This weekend I had an Ultimate Frisbee Tournament!!! About 12 teams from the New England area met Saturday morning at the University of New Hampshire to play in the snow and cold. Despite waking at 5:45 to make the drive up and arriving with snow falling from the sky I was as excited as ever for my first tournament. I’m on the Valkyries, Northeastern’s Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Team, and for this tournament we combined with the Men’s team.
In March in Alaska, sometimes if you can time it right you can hit what’s called Spring Crest Skiing. This is when there’s a thin layer of hard snow or ice on top of the feet of powder, allowing you to go virtually anywhere on the mountain without difficulty. This is what I would compare the field we played on to. About a foot of snow under a crust a couple inches thick, not quite strong enough to support your full weight, but sturdy enough cut up your shins and ankles while trying to run through.
Needless to say, the games on that field were a challenge. In Ultimate Frisbee, the first team to score 12 points wins, and points are scored by catching the disc in the end zone. The combination of snow and wind and playing for the first time with the men’s team didn’t leave us very well put together. We lost the first two games 12 to 0.
After the second game we were assigned to the upper field that was shoveled. A completely different game! Running, catching, jumping… everything was so much easier, except throwing. The wind was blowing upwards of 40 miles per hour, which doesn’t sound that bad, unless you’re attempting to throw a flat piece of plastic with any accuracy. The team with the down wind end zone scored every time, and since the other team started that way first, they won by one point.
It wasn’t the greatest of showings for Northeastern, however we did all have a great time and learn more about the game. I learned how to play a zone defense and an offense to run if the opposing team runs a zone on you. I’m looking forward to our next tournament, where hopefully the weather will be more in our favor, with no frostbitten toes and wind-nipped ears. We didn’t stick around after our third game to see where we were seeded into tournament play, we had a pretty good guess though… Instead of staying for the soup they were serving* and one more game on the snow field, we went to TGI Fridays, had lunch, and then headed back to Boston. All in all, a great way to spend a Saturday.
*Bring your own bowl and spoon… WHO DOES THAT!?
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