Tournaments are back: Late summer beach fun!
First outdoor tournament of the year, finally! The wait was eventually over and Ted Beute and Sjoerd Druiven took the initiative to organise a one-day-tourney for the Dutch Ultimate beach lovers out there (Voordethuisblijvers, Hargen edition). Of course you don´t have to tell use twice so our DDT beach outfit made its way down to Holland´s West Coast to Ijmuiden to quench our thirst for reconnecting with the Dutch Ultimate scene.
On an unexpected fair, sunny hot summer day, our first match took us to play against Pinguins, a team of senior beach regulars. So we didn´t have to feel too bad to get crushed by them, having to get used to our pickup players, the short stall count, and the specific Corona-induced extra rules such as a one meter ´disc´ space. We were not much better off against Splish Splash, a youthful group of high level players enjoying a casual layout. At this point we already started to see what we could improve, so the next match against a mixed Force Elektro team showed exactly that. In the end, we only narrowly missed to take the win (8-9).
The bracket games in the afternoon left us facing our friends from Eindhoven, Vertigo, which was tight and balanced most of the game, we could improve bit by bit and eventually won that encounter. Point to mention was a former DDT player´s effort who rested the whole tournament until the moment, where we came out to run all the way to the endzone, and get a layout score!
Next up was ´Olé Olé Kaassoufflé´, a high level women´s team. Another exciting game where we got suprised with excellent fighting spirit, a variety of tactics, a highly dynamic game and great spirit. They took the win with 8:4 leaving us to fight for 11th place! Which was a chance of revenge against Force Elektro. At this time of the day, we were drained of most of our power, the sand and sun came in heavy, and despite of our improved communication and understanding, we could not give them the fight we had hoped for. Alone the last point had a feel of 5 turnovers and not much less chances to score, so Force Elektro took it home with 9-5 and left us with 12th place overall.
A final dip in the pleasently tempered North Sea and a final visit to the local Asian restaurant with a refreshing beer left us getting excited for the autumn Mixed season and another one-dayer at the beach…
… so, 4 weeks later, more beach! In honour of the cancelled Monsterball tournament, not in Monster, or Kijkduin, nor IJmuiden, but Zandvoort. Well, until the authorities intervened and forced us to move 2km up North to our final destination of Bloemendaal aan Zee. This time with a more full DDT squad and Amsterdam resident Timo which was dragged out of retirement to help us out. Beach? Plenty, but so was their wind. And the letter kept us busy for the first two games and longer.
However, after the move to Bloemendaal, the sun was more and more a welcome companion on the playing fields. Still in the end, we were happy to have played: X-men, which at times, we could give a fair fight, Force Elektro which we let slip twice to take away a win, Splish Splash where we really had to work hard to get some plays going, and UTKA from which we could get a final win to become 7th. That’s good bye from us to the beach for this year, hope to be back soon!
Matthias
