from home, but about Worlds

I believe I left off at Day 3. After spending another leisurely few hours in the Spirit Lounge, we faced Doublewide later in the day. Off all the Open teams in Australia, DW brought one of the biggest rosters. Part of the reason they were able to bring so many was actual forethought concerning finances. DW has organized some tournaments around Texas earlier in the year and work out some local sponsorship and get many things covered without having to pay out of their own pockets.

This started off as the chippiest game we play all tournament. A couple unappreciated calls by both sides lead to a retalitory call or two. People were jawing on the sidelines, but eventually tempers settled in for another long game. We were within two or three most of the game but couldn't close the gap on defense. We started to come together more as a team but still weren't generating enough breaks to help out our O-line.

Day 4
Unline Nationals were you have to finish in the top 2 of 4 in two power pools to avoid pre-quarters, Worlds only required that you finished in the top 4 of 5 in two power pools to go straight to quarters. By this point, we were 0-2 in our power pool and needed to at least win one game to advance.

Nomadic Tribe:
Nomadic is the #3 Japanese team. While keeping with the fast handler and flat huck style that we had seen from the Boushears and Buzz Bullets, Tribe didn't have the athletes to pull it out for them. Their main handlers played most of the points, and as the game wore on, they threw away more and more bad decisions. 17-11, we thankfully had our win.

Clapham:
Our best growth game of the tournament as a team. Coincidentally, it came against my favorite team to play against. We previously played them at Boston Invite in June at the end of a dreary rainy day with depleted roster on both sides. They play a bit more of the North American physical style and have one of the best receivers in Eurpore in Nasser Mbae (aka Nas).
This game came down to momentum for us. It marked the first game that we were able to pull out a close win for the first time all tourney. Both teams were within a point or two of each other for most of the game. Late in the game, the D-line was able to roll two breaks in a row and generate a lead that the O was able to maintain for the win.

With all the power pool games complete, we earned Fakulti (Australia's #3) in quarters with the winner most likely facing Buzz in semis. DW faced Chilly, and Thong got Clapham. If we had lost to Clapham, we would have had to go through Thong and then Chilly to get to finals. While the momentum gained from our Clapham game was sorely needed, the other route would have definitely be an easier way through.

Day 5:

Fakulti:
This team was almost entirely composed of college kids from Sydney. They ran a tough modified four man cup in some heavy crosswinds. Their cup looked amost exactly like the standard 3man, but with one extra person standing 3 yards back in the lane between the marker and the middle cup man. This effectively cut off the inside break to a swing position that would allow us to the the disk to the upwind side of the field and jailbreak. Charlie Reznikoff's hammer became our most lethal option. We came out of the gate strong and gain a five point early lead on bad long throw decisions. Outside of half, we suffered a small letdown while putting the game on cruise control but were able to earn a few more breaks back to win 17-10.

At this point we know we have Buzz in the semis. We always felt that of all the Open teams, we had the most potential to knock them off.

Buzz Bullets:
We came out hot in this game, and played our best first half thus far. We were determined not to let them catch force-side unders, but mindful to not let a denied undercut pull you so close to the disc that it opens up an easy deep. Rotations were shallower, and we used Brown and Naz more and more on D line to help convert the infrequent turns at a higher percentage. This helped up to a 9-8 lead at half. The halftime vibe throughout the team had a very peculiar feel to it. It felt very much like a "we're just happy to be here taking half on the tourney favorite" atmosphere. Buzz regrouped well in the second half and rattled of six breaks in a row on us before winning 16-10. They came out and applied serious pressure to us, and we lost our aggresive edge that helped us stay in the game. You can even watch highlights from this game on UvTv. We pretty much knew the finals would be a forgeone conclusion.

Overall, Worlds was incredibly well run for the size, scope, and sheer length of time (8 days!). Aside from delayed Gaia shipments of tourney apparel, it was definitely worthy the trip, time and money. Maybe I'm crazy, but, like Nationals, maybe it isn't a good idea to put out all your stock at once and not leave any for subsequent days. But what do I know?