Home : Tournaments : Asian Beach Ultimate

A recent shot of the pristine-white, powder-like sands of Boracay beach, venue
of the 2nd Asian Beach Ultimate tournament in March 2004.

The Boracay Xmas Hat Tournament – a preview of things to come…
 

At the Sunday night farewell party at last year’s Boracay tournament, a Hong Kong player had this to say about the Boracay Ultimate players: “Give those guys a flick and watch out Asia…”

Well, Asia, it’s time to watch out.  ‘Coz the Boracay boys and girls have learned not just flicks, but throws and some hammers too in the months since our last big beach Ultimate tournament. Combine these new skills with their superhuman speed on the sand, and well--- watch out Asia!

(Click here to read about Boracay last year...)

These newly-acquired and definitely intimidating disc-on-sand skills of the Boracay players were seen first-hand in a hat tournament sponsored by San Mig Light last December 29-30, 2003 in Boracay. The games were held on the beach in front of Hey Jude bar, Boracay’s premier hot spot and hang out of Boracay’s social elite.

Ultimate players from Manila and Boracay, along with both experienced and newbie pick-ups, enjoyed two half-days of intense 4-on-4 beach Ultimate action, culminating in a victory party at the end of the second day at Hey Jude.

More than 80 people signed up making it possible to form eight teams with more than ten players each. The mix of players included local residents of Boracay, Manila players who were there on holiday, international pick-up players, celebrities from showbiz and the modeling industry, and even junior players, aged 7-12 from Brent International School.

The teams were divided into two pools, A and B, with a cross-over on the second day based on their rankings at the end of the first day of competitions. The elimination and quarter-final games were 25 minutes long with no half-times and only one time-out per team. However, no more time-outs were allowed within the last five minutes of the games.  The semi-finals and finals match were both 30 minutes long.

(To learn more about official BULA rules, visit www.beachultimate.org.)

Unsurprisingly, the teams with the most number of Boracay players, ended up in the higher brackets. The finals match came to a showdown between Team Kit, captained by Kit Acenas of Manila’s Young Askalz, and featuring key players of the Boracay Dragons, facing off with Team Buboy, led by Buboy Pamorcan, captain of the Dragons and MVP recipient of last year’s Boracay tournament. In the end, Team Buboy reigned victorious largely due to Buboy’s much-improved handling skills, coupled with his team’s speed on the sand. Buboy again took home the male MVP honors of the tournament because of his numerous lay-out catches and dives.

Other teams that made it into the semi-finals included Team Triccia, captained by Manila’s Triccia David of the Disc Devils. Among her members were Rob Locke of the Breakfast Club and Freda of the Boracay Dragons, who has also shown amazing growth and improvement in her disc skills. Another player on Team Triccia which wowed audiences of the tournament was Panoy, the short yet light-footed player of the Boracay Dragons, who sprinted without effort it seemed, from one corner of the field to the other to catch more than one incredible 2-point bomb passes from Rob, thus earning him the nickname “the Flash” of beach Ultimate. It wasn’t enough though to bring them to the finals and they lost by a mere point to Team Kit in the semis.

All right, let's put the brakes on here as far as building up the Boracay players 'coz I can see you guys quaking in your cleats already...Okay, they're fast. And they have  improved a lot. But like most inexperienced players, they still tended to rush and force long throws and have yet to learn how to handle the disc when there's a wind factor (which there was a lot of in Bora...). This lack of patience caused a LOT of turn-overs and many loooong points. But then again, their running skills on the sand (i'd like to call it powder power) compensated for their lack of throwing skills, and they still managed to make the most unbelievable saves and grabs when thrown even the swillest of swills.  That's why most of the matches were blow-outs especially if a team found themselves facing one that was stacked with Boracay locals.

So come March, don't be surprised if the results will be the same. The biggest thing to watch out for at the 2nd Asian Beach Ultimate Tournament is how experience will stack up against powder power when it comes to making those critical throws. And unless visiting teams devise strategies and plays that will keep them from running, the Boracay players will definitely dominate when we challenge them on their turf...or rather, their sand...=)

(Click here for more photos)

Official Tournament Results

Winning Team: Team Buboy

Team Captain - Buboy Pamorcan
Members - Phillip Venus, Biboy Urbina, Joel Blonin, Ash Murduri, Nenito Casidsid, Jaypee Villanueva, Sheeva Zarchian, Roniebelle Armengo

MVP (male): Buboy Pamorcan of Team Buboy

MVP (female): Katie Smith of Team Kit

Unofficial Tournament Results:

Party Award: Ryan Eigenmann – first individual to win the Party Award flying solo; for details, ask co-finalists Pink Daddy,Windy and Geoff Eigenmann.

Punch-Drunk-Love Award: Denisse (for details please ask Mitzi Canafranca)

I’m-Still-A-Good-Boy-and-I-Want-The-World-to-Know-It Award: Zrs Gamboa

“Makata-Tawa Ka” Award: G Gamboa (for the translation, please ask Triniting)

Coolest Clan of the Land: the Eigenmanns

Aspirin' High Award: Katie Smith

Stay tuned to this site for the latest information on Asia's only and most exciting beach Ultimate tournament coming in March! Or email info@philippineultimate.org for any inquiries.

An Ultimate Birthday

Text by Mitzi Canafranca
Photos by Wam Molina

Celebrating my birthday this year was something I did NOT want to do.  I don't know why, but for some reason, I wanted this year to be different.  And boy, did I get my wish!

 I thought my birthday would be quiet 'cause this was the first time I was out of Manila for New Year’s and my birthday. And 'quiet' was the last word you'd use to describe the bash that turned out to be my birthday celebration.

It was the eve of January 2 when my friends, (my) baby Wam and I were chilling at Bom Bom over drinks and Chippy.  Everyone was waiting for the countdown to my birthday, when my roommates Yosef and Gogo, the "heart-and-soul" of the Breakfast Club party team, suggested having a “Mitzi’s Hat Tourney “.  The others agreed and were just as excited to have another chance to play competitively.  It was shortly after midnight and after several unfinished birthday songs, when people invited everyone else through text messages about the event.  I was so excited and touched by the idea!

At noon that day, I was baffled why Windi (who usually doesn't wake up until late afternoon) was asking me what my favorite color was and she wouldn't tell me why she was asking.  I later found out that it was because she had purchased "tournament bracelets" for the players of my tournaments --- black with pink beads!  They were tickets to discounted beers at Hey Jude bar. Of course being the VIP of the day, I got a quaint necklace with a pink shell.  Sweet!

Tourney Organizers Yosef, Gogo, Sol, Pink Daddy and Triniting assembled at Hey Jude Bar for the registration and forming of teams at 4:00PM.  There were 4 teams, each having 10-11 members and team leaders being Pink Daddy Rob, Ryan “The Party Awardee”, Bora hunk Jude, and of course, yours truly! All teams where divided quite fairly, as there were players from Manila and Boracay.  My team called Birthday Club (BC) was composed of ma’ brother Yosef, Rob of Freakshow, Geoff (Wapaw Awardee c/o Pink Daddy), Mike, Niño aka Benjie, Elmer, Sol, Gio, Jeff, Wendell and Bambi. 

Each game with a 4 on 4 line-up was given 20-minutes playing time, without Time Out or Half Time.  Under the awesome sun and on the cool sand, everyone played with much enthusiasm. The scores were pretty close.  It was definitely anybody’s game. As for me, I had such a work-out especially since that was my first beach tourney (we were not able to join the Hat Tournament a few days before because we took the boat from Manila and arrived late on the island).

Due to time constraints caused by the rapidly sinking Boracay sunset, Point System Aggregate was implemented after having played 2 games each.  So although Birthday Club had 1 lost and 1 win, we were in the finals against Pink Daddy’s team because of our points.

And so under the fading orange sunlight, the final game was played with each team playing their best.  Of course, Birthday Club won with a score 12-7! And that is not only because it was my birthday, huh! Seriously, I think my teammates played their best because I was declaring even before we did that we would win.  Birthday luck?  Maybe, but I think not.

Those people who still had the energy after a day of sunbathing, swimming and Ultimate, proceeded to Jay-Jay’s for dinner and then to a chill-out party again at Bom Bom’s.  Another party was being planned on that same night for Monday, January 5 at Flute Bar for those disc friends who were not able to join us in Boracay.  But that is another story altogether…

Again, I thank everyone who organized, played, cheered and partied with me.  I swear, you guys made it my best birthday ever!  Special mention to my roommate, the Kikay Queen herself, Denise (Punch-Drunk-Love Awardee) for playing even if she was still drunk; to G (Kikay Queen runner-up) who kept saying my tourney made her first trip to Bora even more memorable; and to my baby Wam for being the official photographer.

Turning another year older was never this fun! It truly was the ultimate birthday celebration.

For more birthday pics, click here.