02 July 2009

IPC Students in the 2009 Brass Monkey Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

Participating in Tournaments as well as Making New Friends

By Emu Izaki and Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake.

The Ultimate Frisbee Team: Mai Iwamoto (first from the right) and Masashi Tanaka (second from the right)

On the weekend of 20th and 21st June, two IPC students, Masashi Tanaka (a 2006 student) and Mai Iwamoto (a 2007 student) participated in the "2009 Brass Monkey Ultimate Frisbee Tournament" in Rotorua. They were recruited to strengthen the local Manawatu frisbee team.

Ultimate frisbee is a limited contact team sport played with a 175 gram flying disc (frisbee). It mixes the best features of sports such as Soccer, Basketball, American Football and Netball into an elegantly simple yet fascinating and demanding game.

One of the tournament's indoor games

There were 16 teams participating in the tournament. They came from Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and other cities around New Zealand. On the first day of the tournament, indoor games began to determine which teams would go on the next day. On the second day, outdoor games were played with 8 teams whose members were mixed players from several initial teams.

Mai Iwamoto reported:

My team played against the champion team in the league semi final on the first day and lost, ending in third place. However, what was most memorable for me this time was playing in the outdoor games on the second day. I really enjoyed being in a new team, playing with new team mates and it was exciting when I managed to get points for my passes.

Furthermore, I was able to play in the same team as a player whom I admired. He wasn't angry when I missed his pass and at the end of the game, he gave me words of encouragement.

What I like about playing frisbee is that by doing so, I can expand my circle of friends. In this tournament, I met again many people I had met in previous tournaments as well as IPC alumni who are staying in New Zealand. Not only that, the IPC Frisbee Club plays every Sunday against teams from the local community, and now I know almost all the players in Palmerston North. By participating in tournaments, I can learn how the experts play. It is good motivation for keeping on playing frisbee.

In September, there will be another Frisbee tournament in Palmerston North, the Ultimate Indoor National Championships. I am looking forward to participating in it and I am planning for more practices as well as teaching the skills to the first year students.

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