Results of the Mini Tournament for Floridians

Taking a break from 26-celcius heat during a timeout
So yesterday I attended a brand-new Ultimate tournament, one specifically for new teams in the Florida (dubbed accordingly “a Mini tournament for Floridians”). And what luck, it was only an hour’s drive north! Cam and I carpooled up and arrived shortly after 9am. We were greeted by a group of footballers on the fields we were supposed to play on. I was a little worried there would be some kind of confrontation, as they had already set up their cones, but they cleared out quickly without any kind of hassle. +1 good karma!
I thought the tournament — run by first-time tourney director and Tampa resident Jason Kirkpatrick — was very well-organized. Format for the day was as follows: 12 teams, single-elimination, with a winner and losers bracket. This worked out to four games for each team, regardless of wins/losses; each game was to be played to 15 points or to a 1 hour-40 minute timecap, whichever came first. Games would start every two hours, on the hour, and the first game started at 10am. (Actually, it started at 10:45 — right on schedule, Ultimate-time 🙂
As it turned out our team was a bit smaller than I had expected; we had 10 show up and I was expecting around 15. We had a couple of players from other teams in Sarasota (Joe and Jake), but otherwise everyone was from UPS (the club team I normally play with): Cam, Capt Tom, Alec, David, Jennifer, Chris, George and me. If I forgot you please accept my apologies in advance!
We went 2-2 for the day! We lost our first game against the Orlando co-ed team Death Knell 8-15, and our second against UCF 13-15, but we took USF 15-7, and Alpha-Omega from Fort Meyers 15-7. By the last game we had lost Jake and were all pretty much running on steam. Still, that didn’t keep Dave and Joe from making some incredible layouts. And Cam from continually scoring in the front corners of the endzones. A special shout-out to Alpha-Omega for being the best-spirited team we played!
Afterwards six of us went to Outback for dinner. It was good, though I must admit drinking beer on an empty stomach after having been in the sun all day — not recommended. Get your food first. 🙂

I recommend their “Cyclone Chicken” dinner

Paying the bill! Clockwise from left: Joe, me, Jennifer, David, Alec, Cam