Diskål in Valencia :D

Updated: Nov 17, 2022

I went to Valencia this weekend for my ~first tourney with Diskål~

It was SO SO fun!!! I love my team <3

*Warning* This post is written very much in ultimate lingo and for my non-frisbee friends n fam, ya'll might get a bit lost... but there are pics at the end :)

We left from Alicante on Friday afternoon, which was a little stressful because I had a ton of errands to run that day, and one of the biggest one was getting my TIE. The TIE is essentially how I get to stay in Spain-- its my official Spanish identification card. But oh my god the bureaucracy. It took two trips to the ayuntamiento and paying a fee twice and semi-tears and waiting for hours and running around to ATMs and sweating so much but in the end I got it done and I'll be able to get my card for realsies in five weeks. It's just that after all of the that I had to pack and prepare food and get all ready for the weekend. Exhausting.

One thing about life in Spain is that I am weirdly sweaty all the time.

So I left with Olga and Paola and Maria (my teammates) in Olga's little car to drive the about 2 hours to Valencia around 6:30. We got to the campsite and got settled and then it was dinner time because its Spain, 9 is dinner. So we went to the bar with bunch of Diskålers and Barbaros y vikingas (our A team) and had some cervecitas (beers) and then everybody ate but me because veganism. Pao felt really bad about eating because we had planned our meals in our little bungalow but I really didn't care I had leftover pizza with me that was super yummy.

Anyway, sitting at a table full of Spaniards laughing and fucking around is so funny because they're all goofy and crazy and loud. Like louder than Americans loud. But also I am working so hard to follow the conversations at this point that it's too much effort for me to do more than laugh or smile in response. But by the end of two days I was sooo much better, and could hold a conversation of like 6-7 friends (who might be a bit less complicated in speaking/vocab because they know my comprehension level better but hey) in Spanish without being exhausted.

Also one of the guys from the A team was making fun of the Czech girl on their team because she really doesn't know Spanish. That pissed me off because she was literally *right there* when he did it, but Spaniards don't give a fuck about your feelings that way. But she was also more comfy by the end of the weekend and everyone loves her because she's a really good cutter so all's well that ends well.

So I slept in a little bungalow-cabin (we rented out 5 in total for the team, and some people slept elsewhere in the city) with Alvaro, Vero, and Pao. Pao and I had the tiniest beds ever next to each other. But it was nice and we woke up and had avocado toast and got ready to play!!

Our first game was against Murcielagos from Murcia, the number one team in Spain and the sixth in Europe. And Diskål had never even played a game as a team before, so that was a really quick one. Many of my teammates have played for like a month tops. BUT we did score twice!! so that was super cool. One was a point from an upline break & assist I made--not bragging but maybe a little bragging.

Occasionally there were mosh pit circles with both teams... Spaniards are very celebratory.

Next game we got crushed. 13-0. brutal. Game after that I had my coffee and got competitive and we scored 3 points!! That was super exciting. Most points we'd ever scored at that point. The points were getting longer too, and we started to play teams we were more evenly matched with.

We finished the day with another game against another Murcia team (Murcielagos brought 4 teams to these regionals, which was kinda crazy). Scored two points which we were excited about, but hungry for more!

The cool thing about Spanish frisbee is that they are SUPER serious about Spirit of the Game. We do a review about spirit for each team after the game that includes five categories like rules, communication, attitude. At the end of the tourney, whoever has the best spirit ratings wins! We also do big spirit circles & conversations about any iffy calls after the games every time. I think its awesome.

SO get back after a suuuper long day of four games and exhausting sand and sun. Obviously, we shower for our 9pm dinner reservation. Another busy, crazy conversation, but I was even more comfy at this point. Then... we get drunk because it's Spain. And people are dancing around everywhere, singing this one song that goes "la una la uuna la unnnna..." over and over because the Bar y Vik won all their games and were in the running for first place and a spot in first division!!! Also they got all excited that Julio was showing up so there was a greeting party complete with a 'sword tunnel' aka everyone holding up their knives and singing the Imperial March from Star Wars??

My teammates and the ByV folks decided they really liked my tattoos so they lent me a tank top for Sunday to show them off. But it was one of their best players' so the back said "The Flash" which is his nickname and wow that was a lot of pressure. But also aw so nice.

Was up until 1am gossiping with Pao; we pushed our little beds together so we could snuggle. Woke up at 6am (brutal) for two more games!!

Lost the first game, but fought hard. Injured my toe, it's still kinda mad, but played through. Scored a couple of points. Our defense had really really improved by this point and it was so cool to watch everyone getting better <3

Our last game was against the Invasores, and it was epic. They were the closest team to our level we played all tournament, and they were so fun and nice and the energy was fantastic. We were down 4-2 and then came back to tie 4-4 and then kept doing better and better and WON!!!! We woooooon!!!! 8-6!!! It was so exciting. Everyone, Bar y Vik, the invasores, and friends from other teams joined in a huge spontaneous dance party afterwards to celebrate the historic first victory of Diskål. It was so cool. Also Pao had a fantastic game and scored twice which was so so awesome.

Just a fantastic moment.

Completely exhausted and broken and danced out I went and floated in the Mediterranean alone for a minute. So peaceful. What a weekend.

Drove home and gossiped some more in the car, found out that Pablo (my teammate not uncle) is also a massive Swifty. Hope y'all are up to date on Midnights and all the Easter eggs 👀👀 #speaknowisnext. Slept 11 hours, like a baby.

Okay I'm gonna put a bunch of pictures of my team n Bar y Vik here. Hope y'all enjoy :)