Since all of you are (or at least should be) interested in the history of belgian ultimate , women's ultimate in this case particularly , here's a little more info on how Patricia (Mooncatchers) was picked up by the USA team for World Championships in 1983.
"Here is a small comment about how it happened .
Actually, 6 American women were going to World's in Sweden , together with the men's team the Rude Boys from Boston , US champions.
They had decided to participate as US team, with the help of an American girl staying in Brussels at the time, my friend Chris Rushlow.
As they were looking for an 8th player, Chris suggested me - I was going to Sweden as well, and had about 3 years experience of ultimate, but not at that level of course.
We met in Namur , where the Rudies came during their "European tour" for a game with the Belgian players.
The girls saw me play and agreed to take me along.
We had different levels but were able to form a team that played well together.
There were only 4 countries competing ( Finland , Sweden , Austria and USA ), we played 2 round-robins and a final without losing a game but it was tough.
It was the 1st and last time this could happen as the eligibility rules were defined after these 1st World’s.
(Eligibility rules ? What the hell ? : Well , in short , these are the rules that basically say that you can only play for the country where you were born or the country where you have been living for more than a few years.. There's much more exceptions to that but this is the basic explanation.For more info , check out :
http://www.wfdf.org/rules/NTPER_WFDF_Ultimate_Worlds_Events_2007-12-17.pdf , especially point 3.2 , 3.3 and 3.4)
Playing with them was a great experience and I learned a lot; the whole group was fun and friendly, both teams supported each other, the guys helped us for every game and gave us lots of tips (being only 8 players, we made a zone defence all the time).
Mostly, the fact that there can be played at the highest level with the best spirit, never forgetting to have fun, is the message that I remember from the whole adventure.
My friend Chris moved to London a bit later for 4 years, where she trained the British women who came finalists at the World’s in ’86 in Colchester, UK.
Love to you all,
Pat"
Thanks a lot to Pat for sending me this info.
I think this is very interesting and should definitely be remembered.
It's good to know how our game evolved and most importantly where it came from.
Expect more things/posts coming about the history of belgian ultimate , I'm working on it.
Keep 'em flying and keep on reading !
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