New York Tournament
Reported by Roger Meier

A small group of New Yorkers and fellow East Coasters not able to get over to Discapalooza enjoyed a breezy day in New York for a one-day tournament. The skies were blue and the weather turned cooler after a stifling week, but the winds started to blow, and blow….

The event was two rounds with six teams playing in both rounds. The site was in Battery Park, which is in lower Manhattan, near the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The first round was ordered randomly with the second seeded by results of the first round.

In the first round the team of Meier & Simon edged out Kenny & O’Brien in a surprisingly well played round considering the extreme winds. Meier & Simon has fewer drops with O’Brien and Kenny providing some of the hottest moves with Paul Kenny’s scorching turn-overs and Jeff O’Briens technical work.

The winds did not die down for the second round, if anything they got stronger and gustier. O’Brien and Kenny played well again in the

second round, but were not able to seal with as much consistency as in the first round, leaving the door open for Meier & Simon. Playing in the strong winds Meier & Simon started very conservatively and were dropless through half the routine. Towards the middle of the routine they started to rev up the moves a bit as their confidence was rising and Roger hit a few double spinning catches and Doug did his turbo hein pull outs to Lacers and the like. A few spontaneous co-ops (all planned co-ops were shelved given the extreme winds) worked well and they finished with two drops.

The other teams had more trouble with the winds with a close finish for third and fourth places, and the last two teams were very brave local players, most in their first tournament. Jill Hansom is Doug’s wife and played with Roy (I do not know his last name) a local jammer and they hit some nice spontaneous co-ops. Jill deserves extra credit for playing with a broken toe. Richie and Bill had some of the best moves of the day with Richie doing a lot of vertical work in the strong winds and Bill hitting a lot of great rim work. Alan and Walter played well with Alan hitting a crashing spinning behind the back catch in each round and Walter providing the move-du-jour (see below). Avi and Scott, local jammers both did some nice work, with Scott playing on an injured ankle.

One of the moves of the day was a huge flip catch by Walter (I am not sure of his last name) resulting in an enormous thud right onto his back (holding onto the disc). Ah but to be young again…..

Brad Keller did a good job providing a nice field and a good sound system. Brad injured his ankle and was unable to play but seemed to enjoy the day and should be proud of putting on a nice event. After a quick grill over at Rogers house the whole gang descended upon a small Greenwich Village bar for some serious drinking. A good time was had by all!

Next year we will make it out west …