Every year since 2009, the Ultimate Warriors have joined the annual Boracay Open International Beach Ultimate Competition and, this year, for the third time in a row, we made it to the finals in Pool B. Woot.
The first time we made it to the finals, we lost to DUO, the club team from UP Diliman. Last year, we won against the Sexual Harassment Panda Experience, a team of players from different parts of the globe. This year, we were up against another Manila team, Pancakes. Unfortunately, we didn’t win this one, but, hey, this is our third year in the finals! Plus two of our players won individual awards! Carpet Head bagged a spot on the Mythical 4 for Pool B, while Ced (who plays for DUO which didn’t field a team this year) bagged the Finals MVP award for Pool B. YAYYYY.
The weekend was simply a blast. The beach tournament was scheduled on the last weekend of January, and most of us were already there on Thursday – the games start on Friday and end on Sunday – and a bunch of us left the island on Tuesday, so we really spent a lot of time together. It was nice hanging out with “old” and “new” friends. I mean, Carpet Head and I haven’t missed a Boracay Open since ’09 and every year our group is a different mix of regulars (like us!) and newbies, so the whole experience is always different. Although I didn’t party much (I feel old!), it was an awesome weekend with awesome folks at an awesome place. I hung out with great people and I got to do a lot of fun things to do in Boracay like play beach ultimate (of course!), cool off in the water, try Real Coffee’s cold chocolate (divine!), have a Jonah’s banana-choco-vanilla shake (so good!), chill at Spider House, eat good food, and really just relax and have fun. By the way, this was also my first alcohol-free Boracay Open! I just didn’t feel like drinking any of the beer or the terrible mixed drinks at the parties, and, besides, I really don’t need a buzz to have fun. I did have a lot of iced coffees and shakes though and that was just luuurve.
All in all, this year’s Boracay Open was a good tournament for us. The only really bad thing that came out of it was Carpet Head’s knee injury which he sustained during the finals. It was caused by a bad decision from the opposing team and it left Carpet Head with a Grade II sprain. That means he’s out for the next 6 to 8 weeks. Sigh.
Anyway, the 2015 championship went to US team, Bangarang, who battled it out with the other US team, Humiliswag. The 12-time champions, the Boracay Dragons, opted to sit this one out because they’re competing in the World Championships of Beach Ultimate in Dubai this coming March. It was nice to see different teams play in the Pool A finals. For sure, it’s going to be exciting next year when the Dragons are back in the running. For a quick recap of the tournament, check out this write-up by sports photographer Don Laczi who had his own share of excitement during the championship game (read his post to know what I’m talking about!).
Aaaaaand that’s my Boracay Open 2015 post. Here, look at some pictures! YAYYYYY.