Not playing beach in Hawai'i

My time in Hawai'i at Kaimana Klassic, a grass tournament on the island of beaches

A week out from the Classic, sorry Klassic. We arrived in lovely O'ahu and made our way to the accommodation that had only been booked the day before. Me and Charles flying from NZ met up with the Aussie and Montreal contingent of our team at our hotel. Three days out from the tournament we were keen to get around and explore the island a bit. So that is what we did, without Charles who was pent up in his hotel room with the sickness.

We walked around Diamond Head, watched a lot of University of Hawai'i sport, went snorkelling at Hanauma Bay, waited for some ubers and slept for too long in the sun on the beach.

On Friday evening we had planned to meet with the team to have some yarns and maybe some throws to get to know each other. However me and those travelling in the uber back from our hike were ninety minutes late and so the sun had set and our *only* option was to go get Denny's together as a team.

Side Review: Denny's pre tournament meal elite

Our team was pulled together from a multitude of nations: No Australians but a couple living in oz. A few Canadians, Americans, Indians, Brits, Irish, and two New Zealanders.

On Saturday morning we met with the rest of them that hadn't made it to Denny's. Our team name was Pulled Together, fittingly, and our first game was a good way to start off the tournament together. A relatively relaxed game with a lot of banter from both sides that we ended up winning. Our next game was also a W after using the heavy crosswind to the advantage of our southern hemisphere players. We then came up against the Bromaids; A team wearing gorgeous scaled leggings sparkling in the sun that we may definitely have underestimated going into the match. Our lack of time playing together didn't help our chances. Especially when we played the same zone against them too many times in a row to no effect before we put it in the bin. They were making great plays and were using their fast guys to great advantage in the deep space. In the second half we took the zone back out of the bin to slightly greater effect but it was too little too late and we ended up losing the game. This meant we were in a three way tie along with the Rainbow Brigade and Bromaids. We came out second in this on points diff so made it through to the top half of power pools.

Saturday night was a fun blow out with the team, played some games, ate a lot of food. A late night trip to one of the five thousand ABC stores on O'ahu. Followed by some more sports viewing this time replays of Hawai'i high school volleyball. Crazy to me that there was a whole channel just dedicated to Hawai'i sport.

The next morning we came up against one of the matchups I had been looking forward to since the teams attending the tournament had been announced, Ka'apuni Ohana. This team comprised of a few Machine players, a bunch of other very solid talent as well as Valeria and Manuela Cardenas. Our team came out the gates hot, yesterdays loss in a similar crosswind had done us well. We switched up the zone we were playing to a asymmetrical arrowhead that worked super well to apply pressure without opening too many holes to lull the opposition to the low side. In this position I got a semi-deserved block on a Valeria huck which I will cherish forever. Luckily Ocean's younger brother Cedar had arrived for the rest of the tournament and we had another very strong player we could work with on the field. We took half by a significant margin but in the second half they started making a comeback. Fortunately for us however the tournament was played with a hard cap and even though they had momentum the game ended with an 11-6 (i think!?) victory.

For some reason our pool play loss did not carry through to power pools so we ended up top of the pool as opposed to third after a convincing victory over Fellas Worldwide - the distinguished businessmen of Kaimana 35. Either way the Dingoes were now on the other side of the bracket so we could take a breath of relief. Our last game of the day, our quarter final, was against a Hawai'i local team who were a lot of fun to play against. This game had one of my favourite points of the whole tournament in it where Cedar and I did one twos up the entire field from the brick mark before dishing it to another team mate for a score. This ended up being a comfortable victory and placed us up against Bromaid Parade for a rematch in our semi final tomorrow morning.

After all games on Sunday concluded we once again made our way as a team to Denny's (don't blame us it was the closest + cheapest location that could fit a whole team). Most of the team then started getting ready to go to the party whilst myself and a couple others decided to get an early sleep.

sike

The people staying with us in the room had made their way out of the hotel and about 20 minutes later came back after collecting the rest of the team to help with some gentle peer pressure convincing us to head out. We only semi-willingly obliged but ended up having a good time dancing covered in sequins.

The next morning we had a nice sleep in after earning the semi finals slot. As mentioned this was our opportunity to get revenge on Bromaids. The wind once again helped us out but this time our zone was refined and our match defence was better after a weekend of synergizing. We didnt hold back with kill lines or sneaky defensive plays and we ended up winning comfortably. Onto the game I had personally been waiting for: a game against the Dingoes.

The Dingoes is the nickname for the Australian Opens Team. As they are the trans-tasman brothers of New Zealand I have played both with and against the majority of the Dingoes lineup many times. This meant I knew of the quality that they could bring to a match. This was a very welcome opportunity to really push myself after a long tournament of good times ultimate. The Dingoes on the other hand hadn't had any games close at all so we knew we had to give them a decent hit out. With a few others on our team with friendly rivalries against Dingoes boys we knew we would hit the game running hard. And we did just that. After getting the first two break opportunities (one of which I scuffed with an overly ambitious hammer plucked out of the sky by Rob Andrews) we had set the tone well and the Aussies were scrambling and shortening lines - allegedly - to not embarrass themselves from losing to a pick up team. We basically traded until half, 8-6 to them. In the second half our steam ran out and the Aussies showed their endurance and took the game 15-8. A super fun match up with some awesome plays all throughout from both sides.

My favourite play of the tournament was probably a cheeky I/O shot in the final to Charles after some give-goes that went against the momentum of play. We reminisced on this that evening while moving out of our hotel into a hostel and eating some of the best ramen I've ever tasted.

We spent the next few days in Hawai'i touring around. Getting tourist trapped by some entry fees to mediocre hikes. Conversely finding some gems and overall having a great time. We saw some turtles, some humpback whales. Nate lost a drone - allegedly. We watched the World Surf League live - awesome. The next day we jumped in a rEaL waterfall. On our last day we visited the Pearl Harbor memorial and watched the NCAA div 1 beach volleyball on Waikiki beach.

Friday: fin