The best ultimate tournament
The club ultimate season's pretty much underway. Most of us are training for some sort of event, whether it be a club ultimate game, a recreational league game, or some other summer fun. So, I thought 'why not ask about the best tournament around? What tournament do people love to attend, train for, talk about, travel for?
I'm guessing that the average participant at the UPA Club Championship (nationals) has trained more for that tournament and with that team than any other tournament. I mean, Dylan Tunnel could say that he's trained for the '07 Nationals since he was 13, playing for Paidea's varsity team and on the tryout list for Chain Lightning. Also, the parties are great, the beach and fields beautiful, and more.
Pick from the following for the next best tournaments:
Seven Little Idiots
Trouble in Vegas
President's Day
Mudbowl
Lei-Out beach
Paganello
One-Love One-Beach
Easter Hat Day at local community college
College Regionals/Nationals
Poultry Days
Potlatch
Wildwood beach
Summer league end of season
Chicago Heavyweights
Chesapeake Invite (bid is $400 this year!!)
Labor Day Championship
Hawaii something?
Boston Invitational
Summer Solstice
Toss in the Moss
SMUT
Colorado Cup
PADA Mosh
6 comments:
i think i have to be honest and say i don't think i've enjoyed one tournament since i left college...or at least as much as i loved tournaments when i was in college. there is no tournament i ever looked forward to going to because we always had to travel. my feelings for regionals 03 have been well documented (www.qpliveandme.blogspot.com) before but other than that one:
I loved Mud Bowl the year we went and won. great fields, eating brownies on the way down with 15 people in a 15 passenger van, playing trenches...all of that was amazing. plus we won the tournament and we all had a great time together from beginning to end.
wildwood has lost its appeal with me. my feet always hurt, i feel gross from all the food we eat and it's just never as much fun as its hyped up to be anymore.
chesapeake i should love but for some reason, my team never has that much success there. hopefully, this will be the year truck stop shines.
Club nationals are amazing. it's the culmanation of 6 months of hard work. spending money, devoting time, working through aches and pains, people at work get frustrated with you because you can't be available as often. you play through the hot of the summer and into the first stages of cold of the fall/winter. in the end, you take 3 nights in florida to forget about it all. play a few games a day, enjoy a free beer or 10, stay on the beach, celebrate a successful year and look forward to a few months off, knowing you worked your ass off to be where you are. that's what i am going for this year.
Ed, what's the deal with this "there is no tournament i ever looked forward to going to because we always had to travel"?
traveling is part of the fun... getting into cars in front of the marvin center, flying to san diego, and more.
i might agree with you to a certain extent that, with club, the travel has become less fun. that's more so because its less team-oriented and very irregular in the way that Friday road trips became a regular thing in college. for example, having my mom drop me off at a friend's house so we can drive up to Chesapeake isn't as much fun as rolling through the academic center with a big bag, loose cleats, someone else's sleeping bag, and a hankering for spotting good movies playing on other cars' tvs.
i'll always remember the December Ultimaxx we went to as the first truck stop glory hole team. how we took a highway one state too early. and the hotel room's remote kept throwing itself against walls.
terminus had a pretty long drive, but to start off a spring break it wasn't bad.
No Purple Valley?
Beautiful foliage, yeah foliage, decent to great ultimate, and an amazing on campus party, which is aided by the fact that everyone is staying on campus, which just makes everyone more drunk.
I'm sure Mars is essentially the same thing as Poultry Days except for the fact that you get an extra night of drinking in, but Mars 2004 was a ruckus of epidemic proportions.
I agree with Ed about tournaments post college to a certain extent especially given that this August it looks like we'll be going Colorado, Seattle, Virginia; 3 of 4 weekends. That just seems like a chore.
Pres Day -- Even when we didn't play, it was still a blast
Wildwood -- Ed, you a old.
Poultry Days -- Not just a great party, but an incredible level of (drunk) talent.
Hungry Hungry Hippos Feed the Hungry Thanksgiving tournament -- only time I ever won something at Coed.
I've never been to Potlach, Pagenello, or Vegas, but they are probably awesome.
Disc Anapolis Beach Ultimate Tournament AKA DABUT
WHy?
Its an hour out of DC
Its one day long
Its on the beach but its not as sandy as wildwood
When you are down by more than two points you can initiate a 4 person boat race worth 2 points
Its pretty easy to find a house nearby for cheap
Im not saying its the best but ive been in this sport for 10 years now and its one where I've had the most fun. Other than that you cant beat pres day for the women, the weather, and the weed. But I also like the fields, the caliber of play, and Pug's (snacks') house.
I agree with Ed ont he travelling piece, something ive found very helpful is taking off a day on side or the other of the trip. It's only one day and it makes travelling so much more worth it. Last year i took the monday off after wildwood. Jenn and I went to a nice dinner at a Bring your own bottle italian place. We got drunk, went on rides, and had a romantic walk on the beach. Monday morning/afternoon we went to the waterpark and spent some real time on the beach not tossing the disc. It was a really nice way to unwind and made the weekend for me.
I did something similar with poultry days last year and went out thursday night so we had friday to goof off in Ohio. Next year i want to do the same but go to cedar point.
Tim,
Gotta love the three dub's, but I'd add the one more dub, the dub in dub-illis
Yours
Ben
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