Livin' La Vida Luxem: An Ultimate Tournament

No, seriously, we just hosted an Ultimate Frisbee tournament here in the Grand Duchy. It was the first time Luxembourg ever held such an event. It was the fifth and final installment of the Saar-Rhein-Mosel Regional WinterLiga. In fact, Ultimate deLux placed second overall out of fifteen teams in this series of indoor tourneys. Second place is pretty impressive considering just last year we ranked sixth among eleven teams.

I say, "we," because as some of you may recall I joined the local Frisbee team shortly after we arrived here. I've been practicing quite a bit and playing in tournaments when I can. Ultimate has truly been a fantastic discovery. It's a wonderful sport played by people that are friendly, quite athletic and a whole lot of fun. I know it sounds silly, but this sport really takes all sorts of skills and a lot of endurance. Aside from the fact that I can be hyper-competative, Ultimate really appeals to me because of the strict adherence to the "Spirit of The Game". This is a principal of FairPlay in a sport where there are no referees of judges. If there is a foul or an infraction, the matter is sorted out between the players involved right there and then. This Spirit carries through after the match when the two competing teams gather to congratulate each other, to encourage each other and to compliment or advise on the recent plays.

In a nutshell, Ultimate is a amalgamation of many popular American sports…we just play with a 175 gram disc of plastic. The object is to pass the disc to your teammate in an end-zone like American football while the opposing team tries to stop them by defending the pass. There is limited physical contact as any contact is prohibited just like in basketball. Once the disc is caught the player must stop and pivot on one foot just as in basketball. If the disc is dropped or thrown out of bounds then there is a turnover. Its actually quite a simple game, but as with most games the devil is in the details. Add in some trick shots and a healthy dose of deception, and this game becomes quite interesting, indeed. Needless to say I have become addicted.

The game day here was a great success. Luxembourg hosted teams from Germany and France full of international players from far flung places like Brazil, Canada and of course the Good ol' U.S. of A! We were supported by a bevy of friends and family, and of course there was loads to eat and drink. We kinda went a little overboard, but everyone really enjoyed the catering. It was such a success that we hope to host an outdoor tournament later in the year, so I'll keep you posted. The play was intense, and the Spirit was great. We even made it into the local newspaper…again! If you want to see all the pics here's a link to the gallery page on our team's website.