On Saturday morning I caught an early train out of Changzhou to Shanghai to catch the last of Sean's morning ultimate frisbee games in the Shanghai tournament. The tournament was held at a beautiful rugby football club on the outskirts of the city and it took me longer on the subway to get there than on the actual train.
Now, I'm an average fan of frisbee but I think it's safe to say that most participants of the sport are full-fledged fanatics. The interesting thing about the game is that it's become its own sub-culture with a serious language of uniquely frisbee jargon, strange and entertaining dress codes and a never-ending pursuit of a good time. Ultimate frisbee is also known for its great parties which I think has a lot to do with the rapid growth in popularity of the sport. . .
Don't get me wrong, the guys and gals that play seriously are super intense and lots of fun, but it's hard not to feel like a bit of an outsider on the sidelines with the other girlfriends and wives when we listen to odd shouts of advice and encouragement from the sidelines such as: Force home! Nice bid! Chilly chilly! No break! Tighten the cup! etc. I've also encountered quite a few downright crazy freaks; for some reason the sport seems to consistently attract some weirdos (one team name at the tourney was "Freak Show") but one thing every player has in common is an undying love for the game along with a beer in one hand.
The first rule of frisbee that I learned the hard way is that you don't call it a "frisbee", you call it a "disc." And it's not just any disc; the official one should be 175 g. What I learned as a fun game in gym class or on the beach is now an ultra-competitive league sport with its own strategy, uniforms and rules.
Sean played really well at the tournament; the only problem that he experienced was when his duck-taped cleats broke again - looks like it's time for some new ones. There were teams from all over Asia including several teams from China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. The final game was between the Philippines and Beijing with Beijing being the tournament winner. This game was especially interesting to watch as the handsome and popular soap opera star Derek Ramsey was a star player on the Philippine team. Every time he stood on the line ready to play you could hear shouts of "take it off!" or "we love you Derek!" etc. I got a few shots of him myself - pretty exciting.
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