HechTen 2007 recap
Kenn Sebesta
tournament where we won two games and lost five! We won the two
important games, though, and were definitely on a level where we could
have won more.
We were once again the most co-ed of all the teams there, fielding
four women. Most other open teams didn't have a single woman, so once
again half our players were playing uphill, so to speak, against men
who loomed over them. And yet we did quite well, and certainly gave
every team a run for their money!
HechTen 2007 was one of the most fun tournaments I've ever been to. It
was great to go back and forth from playing in the sand pit to playing
on the grass. The party was well organized, and the after-game
activities, such as night frisbee played with a flashflight and
taillights, http://www.flashflight.com/taillight/index.shtml. Even
dinner, where each team fended for itself, was fantastic at an
incredible price.
The first day started with a match against Gummibärchen from
Karlsruhe. Gummibärchen beat us badly at Haan last December, and this
was our chance to make amends. We gave them a tough time of it
straight from the beginning, although the score doesn't tell the whole
story. Basically, we got off to a really slow start, giving up the
first couple points right away. After that, we slowed them down quite
a lot, scoring two for every three they scored. Nothing fantastic, but
considering how well we did against them at Haan, it was a fantastic
improvement. In the end, we lost 8:13 (I think).
The second game was against our friends in Frankfurt on the sand
pitch. Wayne Ziants, who helped us out in Wintercup, this time was
facing us from the other side of the field. The sand pit was so small,
games had to be played 4-on-4, with endzones that were as big as the
playing zone between them! Still we had fun, and did our best to win.
In the end, we couldn't quite pull through, but there were many
moments when we came close to getting the lead. Eintracht Frankfurt
won 11:15.
The third game was against Barfliegen from Augsburg. The game started
off well, like almost every game this weekend, but we once again gave
away the lead early on in the game and just couldn't get it back. We
developed a maddening habit this weekend of starting up, losing the
lead, coming within one point of getting it back, and then having a
run of bad points before the end. We lost, although I really don't
remember by how much.
After the third pool game, the teams brought out the cakes they had
brought and we all chowed down on some good treats. This was just the
moment to reflect upon what went wrong and what went right.
Fortune smiled upon us for the next game, pitting us against the
Mainzel Mädchen, a team we had already knew from Wintercup. This time,
though, one of our own was playing against us! Yes, darling Micha had
taken arms against her Ultimate deLux brethren and was playing in the
very spirited Mainz women's team. We had a convincing win over them,
but they fought to the nails for every point. The end score was 10-6.
That evening, we ate at the a fantastic Italian restaurant in downtown
Kaiserslautern. We've never seen so much food for so little in our
life, and the quality was as good as anything you'd find in Italy
itself! I definitely recommend La Nouvella Mamma to anyone happening
to find themselves near the Kaiserslautern train station.
The following morning, we were up against Kaiserslautern, for the
third time in as many months! Poignantly remembering our loss against
them for the Wintercup championship, we walked on the field prepared
for the worst. And the worst is what they got. We could do no wrong
that game. Brendan and Mike and Mike set up point after point after
point. We trounced them with a solid 10-4 win, earning us a ticket to
the semifinals!
The next game was against 7 Schwaben of Stuttgart. This game was
played in the sand, which gave us better chances against their more
atheletic team than the grass. The game started off great, with us
forcing a turnover and marking the point. We kept the lead until about
the 5th point, when their greater size and speed just started wearing
us down. In the end, we lost, but it was respectable. 7 Schwaben went
on to the finals, and we got to play for 3rd place.
The last game was against Ultimate Farmers from Lüneburg. This game
went like four of our five other losses: we took an early lead, lost
it midway, came back to almost tie with 10 minutes left, and then
slowly fell further and further behind. Still, a fourth place finish
is nothing to be sneezed at!
Losing these games is okay! It means that we already have the
potential to win these games, we just lack the cool to stick with it
all the way to the end. We find something that works in the beginning,
but then don't adapt the formula midway through the game when we start
getting tired. Certainly, however, if we're doing this well against
all-male teams, imagine how we'll do when we finally get some co-ed
games going!
Ultimate deLux was:
Brendan
Dani (couldn't play due to injury, but took some great photos)
Jan
Jeanie
Kenn
Laura
Maz
Melanie (Trier)
Mike Hays (Miami University)
Mike Hughes
Thierry