Borneo Bristleheads is the name, and Ultimate is the game. Have tournament, will participate (might even win one. Ha. Ha).
There you have it – after six months of casual Frisbee playing in KK, we’ve suddenly stepped up our game and joined the Malaysia Ultimate Open. It’s a tournament, a championship, the ultimate competition to see who’s top of the Ultimate players in Malaysia.
We’ve got sponsors! And a logo
Yes, sure the flights to KL are not that expensive, and OK, some of us already have accommodation in Kuala Lumpur, but damn those t-shirts are expensive.
So when our fearless leader Ken suggested plastic iron-ons, we thought silk-screening might be better. A few enquiries later we had the quote. It might be better, but it certainly isn’t cheaper.
Would the team fork over the dosh for shirts? After all, one of the unwritten requirements of Ultimate is looking good (unless you win all your games, then you can look however you like).
So we rustled up some logo choices, had a vote, more votes, a veto, final votes, delegates, super delegates, a miss-count, tequila and finally we pinned the choices on a door, blind-folded Ken, spun him around and had him throw a Frisbee at it to choose the winning logo.
Then we made some calls, knee-capped some people (mostly team mates) and actually ended up with 3 sponsors. Together they cover the costs of our shirts (pictures to follow, they’re being printed as we speak).
So who are these generous sponsors?
Well, the main sponsor with the bulk of the funds is Breeze Magazine. Now you may or may not have noticed the mag around Kota Kinabalu recently, because it’s a brand new player in the tourism information market and distribution is growing.
Breeze Magazine is about what to do in Sabah, where to go, who’s been seen and things like that. They promote Sabah to Malaysians and, of course, tourists. Breeze Magazine makes it that much easier to find out things about this land we love.
Issue 1 should be uploaded any day now, and Issue 3 is about to hit the streets, so that should appear on-line in matter of hours. Several. Days. Soon, ok?
Then the Borneo Bristleheads, Sabah’s unofficial Ultimate Team, also have two co-sponsors. The first co-sponsor is Borneo Beach House Backpackers.
This groovy backpackers is located in Tanjung Aru, which is virtually walking distance from Terminal 2 at Kota Kinabalu’s International Airport, and crawling distance from the beach (Richie has measured it several times). Surprisingly though, the neighbourhood is quiet and tranquil, and so is the garden, except during a BBQ.
Friendly and relaxed is what they are, and many of the guests visiting have joined us for a Frisbee game or two, so I can vouch that not only are they friendly and relaxed, they’re well up for a game of Frisbee too. Borneo Beach House Backpackers has 45 beds in various configurations, and it starts from a very low RM25 per bed per night.
That’s for a dorm bed in a fanned room. From there you have dorms in air-con, twins and queens. There’s also Richie’s Room, but no money can buy that one (although lots of beer might). Thanks to Borneo Beach House Backpackers for their generous support of our Malaysia Ultimate Open efforts.
Last, but certainly not least, is the second co-sponsor Sabahbah.com. Ah, the good people who provide Travel Information All About Kota Kinabalu & Sabah saw a worthy cause and couldn’t resist to have their logo on the back of our t-shirt.
Of course they wanted to be associated with the coolness of Ultimate, because sabahbah.com is a little cool itself. And then there’s the opportunity to educate 15 other Ultimate teams (15 x at least 12 members per team = 180 KL’ians) at the Malaysia Ultimate Open about what a great destination Sabah is (and that we don’t live in trees and we do have TV).
The fact that the Borneo Bristleheads are all sponsored by entities passionate about Sabah, makes us very proud and will cause us to have verbal diarrhoea and babble about Sabah (and our sponsors) non-stop. Watch Sabah’s tourist arrivals shoot up after this tournament because of our efforts.
Perhaps next time Sabah Tourism will be interested to sponsor us *wink wink*.
So anyway, there you have it. Frisbee in Sabah is alive and well and eating all it’s vegetables, because it sure is growing.
If you’re keen on a bit of flying disc action, then come on a Sunday afternoon to the sports fields behind the hostel at the Likas Sports Complex. We play there every Sunday from 4am to 6pm.
We’re looking for men and women with no particular skill other than the ability to drink beer; or watching other people drink beer if you don’t do it yourself.
If you’re tall, can outrun a Kancil driver on the Kolombong high-way and can jump in the air before you turn 180 degrees to catch with one hand a high flying Frisbee with the sun behind it… then we’ll make you captain.
See you on Sunday?