Cabalen Ultimate Open 2018: Heavy Cloud, But...
It's Cabalen Ultimate Open once again! Time to head back to the city of Sisig with some kick-ass pancit palabok and overly expensive pedicabs. CUO is also the biggest Ultimate tournament in the northern part of the country and for the past five years of covering the event, CUO has become one of the tournaments that most Pinoy ultimate players around the country want to be a part of.
But my one big question is.... Will this be the year of Sunny bright blue skies, or will it be another year of heavy rains with the top of the line mud pit kind of Cabalen. Yes, CUO has always been cursed by bad weather conditions for the past 4 Cabalens. The rain never missed the party, and there are a couple of Championship games being played in a flooded field. The photos were so much fun to look at with all the big layouts and water splashes, but because of the heavy downpour in 2015 finals, My camera's preview lcd screen broke. I never really had the chance to get it repaired until now, but anyway. It's 2018. Different CUO. Time to move on!
There's something different about this year's Cabalen. I woke up early with no hangover. The sun was up, the skies were blue. The air smells great, and the 32 teams stepped on to the playing fields with one goal in mind. To win. As expected, most teams came from Luzon (and a couple teams from Mindanao), but players flew in from all over the country. It was actually nice to see a tournament with only 8 teams back in 2014, become big after 5 years. Kudos to Disc In Pampanga for killing it every single year since 2014.
The games were exciting right from the start. The teams were loud, lots of cheering and chanting on the sidelines, it was undoubtedly a positive chaos.
It was one of those tournaments that you already have an idea who will be the top ten teams for the weekend, but you totally have no clue who will take home the trophy up to the last hour of Day 2.
Day 1 ended with an intense matchup between the 2016 Champs, Tandang Sora Pleasure, and newcomer, Pemcor Buddies where both teams showed the rest of the crowd what they will expect in DAY 2. And yes, Saturday ended with not a single drop of rain. It was glorious!
After a quiet Saturday night (decided not to stay long at the socials. I guess I am seriously getting old for parties and stuff). Day 2 started with a loud bang as teams in their respective pools battled it out for the last time to save themselves from elimination. They fought every point, and every single team accepted the challenge. It was a lot of fun to shoot a tournament when everyone was in the zone and on battle mode. It becomes easier to capture the moments when every player is trying their best to win a game. The bar was high this year as there are a lot of good teams that can totally go all the way. The host team Cabalernkz had a pretty good run, reaching the pool B finals. Maybe next year we will be seeing them battling it out with the big boys and girls in Pool A. By the way...
Happy Birthday, Russ!
After working our way under the wonderful heat of the Clark, Pampanga sun (I can't complain... better have a burnt skin than a wet and damaged camera gear!), Team Pemcor Buddies which was composed of players from Vicious and Team Alpha dominated their semifinal game against Team 5:30 of Palawan, while the Defending champions Sunken Pleasure Kids had an exciting semis matchup against a Popoy Pascua led Tandang Sora Pleasure. Both games were played on the dry and green playing fields of The Villages at Global Clark. Imagine that, eh!
The Sidelines were slowly packing up with players and spectators, the calm before the storm mood was a little bit eerie and all you can hear in the background were players in lower pool finals cheering and chanting for their team.
Everyone expects a battle. And so they did.
Defensive plays. Accurate passes. Precise motion on the field. Intense matchups. Speed versus more speed. Nonstop sideline help. These two teams showed everyone how to battle. It was a lot of fun.
A dominant 3-0 lead by SP Kids at the start of the pool A finals gave way to a commanding lead, Pemcor tried to bounce back with Qhenjune, JP, Arts, Nina, and Ysa leading the pack for the Buddies. At one point, they cut the lead down by two points (12-10), but the sun sets so fast on their side as Pao Peralta and Gabby Rodil led the SP Kids and controlled the game in the end to score a victory and was given the title as the first team to ever win a back to back Championship in Cabalen Ultimate Open. The Orangemen and Women of SP Kids are the Cabalen Ultimate Open Back to Back Champions.
It was definitely a wonderful way to spend a weekend in Clark, Pampanga. Seeing good friends. No rain. Had the best bangus sisig ever. Great games. No Rain. No nasty wet socks in the bag. No hangovers. Oh, did I already mentioned No rain?
WE HAVE NO RAIN THIS YEAR!!!!! WOW!!!!
Congratulations DISC IN PAMPANGA. Congratulations to all the Champions! Great job everyone!
NO RAIN! WOW!!!
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