It All Comes Down To That One Big Game... (Shindig 12)
There was never a dull moment in Shindig.
Now on its 12th amazing year, Shindig never failed to give us a ton of action on the field and a lot of fun off the field. Shindig 12 was a hit right from the start of Day 1. There was a lot of excitement in the air as you can actually see it on the games and on everyone’s faces that even though Shindig is a yearly tournament, it seems like people really miss the event.
Though there were a lot of moments to cherish during that one amazing weekend in Dumaguete; in the end, everyone's eyes were fixed to that one big game. The Pool A Finals.
One guy that needs to be mentioned when it comes to Big games (and big teams) is Chuby; The Ringer Master. Since I started covering Shindig, Chuby always assembled and brought a group of individuals to the tournament that will give the other teams a run for their money. Super teams that will bring the house down with their great plays, bullying everyone that comes their way. Chuby has the brains to give everyone headaches. When asked how did he do it, he just laughed and said “I only asked them if they wanted to play competitively. And when they said yes, they're immediately part of the team.” It’s that easy he said. So he created a team that consists of players from all over the Philippines. Manila, Cebu, Bohol, CDO, and of course the run and gun band of Bandits from Iligan. These Strange Creatures really brought the house down.
Extreme Dumaguete will always be known as one of the top teams in the Country. Winning the mixed Nationals back in 2014 in Tagum Davao and collected a heap of medals and trophies through the years of playing high-level of Ultimate in the country. They were on their sleeper cells in the past couple of years, but this time around they were fully activated and called upon to do a job. To win back Shindig 12.
Seasoned mainstays like Isoy and Dale were still there with Kiboy, Bao, Sho-sho, Pitbull leading the pack of new faces. The team looks really young and different without the Extreme greats like Dada, Tajji, The Canonizado brothers, Neam just to name a few of the Extreme players in this side of the region, (My apologies to the Lumang tao of extreme whom I didn't get the pleasure to meet up until this moment. Much respect.). This year, the team is composed of some of the most promising young athletes of Negros. Dongie, Ongis, Max, Angelli, CM, Naj, and Angel were some of the new additions to the team that really made a difference to the success of the newly built Extreme. It was quite nice to see Isoy, Kboy and the rest of the vets giving the youngins a chance to step up and dominate the fields of Perdices Coliseum. And of course, the fresh knees answered the call with no hesitation.
There was this “Calm before the storm” kind of feeling during the pre-game warm-ups of both teams. While the battle for third game between UTI and Ormoc Cannons are about to end (it was also an exciting game, by the way), Strange Creatures and Extreme were having their quiet time on pitch 2, getting ready to face each other and to face the loud crowd of the coliseum. When the first pull of the finals was thrown and Dale of Extreme broke loose against his defender dashing his way in the end zone waiting for the disc to rest between his hands for the first championship point, you knew right there and then that it's going to be another game for the Shindig history books.
The battle is on.
The battle was on indeed as both teams never backed down. They threw hard punches that both Strange Creatures and Extreme didn't care to block. They took the punches head on knowing that they can punch back with the same intensity as the opposing team. The lead never broke loose. It’s either a tie or one of them was ahead by a couple. The defenses were tight, the O-lines were clean and on point. It was one of the best finals of the year.
As the day goes dark and cool temperatures were about to give everyone a breather from the heat, the battle in Perdices was still hot as ever as Strange Creatures scored the equalizer forcing the game into a Universal point finish. The crowd goes wild as the final pull of Shindig 12 was in the air. The disc was given to the cool as ice, Isoy. As one of the safest handlers in the Philippines, Isoy rarely threw a huck, especially on a championship, universal point game. He would rather grind it out until they reached the end zone. Safety is more important to this Little Big Man. But then again, one component of winning championships is trust. With no hesitation, he threw a big backhand huck to the sprinting Dongi being challenged by one of the top young defenders in Philippine Ultimate, Binoy. The disc floated perfectly as Dongi timed his jump to grab the disc in the air while Binoy had nothing else to do but to pick Dongi up from the ground and congratulate his fellow AOUGC Gold Medal teammate. It was without a doubt a well-spirited game after all.
Extreme Dumaguete is your Shindig 12 Pool A Champions.
This is the fourth time this year that I traveled back to Dumaguete for Ultimate (And for Tajji’s wedding, of course, I would never miss that one. Congratulations, Tahor and Maura!). The level of Ultimate in this side of the country is getting bigger and better every visit. And I am just blessed and fortunate enough to witness the growth of Ultimate on this side of Negros in the past five years. Congratulations, NFDA! A job well done in handling the biggest grass tournament in the Visayas.
The trophy is back in Dumaguete. Who will have the guts to take it away from them next year? Will there be new challengers? Or maybe Chuby will again have the answer….
The big question is: Did I get the shot of Dongi and Binoy’s final battle?
NOPE.
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