This Is Smells Like Good Spirit by Nirvana!
After Typhoon Yolanda hit Tacloban City in 2013, a lot of things changed in the city of Hope. Especially with our brothers and sisters in the Ultimate community. But with the help of some of the most generous people, Ultimate Frisbee in Tacloban bounced back in no time and they continued on to play the sport that we all love. 5 years later, a new breed of young-ins with the impressive guidance of Taboy Gaspay, was taking the Tacloban Ultimate scene by storm. And just last weekend (February 17 - 18, 2018), Team Nirvana hosted their first ever Smells Like Good Spirit Ultimate Frisbee Tournament (SLGS). Though, it was one of the most fun weekends I had in this early part of the Ultimate season, some tourneys like SLGS suffer major setbacks prior to the opening day of the event. They did not have a playing field 24 hours before the first pulls. The provincial government decided to temporarily close the whole Leyte Sports Complex for immediate renovation even if the SLGS organizers had the venue booked a month before the event. The long weekend situation did not help at all either as most of the schools that has a decent size playing fields were closed as well. Only after hours of searching the whole city, their prayers had been answered by the sisters of Holy Infant College. Though the playing fields were a bit small and narrow (plus walking around the campus half-naked, music with explicit lyrics, and saying %$@## and !$@%$#* are prohibited), HIC field is good enough than nothing at all. And besides, having a small venue for 14 participating teams was actually a good way to interact with friends from other teams and cities. And keeping us from saying bad words make our sport a little bit..... wholesome?
The weather was perfect the day before the tournament. Marjorie, one of the organizers was even surprised that the sun was out since they had the bad rainy weather for days. I guess the Ultimate gods heard their call for a sunny weekend, I said to myself.
WRONG.
The sound of rain woke me up on Day 1. "By the gods of White plastic saucers” here we go again, eh?! So I packed my gear with my trusted black garbage bags to keep my camera dry and went on to see the field situation for the first time. It was actually not bad at all, except for the “ulang mayaman” shower. The fields were smaller than usual but it seems like everyone didn’t mind at all. They came in to play their hearts out and to support the freshest tournament in Tacloban City.
The rain gave a sweet effect in the already action-packed first two sets of games at Holy Infant College. This is the first time that I covered a tournament in Tacloban, and what I immediately noticed was the toughness and the no fear attitude of the players in this region. They will chase down the disc with no hesitation, and they have some of the most decent female handlers in the country as well. I have to say, Region 8 definitely has a lot to offer in Philippine Ultimate. As long as they work together and throw away all egos in the trash, this side of the country is a powerhouse just like Iligan, Dumaguete, and other well known Ultimate provinces.
The rain finally died down around noon, but the field situation became out of control as the green grass of pitch 2 turned to Chocolate brown pool of mud. Pitch 2 became a Mud Ultimate Frisbee tournament. Some teams decided not to wear their cleats anymore so they can run faster, and to some, well, they became masters of layouts all weekend long. Did the mud situation keep them from playing? Heck no! They played 110% all the way. In fact, Pitch 2 had a lot of very exciting games during the weekend.
There were a lot of Showstoppers. Like the man, they call DADA. Dada will not do anything in particular. He will just stand there and the rest of the universe will stop moving.
But kidding aside, if the Dragons had their trio of Bone brothers, Team Maasin Newhorns have their own version of Bone brothers as well. Japhet and Jaykee. These two has the height, length, speed and the athleticism. They are a force to be reckoned with when they are both on the field. I had a great time photographing these two. I’ve seen her play before in Ormoc and in other cities, but I've never seen her shine like last weekend in Tacloban. Queenie of Team Quiots showed us how great of a handler she is. Even with her petite structure, she took control of her team’s offense with ease. She was the little big boss of the weekend. They are fast and deadly all throughout the weekend. And It was actually quite a lot of fun seeing them play. But the one thing that got my attention was their Team name. Team Save Samar Sports Complex are campaigning to stop the demolition, reclassification, and privatization of the said sports complex in Catbalogan City. I really hope that they will win this battle. Losing a home is definitely the hardest part of a community with a lot of great talents, not just in Ultimate but in other sports as well.
Day 2 was hot. I mean literally, the sun was chewing us up all day long. Though the playing fields were still wet and muddy, the action was more intense with fewer daredevils in sight. The games got serious and the throws were more perfect this time around that they don’t need to go for that suicide bid. The Pool B finals between DiscPicable Me and Airbenders, two of the promising young teams in the region battled it out in the Muddy field of Pitch 2 up to the last point where Team Airbenders finally scored the final goal. In Pool A, on the other hand, DBN (Disc By Nature) showed everyone that experience win championships as the Noel Cardines led team took control of the situation in the latter part of the game. DBN is one of the pioneering teams of Region 8, and it shows fairly well on how they work together and how they manage the pressure during end games.
SLGS 2018 is without a doubt one of the most promising tournaments in the country. Taboy, Marj, Christian and the rest of Team Nirvana did an amazing job in organizing the event. Working under pressure especially during the playing field problem. It seems like everything ran so smoothly up to the end. Congratulations guys!
Region 8 has the toughest and bravest players in the country, but they are also one of the nicest and hospitable human beings on the planet. Their resiliency towards every problem (and calamity) that they face also reflect on how they play the game. They never backed off from anything. And I respect them for that.
For more SLGS 2018 photos:
salamat kuya sir don ����
ReplyDeleteTeam Nirvana ba ang Frisbee team ng Tacloban?
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