Last weekend the MPI-CBG and friends ultimate frisbee team Ring of Fire competed in a tournament in Chemnitz (more on Chemnitz below).
This was our first tournament as a team, and I have to say, we had especially low expectations. Mainly stemming from a combination of the facts that a)we "practice" on a field about half-regulation size
Now there were only 8 teams at this tourney. And this clearly wasn't the best Germany had to offer as far as ultimate. But people were traveling from as far away as Munich to participate. And we actually did a very good job as coming together as a team, sticking to our game plans, remaining calm, playing tough defense, and going close to 100% all the time with frequent substitutions.
Our rewards included a couple of bottles of Sekt, which Sanni and Albrecht quickly made good use of at the awards ceremony:
Which brings me back to Chemnitz. Chemnitz is a city of about 250,000 about 45 minutes southwest of Dresden. I'd never been there before, but heard things about it, all of it bad. As in, basically a crappy place nobody would ever want to go. During East German times Chemnitz was named "Karl-Marx-Stadt" and was basically the quintessential communist DDR city. The trophy above is a replica of a giant stone head in the city:
As you can see, it's freakin' huge (see person at base). If this scene isn't communist, I don't know what is. Unfortunately, Chemnitz hasn't come a long way since reunification. My first impression was that is was a quite green city. Then I realized that was from trees and grass growing up through run down, abandoned buildings. Communist type buildings are everywhere, and most streets and buildings remain in a state of disrepair. Unemployment in Chemnitz is among the highest in Germany, and birth rate is the lowest. There are ongoing plans to restore the city center, but it will be a slow process.
but back to ultimate. Which I will never get used to saying. I don't know what hippie came up with this name, but I still cringe to say we're playing "ultimate frisbee". One nice thing is that it offers a nice chance to practice some sports photography:
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but back to ultimate. Which I will never get used to saying. I don't know what hippie came up with this name, but I still cringe to say we're playing "ultimate frisbee". One nice thing is that it offers a nice chance to practice some sports photography:
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These are from our regular Sunday games in the Grosse Garten. More pics are here.
Wow, long post....So I'll leave you with the aftermath of a long Saturday
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Wow, long post....So I'll leave you with the aftermath of a long Saturday