The Melbourne Hat was on the weekend. It's one of the three big tournaments in Australia, but differs from the two national championships in that drinking beer is the main activity rather than a distant second to playing ultimate frisbee. This year playing was particularly left by the wayside due to the the 50km/hr winds and constant rain on Saturday making it almost more a game of chance than skill.

However, I had intended on being fit for this tournament and playing well. Didn't happen. I'll admit to not keeping up a stringent fitness regime, but only two weeks ago I was feeling faster and more responsive than ever. Last weekend the one day tournament completely broke me for some reason, and I was still tired by the hat. I guess being up until 3am drinking the night before the first day and 4am before the second didn't help, but catches were constantly being put down, running had to be forced out of me, and intelligent decisions were far from the norm.

The difference between the level of play when fit and alert and when physically tired and straight off a big night seems to be getting more noticeable. I've never been a star player, but I'm at a point now where my experience should be showing. I really don't want to reach a point where I'm the chump every time I play, so I'd better pick up my act.

Even so, the Hat was an awesome good time.