After two very sunny outdoor competition days (one even including winning the division and lots of beer!) it was probably some sort of retributive justice that on this third day in the outdoor competition we enjoyed the best of Dutch summer: the heavens opened and with wind, rain and sub-20°C temperatures it promised to be a mud fight rather than a bright day of Ultimate.
Nevertheless, 11 brave R’damnit players (+ cheerleaders) went out into the rain to compete in the playoff-like scheme of the Dutch Outdoor league. We were first up against UFO 1, who showed up with some very experienced players on the line. As in previous competition days, girls were a rare sight on the field, except for in the line of R’damnit. Just in time for the match, the rain gave us a little break and our underdog status helped us put up a good start drawing even until 2:2. Lots of good work in the defence and a marvellous handling game with patience against both the wind and the opponent did not save us from losing points eventually. Somehow, the UFO-players always seemed to find yet a better option to score. Final score 7:10, but happy with our team play.
After a break to warm up inside, our second match was set against Almere Spinners. The weather finally gave us what the forecast promised: in what was more of a mud fight than an Ultimate match we decided to play against the rules and score upwind most of the points. Almere’s young and restless team seemed to be all over our offence, diving for every disc and forcing us to play a very concentrated handler’s game against the wind. Our patience and practice paid off with some beautiful family points, involving all the moves we had just been working on in practice. Downwind points however went way too easily to the Spinners, who showed some pretty neat layouts on the muddy field and seemed to be diving for anything flying – no matter whether it was a disc coming from their team or from R’damnit. Final score 8:12.
Last up, we played against the hosting team Veenendaal Tigers. Without a break in the game schedule, there was no time to get cold and we played right on where we left off. With a strong defence and some great deep throws, we managed to set up two-point lead against the Tigers in the first half, 6:4. It remains unclear whether it was the wind that suddenly died down or the team’s low blood sugar level after two matches without a food break, but we lost our focus and match concept in the second half allowing the Tigers to score four points in a row! R’damnit tried to fight back, but after two and a half very concentrated matches the fizz was gone for the day and we finished 8:12. Nothing to mope about for we showed a very good team game, proving that R’damnit can give a good fight to teams from the top divisions– even when the weather is not on our side.