Taj Ultimate 2009 (7/11-12)
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Loading ...Made a 2-hour trek (hey, a resonably close tournament!) to Tajima for the…perhaps 7th? iteration of the tournament.
Sadly, I could only stick around for part of the first day–myself and a few other Tottori JETs had to book it back home for our sayonara party that evening*–but in addition to being very nostalgic (I had been once before in 2005, when I was studying abroad near Tokyo), it was a lot of fun!
Picked up with the aptly-named Tenacious Tanukis, jerseys complete with iron-on mascot.
#1 question we got throughout the day: “where are the balls on him?” (if you’re not familiar with the tanuki, it’s a minor fertility diety of a sort)
So it was that our team cheer came to reassure our opponents that we had, in fact, fucking big balls.
Given we finished 5th out of 20 teams when all was said and done, I’d say we backed it up.
Our pool had a few good teams but wasn’t terribly stacked (unlike one of the other pools, which had at least a few teams that could’ve legitimately been in the finals–pools were sorted randomly). We got off to a good start against our first opponents, getting a feel for each other (the team had a nucleus of maybe 9 or 10, but then added another half-dozen pickups, including yours truly). Despite claiming to be mostly beginners, the team had a fair number of pretty good guys and gals (including yours truly), and we won our first two games relatively comfortably.
Pickups also included Dartmouth standout Max Friedman ’10, who trekked from his LSA in Tokyo to play:
The third and final game that I was there for was a different story though. IKU, a competitive mixed team based out of Tokyo (they won the Dream Cup last year, which is the most competitive tourney in Japan), had sent two teams, and 1/2 of it was to be our opponent. “Finally,” I thought. “Some legitimate competition, after months of decent but low-level play.”
I wasn’t disappointed. I also wasn’t stopped (which is to say, I was unstoppable). Both were very happy developments. We Tanukis wound up winning 7-5**, largely on the strength of our offense (we were never broken, and had very few turns overall–see above “I was unstoppable.”)–we got two breaks and that was enough.
After securing a 3-0 record with one game to go on the day, I left with my fellow JET companions. The Tanukis lost the next game but made the championship bracket and wound up 5th overall, a very solid showing for a pickup team (incidentally, the Iku component, Kuru, that we beat the prior day took 3rd).
I only wish I could’ve stuck around for the tourney BBQ and Sunday’s games–the former is a great, great time, as I recall from ’05, and the latter provides some fun showcases, esp. the finals. Instead I returned home for some fun (and fond) farewells, karaoke, and Sunday brunch on the beach. Not a bad alternative.
*Incidentally, I’m due back in the US before month’s end. It’s been a great run here in Japan but I’m really excited to get back to my homeland, play some good ultimate***, coach, and, of course, start at DMS. Booyah!
**Games were only half an hour long, hence the low score.
***I’ll be with Ballometrics, a new mixed team out of the Boston area. On tap: WMM, and Chesapeake. Maybe I’ll see you there?
