USA Ultimate

Practice, Dragons, and Prawns

Photo Gallery: 7/17/09
Video Clip: 7/17/09

Buffet breakfasts are absolutely the way to go. Over at the Garden Hotel the US officials (Greg, Meredith, Josh) enjoyed the massive array of dining options and discussed the upcoming day. We also enjoyed the company of Canadian super star Jeff Cruickshank before he headed out to coordinate the day for his team. After polishing off a nice round of tea, the "officials" (that's what their tags call them anyway), walked for 10 minutes over the the player's hotel, The Queen.

Over at the Queen all of the players were finishing up breakfast surrounded by many Ultimate (Flying Disc) players from other countries. (All Ultimate players are being housed at The Queen.) After socializing in the lobby for a little while and catching up with the newest arrival (Deb), the entire US Ultimate delegation, including parents and friends, gathered on the 10th floor for a team meeting. After some introductions, Twizzler consumption, and some fun prodding at Bart, Greg outlined the schedule for the next few days. The meeting was capped by a quick cheer and then everyone headed out into the heat.

Greg and Meredith headed up to the main stadium for an all Ultimate teams meeting to look over the field condition. The players and I gathered up in the lobby and at a little after 10am headed out to their practice field location. Jai Hui was Team USA's guide for the day and she did an excellent job of leading us all to the field, located right outside the Korfball arena. Along the way we made a quick stop at metro station that had a gloriously colored ceiling lit by natural light.

After running through a set of plyos and throwing exercises, Team USA next did some short and long throwing drills. After a quick break to help acclimate to the heat the team ran a few more drills and played a quick scrimmage. During one of the practice rest times. I headed out find water and came back with some "Acari Sweat" a clear Gatorade-like drink. It turns out the stuff is pretty dang good!

The practice ended with a USA cheer, and as we gathered up our stuff a group of local teens came by and asked for a group picture. We happily obliged and headed out of to find the metro. As we excited was saw some of the guards using a hose to wash down the road. Chelsea wanted her head dowsed with water so we walked over and pantomimed what she wanted. Either her mime isn't that good (doubtful) or the guards were having a little fun, because instead of just getting her head, they showered he whole body with water.

A few blocks later we were at the metro which took us north via a transfer to a station several blocks away from the catering center. At the station we met up with Mr. and Mrs. Wiggins and as one big group packed into a small city bus which took us a short ways to lunch.

At the catering center we met up with Greg and Meredith who informed us that the stadium field was in some rough shape after being used for opening ceremonies practice for three weeks straight. As a result they are letting the field rest and our practice session scheduled for the stadium has been moved to a field across the street. Lunch was another solid round of buffet dining and soaking in the absolutely heavenly air conditioning.

After lunch everyone headed out to make good use of 3 hours of free time. The main group of people headed a few blocks over to the Lotus Pond, the site for Dragon Boating and Canoe Polo. Over at the very large pond we found the Canoe Polo competition but couldn't get seats because it was sold out. At that point we found out that almost all of the events are sold out. It will be very interesting to see how many tickets have sold for Ultimate. 38,000 seats are available. We're holding out hope that every single seat will be filled :)

We found some good seats on a rocky beach area that gave us a view of the Canoe polo and watched as New Zealand downed Australia. Canoe Polo is played in solo boats that look alot like Kayaks. The game is played with a ball that is a bit smaller than a volley ball, and goals are scored by throwing the balls into ~4x6 rectangular nets which are about 10 feet above the surface of the water. It's a pretty rough, fun to watch sport! Next up the Dragon Boats came out and did a few warm up laps before their race began. The 22 person boat teams can paddle the large Dragon boats very quickly! Helping them along are one drummer and the person that steers. It's quite intense even from a distance. We cheered on the US each time they passed, but unfortunately they did not medal.

Next we all headed south, back to the hotel. Some players pealed off to find their own way back via rental bikes, but most of us used the metro. Back at the hotel we got cleaned up and rested a bit before dinner. With the help of the front desk we found a very nice seafood restaurant that could easily seat all 25+ people in our group. At 7pm we left the hotel and headed to dinner.

At the restaurant we were seated at three tables and I figured out that it was a set menu for each tables. We began the meal by figuring out how to eat peanuts one by one with chopsticks as quickly as possible, and then moved into the barrage of dinner items. We had spicy chicken, sautéed greens, prawns with heads, winter melon soup, mackerel, thin noodles with squash, and many other items. Highlights of the meal include Beau eating an entire pig knuckle, Christi's various facial expressions, June explaining several of the dinner items, Lloyd's Blade Runner reference, and the whole group ordering 10 ice cream cones on the walk home.

On the walk back to the hotel we passed by the softball stadium and heard the roar of the crowd. Back at the hotel we lounged in the lobby and waited for the WFDF captain's meeting to finish and the player social to start. The social started soon after and the whole team enjoyed some relaxing time talking to players from other countries. A few hours later everyone was asleep.