1st Ever Israeli Ultimate Championships Ends In Draw
Ezra Weinberg (a Jerusalem-based Reconstructionist rabbinical student and former urbutznik) delivers a firsthand account of the first ever national Ultimate frisbee competition to be held in Israel:
The Holylanders made what would be their final pull as the third hour of this epic final game began. I let the disc drop and made the first pass to Michael or Josh. Maybe it was Hillel. I couldn’t really see. But I did see a Holylander with a ponytail hit the ground. He got up and started limping. It was clearly a darkness related fall. And then, it was as if a collective decision had been made at that moment by all the Holylanders and Lions, by all the other teams watching, by all the spouses and friends bundled up on the darkened sidelines. This game was over. The Lions and Holylanders would end the first Israel Ultimate Championship in an 11-11 tie. It was a win-win decision. People started clapping in approval (and in relief) of the decision to end. Holylanders and Lions hugged each other. I was almost in tears. The Tel Aviv Holylanders and the Jerusalem Lions of Zion – the first ever co-champions of Ultimate Frisbee in Israel. How perfect. Symbolic of this unity was a group human pyramid made up by players on both teams. Ultimate was indeed born and blessed in Israel on this day, and consecrated in an exhilarating final game.
Jews and Ultamite, like white and rice.
So wrong. Do you really think Israel is THAT far behind? People were playing Ultimate as far back as 1982 at Hebrew U on Mt. Scopus. Sheesh.