An Ultimate Weekend

This past weekend was full of Ultimate Frisbee. Mark played in the Canadian Ultimate Championships from Thursday to Saturday, three games a day, for three days. I was thankful that the CUC was posting live scores on their website so I could keep up on the games while I was at work, firmly on the edge of my seat. Sunday was the finals, where Mark and I could spectate together.

We missed the Women's match earlier on Sunday, but were there to see the Men's and (most of) the Mixed, until we were forced to flee from the torrential downpour. For the Men's, it was GOAT (a mix of players from Toronto and Ottawa) vs Furious George (Vancouver). Not only were they playing for the right to call themselves the best in Canada, they were playing to be the team to go to World's in Japan. So, needless to say, they wanted the win. Badly. Which made it fun for me. What an exciting game to watch. I'd heard that Men's Ultimate was intense, but other than a few YouTube clips, had never seen it played. Phenomenal athleticism and talent paired with raw ferocity made for a very, very thrilling game. Powerful throws, ridiculous layouts, impressive catches. Very, very awesome. It was a close game, even after almost every point, and was suspensefully tied 13-13 before Furious took the win 14-13.

What is a sporting event without a streaker?!

The Mixed final was between Team Fisher Price (TFP) from Vancouver and Odyssée from Montréal. Though it lacked the unbridled ferocity and aggression of the Men's game, this was still a phenomenal game to watch. Since I play Mixed, I was also interested to observe and see how I could improve my game. Basically, I need to be faster, taller, throw better, catch better, cut sharper, fake better—basically, do everything I currently do, but much, much better. Plus, if I want to play like these guys, I'm going to have to start laying out. Ouch. But I guess that's why it's called Ultimate. These guys play Ultimate. Me, I'm just playing Frisbee.

We missed the end of the game because of the rain (but still got soaked making our escape), but found out later that TFP won. Bummer. I was really rooting for Odyssée, who I think had a great team dynamic and used all of their phenomenal players well. 

You can see the games online here.