Going off to College

In the fall of 1995 when I was athletic director at The Northwest School, I was looking to add a spring sport that would serve our student population. I ended up choosing ultimate over rugby and lacrosse. One of the main reasons I chose ultimate was that it was a sport that our student athletes could play in college. The goal of playing in college was not so our graduates could go win college championships (some have), but that during their first few days on a new campus they could meet a big new group of friends and mentors instead of only knowing the people in their dorm. This is of course one of the great things about being on a college team in any sport.

So here it is more than a decade later and this is still one of the main reasons that ultimate is a sport at our school. We are a prep school after all. It is great to hear from former students who are playing ultimate in college and who appreciate the fact that they walked onto campus and met a bunch of people through ultimate. Some of those students (and current HS seniors who already know where they are attending next year) are also very involved in building the programs at their colleges and universities. A couple have asked me how they could get the word out that their school is building a competitive ultimate program. I gave the obvious answer that Tiina is maintaining an excellent service doing just this on her NUTC site: http://nutc.net/college.cfm

Beyond the NUTC site this post and thread will allow PlayUltimate readers who are going off to college to say: "This is X from Y HS and I am going to attend (or I already attend) Z College/University. This is what the program is about and why I chose to attend as a young former HS player."

I am asking that people keep comments positive and that there is no bad mouthing of people or schools. I also think that if someone has something to say they should be willing to put their name on it.

Good luck to everyone going off to college.

-Mike Mullen, Boys Ultimate Coach, The Northwest School

Merry Christmas

From everyone at PlayUltimate - Merry Christmas

Have a safe and happy holiday!

new things on the site and happy holidays

blogger has been updating itself to a new beta version for the past few weeks (a much needed update) and as a result has allowed for a few new features such as labels, different archive methods, rss feeds for comments, as well as a few other neat tricks.

over the next few weeks i will be working them into the site design, any requests or ideas or suggestions are more than welcome though, just leave a comment or email playultimateblog@gmail.com

also, dont forget that if you have videos somewhere online showing high school ultimate (youtube etc) we would like to link to them from the site, so send us a link or again, post a comment with the address.

on the subject of user suggestions remember you are always welcome to suggest topics for posts or discussion by sending an email over to playultimateblog@gmail.com

so on that note, have a happy holiday and hopefully you will be seeing some updates and improvements to the site over the next few weeks.

(feel free to use this post to talk about whatever you would like)

Best Fundraising Ideas

With the costs of transportation seeming to double in the last 2 years, but so much to be gained from tournaments, what are teams doing to get their players to tourneys that require travel? I would venture a guess that many teams have had to scale back on how many tournaments they're able to attend and out-of-state options are becoming something reserved for only the most serious of teams... With Westerns and Easterns being out of state for many teams this last year, how well did your fundraising efforts go to getting your players there without killing their families bank accounts (or college funds)?

Our Churchill program has been fortunate this year to have a couple dedicated parents who have worked in various other settings that have required massive fundraising efforts. Last years' Westerns in Boulder, CO cost $500/player to attend, so after fundraising efforts we were at about $300/player. This stretched a few families to the breaking point and their plea is that we don't do the same this next year. The ability to fundraise this spring will be the determining point as to what tournaments we're able to attend plain and simple.

That said, even for the teams out there that are just participating in local tournaments, there are still financial needs. I'm curious what teams out there are doing in regards to fundraising? Both the big efforts and the small? Your idea could be what allows that one new team to make it to the state tournament they've missed every year or that player to join in who didn't think they could afford it. For many, ultimate provides a sport that is not only superior to other sports, but also more affordable. What ways have your programs kept costs down and play up?

Moho at UCPC

Hi there this is Miranda from out west, updating about my contribution to the UCPC this winter. Ben and I are very much looking forward to this meeting of the minds and we hope to be able to provide a unique, informative look at how Moho works.
As an introduction, Moho was started as an opportunity for Seattle kids to play more ultimate than was offered by their individual high schools. This stemmed from the fact that not many high schools had teams back then, but there were some very talented kids who wanted to play...a lot. Luckily there has never been a shortage of coaches in Seattle, and we have recently received great support from our local organization, DiscNW (discnw.org). Moho won a junior national title (before consortiums were disallowed) and has produced individuals who have gone on to become champions at junior nationals (mens and womens), junior worlds (mens and womens), college nationals (mens and womens), club nationals (mens and womens), club worlds (womens) and the world games. Our coaching staff includes Moho alumni as well as past high school/college/club/world champions from atlanta, corvallis, boston, seattle, san francisco, austin and boise.
You may be thinking to yourself...how is moho so successful? how do you coach practices with every level of player of both gender over a 4 year agespan? is it really free for the kids? Will it work in my city?
Well, then you'll just have to come to Boston to check it out. My specialty is running drills that teach great ultimate to players with varying skill levels and I will focus part of my presentation on these drills as they are integral to the success of the program. Ben's specialty is organization and vision (as well as marking which you will see in his separate presentation) - he will describe how Moho has gone from disorganized teenagers playing on poached fields to a regular coached clinic with upwards of 40 kids in attendance weekly. If you have any other suggestions, please feel free to comment or email me.
In addition, I will be representing Carleton College and the University of Washington at the college ultimate fair so feel free to come find me about those as well.
Cheers,
Miranda

Below the fold action...

New CHS Videos

There are two new videos that have been completed and were shown at this weekend's Churchill HS Ultimate Fall Banquet. The first is a Highlight video from when Churchill attended the OR Club Mixed Sectional Tournament back in September. The second is from Turkeybowl3 in November with our JV team.

Club Mixed Sectionals:
Mixed Club Sectionals 06 HL (ipod video - m4v - 55.5MB) - 640x480
YouTube version

Turkeybowl 3:
TurkeyBowl 3 HL (ipod video - m4v - 38.1MB) - 640x480
YouTube version

Ultimate Coaches and Players Conference Boston 2007

George Cooke and I spend A LOT of time hanging out under the tent at NUTC. We watch the kids play, the counselors counsel, the trainer tape, and wait for camp emergencies. But most of the time we just talk. The idea for the Ultimate Coaches and Players Conference was born in this environment, two years ago, and it is finally arriving this January 27 in Boston!

Years ago, (skip this part if you hate stories that begin "years ago"), before the Internet, if you wanted to schedule any ultimate games or get into any tournaments, you HAD to attend a Captains' Meeting, often held in Philly or Purchase, N.Y. You would spend the day there, listening to organizers announce their events, talking about the rules, or meeting with other players or captains. While it often involved using up a whole day WITHOUT playing any ultimate, it was still a lot of fun to meet ultimate folks OFF the field.

We are hoping to recreate this experience at the upcoming conference. If you go to www.buda.org you can see our full slate of seminars. We are very pleased that players and coaches from around the U.S. will be attending as presenters and participants. Our keynote speaker is Dr. Alan Goldberg, a nationally known sports psychologist who works with athletes of every level and caliber. He is very entertaining and knowledgeable and, as one NUTC counselor told me last summer, listening to Goldberg "changed my life more than anyone, outside of my family."

Additional presenters who may appeal directly to high school players include:

"Developing a Successful Ultimate Program"
Brian Dobyns--Efland, North Carolina
Brian coaches Backhoe.

"How Moho Worked: Growing Youth Ultimate in Diverse Environments"
Miranda Roth--Seattle, WashingtonBen Wiggins--Corvallis, Oregon
Miranda plays for Riot; Wiggins for Sockeye.

"How to Run a High School Tournament"
Josh Seamon--St. Johnsbury, Vermont

"Real-Time Decision Making in Ultimate"
Jim Parinella--Sudbury, Massachusetts
Jim plays for DoG.

"Drug Use, Abuse, and Dependence in Ultimate"
Dr. Charles Reznikoff--Minneapolis, Minnesota
Charlie plays for Sub Zero.

"Developing Summer Day Camps and Clinics"
Catherine Greenwald--Concord, Massachusetts
Anne Westcott--Concord, Massachusetts
Catherine and Anne played for Lady Godiva.

"Marking: Techniques and Strategy"
Ben Wiggins--Corvallis, Oregon

"Fitness and Training for Ultimate"
Dan Cogan-Drew--Somerville, Massachusetts
Bryan Doo--Waltham, Massachusetts
Bryan Doo is the fitness trainer for the Boston Celtics.

"Applying Mental Toughness Strategies to Ultimate"
Tiina Booth--Amherst, Massachusetts

When you are not attending one of four seminars throughout the day (it will be difficult to choose, I think), you can attend the Ultimate Expo. The Expo consists of two parts:

a) The Trade Show
All types of vendors, from high schools to established companies, will be selling ultimate gear and merchandise. Tables are available for any school team who would like to promote their program and do a bit of fundraising.

b) The College Recruiting Fair
We believe that this section of the Expo will appeal directly to high school ultimate players and their parents. The Fair will feature various tables staffed by college ultimate players. They will be available to answer questions and promote their programs. (for those of you just starting to look at colleges and ultimate, don't forget to use the NUTC College Directory available at www.nutc.net)

And, finally, at the end of the day, we are going to all meet again for a panel discussion about the Future of Ultimate. The questions the panelists will be addressing are:

What is the future of Ultimate?

Where should we go?

How should we get there?

Early registration opened on Dec. 1. Cost for attending the entire conference is $40/person. If you sign up after January 8, the cost goes up to $60. And if you decide after January 20 to attend, you'll be paying $80. Please note that if your school wants a table at the Expo, the cost is $40, which ALSO includes one admission to the conference!

So that's a quick look at this inaugural ultimate conference. Six years ago, when I founded NUTC, we had 28 players attend for one week. In 2006 we had 217 players over 3 weeks. We are hoping for a similar type of success for the UCPC. We believe that as the sport of ultimate develops nationally and internationally, there will be a greater need for these events. The UCPC is dedicated to the "promotion, teaching and growth" of ultimate. We hope to see many of you there who also want to see our sport expand, develop and thrive!

Top Girls Team

The girls division seems a bit closer, maybe its just me, but if the top 4 teams from last year's Westerns and Easterns were to meet, who would end up winning a national title?

Who do you think would win knowing what you know?

Top Open Team

Lets just assume that both Northwest and Amherst are going to both apply for bids at this year's Westerns and Easterns (I hope so), be accepted (better be), keep seed Saturday (more than likely), win the whole thing on Sunday (pretty probable), then what would happen if they met together lets say somewhere in middle america to play for a national title at the end of May 2007?

Who do you think would win knowing what you know?

HS Spring Tournaments Poll

So, I'm not sure how excited you are for the spring season as it is only just about to turn to December, but I'm curious what tournament people are most looking forward to come this spring.

The following 2 polls have been compiled by taking what the UPA Score Reporter and UPA Tournament listing currently has scheduled for the upcoming season. Only solid dated tournaments are listed in the below polls.

Vote for the tournament you or your team is most looking forward to attending or would attend if had the chance.

1) Early Spring (January to April):



2) Late Spring (April & May)

TBO: Turkeybowl 3 HL Videos

The tournament is well over, but the first of two highlight videos is ready for your viewing pleasure.

International Community School, PHAT Turkey for the weekend, ended up taking the tournament 15-09 over Churchill's JV1 team. The tournament was a raging amount of fun even though it did not turn out to be as big a tournament as I had hoped. The weather held for us, but the rain that dumped every day leading up to the tournament provided for some rather soft and muddy conditions...

HL Video 01: PHAT TURKEY - link: http://www.youtube.com/v/pZWdl8aZa-w
(embedding the video isn't working at the moment)

Happy Thanksgiving

Its almost time to gather round the table with friends and family, cut the turkey, eat stuffing and pie and all those other good things that come around this time of year. So near this holiday we'd just like to say thank you for stopping by the site, either religiously or occasionally, the discussion that has begun to grow here is awesome and we can only hope for more in the future.

Its also the time of year for high school ultimate alumni games, i know in the Philly area Cheltenham, Wissahickon, Pennsbury and St. Joe's are all having their alumni games over the holiday break. Does this tradition exist elsewhere around the country? We'd love to hear about your turkey day ultimate-related traditions.

Have a safe and happy holiday, and thank you for stopping by.

PlayUltimate.

weekend tournament open thread - 11/18-19 - your wish is our command edition

enjoy, sorry this wasnt up sooner.

the only tournament on the upa site is the Triangle Area Classic
[website]

but feel free to talk about whatever ya want.

sychronized vertical

I know this is pretty stupid, but it is what happens when a few ultimate players stay a little too late after a MS banquet night...

Open Thread for 11/11-12/06 Tournaments

There are a few tournaments happening this weekend that many people are very interested in.

There is Tidewater Tune-UP in Williamsburg, Va - featuring Pennsbury, Mt. Lebanon, North Hills, HB Woodlawn, LC Bird, Woodside, Cardinal Gibbons, and Magruder; with up and coming Godwin and Grafton High Schools.
[Tournament site]

Turkey Bowl 3 in Eugene, Or - with some of the top Mixed teams in the west, this should be an exciting tournment.
[Tournament Site | PlayUltimate Preview]

Phall Phuel in Cheltenham, Pa - featuring most of the best from Philadelphia, it will be interesting to see what happens with Pennsbury playing in Tidewater.
[Tournament Site| PlayUltimate Preview]

the 1st Annual Quiznos FHS Invitational will be held in Franklin, Tennessee
[Tournament Site | PlayUltimate Preview]

Post if you have updates or more information.


[Editor's note - links and FHS tournament added Nov 10 6:35pm]

Phall PHUEL Cities

Philadelphia's league will, for the most part, come to a close this weekend. And with Pennsbury down south for the Tidewater Tuneup, the rest of PHUEL is given a perfect chance to prove that they are the favorite after the Peyote. There are 5 teams with legitimate shots at the championship this time, which should make for a very exciting tournament!

Pool A
St. Joe's
Cheltenham
Lower Merion
Cardinal O'Hara

St. Joe's didn't graduate much from last year, but Cheltenham didn't graduate anyone, and LM brings a completely different A team from last year, as last year's team was all seniors besides their one girl. Cardinal O'Hara isn't too far off the pack, either.

Pool B
The Pterodactyls
Wissahickon
Council Rock South
Lower Merion B

The Dactyls already beat Wissahickon at KitKat, and it's easy to write off Wissahickon after graduating Aman, Kyle, and Dave Kelley from last year, but that's what we thought last year... and the year before that. They can always surprise.

The Pterodactyls and Cheltenham tied 8-8 last weekend; the 'Dactyls have a semifinal appearance at KitKat, and Cheltenham won Fall Brawl's JV division

St. Joe's hasn't done much this fall, but they're also a strong favorite. LM was missing players due to PSATs at Fall Brawl, and won't be trying to play their B-level players.

This should be an exciting tournament that helps shape the PHUEL picture for the year.

Editor's Note [Nov 10 6:33pm] -
RRI Rankings
Tournament web site

Something Positive with the Sport

Tim Donegan and Blaize Pennington were faced with a very tough situation last fall. On November 10th their good friend, Pat Wood, committed suicide. They had a choice, as most people do when faced with a tough circumstance, to either cave under the pressure and overwhelming emotions of losing a close friend or doing something positive with the situation.

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, they decided to do something positive. Both Tim and Blaize are members of the Franklin High School Ultimate team, as was Pat. As a result, they decided to hold a tournament in Pat's honor to raise awareness for the issue of teen suicide. "We decided that we would have a tournament to raise awareness about the situation because not many people know how much it effects them," said Tim.

Dubbed the Franklin High School Ultimate Invitational, they decided that the proceeds from the tournament would go raising awareness about teen suicide, according to Blaize. The charity decided upon was Tennessee Voices for Children. According to their website the organization has as its mission to "speak out as active advocates for the emotional and behavioral well-being of children and their families."

Blaize and Tim have been planning the tournament for since March and have secured a corporate sponsor in Quiznos, who also sponsors their team through their regular season. The tournament will feature 7 teams from around the state and one team traveling from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Franklin High School team, which took 3rd in the state last year, and the tournament itself are not directly sponsored by the school, according to Tim. In fact some within the school share the same opinion of many around the country: skepticism about ultimate as a sport. However, "[the tournament] has opened the school up to the sport," said Tim.

When asked what they wanted to accomplish through the tournament, they both had similar responses, "We hope to get out the message that suicide solves nothing, and express that even when you think no one loves you, you'd be suprised how many people do," said Blaize.

They hope to raise $1,000 for Tennessee Voices for Children through the tournament, which will be held this weekend, exactly one year since Pat passed away.

"We need to realize that no matter how bad we think it is that there is allways something better than suicide. there is allways a way out and we all can just ask for help with our problems," said Tim.



If you would like to go out and watch the tournament...
Cheek Park
Claude Yates Dr.
Franklin, TN 37064
Off of Hillsboro Rd.
website - http://www.freewebs.com/fhsultimate/

If you would like to send a donation...
Tennessee Voices for Children
1315 8th Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37203
website - http://www.tnvoices.org/

'Off Season'

For many out there it is already winter and maybe even snow has been seen and felt. For others you have never seen snow...

Regardless of what the climate in your particular area holds, some teams have introduced strategies to develop skills in the 'off-season'. Most would agree that there simply are not that many opportunities to play at tournaments during the months of Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb (Our Turkeybowl 3 is one of the last published HS tourney of the fall and the next one probably won't be until late February with Slopfest VI). (It should be noted that there is the Sue Inge Memorial Tourney for 8 youth open teams on Dec 9th in Chesterfield, VA but that is the last tourney scheduled on score reporter until Spring Reign).

So, with virtually no tournaments in the next couple months, what is your team going to be up to? Do your players play other sports like basketball that should be starting sometime in the next few weeks if it hasn't already? Do you do indoor ultimate? Do you weight lift or run or maybe even do some hill climbs like Alameda did this last spring? Or do you just go into hibernation? Discs and cleats get shoved into an old shelf or thrown behind the door to not be seen or touched until February or March...

For us in Eugene, OR, the rainy season is now upon our Churchill (and South Eugene & Sheldon squads). Though the temperatures don't dive into the teens here, the rain prevents us from using grass fields (we'd ruin them) and thus we are again looking for ways to keep skills up. This winter we hope to use a bit of the program that Aaron Bell developed for the UofO team back in 2002 (available on RSD) and maybe even partner with them on a few of their 'off-season' work outs.

What are other teams up to? Do you have a plan?

Fall PHUL 2006

High school Ultimate is well under way in Pittsburgh. A fall youth league with roughly 10 teams has been created and the second annual Fall PHUL Tournament took place in early October that saw 7 teams kick off their fall season. The fall is also a great time to bring out some of the new players who may interested in playing in the spring.

All of the teams that attended the one day tournament were able to test their ability by playing all 6 of the other teams. With each team showing different strengths and all teams showing a lot of potential, especially among the newer recruits, intensity at the tournament was high. Things picked right back up where they left off in the spring with the exception of Montour (3rd in PHUL last season; 0-6 at Fall PHUL). North Hills (6-0) finished in first place and was followed by Hampton (5-1). Mt. Lebanon (4-2) finished third.

It can be hard to judge a team in the fall as hard work, conditioning and determination during the winter can drastically change a team, but an evaluation of how teams stand in the fall is not bad. Let's take a look at the 7 teams that showed up at Fall PHUL (in alphabetical order):
Below the fold action...
Bethel Park: With two players who were part of Pittsburgh Impulse's 4th place finish at YCC's this past summer, Zach Reinhardt and David Macurak look to continue Bethel Park's consistent play in PHUL. After finishing the 2006 regular season with a 6-2 record, the team is one of the underrated teams in PHUL. The only problem that the team seems to face is dedication and commitment as they forfeited games at Fall PHUL because some players did not wish to stay any longer.

Fox Chapel: What a difference a year can make; from PHUL champions in 2005 to a 2-6 finish in 2006. Of course the loss of some great players is cause for that, but Dan Berk and Ariel Altschuler hope to turn their '06 woes into a winning team this spring. The team carried a lot of potential into Fall PHUL, but tough losses to North Hills, Hampton and Mt. Lebanon did not sit well with the team who should use those losses as motivation over the winter and into spring.

Hampton: With a newly acquired coach, David Vatz, Hampton hopes to keep the consistency of being a legitimate contender to win PHUL. After an 8-0 record in the regular season in the spring and an appearance at Easterns, captain Lukas Truckenbrod should be able to work well with Perry Martin, Alex Lamers and Griffin Patterson (all three were part of Pittsburgh Impulse this past summer). Adequate handlers could be a problem with Hampton, but their coach should be able to help fix that problem.

Montour: A surprise team that had quick success in its first year this past spring, Montour learned the game quickly from their coach, Darren Shultz. Undefeated in the regular season this past spring, the team hopes to keep that going this season, but will need to learn the game as their play at Fall PHUL did not look solid. However, Montour is an excellent example to show that it is possible to teach athletic kids the game of Ultimate and they used that last season to carry them into semi-finals. If Darren Shultz is able to teach these kids the game just as he did last season, there is no reason that Montour should not be able to go deep into the playoffs.

Mt. Lebanon: With the play of Julian Hausman and Zach Ehler, Mt. Lebanon should be a serious threat to win PHUL 2007. The consistency of Peter Imler is unmatched in PHUL and only adds to an already strong team. With their 15-14 universe point loss in the last PHUL finals behind them, their improvement and determination to overcome that tough loss should motivate them throughout the season. Mt. Lebanon has always been a consistent team since the creation of PHUL in 2001; and 2007 should be no different.

North Hills: Possessing probably the best handling duo in all of PHUL with Alex Thorne and Ben Funk, North Hills has a legitimate chance to repeat in 2007. Over the summer, North Hills was able to get Nick Kaczmarek to coach them this upcoming season. He is already showing signs of utilizing playmakers Colin Conner and Jeff Olko to create a very tough team to play against. This team, whose players are all juniors, should run deep into the playoffs and qualify for a bid to Easterns.

North Hills Middle School: The second wave of players in North Hills, the middle school team shows you why it's good to start early. With Max Thorne - the younger brother of Alex Thorne - and his friends already grasping the game of Ultimate, North Hills is building quite a program. Their knowledge and skill of the game has already been seen with a 6-4 win over Montour.

This is just a small sampling of what PHUL is going to bring to the table in 2007. There were 18 Division I teams (yes, there is also a Junior Varsity/Girls division) last year and the league is always growing. It's hard to know what to expect from some teams in the spring, especially if they have kept themselves quiet over the fall and winter, but no matter the case, there is always going to be good competition when it comes down to it.

Impact of High School on Club Nationals (Open)

Even though crusty old rsd addicts continue to loathe any poor new player who dares to post to the boards about high school ultimate the effect of the younger players on the sport is undeniable. Let's take for example the two of the semifinalists in the open division (Johnny Bravo and Seattle Sockeye), look at the rosters and see how many played competitive high school ultimate.

In my mind it is slowly becoming essential for club teams to recruit and maintain talented younger players from their area, and you'll notice that the succesful teams incorporate and involve developing players in their programs and allow them to develop into major parts of the machine.

Now im not saying that it is impossible to win without players who formerly or currently play(ed) in high school, but i think it will become apparent in the next 4-6 years (or less) that high school ultimate has a major major impact on the club scene in the USA.

Anyway, to the rosters...

Sockeye
Location: Seattle, WA

Roster
No.	HS	Name	Height
00	*	Ryan Seguine	5’10’’
1	*	Jimmy Chu	6’0’’
2		Roger Crafts	5’10’’
3		Blaine Robbins	6’3’’
5		Ben Wiggins	5’10’’
6	*	Danny Trytiak	5’8’’
7	*	Chase Sparling-Beckley	6’4’’
8		Seth Crockford	5’10’’
9	*	Sam O’Brien	5’10’’
10	*	Moses Rifkin	6’2’’
13		Matt Sewell	5’9’’
14	*	Sam Chatterton-Kirchmeier	6’2’’
16		Thomas Sebby	6’4’’
17	*	Jeremy Cram	6’0’’
20		Mike Caldwell	6’2’’
21	*	Dave Bestock	6’0’’
22		Mark Stone	6’1’’
23		Andrew Fleming	5’11’’
24	*	Alex Nord	6’4’’
27		Ryan Winkelmann	5’9’’
34		Will Henry	5’8’’
56		Mike Jaeger	5’11’’
44		Jaime Arambula	5’5’’
99	*	Ray Illian	6’2’’

Johnny Bravo
Location: Boulder, CO

Roster
No.	HS	Name	Height
1	*	Kyle Weisbrod	5'9"
2		Wilmer Wilson	5'11"
3		Will Deaver	5'8"
4	*	Colin Gottlieb	5'9"
7	*	Hector Valdivia	5'11"
9	*	Steven Rouisse	5'11"
10	*	Adam Simon	5'11"
11		Brett Kolinek	5'10"
12		Forrest Collins	5'11"
13		David Street	6'4"
16		Ryan Farrell	5'9"
19		Parker Krug	5'11"
20		Josh Ackley	5'10"
22		Matty Lipscomb	5'10"
25	*	Justin Salvia	5'8"
28		Martin Cochran	6'2"
38		Andrew Mangan	6'2”
50		Beau Kittredge	6'2"
60	*	Jolian Dahl	6'1"
77		William Brotman	5'8"
84		Adam Zwickl	5'10"
89		Mitch Schminke	6'1"
15	*	Teddy Tripoli	5'9"

this information was compiled from personal knowledge, various posts on RSD, and will be updated in accordance with your comments - if you have any further information please post it.

Top 7 PlayUltimate Hacks

ok, so you know PlayUltimate is the definitive source for high school ultimate news and commentary, yada yada or you wouldnt be here. however, there are a few things you can do to make full use of all the possibilities the site offers...

the top 7 -

1. get firefox. seriously, do it now. don't mess around with internet explorer any more, its not worth it. firefox protects better against adware, spyware, pop-ups, it loads pages faster and hell makes the site look better. you also get tabbed browsing, unlimited extensions, customizeable themes, and a ton more. all FOR FREE. its open source software, thus its free. literally entirely free. there is no reason not to get firefox, its a beautiful thing. (scroll down on the right hand side for a link to download firefox)

2. RSS feeds, wonderful, beautiful little time-saving creatures. Just click on the RSS tab to the right and click on one of the chicklets for whatever RSS aggregator you currently use. You can also just click on the "subscribe to this feed" link below any post on the site. If you dont currently use an RSS reader i highly highly encourage it. Google Reader is what i use and my personal favorite at the moment. Or if getting all of your information from the various blogs and news sites you frequent all in one easy to use, convenient location is too nerdy for you, you can also use RSS feeds to get an update by email whenever there is a new post. (just click on the RSS tab and put in your email address)

3. Connecting users and readers from all over the place: the Frappr!, and Facebook Group are great ways to connect with other high school ultimate enthusiasts from around the country. Im not a myspace user, but if someone wants to start something there, go for it.

4. promoting the site: see something you like in a post? click the link below is to Digg it, or add it as a bookmark on del.icio.us. If you have your own website you can also use some of the cool tools on the right hand side of the page (scroll down a little) to add a link to your webpage, you can even put scrolling headlines from the site in your myspace, xanga etc. also, think someone you know would find an interest in the thing you just read? below every post there is a link to "email this" to a friend. they get no spam or anything like that whatsoever, just the article you forward to them.

5. recent site comments, if you look to the right, there is a box showing the most recent comments on the site. if you are wondering where new things have been posted, just glance here and click on the timestamp to go directly to the comment.

6. archives! the archives are becoming an awesome resource for information about past high school ultimate events and coverage. research an upcoming opponent, prepare for a tournament, or figure out things from other's mistakes. just click on the "archives" tab and then you can look by month or you can search the entire site for something specific.

7. high school ultimate videos - we are attempting to build a sizeable collection of high school ultimate videos. we dont host any of them, we just link to them on youtube, or google video etc, so if you hear of a video, or for that matter see one, post a comment or send an email and we will post it on the site. right now we link to 17 different videos over 3 years, not too shabby, but wed like to make it a bit more comprehensive.

hopefully this provides some new and fun stuff to do around the site and as always if you have any suggestions ideas or tips, dont hesitate to email them to PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com

CHS: Westerns 2006 Open Story - HD Added

Our Westerns 2006 Open Story is now available for download (and streaming). The short film tells the story of our open team at this last years' Westerns Championship in Boulder, CO. It follows the boys through Saturday pool play and into the outcome of Sunday.

It is available in 3 different versions, with 2 in HD:

Westerns2006Story (ipod video - m4v - 347.4MB) - 640 x 360
Westerns2006Story HD (mpg4 - mov - 1042MB) - 1280 x 720 (STREAMS)
Westerns2006Story (divx video - DivX - 291.7MB) - 720 x 400
Westerns2006StoryHD (divx video - DivX - 858.6MB) - 1280 x 720

Update: the film has now been dowloaded more than 437 times and pushed over 99Gigs from my host server!

The film has generate a bit of controversy. Some of this has come out in the comments that have been added to this post and as I stated in one of the comments, I would like to make it clear that this video is our story and both the challenges and frustrations that went along with it are part of that experience. I hope that you can watch the following and see it for what it is worth. And though our disappointing finish at this last years' westerns can be attributed to the specific games against Lakeside and South Eugene, our collapse is ultimately our own responsibility and blame solely lands on us.

Open Thread: Weekend Tournaments and Club Nationals

Big weekend for ultimate - Cold Fusion will be taking place in Eugene, OR and at the very same time (actually games began today) Club Nationals are taking place in Sarasota, FL.

So feel free to post results for, or talk about either tournament, anyone know high school players who are playing in club nationals? Already there have been some upsets, Revolver over DoG in pool play leading into power pools which begin tomorrow.

Any predictions from the crowd for either tournament? Score reporter has some ideas for Cold Fusion. On the club side can someone break the strangehold of the northwest? Its gonna be an interesting weekend, comment all the way through.

Keep it here folks.

[Edit 10/27 @ 11:03pm] - check out Alex DeFrondeville's recaps of nationals days one and two from the DoG perspective. The UPA also has writeups availiable at their site - http://club2006.upa.org . Cold Fusion action begins tomorrow, let everyone know whats going on if you've got information.

Cold Fusion - October 28th, 29th

Eugene, OR - 5 days from now, 15 ultimate teams from up and down the West Coast will converge upon Eugene to open up their seasons with the long-running Cold Fusion juniors tournament. Though this tournament comes long before most High School teams even begin their competitive season, Cold Fusion promises to matchup some of the best programs from the 2006 Western National Championships in a mixed 4-3 format. This is now to say however, that the entire tournament will be dominated by agressive powerhouses, on the contrary, many teams are splitting into X and Y, or A and B (even C!) teams to provide good competition at every level. For the first time Cold Fusion boasts a Middle School Division, where three young (but amazingly talented) teams will show the world that they're the Future of Ultimate. It promises to be a weekend of exciting High School Ultimate, and the first showing from some of the best teams from the West Coast.


Below are the pools and seedings as published (subject to change). Let the hype begin.


A Pool
(1) CHS A
(6) Lakeside
(7) HOTI
(12) Raw Meat

Pool B
(2) Dark Meat
(5) South X
(8) CHS B
(11) Windchill

Pool C
(3) MoHo
(4) Tribe
(9) South Y
(10) CHS C

Pool M
Junior Meat
Kennedy
Roosevelt

Weekend Open Thread - Fall Brawl Edition

Fall Brawl this weekend in Jersey, and im sure teams are playing elsewhere. Use this thread to post any scores if you hear em. If you play individual games against other teams, people would love to hear the results (in addition to posting em on the score reporter of course) as well. So feel free to post em here.

Enjoy

Fall Brawl - Oct 21 - Excitement Brews...

So right after Kit Kat in terms of prestige for the east coast tournaments has got to be the Fall Brawl, only in its third year it is already attracting talented teams from Needham, Mass. to Beacon in NY, to Columbia to PA powerhouse Pennsbury.

The weekend will definitely prove to be one of the better indicators (in the fall season) for Easterns this spring. While no easterns prognostications will be in any way valid until the full range of competition can be assessed in the spring, many of these teams may be counted among those with the talent to be considered.

All that being said, this is going to be an intense tournament. The teams...

Pennsbury Peyote (PA)
Needham Ultimate (MA)
Columbia HS (NJ)
Princeton P-Huc (NJ)
Beacon Blue Demons (NY)
Watchung Hills Warriors (NJ)
Scarsdale Hellfish (NY)
Stuyvessant Stickyfingers (NY)
JP Stevens HS (NJ)
Cheltenham Spirit Animals (PA)
Pennsbury B-Unit (PA)
Central Bucks East Nasty (PA)
Columbia High School B (NJ)
Watchung Hills Warriors JV (NJ)

Pennsbury and Columbia have already begun to prove their dominance in PHUEL and NJ tournaments respectively, however many of these teams will be making their first fall appearances. (note: look for a writeup of Pennsbury and Columbia's fall seasons as of yet coming next week... seriously im working on it, swear to frisbee.)

However all of them enter as traditionally strong teams -

Needham arrives as one of the stronger teams from Massachusetts, and if the UPA score reporter has been adequately updated they are returning considerable numbers from the previous year.

Watchung Hills comes in having had a strong program since the late 90s, where they took teams to consecutive national appearances. While they may have trailed off for their program's standards in the past few years they have opened this season undefeated, and having not lost a game since June 11 when they lost to Columbia 10-13. It will be interesting to see how they fair in this tournament, if their early season results are a product of competition or rather that this is a renaissance of sorts for their program.

CB East returns after a big season last year finishing 2nd in the state to Pennsbury. However they have lost big names like Eddie Peters as well as a few other members of the national champion Philly SEPDA team, so again this tournament will be a very interesting indicator of their potential for the spring. Even moreso because they were conspicuously absent from Kit Kat this year, which from my recollection might be the first time since the inception of the tournament 11 years ago - i have to check my sources on that though.

Princeton comes into the tournament looking to prove something to its critics who say they have graduated too many stars to remain a strong program. However i think it would be a stretch to put them any lower than the third best team in New Jersey right now. Their competition being Columbia and Watchung Hills

Rounding out the top teir according to the automated rankings is Lower Merion who literally graduated every member of their team last year (to many formidable collegiate ultimate programs i might add). However this is not a team without any experience, the A team now consists of last years B-team - underclassmen who gained valuable playing time experience playing tournaments in A's shadow for the past year. If things stay the way they were last year they are also Coached by Paul Minecci, a Philadelphia ultimate legend for those not in the know, so i wouldnt count them out for a second.

In the semifinals i would expect Pennsbury and Columbia, but the other two teams are a bit more up in the air. Needham will make a serious bid for one of them, but their opponent could be any one of the dark horses named above (or perhaps someone i've neglected to mention).

No matter what the makeup of semis or finals it promises to be an exciting tournament that will give a good indicator as to the potential of a lot of these teams for the spring.

[Fall Brawl UPA Score Reporter Site]
[Fall Brawl Tournament Site]
[Picture at top is c/o Mark Rosser - Pennsbury after winning 11th Annual Kat in the Hat]

Hooray! More coverage! New contributors!!

We are happy to announce the addition of two new contributors to the PlayUltimate family,

Jay Huerbin who will be covering the Pittsburgh region
-and-
Lou Abramowski who will be handling Minneapolis and greater Minnesota area

We are happy to have them and look forward to reading all their posts!

On a side note, i promised that Columbia and Pennsbury preview last week, it didnt work out. It seem though, that whenever it does eventually get written and posted it will still be salient, given that Peyote and CHS faced off in the finals of the first tournament they both entered - seems like that might turn out to be a bit of a theme through the rest of the season.

I promise it will come at some point though.

Northwest Club Open Regionals

Just thought I'd start a post that I hope to finish tomorrow...

A few of our best HS players in the country are playing in one of the best regions in the country; The Northwest with the likes of Seattle Sockeye, San Francisco Jam (now known as Justice League), Portland Rhino and the new and upcoming Hippo loosely based in Portland. If you haven't been following the action, you should because four of these teams will be heading to Nationals in a few weeks and very likely winning it.

Also exciting is that at least 2 of the teams at this year's regionals have high school players on their rosters. Already mentioned has been Jacob Janin of South Eugene HS who plays for Hippo. They did fairly well today and kept their number 2 position in their pool. They will be facing Rhino tomorrow morning who had lost to Furious in the Saturday afternoon Semi-final match up. What you might not know is that Jacob Janin's older brother, Eli Janin (sophomore at the UofO and played for Churchill HS in Eugene, OR) continues to play for Rhino. Also making things even more interesting is that both Jacob's and Eli's dad, Jay Janin, plays for Hippo...

What you probably didn't know is that an unknown team named District 7, put as the last seed in the A pool with Sockeye, is made up of (and I can only guess led by) a cast of 3 of best HS players in the country right now from Northwest School in Seattle, WA named Jeremy Norden, Ben Vargus, and Riley (cannot remember your last name). They ended up breaking seed this afternoon to a well known California team named the Oaks. They then got the privilege of playing Blackfish (D3) in Hippo's pool. They beat them by some score (unknown to me) and now will be playing Invictus at 8am Sunday morning. They win that game and they have a 3 more games to make it as the 4th seed and birth to Nationals...

UPDATE: If you didn't already see, Hippo ended up being beat by Rhino who went on to get the 4th seed. Eli Janin now becomes the first Churchill HS graduate to make it to a Club National Level Championship. Congrats to him and good luck to Rhino. Hippo ended up being tied for 6th place (or right around there) and District 7 ended the day somewhere in the 13/14 spot after lossing Sunday to both Invictus (15-3) and then to the Oaks (unknown score). Congrats to all the HS players who did so well in the open series.

Kat in the Hat 2006!

As the fall begins in the east, Mark Rosser will host every year's premier event for high school teams in the mid-atlantic region: Kat in the Hat.

This year looks good (and hopefully will be decidedly less wet and windy than last year), but expect to see a rematch of last year's final, between the two clear class teams of the east, Pennsbury and Columbia.

The other semi-final spots will be more interesting, with Beacon and Yorktown, two teams from outside Philly, but always coming in strong, fighting for one, and Princeton and Wissahickon, two teams graduating plenty of seniors from last year's Easterns squads, fighting against the Pterodactyls, Pennsbury's other team, which graduated only one senior (just like Peyote), for the other in the highly competitive D pool.

See the full pools below the fold:

Pool A:
Pennsbury
Cardinal O'Hara
Stuyvesant

Pool B:
Cheltenham
Neshaminy
Columbia

Pool C:
Beacon
Yorktown
Council Rock

Pool D:
Wissahickon
Pterodactyls
Princeton

Semifinals:
A1 vs. D1
B1 vs. C1


And in the B-division, just one pool:
Lower Merion X
Penn Charter
Germantown Friends
Lower Merion Y

Lower Merion graduated their entire A team last year, save a couple juniors who spent some time playing up. Now they have a deluge of underclassmen and will be looking to build up.

VA Tournaments this fall

Tidewater Tune-UP will be Nov 11-12, near Williamsburg, VA. Woodside HS are hosting the tournament for the second year. Teams from NC, VA, and PA have already shown interest, and I believe that there are still a couple of spots available. There are four or five teams that competed in Easterns or Westerns last year that have shown interest in coming. The cost is $200/team.


Also, on December 9 the LC Bird team will be hosting the 3rd Annual Sue Inge Memorial Tournament. We donate all of the money to the leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Mrs. Inge's memory (mother of one of the former players). We have donated close to $2000 in the past two years. The tournament will be played at LC Bird High School this year in Chesterfield, VA and I try to keep the cost at or below $100 (generally around $75). We only have room for 8 teams and in the past we have had teams from VA, PA, and NC.

If you would like more information on either of these tournaments please send me an email at nkchl (at) yahoo.com.

High Schoolers playing in regionals?

Last week posts and comments were made earlier about high schoolers playing in the club series, now that a little bit of that dust has cleared anyone know of high schoolers who will be going with club teams to regionals?

Feel free to leave em in the comments section. I believe there are a few high school guys from PHUL who are playing with Burgh this year who will be attending Mid-Atlantic regionals, other than that i dont know of any. Any Amherst guys on DoG or Metal? How about Paideia on Vicious Cycle? Northwest guys on any of the plethora of good Seattle teams?

This question goes for the ladies too - are the Suver girls still playing for Riot? are they still in high school?

For those of you interested this question will extend again when nationals roll around, have no fear.

Happy Birthday to us!!

Well as you may or may not have noticed its been a full year of PlayUltimate covering all the high school ultimate action like no one else can. So happy birthday to us, looking forward to the next year we have a lot of awesome stuff planned.

Starting with some new contributors who will be announced later in this week expanding PlayUltimate's coverage.

Also from me personally you'll have a preview of Pennsbury and Columbia's upcoming fall seasons, after seeing them both play at Club Sectionals last weekend. That'll be up in the next week or so, depending on time permits.

So thank you, on behalf of all the contributors for PlayUltimate, for sticking with us through the past year, we truly appreciate your company here on the site and look forward to talking about all the latest news in high school ultimate for years to come.

ps - wanna give us a little birthday present? how about a link - if you scroll down on the right hand side of the page click any of the links in the "promote the site" box... clicking on the ads is always a nice show of support as well.

Football & Ultimate...

Not that it is that crazy, but where I'm from the sport of Ultimate does not carry with it much respect within the actual high schools our player go to. At both Churchill and South Eugene, the few students who do know we have a team don't know anything about it or worse, they think they do and spread their lack of knowledge around as fact. (When I came on as the CHS coach in the fall of 2003, the description for Ultimate in the yearbook was, "Come watch our creative students' throw a Frisbee with amazing upside-down and under the leg catches") What?!?! So, one of the goals I have had since coming on is to generate a great respect and understanding of the sport within our school and community. This has been done through tireless communication with the school, getting our games and tournaments announced on the PA, being present at sports' meetings, creating an effective and pro-active parent team, and in general just having a positive influence within the school.

So, why do I tell you all this... Cause tonight I feel we have made a break-through. Tonight, during the annual cross-town rivalry Football game between South Eugene and Churchill HS (who are no longer in the same league but will continue to play once in the beginning of the season), the half-time show will belong to us. The South Eugene Axemen and the Churchill Lancer Ultimate teams will square off in a quick exhibition game to show the crowd what Ultimate really is. We do have to wait for the girls' dance team to do something, but we've got the field after them and hopefully we will be putting on a great show. Anyone else ever been able to swing something like this?

UPDATE (After The Game Post):
This was by far one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. We rushed the field as soon as the dance team was done. The moment the players hit the field the crowd erupted and cheered like mad for South and then not to be outdone, the CHS fans cheered for their players... South had earned the right before hand to be pulled to. We had also decided to keep the game moving fast, so no foul calls and 10-20seconds between pulls. South got the first point going up the wind and their crowd in the stands seriously made the most noise I've heard at a HS game since the finals of the Westerns game back in May...
CHS came back and scored. The wind made bidding difficult, but the crowd didn't seem to know the difference. At 1min till half-time was over the football refs walked into the field letting us know 'non-verbally' that we were done. CHS quickly got the last point making it a final score of 2-2, but the crowd loved it and cheered as the players met in the middle and slapped hands. Afterwards it was agreed that we would try and get South over to one of our games, but that this was something we had to arrange again.

Photographs were taken, but with the lighting conditions so bad and me only with an amateur set-up, the shots aren't that great. You can see them all here:
CHS vs. SEHS Exibition Game

UPDATED (10:40pm):
This is my first attempt at getting video out in an HD format and I've still got a lot of work to do on the exporting side of things... The video is a bit grainy due to the lighting conditions as well:
HD Video (mp4 - 720p) - 8.7MB - Recommended Format
iPod Video (m4v format) - 7.2MB
AVI Video (avi format) - 20.1MB

HS Players Playing in the Club Series

Much like the previous post, this one is about the Club Series that is already in full swing. Many locations have already had their sectional level tournaments...

Unfortunately, many HS teams are not able to get themselves up and running before the Club Series starts. All the HS teams in Oregon have only just started practicing this last week with their first week of school.

But, there are a few HS teams who have players with connections in the Club level. I'm curious how many schools have sent players into the Club Series with either an Open, Womens, or Mixed team?

Add your school and players in the comments section.

Fall Season West Coast Tournaments... (updated)

There are currently three tournaments this fall season on the West Coast that have either exclusive HS only teams or HS Divisions

10.28/29 - Cold Fusion
Tournament website
Description: Started around 5 years ago by Sheldon HS when it was the only Eugene HS team, Cold Fusion continues to be a location where teams from as far away as the California Bay area and northern Seattle meet for some great mixed ultimate. Last year had 16 teams with 2 Middle School teams. This year there is a call for more MS teams.
Location: Eugene, OR (Ascot Fields)
Cost: $175
Bid deadline: Around October 10th with deposit of $100
Contact: Jeremy Washburn - washburn_jeremy(at)hotmail.com


10.28/29 - UC Davis Junior Invite
Description: On behalf of the UC Davis team, we'd like to invite any juniors teams around the area to a Juniors tournament in Davis this October the same weekend as Cold Fusion. We can hold 16 teams, max, on our field. We have not decided Mixed or Open at this point in time.
Location: Davis, CA
Cost: $150-175
Bid Deadline: The bid window will close on Oct. 1st.
Contact: Taylor Lahey, x-CVHS Red Hand Captain and now UC Davis Freshman (email coming)


11.10/11/12 - TBO: TurkeyBowl 3
Tournament website
Description: Happening for the 3 year in a row, Turkeybowl will continue to be the premiere tourney for newer teams looking for a first experience. New this year will be the three day format and inclusion of a Varsity/A division. Churchill and South Eugene HS will be the tournament hosts. Housing will be provided for all teams who get on the ball early. The format will be extremely cool and suggestions are already being made in the comments section of this post.
Update: The UofO might be hosting their OFUDG tournament with us, meaning that HS and College teams will be together. It also means that HS Open & Girls teams will be able to enter into this tournament and play College teams. It also means that we might have 60+ teams if both OFUDG and TBO are in the same place!
Location: somewhere close to a Latitude of 44.1105 and Longitude of -123.2117. This will be different from where it has usually been (Churchill HS) as we will need to accomodate 32+ teams.
Bid: $0 if you are outside OR/CA/WA (otherwise it is $200/team)
Contact: Luke Johnson - luke(at)chsultimate.com

HS Teams Attending Club Series?

Ben, from CHS, posted a comment in the Eastern Tournament section that I think is pretty interesting. How many HS teams are attending this year's Club Series?

If your team is attending Club Sectionals, please list what division and how well you expect to do.

BREAKING: CSTV Releases entire 2006 UPA Champs online

CSTV has just released not only the finals of the 2006 UPA College Championships online, but also footage from the Open and womens Semis, and Quarterfinals, as well as Pre-Quarters!!!

While only the finals and a highlight show were aired on CSTV's cable station this coverage blows
away previous years' in terms of volume.

More expansive analysis after i have time to watch all of them? Definitely.

Check out all the videos here. Comments welcome - does this symbolize a more expansive future of coverage in the future from CSTV? Thoughts?

Upcoming East Coast Tournaments...

There are a few major east coast tournaments coming up, for your discussing pleasure...

9/16-17 - Founders Club Sectionals
Description: while not an exclusive high school tournament club sectionals is attracting the more seriously competitive teams in the Philadelphia areas. Look for Pennsbury, Cheltenham, and Columbia HS to start off their seasons with a leg up on the rest of their leagues because of strong preseason schedules.
Bid Deadline: already passed

10/1 - 11th Annual Kat in the Hat
Tournament website
Description: one of the oldest high school tournaments around, definitely one you want to get to if you can. Teams tend to come from the Philly area as that is where it is held but every year it seems teams come up from Virginia, Pittsburgh, and New Jersey to compete in one of the premier tournaments on the east coast.
Location: Brandywine Polo Fields
Cost: $100
Bid deadline: asap, this tournament always fills up - every single year, if you want to play you had better send in your bid quick

10/21-22 - Fall Brawl
Tournament website
Description: Hosted by Noah Saul and the Pennsbury Peyote this tournament promises to attract the better competition in the immediate area as well as more distant teams. One of the key factors in hosting an elite tournament is that the host team is itself solid competition - Pennsbury's performance at PA States and Easterns this past year leaves no doubt about that, now it just remains to be seen who will attempt to take Peyote down on their home turf. Needham from Mass. has already signed up, and one can expect Wissahickon and other Philly powerhouses to make appearances.
Location: Mercer County Park - Trenton, NJ
Cost: Varsity Div - $200, JV - $125
Bid Deadline: 10/6

early predictions? is your team planning on attending? lets hear it people...

Coming soon to PlayUltimate...

- Announcement of 2006-2007 PlayUltimate Contributors
- Fall tournament preview
- Guest blogging from selective tournament directors
- Podcasts?

and much much more.

Interested in contributing for the site? Send an email to PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com with your name, location, why you think you should be able to contribute and anything else that would help you get the job, and we'll get back to you.

Specifically we are looking for contributors in the Minnesota, Georgia, Colorado, Iowa, New York and New Jersey markets, but please send an email even if you are interested and from another area.

Have suggestions for content? Features on the site? Any suggestions at all? Anything and everything is welcome, post a comment or send an email to the site.

Look for all that stuff coming in the next few weeks and of course stay tuned here for everything and anything regarding high school ultimate.

On Subbing . . .

I mentioned this in a comment on Luke's "Priorities" post. Last year, I really thought that our team had reached a kind of "critical mass" of talent, and so I decided that it was time for us to play like the big boys and girls. Accordingly, I created an O- and D-line.

What a disaster.

(This recalled a thought I've often had, about exactly how youth ultimate differs from the adult game--a topic for another post, perhaps)

But it got me thinking, really thinking, trying to break outside the box and come up with a good subbing "philosophy." Naturally, this idle pondering produced nothing of lasting value.

So, how 'bout it? What do your teams do? What have you seen out there as far as subbing goes? HOW do you sub? And why?

2006/2007 Potential Powerhouses

An interesting questions was posted in the comment section of the "priorities" article:

Just out of curiosity, what juniors teams that didn't have a great spring season last year are potential powerhouses for the fall?

Please leave your team's potential in the comments section...

Priorities...

About a month ago I posted this question, but due to the YCC & WJC, it didn't really get noticed... So, let me post this once again.

What priorities do you have for this coming fall season? Whether you're a player, parent, or coach, I've created my own list of things that might be going through your mind...

If you want to see what i've listed...

Priorities:
1) For many of you, you'll be having new coaches, captains, core groups, parent teams, or some other derivation of leadership. There may have been a number of seniors who graduated last year and now the question is who will be stepping up from the underclassmen. Maybe you've had a bad experience with your team's leadership and you're wondering what problems will continue to remain and what things will finally be fixed. The leadership and direction of the team will be a priority for you as they are what makes playing ultimate fun or not.
This was one of our top priorities as

2) Many of you are eager to start using the skill sets you've developed over the summer. Maybe something you've learned at one of the many ultimate camps across the country or from the numerous throwing sessions with Nord, Roth, or some east-coat elite. For you maybe the priority is the new plays your team will be developing or how practice will run to teach those things. Your priorities will be how your team will develop the new skill sets and fundamentals.

3) Others of you get most excited about the new players and friends you'll be making. What 8th graders from last year are coming up (or 6th graders if you have a middle school team)? Who will be the stand outs and be competing for the top spots? How big will the team be this year? Will you have an A & B team or maybe even a C team for the first time. For you the team dynamic is the priority and you're wondering what preseason BBQ, pool party, or other such event will be starting things off right and who will be on the field with you this year laughing and throwing the disc...

4) Others of you on a new team or first-year team are wondering what name you'll be going by, what your logo will look like, and what gear you will be wearing. Questions on whether you'll be using Patagonia, VC or Gaia are on your mind. For you the priority may seem like what you look like, but we all know that this too is about the team and being part of something unique at your school.

5) And even others, and I may venture a guess here and say most of you, are wondering what traveling will be done. For many of you on teams that are newer or first-time, maybe you've never traveled to a tournament or event. But, for the vast majority of you who have, it has been the traveling part of ultimate that has been one of the deciding factors in you playing this amazing sport. For you the priority this fall will be what tournaments, how many, and how far away is the team going to travel this fall and spring season.


What other priorities do you have as you begin to think and dream about ultimate this coming fall? I've thrown out a couple, but I'm sure that there are more priorities out there to you players, parents, coaches, and others.

If you choose to add a comment, please indicate if you're a player, parent, coach (or something else)...

WJUC 2006: Reflections

Another chapter closes in the history of the World Juniors Ultimate Championship and two winners are crowned - USA takes home the gold for the second year in a row in open as the USA women also took first place in a repeat of the 2004 finals with Canada.

Most players im assuming have made their trips home at this point so anyone wanna share some thoughts or reflections? Does it seem to you as if USA will continue to seperate itself from the rest of the pack in coming years, barring unforseen levels of expansion in high school leagues in other countries?

The tournament itself got some very positive press coverage nationwide - in The Denver Post, the Sentinel - (Article 1, Article 2), and the Lowell Sun among others im sure, if you saw any coverage post a link, as im sure people would be interested.

Other media from the tournament:
WJUC Site: Official Photos
Brian Cook Photos
Scoreomatic Results
Kevin Draper (coming soon?)
UltiVillage (more clips of the day coming soon?)

thoughts or comments?