I spent this weekend as I have spent so many others - chasing a frisbee around a field somewhere in Britain. This time, it was a hat tournament in Edinburgh (photos here) which, at least, meant there was no 12hr minibus ride to get there.

At hat tournaments, everyone registers individually and puts their name into a hat that corresponds to their professed level of ability - beginner, intermediate or advanced. I've always thought that these classifications never quite cover the full range of players who show up. There is, for example, no hat marked "thinks he's better than he is", nor is there ever one marked "been playing long enough to be good, but isn't". There's also a period of hanging around, chatting to the people you know about the people you don't, and thinking, "Y'know, I'm gonna be one of the better players here." That is, until some genuinely talented players - in this case, some members of the Fusion team that came 10th at Europeans the week before - turn up.

Then, there's the vagaries of team selection. As it's random, there's always a possibility that there will be a team that ends up without a single thrower on it. It's usually mine. After meeting up with your new teammates for the weekend, you're off and you don't have time to worry about much except how badly you're doing on the pitch.

Which, in our case, was particularly badly. Due to numbers, there were only five teams with the bottom-placed team after the group stage disbanded and distributed amongst the four remaining teams. All of this means that I managed to finish last. Twice.

But no-one goes to hat tournaments to bring home silverware. I went to have fun (check) and to see how much pain I would be in on Monday morning (big ol' check).

Next week: practice in St. Andrews, followed by Tour 3 in Birmingham in two weeks.

Edit: practice in St. Andrews? Five people turned, including only one person who actually lives in St. Andrews.