Ultimate Frisbee Tournement Pilsen: Atruc-Cup

3./4. July, 2004

Report

We got invited to this years ATRUC-Cup because we helped out a Czechteam (Zluta Zimnice or Yellow Fever) order some discs from Michigan in the winter. After We had the commitments of 7 good Deckel Dreh'ers, we looked to the DJs from Berlin and got support from 3 great DJ players. At the last minute out team of 11 was solidified when Henrik decided to play. This would be the best team we have ever gotten together for a 7-7 fun tournament. We were looking forward to a great tournament with a great Dreh'ster team!

Kati	Henrik	Julia
Spektrum	McPilz
Matfin	Uwe	Mersemann
DJ Debil	DJ Zeltplatz	DJ Matrix

Uwe and Julia drove from Munich and Henrik gave lift to Kati, Matthias, Carsten and Andreas. I wanted to leave later in the evening, so that I could participate in the Conny's (Jenny's Mother) birthday party. It was a great grill party with lots of great foods and drinks. The DJs were going to pick me up around 9, but they didn't arrive untill much later. They seemed to have problems finding the way to Dresden, and ended up driving through Cottbus! It ended with a happy note and they celebrated a bit with us and helped take care of the rest of the food. Anyway, we took of towards the border to the Czech Republic. At the crossing our next problem hit us: Lars's documents had expired over a year ago! They wouldn't let us cross the border! We though we would have to drive back to Berlin to pick up his passport. After a long discussion and explaining that we were only crossing for an ultimate tournament and would be back on Sunday, the German officials gave him a temporary border crossing document and we headed on through the czech Republic. To make a very long story short, we drove past countless bordels with nhalf naked dancers in the windows and finally made it to Losina near Pilsen, set up the tents and crashed just before 5 a.m.!

Our first game was at 10. By the time I craweled out of bed, the sun was blaring at my tired head and the breakfast was over. The hosting team, Atruc, had an opening spektacle, where they played gothic music, brought a large coffin on the field, the living dead stuck their arms out of the ground, and a crazy grave digger dug up their teams new uniforms with loud shouting. Then we beat them 14:3. It was a little supprising, but it set a good mood and gave a boost to our self confidence to win so big.

Somehow we found a bit to eat after the first game and then played against Paridisco Jena (also from Germany). They had alot of bigginers, but showed potential. It wasn't a big challenge for us, but it was nice to be able to count in German again.

After this game the clouds started to get dark and punctually for our next game against 3sb from Budweis it started raining cats and dogs and pigs and cows. They had a couple really good players, especially one guy who could really distribute. The weather seemed to work to our advantage and their long passes where blown away in wind. Both teams had trouble catching the wet cold disc and some of the points seemed to last forever with countless turnovers. The final score didn't really reflect how close the game was, but in the end, we won 14:3. After the last point, the rain stopped.

So we recovered with a Pilsner (Gambrinus) and a Schaschlik. Our next game was against our friends with Yellow Fever. Their big play maker wasn't there, which really made a difference. Usually they are a tick better than us. They were still very good and difficult. We won 16:5 after my biggest succesful dive of the tournament in the zone after time ran out to make it an undefeated day with 4 big wins. Afterwards in the circle, they told us, that that was the way they thanked us for helping out with the discs in the winter.

What a day! We had good weather, bad weather and a dominant march through the 4 teams we played. What better way to cap it off than to go skinny dipping in the outdoor pool next to the field! That was sure refreshing. After tossing the disc around for a while in the pool, we dried off and went cherry picking. There was a nice cherry tree behind the fields with nice sweet cherries! We watched Leipzig play their last game of the day, and then went to eat goulasch and backed cheese with Gambrinus. Then it was time for the beer race. Henrik started on the playing field and was left in the dust by the beer chugging czechs. He then ran around to pool where I was waiting to throw back a Gambrinus. I jumped in the water with the disc that Henrik passed on to me and kicked a lap with the disck as a kick bord. Bernie was waiting for me when I arrived and drank his share. He golfed a 5 on a par 3 back to the playing field, which ment that Matthias had to drink 2 vodkas as a golf penalty on top of his beer before sack jumping to the finish line. I think we finished 3rd, but nobody really cared anymore. We sat and talked a while, and then went to watch the sun set over Pilsen. Eventually a band came out to play. This Czech band was really cool and the musik was great. Some people danced and others sat and talked. Eventually we all went to sleep.

After waking up very early with Uwe, we made sure that we were two of the first players at breakfast, so that we could eat something and drink an instant coffee before it was all gone. We knew we would need it, because our next opponent were the very solid Prague Devils. It was a good game, and we kept a steady 2 or 3 point leed the whole way. It became very intence, and Andreas got smacked in the nose and had to leave the field in blood. The game became very seriuos aand it was clear that the team from Prague wanted to win. With just about 5 minutes left, we were leading 10:7. They made a few calls that frustrated some of our players. The frustration was our worst enemy. They scored 3 points unanswered to tie it up after time ran out. The last point had to be playeds out. Due to a slight mismatch, a brke free in the zone and got the winning pass from Uwe. This was our clossest game yet of the tournament, and it was clear to us at this point, that it wouldn't all be butter. We knew that we would have to play in the final against the outsiders from Bratislava, who had dominated every team even more than we had. The hardest part was still ahead of us.

Due to a glitch in the plan, we had to play against 3sb again. They definatly play petter when it was dry, but we made a point to shut down their distributor. We beet them again, but this time it was a bit closer.

So we had a long break and got a chance to eat our fill and replenish the lost liquids on this wonderfuly sunny day. We talked tactics, relaxed and enjoyed being spectators for a while. Then we were on. We were playing in the final against the Outsiders, a team that had virtually destroyed every team they played. They are really an internationly active team with a name around here. Any way, we were not going to be scared and went into the game with our team motto: "smile". We came out with a strong defence and forced a turnover with a missed catch from the Bratislavians. Our friends from Leipzig were pressed for time, but still wanted to see us make one point (sarcastically) before they had to leave. So we scored, just for them. The Outsiders answered with some amazing swings and great long passes to make it 1:1. We came back with another point and followed it up with a monster defence and capitalized to make it an unbelievable 3:1 for us. We finally realized that we had a chance. They then showed us again how they could make full field width hammer swings against the wind by a count of 9 followed by a long pass in the zone. They did that twice and suddenly it was 3:3. We decided that we shouldn't poach and our defence got better. We had some luck along the way and the Outsiders made a few mistakes when under pressure from out defence. We were really playing at a high level and everybody was participating and playing their part in this team effort. It stayed very close and with 5 minutes to go, it stood 10:10. We made another point after Uwe made a monster diving defence in our opponents end zone to make it 11:10. Time ran out and the last point had to be played, but it couldn't end with a tie. That ment we needed to score one more point. It was a long point and very suspensful. Both teams tried long passes to the zone 2 times, all were intercepted by the defence. Finally, we handeled our was slowly and securely down the field against the win to set up a red zone situation. With a safe pass to Kati, who was cutting through the zone we had won!!!!!!! What a feeling!

We had a friendly line up with the Outsiders and then bowed to the spectators on both sides, even though there were only spectators on one side. Then we jumped in the pool in our afterglow to cool down (and because the showers looked pretty scary). We celebrated our 2nd tournament victory ever, and our first one on a full field. Drehst'n Deckel had made another step upwards. We aren't just a 5 against 5 team anymore. We can play ultimate the way it was ment to be played: with 14 people on a large grass field!

Our Games

Opponent	Score	Result
Atruc (Plzen)	14:3	W
Paradisco Jena	17:4	W
3sb (Budweis)	14:3	W
Zluta Zimnice (Prague)	16:5	W
Prague Devils	11:10	W
3sb (Budweis)	11:3	W
Outsiders (Bratislava)	12:10	W

Final Standings

Pictures

Drehst'n Undefeated
Carsten tosses the disc	Carl after the Beer Race
A team sunset over Pilsen	A Czech Band at the party
The scary showers	Uwe diving after the final
The victorious Champignons were: Uwe, Henrik, Spektrum (Andreas), Mersemann (Carsten), Julia, Kati, McPilz (Carl) Matfin (Matthias), DJ Matrix (Max), DJ Debil (Bernie), DJ Zeltplatz (Lars)