Frisbee with the Kiwis

This past weekend I went to my first ultimate frisbee tournament since D1 Nationals last May with the Whitman Sweets. I’ve been missing the Sweets a lot lately as school is getting started at home and they’re welcoming in all the new freshman. It’s very strange not being there with them. It makes being here seem real in a way it didn’t before.

I’ve been playing pick-up games here once or twice a week. It’s very relaxed, a lot of the kids play barefoot, but it’s usually a lot of fun. It’s always co-ed, though not that many girls show up. As it starts getting warmer out I am much more inclined to go, so hopefully others will be too.

We went to a three day tournament with 7 guys and 4 girls, 6 of which were American and the rest were from here. I crammed into a van with most of the team and we drove up to Christchurch on Thursday afternoon. The tournament is called Uni Games, which is basically their version of a national college level tournament. There were 8 teams in total from around the nation, though it really wasn’t that far to travel for anyone since New Zealand is so small.

We were a pretty rag-tag group. We lost most of our games, and had a blast doing it. Our team was so much fun. I’m really happy with the group of people that ended up going. I didn’t know any of them that well before this weekend, but I feel like I made 10 amazing new friends.

We arrived in Christchurch Thursday night with nowhere to sleep. We had brought a couple tents up with us so we ended up camping in the trees next to the fields. We got up at 6:30am so as not to get caught, but all the other teams ended up finding out anyways because they thought it was funny. Our story spread amongst the other teams enough for a Christchurch player to offer up a room to a group of us. We crammed seven of us in on the floor of that teeny tiny room for the next two nights.

Since our accommodations (and everything else) were so open ended, I wasn’t really ever able to charge my phone so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to share from the weekend. But I will share a couple pictures that I didn’t share before, just to spice up this post a bit.

This koala ready for her close up

This koala ready for her close up

 

This mama with her lil' baby

Mama koala with her lil’ baby

 

This crazy scary giant bird

This crazy scary giant bird

 

Sunset on Sydney Harbour

Sunset on Sydney Harbour

 

A nicely timed rainbow

And a nicely timed rainbow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d also like to wish my Dad a very happy birthday today, as well as a happy late kiwi Father’s Day (it’s in September here!). And a very happy 17th birthday to my little sister Lizzy in a couple days! I wish I could be there to celebrate with you guys!

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