2011 Olympia Co-Ed Traveling Team

Spawnfest

Olympia won the C pool finals! This tournament was so great, we get two recaps. First we hear from Beth, then a longer recap from the Recap Fairy.

Andrew, Mandy, Sarah, John, Yao, Todd

(kneeling) Will, Jon, Wynne, Dante, Armand

(sitting) Darcy, Pam, Beth, Andrea, Hannah, Santana

O won 15-8 against Dingo Snax a mixed Seattle team. They had great players and their chemistry only would have improved thoroughout the day.
O won 15-5 against Super Mystery Ultimate Good Time Team Go! Ok! Their enthusiastic name didn't curb our level of play.
O won 15-4 against Boom...and yes, one of those points was the notorious (that's right, notorious) Callahan caught by our glorious Captain Mike Santana who proceeded to spike the disc because he swore he thought Boom was going to "kick our ass."
O lost 14-15 (universe point) to Breakers Mark a team from Portland who we typically trade wins with over the past several years.
On Sunday morning, we won our last pool play game against the Portland team, Rowboat (13-8), who we also tend to trade wins with.

After the Rowboat win, we made our way to the C pool semi-finals to meet our good friends, Pachyderm, from Bellingham. They worked hard, but we worked harder with a 15-8 win (?).

We then got a chance at a re-match against Breaker's Mark (our universe point loss) in the C pool finals. We traded points for a while, but they went on a run and we were down 3-6 when our Captains called a momentum timeout. We were downright playing terrible and beating ourselves and we vowed that we didn't want to lose that way. If we were going to lose, we were at least going to be proud of the way we played. After the timeout, the momentum did change and we took the half. From that point forward, we never gave up and we played within ourselves to pull out a win.

Captain's award winners go to Wynne for her all-around awesome play, excellent leadership on and off the field, and her positive attitude; and John "The Klaw" Klaassen for his awesome spirit, superb play, and wicked break mark throws.

Special shout outs go to Darcy, Sarah, and Yao for never giving up despite learning our team strategy on the fly.

I've never seen Olympia play so well in all my 8 years. We adjusted when we sucked and we played better when we were already playing well. We also had a ton of fun serving dinner and hanging out at the RV. Good times O!

Just in time for a Geofest recap—the Spawnfest recap! The short version for the less patient: we won! (our pool). The sightly longer version: we integrated a gaggle of new folks smoothly, didn’t give up when we were down, and didn’t back down when we were up. Nice weather, too.

The supersize version, in nugget-o-greatness ™ format (including complimentary *!Golden Nugget of Greatness Moments!* ®)

To start if off, we meet Dingo Snax (Seattle combo, including a couple of the recap fairy’s seattle teammates)

Persistent D and flow on O (including Darcy’s first score as an Olympian) puts us up 6-1
Wynne precision-threads a forehand to Santana, cutting away, for 8-4
Jon rejects a speeding-bullet huck
Beth makes 57 in cuts in a single point, then Pam rescues Andrew from a line trap, but he can’t make it to her throw for the score. The sideline peanut gallery deems Andrew to be at fault.
Mandy (who is male, but lost the race for the right to be called Andrew) and Dante work a sweet little give-n-go, then give it to Andrew-the-old for his first huck with honey of the day.
To chalk up the win, Beth hits Will long, who gives it to Armand on a super-hustle cross cut in the endzone . . . 15-8, O.

Then comes a team, origin unknown (perhaps Mars), with a name that is, approximately: Super Good-time Happy Awesome Fuscia-with-spots Savage-women Ultimate Team Go! OK!

This makes for a challenging cheer scenario. We rise to the challenge with nimble tongues.
But first. . . Will hits Santana (captain and long-cut fiend) with a ¾-field, cross-field bomb for 3-1
[Fast forward]
Will notches two pretty assists in a row to make it 10-6. The sideline agrees that Will’s probation period is over, and he is officially hired.
Pam bails out everybody and their grandma with quick little dump cuts; Jon makes two contested grabs, one to make it 11-6.
Sarah puts her name in the Oly stat book, forcing a turnover with a smothering mark on the sideline.
Beth, trapped on the sideline, uncorks a professional-grade half-field backhand to John (known heretofore as “The Claw.” That’s Mr. Claw to you.) for 9-4. Nobody had told Mr. Claw that Beth only throws forehand hucks. Turns out she also throws backhand hucks. Look out, world.
*!Golden Nugget of Greatness!* Todd, after some serendipitous miscommunication with Santana, finds himself with a wide-open throw. He puts the prettiest huck of the year (with extended arm and pointed toe, cue Tchaikovski) to Mandy.
Yao puts himself on the board with a one-handed, one-foot-in grab for 12-5.
Darcy ends the game with the disc in the endzone. 15-5, O.

Boom! (nice Seattle folks, who somehow manage to inordinately amp Santana. See below.)

After we score 4, they try a zone. Will busts it open to Wynne, and Darcy is open in the middle, twice, and puts it to Jon for 5-2.
We are superheroes for 7-2, as Wynne has an improbable catch in the middle and releases a forehand with her knuckles in the grass. Will winds up with it, and hits the fairy with a riser of a breakmark backhand.
We pin them in the endzone on the pull, and Santana interrupts the third throw for the Callahan. This is awesome, but the *!Golden Nugget Featured Moment!* comes as Santana flat-spikes the disc like he has just vanquished a molded-plastic enemy. O takes half.
15-4, Oly

On to Breakers Mark (old school Portland team, and guaranteed worthy foe. No different this time. . . )

It’s a battle for every point, and Darcy sends it upline to Andrew, who hits Dante long for 5-4.
To keep it even at 6’s, The Claw sends it long to Will, and he pulls it out of traffic.
We can’t seem to finish points against the zone, and it’s 6-8 at half.
With the score at 7-9, Todd fires off another beautiful effing backhand to Hannah and *!Golden Nugget Moment with Hannimal Sauce!* she tracks it down with a layout on the line and hits Jon for the score. All this after Beth overhears a Breakers woman informing her teammates that our women don’t go long. We’ll have some “in your face” with that.
Andrew hits Sarah long on the next point. Estrogen!
The Claw whips up some score-saving D, and Santana scoops up the Big Dog’s hospital put for 10’s
It’s 11-14 when Hannah has another layout for a score. Then she sends a blade to Sir Claw for another. 13-14.
It’s a super battle on the line, and Beth bails Jon out and hits Dante, who sends it cross-endzone to Meister Claw.
Hard cap in effect, Breakers breaks us with a one-handed grab of a nasty blade. Can’t say we didn’t try.

In the morning, after some tasty RV-kitchen vittles, Rowboat, here we come.

Andrew hits Mandy in traffic for a nice tocayo score.
It’s looking like a war as Señor Claw throws through the cup a kazillion times for 5’s. The fairy has mentioned him so much lately that she will not give him another bullet for his layout D.
Mandy goes long again, on blurry legs like a cartoon coyote, for a Will put.
*!Defensive Golden Nugget Teamwork Bonus Moment!* Rowboat takes a timeout on the goal line and sets up an iso. Armand covers the bejeezus out of the iso, The Claw sets an unbreakable mark, and Sarah gets the D. Yay!
Two 50-throw points ensue, one ended by Beth’s hammer on stall 9, and the other with Pam, Will, Andrew, Armand, Wynne, Darcy, and mercenary Gregory running their little butts off for 11-8.
“Stop for me, it’s the Claw” has 3 in-cuts and a foot-dragging layout score for 12-8. Hardcap and 13-9, O. Yo.

Pachyderm (Bellingham, whom we do not often beat):

Hannah still has layouts left, as she loses her hat on a score from Dante to make it 3-2.
The fairy has a diving-rolly-elbow-scraping thing for the score at 6-5.
Dante’s fouled on the line, then dishes it and takes off, Will puts it to him on a cross cut. Hooray for sneaky handlers and 10-8.
D is for Darcey, whose rejections set up scores at 11-7 and 14-8.
Will sees a bolt of lightning headed for the back corner, and puts it out the back. The cutter, back to the crowd, plants his foot in the last square on the checkers board and apprehends the disc. Who is our mystery man? Aaron D? Liam S? No, it’s Andrew K!
The ladies finish it up, as Beth has a run-thru D, and Hannah hits Wynne for 15-8, Oly.

C pool finals! Breaker’s Mark, the re-re-rematch.

After a battle to 3’s, we find ourselves down 3-6. Then we say “well, it isn’t our day” and go home.
Just kidding! We take half! The fairy makes her defender apologize to her teammates at 5-6; Wynne hits Beth in the corner for 6-7; Jon sends one to Sarah for 8-7.
We keep pushing on tired legs. Their legs are tireder.
We vow to take care of the disc-baby. We yell about taking care of the baby. We don’t drop the baby.
We jam the baby up the line to Wynne for the win. 15-9 Oly, olé.

Oly chalks up its first pool victory, and Wynne and Monsieur Claw get much-deserved captains’ awards. Our adoring public cleans up the RV breakfast dishes for us and feeds us peeled grapes.

The fairy loves Oly ultimate. xo, RF

"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."