Over MEA break, the South High Squall team was scheduled to go to Winnipeg, Canada for their annual Ultimate Frisbee tournament. However, over the course of the preceding Thursday night to Monday morning, a huge snowstorm hit Winnipeg, leaving over 75 centimeters of snow and cutting the power in many establishments. Many Squall players were devastated to hear that the trip was cancelled, including a senior on the team, Cass Carl. ¨I was looking forward to playing lots of frisbee in a different country. [When I found out], I was really sad and I wanted to cry.”

Every year, Squall brings twenty players to Winnipeg for the weekend long tournament. The tournament is a chance for teams to compete nationally at a more competitive level. “The league games here get boring, Canada is a chance to play teams from a different country,” said captain and senior on the team, Henry Neufeld. 

Squall has had a great fall season this year, going undefeated in their league games throughout the season. “We missed out on the opportunity to play high level teams and get experience playing other teams. We had a pretty good team this year, we probably would’ve placed pretty well,” said Neufeld.

The team only brings twenty players, ten girls and ten boys, every year, so some players only get one chance to go. Captains choose players based off two factors: seniority and attendance. The team this year consisted of primarily seniors with a few juniors. Daisy Arens, who joined the fall season this year, said “I was in denial when I heard it was cancelled, I wanted to find another way to go. I wanted to connect with the team at Canada and get better as a team.”

For a lot of players, this was their first year going, so they were especially saddened by the news. “It was extremely sad and we are going to miss out on a lot of fun and a good tournament. We had a pretty good team this year and we could’ve done something special,” said senior, Cass Carl. The team was devastated by the news because the tournament is one of the main highlights of the Fall Frisbee season for a lot of the players.

Many players going to Canada had hopes and dreams for this years trip. For senior and lead handler, Spencer Reil, it was his only chance to be a part of this team bonding experience. “I was really excited to go to Canada with the team, we had really bonded over this season. Being the lead handler, I thought I was gonna be great.” 

While many members of the team were looking forward to improving and growing as frisbee players at this high level tournament, senior Guthrie Paulson had other hopes for the tournament. “I was looking forward to meeting some people from Canada, because that’s always interesting.”

The team had the chance to do really well this year, they have been undefeated in all of their league games. “I thought the team would do pretty good, we were doing really well in our league games. It’s the main event for the fall frisbee season, that’s why it was a bummer,” said Paulson.

As a sort of consolation for the trip being cancelled, the team’s coach scheduled a scrimmage against Washburn and Mounds View. Even though the Canada trip feels like the end of the season for many players, they still had two weeks left in their season. The last games of the season were a two day playoff tournament that the whole league participates in.