Monday, April 30, 2007

Highlight Contest - the deadline draws near!


The eleventh hour approaches....

The stakes have been set, the prizes announced, and a number of submissions have already been sent.

Entries are due tomorrow night at midnight!!!

So sending those last minute submissions in!!

For your submission to be valid you MUST send the information necessary to PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com.

If you have made a highlight reel since the fall season, you might as well submit it to the contest, you could win some very sweet prizes, as well as have your video featured on the site.

(These wonderful prizes, and support for this contest, have been brought to you through the generous donations of UltiVillage, DiscFilms, UltimateFris.be and the University of Pittsburgh's Open and Women's teams.)

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Weekend Open thread - April 28/29

Another big tournament weekend especially for state championships...

Season Tournaments

State Championships
Post scores if you've got em. For that matter post the teams if you have. For tournament directors, let the fans know whos playing! Nothing is more frustrating than trying to see who how Saturday pool play turned out and none of the teams are even listed. Especially with the UPA Sponsored/Sanctioned State championships, surely most if not all of the teams are known ahead of time, definitely at least before the games begin.

So please, if you personally are going to run a tournament, do everyone a favor and post the teams. The SRT is an awesome tool and a great benefit to the sport as an archive of the history of all these teams' seasons, but it only is valuable if its used.

End, pseudo rant.

Looking forward to seeing how these state champs (and all the tournaments) turn out!

[edit] - a few tournaments have been added to the list, and a question - why for Washington and Oregon are there less than 16 teams for the state championship? I was under the impression that there were a ton of teams in these states? Different setup, playoffs? Just curious...

Spring Reign 07 HL Video - CHS Freshman

Though I'm not sure it should be posted yet... as Dylan may be wanting to submit this film into the highlight video contest, but... I cannot seem to ever be patient when it comes to videos and it just went public on our site and thus, you should all be able to see it as well.

04.20/21 - Spring Reign - Burlington, WA - HS Mixed C Division:
CHS Freshman:
-itunes version - (.mp4 640x360 64MB)
-web version - (.mov 640x360 64MB)
google version is still being processed...

Thursday, April 26, 2007

PlayUltimate Highlight Reel Extravaganza - PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!


Maestro, a drum roll please....

after much anticipation, much warranted anticipation, PlayUltimate is proud to announce the prizes for the 1st EVER Highlight Reel Extravaganza.


In the category of Editor's Choice...

3rd place - a "Danger" disc from the University of Pittsburgh's Women's team - Danger

2nd place - A 8x12 print of a photo from UltimateFris.be (Sponsored by UltimateFris.be)

1st place - A subscription to the college season on UltiVillage's UVtv (Sponsored by UltiVillage)


In the category of People's Choice...

3rd place - an En Sabah Nur disc from the University of Pittsburgh's men's ultimate team.

2nd place - a copy of the Wildwood 13 DVD from DiscFilms (Sponsored by DiscFilms.com)

1st place - a copy of the 2006 WJUC DVD from UltiVillage (Sponsored by UltiVillage)

a reminder that all entries are due by May 1st (5 DAYS FROM NOW!!!!!). All of the amazing prizes above will be mailed directly to your home address, for that reason if you would like to submit an entry you must follow the submission guidelines that are detailed here.

So start sending those highlight reels in!! For your submission to be valid you must send the information necessary to PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com.

(These wonderful prizes, and support for this contest, have been brought to you through the generous donations of the companies and teams mentioned above.)

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

prize announcement coming tomorrow... [shh!]

Don't tell anyone, but the prizes for the highlight reel contest are going to be announced tomorrow before 5pm.

If you haven't sent in your (or your team's) submission yet you are going to want to do it asap. Check back tomorrow to see why.

All submissions are due by May 1st (6 Days from now!!)

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Spring Reign Photos

Our Churchill photos from this weekend are up... There will be more for sure that will go up from the countless amateurs and the few pros, so as you hear about other links, post them in the comments...

(photo inset is the winning grab in the HS C Division finals where CHS took on Monroe for the second year in a row. Unlike last year when we lost 11-10 universe point, our freshman phenom #45 came down with the disc and the 13-11 victory).

CHS Spring Reign Photos:
-ALL
-MS Teams
-CHS JV
-CHS Freshman
-South Eugene
-HL (best action)

Monday, April 23, 2007

2007 - College Choices - Thread #4


The fourth in a series regarding high school ultimate players and their college choices. Big tournaments this past weekend, where are all those players going to college?

(If you've been following along you know that last year we compiled a list of where many players from around the country were attending colleges.
You can find last year's list here. )

Well we are doing it again for 2007, and the deal is all the information is user submitted, so comment below with...

College
Last Name, First Name
High School
HS State
HS League
Height
Right Handed / Left Handed
later we'll add Xs next to the names that get selected to YCC teams. It ends up being a very fun list and an early indicator of which college programs are trending up or down.

So if you have decided on a college yet, post your information below and you will be added to the list. If you prefer to keep it a surprise until the Official College Ultimate Signing Deadline, on May 27th (when the list will be released) - you can email the site at PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com, just put "2007 College Choices" in the subject line.

Looking forward to seeing where people are heading...

(If you would like to see all of these college choice posts, and their comments, in one place you can click on the "College Choices" label)

Missouri High School State Championship Preview

Being held in St. Louis again this year, the Missouri HS State Championship promises some pretty big question-marks and potential upsets. The braggin' rights are there for the taking this year, and it's my humble opinion that at least 3 teams have a legitimate shot to walk away as champion. There are a few out-of-state teams competing too, but we think we've found a way to give them some good games and still determine a clear State Champion.

Read below for an update/preview on the competition heating up out here in the heartland.

Lexington (1)—At 12-2-1, with lots of traveling and tournament experience, Lexington enters as the top seed in the tournament. Word is that they throw before school EVERY DAY. I saw them play a couple of years ago, and their handling on the field supports this rumor. Easily the #1 seed—no brainer. It’s a pleasure to host them for this tournament; they should be fun to watch.

CULT & Team ILL. (2 & 3, respectively)—Little is known about these teams, but they’re traveling from Minnesota and Illinois, respectively, and in our experience, these traveling teams generally perform better than local HS league teams. One tidbit, Team ILL appears to be a local HS league All-Star team. Should be fun to see how they fare against Lexington.

Desmet Jesuit (4)—Undefeated in the first six weeks of the St. Louis HS Spring League, Desmet is the favorite for the state championship this year. Last year, they settled for second, so look for them to get even hungrier in the tournament this year. Desmet brings intensity and an extremely streamlined offense to the field. I predict that they’ll dominate the rest of the state teams, as they have in the league this year. Yes, even Rockhurst. Pete's boys are playing VERY well right now.

Alacron (a.k.a. Rockhurst) (5)—Losing their school sponsorship has not prevented Rockhurst from attending Westerns this year, and they will very likely still be a force with which to be reckoned. They slid from dominance last year but still finished 3rd when Marquette refused to play the 3rd place match. Apparently, there were some pretty intense conflicts on the field and certain players’ spirit was called into question (on both sides of the disc). Personally, I’m hoping this year goes more smoothly for them. IMO, they’ve always been fun to play and always bring a skilled bunch of players.

SLUH (6)—Like Desmet, SLUH went undefeated in their division of St. Louis HS League play. I know very little about them, actually. I only saw them play our JV team, and they had about nine guys, some of who seemed to be wearing cargo pants and Doc Martens. But . . . 6-and-0 is 6-and-0, even if you’re wearing a chicken suit. I’ll be very interested to see how they match up against North Division leaders Desmet & Priory (who they haven't yet played this year), not to mention cross-state rivals Rockhurst.

Priory (7)—The Jeromans took their only loss this year from Desmet, and the score was 15-10. My preseason comments about their team were a bit off. Yes, they ARE a bunch of 6-foot Amazon giants. Yes, nearly every player on the team can handle pretty well. Yes, they fly around the field and layout with reckless abandon. But NO, they do not lack the knowledge of the game that I had supposed they lacked. A teacher at the school who also plays has taken them under his wing, and they have a whole new bag of tricks now. They still appear to rely on their athleticism defensively, but I can’t see many teams topping them in that category.

FHC (8)—We’ve lost 4 or 5 valuable varsity players to injuries over the past month or so, and so we’ll enter the tournament without as much depth as I’d like. Still, we’re getting smarter on offense each week, and I’ve always been pretty proud of our defense, so I’m predicting that we'll do well in pool play. Lacking the athleticism of a Desmet or Priory, we’ll have to play smarter than most teams to make a serious dent on Sunday. Not out of the question, but it will require a new level of focus and determination.

Kirkwood (9)—These guys can go on a tear when the mood suits them. They went down 5-0 in a game vs. Vashon this year, only to then score ten unanswered points and win the game (it was capped). A couple of the key players on their roster, however, players from other schools which do not have their own teams—I’m not sure if this disqualifies them for the HS State Championship or not. Anybody know?

The rest of the field is rounded out by the following teams:

(10) Marquette [3-3]—younger, and under new management
(11) Lindbergh [3-3]—spirited, fun team to play
(12) Clayton [3-3]—HUGE roster, very fun to play, smart coaches
(13) CBC [1-5]—also very deep, which should be to their advantage
(14) Vashon [1-5]—CRAZY defense! Nearly every game they’ve played this year has been
time-capped.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Weekend Open Thread - April 21/22

Its a big weekend guys....

Starting on Saturday...

Starting on Sunday...

Any and all results, if you have em post em, if you hear about em, post the rumors...

(something tells me this thread is going to have a few comments... 11 tournaments, 129 teams all on one weekend, this bodes very well for the future of the high school scene)

Friday, April 20, 2007

The Outsiders

Here in the blasted wastelands of Missouri, where ultimate feeds on a sparse but nutritious diet of brand new teams, struggling to survive, we've been having an ongoing conversation about the Missouri High School State Championship Tournament.

The crux of the issue is about out-of-state teams being allowed to play in the tournament, and I'm not talking about teams in states which don't yet have their own championship; I know and agree with the UPA's policy in that situation (they are to be allowed to compete for the championship). So, some will contend that inviting out-of-state teams adds a little prestige and maybe raises the level of competition a little at the tournament, while others say that it makes for all sorts of complications when trying to determine a state champion: teams who do poorly in a pool with out-of-state teams may be unfairly seeded on Sunday, or knocked out altogether. Good teams, maybe the best team in the state, might end up losing to an out-of-state team in the semi's, and that loss would result in a third- or fourth-place finish, etc.

So, my question is to the states out there with the more developed communities who might have cleared this hurdle already: If you invite out-of-state teams to your State Championship, how do you manage it such that a clear in-state winner is determined? If you don't invite out-of-state teams, why not?

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Hiphoponpop Preview



I got beaten to it by an anonymous commenter in the original post, and every day I get further and further away from the Philly scene, but I try to stay up on it:

According to Mark Rosser, Hiphop TD, he feels "Hopefully, having 3 divisions will reduce the number of routs and help create a lot of very close games." For an early-season high school tournament, I feel this is a wonderful idea and should be nice for all teams involved.

Note that the divisions inside themeslves aren't really seeded, per se, but organized to give teams travelling further the first-round byes, avoid re-matches, provide good matchups, etc.

Let's see what one random observer expects:

(Editor's note: click on "continue reading..." to read an entire rundown of all the pools in every division)


Pool A
Pennsbury Petyote (2-0)
Council Rock South Fiasco (1-1)
Montour (0-2)

Pool B
Princeton P-HUC (2-0)
The Pterodactyls (1-1)
Stuyvesant Sticky Fingers (0-2)


Finals: Pennsbury over Princeton
Semifinalists: Council Rock South, Pterodactyls.
Pittsburgh teams have always had a hard time bringing out full squads to Hiphop or Kitkat, so I'm hesitant to pick them to do much here. If they do manage a fuller squad, this second-year team could make some more noise. The Pterodactyls have already beaten Stuyvesant this spring, so that pick I can't go against.
Stuyvesant over Montour in the 5th place game.

I'd love to see a 3rd place game though (given my predictions, at least), with Council Rock South taking the most recent matchup, and currently leading the PHUEL standings, but the Pterodactyls have been doing better against top opponents this year. Alas, field space prevents this. A disappointing 15-12 win over CB East by CR South clouds the picture even more.

And do we really need to explain what dominance to expect from Pennsbury? Especially after a disappointing Paideia cup (at least, disappointing to anyone who expects them to win Easterns), look for them to come out swinging.

Game of the day: Princeton vs. Pterodactyls





DIV II
Pool C
Haverford High HUDA (1-1)
Cheltenham Spirit Animals (2-0)
Neshaminy Llamas (0-2)

Pool D
Lower Merion Babaganouj (0-2)
St. Joe's Prep Hand of God (2-0)
Great Valley Patriots (1-1)


SJP over Cheltenham in the finals; The Prep took them out in a regular season matchup this week, and seem to play even better at tournaments when more is on the line, it seems.

I would take Haverford over Great Valley in a theoretical 3rd place game.

LM over Neshaminy for 5th.

This division will be very, very close, and really everyone has a legitimate shot of winning it, so expect a lot of very competitive close games, especially Great Valley vs. LM and Haverford vs. Cheltenham.

Game of the day: SJP vs. Cheltenham (really, any finals matchup will be amazing)



DIV III

Pool E
Cardinal O'Hara Waste of Life (2-0)
Perkiomen Valley Gravity (1-1)
Columbia B (0-2)

Pool F
CB East Nasty (2-0)
Radnor (1-1)
Lower Merion B (0-2)

O'Hara over Perkiomen in a finals rematch.

CB East and Radnor in the semis, a brand new team (from my home Central League, for those "normal" sports) and a team hoping to rebuild after years at the top. I had CB East on top in the pool play, but that one could be a good game.

The B-teams battle it out for 5th, with Columbia B taking it: these teams have played often over the years, and though I'm sure many of the faces are changing, I expect the spirit and friendship to stay high.
For instance (story time), at Hiphop Div I-AA, in Medford, last year, the teams were to play again for 5th (or so), and instead of playing out the rematch of a few times that spring, they mixed up the teams and played for fun. It was a great sight.

Game of the day: CB East vs. Perkiomen Valley/Cardinal O'Hara.



Best of luck to all the teams, everyone will play well and some of these pools are so close I wouldn't be amazed to see my predictions turned totally upside down: my project 6th takes 1st or 2nd take 5th. That's why we play the games!

My requisite plea at the end of any of my posts: Post your results on scorereporter. E-mail them to a UPA member if no one on your team is (heck, I'll post them for you). Post your team on scorereporter. Give yourself a name, a contact, a roster, just fill stuff in, report scores, the more the better.


Hiphop on Score Reporter

Monday, April 16, 2007

HUGE Tournament weekend

This weekend is big, very big.

Hip Hop on Pop in Philly
MadisonMudBath in Wisconsin
MadisonMudBath - girls division
Spring Reign in Burlington, WA

total: 76 teams playing this weekend. and those are just the tournaments that have put their pools online!

There is a post up for each of the tournaments that has released their pools already (just scroll or click on any of the links above)... tournaments to be added when possible: CPHUL Finals, CrossOver Challenge, and the Oakwood Invite.

There will be an open thread on Friday to report scores for the weekend as they come in. Check back often for updates and previews of the tournaments from our contributors from around the country in the next few days before the action.

Spring Reign pools released

Almost too many to post! 34 teams, 10 pools, one insanely huge (and awesome) high school tournament. [The UPA Score reporter site]

And then the pools...


Pool A
A1: Crescent Valley High School
A2: Edmonds-Woodway
A3: Monroe
A4: The Northwest School-Coed 9/10

Pool B
B1: Garfield
B2: Lakeside High School
B3: Roosevelt
B4: South Eugene HS Mixed A

Pool C
C1: International Community School
C2: The Northwest School-Coed A
C3: Rick Hansen Secondary
C4: Seattle Academy HS V

Pool D
D1: Ingraham HS
D2: Nathan Hale A
D3: Steveston Secondary School
D4: Bush

Pool E
E1: Bainbrigde Island
E2: Churchill HS Mixed JV1
E3: Nathan Hale B
E4: University Prep

Pool F
F1: Mercer Island
F2: The Northwest School-Coed B
F3: Sheldon HS
F4: The Center School

Pool G
G1: Monroe B
G2: The Northwest School 9
G3: Rick Hansen 9th
G4: Shorewood
G5: Bush Bees

Pool H
H1: Churchill HS Mixed Freshman
H2: Richmond
H3: Seattle Academy HS JV
H4: Nova
H5: Thomas Jefferson


phew! thats a ton of teams. comments and predictions welcome...

MadisonMudBath Girls' Division - Pools released

The UPA score reporter site, and the pools...

Pool E

E1: Memorial Girls (1)
E2: Cathedral (4)
E3: Denver East Women (5)
E4: South HS (8)

Pool F
F1: Hopkins H.S. Women (2)
F2: Cretin-Derham Hall (3)
F3: St Johns-Ravenscourt (6)
F4: Woodward Academy (7)

MadisonMudBath Pools Released

MudBath will be played in Madison, WI this coming weekend with the following pools....

Pool A
A1: Hopkins (1)
A2: Wheaton South A (8)
A3: Cathedral H.S. (9)
A4: Memorial (B) (16)




Pool B
B1: Madison West (Open) (2)
B2: St. John's-Ravenscourt (7)
B3: Southwest H.S. (10)
B4: East High School (WI) (15)

Pool C
C1: Denver East (3)
C2: Memorial (6)
C3: Minneapolis South HS (11)
C4: Hopkins-B (14)

Pool D
D1: Team Ill (4)
D2: Cretin-Derham Hall (5)
D3: Woodward HS (12)
D4: Edgewood HS (13)

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Hip Hop on Pop Pools released

Hip Hop will be played at Edgely next weekend with the following pools....

Division I
Pool A Pool B
1 Pennsbury (PA) 1 Princeton (NJ)

2 Council Rock South (PA) 2 Pterodactyls (PA)

3 Montour (Pitts) 3 Stuyvesant (NY)

Division II

Pool C Pool D
1 Haverford High (PA) 1 Lower Merion (PA)

2 Cheltenham (PA) 2 St Joes (PA)

3 Neshaminy (PA) 3 Great Valley (PA)

Division III
Pool E Pool F
1 Cardinal O’Hara 1 CB East (PA)

2 Perkiomen Valley (PA) 2 Radnor (PA)

3 Columbia B 3 Lower Merion (PA)

Friday, April 13, 2007

Weekend Open Thread - April 14/15

The action this weekend...

Paideia Cup - Atlanta, GA
-UPA Open page
-UPA Girls' page

East Invite - Denver, CO
-UPA Open page
-UPA Girls' page

PHUEL All-Star Game - Philadelphia, PA
-PlayUltimate Preview

Post results as you get em.

Also stay tuned next week for the prize announcements for the PlayUltimate highlight reel contest. We've got a few big names in the ultimate community contributing to the effort so start editing that film! 1st through 3rd for both categories will be taking home a prize of some fashion so get those entries sent in!! Entries are DUE by May 1st

(If you are an ultimate vendor and you would still like to sponsor the contest time is running out! Email the site - PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com - by Monday evening if you would like to participate.)

Thursday, April 12, 2007

PHUEL All-Star Game this weekend

In addition to the tournaments there is also the PHUEL All-Star game this weekend, the rosters below c/o Mark Rosser...

DARK BLUE TEAM:
Radnor - Matt Guy and Brett Schlesinger
Lower Merion - Harry Friedman, Adrian Galbraith-Paul, Andrea Bowring, Nina Bar-Giora,
Wissahickon - Michael Plunkett, John Stavinga
Perkiomen Valley - Maura Hanley, Julian Gorski
Council Rock South - Scott Kinney, Mike Kinney,
Neshaminy - Jeff Brunermer, Steve Sherman
BC Tech - Matt Bohacz

WHITE TEAM:
DVFS- Jonathan Miller, Sam Haines
Cardinal O'Hara- Jason Pardini, Mike Szkudlapski, Tricia Crouse
Haverford High- Adam Pelleg, Matt Lowenthal
Great Valley- Dave Guo, Steve Rosso
North Penn- Brian Bauer, Michael Baer, Sarah Hedrick
Cheltenham - Dan Erkes, Dave Rosenberg
CB East- Carly Maconaghy, Grant Schuster, Geremy Graham

Conspicuously missing: St. Joe's Prep, The Pterodactyls, Pennridge, William Tennet, Abington, Methacton, Penn Charter, Moravian and Pennsbury. Pennsbury has a tournament obviously, but for the others the only game scheduled that day is between Cheltenham and North Penn, where are the rest of the all-stars??

None the less, the game will be at 4:00pm at Edgely Field on Saturday of this weekend (April 14th), and promises to be a display of some of the top talent from PHUEL.

If local colleges were wise they would be sending representatives to Edgely and recruiting like their lives depended on it.

We'll let you know how the game turns out.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

HS Terminus Pictures and the coming weekend...


Paideia Cup is this weekend, as is the 3rd Annual East Invite in Colorado, two high profile tournaments that will undoubtedly yield some awesome ultimate and a better understanding of how teams stack up against each other heading towards Easterns and Westerns...

... and there will be a thread for that on Friday afternoon for last minute prognostications and game results as they become available. Until then though, Alex Peters was down at HS Terminus in Atlanta where a good number of high school programs were represented (i don't have an exact figure because a tournament schedule was never loaded onto the UPA Score reporter... boo!) - Paideia, Fox Chapel and Mt. Lebonan from Pittsburgh, Andover from Massachusetts among others.

Anyway, Alex took some awesome pics which you can view here, what i would like to see though is comments on the pictures so we can start putting some names with the faces. so if you know someone in a pic post a comment on Alex's site underneath the shot. I keep hearing names tossed around, and I for one would like to know whos who.

For those who weren't at Terminus, or who would like something entirely different to talk about, I'm noticing that a team from Chicago is going to the East Invite. That is pretty damn awesome, given the 14 hour drive or flight. Around the same amount of awesome as Lebo and Fox Chapel and Andover getting down to Georgia for Terminus.

So - Whats the furthest your team has traveled for a tournament and what troubles did you encounter getting there? Any advice for those trying to get to tournaments far away? Is it worth it to travel far for a tournament your team might not win? Better to drive as a team in vans or cram into cars? Flying vs. driving? Road trip bonding?

(An open thread for the tournaments this weekend will be posted on Friday, until then chat away)

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

2007 College Choices - Thread #3


The third in an increasingly frequent series regarding high school ultimate players and their college choices.

(If you've been following along you know that last year we compiled a list of where many players from around the country were attending colleges.
You can find last year's list here. )

Well we are doing it again for 2007, and the deal is all the information is user submitted, so comment below with...

College
Last Name, First Name
High School
HS State
HS League
Height
Right Handed / Left Handed
later we'll add Xs next to the names that get selected to YCC teams. It ends up being a very fun list and an early indicator of which college programs are trending up or down.

So if you have decided on a college yet, post your information below and you will be added to the list. If you prefer to keep it a surprise until the Official College Ultimate Signing Deadline, on May 27th (when the list will be released) - you can email the site at PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com, just put "2007 College Choices" in the subject line.

Looking forward to seeing where people are heading...

(If you would like to see all of these college choice posts, and their comments, in one place you can click on the "College Choices" label)

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Westerns Womens Teams Announced

and the winners are...

California
Alameda Community Learning Center (Alameda, CA)

Minnesota
Cathedral HS (St. Cloud, MN)
Cretin-Derham Hall HS (St. Paul, MN)
Hopkins HS (Minnetonka, MN)

Oregon
Churchill HS (Eugene, OR)
South Eugene HS (Eugene, OR)

Washington
Bush School (Seattle, WA)
Lakeside School (Seattle, WA)
Nathan Hale HS (Seattle, WA)
Northwest School (Seattle, WA)
Seattle Academy (Seattle, WA)

[Information c/o UPA Westerns Website]

Easterns Womens Teams Announced

Drum roll please...

Massachussetts
Amherst Regional HS-Varsity (Amherst, MA)
Amherst Regional HS-JV (Amherst, MA)
Andover HS (Andover, MA)

New Jersey
Columbia HS (Columbia, NJ)

New York
Stuyvesant HS (New York, NY)

Tennessee
University School of Nashville (Nashville, TN)

Virginia
Yorktown/HB Woodlawn (Arlington, VA)

Wisconsin
James Madison Memorial HS (Madison, WI)



[information c/o UPA Easterns Website]

Westerns Teams Announced!

And here they are...


California
Alameda Community Learning Center (Alameda, CA)
Berkeley HS (Berkeley, CA)

Colorado
Cherry Creek HS (Greenwood, CO)
Lakewood HS (Lakewood, CO)

Kansas
Junction City HS (Junction City, KS)

Minnesota
Cathedral HS (St. Cloud, MN)
Cretin-Derham Hall HS (St. Paul, MN)
Hopkins HS (Minnetonka, MN)

Missouri
Rockhurst HS (Kansas City, MO)

Oregon
Churchill HS (Eugene, OR)
Crescent Valley HS (Corvallis, OR)
South Eugene HS (Eugene, OR)

Washington
Lakeside School (Seattle, WA)
Nathan Hale HS (Seattle, WA)
Northwest School (Seattle, WA)
Seattle Academy (Seattle, WA)

[Info c/o the UPA Westerns Website]

Easterns Teams Announced!

Here they are...

Connecticut
Middletown HS (Middletown, CT)

Kentucky
Lexington Catholic HS (Lexington, KY)

Massachussetts
Amherst Regional HS (Amherst, MA)
Needham HS (Needham, MA)
Northfield Mt Hermon (Northfield, MA) - New England Prep School Ultimate League

New Jersey
Columbia HS (Columbia, NJ)
Princeton HS (Princeton, NJ)

New York
Fieldston HS (Bronx, NY)

Ohio
Sycamore HS (Montgomery, OH)

Pennsylvania
Pennsbury HS (Fairless Hills, PA)
North Hills HS (Pittsburgh, PA)

Tennessee
University School of Nashville (Nashville, TN)

Virginia
LC Bird HS (Chesterfield, VA)
Yorktown/HB Woodlawn (Arlington, VA)

Wisconsin
James Madison Memorial HS (Madison, WI)
Madison West HS (Madison, WI)

[Information c/o the UPA Easterns website]

Monday, April 02, 2007

Highlight Reel Contest 2007 - Let's see those submissions!!

Submissions are due in less than ONE MONTH!!

Final deadline is May1st for videos, remember the specs...

    • video of your team
    • compiled into a highlight reel
    • no less than 30 seconds long
    • no more than 2 minutes
    • upload to youtube, google video, break.com, metacafe or your choice of hosted video sites
    • send us a link (playultimateblog@gmail.com)
      • include your name
      • address to send award/prize
      • teams featured in the film
      • tournaments etc
      • and any other relevant information
    • 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in two categories - Editors' Selection and People's Choice
      • Editors' Selection will be a vote of the contributors to the site
      • people's choice will be decided by a public vote on the website
      • prizes will be sent to the creator's home address
send an email to PlayUltimateBlog@gmail.com with a link to your submission (must be hosted by a third party - youtube etc) and your name.

Prizes will be announced within the next two weeks

So send in your videos now! Looking forward to seeing the submissions

(Reminder: all videos must be submitted via email, links in the comments will not be accepted - this is so that we can make sure we can send the prizes to the right people/places)

Sunday, April 01, 2007

BREAKING: Amherst decides to dissolve team, "play baseball instead"

Very interesting news out of Amherst, Mass. earlier today. Apparently 10 of the top 12 players on the "A" squad have decided to retire from the sport of ultimate to focus on other endeavors.

Said one player, "We've just been so good for so long, it just seems that we should try something new. I think most of us are going to start playing baseball instead."

"I've been wanting to try pottery for a long time now," another senior said.

When students at the regional high school which has won the last 3 Easterns Championships were asked for comment Sophomore Shannon Williams said, "Ultimate... thats the game with the dog and the Frisbee right?"

More in tune players from around the country though have been stunned by the news. Pennsbury is said to be holding a meeting later tonight to decide whether they should buy crowns with emeralds or rubies, in anticipation of their Easterns win in the coming May. Purple velvet robes were also mentioned as a possibility, however is expected to be voted down because everyone realizes that purple clashes with Noah Saul's dreamy eyes.

On the west coast the reaction has been mixed. The Northwest School team is reported to empathize with the Amherst players.

"Being on top is tough, everybody wants to beat you, you have to train year round, honestly a few of the guys have been considering a similar decision, we are looking into creating a competitive sport stacking team," said Coach Mike Mullen.

However players from Churchill High School in Oregon were dumbfounded, "Whuaa?" said Luke Johnson, "I feel like I've lost a bit of my inner child just now."

Down in Georgia, Paideia players were focused on what really matters though. "So... is this going to affect the date of prom?" asked George Stubbs.

When the UPA was asked for comment on the matter little response was given - save for an off hand comment that, "its not too big of a deal, we are in the process of instituting a 'returning-champions-need-not-apply' policy for upa sanctioned events, so they were unlikely to be accepted anyway."

More on this story as it develops...