The Spirit of the Game

 
Last weekend, October 6th - 8th, I took a trip down to Bahía Blanca in the province of Buenos Aires to play with Ultimate Córdoba for their first ultimate frisbee tournament ever, Torneo Raza Ultimate 2012. I became part of Ultimate Córdoba a month and a half ago when someone also from the United States saw I played ultimate and invited me to join. I came to scrimmage the first day and I think I made a good impression, because by the end of practice, they invited me to the tournament for the following month and asked if I wanted to order a jersey. Of course, because of how much I missed ultimate and my team, I ended up agreeing to ordering a jersey and going to the tournament. I mean, come on, why not?

The day eventually came to leave to the tournament. I was so nervous! I knew one person pretty well because he helps with English Talk as well, but otherwise everyone else was just an acquaintance. I hopped on a bus and headed off only to realize that I left a day earlier than I was supposed to (and I still don't know how they let me on with my ticket for a day later - lucky enough, nobody ended up having a ticket for my seat!). I arrived the next morning before the team got there, but someone from the host team picked me up from downtown and took me to a place to stay and rest before everyone else got there. When the team came a few hours later after spending 33 hours on the train, then came the fun. 

Ultimate Córdoba - Team Pluiföj

We were invited, as a team, to join a couple people from the home team to be interviewed on live TV to talk about ultimate. As we entered the television studio, many emotions started to rise. I was nervous but excited! Initially, I said that I didn't want to talk because I am not a native Spanish speaker. However, with the encouragement of my teammates, I almost immediately took that back. I was given the opportunity to represent ultimate frisbee, female athletes, the United States, and Wartburg College all at once! It was a good choice to wear my Orange Corps shirt (Wartburg College Service Trips) T-shirt that day! Plus, it was an opportunity to really test my ability to speak Spanish. After one of the ultimate hosts finished talking about the tournament, the microphone was immediately handed to me - it was a little obvious that I wasn't from Argentina, so of course they wanted to hear my story! I talked about where I was from and how I got involved with the team. It wasn't a ton, but I felt proud of myself and was glad that I accidentally left a day earlier! After other people spoke about themselves and the game of ultimate, we played ultimate on the set and danced with a couple of the hosts! It was so different than what I am used to watching, so for me it created a unique experience for me. I had footage of the show, but the quality is so bad and it is impossible to hear, that you just have to take my word that we were on TV. 

The tournament started the following day. It was supposed to start at 11:00, but through a combination of some teams arriving late and latino time (in which people generally show up late), we started at 1:00. We adopted two couples who played with us for the weekend who were part of the home team but couldn't play with them because there were already too many people on that team. As we played a team from Buenos Aires, I started chatting with people on the field. Even though we were on different teams, we complimented one another on good plays and asked about where the other was from and such. Win or lose, there is (usually) a friendly environment. Between teams, we share everything: water, food, sports equipment (like cleats - thank goodness!), knowledge about ultimate, etc. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are from as long as you have a good spirit! For me, this is reflected more in the atmosphere of Argentina. For example, people here in Argentina will gather simple to drink mate together. They share the mate, will share snacks that they bring as well - all to have a good time and great conversation! Back to frisbee, something unique about this tournament was the spirit award. After each game that the home team played, they would award a player a spirit award for being a good sport and maintaining a great attitude throughout the game by giving them a small prize. Oddly enough, I won one of these awards (they handed out two in our game - one for the men and one for the women). One of my co-captains at Wartburg, Kyle, was shocked, saying that I usually don't get along very well with the other team. However, I was able to maintain my cool this time! Also, after every game, each team rates the other on their attitude and at the end, the team with the best attitude, or "spirit," was awarded a free entry fee for the following year (we didn't win). I really found this to be a neat concept, because it requires that teams maintain the relaxed, fun environment of ultimate. Plus, it encourages teams to keep on coming the next year.

The final game for 3rd place versus Uruguay

In addition to an atmosphere of sharing and caring, the tournament really brought the team closer together and created trust. Of course, I do not really know what the dynamics of the team were before the tournament, but I feel like all my other teams I have been on, we were the misfits. We were a mix of nationalities (US, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina), genders, ages (ranging from 18-51), and experience (more than half of the team had never been to a tournament before). Therefore, we had a lot to share with one another. There were a few key moments for me that really defined the team for me. First, sleep. The very first night, I was told I had the worst spot in the entire room because I was in between Luciano, 21 and Facu, 18. I didn't really know them at all. However, as I was trying to sleep, Luciano was poking me, joking telling me how he was scared and Facu was taking pictures of everyone with my phone. I was uncomfortable because these strangers were busy messing with me! However, those moments soon became the foundation for many jokes throughout the weekend. Also, in the mornings, it takes a lot of effort to get everyone up. People constantly ask for five minutes more and ignore the cries of fellow teammates. Eloy, one of the captains, decided that the best way to get everyone up would be to take his whistle out and blow it as loud as he could and jump on the beds of people around the room. Everything was so comfortable, as if I was spending time with my sister, Stephanie. Second, there was a time when I was just frustrated with myself and some of the rules of ultimate are different in Argentina than the United States and I didn't know and I missed my team that I just started to cry. Immediately, I was surrounded by teammates hugging me, calming me down, and just talking to me. Rather than feeling alone by being an outcast (a girl from the United States), I felt included. Finally, we were all there at the tournament with the same goals - to win and have fun. Therefore, we gave all we had to accomplish them.

We finished the tournament 4-2 for third place in the tournament with our only two losses being to the top two teams in the tournament. I was very impressed for a team who had never been to a tournament before. The best part of the tournament was finding new friends (who can help me with my Spanish and teach me about various cultures) and finding my place in a team again which I missed way too much. When I went to scrimmage the other day, almost the entire team was there, sharing stories, giving one another a hard time, and just having fun! That's the spirit of ultimate and I have learned that the spirit of ultimate is worldwide! Watch out Wartburg B-52's, I hope you'll be ready for me when I get back!

Click the following link and check out a different TV clip with some action from the tournament to see what the tournament was like! Torneo Raza Ultimate 2012