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2009 Olympia Co-Ed Traveling Team |
Wenatchee was good stuff. O won a lot of games and didn’t lose but one. The showers were uncrowded and came with towel service. The air smelled like summer. Everybody was patient when looking for the perfect pizza dinner.* And we found Liam some underwear before taking him to the party. But the recap fairy is getting ahead of herself.
* Perhaps, as noted an anonymous captain, because Paul T. was not in the pizza-seeking group.
O arrived at the fields to discover that the team is right on the fashion curve. Green, as it turns out, is the “it” color this spring for ultimate jerseys. We lost the all-important color toss, and went white for the first game against Insult, a Coeur d’Alene-Missoula conglomerate.
It was all D-line early. Santana hit Caitlin with a hammer (the often-ill-advised throw, not the tool) for an early score. Jon had a diving D-turned-somersault that set up beautiful flow to Molly for a score. Hannah handled a misbehaving put with a twisty-layout dealy. Santana forced a turnover with tenacious D on the dump. Shortly thereafter, he faked backhand with such aplomb that his defender bought it with a layout.** With the game tied at 10’s, Jared had two crisp cuts and tough catches in the go-ahead point. O didn’t look back. Liam, who didn’t have a mark on before his opponent wound up, managed a running footblock anyway, setting up Jon’s perfect put to Caitlin in the corner. Todd, looking to leave proof that the O-line existed, cut up the sideline and threw an open backhand to Paul for the game winner.
**We’ve heard enough about Santana, so r.f. won’t hardly mention his Callahan, except to say that it wasn’t the kind he’s always dreamed of.
For game 2, O moved to our home for the rest of the day: a dandelion farm with a 3% grade. The wind picked up a little… blowing straight down hill. We traded points with Rowboat for the better part of the first half . . . then finally threw a zone and turned the corner. Paul, was Mr. Patient on the goal line (yes, Paul Telford), faking 4 times before hitting Liam with a wide forehand. Todd and Beth had score-saving D’s on the same point, and Jared came out of nowhere for another hot endzone D. 4 O women shredded the Rowboad zone, and blew them kisses on the way by. In r.f.’s favorite flow of the day, Molly and Todd conspired to break the cup and fed Paul, who went long to the fairy herself, back to Paul, to Molly for the score. 3.2 seconds. O 13, Rowboat 9.
In the third game of the day, O faced Stella, the Seattle team who has played together, and used the same cheers, since 1972. Stella didn’t live up to its name, giving O a 13-4 victory. O did some cool stuff, tho. Jon snatched the disk from the grasp of two defenders and threw to Kathy for a score (out of the cage again!). Hannah had another diving catch, this time from Liam after an awesome D. And what’s this in r.f.’s notes? Not in r.f.’s handwriting? “Andrea schools a guy for the score from Beth.” Right there in black and white, must be true. (Thanks, Mr. King.) To finish off the game, Mike nonchalantly footblocked his opponent, setting up a nice Spencer put to Shannon.
O moved on to Throwbot in the afternoon sun, and subs fought for spots under Ian’s beach umbrella. This was the game of the team effort. One smooth point went Liam, Ian, Caitlin, Todd, Erica for a score. Then Jon footblocked a dude on the next point, just to rub it in. O kept moving, breaking the cup and scoring a Hoosier point. Hannimal Wahl earned a new nickname with a monster one-handed caught D. While Catlin was busy catching the game-winner in traffic, on the next field, Erica, on loan to a low-on-estrogen Bellingham team, rescued a dandelion-skimmer*** and threw for the winning score. O finished the day 4-0 and hit the showers.
***Unofficial THAT rule: dandelions are up, grass is down.
After consuming “legendary” pizza, a small but spunky group of O players headed for the party: Kathy, Caitlin, Jared, Liam (wearing new underpants from the big box store that shall not be named), and the designated driver fairy. Drinks were drunk, pool played, jello shots schlurped, the dance floor hit. The whole group shook it to classics such as “I Wanna Sex You Up.”**** Liam colored himself badd, dancing in a rolly chair.
****Incidentally, after years of serious contemplation, r.f. still fails to comprehend the meaning of the line “we can do it ‘til we both wake up.”
Then Kathy spotted it. The cigarette machine, located conveniently on the dance floor, and bearing a picture of a dude with a white-man perm-fro like the one my uncle Tom had in his 1978 wedding photo. Except this guy was in a canoe. And next to him, it said, “Camel Lights: It’s a Whole New World.” Kathy’s reaction was instantaneous. She swept her arms out from her body, and belted (think Disney’s Aladdin, cartoon characters on magic carpet) “a whole new world!” Liam followed quickly: “don’t you dare close your eyes!” And our fate was sealed. Liam and Kathy sang one verse of the song over and over on the 25-minute car ride home. They worked to perfect their timing. And their arm motions. Kathy carefully explained to Liam the context of the lyrics in the film. Liam exclaimed with about 3 miles to go, “If we don’t have this ready by the time we get there, we’re screwed!” They scurried out of the car, performed their show for the bewildered group of stragglers at the campfire, and fell asleep on the ground without bothering to put up tents.
Sunday dawned sunny and warm, and O was off to face Rowboat again in the first round. Lots of D to remember: 2 footblocks for Jon, a handblock for Spencer, and 2 footblocks and a handblock for Liam, whose guy recognized him from the chair dancing the night before. Stellar D’s all over by Beth, Molly, Erica (against those damn bandana girls), and Ian, who kept rolling, cut long, and skied a guy. Mike connected with Jared for a great score. Later, Beth, Molly, Paul, and Todd passed the disc downfield to Kathy in the endzone (un-dulled by the jello shots, it seems). Caitlin hauled in another winner, and O walked off 15-10.
R.f. admits here that she is relying on the recap fairy-godmother for notes on the Sunday games. For the semi-final game against Insult, the notes say this, in full: “4 lady starting line for score with Ian. 10-14.” From what r.f. hears, the tiny O roster ran out of steam in this game, and everyone cursed Gordon and Jake. Then O took its discs and went home. Please note, however, that O had previously beaten both teams who played in the finals. So, technically . . .
All in all—5-1 and a whole lotta good flow for O in Wenatchee. The fairy looks forward to a whole ‘nother season of great Oly ultimate.
Captains choosing Caitlin and Ian for captain's awards.
"Put your entire team in the spotlight. Thanks to them, you're able to experience a level of success that you wouldn't have been able to achieve on your own. Remember that when it's your turn to help one of them out."