Every year the men’s and women’s frisbee teams join countless others across the nation to travel to Myrtle Beach, SC for their most anticipated tournament of the year, High Tide. This year the team reported the tournament being the most positive HighTide experience yet with 5 players getting elected as MVPs; 2 on the women’s team and 3 on the men’s team.
35 total members drove down to join the tournament with 25 being men and the other 10 being the women. SUNY Cortland provided rental cars for the entire team for the tournament. The team also rented out a beautiful eight bedroom, nine bathroom house right on the beach that included a hot tub, pool and more than enough room to house all 35 players for the week so they could enjoy the beautifully sunny South Carolina beaches. Players were able to enjoy a spring vacation surrounded by all their closest friends.
The total duration of travel from SUNY Cortland to Myrtle Beach is around a 15 hour car ride, and while that may sound like an excruciatingly long ride, the players often enjoy it since they get to drive down with all their closest friends. Hannah Johansen, one of the social media managers of the women’s team had a different approach to the long car ride stating,
“I personally love it because I get to watch the sunrise, since I am usually driving the first shift and it is just so pretty,” said Johansen.
Most of the team left for the beach at 4am on the first Saturday of spring break, and did not arrive at the beach house until 8pm despite one car that reported making it a full two hours before the rest, cutting their trip from 15 hours to 13.
Marisa Triolo was specially mentioned in terms of playing abilities especially during this tournament. Triolo made multiple bids, which is known in frisbee as when a player dives to the ground in order to catch the disc, leading her to receive multiple seemingly impossible catches, despite just joining the team last semester. In her short time on the team, she has not only exceeded any expectations set upon her but has also risen in the ranks with her being the women’s teams new secretary.
To conclude their playing days, on Thursday night of that week the team hosted their yearly MVP ceremony and elect players from each team contributed to making HighTide a positive experience for all those involved. The entire team then meets on the beach and the presidents read out who has been elected for the MVP title that year.
This year for the men’s team Chris Lee, Tyler Buru and Jack Henry Whalen were elected and Hannah Johansen and Marisa Triolo were elected as the MVP’s for the women. The scenery of the beach is important for the MVP tradition because after all the names are read aloud those team members must run and jump into the ocean followed by the rest of the team as a way to end the ceremony in a super fun way.
Their Friday team bonding went a little differently with the women’s team spending it along the boardwalk, going into shops and buying souvenirs for family and friends back home. After wandering the boardwalk for a little bit, the women stumbled upon a murder mystery themed haunted house and they decided it would be a fun and certainly interesting team bonding experience.
“Everyone was screaming. It was petrifying. I had to hold onto Ariana for dear life!” said Johansen.
The overall atmosphere of this trip was comforting and fun, with it basically being a week-long sleepover for all who attended due to the close relationships on both the mens and womens teams. Many players stated this year’s HighTide being the best one yet since it was like being able to go on vacation with all of you closest and dearest friends.
“I feel like this year I had so much more fun since I knew everyone so much better and felt so much closer to everyone! You couldn’t go ten feet without seeing someone who you wanted to hang out with,” said Johansen.
Johansen said that she enjoyed being on the beach and how enjoyable the house the teams rented was. With a section being reserved for the women it was truly a welcoming and safe environment for all involved.
“It was really nice to be able to go to the beach whenever we wanted, it was literally 20 feet away from our house,” Johansen said. “If I wasn’t out on the beach I was out on the balcony just enjoying the sun and the view for hours.”
Overall, this year’s HighTide tournament was an immensely successful experience for the entire team, men and women alike, not to mention this trip being something of envy to others on campus who aren’t able to go on a beach vacation with all of their closest friends. In the end, while the teams did not place, they definitely returned to the SUNY Cortland campus closer than ever before, and arguably with the best spring break story on campus!