Mardi Gras tournament gives team reason to celebrate

Mardi Gras in Louisiana is arguably the ultimate party. This annual marathon of debauchery brings revelers from around the world to New Orleans' streets for some easy livin.' This year, the ultimate party hosted the ultimate guest: the Tufts E-men Ultimate Frisbee team.

The frisbee team, however, did not travel all the way to Louisiana simply to party. The squad kicked off its spring campaign by going 5-1 in the Mardi Gras tournament the weekend of February 21-22. The team qualified for the championship bracket and impressed some southern opponents.

"Tulane's coach asked us why we weren't in the championship bracket to start," sophomore Rob Spies said. "He said that we were one of the best teams he had seen at the whole tournament."

In its first real games of the year, the team beat out Rice, Grinnell, Carelton GOP, College of Charleston and Tulane. Its one weekend loss came to number two seeded Florida State (FSU), 12-11 in the first round of the championship bracket.

"[FSU] was definitely the best competition we faced in the tournament," Spies said. "We lost on a hard fought point. It wasn't that anything went wrong, we [just] traded points the whole game."

In a national tournament where schools with as many as forty thousand students like Louisiana State competed, the Jumbos more than stood their ground. Part of this early strength comes from the E-men's team chemistry.

"Some people call us a frisbee cult, or a frisbee frat, but we're much more like a family," sophomore Chris Healey said. "We play together, always end up eating together, partying together, and often end up living together."

These close bonds have brought the E-men success over the years. The 2001 and 2002 teams qualified for Nationals in their spring seasons. Last year's squad was 16-10 in the spring, but did not qualify for nationals.

A strong core of senior leaders including Ariel Santos, co-captains Matt Abbrecht and Andy Valen, and Zach Geller offer experience and a backbone to the team both on and off the field.

"We just have amazing chemistry between the seniors who have played together for four years and the sophomores who are a really tight group that just clicked last year," Healy said.

"Everyone is a contributor," Spies added, "We have 21 players and there's not a single person who couldn't perform in a key situation."

Unlike other club sports, the frisbee team feels it receives adequate support from the Tufts administration and athletics department. The E-men practice in the Gantcher Center and have regular field times as well. They also receive school funding for some of their travel to distant tournaments.

"The school is really supportive," Healy said. "We receive extra support from President Bacow [whose son plays Ultimate at MIT]. He often shows up to watch us play."

Over the next few weeks, the E-men, ranked 25th nationally, will prepare for the tough competition they will face over spring break in two tournaments, the Southerns in Statesboro, Ga and Easterns, held in Wilmington, N.C.

"We should face some better competition out of those two tournaments," Spies said. "It's [also] nice to get outside to the 70 degree weather after playing inside Gantcher."

With team chemistry in place and their sights set on nationals, the E-men feel that even though they play in an open division with huge schools and many talented players, they can play with the best. This sentiment was proven to be true with the team's success in the Mardi Gras tournament.

"Everything was flowing really well," Spies said. "Everyone was coming up with big D's. We were really working as a team and communicating well, which is surprising considering it was our first tournament of the year."