2017 Sun Soaked Beach Festival with a little bit of Flu
A new season of amazing layouts and sky high air battles is finally here! After 12 hours (or more, I lost count) of traveling by boat, van, plane and more vans, we have finally arrived at Cabugao Beach Resort in Ilocos Sur for the 2017 Sun Soaked Beach Festival. Ilocos is always a great place to start my Ultimate season. This marks my third Sun Soaked Beach Fest, and after three years; Ilocos, especially Vigan, is still one of the most beautiful places that I've been to here in the country. I mean, Bagnet Kare-Kare, Vigan Empanada and Longganisa? Count me in!
The Ilocos trip started with a Boracay Dragons Clinic with Ilocos Sur Ultimo; The newest addition to the ever growing Philippine Ultimate community. It was so nice to see these young Ilokanos eager and willing to learn more about Ultimate. And talk about giving back to the community, Boracay Dragons mainstays Buboy Famorcan and Karen Cabrera are no strangers to these campaigns. With the help of Dragons stars Clyde Sullano, Jeffrey Rodriguez and the rest of the younger generations of the Beach Kings and Queens of Asia, this free for all Ultimate clinic was defnitely the icing on the cake of this trip... And we haven't even started the tournament yet! Sharing the ultimate knowledge and expecting nothing in return is always the greatest thing a person or an athlete can give to their community.
The next day, Jude Lee, head coach of the Philippine Team took center stage to start his Open Team training camp. It was always a privilege to witness and photograph some of the brightest stars of our sport in one place and on the same team together. The pick up games are intense with a little bit of fun and lots of laughs. It was a beautiful morning, indeed. I decided to take a nap after lunch, but woke up a little late than I expected. I wasn't feeling well the moment I woke up. Mr. Flu Virus is knocking at the door, forcing itself to come in. Successfully.
I found myself searching for a tube of Berocca the next morning right before the tournament officially started. And I was lucky enough that some of the players really have some Beroccas in their bags! Big thanks to Kenneth De Guzman. The lifesaver of Day 1. After a dose of the said magic tablet using Magic's miniature Nalgene (You know who he is), I went out to officially start my year of shooting Ultimate. Though having a headache under the heat of the sun was a total buzzkill, I just kept on shooting, trying to focus on the games and tried not to sneeze.
You can see a lot of teams stepping up their game from last year, giving the defending champions a run for their money. Pancake, Nasugbu and TUGS to name a few are having a great Day 1. Together with the three Dragons teams; Boracay, Manila and Probinsyanos, This year's Sun Soaked is packed with so much action and excitement. After the games are done, an angel from Iloilo city came by to give me a magical spray to help me ease the flu and the swollen tonsils. It was indeed, magical. Thank you, Sheila.
One of the highlights of Sun Soaked beach festival was their socials night where athletes from Beach Volleyball, Dragonboat and Ultimate all gathered in to one place for a big buffet dinner, about a hundred and fifty cases of beers, and Musical artists from Manila, together we celebrate the wonderful weekend of beach and water sports. But then again, I will be sticking to my word. That whatever happens at the socials night, stays at the socials night; because seriously, the party was crazy and you really have to be there to witness it. Went on Cinderella mode right before the clock strikes midnight due to severe headache. The pain was getting worse and I was getting worried that I might be sitting on the sidelines on Day 2 of the tournament.
After taking a tablet of Bioflu (thank you, Moe!), chugging the last of the Berroca tablets and a spray of Sheila's magic medicine spray, I pulled out my camera from my bag and began shooting right after an hour (or maybe two) delay due to beer bottles and other debris from last night's socials (Like I said, the party was crazy!). As expected, day 2 games were firing, and so was the heat of the sun. The heat was unforgiving the whole day that I have to sweep away the top layer of the sand with my feet just to get rid of the hot portion of where I was standing. The quarterfinals and the semis are all about the dominating performances of the three Dragons teams. But the battle for third between the Probinsyano Dragons and Pancake was the one game that almost broke the winning streak of a Dragons Team in Sun Soaked history. The game was so intense that it came down to a universe point in the end. Team Pancake will have to fight for it again next year, as the Nelson, Brylle and unstoppable Kyrah led Probinsyanos took home third place.
The finals between Manila and Boracay was a showcase game of how Beach Ultimate is done. With Popoy Pascua, Derek Ramsay, Jeffrey Rodriguez, April Adalim leading Manila, and Xtian Guerrero, Clyde Sullano, Marv Debouzet, Justin Maming and Sheila Gascon working hard for Boracay; at one point, I was thinking of putting my camera away, grab a bottle of beer and enjoy watching the finals instead. It was so much fun to see these seasoned stars going at it together with some of the future stars like Pao Peralta, Jordan Mirafilez, Qhenjune Villanueva, Jeff Del Cerna, Chealsea Reyes. Beach Ultimate Next Gens AJ Maming, Kobe Talapian, Jan Jan Mesa and some of the Binibinis like Cess Trinidad, Jo Civil and Cha Gutierrez. The game was definitely a sight for sore eyes, especially when you are shooting under the weather.
In the end, The Manila Team took home the big trophy and the right to call themselves champions of the 2017 Sun Soaked Beach Ultimate Tournament!
A big kudos to the organizers of this year's Sun Soaked Beach Festival. It was definitely another one for the books. And to the people who saved my weekend in Ilocos. If not for you guys, It would have been a disaster. You know who you guys are. Thank you so much!
Sixteen fantastic teams blessed the beaches of Cabugao with some solid ultimate that weekend in Ilocos. And I believe that it will just get bigger and bigger from here on out.
Thank you Gov. Ryan Singson, Cabugao Mayor Josh Cobangbang and most specially Cong. Ronald Singson for continuously supporting beach ultimate. Congratulations on a very successful Sun Soaked Beach Festival!
Finally, my Ultimate season has begun... Bring it!
Until then... More Images to share. More Stories to tell... It's All About U!
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