Mixed Nats started for me at about 3:30 Thursday afternoon, when I decided I’d had enough of work and I headed home to pack before my flight. Morgan and I split a cab to the airport where we met up with Wendy and Viru for our flight to Sydney. At the check-in, there was only one exit row seat, but a pair of seats towards the back of the plane. Apparently Morgan likes his knees more than sitting with his friends, so it turned out that all four of us on the flight were in separated seats. It worked out well for Wendy though, who talked to some Scottish guy for the entire duration of the flight.

We arrived in Sydney to the happy news that Viru had hired a car and was willing to drive us to our accommodation in exchange for assistance in navigation. Morgan got that job and after a u-turn or two and an hour and a half drive, we arrived at the Medina apartments to be greeted by Clair in her PJs informing us that there was one slice of pizza in the fridge that three of us were welcome to share. Lucky we had Qantas meals to fill us up. After a quick wander around the fantastic rooms Denis had booked for us, we decided to get some sleep and retired to our respective bedrooms where Morgan discovered he was longer than the bed, and we both discovered that girls who barely know each other talk a lot.

Morning came and everyone showed up at our room while I was still asleep. Morgan ate the one slice of pizza for breakfast on the way out and we walked the long way to the fields. Our first game wasn’t until late which was excellent, but it was against 7th seed FAF. It was an interesting start to the tournament. Chris threw a disc into the endzone which I had to lay out for, but dropped. We then got a turnover and I rolled my ankle and wrenched my knee before doing a forward roll to avoid further injury. There were a bunch of turnovers from both teams before FAF eventually scored. They went on to score quite a few more after that, I think it got to 6 or 7 before we managed to get one. The field was absolutely terrible. There was a rock hard cricket pitch in the middle of it which was very slippery with cleats on. I found the game very frustrating, but I think we played quite well. We eventually lost 15-5, but towards the end we were starting to gel as a team a lot better and starting to get some flow going. FAF eventually finished third, so they were quite a good team and our performance against them was good.

Next up was Pie Wagon. They were number 1 seed after winning Halibut but they seemed to be missing a few of their Halibut members and didn’t look like they were quite the force they had been. This turned out to be accurate, either that or we’re a lot better than they are as after three points, the score was 2 – 1, with Umber Ella in the lead! Unfortunately, it was not possible for us to call timeouts repeatedly until the siren blew, so we had to keep playing. Things didn’t go quite as well from there on out. We managed to get to 5 points, but by that stage they already had 13 or 14 and took out the game 15 – 5. Not to take any credit away from us, but the number one seed even not playing at their best are still pretty good and our opening to the game was sensational. It shows that we are able to play at a high level, we’ve got the skills, we just need to work on our
consistency. They came out with a huck it game plan in mind which they used so effectively for the final at Halibut, but Morgan managed to shut that down and our transitional play is a continuing strength which we were able to use to great effect. Morgan was duly rewarded at the end of the game with a small packet of pies, even though he looked like a chump playing in sneakers instead of cleats. Pie Wagon finished 6th.

The final game of the day was against the Super Happy Lounge Lizards, a couple of their players complete with lizard tails and with lounges on the sidelines. These guys were seeded 18th, so we had a real chance of beating them. We came out fired up, not wanting to go home without a win and took it to half, 8 – 3. We had more legs than they did and were safer with the disc. We really played well and I think it was 14 - 5 when we gave up some points towards the end before closing it out 15 – 8. It was a really good effort from start to finish and everyone was pretty happy at the end of the game. JDR then introduced us to a game which is likely to become a staple of UE post match celebrations. It’s the Evolution game and involves rolling round on the ground, making ridiculous noises, playing rock paper scissors and laughing at K. It was a great end to the day and we will forever be indebted to the Super Happy Lounge Lizards for both the after game shenanigans and the well spirited game.

After a pizza dinner and with tired legs we walked the long way back to the apartments, with people vowing to find a quicker way to get to the fields the next day. Back in room 58, Claire decided she was going for a swim, and I decided it was too cold and went for a shower. Wendy decided we all smelled and that she was going to wash all of our shirts. Post shower, Claire and Morgan were missing so Wendy and I decided to go see what the pool was like only to discover that the rumored to be broken spa was indeed functional, and it was looking like a popular alternative to the pub. After some beers and quizzes in the spa and a special mention to Nelly who now has to do everything because she didn’t go in the pool, we wandered to the local bottlo / supermarket where beer, chips and chocolate were purchased. We sat around drinking and answering quiz questions, no thanks to Denis who is unable to use Google but good at talking up Queenslanders, until it was decided that sleep was required in order to play decently the next day.

Day 2 started much the same as day 1, with me waking up late and generally slowing everyone down. Robbee and I found a faster way to the fields however, so as it turns out, I could have slept in more.

Game 4 was against MUCUS. I don’t remember much about this game. Basically we got smashed. It was 8 – 0 or maybe 8 – 1 at half but we managed to claw a few points back in the second half for a now standard 15 – 5 loss. MUCUS finished 11th.

Game 5 was against Gary, and will probably be remember for a long time. We started brilliantly. Hucks were working, handling was excellent, everything was going well and at half we were up 8 – 2. The wind had picked up and we tried a new upwind/downwind team setup. The upwind team was stacked with handlers trying to focus on shorter, precise throws and the downwind team was stacked with huckers and receivers to take advantage of the wind. For the first half it worked fantastically. We were scoring upwind and downwind and they weren’t scoring at all. It was glorious to watch and the whole team was pumped. After half, Gary really picked up their game and we didn’t respond. They came back steadily until it was 11-10 our way. We took it out to 12 and gave ourselves some breathing room, but they came back and it was 12 – 11. During the next point, the siren went and then they scored with us locked at 12 all. The game was to 13 on a universe point and we put on the universe team. The last point took forever. Unfortunately, Gary had the advantage of the wind and in the end I think that was the difference as the managed to get the disc into their endzone as we hung our heads. In truth, we had nothing to be ashamed of. It was a very well played game and in the end it was only one point difference. I wasn’t particularly unhappy. I think the team gained a lot more from that game than any other and the loss helps us to look back at it as a chance to improve even when we’re playing well. Gary ended up finishing 17th.

The last game of Day 2 was against woMANLY. This was an easier game thankfully and we were up 8 – 3 at half. After the Gary defeat we regrouped well and played hard, determined not to go home winless for the day. They played long a lot, but we were able to shut that down and once again transition the disc well up the field. In the second half they came back, but the wind was all over the place and the points were long. One of K’s pulls went well out and ended up over a fence. Fid sprung, monkey like onto the top of a fence and looked like seriously damaging any chance he had at children before woMANLY, who’s disc it was told him not to bother braving the barbed wire. We promised them our game disc, but I don’t think they ever got it. Eventually the siren went and we held on for a 14-11 win and the promise of another spa.
This time we managed to get almost the entire team in the spa, but Nelly still didn’t go in the pool. Only Pam and Shanty were missing due to staying elsewhere, so there were 14 of us enjoying the good life. Eventually we had to get out so that we could head off to dinner, or at least, head kind of in the direction of dinner. At this point, I must apologise to Claire, and probably everyone else too, for misleading our merry band. In my defense, the map was largely useless, as was Denis. Still, most of us hadn’t really had much exercise over the last two days, and nobody was particularly hungry, so the hour or so walk probably did us good. When we eventually reached dinner, perfectly timed to meet up with K and Robbee I might add, there was silence. I have never seen people so intent on eating in my life. Thankfully, due to my ability to practically inhale food, I was able to finish my dinner rather quickly and get onto the important business of drinking beer. I put on my costume (about 15 cocktail umbrellas stuck in my hair) and headed for the bar. Unfortunately the beer selection was below average, even if the pricing was really quite good. Six beers cost $12, prompting me to suggest that another 6 straight away might be in order. I think you can see where this might be going.

UE partied pretty hard for UE, with the drinks flowing freely and the dance floor filled with the rhythmless gyrations of the slightly inebriated. Wendy and Nelly were doing shots, and then a bunch of us were doing Jager Bombs and then things get a little hazy. People started leaving at some point, I decided I’d had quite enough to drink and got Bruce to help me drop most of a drink on the floor. In apology he attempted to poor his drink into my cup only to discover the bottom of mine was missing and he was pouring straight onto the floor. We celebrated with another drink. Morgan dropped a drink entirely without assistance which he decided to celebrate by drinking another round of Jager Bombs with Nelly, Wendy and Chris Manning. Eventually, everyone left with the exception of Morgan, Wendy and me. The DJ finally managed to play the Umbrella song by Rhianna, but it was a bit dismal without everyone to back Morgan and me up on the dance floor. A conversation with Jo from MUCUS led the statement that she’d managed to switch clothes five times that night. I wondered if she wanted to make it six and a deal was struck. We surreptitiously headed around the back of the bar, slightly out of sight where she put on my jeans and shirt, and I put on her dress. Apparently it wasn’t quite as surreptitious as I had hoped and there are now photos of me in my underwear on Facebook. Anyway, feeling particularly sexy in my very average blue dress, I returned to the party where I discovered I was actually wearing some guys dress. I posed for photos I probably shouldn’t have posed for and generally had a good time. Eventually I had to get my clothes back and after a celebratory drink or two, Morgan, Wendy and I decided to leave. On the way out, Morgan discovered a caramel slice in his pocket, which he shared with Wendy and me and which I shared with some random girl on the side of the road. The discovery of a shopping cart led to Morgan crashing and me getting ride while Wendy looked on in horror. The walk home was largely uneventful. The police stopped us and Morgan only just resisted smashing a TV, but we eventually made it back to the apartment and after some rehydration, went to bed, quite pleased we had a late start in the morning.

The late start ended up even later as I only just woke up in time to pack my gear up and squeeze in a shower before we had to check out at 10. We headed down to the fields via our shortcut and warmed up for our first game against Ambivalence. Ambivalence were more awake than us and seemed to want the game more. They had a really fast guy and two girls who were hucking machines and they blew us away in the first half, taking it 8-2. Robbee also managed to injure her good ankle during the game and received some treatment from a slightly deafened St Johns volunteer. The second half was much better as we woke up, we brought it back to 13-10 before they took it out 15-10. We really should have played better against these guys. They lost to Gary in the next game and finished only one spot above us.

The final game of the tourney was against sCAPEgoats. We were pretty determined to win and we brought it for the last game. Our hucking game came back with a vengeance and we were beating them all over the field. The voice from the sidelines was awesome and people were still busting it hard despite everyone’s legs being pretty much shagged and Robbee having both ankles strapped. Morgan, in attempting to describe a particular play as both sensational and spectacular managed to come up with a new word, senspacular. We took half easily, 8 – 2 and then finished off the game with a 15 – 8 win. We then played the evolution game as given to us by the Super Happy Lounge Lizards which was just as hilarious as the first time except that this time K managed to evolve beyond and amoeba.

Post game, Morgan, Robbee, Denis and I made a beeline for our bags and the rest stayed to watch the final between Bootius Maximus and Spider Pig which Bootius eventually took out 15-14. Morgan, Robbee and I got a lot of weird looks at the airport as we hobbled around at a ridiculously slow pace and I discovered that I’d booked my flights for the next Sunday instead of this one. After a slightly expensive adjustment of flight times, we were on our way, where I was once again ignored in preference of the exit row. And so ends the story of Mixed Nats 2007. Please accept my apologies if I missed anything important, but I really can’t remember much detail from the games. Next time, we either need a video or notes.

Here’s a summary of our results.
Day 1
Lost 15-5 to FAF
Lost 15-5 to Pie Wagon
Won 15-8 against Super Happy Lounge Lizards

Day 2
Lost 15-5 to MUCUS
Lost 13-12 to Gary
Won 14-11 against woMANLY

Day 3
Lost 15-10 to Ambivalence
Won 15-8 against sCAPEgoats

I also feel that the whole team contributed so well that each player deserves a bit said about them, so here goes, my impressions of how everyone played with some help from Morgan. K was awesome all weekend. He managed to keep his frustrations under control and lead the team fantastically while still putting in 300% on the field. K's the player who's always there when you need him and just doesn't quit. He was still running full speed for the last point of the weekend. His handling was impressive, but it was his popping and 1-2’s that really set him apart. Those of you with a Facebook account can see a video of K throwing a no-look pass to Robbee as the crowd goes nuts.

Robbee's handling was sublime. Her passes as a middle handler are always flat and quick, the defence has absolutely no chance to get them, but the thing which caught the other teams off guard were her huge outside in hucks down the line. Robbee's support effort both on and off the field also needs a special mention. While injured on day 3, getting her ankle strapped and obviously in pain, she was still one of the loudest voices on the sideline. Her pep talks in the huddle also helped lift the team on countless occasions.

Muffler's handling was excellent all weekend. Consistent and controlled, he used the disc well and saved a bunch of discs from hitting the dirt. On D Muffler was fantastic in the endzone stopping hucks to the talls. Adam also made quite a few honey passes which almost always ended up with a UE score. Way to work together Muff and Robyn. In your honour, we are renaming the honey pass, the Muffyn.

Robyn brought us some fresh legs on Saturday and really gave the team a boost. She pulled down a bunch of contested discs from the air and kept her head to send a handy pass up field. In the last game she made a wide open cut to the front corner of the endzone but got looked off. She busted it back to the stack as the disc swung across the field and cut for a catch and score to the other side. Awesome effort. Robyn also showed her excitement on numerous scoring efforts, with arms waving about madly in sheer delight.

Shine owned day three. He was fantastically consistent and cool headed in both games and really made a difference. On Day 2 he managed to get Manning’s vote for comment of the tourney after landing on his butt and claiming he's used to his arse taking a pounding. Probably the most memorable even was the gratuitous layout, handily captured by Wazza and available for your viewing hilarity on Facebook. With only an occasional hat throw and grumble, Denis certainly showed that he could pull himself together and play some wonderful Ultimate.

Sando was a defence machine. I have no idea how many discs he plucked out of our defensive endzone when it looked certain that the other team was going to score. His hucks and pulls were sublime as always and when he was handling, the disc went exactly where it was supposed to go (except against Ambivalence where all his forehands were disgraceful). I remember a point where the other team put a huck into the endzone and Sando's mark went up for the catch and score. Dave was behind him, but still managed to snatch the disc from in front of the guy's eyes. The look on the guys face was priceless. He couldn't figure out how he didn't even manage to touch the disc while Dave was already putting another perfect pass into the hands of a cutter.

Chris Manning put in some very consistent handling and runs down every disc. Supreme efforts on defence, with many layout attempts and intercepts. He also played a very useful handling/middle role, and his 1-2’s and running were extremely useful. Chris’ voice on the sidelines and especially on the field is so important in the tight games. He’s constantly reminding us to have fun, and his tactical nous is exactly what we need.

B2 is a hucking machine. Put B2 in the forehand handler position and if anyone gets some space long, B2 will put it into their hands for a score. Ben put particular effort into giving advice to Nelly and copped it from everyone. His vision is excellent and his handling was close to perfect all tournament. Nelly played better than I’ve ever seen her play before. She was grabbing macced discs, running non-stop and tirelessly and with a good turn of speed that caught a lot of her defenders off guard. Many times she would pull out some great intercepts, and then bust it hard.

Morgan is tall. There’s not really much else to say. Eventually he remembered how to catch and all tournament was stopping the other teams putting it long. He also managed several very good hucks after running in from the long position to get a short disc.

Fid has monster pulls and isn’t afraid to use his small hammers over the cup to break up the zone. Fid put in some excellent running the whole tourney, including one beautiful streaming run the whole length of the field for a score.
Wendy surprised everyone with a huge forehand huck in the first game. Overall, she had great all-round handling and is a very reliable and solid playmaker. She drifts long effortlessly and the defence really have to watch her. Wendy also ran hard in defence, and played particularly hard in the party! She also deserves special kudos for bringing beer to the spa and washing everyone’s shirts… twice.

Stanno had perhaps the greatest sideline voice of anyone, but it was her cuts which stood out. She was somewhat under-utilized perhaps in receiving the disc, but always cutting, running and making her best efforts for the team. This drew other players away to make space for our fortuitous scorers. Played a very good last game, where she received the disc and passed very well.

Pam put in some amazing popping. Very confident handling, and played some vital roles in the close games with her popping and then 1-2’s with the handlers. She teamed up with Morgan on several occasions to create scoring opportunities and also ran hard in defence and managed a few scores of her own.

Shanty did a fantastic job running long and his fresh legs on Saturday were fantastic. Came in late but provided a spark of energy. His long running really stretched defences and created opportunities. His disc work was also at the highest level that I have seen. Shaun’s natural tendency to throw long very quickly was squashed and he played his part in team work by making the best pass every time.

Richie is officially short, shorter even than B2, but officially totally hot in a dress. Won the party! Took over games, when he would all of a sudden be involved in everything, throwing, running, scoring and defence. He did it all.

As a special bonus for those refusing to join the communication revolution and get photos of them in their underwear tagged on Facebook, I've compiled a bunch of photos from Facebook, my phone and my camera for your amusement.
Please note these photos have not been sanitized and probably should not be forwarded to my mother.

There is a 4MB zip file filled with hilarity here:
http://richardappleby.com/mixednats07/mixednats.zip