign, mainly an illusion created by the fact that I am running most of the time, albeit in circles). I had to make shorter, more frequent cuts, get the disc out of the hands of weak throwers, make tough throws, plus cover and be covered by the fast guy on the other team.

Being the go-to skilled guy on the ultimate field was something new to me. Back in WAFC all I had to do was to run the hell out of myself, make hustle plays and the occasional forehand hucks, which is something I enjoyed and did well while I was still in post-marathon shape. This weekend I just didn't have enough juice to stay in the go-to guy role once the competition stepped up past the round-robin games.

I did have a lay-out D though in our first game. Wish somebody caught that muddy flying swat on camera.

Photos and additioanl evaluation on my current physical shape to follow.