Kaboom starts strong in Stuttgart

In all the excitement of departing for Europe there hasn't been much time to post over the last month. Kaboom's preparations for the World Ultimate Club Championships have been pretty detailed. We flew to Europe with 358 muesli bars, 14 kilos of sustagen, 216L worth of Gatorade powder, 72 bags of lollies and 1 massage table, plus whatever individuals players brought in their own private stashes.

After flying into Europe last week we met up in Stuttgart on Friday to share our latest travel stories. Team Castle saw castles, Team Straggler tried desperately to get someone else to arrange their travel for them, Team Used Car toured the very dodgiest of used car yards and visited one fantastic mechanic (if you ever break down in Frankfurt let me know - I've got the man for you), Team James Ley got delayed, tried to catch an express train just one stop and generally battled the public transport system mano e mano.

We stayed with billets on Friday night before piling into a hostel on Saturday night to prepare for the serious business of playing ultimate. We had a light training session on Saturday and two games on Sunday against Sugar Mix from Stuttgart and the Heidies from Heidelburg. The Heidies were the first to face a Kaboom team not hampered by single digit training temperatures or ridiculously stressful jobs. We got to 10-2 up with 2 turnovers before punching the game out 17-5, in an hour. Snippety snap!

Sugar Mix were clearly a stronger team and had a bewildering array of team cheers. Once again the superiority of cheer minimalism (we have just one cheer, and it is right) was demonstrated as we raced to a 3-0 lead. We traded for a few points until half at 7-4, before taking a couple of breaks early in the second half. This was enough for us to close out the game 12-7, although we lacked a little focus and intensity late in the game. After both days we're indulged in a bit of pool recovery, trekking to our local swimming pool to join the locals in a spot of swinging arms, flapping arms and everyone's favourite,"The Flasher".

The next few days are "Down Time", where people can make their own plans and go their own way. We next meet up in Prague on Wednesday night before another training session on Thursday and a hit-out against 2009 US nationals finalists Chad Larson Experience on Friday.

Game on at WUCC is on Sunday. Stay tuned for more exciting updates.

Bags

Canberra League Cup

The inaugural Canberra League Cup was played last Saturday. 6 teams turned up to play on what was a lovely sunny Canberra day. The tournament was held at Dickson playing fields.

Div. 2 winners, Discotheque, split their team in two for the tournament. They played off in the first game of the day, with Discotheque 1 proving the stronger of the two teams with some strong div. 3 pick-ups. Div. 2 runners-up ANU started the day slow, scraping in a draw against The Empire after being down 6-3. ANU soon found form and the favourites tag after beating Discotheque 1 8-7 in an epic double game point game to finish top after the pool games.

Dickey knees won 3 of their 4 games to take equal second with Discotheque 1. The Empire rounded out the top 4 with Dynoshite and Discotheque 2 fighting for 5th.

Discotheque 1 defeated Dickey Knees in their semi while ANU was too good this time around for The Empire.

Discotheque started strong in the final with the youngest player in the ACT, Sam Joyce throwing the first goal, after catching a stall 9 flick from Jodie Wilson. Both teams scored their first few offenses with scores trading until Discotheque finally unsettled the until then solid ANU offense with a strong zone defense. Discotheque ran away with the game winning the inaugural Canberra League Cup.

Discotheque 2 picked up spirit to cap off a great Autumn of frisbee.

Thanks to Mikey Hatfield, and the ANU for a great tournament.

Autumn League Champions

Autumn league is now over.

In div. 3 King Truckers took out the title over the Spin Doctors with Bunny & the Bureaucrats winning spirit.

In div. 2 Discotheque held off a strong ANU to win 9-7. Revelation won spirit.

Thanks to Sonia and Anthony for all the work they put in to make league happen.