2009 UPA Western Championships - South Eugene HS from glossjohnson on Vimeo.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
The State of HS Ultimate in the US
I was poking around score reporter and i figured it would be interesting to look at a map of the current state of high school ultimate in the US.
The result if the follow. All the states in blue have a UPA sanctioned state championship taking place this season, the red on the other hand, do not.
What then, about the states where we know ultimate exists but there is no state championship yet? That's the map you see below you here - those states are highlighted in a beige.
A few observations:
- Some of the states without championships have had high school ultimate rocking for a while - Texas and Connecticut for example.
- Some of the states with Champs surprised me a lot, because I hadnt even heard of teams before - Indiana, Utah and Idaho - huge props go out to whoever is organizing things in these places - making it happen in a big way.
Overall this is a significant expansion over the past few years of course - right now there are 24 states with championships 26 without.
But the question is how do you start leagues in those states and cities that don't have them yet. Usually it falls on a willing and motivated individual who already lives in the city and wants to see something happen.
But what if there were another, more effective, already practiced way that the UPA could expand the sport into the remaining 18 states and create lasting leagues within 3 years.
I have the brief outlines of such a plan that I'll post later in the week.
It's possible to do this, it is entirely feasible, the question is does the UPA have the drive to make such a plan happen? I hope so.
Check back in and post your feedback.
PS - ignore the numbers in the maps, those are electoral votes (i cheated and made the map with an election calculator - in case anyone is wondering the current state of high school ultimate championships garners 311 electoral votes. aka the oval office and bragging rights)
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Monday, June 08, 2009
HS Ultimate Players going to college - More press!
Andover High School's Kayla Walsh gets some love from the local paper. She will be heading to Gonzaga to play in the fall.
If you want to see the PlayUltimate Signing Day list you can always click back to here.
Check back on wednesday for tips on how to get your team local news coverage.
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Saturday, June 06, 2009
Minnesota State HS Tournament Updates
Check out updates on twitter for Sunday, June 7 at the Minnesota State HS Tournament:
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23upastate
http://twitter.com/joesbrother
And for your own updates, use the hashtag: #upastate
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[Video] Seattle Academy Highlights 2009
See a sick ultimate video lately? Shoot it over to playultimateblog@gmail.com and if it is in fact sick, we'll post it here. I'm going to try to post at least one video per week usually on the weekends. Or, of course you can always put it in the comments.
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2009 UPA HS Western OPEN Championship - Churchill HS Highlight
05.16/17 - 2009 UPA Westerns - Churchill Open HL from luke johnson on Vimeo.
You can also download this as an ipod video format here (option click on this to download it): http://glossarchitecture.net/video/WesternsCHS09HL(ipod).m4v
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Best Practices: Planning and playing a game
Editor's note: this is a piece in an occasional series where we ask the community to submit their ideas and thoughts on a given topic and then report back. There is a ton of knowledge out there and we'd like to consolidate it and make it accessible for newer teams and players. This is based off of the Lifehacker feature "Hive Five".
Many (most?) high school ultimate teams are player run, sometimes this translates to teams not showing up on time, games starting late, unconfirmed field space, non-regulation fields, or a lack of spectators (to name a few issues).
What are the best ways your team has found to make games go off without a hitch? Or better yet, what about a game that went really well - big crowd, planned well in advance etc?
Can ultimate be run smoothly with player captains, or is it necessary to shift over to a fully coach and team oriented system?
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009
[Throwback Post] History of WJUC performances
Originally posted waaay back in April of 2006, here's a rundown of the history of WJUC (World Juniors Ultimate Championship) performances...
WJUC Historical Rundown: Swedish Dominance
so while looking for the rosters of the other nations competing in WJUC this year i came upon this page from the UK Ultimate Association website, and also this page on the WFDF website.
there are a few very interesting things about the WJUC that you might want to know, and thus the following is a brief historical rundown of the Wordl Juniors Ultimate Championships. (feel free to add your own accounts in the comments)
from what i can gather the Juniors division of the World Ultimate Championships has been in existence since 1983
Finland won the first Championship (source), after that the championships switched to a two year format.
Sweden won the next 4 Championships according to the WFDF site - '84, '86, '88, and '90.
In 1992 there were only two Juniors teams competing, the games which were held in Japan only drew Chinese Taipei who won, and the host team Japan.
1994 saw an increase in competition with 5 teams competing in the games, held in Colchester, UK. 1994 also saw Sweden reclaim their title, which led to back to back championships in '94, and '96.
This brought the Swedes' total tally up to 6 out of the 8 world championships, quite a statement.
In 1998, though USA answered. The americans, who could have been consistently found within the top 3 for 4 of the previous championships, were now in the championship game against Sweden, a rematch of the 1994 world champs title game. The boys from the land of Lincoln came out on top.
However, the unseating was short lived, again in 2000 Sweden reclaimed their title against Canada in the finals.
In 2002 it was a grudge match - Canada vs. Sweden - again in the finals. This time Canada came out on top, remaining undefeated in the entire tournament - finishing 8-0.
The last games on record, 2004 in Turku, Finland witnessed the drop off of the Swedish dynasty. USA claimed victory in an all North American championship game, defeating Canada.
Final tallies tell a very interesting story: of the 12 world juniors ultimate championships Sweden has won 7, USA 2, Canada 1, Finland 1, Chinese Taipei 1.
Will Sweden return to dominance this year on american soil? Will Canada upset their North American rivals? Or will one of the other teams come from anonymity to infamy unseating all of the "favorites"?
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Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Open Thread: your team's plans for the summer
Most / all teams are finishing up their seasons at this point so what are you / your team planning on doing for the summer in regards to ultimate?
Summer league? Club team? Air alert?
Throw it in the comments... or whatever else you feel like talking about
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HS Ultimate Players getting press on college decisions
Hats off to some positive press coverage from around the country for ultimate players graduating...
Colorado Academy's captain Connor Abernathy will attend Bates
His athletic involvement at CA has included lacrosse, tennis, and Ultimate Frisbee. Connor has played on CA's tennis team for three years, earning a varsity letter and played lacrosse for two years. CA's Ultimate Frisbee team was the state champion in 2008, his junior year. In his senior year, he served as a team captain.
Erika Allen of Temple High School (Texas) will attend Texas Tech
Friday was “kind of a sad day,” said Ms. Allen, who is a member of the school’s diving, cross country, volleyball and track teams, and is also a member of the Polyfoniks show choir and Ultimate Frisbee Club.
No ultimate puns in either article just a matter of fact statement that these accomplished grads are going to college, and this was one of their activities. We aren't there yet, but we're making progress. Check back later in the week for tips on getting local news coverage...
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Saturday, May 30, 2009
[Video] 2007 Club Nationals Remix
Hadn't seen this one before, uses a personal favorite song though (remix by Ratatat)
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
2009 NCUSD: Which team had the best recruiting class? You decide
Earlier today of course we released the 2009 list, now you decide - which team made out the best?
Care to share why you made your choice? Throw it in the comments! (A reminder you can sign in using any OpenID account and also link your account to Twitter and help make high school ultimate more visible!)
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The 2009 National College Ultimate Signing Day: THE List
It is with great pride that I present the 2009 National College Ultimate Signing Day recruiting class...
you can find lists from past years on the right hand side of the page, or by clicking here - 2008, 2007, 2006
Tune in later this week for posts breaking down and grading the recruiting classes and looking at trends from past years. Let's hear something in the comments though, what teams are looking good off the bat for next year?
[EDIT / UPDATE] - Here is another link in case something happens to the embedded version. [Edit 2] And another mirror here
also, i turned on anonymous commenting again, though users are encouraged to sign in so you can gain credibility (anonymous usernames are fine, but this was it cuts down on the impersonation of other users) - that being said - LET'S SEE SOME CHATTER
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And the incoming class is....
Coming in just a few minutes....
tell your friends to come online now. Feel free to spread speculation in the comments, will traditional ultimate powerhouses pick up more recruits? Is it all big schools and no love for the small liberal arts?
Tune in in the hours after the list is released for the best in high school ultimate news and commentary, and then in the weeks and months ahead comprehensive coverage of YCCs and the rest of the summer competition.
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