Jeju Fury Ultimate frisbee tournament is one of the biggest sports events on the island, next to the beach v-ball tournament. However, what makes this event special and more competitive is that it is an international event. Every spring, about 15 teams in total participate, 11 coming from other countries, including Japan, Tawain, China, Guam, Singapore and the mainland (Seoul). Although most of our Jeju teams do not take the sport TOO seriously, the top teams from Jeju, along with Seoul and Tokyo teams do. They practice probably yearlong, perfectly their team's ability to play well together and master the frisbee skills.
Although I watched one day of the event last year to root for Keith and his team, this was my first year playing. Unfortunately, Keith could not play because of his injury from b-ball in February, so we switched places and he came to watch me this year. FYI: He's starting to walk around and strengthen his foot a lil with physical therapy but is still resting up and not using it much. His team was really disappointed because he's a dominant player.
Well, I spent the whole month of April practicing with my team for about 4 hours on Saturdays and Sundays each weekend. This was excellent off-training for my marathon, since games involve LOTS of sprinting.
I was very happy with the team that asked me to join because there were several new players (so we were all in the same field) and everyone was so incredibly nice. Our captain and a few other players have been playing for several years so were helpful with helping us understand the rules and strategies of the game.
The weekend of the tournament was a lot of fun. We arrived on Friday, checked into the hotel that the event provided for the team (which was near the Seogwipo soccer stadium where the tournament was held) and then went into the meeting room where all the players hung out, socialized, ate some snacks and received our goody bags. In our bag, we received our schedule for the weekend along with vital information, an ultimate frisbee, and a cup for the free beer that was provided throughout the entire weekend.
On Saturday, our team, called Team Awesome :), played four games. We started our first game at 8:30am and were lucky because we were able to play all of them early so ended around 2ish. Other teams, on the other hand, had to wait a few hours between games, so didn't end until around 5 or 6pm. For many of us being first-timers, I think our team did pretty well! We were in C-league and placed 3rd! The first day we won 2 and lost 2 (only by 1 point or so). And on the second day, we lost both of our games but they were very competitive games and again, we only lost by about 1 or 2 points. Not bad at all! So overall, the whole experience was fun and definitely something I would consider being part of again in the future.
Another great part of the weekend was the party Saturday night that was held at the popular foreigner bar/restaurant, Geckos. We had payed a set amount for the tournament ($60), which included the hotel, the team shirts, a nice buffet at geckos sat night, free beer all weekend, and other snacks/transportation, plus donated some money towards families in need here in Jeju. The food was great and the "moustache-themed" party was a lot of fun. Good thing my friend Tim used washable marker when he colored on my moustache. :) He drew the Pringle's (chips) moustache on me and drew a tough-looking Harley Davidson moustache look on Keith. Both looked great! Check out the picture below.
Since the tourney was a lil early this year (in April instead of May), we were not very lucky with the weather. Saturday was very very windy and pretty chilly. The wind made it very difficult at first to adjust to throwing the frisbee. Also, the weather didn't help my sore throat and cold that I had started to catch from Keith a few days earlier. The weather was better on Sunday (sunny both days), but still made me feel pretty sick throughout the whole weekend. I ended up staying home from work on Monday because I lost my voice and had a fever.
Besides the weather and sickness, the weekend was fun and I love playing ultimate frisbee. It's such a great workout, seems like a combination of many sports (b-ball, football, soccer), and it's always great to be part of a team and make new friends.
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