I first heard about the Fresh and the Furious tournament about 30 seconds after I passed Fresh Meat. The GTAR vets told me how awesome it has been the years before (this past weekend was the 3rd iteration of the annual event) and how much fun I was going to have. Well, they couldn’t have built it up any more, and I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome.
I had some strange expectations going in: that we would all be derby toddlers barely able to stand on our skates, that we would not be able to execute plays and that we would know zilch about strategy. Did my teammates and my opponents ever prove me wrong! I was definitely in the presence of the up-and-coming superstars of our sport. I expected a very lopsided tournament as well, with fresh meat coming out of some very new leagues and some very experienced, long-running leagues. This didn’t happen either. Some of the games were won and lost by only a handful of points, and you never could be sure of the outcomes of some of the games until the very last jam.
I was put in a strange situation, along with Nikita Bruischev and SoFearMe, as we normally play for the G-sTARs, the GTAR travel team. Playing with the rest of the freshies for the Debs felt unbelievably natural. The Debs embraced our playing styles and we all adapted to maximize our varied talent. We didn’t win but we definitely put ourselves out there as a force to be reckoned with!
As I finish recovering from the FatF: GTA Drift, I’m thinking about next year’s tournament (which will undoubtedly be called Fresher and Furious-er). I’ll be sharing my experiences with all of the Fresh Meat joining us in the fall. That kind of blows my mind! I’m guessing that next year’s teams will be even tougher, but I know GTAR will be ready for them.
