Showdown kicked off the tournament with a win over Jinx (Germany) 17-6 this afternoon.  We went up 6-1 early then faltered, letting them back into the game 5-7.  We took half 9-5 and closed the game out 17-6.  Jinx breaks the mark very well and their overall skill set was impressive.  The other two teams in our pool, Leeds (Great Britain) and Copenhagen (Denmark) battled it out next door to us, with Leeds winning by 4 or 5.  The overall level of play was quite good, and Copenhagen, the last seed in our pool, was utilizing lots of crossfield break throws to open up the field.  Both teams played good defense in the air, so that will be interesting for us tomorrow.  Also of note, our coach couldn’t come at the last minute, so that’s been something our team has been working with.

The other US women’s teams won their games and Doublewide (the Texas open team) won both of their games as well.  We had a chance to watch some of Backhoe’s game and they have a small roster, but took care of business fairly easily.  Brute Squad beat Zephyr (Canada) 14-6 or so, and we did not get a chance to watch Fury, Riot, or Zeitgeist, but heard that they all won.

I’m not sure what the experiences of other teams has been, but so far, we’ve been a bit frustrated with some of the communication regarding transportation.  It’s been a bit unclear when the buses are or are not running.  Things are pretty spread out around the city, so we’re pretty reliant on the tournament buses and/or public transportation to get around.  Our hotel is also a lot “different” than what was advertised on their website.  But hey, at the end of the day, we’re trying to keep it all in perspective.  We’re at Worlds, in Prague, playing ultimate with 22 of our best friends.  So life is good.

Tomorrow we play Leeds (Great Britain) at 8:30 AM and Copenhagen (Denmark) at 12:30 PM.  If we win those games and the other pool plays out as we expect it to, we should face our friends Brute Squad in power pools.  Our relationship with them has been an interesting one (in a good way- BRUTE DOWN 2010!).  They knocked us out in Quarterfinals of the Club Championships last year and this season, we are collaborating on a big 40-team fall women’s tournament.  They played host to us at Boston Invite and we will be both be headed to ECC in August.  So we’ll be seeing them about 6 times this season, which is more than we’ll be seeing any team in our region (or in any other region) for that matter.

It’s awesome seeing Prague being totally overrun by frisbee players.  There are even billboards advertising the tournament around the city!

Updates from here on out might be a lot shorter… I can’t see what I’m typing on the screen of my iPhone, so that makes writing a little difficult… Thanks to everyone following us from home!  We love you all.