The Adventures of Lstan: 2011 Jeju Dirty Dozens Tournament

This past weekend I flew down to Jeju Island, just off the south coast of Korean mainland, for a huge ultimate frisbee tournament. There were teams from all over Asia, including Singapore, Japan, and China. A few players even flew in from North America! Each co-ed team has 12 players (7 on the field at a time), hence the name 'dirty dozens'

Team Kim Jong 'Illin

I flew in Saturday morning and went straight to the windy fields where we played four tough games that day (won 2/lost 2). We were seeded at the bottom in the 'A division' so our wins were a bit of a pleasant surprise. Everyone played well and were super pumped to be there. By the end of the fourth game I was totally exhausted; I don't think I have ever played that many in a row!

That night they threw a mustache-themed party at a local bar. Some of my favorite team costumes were from a Japanese team called 'clown punch' that dressed up in full clown costumes, or another team that dressed up as famous mustaches (blonde guy grew a Hulk Hogan mustache, cow costume milk mustache, Ron Burgundy, etc)

On Sunday we played in a windy quarter finals against a team from Singapore. The day before they had played really well so I wasn't too optimistic about the game. But everyone rallied and we won.. on to the semi finals!

Our semi-final game was against a Japanese team called 'Iku'. We were up at the beginning of the game but they managed to get a couple points up-wind and were leading into the second half of the game. From there we tried to hang in, but they ended up beating us by three points in the end. We finished the tournament tied for 3rd place, and were totally stoked.

Overall it was a great weekend of sun, friends, parties, and ultimate. Makes me want to play even more!

Photos after the Jump!