Australian Uni Games
Hello hello! I am back from the Gold Coast just this evening, off a 30 hour coach/train journey from Surfers' Paradise to Sydney Central to Melbourne. The trip was made very bearable by good company, card games, lots of knitting and lots of sleep. In case you're curious, I have painstakingly produced about 30 x 15 cm of scarf, with the only minor mishap being that I accidentally added 4 stitches progressively starting from the 5th row. No matter, once the scarf gets long enough, no one will ever know. Shh.
So, the Gold Coast was divine. Once again, Melbourne Uni shacked us up at the kind of lodging befitting athletes from the 10th best university in the world (in Arts) - the Chevron Renaissance Towers. Needless to say, it was luxury. We were right in the heart of the main shopping/clubbing district, a short walk from the gorgeous beach and a short bus ride from our manicured playing fields. One night, as we drank beer and played cards on the balcony of the 27th floor and looked out on the lights of Surfers' Paradise spread out beneath us, I felt like I was in Vegas.
But I digress. We didn't come for a relaxing holiday after all, we came to play 12 games over 5 days in a pool with 7 of the top 11 UF teams, while staying hydrated and un-sunburnt and coming out and partying hard every night. And we came to claim a medal. We fought hard - as a team, our performance fluctuated a bit throughout the week and often, we gave away a few early points before remembering to score. Some games we should have trod over, we grinded out over universe point; some games we should have won, we lost.
Long story short, we missed out on the quarterfinals by 1 point and found ourselves relegated to the 9/10 playoff. Despite our misleading end ranking, we played with some amazing intensity and spirit and skill. I think it's fair then to allow ourselves a little hapless shrug and sum our result up in Freise's words - would've, could've, should've.
Individually, I played a shite tournament. My physical endurance was...not there and I struggled from day 1 to keep my legs moving. One could argue I've been struggling on and off since SUG. It was disappointing and frustrating for me, and perhaps even more frustrating for our coach and the team. I knew I had so much more to contribute, but physically I just couldn't deliver. I could come up with all the excuses in the world to explain my poor showing, but it won't change the fact that I couldn't, didn't step up to what I expected from myself. A teammate said, regardless of whether we won or lost, the most important thing is to take something out of every game. I'm taking something out of this tournament, I'm telling myself to make it a positive, constructive learning experience and come back next year ready to kill - or take myself off the team.
Long story short, I gotta fire up.
Off the field, I had a fantastic time. Each apartment took turns hosting a home-cooked team dinner for the first 4 days of the tournament, which was not only a great idea financially, but also an excellent showcase of some pretty amazing culinary skills we had on the team. I don't think I've ever been so well-fed at a tournament until now. Dinners then dissolved into rowdy games of caps, kangaroo court sittings (a particularly memorable case involved a charge of teamcest, which was accompanied by a hilarious dramatic reenactment of how it all began by the prosecutors), card games, general banter and serious team meetings. When it got sufficiently late, we hit the clubs and partied like it's hot. I piked all but one of the parties, including the infamous Friday party of drunkeness and debauchery where, apparently, everyone hooked up with everyone. Yes, so I'm a dirty piker, but when one is dating the king of dirty pikers, what can you say hey? :)
So that was my week and the end of my holidays. Reality insists on reminding me I have assignments due very soon and final exams in a month. My exam timetable is out - good news is, I will be done in 2 weeks; bad news is, holy shit I need to start studying. I'll put up AUG photos once I can get my grubby hands on them. Also, Alex returns this Wednesday after 6 weeks in Bangalore. I'm excited!
So, the Gold Coast was divine. Once again, Melbourne Uni shacked us up at the kind of lodging befitting athletes from the 10th best university in the world (in Arts) - the Chevron Renaissance Towers. Needless to say, it was luxury. We were right in the heart of the main shopping/clubbing district, a short walk from the gorgeous beach and a short bus ride from our manicured playing fields. One night, as we drank beer and played cards on the balcony of the 27th floor and looked out on the lights of Surfers' Paradise spread out beneath us, I felt like I was in Vegas.
But I digress. We didn't come for a relaxing holiday after all, we came to play 12 games over 5 days in a pool with 7 of the top 11 UF teams, while staying hydrated and un-sunburnt and coming out and partying hard every night. And we came to claim a medal. We fought hard - as a team, our performance fluctuated a bit throughout the week and often, we gave away a few early points before remembering to score. Some games we should have trod over, we grinded out over universe point; some games we should have won, we lost.
Long story short, we missed out on the quarterfinals by 1 point and found ourselves relegated to the 9/10 playoff. Despite our misleading end ranking, we played with some amazing intensity and spirit and skill. I think it's fair then to allow ourselves a little hapless shrug and sum our result up in Freise's words - would've, could've, should've.
Individually, I played a shite tournament. My physical endurance was...not there and I struggled from day 1 to keep my legs moving. One could argue I've been struggling on and off since SUG. It was disappointing and frustrating for me, and perhaps even more frustrating for our coach and the team. I knew I had so much more to contribute, but physically I just couldn't deliver. I could come up with all the excuses in the world to explain my poor showing, but it won't change the fact that I couldn't, didn't step up to what I expected from myself. A teammate said, regardless of whether we won or lost, the most important thing is to take something out of every game. I'm taking something out of this tournament, I'm telling myself to make it a positive, constructive learning experience and come back next year ready to kill - or take myself off the team.
Long story short, I gotta fire up.
Off the field, I had a fantastic time. Each apartment took turns hosting a home-cooked team dinner for the first 4 days of the tournament, which was not only a great idea financially, but also an excellent showcase of some pretty amazing culinary skills we had on the team. I don't think I've ever been so well-fed at a tournament until now. Dinners then dissolved into rowdy games of caps, kangaroo court sittings (a particularly memorable case involved a charge of teamcest, which was accompanied by a hilarious dramatic reenactment of how it all began by the prosecutors), card games, general banter and serious team meetings. When it got sufficiently late, we hit the clubs and partied like it's hot. I piked all but one of the parties, including the infamous Friday party of drunkeness and debauchery where, apparently, everyone hooked up with everyone. Yes, so I'm a dirty piker, but when one is dating the king of dirty pikers, what can you say hey? :)
So that was my week and the end of my holidays. Reality insists on reminding me I have assignments due very soon and final exams in a month. My exam timetable is out - good news is, I will be done in 2 weeks; bad news is, holy shit I need to start studying. I'll put up AUG photos once I can get my grubby hands on them. Also, Alex returns this Wednesday after 6 weeks in Bangalore. I'm excited!
Labels: Sports, Ultimate Frisbee, Uni
