Livin' La Vida Luxem: Maultaschen Cup

Some of you may already know this next bit of information, but now I shall share it with the rest of the blogosphere. I have been playing Ultimate Frisbee.

Ultimate de Lux (traveling squad July 2013)

I thought joining a team would be a good way to meet people, get some exercise and have a bit of fun. It turns out that Ultimate is A LOT of fun...I'm absolutely hooked! I'd always seen people (interns and the pages most likely) playing this sort-of Frisbee competition down on the National Mall in DC, but I wasn't entirely sure how to play. Fortunately Luxembourg has a team, and they are perhaps the most welcoming and encouraging group of folks I've met! I've been practicing with this rag-tag bunch of miscreants since May, and I recently attended my first tournament in the beautiful city of Tübingen, Germany. Our squad for this tourney consisted of 3 Luxembourgers, 3 Frenchmen, 5 Germans, 1 Portuguese, 1 Israeli and me the sole American. To be fair, Thierry (France) and Ohad (Israel) hold dual citizenship with the US. Like I said - we are truly a motley crew playing under the flag of The Grande Duchy!

The waterfront in Tubingen alnog the Neckar river.

Tübingen is a picturesque university town along the Neckar river approximately 30 kilometers upstream from Stuttgart. As we only spent one night in town our tour was rather brief, so I'll focus here on the games. I'd love to go back and explore this lovely village since time didn't permit a proper visit. Suffice it to say they float their version of gondolas up and down the river in the warm months, and I intend to float the Neckar one day!

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Ultimate is usually played with seven players per side, and Ultimate de Lux typically plays 'mixed' tournaments which obligates each team to include at least three players of the opposite sex (e.g 3 women and 4 men or vice-versa). The game is fast paced but easy to follow...playing the game is something else entirely. The object is to move the disk up the field with a series of passes without having the Frisbee touch the ground. You score by passing into the end-zone just like in American Football, and the opposing team can use any tactic (other than physical contact) to try and stop this from happening. I am still learning the ropes, and sometimes the play will go right past me.That's OK because, for me, it's all about having a good time and enjoying an outdoor activity with friends.

We had great weather - if you're into that kinda thing. Sunny & 35° Celsius - that's 95° in Old Money

Originally I thought Ultimate was just an excuse to throw a Frisbee and drink some beers. I now know there's a bit more involved in winning a game. We did OK winning two games and losing three. We came in 10th overall, but we did get second place in the Spirit Award. Woo-Hoo! Gooooo de Lux!

After the initial 'round-robin' group stages on Saturday, there were more games of a not-so-athletic variety...and of course the big party that night. Full disclosure here...I was the oldest person on the pitch all weekend ( I have a few months on Thierry - Ultimate de Lux was probably the team with the highest average age). Therefore I opted out of the Rubik's Cube Party Saturday night ;)

There was, however, a 'Beerrace' immediately following Saturday's matches. Silly me...in the email invitation I saw 'BEERRACE' and thought, 'Oh how nice a TERRACE with BEER.' Not. It was actually a Beer-Race.


Here are our entrant's - Yael and Ohad.

So, the object was to smash the opponents balloons without having yours smashed. If a balloon pops - chug a beer. Simple, right? Not when you're tied up like a three-legged race!