alissapajer

When you drive out of Amsterdam into the countryside, there are cows and sheep everywhere. The city ends abruptly; vast fields take the place of the crooked buildings, and it is impossible to tell that the city lies just a few kilometers away.

Today I went into the countryside to play Ultimate at a local tournament. Bicyclemark, who organized some of our group’s events, plays for Crunch, an Ultimate team based in Amsterdam. Crunch was playing in the tournament, and Mark invited me, Boris, and Aaron, to join the team for the day.

We played four games during the course of the day, which equaled about six hours of playing Ultimate. We lost all four games, but the team stayed in good spirits. After the games were over, I learned that in the Netherlands, everyone showers in the public facilities at the fields. After Ultimate tournaments in the United States everyone gets into their cars sweaty and dirty and showers at home.

One of my favorite things about Ultimate is its universality. People play Ultimate all over the world, and everyone abides by the same rules. It doesn’t matter if I don’t speak the language of the country I am in; on the Ultimate field everyone speaks the language of Ultimate, and thus we can all understand each other.

This entry was posted Saturday, October 21st, 2006 at 11:24 pm and is filed under Amsterdam. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.