I started teaching Congolese people to play ultimate a bit
over a year ago. We play every Saturday, and also on Wednesdays during the dry
season. I learned about 5 months ago that there are Burundians playing ultimate
in Bujumbura and thought of the international tournaments I’ve heard of being
hosted in Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda. I contacted a player in Bujumbura scene, a
Canadian missionary who has been teaching Burundians to play for over ten years,
and we worked out a date to try to have an informal tournament. We agreed it
would be very informal, would have no tournament cost, would take place in one
day, and that everyone participating would cover their own costs.
I talked with the players on my team (that is, those who
play in Bukavu) to try to find out if it would be realistic for them to travel
to Bujumbura to play if they were each going to pay for themselves. With the
help of our one our players who regularly goes to Buj, we decided that $35 was
what people would need if they wanted to travel (including transport, lodging,
and all food). The players were adamant that with 2 months of advance notice
they would be able to get this amount together.
As the date got closer, several players in Rwanda heard
about it and expressed interest in coming. Unfortunately, when it got really
close (5 days) all the Rwandans said they weren’t able to come. More
unfortunate, it turned out that only 4 other players from Bukavu would be able
to go. I would attribute this to the fact that most of our players are students
and not financially independent. We wrote letters for players to send home with
to give to their parents, but I guess it wasn’t enough, or was too late. We
also offered to go talk with parents in person, but only one player took us up
on this. It turned out that his dad was actually in the hospital, so two nights
before we left I drove down to the hospital with Frank, a Congolese guy in his
early 30’s who plays with us and also happens to go to my church (Frank). The
player himself couldn’t go because he had to stay home to take care of his
younger siblings. It’s about a 20 minute drive to the hospital, which was
completely on the other side of town. When we got there, the dad said his son
had never mentioned ultimate Frisbee to him, or our planned trip. Undeterred,
we read aloud the letter we had written (and given to this player a week
earlier). When he heard the name of our pastor that seemed to peak his
interest. He said he would think about it and contact us the next day. Well, it
turns out that he was okay with it, thus giving us 5 total!
In the end, it was me, two Congolese students, and the
Seeder from Colorado. Even though we were a small crew, we had a wonderful
time. Frank did an absolutely superb job with the logistics of this trip. I can’t
say enough about it. And also… Bujumbura is just so cheap in comparison to
Bukavu!! The place we stayed in was amazing for the price ($5 per person per
night); quite clean and with a little yard on the side and in a great
neighborhood.
The event itself came off quite well. The players in
Bujumbura had negotiated a field for us to play on that was inside the parcel
of a church. It had walls and was private, which helped us not have to fend
people off of our water and bags and stuff while playing. It also allowed us to
play for 5 hours, which would have been very difficult if we were using a
public field, because other people want to use it.
After introductions and a reminder to play fair and not hurt
anyone, we split into two teams for a game to 13. Since we were only 5 from
Bukavu, and the Buj players had brought like 25 players, they loaned us 6 or 7
for the game. (Ultimate is played 7v7 on the field, but substitutions are
absolutely necessary to play a full game if the teams are anywhere close to equally
matched). The game itself was intense and really fun. The Bukavu side started
out ahead 4-2, but then Buj took half at 7-5. Out of half-time Bukavu scored 3
in a row to bring it to 8-7, and then Buj went on a run of their own, ending
with the score at 12-10. Bukavu then scored 3 straight to win the very exciting
game 13-12. No one got hurt. No one got really mad at anybody. And the game was
very even. It went better than I could have hoped.
After the game (which lasted 2 hours) both teams gave awards
to each other, like best defender, best thrower, etc… Then I taught some drills
and ultimate strategy, which was followed by completely mixing up the teams and
playing 2 games of 7v7 with no subs at all. We did that for 45 minutes, and
then I taught another drill. At the end of this drill it was 2pm and everyone
was spent. We enjoyed some cokes and chatter in the shade of a tree. Thirty
minutes after the cokes, the sandwiches arrived, and we finished up by taking
pictures and all saying we all wanted to play again in Bukavu and Bujumbura.
I look forward to the next match!
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