ATHLETICS

Xavier Ultimate Rocks the Manila Spirits
Katrina Manas (Poveda '07), Xavier Ultimate Player

Photos by:  Paolo Abrihan, Leonardo Coll, and Katrina Manas

Posted Thursday, 07-Dec-2006 5:17 PM

      The Manila Spirits Tournament, held last November 25-26, 2006 at the Ayala Alabang Country Club, stirred in the Xavier Ultimate team emotions of joy, nervousness, and all else --- in quarters, halves, and minutes. We reveled in the pre-game promise of championship and the stunning spirit of the game. We were engulfed in the intensity, the speed, the sudden drama and above all, the fun inherent to Ultimate Frisbee.

      Our first game was against a team from Taipei. It was like BAM! All the players suddenly became blurs of movement. It was definitely challenging to match their blistering level of play. However, the team pulled through as Sam Go (H4D) and Zeke Yap (H4A) were able to score against our highly skilled opponents. Though the game resulted in favor of the Taiwanese (2-11), we came out of it with new experiences and lessons learned.

      The team vowed to play harder in our succeeding games against Chuckies from Singapore , España United, .32 Special, the Breakfast Club, K3 and Jogadores. With all these teams choc-full of talent, it was surely going to be an uphill battle to nail a victory.

      Initially, our team’s efforts seemed to have fallen short as we bowed to Singapore in a close match ending at 7-8 to their favor. This was followed by another loss to .32 Special (5-11). In our last game on day one, we finally snatched a victory over K3 (11-5) and this somehow lifted our spirits in preparation for day two.

      In our first two games the next day, we suffered from two consecutive losses to more experienced teams, Espana United (2-10) and Breakfast Club (6-13). However, we were able to once again end the day with a victory over another experienced team, Jogadores (9-8).

      Everything just fell into place during the two matches we won. There was an amazing unspoken communication that existed between teammates and the instinctive knowledge of what was going to happen next. The magic came from the eye contact between teammates – combining a bit of fancy passing with hard cuts to set up easy scores. Points obtained were duly celebrated with high-fives all around.

      The tournament games had that ineffable quality about it, that certain trait that made each moment on the pitch exciting. Maybe it was the speed and the dexterity all wrapped up into one, or perhaps the feeling of fluidity and constant motion as the disc flew from player to player. Simply put, it was just awesome.

      Manila Spirits rocked!

      The Xavier Ultimate Team Flying Plates finished a respectable 15th out of 19 teams (including 5 international squads), with a record of 2 wins against 5 defeats. The squad was composed of students, teachers and alumni/alumnae from Xavier School , ICA and Poveda.

      Expect more good things from the newest and coolest team in Xavier as the Flying Plates join the upcoming Amihan League in early 2007!

      Luceat Lux!

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