Frisbee champ brings home a bronze
The Monash University Ultimate Frisbee team, with Martin Chan fourth from right in the back row
One of Gippsland Medical School’s Year A students, Martin Chan, qualified to compete in Monash University’s Ultimate Frisbee team at the recent Southern Uni Games– and came home with a bronze medal.
Ten universities competed at Ballarat and the Monash team, with Martin in the key position of ‘handler,’ managed to beat the University of Tasmania for the bronze.
This was Martin’s first full campaign, having played Ultimate Frisbee sporadically for two years prior to 2013. His role as the ‘handler’ is similar to a quarterback in American football. Handlers are responsible for maintaining possession of the disc, making smart, decisive and accurate passes to find receivers to move the disc and score goals. Games are 80 minutes long and with overtime can run for more than 100 minutes.
The tournament spanned four days and after winning five out of the six pool games, the Monash team came up against University of Melbourne team in the semi-final with Melbourne winning 9-5. Martin’s team beat the University of Tasmania team for the bronze medal.
Martin found the experience amazing and is now trying out for selection in the Monash team for the Australian University Games. He would love to make the squad to play with Australian representatives and the best university players in Australia, and to be on team that takes the ‘Gold’ back to Monash University from the current champions, the University of Melbourne.