brushed off the occasional bug or pricker
bush to explore and take in the massive
landscape. The next day we helped J-bird
set up his Xball field, with me once again in
some thick brush to put up nettings. We then
got to practice with Five-Star, Poison Ivy, Joy
Division and other Euro pro teams and did
very well.
Finally we start the event and it could not have
gone better. Due to no APP (rankings system),
we were in D2, which felt like D2/3 in the U.S.,
and although it had some good teams and
a few teams with pro players on them, our
team was stacked with all semi-pro guys who
play together, an English pro, and myself.
Teams were good, but our experience, style
and attacks demolished every team we saw.
We went undefeated through the event; only
losing 4 points all event and 4-0’ing the Finals
game for Tortugas 3rd straight Millennium
win.
Celebration occurred, podium pictures, a
dozen pitchers of Euro beer and some fine
Indian buffet food. It felt good to win an
event, conquer another country and basically
enjoy a dream week. After this the team
went home and I’d be staying with J-bird for
an extra week to host clinics the following
weekend before leaving. Our young prodigy
Levi Benison and his wonderful family invited
the few of us over for a big dinner and pints
and we celebrated again.
We saw most of south England and packed
the week with activity. I still hadn’t slept more
then five hours a night to ensure I wouldn’t
miss a thing. I felt tired, my immunities were
probably weak, but we pressed on for the
sake of fun. At the end of the week I helped
work at J-bird’s rec field, ref’d a large woods
party and began to cramp up in my right leg
and feel hot and sweaty. I chalked it up to
dehydration and exhaustion as we missed
breakfast, had little water and had been at it