La Abuela 2012

This past weekend I played in La Abuela, the ultimate tournament that the Quijotes host in Madrid every spring.

We brought two teams: Quijotes (the players that have been here longer and have mad skillz), and Sancho (mix of players, including newbs who are still working on developing some mad skillz).

Sancho

My team, Sancho, had the first game that Saturday at 9:30am.  I was up earlier than I am on any weekday, in order to arrive at the fields (north of the city) with time to warm-up before the game.

Saturday was a windy, cool day - with some rain.  Due to the wind, our first opponent threw zone on us right away.  We hardly ever play zone; Madrid's generally not windy.  So we were taken off guard and it took a while for us to adjust.  But our three games on Saturday were good opportunities to practice zone, and we learned.  The Quijotes players would cheer for us and give us pointers during our games.  It was a good atmosphere.

We didn't win any games that day, but we had fun and improved.

Those on Quijotes and Sancho also had work shifts throughout the tournament.  Hannah and I kept score for a game on Saturday, then later worked for an hour at the table selling merchandise/drinks and answering questions.  It was fun; it reminded me of my high school extra-curricular activities, and running events at Mechanical Engineering.

Being an attentive, very good score keeper. Right, Hannah?

Some teammates manning the table

When the games finished up by 6:30pm that afternoon, I showered in the residency hall nearby and changed for dinner.  Dinner was at a tennis club in Chamartín, and consisted of the following plates:

First plate

Second plate

Dessert

The party was also at the tennis club, in a room off of the dining room where we'd eaten dinner.  

Ultimate tournament parties always have a theme (remember the "Zebras and Leopards" theme in Las Palmas?).  That Saturday, it was a stoplight party.  At a stoplight party you wear either green, yellow, or red; the color corresponds to your relationship status.  If you're single and available, you wear green.  If there's something holding you back, you wear yellow; and if you're taken, you wear red.

I didn't stay long at the party after dinner; I was super exhausted.  I got home around 2am and was up at 7:30 on Sunday morning, since Sancho played at 9:00!  Many people only got two or three hours of sleep between the party and our game Sunday morning.  I don't know how ultimate players do it!  This happens every tournament I've been to.

Sunday still had some wind, but it was much sunnier than Saturday.  We lost our first game that day, but won our last game of the tournament!  That put us in 11th place, out of 12 teams.

Meanwhile our big brothers and sisters, the Quijotes, had played their way into the finals.  It was fun to watch and cheer for them.  They lost the finals, taking second place in the tournament.

Quijotes

After the finals, there was an awards ceremony.

After the awards ceremony, we took a team picture of the Quijotes (Q and Sancho) before cleaning up and heading home.  It was an exhausting but fun weekend.

Quijotes and Sancho