Technical Director Kuan met with the team captains early early on, barking his rules into their faces as they cowered in fear. He DOES have the power to make up scores, after all.  

Six teams clashed on the field, the various team colours and flying discs adding to the sense of occasion. Bar a few hiccoughs, Match Day One was executed with little glitches. Even the dark clouds that were threatening to rain us off the field could do little to dampen the spirits of the teams, as shouts of “UP!!”, “LINE!!” and “NO BREAKS!!” echoed from one end of the field, traveling the full 100 meters to the other end.  

Though the rain did come eventually (we knew it was too good to last), the teams battled it on, braving slippery grass and an even more slippery disc. Turnovers came furiously as players had trouble changing direction, and the flight of the disc grew difficult to predict. Nevertheless, the feared lightning never came and Kuan marched out onto the fields to proclaim “as long as there’s no lightning, PLAY ON!”

Eventually the clouds did break, drying the field up somewhat, but there were still a few spectacular lay outs to be seen. Each followed by the lay-out-er gingerly picking him/herself up, not so much for the pain, but for the amount of mud that their clothes accumulated on the lay out. What’s an ultimate tourney in South East Asia without a few muddy lay outs anyway? 

Day One unfortunately didn’t go without it’s share of injuries, thankfully, the most serious among which were bad cramps. Blame it on the heightened sense of competition, players pushing themselves more, the surge of extra adrenaline, or maybe just rusty legs unaccustomed to this level of competition, but a fair number of players had to be helped of the pitch and tightened calf muscles stretched out on the sidelines.

That, coupled with the odd collision (and resulting vertigo) kept Mr Medic very busy indeed. Hopefully Match Day Two would give him more rest, as players accustom themselves to the rigors of the League.

At the end of the day, only one team remained undefeated – The Flying Naans. Rest on your laurels now and enjoy the victories, Naans, but hear that sound? That’s the sound of about a hundred ulti players in the Klang Valley coming after you, intent on fixing that little statistic.

Game on!