Austin Scoober Article by Mike

http://upla.austinultimate.org/august2009/worldgamescara

Cara and Team USA bring back Gold!

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By: Michael “Tank” Natenberg

10,000 cheering fans, stadium lights, locker rooms, trainers, masseuses and chiropractors, managers, instant reply on the Jumbo-Tron! The players at the 8th World Games hosted in Kaohsiung City, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) experienced all of this. From July 19th thru 21st, Ultimate Frisbee was on display in the main stadium specifically built for the World Games; think a smaller but no less impressive Bird’s Nest. 6 countries: USA, Japan, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and Taiwan competed for the medals.

Although Team Canada came into the event with the #1 ranking, many believed Japan and the USA were the teams to beat. The three-day tournament was a round robin format to medal rounds, 6 total games. Each day was split into a morning and evening session. While I was there to support Cara, I also worked as a line official for WFDF (World Flying Disc Federation). This was an amazing opportunity that gave me a sideline view of all the games and access to the World Games venues and Team USA.

USA faced stiff competition on the first day winning a close game 13-11 against Australia in the morning and playing a near perfect game under the lights against Canada, winning 13-6. On Day 2, the USA easily took care of Great Britain and Chinese Taipei. The first upset of the tournament happened under the lights on Day 2 when Australia pulled out an ultimate point win over Japan in one of the most entertaining games of Frisbee I’ve ever seen. The morning session of Day 3 was the last round of pool play, while the evening would be the medal round. Japan and the USA faced off during the latest round in the morning in blazing heat. Team USA played short-handed after Cate Foster started to show signs of heat exhaustion, and lost a close game. I was inspired to see how quickly Team USA was able to move on from their loss and regain their swagger and confidence in preparation for the Gold medal round.

The USA absolutely dominated in the finals to earn their Gold Medals with a 13-6 win over Japan. The men and women out played their match-ups every point. I was most impressed with the chemistry and winning culture Team USA developed in the short time they were together and the focus they were able to bring to the big games.

Cara made Austin proud with steady play as one of Team USA’s main handlers. Besides seeing Cara celebrate with Team USA after the final goal, one of my favorite memories of the trip was watching her come down with a great grab over her defender and poaching male defender in their first game against Japan. Fortunately, I was not officiating this game so I was able to celebrate and cheer from the sideline.

For photos and videos recapping Team USA’s time in Taiwan check out this link: http://upa.org/programs/intl/worldgames2009/updates

Picture above is from the UPA's flickr feed.

27 in HK!

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! I kept forgetting it was my birthday so not only was it a nice reminder, but it was nice to hear from so many friends to make it a little less weird that I was so far away on my 27th birthday. It turns out it was a great excuse to eat dessert 20 times in one day. I ended up meeting up with some HK frisbee players for a run though, and we went out for some delicious and dirty street food.

I spent the next day going to Lantau Island with my new local friend and frisbee player, Kat. We took a ferry over to the island and then a bus up to the famous Pin Lu Monestary. Their claim to fame is a ginormous bronze Buddah statue on a mountain top. The view of the surrounding islands was spectacular. Then we ate lunch at the vegetarian restaurant that the Buddist monks run. Last night I attended a HK UPA (frisbee governing body here) meeting and then went out to some not so swanky (Club 7-11 consisted of drinking beers on the street outside a very popular 7-11 convenience store) and then very swanky bars (26th story of a high rise on a hillside with amazing view of skyline at night).

Today I'm off to Lantau again to play some beach ultimate and camp out on the beach. Tomorrow I'm helping to run an Ultimate clinic for local beginners, then practicing with the local team to help them prepare for a tournament in Singapore next weekend. Frisbee fun!

Solo adventure in Hong Kong!

It's been a long time since I've traveled alone, so it took a while to get back into the groove of things, but I've hit my stride and am enjoying my time in Hong Kong. I'll spare you the long winded text and go for pictures.