Ultimate Frisbee University Nationals

I arrived into Christchurch after my first domestic flight somewhat rested (I’m getting better at sleeping on planes!) and made my way to the YHA Roleston hostel with the rest of the team who were on that flight. I cooked up some pasta and beans as my food for the weekend and then was bet $5 that I wouldn’t be able to only speak in Irish for the rest of the evening. A challenging night followed, as you might imagine, but I headed for bed at around 11pm, $5 richer, ready to take on the other universities. We played two Christchurch teams first thing and I was voted as male MVP for one of the games and for my reward I had to eat a jelly snake with the female MVP like the spaghetti in Lady and the Tramp. We then played a good team from Victoria College in Wellington and despite leading at half time we ultimately lost. This meant that our final group game on Sunday morning, although probably a formality, was must win.

The theme for the party on Saturday night was ‘when I grow up’ but considering I was already bringing Frisbee gear, ski gear and camping gear in hand luggage I didn’t have room for another outfit. So, I decided to put on my ski suit. Although a fun idea in principle, in reality it was far too warm. It was great to be able to chat to some of the New Zealand u20 players who I had met in Poland last summer, catching up and watching their expression change as the penny drops when they place my face!

We had an early start on Sunday morning but won the final group game comfortably to be into the semi-finals against the top Christchurch team. During the warm up I dived to catch a Frisbee and landed in a rather large puddle. This experience was made all the worse by the fact that I saw the puddle on the way down and knew that I was going to get very wet! I introduced the coaches to a drill from home and we used it in our warm up for each game. They started to call it Leo’s drill. I seem to be leaving my mark on this place.

In the semi-final, we played a very intense game and fought for everything but we were beaten in the end. I was voted as male MVP for this game also, although I would have preferred to be in the final! As it turned out, we were playing one of the other Auckland teams in the 3rd/4th match. We won that game pretty comfortably in the end but everyone involved had a lot of fun. We then watched the final which Christchurch won, before heading back to the hostel again. Most people flew home that evening but I was staying to begin my next adventure, skiing at Mt Hutt, early the next morning. You can read about the skiing here.

You can see all the photos from the weekend here.