Post-YCC Reflection?

YCC 2007 is now in the books. The champions have been crowned, the jerseys traded, muscles are in recovery, and players have gotten back to their lives...

But, with the tournament still fresh in many people's minds, I'm curious your reflections. What parts of the tournament stand out strong for you (good or bad)? How was the competition? Did your team do as well as it should have, or were there surprises?

What needs tweaking? What needs to remain the same? What needs to be added? And what needs to be removed to make next years' experience all the more?

On a side, here are the photographs from our experience:
Full Album
Highlights Only

Liveblogging - YCC Finals (live score updates)

C/o text messages from Ryan Thompson (The Pulse), minute by minute updates from Blaine, MN and the 2007 YCC finals - (all times EST)

MIXED UPDATES:

4:18pm - SEPDA 7 Atl 5

4:20pm - SEPDA 8 Atl 5 - off dropped pull, Noah to J Principi - Halftime

4:33pm - SEPDA 8 Atl 6 (via Score Reporter)

4:38pm - SEPDA 9 Atl 7

4:42pm - SEPDA 9 Atl 8

4:46pm - SEPDA 9 Atl 9 - All tied up!!! Nail biter in the works!

4:49pm - SEPDA 9 Atl 10 - Atlanta takes the lead on Callahan by Grant! sidelines must be going nuts.

4:51 pm - SEPDA 9 Atl 11 - Atlanta extends lead

4:57pm - SEPDA 10 Atl 11 - philly recovers

4:58pm - SEPDA 10 Atl 12

5:02pm - SEPDA 11 Atl 12

5:08pm - SEPDA 11 Atl 13

5:13pm - SEPDA 12 Atl 13

5:17pm - SEPDA 12 Atl 14 - layout grab by one of the Atl girls #12 Lane

GAME OVER ATLANTA WINS 14-12

OPEN UPDATES:

4:27pm - Seattle 9 New England 5 - callahan by #17

4:35pm - Seattle 9 New England 6

4:41pm - Seattle 10 New England 6

4:45pm - Seattle 11 New England 6

4:51pm - Seattle 12 New England 6

5:01pm - Seattle 12 New England 8

5:02pm - Seattle 13 New England 8

5:07pm - Seattle 13 New England 9

5:13pm - Seattle 14 New England 9

5:15pm - Seattle 14 New England 10

5:20pm - Seattle 14 New England 11

5:25pm - Seattle 15 New England 11

GAME OVER SEATTLE WINS 15-11

GIRLS' UPDATES:

4:32pm - Seattle 8 Oregon 5 (via Score Reporter)

4:36pm - Seattle 8 Oregon 6

4:39pm - Seattle 9 Oregon 6

4:41pm - Seattle 9 Oregon 7

4:46pm - Seattle 10 Oregon 7

4:58pm - Seattle 12 Oregon 8

5:10pm - Seattle 12 Oregon 9

5:14pm - Seattle 13 Oregon 9

5:16pm - Seattle 13 Oregon 10

5:22pm - Seattle 14 Oregon 10

GAME OVER SEATTLE WINS 14-10


Well thats the show, the 2007 YCCs are in the books - Seattle wins Open Girls, Atlanta wins Mixed.


[edited at 10:54pm to correct 5:17pm Mixed division inaccuracy, goal was scored by #12 Lane from Atlanta]

A biased little update from YCCs

Going along with the Philadelphia mixed team, SEPDA, has been a different experience from playing with them last year, but much is the same. We didn't know quite where we stood going in, but had a much better idea that we were expected to be in the finals. We finished our first day 2-1 again, this time with a 12-9 loss to Atlanta in what could very well be a preview of tomorrow's finals. New England's team has their own ideas as well, we're sure, going 4-0 in the first day, but without playing either Atlanta or Philadelphia, your top 2 seeds, yet.

I-20 vs. SEPDA take 1 was very exciting, but Atlanta's man defense and hucks to Grant were just too much. It was not, however, any weakness of our girls, as Ryan predicted, that cost us much.

Also of note: In Open, New Jersey upsets Denver in pool B, Pittsburgh almost upsets a Seattle team that handled them easily twice last year.
In Girls, Seattle and Oregon still seem destined to play a meaningless last pool play game before a thrilling final. Seattle looks too sick.

-Chris Vanni and his lame update, out

Unbiased YCC Girls Preview!

The girls division of the 2007 Youth Club Championships is rife with storylines and teams with something to prove. The presence of so many 2006 Junior Worlds players doesn't hurt either. The favorites get the top four seeds, but their order is bound to be shuffled, while the bottom three teams look for their chance to cause an upset and burst onto the girls ultimate scene.

Below the fold action...
Seattle earns the number one seed in the tournament, as the defending champions and traditional powerhouse look to remain the only YCC girls winners. Led by junior worlds players Drew Johnson, Alex Snyder, and Fiona McKibben, their deep roster draws largely from Northwest School and Nathan Hale. They will be looking to avenge their losses to Oregon school Churchill at Westerns, as the core of the number four seed has the experience of winning Westerns 15-3 over NWS fresh in their minds. They are joined by former South Eugene captain Julia Sherwood, along with another SEHS player and two from Crescent Valley. Oregon has been in Minnesota for several days already, and they are prepared to defend their title and avenge what appears to be a slight in seeding.

Meanwhile, east coast powerhouse Amherst sends a lot of players to New England, led by junior worlds and Brute Squad player Amber Sinicrope. Like Oregon, the core of their team has the advantage of playing together year-round. But their loss to Seattle at YCC's two years ago, along with their loss at Nationals to the Yale School several years ago, means that the east's dominance in girls ultimate is over. New England will do their best to bring the title to Massachusetts for the first time since Nationals in 2004. But their reliance on Amherst JV girls shows that this is not the strongest team that could come out of the Boston area.

With their own junior worlds and Rare Air stud Brenna Hokanson, Denver is out to prove that their second-place finish and defeat of New England in 2006 was no fluke. They hope to challenge for the title as well, with Box Lunch's Christina Ward adding more club experience to the mix. They beat New England 13-7 in the semifinals last year, in a junior-worlds-affected environment. But without New England's big names returning this year either (besides Amber), Denver is well-poised to repeat in the finals.

Among the other three teams, I can see Cincinnati coming closest to an upset against a team that doesn't take them seriously enough, but ultimately failing and losing a close one to Minnesota. Madison goes winless without the junior worlds studs they've had in the past.

Prediction:
Seattle 6-0
Oregon 5-1
Denver 4-2
New England 3-3
Minnesota 2-4
Cincinnati 1-5
Madison 0-6

Finals: Oregon 13, Seattle 11

The way the brackets work out, Oregon and Seattle could play twice in a row, making their first game meaningless if both go into the game 5-0. If so, I can see Seattle winning that game easily, before Oregon fights hard and reaffirms their Westerns dominance in the finals.

Unbiased Mixed YCC Preview!

At 9 am on Saturday morning in Blaine, seven youth mixed teams from around the country will begin their quest for YCC glory. For three of these teams, they represent the best talent their league has to offer. The other four leagues have bids in both the open and girls divisions, but are still looking to make some noise. It's no surprise that the heavy favorites are the Paideia-heavy Atlanta team I-20 and the Pennsbury-led Philly team SEPDA. Which transportation-based team will reign supreme? If based solely on the merits of their namesakes, Atlanta wins hands down. But this is an ultimate tournament, and there are six guaranteed games for each team.


First Round

Game to Watch: For the neutral fan, the most interesting game of the round looks to be New England vs. Denver, on field 11. This one should be close and back and forth, as the tournament-tested BUDA team takes on Cutthroat, the team from Colorado. Will Cutthroat's coed league experience and improving state strength be able to overcome the players from traditional powerhouse New England? Denver will be relieved to hear that there are no players from Amherst on the roster, and will look for the "upset," but BUDA's pre-YCC tournament experience will lead them through in a close one. Pick: BUDA.

Other games: Seattle d. NEPSUL, Philly d. Minnesota

Second Round

Game to Watch: The second round has a few intriguing matchups, but the most exciting game of the round will be Seattle vs. Minnesota. This is where we'll see if Seattle has the firepower to challenge Philly and Atlanta, or if those two teams are really a cut above the rest. There's been a lot of talk out of Seattle, and their league has proved its depth at Westerns and Spring Reign, while Minnesota has hometown advantage and a large league to draw from as well. But Seattle's depth and mixed experience will reign supreme as they come away with the W. Pick: Seattle.

Other games: New England d. NEPSUL, Atlanta d. Denver

Third Round

Game to Watch: Philly vs. Seattle. This is where SEPDA will get their first test of the tournament, as they come off of their bye to face a presumably 2-0 Seattle team looking for some respect. But they'll run straight into Noah Saul and Carly Maconaghy, who will not allow their team to lose. However, if Seattle can run off a string of points towards the middle of the game, tensions will run high on the SEPDA sidelines and could see the team start to splinter. Pick: Philly.

Other games: New England d. Minnesota, Atlanta d. NEPSUL

Fourth Round

Game to Watch: Here it is, the matchup of the weekend for mixed pool play. Philly vs. Atlanta. In the last game of the day, the two pre-tournament favorites will be battling it out for a win that would guarantee a spot in the finals. The superior depth of the Atlanta girls will make Maconaghy and her Philly counterparts struggle, and I can foresee Atlanta going 3/4 on offense quite a bit. However, SEPDA boys match up well against the Atlanta boys, and only having 3 or 4 of them on the field at a time will help SEPDA more than Atlanta. But Ozone's Alisha Kramer and the rest of the Atlanta women will prove the difference in this game, as they win in a game closer than the scoreline suggests. Pick: Atlanta.

Other games: Denver d. Minnesota, Seattle d. New England

Fifth Round

Game to Watch: On Sunday morning, the dust will have cleared and teams will begin battling for placement instead of the finals. In the Atlanta vs. Seattle game, Seattle has one more chance to clinch a berth in the finals, whereas Atlanta does not want the possibility of deciding the finals on point differential. Atlanta comes out strong and never lets up, crushing Seattle's chances at a medal. Pick: Atlanta.

Other games: Philly d. Denver, Minnesota d. NEPSUL

Sixth Round

Game to Watch: Philly vs. New England stands out in a round of games that don't look close. SEPDA plays exciting ultimate, and with New England looking to play spoiler, the game should be hard-fought until the end. It doesn't mean it will be close, but it will be fun to watch. Pick: Philly.

Other games: Atlanta d. Minnesota, Denver d. NEPSUL

Seventh Round

Game to Watch: Seattle vs. Denver looks to be the pick of this round, as Denver tries to move up in the rankings over a demoralized Seattle team that could come out flat after their bye. Look for this to be the surprise of the weekend. Pick: Denver.

Other games: Philly d. NEPSUL, Atlanta d. New England

Finals (Philly vs. Atlanta)

Players to Watch:
Noah Saul, Mark Dundala, and Scotty Wright (SEPDA, Pennsbury): These three players led Pennsbury to their Easterns win and have been playing a lot this summer both with SEPDA and Roots of Rhythm. They're the stars for the Philly boys, and they can all throw accurate 80-yard hucks.
Carly Maconaghy (SEPDA, CB East): She's the most experienced girl on SEPDA, and she has club nationals experience with Wicked. She's #1 on the line for important points.
George Stubbs, Grant Lindsley, Ollie Honderd (Atlanta, Paideia): These three got the chance to represent the USA last summer, and this summer they're leading Atlanta into the finals. Expect to see them mostly on offense until the finals. Their speed and experience will be their greatest asset, along with George's ridiculous breakmark throws.
Alisha Kramer (Atlanta, Paideia): Playing with Ozone at nationals will allow Alisha to step up and be a star for I-20. She'll throw her body around the field on defense and her speed makes her a threat all day.

Prediction:
Philly comes out strong and well-rested, but the patience and experience of I-20 will help lead them back into the game and over the top. Depth for guys won't matter in this game, but Atlanta's girls will once again prove to be SEPDA's undoing. Atlanta 15, Philly 12.

Coming soon on the blog...

So im finally back from my study abroad program in Rome, if you didnt notice i was gone, all the better.

Pleased to see the discussion still raging, thought id briefly jot out a few things we have upcoming on the blog...

• What you want from the UPA - inspired by recent discussion, a thread will be posted after YCCs asking what you would like from the UPA, specifically as high school players, fans and advocates. After all suggestions have been heard and debated a list (or a few lists) will be put up with polls to decide what our community thinks are the most important things for the UPA to do for youth ultimate. Ill contact them with our findings.
• Also after the YCCs, a big announcement on the site which i have alluded to previously. Lets just say we are expanding and hopefully by September there will be a lot more ultimate content online for you to read about.
• YCCs - the biggest event in the high school scene during the summer, and less than 3 days away. A few previews should be rolling in from contributors with intimate access to teams, and additionally there will be open threads as always to discuss, rank and predict the future.
• A contest on PlayUltimate.us - details to be finalized. Preview though, the user who submits the most stories to PlayUltimate.us (which are rated positively by other users) will take home a prize. Could be, disc(s), DVDs, t-shirts. All details to be finalized later, maybe there will be 1st, 2nd 3rd places, we'll see. In the mean time, try adding a bookmarklet to your firefox, opera, or safari toolbar. It allows you to submit whatever you are currently looking at online PlayUltimate.us with one click.

Other than that, thank you as always for visiting the site and engaging in discussion, I'm looking forward to all the YCC action and happy to be back in the US and the thriving ultimate scene.

-Matt

YCC NEWS: Pittsburg Girls Drop

So, despite the plea for more ladies to join them, the Pittsburgh girls YCC team has dropped. The current plan is to incorporate the same format as the mixed division (round-robin play) and have the top two teams play a second game for the finals...

Needless to say, there will be many disappointed ladies including the few Pittsburgh girls able to attend and their coach Susan Thomas. Many of us are sad that you will not able to make it this year, but hopefully your area will be there in force next year!

Boys Ultimate in the Fall on West Coast?

Here is an interesting question for people interested in West Coast HS ultimate. Should boys ultimate move to the fall?

It is my educated guess that boys ultimate will be in the fall in Seattle starting in fall of 2008.

The problem in Washington is that boys soccer, boys lacrosse, boys track, boys baseball, and for some schools boys tennis are all in the spring. The two main sports in the fall are cross country and football. To top all that off less than half the schools that play ultimate play boys because coed HS ultimate has been around for 10+ years.

The final nail in the coffin for boys ultimate in the spring of 06 came when the state association recently moved class 1A (small but not smallest classification) soccer to the spring. That means that two of the big four ultimate schools, Northwest and Seattle Academy, which are both 1A schools will very likely have soccer in the spring starting in 09. Both those schools are most likely too small to still be able to field ultimate teams. The two bigger schools, Nathan Hale and Lakeside, already play spring soccer.

But clearly this is about more than two small schools. This is about how best to get the sport to grow much much bigger. Here are the upsides:

• For the bigger schools including Seattle public, there would only really be competition with football and cross country.
• There is already a coed MS Seattle Public Schools sponsored league. An open Seattle Public HS league could maybe use those fields right after the MS in exchange for HS players helping coach the MS players. The HS kids would get free game fields and volunteer hours needed for graduation. There could be cross over games versus private and non-Seattle public schools on park fields during the week.
• It is difficult to find HS coaches in spring. UW and other college ultimate players in the area would most likely be able to coach much more in the fall as long as sectionals and regionals don't conflict for adult club.
• There would be more coaches available in the spring because many boys coaches could also coach girls and vice versa.
• The independent schools in the Emerald City 1A league with Northwest and Seattle Academy would be much more likely to make boys ultimate in the fall a varsity sport since they would only have cross country and are not likely to add football.
• BC is rumored to want to add boys ultimate. They have a well organized spring coed league. This would not conflict.
• If boys want to play coed in the spring and there are significantly more boys playing ultimate then there would have to be significantly more girls playing. As soon as a school has enough girls for two coed teams they have enough for a girls team. Girls games could happen on diferent days than coed leagues.
• Boys State would be in the fall.

Here are the big questions:

• Would BC, Oregon, and California have boys ultimate in the fall?
• Would Colorado add a boys in the fall?
• Would the UPA move Westerns to the fall for boys? Could we get fields in California for Westerns?
• What would happen with the Minnesota schools? They are a great part of westerns?

What do people think? Is this the way to best grow the sport?

-Mike

Youth Club Champs 2007

So let's hear it -- What do you have to say about the upcoming Youth Club Champs?

Comment away!

Summer reading assignments (blogs and other ultimate necessities)

So school is done, you dont have homework and you can finally focus your studies to what matters most... ultimate. Below is what id like to call the summer reading list for 2007, a collection of blogs, books, and other websites that should more than satiate that appetite for ultimate knowledge and fill those extra hours of free time.

Blogs

• Parinella - author of UTT reflections on strategy and history of game
  
• George Cooke - thoughts on coaching college and playing club
  
• Process of Illumination - snarky and often humorous comments on college and club ultimate from former hodags
• PlayUltimate - high school ultimate news and commentary
  
• The Pulse - college and club ultimate commentary by contributor Ryan
• Great moments are born from great opportunities - ultimate reflections by contributor Jay
  
• The Weather is Better up Here - well-researched thoughts from a retired college player and current club player
• You didnt hear it from me but... - rarely updated, but great source for some stories from ultimate tournaments of yesteryear from one of the best players in the game (this one is good)
  

Books

• Ultimate Techniques and Tactics by Jim Parinella, the bible for ultimate players
  
• Ultimate: the first four decades - ultimate history book

Training resources

• Air Alert III
  

Good sites in general

• PlayUltimate.us - the MOST up to date, user-driven ultimate news site on the internet. YOU can submit anything ultimate-related you want here (and please do!)
  
• Ultimate Handbook - great place for the absolute basics of ultimate strategy, after you get through all of this buy Ultimate Techniques and Tactics

There are a ton of other links scattered around the site, predominantly on the right hand sidebar. The archives are gradually becoming a wealth of high school ultimate information (and are easily seachable!), and all the videos are great if you want a respite from reading.

Feel free to add to this list, post anything you think is an absolute must read during the "off-season"

(ps - an apology for not posting more regularly as of late, i am currently in rome on a study abroad trip, i will be back in august right before the YCC with more frequent posting)

The roster for the BUDA YCC Mixed Team, "Just BUDA", has been set. There are 19 players on the roster from 11 schools spanning four states.

The team is led by head coach Josh Seamon and assistant coaches Bryan Galante and David Friedman.

So far the team has run two 6 hour tryouts, played in the Easterns Open Division at the Boston Invite, and played in a Juniors Round Robin. The team lost all 6 of their games in the Boston Invite, but managed to score 3,4,3,8,9, and 8 goals in their 6 games against open teams. At the Junior's Round Robin on 7/7 Just BUDA defeated the NEPSUL YCC Mixed team 15-2 and a junior mixed team from Sherbrooke Canada 15-3.

There are currently three team photo galleries online: Tryout #2, The Boston Invite, and the Juniors Round Robin.

The team will be playing in two more tournaments before the Youth Club Champs. The team will travel to Scotia, NY for the 23rd Annual Ow My Knee on 7/21-22 and to Hingham, MA on 8/4-5 for the 20th Annual Hingham Invite.

Churchill HS Westerns 2005 HL

The 2005 Western Championships are long over, but after nearly 2 years of collecting dust, I finally got the tapes on to my computer and edited the footage. The quality is nothing like we're able to do now, but I hope people still enjoy it. My players had been asking for it for a long time, and finally it is done.

Westerns 2005 Open HL - itunes version (.mp4 640x360 96.8MB)
Westerns 2005 Open HL - web version (.mov 640x360 92.4MB)
Westerns 2005 Open HL - google
Westerns 2005 Open HL - youtube
Westerns 2005 Girls HL - itunes version (.mp4 640x360 20.1MB)
Westerns 2005 Girls HL - web version (.mov 640x360 19.2MB)
Westerns 2005 Girls HL - google
Westerns 2005 Girls HL - youtube

Churchill HS Mixed OHSUC HL Video

Hate us or love us, we put out a lot of highlight videos during the ultimate seasons. Our last ones just got completed.

As a bit of a preview, the two highlight videos going online are from OHSUC (Oregon High School Ultimate Championship), our mixed division state tournament on May 28/29. This year Churchill attended with 3 teams (Varsity, JV, and our beloved Freshmen). Also at the tournament was EMU (Eugene Middleschool Ultimate), who was also filmed (since I still had not returned the second HD camera we got for Westerns, which was how we were able to get HD footage of both our Open & Girls teams).
Anyways, back to OHSUC that happened the weekend right after Westerns. OHSUC was a bit of a different tournament than the highly competitive and serious nature of the weekend before. And as such, we took the tournament a bit less serious, especially our varsity team comprised of seniors who nearly spent more time recording inbetween footage than actual game play... The second video brings together footage from both the JV and Freshmen teams.

OHSUC 2007:
Varsity/EMU HL - (ipod version) / (web version) / (google) / (youtube)
JV/Freshman HL - (ipod version) / (web version) / (google) / (youtube)

PlayUltimate Contributor - Ryan Thompson

Name: Ryan Thompson
High School Team: Columbia HS
College Team: Stanford Bloodthirsty
YCC Team: Garden State (NJ)
Club Team: Brooklyn
Currently Living: Maplewood, NJ
Website: http://ultimatepulse.blogspot.com
Years Playing: ~5 (spring 2003)
First Heard of Ultimate: Middle school/Club day freshman year
Ultimate Accomplishments: Finishing 2nd at Easterns junior year, making Bloodthirsty
Favorite Tournaments: Easterns, Paideia Cup, Kaimana Klassik, College Nationals
Favorite Game: 14-13 loss to Pennsbury at Easterns last year - it was an incredible battle and both teams laid it all on the line during universe point.
Mentors/Role Models: Ed Frowley (capt. freshman year), Anthony Nunez (high school coach), Mark Sherwood (capt. freshman year of college), Jit Bhattacharya (D coach in college)
Ultimate Quote: "The strong take from the weak and the smart take from the strong" - Pete Carril

My posts on PlayUltimate will mainly be focused on the NJ YCC team, reports about the upcoming NJHSU season, and the general development of youth ultimate. And while I would like to see a lot more reporting about tournaments, I recognize that I'm not in a position to attend very many juniors tournaments, which is part of the reason that the score reporter and players writeups matter so much. However, I will do my best to provide PlayUltimate and the youth ultimate community with quality and poignant reporting and articles.

New contributor!!

Thank you to all who applied during this round of contributor applications. For those not selected we will have another round of applications during the end of August, the process will be identical.

But here and now, we'd like to congratulate and welcome Ryan Thompson as a contributor to PlayUltimate.

Ryan has been an active commenter over the past year+, and has been writing on his personal blog for the past few weeks on all different aspects of ultimate.

Ryan played for Columbia HS in NJ, but currently splits his time between the Jersey YCC team and Stanford's Bloodthirsty.

Feel free to welcome him here, within the next few days he will put up a bio post and then regular posts after that.

So congratulations!