Shanghai  Games

(by Carlo Corpuz)

Day 1
First Game against Hongkong Junk

SP starts on O and easily scores the first point of the game. Although things were going our way in the first half, something felt off and we didn’t feel like the team that had just won the league championship a week earlier. Perhaps it was the week-long lay-off or maybe all the parties in-between, but something didn’t feel right. Our “D” line was having problems with their offense and our “O” line was sluggish on defense. Despite the early setbacks, we still took the first half at 6-2.

The second half was a different story though. The “O” line had visibly cooled down from not having played too many points in the first half and gave up 3 straight points before finally being able to convert. Points were traded boefore we finally ended the game at 11-9.

Second Game against Shanghai Tuwa

Our second game was a back-to-back game against Shanghai’s B team, Tuwa. Although they weren’t very athletic, this team obviously had a lot of experience and controlled the disc well when it was in their possession. However, our “D” line had finally warmed-up and dominated the game, allowing us to end it at a comfortable 11-5.

Third Game versus Disc Knights

After a 2-hour break and a hearty lunch of burgers, pasta and potato salad, the team got ready to play the Disc Knights in another battle for the right to wear the color orange. We knew that they were mising a few of their key players like Chong Pei and Derek, but we still weren’t going to put anything past them. Both “O” and “D” lines came out strong in this game and never gave DK a chance. I may be mistaken, but I believe this is also the game where Pat got a lovely layout D for a Callahan score. Game ended at 11-4

Fourth game versus Korea

We were finally starting to gel again as a team and our spirits were high coming into this game. Unfortunaltely, we ran into a brick wall aka the squad from Korea. Fast, skilled and athletic, this latest reincarnation of the Korean team was unlike any other team team we’ve faced before. Pinpoint hucks, perfectly executed set plays and really good handling accuentuated their game. Not to mention the fact that their tallest girl was taller than our tallest guy and that their tallest guy was at least 6 inches taller than Heyman.

The game started with Korea getting an early break and converting on an SP turnover. Our “O” line fought hard to get that point back, and after trading points plus a conversion from our “D” line allowed us to take the first half at 6-5. The second half would be a totally different story though as Korea made some adjustments to both their D and O. They started to really take advantage of their height and started capitalizing on our turnovers. Before you knew it, the game was over at 8-11 to Korea.

There was a lot of mystery surrounding this team prior to the tournament, but at least now we knew who their key players are and that they liked to use the sideline stack when we were able to stop their H stack. We would also find out later that their team was actually composed of players from Wisconsin (one of them actually being part of the 2008 Wisconsin Hodags squad that won the College Championship), Amherst, UNC, Florida and Texas.

We ended the day with a 3-1 record, so that meant that we get a bye along with the other teams that finished in the top 2 of their pool (Shanghai, Beijing and Korea).

Day 2

Quarterfinal Game versus Tianjin Speed

Our first game of the second day was against the students of of the Tianjin Sports University. This team was composed of young, athletic players who all seem to have been a product of the same super soldier program that China uses to breed their athletes. They preferred a hucking game that suited their height and athleticism, many times coming up with amazing skys over our team’s shorter players. They were also very physical on D, sometimes too physical. With one guy laying out directly into Panoy and another female colliding into Karla and causing an injury that would prevent her from playing in both the semifinals and finals game. The first half was tight, but adjusting our play and forcing their girls to make the primary cuts allowed us to control their offense and dominate the second half. The game ended at 11-6/7? I think.

In the other quarterfinal games, Beijing beat Hongkong, Korea defeated SW China, and Shanghai had to hammer out a victory against Shiok by way of universal point.

Semifinal Game vs Shanghai Huwa

Shanghai was a team we were hoping to avoid until the finals, especially since we knew that this team had dominated this tournament two years in a row. If we were going to win this game, we were going to have to play as if this were the finals and leave it all on the field. SP started out strong on O and managed to score the first point. Points were traded but at 2-2, Shanghai shifted to a poachy type of zone D that effectively cut off our midfield cutters. Shanghai’s strategy proved to be effective and before you knew it, we were down 2-4. SP tried to adjust its offensive strategy, but a few points later, Shanghai was able to take the half at 5-7.

Shanghai started the second half on O and scored to increase their lead to 5-8 before we were able to score again. A few traded points later we found ourselves down 7-10 and facing the very real possibility of elimination. That’s when one of the more amazing comebacks in Philippine Ultimate history happened. A deep pull by Dada into the back of Shanghai’s endzone had them trapped and desperately looking for a way out. An errant swing by one of the handlers was caught by the wind and allowed Dada to sky the intended receiver for what almost was a Callahan score. More Ds from Heyman as well as Bing’s “balakang/sapot” defense on Sherry provided us with the breaks we needed. Before you knew it, our defensive line had scored 4 straight points to give us the lead, and more importantly, the momentum at 11-10.

Shanghai attempted a last ditch effort to rally back, but to no avail as the game ended at 13-11 for SP.

Finals versus Korea

Coming into the finals game versus Korea, we all knew that we were the underdogs and that we would have to play almost flawlessly if we were to win. We started out really strong and got an easy first point that was a demonstration of the smooth offense we were hoping for for the rest of the game. Unfortunately, after being tied at 2-2, Kristian suffered a pulled hamstring that took him out of the game and had him hobbling off to the first aid tent. This was a pivotal moment as you could visibly see that the team’s morale suddenly dipped. At 2-4, the team took a timeout to try and marshall the troops and find a way to answer back. We managed to score a couple of points after the timeout, but Korea’s offense was too strong and they were able to secure the half at 4-8.

Korea started the second half on offense and scored again to take it to 4-9. Despite Kristian’s injury, he still managed to return to the game to anchor the team on both O and D. The injury would have sidelined any other player, but Kristian wasn’t ready to let his team down. We fought valiantly, but the end was a foregone conclusion. SP still did manage some incredible plays including a sick layout grab by Panoy on D right outside our endzone and Cherry’s grab over a tall Korean player who ran through her, knocking her to the ground.

In the end, we lost to Korea 9-15 in what may be described as a one-sided game that many won’t probably remember. Regardless, we’re proud of what we have achieved as a team both on and off the field. It was our team’s effort, and would not have been possible without the help and support of SP’s friends. Congratulations to the team for having played so well throughout the entire tournament and congratulations to Chlods as well for being named female MVP.

As Alec put it (not verbatim) during the awarding, “this is a local, home-grown club team who has never relied on white dudes from the UPA or wherever to bolster their roster. This is a team that I’ve had the most pleasure playing against and they play with great spirit.”

We’re proud to be SP! We love this family!
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2010 SHANGHAI OPEN

By; Ping Bautista aka Pingles aka 平格斯

This year’s Shanghai Open was one of the best international tournaments that I have ever been too and for 2 reasons:

1.)Tournament Venue and Food – the fields were just awesome (See pictures below. I just love Astro-Turf!!!) and the food was the best food I have ever had during a tournament. Overflowing San Miguel Beer was offered during the finals also. Although the tournament kit didn’t have a jersey or even sun block like we do here in Manila, they did give out some sweet discs and even Huwa Visor Caps.

2.)Tournament Skill Level – I know that Shanghai caters to the best and most competitive teams in the Asian Ultimate scene (maybe even better than Spirits I might say). But what was really nice to see was that there were more Asians coming out to play than expats. It was a great sight to see that we are slowly catching up to our American and Japanese friends.

So here is a brief rundown of what happened over there. I won’t describe the parties anymore cause of lack of memory on what went down (all I remember was seeing a lot of ass…). Enjoy

DAY 1
Sunken Pleasure’s first day in the tournament went really well. They made quick work on the first three teams they faced (Hong Kong Junk, Shanghai B and last year Singapore Open Rivals, Disc Knights) reaching the point cap of 11 on all games. Everything seemed to be going the way of our nations only representative in this year’s Shanghai Open until they hit a wall and a very hard one at that… KOREA.

Korea had been very silent over the past few Asian tournaments and now they were carrying with them a whole new roster of fresh college graduate ultimate players. With an average height of at least 5’11 and their girls as tall as Heyman. SP had a really difficult time keeping up with this fresh young Korean Team (nowhere near the KUNT [Korean Ultimate National Team] that we have seen). SP ended day 1 second on their pool earning a 1 game bye coming into Day 2.

DAY 2
In the quarter – finals, our boys and Girls in Orange and White went up against their Chinese counter parts, a Chinese Sports University Team named Speed who was Champion in the league that finished just before this Tournament. Speed was composed of college students with an average age of 19 years old, who had only been playing ultimate for around 6 months and was very physical in their play (and had little or no English skills at all), which resulted in a lot of calls and a lot of flying elbows. But SP made quick work of them reaching the point cap of 11. Spirit however was practiced throughout the entire game and SP even gained new fan base in China. (see attached photo and video).

After a quick interview and autograph signing with Xtian (again watch attached picture video), SP went head to head against Shanghai Huwa in what I am proud to say was one of the best semi finals game I have ever had the privilege in seeing live. The game started of with Huwa going up 3 points playing some sick zone defense and pegging SP at 4 points at the half of 7. After a really great pep talk given by Christian, SP rallied and made a 6 – 1 against Huwa who just couldn’t seal the holes that the poppers of SP used to move the disc up and score point after point after point. The defensive game of SP was also tremendous. Their man – to – man defense was super tight resulting in numerous lay out Ds and even a near Callahan point by Boracay Import Dada (who by the way made some of the sickest pulls in the entire tournament).

Huwa however wasn’t going to go down without a fight. They were able to make a slow comeback and scored 4 more points to make it to eleven. That our very own Kat Velayo who made one of the sickest lay out grabs made eleventh point possible (Great Job Kat!). In the end however, SP made history by defeating Huwa on home court for the first time ever 13 -11. Tears of joy and sadness started coming out of both parties as they huddled up and learned some sad and happy news (the departure of Milan and Sherrie from Shanghai and the discovery of the pregnancy of another Huwa player. I think her name started with either a P or an S. Either way she still played even if she was in her 3rd month).

On the other semi finals game, Korea made quick work of Beijing Big Brother and ended the game at 4 – 13. Mind you all 4 points Big Brother was able to come up with were huck throws made by either Jim or Joe to Gareth. So as I sat down on my seat with a Coleman full of beer I asked myself “Does SP have what it takes to defeat this new powerhouse Korean team?”  The sidelines were all cheering for SP as they stepped out on the pitch and drew first blood scoring the first point of the game with a point cap at 15. What followed was a tennis match that led to a Korean huck fest. SP did however make some tremendous Ds and there was even a very questionable call on a should be Callahan grab made by Panoy against one of the Korean players (I swear Panoy grabbed it before he did and it wasn’t a strip). Then the worst thing happened; Team Captain Xtian pulled his hamstring. Korea reached the half first at I think was 8 – 4. With the absence of Xtian on the field, the newest members of the team started stepping up and tried to claw their way back against Korea. By the time Xtian was able to play again it was too late. The momentum had already taken the side of the Korea who ended the game at 15 – 10.

The awarding session took place immediately afterwards and I am not sure who won Mythical 7 but what I do know is that SP’s very own Chlods was able to bag Female MVP while one of the newest players of Korea, Adam (aka yellow hat guy) bagged Male MVP. SP went home with Silver and the respect of the entire South East Asian Ultimate Community being the only all Asian team to make it this far in the Finals against a very expat based Korean team (who had one or two Koreans on their roster).

SP had accomplished so much during this tournament and proved that the Philippines is one of if not THE leader in Development in Ultimate in South East Asia. Not only did season veterans like Mang Danny, Cherry, Xtian and Panoy show that they still had what it takes to make it to the finals, but the young bloods like Heyman, Dada, Pat, Marin, Jamel, Chlods, Jenny and Karen who had led SP into back to back championships in the last two local leagues, showed that Ultimate was indeed growing in our country. But what I admired the most with this SP team was how they treated each other like a family, like brothers and sisters all looking out for one another and following one voice, never arguing and never complaining. This trait I believe is the secret to this clubs success both locally and internationally.

My hats off you Sunken Pleasure.  You guys have truly out done yourselves and have made your nation proud. Once again you have placed us on the SEA Ultimate Map as being one of the powerhouse club teams in the region. But the question still remains; who will match up to the new Korean team? Only time can tell. Next stop for SP is Malaysia where they plan on continuing to dominate the Asian Tournaments and finally SPIRITS in November. I look forward to seeing you guys play in the future.

Cheers!

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