Nationals 2008: Coffs harbour
ultimate frisbee nationals were held in coffs harbour this year. a long jaunt from perth, as coffs is on the coast of NSW, about a 1.25 hour flight north of sydney. add that to the 4.5 hour red-eye we all flew and it felt like a long day of travel. luckily, we all managed to arrive the day before nationals were scheduled to begin, so we managed a bit of recovery (read: early bed time)
coffs is located on the
holiday coast of NSW. which to most people would imply sun and fair weather. so you can imagine our disappointment when the wea
therman informed us that it would be rainy, windy and cold for the duration of the tournament. *sigh* it rained when we arrived on wednesday and it held strong all night. we woke on thursday morning to soggy ground, looming grey skies and a strong chilly wind. having flown across the country to compete, we were not deterred. we just packed up all of our dry gear into bags and headed to t
he fields. turns out my CDSL poncho would come in handy after all!
as we were seede
d 13th (out of 14 women's teams), our first games (back to back no less!) were against the 3rd place, then 1st place team. not a great way to start a tourney, but we fought them hard and considered them to be our "warm up" games. it sprinkled on/off most of the day but we managed to

stay pretty dry overall. the fields weren't too bad at first, but as we headed to the end of the 1st day, signs of the disaster to come were becoming apparent. wet patches which had turned muddy, divots left-right and centre and pools of water lining the fields. we won our last game of the day handedly, so we finished on a high note.
again, the rain! with a big storm overnight, we were starting to get a bit worried about the next day. and with good reason.... day 2 started bright and early (less bright, more early), with 2 games to be played back to back. we were lucky enough to be playing our first game of the day on the dry (ish) pitch in the stadium (meant for cricket) but unlucky to have to warm up on the "training pitch". we were told it was dry. they lied.
we warmed up with water up to our ankles, cleats sopping wet and heavy by the time we had to start the game. back on dry (ish) land, we played our first game of the day. the rain started pretty quickly and kept turning on and off. on long enough to get really wet and make the disc very slippery. off short enough to make you cold. we lost, sadly. our second game of the day was less fortunate. the sky opened and did not let up until we were through. at some points it was so heavy it was hard to see. and this time we weren't on the good pitch. mud. everywhere. sopping wet fields and cleats. cold winds. miserable. we played hard and lost by one point, assuring that we could not play for top 10 this year. we were shattered.
by our last game on day 2, the rain had stopped but it was too late. the fields were ruined. wet mud pits. we had a good game, won handedly again and pulled up extremely dirty. in fact, between us and our men's team, we somehow managed to ruin the washers at our hotel. not a great feat, but a feat none the less.
saturday was to be our last day of play. we woke to sun! first game of the day, bright and early again. the fields were still ruined and muddy but at least it wasn't raining. it was hard to run fast and not get stuck in the mud but we managed a great game against a team who whooped us last year. we lost, but it was ok because we played well and had them working hard. our last game, for 11th place, was against the team we'd lost to by one point on friday. we were determined to win this one. and with the weather holding off, playing on the quality pitch in the stadium, we pulled through. we won and finished 11th. 2 spots up from our rank and better standing then last year.
we were a bit disappointed that we didn't crack the top 10 this year, but were happy we placed higher then our previous attempt. as well, this year was more of a team effort, with all of us scoring at least one point and assisting another.
we are currently taking a break from women's training but i'm sure it won't be for too long! we have to start planning our attack for next year!
xo
1 Comments:
hi mich, just wanted to let you know that i still read your blog....see you soon!!! lx
4:03 a.m.
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