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We heard about this cool sand tournament on lake Balaton and became very curious… Asking others all about it, we discovered that it would be we a great experience & heaps of fun! However, the odds of us going were not in our favor: I was flat broke and could not afford it, & Ozren thought he was going to Krk… So we’re at ‘Zloćko night league’ on Tuesday, right… we realized all the things we might be missing if we don’t go; playing frisbee on sand, swimming in a big-ass lake, chilling out watching others play, partying with crazy Slovenians & Hungarians & listening to that beautiful, fluent, poetic Hungarian language (‘Mars Attacks’-kve kve kve...). All our problems were resolved then & there: the team generously lent me the money and Ogi blew off Krk! So, we hopped on a train and arrived at Fonyód at 6:30 pm on Friday. When we crossed the border, we all of a sudden felt really hung(a)ry….get it? We had two teams playing at the tournament, both called 'Zagreb': 'Chicks with discs' in the women division & 'Mali Dim' (the boys!) in the Open.
Our first game was against Vertigo (SLO) at exactly 8:26am (this was the first time we heard the hillarious 'tajm iz rraning, tajm iz rraning...' form the organizer! It was an excellent start of the day in all aspects – getting into playing mode, getting used to sand and the smaller field, rotating all our players & achieving a convincing win!
At 10:10 our 'Chicks with discs' played against 'Ci Ci Catch'. Since the Zagreb girls were a few chicks short, a few hopped in to lend a hand.Of course, the boys were on the side line encouraging them and giving advice. This was obviously a great combination because the girls easily won their first game and became more confident about the next one!
The game with Mekkora (H) showed us that Josh's new, experimental 'get to the back, cut to the cone' tactics actually do work... who would have thought, ha? We went in strong we all did our part! I had a great assist to Ogi during a fast break and was real glad he had scored as well! My second goal (for the lead) was a hall of fame shot (if anybody took it...)! Again, those crazy tactics.... this time the disc was a bit too fast, so seeing no other solution, I layed out with every stretching muscle and gloriously caught it! The crowd went wild....& I calmly said: 'autographs later.' Another amazing thing was Josh's massive, flying, laying out block and diving face-in into the sand! Believe it or not, the crowd actually went even wilder than for my goal... of course they did - he's the Champ!
'Chicks with discs' played against 'Hot pants united' (A) at 13:26 and again proved thier domination on the sand! Not being distracted by these hot pantsed girls, the boys faithfully and loudly cheered the Chicks on & gave them tips from the sideline watching them victoriously end the match!
Right after their game, we were playing 'Frizmi' (SLO). They started off hard and explosive (just what we said we'd do...). We were caught off guard by their sudden lead of 2-3:0 and had to start recovering! A lot of turnovers by our team gave them the opportunity to take an even bigger lead & punish our mistakes... It finished a very disappointing 10:3 and it was time to reflect about how this happened, and what we did wrong both individually, and as a team.
Our girls were playing against the 'Frizmi' girls for a chance at the finals , and had an even bigger incentive to win, and settles the scores after our terrible loss. It was said quite basically: 'they might beat you 9/10 times....but you're only playing once today. Why not make this the time you take over.' This is exactly what they did! The Chicks were amazing and placed themselves into the finals! Go ladies, massive respect and thank you for raising the 'Zagreb' team name up from the dust!
The next Mali dim game was against 'Discy business 2' (UK), a team no-one knew anything about, except that a few of them were real fast... We got our stories straight, found what was lacking in the previous game, and went 'balls in' as one would say...
Party time! A huge tent was set up and the stage was ready for the funniest karakoe most of us have ever seen! Hungarians dont have any shame, they bravely sang song after song (obviously all Hungarian pop hits) with everyone there knowing word for word... A few beers & FSC meetings later, everyone was screaming out these ridiculous lyrics with wierd letters and dancing to the hip-shaking pop beats! It was great; by the end we all had perfect Hungarian pronounciation, even the Fonyód dialect too! Can't wait till next time!
We caught 4-5 hours of zzz's and were ready for the morning game at 9:44 (so we thought...). The 'Freebees' are such a well trained team, and they all seem to know thier stuff! It was close all up to the end, we tried all we could, but they had us beat... We were left with one more hope – 3rd place!
Instead of the usual preparing for the 15:00 game against Hallod' (H), we went to swim and throw the disc in the brownish water of Balaton. It was fun - too fun, because we stayed in there for 2-2.5 hours and got all wrinkly (mmm...sexy!). We started off great, I scored the first point again, and was ready for more! We had a solid lead of 6:4 with 6 minutes to go, and I must have jinxed it when I said 'we've got them now....'. They came back to 6:6 due to our simple errors and fatigue. At 'last point' we fumbled away the discs and tuned it over twice after not realizing a 100% chance of scoring, and they did their well trained routine and scored for 7:6. I couldn't believe it, non of us could... After we got some air from being totally exhausted, we realized that we ALL played an excellent game, and were, despite the loss feeling proud and able to say that we can play with and keep up with the big boys! Knowing that its up to us how good we want to be, I am sure we will all try harder and reach that level of confidence and stamina that will next time not only get us playing for 3rd, but for even top positions! I know I'll do my best, because losing sucks big time, and being ready in all aspects is just as important as winning!
Having to settle with 4th place, we found (realistic) hope in our Chicks! They played right after us, with the sand still covered in our sweat, blood, tears and 'dees nuts' of a glorious game! It was again 'Ci Ci Catch' vs. 'Chicks with discs', only this time for much higher stakes! The girls took an early 2 point lead and held it for a while! We saw some great blocks and defense by Mama, an acrobatic lay out & a lot of running by Iva, Aswee's wonderful passes & cuts, Sticky living up to her name by catching the uncatchable, Martina's textbook handling and great plays from the other girls too! At 'last point' they were up by 2 again, and victory was at hand! 'Ci Ci Catch' scored only to soften the blow of the loss, but showed good spirit nonetheless! We stormed the field to congratulate the girls feeling so proud! Once again, I'll say it – thats real ultimate!!!
We got our 4th place and felt disappointed yet proud... Frizmi took 1st place in the Open division, and we clapped mumbling 'see ya soon!', thinking about revenge. The women division was last (even better – sugar for the end!), and we couldn't wait to scream our lungs out for our fabulous Chicks! -We love you and feel very proud to be in the same team with all of you!-
Then my favorit part came: the award for 'Best Spirit' went to 'Zagreb'!!! That's the highlight of my day, because we really showed spirit out there, with every point, every win and loss, in every game, as a team, as friends! We got spirit oozing out of every pore! I'm going to set a goal to try and get 'Best Spirit' every tournament, no matter what place we come! For me, that's more rewarding than 3rd place would have been! I am especially proud of this and of us! We each learned something about themselves, and about each other and our dynamics together. Where we go from here is up to us, and I know we will raise to the challenge to do better!
So, taking home 4th, 1st and 'Best Spirit' awards is more than I expected from our newly formed and inexperienced, but spirited team. An amazing success by all – we should be proud that we all gave our all! I'm certain this new combination of rookies & experienced players is yet to blossom, and will soon show up to the potential we are already showing! Can't wait for the next tournament, where hopefully we'll have all our players, and come out readier than ever, wanting payback...
Till nex time...may the frisbee spirit be with you!
Jan Kotevski
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