big announcement of the week #2

Ok, so for a long time now ive been wanting to expand the medium of the site. I love the content we have been posting for the past (almost) year now, i love the comments and interaction between contributors and readers. Its all wonderful, but I wanted to take it a step further in a simultaneous yet different direction.

What the hell am i talking about? yeah i get that a lot.

Well without further ado - announcing the PlayUltimate Podcast

if you dont know what i podcast is, let this site help you. the short version - its an .mp3 file, something you can play on any computer, burn to any cd, listen to on any portable music device. But its also something more than that, using programs like iTunes, or iPodder or the like you will be able to put a simple link into the program and then automatically when a new episode (.mp3 file) is created and put online - as soon as it is availiable it will be downloaded to your computer in iTunes etc.

So already that is very exciting because its something ive been wanting to do for some time now.
But again i say there is more - we will also be using a service called SkypeCast, if you havent heard of it before Skype is a free internet phone service. Basically how it will work is once every month or so we will host a radio show (the podcast) online and you will be able to "call in" to the show with comments, questions or whatever you see fit. Im also working on getting some ultimate stuff to give away during the shows - discs, jerseys, posters, etc.

The full episodes will be cleaned up with some intro and outro music etc, and be put online within a few days for those who didnt/couldnt tune in to the show live.

So there you have it, within the next month or so we will give this the first trial run to see how it goes. And hopefully within the next few weeks you will be listening to high school ultimate news and commentary from the definitive source - PlayUltimate.

Super Best Friends at Eugene Solstice

Hey all,

Last weekend a group of Seattle, Eugene, and Bay Area high school guys put together a team named "Super Best Friends" to play at the Eugene, OR Solstice tourney in the adult open elite division. They ended up playing a juniors team from the Vancouver, BC area in the showcase game. Both teams had players that were playing for their respective national teams at Junior Worlds this year.

I have heard some details from one source and I think people reading this blog would also like to hear details, so I started this thread. So someone speak up.

A link to some pix from the tournament: http://freeheelimages.smugmug.com/gallery/1591193/8/77232823

www.ultivillage.com has a play from the game as clip of the day. I think you can also pay to download highlights from the game at uvtv.

Here is the score reporter from the UPA results database: http://www3.upa.org/scores/tourn.cgi?div=127&id=2625

It would be great if we could get some of the Vancouver, BC youth players or coaches involved in this blog too. They havea great scene up there though it is still mostly coed from what I know.

-Mike

PADA YO!

Intro Paragraph
Current highschoolers, Recent Grads, Club players. Pickup all stars, PADA YO! needs you.

PADA YO! the youth outreach program run by the Philadelphia area disc alliance will be running camps in rec centers, summer camps, parks, all over the place this summer. To facilliate this we need lots of volunteers. Its alot of fun and it looks great on a college application and you get to play ultimate. You will feel good about yourself knowing that your helping spread the game that you love, and impacting the community.

contact info after the jump
Below the fold action...

If your interested in volunteering, contact me at FreeronartestATgmail.com and i will email you dates and times.

spread the word
-JephB

2006 College Choices

so i was checking out the post from a few days ago on college choices by high school ultimate players, and i thought it would be interesting and more useful to reorganize them by college decision. so if you are interested in it, click the continue reading link for the full list.

i think this is going to become a annual post, so yeah - come back next year for the same thing.

a few highlights -

-Carleton is picking up at least three top end recruits from around the country.
-Pittsburgh is cleaning up taking most of the top graduating players from both the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia leagues.
-San Francisco State is picking up at least three recruits.

a lot of established teams are seeing a good number of current players attend, but perhaps more interesting is that schools that dont even have teams yet are getting 2 or more players - im thinking this is going to lead to two things - 1. top tier teams are going to start off at an even bigger advantage over those who are trying to mold players from complete scratch and 2. those few remaining schools without teams will have them within the next 3-4 years.

you heard it called here first, click continue reading to see if your school picked up any prospects...

(note this is just from the comments on this site, feel free to add additional information)

College Name      Name             High School   State League  JW TryOut JW Team YCC
Bloomsburg        Smith, Ben                     PA    PHUL
Boston College    Szabo, Andrew    Princeton     NJ
Boston College    Szabo, John      Princeton     NJ
Bowling Green U   Sirney, Christian              PA    PHUL
Brandeis          Leiblich, Seth   Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Brown             Abrahams, Max    Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL                      X
Bucknell          Shipe, Brent                   PA    PHUL
Carleton          Alexander, Eric  Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL                      X
Carleton          Draper, Kevin    Castro Valley CA
Carleton          Kanner, Sam      Amherst       MA            X         X
Carnegie Mellon   Saris, Bob       Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Carnegie Mellon   Smith, Zack                    PA    PHUL
Carnegie Mellon   Su, Hao          Mt. Lebonan   PA    PHUL
Chico             Faccenda, Tony   Terra Nova    CA
Claremont McKenna Sasso, Brendan   Terra Nova    CA
Colorado State    Bronson, Chris   South Eugene  OR
Connecticut Cllge Tunnel, Leila    Paiedia       GA
Cornell           Kadesch, Alex    Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Cornell           Shull, Art       CB East       PA    PHUEL
Earlham           Hoedeman, Anne                 PA    PHUL
Elon              Bleam, Ryan      CB East       PA    PHUEL
George Washington Gowa, Tim        Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Goucher           Vitiello, Maxx   Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Hartford          Jones, Alex      Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Harvey Mudd       Floyd, Nic       South Eugene  OR
Hofstra           Brandolph, Dave  Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Humboldt          Hancock, Kyle    Terra Nova    CA
Indiana U of Penn Adi, Shai        Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
James Madison U.  Lee, James                     PA    PHUL
Johns Hopkins     Barber, Adam     Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Kansas            Kaminsky, Justin Hopkins       MN
Lake Forrest      Jou, Jin-Houn    Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Lewis and Clark   Colpitts, Kelsey Seattle AcademWA
Minnesota         Arenson, Mike    Hopkins       MN
Minnesota-Duluth  Kakou, Yossi     Hopkins       MN
Mizzou            Dentina, Christin
NC State          Panasci, Stephen Columbia      NJ             X          X
Northwestern      Arganbirght, JohnLower Merion  PA    PHUEL
New York Univ.    Schwaid, Adam    Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Oberlin           Herrine, Luke    Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL                      X
Oregon            Norton, Chris    South Eugene  OR
Penn State        Maio, Mike       CB East       PA    PHUEL
Penn State        Nevison, Brian   Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL                      X
Penn State        Yu, Bryant       Princeton     NJ
Pittsburgh        Baynes, Kyle     Wissahickon   PA    PHUEL
Pittsburgh        Brenenborg, ChrisCatholic HS   PA    PHUL     X          X
Pittsburgh        Huebrin, Jay     Hampton       PA    PHUL
Pittsburgh        Lawry, Christie  Hampton       PA    PHUL
Pittsburgh        Miller, Jack                   PA    PHUL
Pittsburgh        Peters, Eddie    CB East       PA    PHUEL    X
Pittsburgh        Zortea, Justin   CB East       PA    PHUEL
Queen's Univ.     Vanni, Chris     Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL                      X
Rice              Huang, Eddie     Princeton     NJ
Rutgers           Lian, Brian      Watchung Hlls NJ
Rutgers           Poole, Glen      Watchung Hlls NJ
San Fran State    Harris, Shane    Alameda       CA
San Fran State    Murphy, Connor   Alameda       CA
San Fran State    Sung, Matt       Castro Valley CA             X           X
Seattle Univ.     Sherwood, Julia  South Eugene  OR
Stanford          Pacala, Angus    Princeton     NJ
Stanford          Thompson, Ryan   Columbia      NJ
Temple            Herman, Sam      Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Tufts             Taylor, Erin     Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
U. of Chicago     Calderbank, Mike Princeton     NJ
U. of Chicago     Huang, Justin    Princeton     NJ
U. of Penn        Rublin, Dave     Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
U. of Penn        Nalavade, Aman   Wissahickon   PA    PHUEL
U. of Vermont     Feingold, Eric                 PA    PHUL
U. of Virginia    Wildfire, Luke                 PA    PHUL
U. of Washington  Carr, Nora       Northwest     WA
U. of Washington  O'Malley, ShannonNathan Hale   WA
UC Davis          DeJong, Jeff     Terra Nova    CA
UC Davis          Lahey, Taylor    Castro Valley CA             X           X
UC Davis          Morales, Emile   Terra Nova    CA
UC Irvine         Miller, Scott    Terra Nova    CA
UC Santa Cruz     Josepher, Ben    Terra Nova    CA
Ursinus           Fennimore, Harry St. Joe's     PA    PHUEL
USP               Gangemi, Andrew  St. Joe's     PA    PHUEL
Wake Forrest      Ku, Jason        Watchung Hlls NJ
Wash U of St.LouisEisen, John      Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL
Wellesley         Yi, Min          Princeton     NJ
Wisconsin         Feldman, Ben     Hopkins       MN             X           X
Yale              Freidman, Gabe   Lower Merion  PA    PHUEL                      X
Yale              Rowney, Drew     Lakeside      WA

once again this by no means a complete list its just from what people have told me or posted as comments on the site, if you see any errors or if you have additions just post a comment

if the rest of the world isnt there...

its just not worlds. so you love team usa, you heart them even. you cant wait to go watch them in devens tearing it up and crushing the rest of the world. but wait, what if no other teams are able to come?

lets face it folks, not looking at any favorites, or predictions, or bragging rights or anything like that - its not a world championship unless the rest of the world is there.

We already asked you to help the Venezuelan team, well the Columbian WJUC team needs some help too - so if you can spare a few dollars, send it over. Just click the link below and help a fellow ultimate player out. And if you see em at the fields at Devens how freaking sweet would you feel knowing you helped someone a half a globe away get to the world championships.

Donate to Colombian Juniors Ultimate for the World Championships

another big announcement?

i know insanely crazy, but hey, thats why you keep coming back for more.

we have something very very cool in the works right now which hopefully will be up and ready to go within the next week or so.

i plan to announce this mystery of wonders which undoubtedly will keep you coming back for more sometime in the next 1-3ish days.

(reason for not straight out telling you whats up - gotta work out a few bugs, lets just say if this were a throw i want to make sure its game ready, kapeesh?)

thanks for sticking with us. we promise to not disappoint.

Announcing...

On July 19th CSTV will air the 2006 UPA College Championship game between Florida and Wisconsin. We figured hey - we like ultimate, you like ultimate - lets make a thing of it.

So on July 19th at 9pm we are going to have the 1st Annual CSTV College Ultimate Event - different locations around the country for people to come together with similar interests and ideas to watch ultimate.

There will be sites in the Philadelphia and Seattle areas, with more locations being announced within the next few weeks. So stay tuned here for all the information. We'll provide you with addresses, times, directions everything you would need.

These events will be open to anyone who is interested in watching the games and will more than likely take place in sports bars or similar establishments (with very nice cable and big screen TVs) in respective communities. This will be a great chance to introduce new players to the high level college game, meet people from your high school leagues in a more social setting and just all in all have a good time watching some ultimate.

Hopefully you are all as excited as we are. Please spread the word to your teammates, league friends, parents, neighbors - whoever you think might be interested. We'd like to essentially "take over" local gathering places so it will be high visibility events for the sport of ultimate itself as well.

Thank you and I look forward to seeing you to watch the game.


If you are interested in planning an event in your community please email PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com

hah! and you thought i would post the announcement early!

announcement coming tomorrow...

drop in tomorrow for a big announcement.... oh the anticipation, oh the mystery, o draconian devil?

speculation is welcome....

keep it tuned here folks.

HS College decisions

ask and ye shall receive, this is definitely a long overdue post, but better late than never.

Where are the seniors on your teams going to college? Any to the top 16 in either men or womens? (posted below the fold for reference)

Seniors posting, if you want to leave your email address with the comment maybe the current team powers that be will contact you if you havent spoken with them already.

alrighty then - lets hear it...

open 1. Florida 2. Wisconsin 3t. Georgia 3t. Stanford 5t. California-San Diego 5t. Colorado 5t. Oregon 5t. Texas 9t. Michigan 9t. Michigan State 11t. California-Santa Barbara 11t. Kansas 13t. Harvard 13t. Pittsburgh 15t. Brown 15t. Delaware

women 1. Stanford 2. UCLA 3t. Colorado 3t. Wisconsin 5t. British Columbia 5t. California-Davis 5t. Dartmouth 5t. Florida 9t. Georgia 9t. Michigan 11t. Emory 11t. Tufts 13t. Swarthmore 13t. Texas 15t. Carleton 15t. Delaware

Help send Team Venezuela to Junior Worlds

From Tony Leonardo -

The latest update is that sometime this week they will be waiting to
get the word on whether a company will be able to support the team to
come to the U.S. this August for Junior Worlds.

If they don't get the corporate funding, I dont know what their status
will be, but I would imagine it could be grim.

I have been a major proponent for getting these high school players
from South America to the United States this summer. It is clear to me
that these young players will carry the spirit of Ultimate forward for
the next 15-20 years in their respective countries. Getting a chance to
go to Junior Worlds is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these kids.
Their motto is "to be the best, we have to play the best!" and I think
that's a great way to look at it. They want to get better as players.
Getting to Worlds will help them form a strong bond with the game of
Ultimate.

Just for a second - think about a time when you or your team couldnt go to a tournament because of money, it sucked, ive been there myself.

I think it would be an awesome gesture if the high school ultimate players of america were the ones to get together and help send the teams to Devens, Massachussettes.

click here to contribute

Video Clip of UPA HS Westerns Open Championship Point

Hey all,

We have a 30 second video clip from the championship point of the 2006 UPA HS Western Open Final on our website: http://www.northwestschool.org/athletics/ultimate.shtml
(the video was shot by NWS AD Britt Atack and is used with the permission of the UPA)

Our oppoment in the video is Hopkins HS from Minnesota. They were very athletic, skilled, spirited, and well coached.

Mike Mullen, Head Coach Northwest School Varsity Boys Ultimate

Speaking of Summer Ultimate Camps...

I'm happy to announce that Sally Landefeld of Lakeside School in Seattle, WA is the recipient of the 2006 Riot Scholarship. In a pool of talented and deserving applicants Sally stood out as the one we should send to represent Seattle youth ultimate at NUTC this July. Seattle Riot feels strongly that we have gotten so much from the ultimate community - many of us played ultimate in high school ourselves - and this is one way we choose to give back. Sally's camp tuition will be fully covered as well as part of her plane ticket to and from the east coast.

Congratulations to Sally especially and all the 2006 applicants.

Here is an excerpt from Sally's application:
Why do you love ultimate?

When I'm sprinting for the disc, I forget about everything except the disc. I get so into it that I can trip and fall, or even bonk into something, and I won't notice for a few seconds.
An average day in my life is packed full of stressing about classes, parents, homework, and sometimes friends. I don't get very many chances to escape from my everyday worries. But when I play ultimate, I go into a trance, almost, where I can forget about life's complications for an hour or so and only think about how alive ultimate makes me feel. When I see a perfect lane to cut into, or when my teammate finally makes that forehand huck she's been practicing, or when someone gets a layout D, I get a rush of happiness and simplicity. In those moments it's only me, my team, and ultimate.

After a practice or a game, I feel like all the negative energy harnessed by worrying about school or how my parents are getting along or something was just vacuumed out of my body. Feeling clarified and positive like I do after I play ultimate is my favorite thing in the world. That's why I love ultimate.

Weekend tournament open thread - 6/9/6

the action this weekend....

2006 UPA New Jersey State championships (no link availiable)
Arctic Zone in Massachusettes

lets hear the hype, predictions? to answer a question from the comments the reason we dont have a preview for the NJ state champs is because we dont have a contributor from New Jersey, if you are interested in becoming that person - email: playultimateblog@gmail.com for more information.

but for the time being we are reliant on reader comments, so release your commenting fury and lets hear what people have to say...

Summer Ultimate Camp Thread

Hey all,

I figured there needed to be a summer ultimate camp thread so I started one. Below is information about the DiscNW camps.

Summer Ultimate Camp Opportunities in the Pacific Northwest!! DiscNW will be running its very popular day camps for middle and highschool players of all ability levels in Seattle from the end of June through mid-August again this summer. Cost is $150-200, depending on the camp. Information on all the day camps in Seattle is available at: http://www.discnw.org/ale/clubevent.html?clubEventId=20

You can also find links to information and to register in the list of events at www.discnw.org

DiscNW is also rolling out it's newest camp offering in July! Ulitmate Camp Northwest (UCNW) is a camp for youth players of all abilities that will be held at Reed College in Portland, OR from July16-20, 2006. This camp is designed for campers aged 14-18. A camper should not have attended college yet, but they are eligible if they have just graduated from high school. Players who will be entering high school this coming fall are very welcome to attend. The cost is $425 for campers who stay overnight at Reed College and$175 for those who are from the Portland area and do not need housing.

More details on the camp including are available at: http://www.discnw.org/ale/clubevent.html?clubEventId=62
You can also find links to information and to register in the list of events at www.discnw.org

6 YCC slots are still availiable!!

3 Mixed teams and 3 Girls' teams still have a chance to go to YCCs...

From Kyle Weisbrod...

A few bids are still available for the Youth Club Championships in both the Mixed and Girls divisions. Three spots are available in each division, and applications are being accepted from youth teams through June 16^th. Teams do not necessarily have to be league based to be awarded bids, although higher priority is given to league-based teams. Teams that are not league-based will still be considered and at this point have a pretty good chance of being awarded a bid.

[...]

If you or your community is interested in sending a Mixed or Girls team to this event, please go to http://www.upa.org/juniors/championships/index.html, scroll down to the Youth Club Championships section, download an application, and send it in with your deposit by June 16^th. If you have any questions about the event, please contact Will.Deaver@upa.org or Kyle.Weisbrod@upa.org

so who is gonna eat up those last few bids?

Anyone have guesses?

Looking forward - YCC preseason heating up...

Pittsburgh's Impulse has just announced their team, the yet to be named Philly squad has completed their tryouts, numerous emails have been sent out to list serves about the New England effort.

Almost all school tournaments have concluded according to the UPA site - with the exception of Artic Zone in Mass. - so now those of us who follow the high school scene have two things to look forward to - Junior Worlds and YCCs.

So then - those of you involved with YCC teams what tournaments will you be using to warm up for the big show in Minnesota? Have most teams been announced yet?

Early favorites have to be New England with Amherst finishing #1 in RRI ranking for the year and Seattle with the Northwest school finishing #2 in RRIs.

The true question though is which region's all-stars are better. Can the keystone state give a showing this year featuring some of the largest high school ultimate leagues in the country - or will it just be a coast show again.

We'll announce all the rosters here as they are made public so keep checking back. Pittsburgh's Impulse squad is listed below the fold (click "continue reading" to check it out)



Chris Brenenborg (CENT)
Colin Conner (NH)
Zach Ehler (LEBO)
Ben Funk (NH)
Jack Gazdik (NH)
Julian Hausman (LEBO)
Jay Huerbin (HAMP)
Pete Imler (LEBO)
Alex Lamers (HAMP)
Chris Lippert (NH)
Dave Macurak (BETH)
Perry Martin (HAMP)
Brian Nelson (DICE)
Jeff Olko (NH)
Griffin Patterson (HAMP)
Zach Reinhardt (BETH)
Brent Shipe (BETH)
Zack Smith (LEBO)
Hao Su (LEBO)
Alex Thorne (NH)
Bennett Washburn (WINC)

CENT - Central Catholic
BETH - Bethel Park
DICE - Alderdice
LEBO - Mt. Lebonan
NH - North Hills
HAMP - Hampton
WINC - Winchester Thurston

PHUL Results from 2006

Weekend open thread - 6/2/06

Better late than never, heres some love for the Midwest and the left coast itself -

OHSUC Tournament
Minnesota State Championship - Open division | Girls' Division


A little preview, c/o commentor Jake....

Top seeds from MN State open tourney are:
1. hopkins
2. cathedral (beat hopkins 4 weeks ago, lost two days ago)
3. Cretin Durham hall
4. Eden Prarie

a total of 23 teams from minnesota are playing, and the competition will be great.

if i had to choose a dark horse, my bet is Bemidji. i saw them last year: only one of them had cleats, most were barefoot, and they came to play. i don't even think the college up there (bemidji state) has an ultimate team, but i think they were in the quarterfinals last year. they are the only non-metro team outside of Cathedral (St. Cloud) so they are relatively unknown.

[...]

If you've got results post them as comments, looking forward to hearing how things turn out...

8 Straight

May 31st marked the end of our 10th month of operation here at PlayUltimate and perhaps more importantly our 8th straight month of growth!!

You and 7,500 of your closest friends decided to visit the site this past month making May the most visited month in the history of PlayUltimate!

We would like to thank you for your continued support.

This summer we look to expand our coverage entirely cover YCCs, Junior Worlds, as well as anything else high school ultimate related that comes along so stay tuned.

In addition to comprehensive written coverage of all high school ultimate in the US we are also working behind the scenes now on some brand new features which we truly hope you will enjoy. Many with extensive user interaction, I promise to announce what the hell we are talking about soon once i work some bugs out.

In the mean time please help us grow!!

Our goal is entirely national coverage of high school ultimate in the USA, so please link to the site, forward posts to your friends, post on message boards, put the headlines in your myspace or xanga or whatever the hell people use these days.

The more you promote the site the more content we will be able to deliver to you.

Dont have somewhere to link to us? Well there are other ways you can interact and support the site -

• you can download Mozilla Firefox which will allow you to see the site layout in its full glory. (it also gives a very small cut to the site)
• you can click on any of those google ads that might interest you
• if you click on any of the links to buy stuff from amazon the site gets a 4% commission, so if you are interested in Ultimate Techniques and Tactics, or Fundamentals of Ultimate, or the Ultimate History Book - feel free to buy by clicking on those links
• you can join the Frappr! for the site which connects you to other PlayUltimate readers around the country

We look forward to making June another record month for readership of the site (we gotta beat 7,500!).

So once again - thank you.