Sinulog Open 2018: AAU's First Tournament Of The Year
The time has come for All About U's first tournament of the year. I've been flying back and forth to Cebu city almost three or four times every year, but I never had the opportunity to cover an Ultimate tournament in the Queen City of the South. Every moment in this world has its own time, and I guess, 2018 is the year that I will finally get the chance to cover the 5th Sinulog Open Ultimate Tournament. What I was really excited about Cebu was not the Chicharon or the tasty lechon of Carcar (I decided to stop eating red meat back in June of 2017), but because of the talents that this city has to offer. This is the home turf of great players like Bruno and Oyok Subang, Jeff Dela Cerna, Wendell Go, Brian Paulino, The Resch Sisters Tina and Jessica and a lot more. This is also the home of some of our finest Sports apparels like Double Happiness, Trident Active Lifestyle, and Agile Gear. With 16 active teams in the city alone, Ultimate in Cebu city is pretty much alive. We can't deny that the talent in the city is overflowing, but with all these teams and players, they do have one major hiccup in their daily Ultimate lives. They don't have a playing field to play on.
Well, they do have a few left around the city, of course; but because of the Sinulog Festival that is happening this weekend, all fields have been booked for the biggest event in Cebu, and all fields around the city were already reserved since day 1 of January for the said festival. There's also one other available field that they can rent out, but they have to pay 8,000 pesos PER HOUR in order for them to use the space. It was a bummer, really. But the organizers still did their best and never lose any hope of finding empty lands for the home teams and guests to enjoy the tournament.
Friday. January 12, 2018. We found ourselves traveling for about 40 minutes to Minglanilla and Naga City for Day 1 of Sinulog Open 2018. This year, Sinulog Open is a three-day tournament with 24 teams lining up to battle it out all weekend long to get a hand on one of the first trophies to be given out this year in the Philippine Ultimate Calendar. As expected, Day one was “the getting to know you again” stage.Especially that it was the first tournament for some players after a long while. Same with the AAU crew. Last weekend was also our first tournament of the year. So yes, we were also having a rusty time on Day one. But that doesn't mean that I wasn't having a great time. I was so glad that shooting season has finally begun. One major bump in Day one? The two-hour ride home to the city after a long day in the fields under the hot sun and pouring rain. Welcome to Cebu City!
Saturday games were all being played in Naga City Sports Complex (Except for the first set of games that was still scheduled in Minglanilla about 30 minutes away from Naga... I think). Games went to full throttle in the afternoon as the matchups took the fields by storm. The Vice Boss and Thunderclap on pitch two and the Blacklist-Fasa Fuego game on Pitch one was the spark that led into a very competitive and intense battle from the top teams of the tournament. There were a lot of great games in Day 2 of Sinulog Open, but the Quarterfinal between Uranus and Thunderclap during the scheduled night games was definitely one of the most exciting and breathtaking matches of the tournament. I mean, literally. Even the biggest stars of the game were all catching them breathes just to give their teams the much-needed lead to win the game.
You can eerily feel the calm before the storm, on Day 3 as the top four teams in Pool A were preparing to clash in the semis. On a cloudy afternoon with a chance of rain, It was home teams Uranus and Fasa Fuego, top two teams in Cebu city go head to head for the first time this year. Though I'm sure they have been playing against each other on a daily basis in the city, this one is different. Same with Team Vice Boss and Blacklist on the other side of the pitch, Vice Boss was mostly composed of players from Dumaguete, and some of the Blacklist players mentioned that playing VB was like playing against their brothers and sisters back home in Daro ball field. They knew each other that well. In fact, All four teams knew each other for years. And that makes the Pool A Semifinal games a must watch battle between friends and families. It was intense. It was chaotic. It was Visayas Ultimate at its finest!
The Blacklist of Dumaguete fought hard trying to even up the semifinal series against Vice Boss (They also played against each other in Ormoc city during the semifinal round of Sugar Ultimate last October 2017) But, it still wasn't the right time for them to score a Win against the Bosses of Visayas. Fasa Fuego, on the other hand, worked together as a team like they always do to score all the breakpoints that they could get to cut down the big Uranus lead forcing the game into Universe point. There was a long discussion during the final point of the game. Everyone was fixed in the middle of pitch one as the two teams were trying to state their cases. In the end, Fasa Fuego gave in and the disc went back to team Uranus’ side. Just like the dark gloomy sky at that very moment, Fasa Fuego's chance of winning the game goes grey as Uranus scored the final point and won the ticket to the final dance of the tournament against Team Vice Boss.
The game exploded right from the get-go as both teams threw punches like their lives depend on it. Jeffleonard vs Alex, JakJak vs Paloy. Even Chubby and Franco came in with a lot of intensity. It was a battle just like what everyone expected it to be. But as Wendell Go of Thunderclap predicted on the sideline, Whichever team has the legs, in the end, will win the game. Team Uranus decided to stick on to their Strong line for almost 6-8 straight points while Team VB kept on rotating their fresh legs all throughout the game. Unfortunately, as much as they tried to rally back into the game, team Uranus ran out of legs in the end and Team Vice Boss came out victorious and has the right to call themselves as the Sinulog Open 2018 Champions.
Minus the heavy traffic and not enough playing fields to play on, Cebu has a lot to offer when it comes to Ultimate. Cebu city is like an Ultimate Portal for all of us. The center of every place in the country that has Ultimate tournaments. You can easily fly all the way to Clark up north or take the boat and go all the way down south. Cebu city has all the access. We can't deny the fact that Sinulog Open 2018 sure does has some lapses all throughout the weekend, but if you are organizing a 24 team tournament. Feed them. Making sure that they have a transportation to bring them home. (It's not easy to find a dozen of buses every day. And it's not cheap either). Making sure that they all have roofs under their heads by the end of the day. Making sure that they are comfortable all the time, and there's only four of you to tackle all these things. You need to have great passion and patience to do all these. So instead of bashing them with a few unnecessary punch in the gut, why don't we just give them some love and appreciation? Lend a hand. Share what you know. Help them in making Cebu tournaments bigger and better in the future. I think that's the right thing that we all need to do.
Kudos to Apple, Boobie, Nadine, and Hannah. To the Marshals and to all the people behind these four who have done their part to make Sinulog Open 2018 a success.
The first tournament of the year for All About U was a blast. And I can feel that the rest of the year is going to be spectacular.
Time to bring your A game, folks...
We are on our way. Wherever you are.
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