Once Upon a Time in China

You know those inspiring family movies where a ragtag football/hockey/baseball team, brought together by a common love for one sport, ends up winning first place? They start off rough, they lose badly, they start winning, then there's some sort of conflict (the star player decides to quit, the coach has some family problem that's holding him back, etc.), but they somehow get it all together and amazingly make it to the finals. And then they beat a team made up of players that are bigger, faster, and by all accounts, more skilled than they are. Because they have heart.

My team, Manila Dirty Ice Cream + Boracay Dragons' Dada and Xtian

Our Shanghai story is nothing like that. Haha.

On our first day, we arrived on the gorgeous, drool-worthy fields with such high hopes. We were raring to face off against some of the best in the region; on that day, we were scheduled to play versus Singapore's Freakshow, Beijing's Big Brother, Team Pilipinas, and Hong Kong. Let's just say that non-Philippine teams normally had a height advantage over us...

That's 6'2" Nina from Beijing, with Map--who actually guarded her on the field! Just to give you an idea of how small our female lineup was, I was the third tallest girl!

Our win-loss record at the end of Day 1? 0-4. Our spirits were kind of low so...we (or they) kept the other "spirits" flowing at that night's hall party! Many of the Philippine players were booked at the same hotel, and every night, we would gather out on the hallway to down the bottles of Ginebra Premium that were stashed in our check-in bags. (I merely watched.)

The next day, it was more of the same--our team strangely didn't gel the way we did during our Manila practice sessions. We ended up placing third in Pool B, after a fun-fun game with Singapore's Disc Knights. C'est la vie. We really couldn't expect to dominate considering we had only a few practice sessions, and were from seven different teams back home, all with different plays. On the bright side...

...we got to cheer for the other Philippine teams: Team Pilipinas and Boracay Dragons which placed second and third in Pool A, respectively. Finals match was between TP and Big Brother.

DIC, Dragons, and TP group hug

...I did a proper layout for the first time!!! I was thisclose to catching that disc at the endzone, and was so utterly frustrated that I didn't. But I did a proper layout for the first time!

...I am now in the possession of a pair of magical cleats! TP's Pia couldn't find a pair to replace her old ones, and was thus shoe-less the night before the tournament. I had packed an extra pair, which fit her perfectly. Pia went on to bag the Female MVP award! She was uh-mazing! I am building an altar for those cleats.

With Pia, wearing my prized cleats, after her jaw-dropping finals performance. Notice Putow (in orange) pouring a drink. Free-flowing beer during the finals!

...we still partied like champs.

Nobody parties like the Pinoy disc community. We were the only ones left after the finals, dancing on the ledge, no less! (Don't be fooled by that fake white guy. He's as Pinoy as dirty ice cream.)

...I can check "play at an international tourney" off my bucket list!

So that concludes my Shanghai tourney report. Not entirely an ideal ending, but happy nonetheless--we didn't win, but we had fun. And really, that's more than enough.