Life after the school year has been another whirlwind of
ultimate, finishing up my dissertation proposal, and not relaxing quite yet
even though it’s technically summertime. But the ultimate has made it all
worthwhile.
Solstice – 6/22 – 6/23
This was my second time being the volunteer coordinator for
Summer Solstice, Eugene’s annual ultimate tournament. Fun fact: Summer Solstice
is the third oldest ultimate tournament in the nation, with one being Cal
States (started a couple months before Solstice) and the other being a
tournament near where ultimate was invented in New Jersey. There was a time
when over 50 teams would show up for the tournament, but these days it is
closer to 20 – 25 open and women’s teams. This year we hosted Master’s
regionals, bumping up our tournament number of teams to 32. We had two
different lined field sites and a party with local beer and catering following
Saturday’s games.
Being the volunteer coordinator consisted of sending emails
and Facebook pleas of trying to ensure volunteer participation, and then direct
communication with volunteers when they’ve signed up to figure out their
availability and interests. It requires more work closer to the actually
tournament weekend. I (stupidly?) scheduled my dissertation proposal meeting
for the Monday following the tournament (6/24). Fortunately, this forced me to
get all of my work done in advance of the proposal meeting. However, it meant
that balancing finals, scheduling, and ensuring that the tournament was running
smoothly conflicted with my ability to concentrate directly and fully on the
proposal. Even when school got out for the summer, I was still feeling stressed
and running around from place to place, balancing the demands of school as well
as ultimate. Yet both sets of demands ended up great: I passed the dissertation
proposal and received mostly positive feedback regarding the volunteers for the
tournament.
We were also able to witness some great ultimate. On the
Women’s side, two of the best female club teams, Riot and Fury, met up in the
Finals, with Riot taking home the victory. Additionally, we hosted the women’s
U-23 teams from the US and Canada, and we featured them as our showcase
matchup. On the men’s side, we also hosted the U-23 Canada team, and they ended
up taking the tournament. It was as smooth of a tournament as one could hope
for—there are so many more details that go into a tournament that I had ever
imagined, and it reinforces my appreciation of TDs and volunteers that help
ensure that each tournament is a success.
Logjam – 6/29 – 6/30
I specifically chose not to play at Solstice the weekend
before, knowing that I still had an opportunity the next weekend to play up
near Portland for Logjam. There were 16 teams that met up for Logjam in the
sleepy town near Estacada on what happened to be the hottest weekend of the
year (so far), with temperatures nearing the high 80’s and low 90’s. (I know I
can’t complain to you East Coast folk, specifically because there was little to
no humidity… it still kinda sucked, though). Eugene players put together a
pickup team called Midnight Whisky for our bid, and most of the members of the
team I have played with or against with regularity in City League. This was one
of our first times coming all together to play in a tournament, which was a)
tough because we needed to figure out each others’ tendencies but b) fun
because we generally are facing off against each other. There were two tough
parts about our games on Saturday: we were placed in a “power pool” unknowingly
and our ladies that we had lined up were having to bow out for injury or
work-related reasons. We were scrambling Friday night to make sure we were
going to have the minimum three ladies for our second game based on how people
were coming and going. Our ladies played with one sub for the first game,
savage for the second game, and with two subs for our third and fourth games.
We had a fun match for our first game that we lost 13 – 10,
but our next two games were just absolute laughers. We played Engine 45, the
best mixed team in Oregon, for our second game, and got one point (with our
ladies playing savage). We played Jazz Picnic, a mixed pickup team from
Seattle, and got blown out again (and scored two points). With that record,
combined with the heat, could have easily led to our team being frustrated and
dispirited. But we rallied, played our crossover game against the winner of a
non-power pool, beat them, and improbably sent ourselves to the winner’s
bracket despite a 1 – 3 record on the day. Our team bound together, played
positively, and with a lot of spirit—it was terrific to watch and unfold.
Logjam is a camping tournament, so everyone was directed to
campsites at a local State Park that was just down the road. There was catered
Southern food, a Suzie Sticks tournament, Oregon beer on tap, and dancing once
the sun went down (let the record show that my friends and I were dancing
before anybody else was). We went back to our campsite en masse, chatted and
drank our whisky at midnight, and hit the hay for the next morning.
Our second day included more reinforcements (especially for
the ladies) and more tough matchups since we were placed in the winner’s
bracket. We faced the winner of the other power pool and predictably lost
again. (Our captain was never informed of how the tourney was going to be set
up, but based on his reactions, he wanted us to have played easier teams… it
worked out all the same). We played another Seattle mixed team in the
chumpionship bracket, winning 10 – 9 after having been up 9 – 4. We were
hampered by the heat, a small lineup, and somehow we still pulled it out on a
35 yard hammer to the end zone. Worth it. We didn’t play our last game because
the other team was exhausted and also happened to be the volunteers running the
tournament. We gave them some whisky as a token of our appreciation.
There are weekends with teams that are magical, and the
weekend with Midnight Whisky fit this category. Our ladies, despite being down
in numbers, never complained about playing savage, everyone enjoyed each
others’ company, we played hard, well (at times), and pulled out key victories.
Each of our tournament newbies came down with at least a goal, and there was a
general sense of collectiveness. It felt like we scored half of our goals on hammers.
We heckled the shit out of other teams when we were on our byes. I loved how it
came together organically, and it was symbolized by our after tournament
dinner. We gathered at a brewery, fit all 12 or so of us around a square table,
and reveled on our improbable 5th place finish while going 2 – 4.
Potlatch – 7/5 – 7/7
This might be the holy grail of party tournaments for
ultimate. There has only been one other tournament that has any basis for a
comparison to Potlatch, and that was Clambake senior year at Colby. Clambake
featured great competition, a lobster bake, multiple bands playing, and
basically every type of alcohol that you could want. Everyone was friendly and
upbeat and definitely there to have a good time. And it also happened in a barn
outside of Portland. Yet it happened for just one night, a Saturday night.
Potlatch was this, plus a bit more, times three. I was
fortunate enough to be asked to be on the Eugene pickup team (featuring some,
but not all, of the players I played with the previous week… for this
tournament, some of our best players came out to play). The bid involved
describing how you help develop ultimate within your community but also how you
plan on being spirited. The theme that our captains developed for this year’s Potlatch
was “Animal Cocktail Party,” meaning that we were dressed up as animals in
formal wear. Pretty ridiculous, right? That was only the beginning.
Potlatch takes place at the Sixty Acre Fields in Redmond,
Washington, around the Fourth of July weekend. People take off from work to
converge and play in the tournament… from all over the world. All of the fields
are located in one spot, and there are about 30-something lined fields. Along
the perimeter of the fields, teams set up there tents, canopies, and whatever
else they want to help their parties. Think makeshift tented dancehalls, huge
boomboxes pumping out dance music, lighting, tables for drinking games. There
was a team called the “Desert Lorax” that created light-up trees you would see
in the Lorax that also apparently spouted off ambrosia (the nectar of the
gods). There was even a spaceship and a lifeguard chair that were built over
the course of the weekend. It’s a sight to behold that no amount of hype can
prepare you for as you step onto the fields for the first time. We had
tremendous weather, terrific company, and a three day tournament. Each night
was a party that lasted however long you wanted it to (I hit 2 o’clock in the
morning on two nights, 1 o’clock on another, while other friends routinely
stayed up later than me). Each night featured little sleep. And each day
involved day drinking (our team developed a box-wine drill involving slapping
the bag after making your appropriate cut), playing great competition (our team
played three international teams: the U-23 mixed Team Canada team, a team
featuring Vancouver pickup players that organized Flowerbowl, and a club team
from Stockholm, Sweden that called themselves the Stockholm Syndromes), and
finishing each match with more drinks, games, and gift giving. As Animal
Cocktail Partyers, we had animal-themed games and passed out decorated wine
glasses with sequins and animal patterns.
Even with that description of what Potlatch is like, I can’t
really express what happened, outside of just how much sheer ridiculousness
there was. Animal Cocktail Party, despite losing some close tough games, were
definitely there to “win the party.” We played spirited, we would try to rope
teams into our shenanigans (we got the aforementioned Vancouver and Sweden
teams to do our box-wine drill), we chanted (a go-to cheer was “sex and food
and sex and food…”), we communicated through whale calls (think Finding Nemo),
and instead of forcing “home” we would force “herd.” I introduced the concept
of flipping people instead of discs and we may have flipped a banana once too
instead of two discs…
At this point, I have two things I can say on the subject:
this is definitely a tournament that you should attend if you ever get the
opportunity. As in, you should drop everything and make it out to the Northwest
if whatever ultimate group you are affiliated with should earn a bid. And it’s
reasonable, too, as traveling can occur around the 4th of July
weekend. Make it happen.
