Boracay Open 2010 Top 10

No Jonah's or Real Coffee this year, no Sarah and Dondi and Gladys and Gregory and Jomen. But Boracay Open 2010 was still pretty kick-ass...

1. Because of awesome photos like these, taken by Fel:

(Top) Flying Czar, (above), my jumping pic v. 2010

2. Because I got to play for Dragon Katol.

My adoptive team

I really didn't intend to play (heck, I really didn't intend to go to Boracay Open this year at all!), but when PUA president Onyok and First Lady Gisela asked me if I wanted to play for Roaches, (which volted in with Cebu team D12 to form Katol) I jumped at the chance. This is one of the teams I look up to because they are somehow able to balance being competitive and having fun. Playing for them taught me a few things, and the movement of the disc and the players kind of amazed me. And it felt pretty nice that I was kind of able to contribute!

3. Because I felt the Ultimate Warriors' support even though I didn't play for them.

My Manila team with a Mindanao team

They watched our games and would erupt in chants of "Angluben! Angluben!" whenever I would score!

4. Because I got to see Himmy again!

With fellow "dwarf" Mappy and giant Himmy. Nice one, Doc!

5. Because throughout the course of my three-day stay, I enjoyed great conversations with some awesome people.

With gorgeous Ritz

Case in point, Ritaritz and I were about to go to bed Saturday night (er, Sunday morning) but ended up staying up an extra hour just talking. I am going to miss this girl, aka Boracay Open 2010 Off-the-Field Scoring Machine. (Sorry, Jomen, you've been dethroned as Aklan Regional Champ!)

6. Because we got to play around with a fire dancer!

I gotta say, the Waryoritas are hot!

7. Because a photo of Czar's toenails made me laugh so hard I cried.

8. Because I got a brand new battle scar. OK, so maybe that wasn't a big highlight. But it sure was memorable. During one game, I was running towards the endzone when a guy from the other team rammed into me. He was running at full speed too, so we both fell and skidded across the sand, with his full weight on me. I don't know if there was a rock there or something. I had the wind knocked out of me but played on, only to find a mixture of sand and blood on my arm after I was subbed. After brushing all the sand away, I found that a patch of skin was gone! Like, eyew. Map and I joked that, had I not been wearing a shirt, I would've tweeted "Lost my nip in Bora." Double eyew.

I would've posted a pic without the gauze, but it's not for the fainthearted.

Manila (the player, not the city) was "nice" enough to give me some nail polish-like substance that turns into some sort of protective plastic, so I was able to play on. Hurt like hell though. And it hurt even more when I dipped my tocino in saltwater to dry it out!

9. Because my team played the funnest game of the tourney versus... my other team! With an everyone-on-your-knees point, an all-girl point, a ninja point, a piggyback point, and Mike and Doc's winner faux two-point bomb, how could it not be fun? (Not so much for our marshal though. Haha.)

Piggyback point

On a related note: I was part of the winning team of beach patintero (Dumaguete redux), which entitled me to free Zagu. Even though I contributed absolutely nothing to the team. Haha.

10. Because I saw a few things that maybe I shouldn't have seen...

Don't ask!

But which nonetheless made the trip one for the books!