That week was the first time we’d all been together since Sunday afternoon of Lei Out. I’d spend Sunday groggily going through the motions, running on 3 hours of sleep and an iHop latte*. We were split into three separate condos: Murjan 1, Rimal 3 and Al Fattan Towers, affectionately renamed MurMur, RiRi and FaFa. I was rooming with Becky, Claudia and Nora, (and Frank!) which meant Becky had to suffer through seemingly endless strategy and logistic talks from the three captains. I actually don’t remember much about Sunday, I know we had an early meeting and showcase game against Germany, but any sordid details were lost in the travel daze. Sleep helped, Monday I felt like a human again and spent the first part of the morning getting coffee and poaching the Ritz Cartlon’s ocean-side lounge chairs with Becky. We got kicked off shortly after and headed back for breakfast with the room as the Canada game crept closer.
The best part about beach ultimate has to be jumping in the ocean after playing, right? Walking twenty yards to warm water after running through what felt like the desert (and in some way was) was the best thing. We spent lots of post-game time in the ocean, and what did a bunch of athletes do during their break in competition? Compete more. There were buddy chicken fights (hindsight, maybe not the best idea) and handstand competitions, Cree lost everything all of the time, mostly to Claudia. Really surprised it didn’t alter her play, the definition of resilience!
After the day was done, each condo was in charge of cooking for the whole team on a certain night. I was mentally preparing for three nights of pasta and oh so happy to be wrong. Well, there was pasta, but it was delicious; everyone really stepped it up in the cooking department. Night three was our condo’s turn and the pressure was on–we had talked for days about what we’d make, breakfast for dinner was the front-runner, I think homemade pizza was in the mix, but gyros prevailed when lack of vegetables became a concern. We overcompensated pretty heavy on that front, about 75% of our meal ended up green. There were even cucumbers in the gin and tonics, which is an absolute must.
We each had a buddy assigned going into the weekend and I hit the jackpot getting paired with Q. If you know me at all, you know I’m quite forgetful; this extends into nearly every aspect of my life and is particularly heightened at tournaments. I lost my water bottle the first day (and almost my umbrella but luckily a teammate picked it up) and Q let me borrow her spare for the rest of the week. She constantly reminded me to actually use the water bottle and stay hydrated, found snacks after games and I always heard her voice from the sidelines. Her thoughtfulness is so genuine and natural, she’s the epitome of a good teammate.
I think the only thing I would want to do differently is all stay together, or closer together. I don’t think it was actually possible; Sally is the logistics queen and we stayed for relatively cheap compared to surrounding hotels and such. During U23s we were together for two-weeks straight** on the same floor of college dorms, first in Buffalo then Toronto. A lot of bonding happens off the field in the confines of your temporary home, even in the smaller time frame of Club Nationals or the US Open. This is me just wishing I’d been more intentional about getting to know people outside the MurMur four, but Worlds has a tendency to bring that out long after the week is over.
*not a latte
**its actually incredible all 22 of us got along so well during and after that, same goes for WCBU
