3595 E. Fountain Blvd . J2 Colorado Springs, CO 80910 800-UPA GETH • 719-591-1168 • info@upa.org Executive Director Joey Gray • ed@upa .org Assistant Director Joe Gorman joe.gorman@upa.org Assistant Director Will Deaver will .deaver@upa.org Open Director David Raflo 703-807-1934 • upa_nod@upa.org Women's Director OPEN upa_nwd@upa.org National Co-ed Director Jen Christianson 770-594-9562 • upa_coed_champ_dir@upa.org Masters Director Pete Giusti
Letters t:o t:h e Ed it:o r
upa_nmd@upa.org National College Director Lyn Debevoise upa_ncd@upa .org National Juniors Director Michael Baccarini 404-370-1404 • upa_njd@upa .org Co-ed Co-directors for Celebration Series Bill & Julie Capossere 716-224-1852 • upa_celeb_series@upa.org Alumni Relations Steve Mooney 617-323-2332 • upa_alumni@upa .org Innovation Grants Angelo Artemakis 773-227-5583 • upa_grants@upa.org
UPA BOARD MEMBERS: President Jim Parinella • jim .parinella@upa.org Vice Pres. Joe Studholme • joe.studholme@upa.org Treasurer Matt Healey • matt.healey@upa.org Secretary Lynne Nolan • lynne.nolan@upa .org Members: Jennifer Donnelly jennifer.donnelly@upa.org Mary Hagler mary.hagler@upa.org Tim Murray (C) tim.murray@upa.org Kurt Dahlenburg (S) kurt.dahlenburg@upa.org Bill Layden (NW) bill.layden@upa .org Dave Remucal (NE) dave.remucal@upa.org Vinnie Shelton vinnie.shelton@upa .org Henry Thorne henry.thorne@upa.org New Members listed on page 6
REGIONAL COORDINATORS: Central Open Mike LaScola 618-893-2712 • upa_central_rc@upa.org Central Women DeAnna Ball upa_central_wrc@upa.org Central Masters Alexander Dee upa_central_mrc@upa.org Mid-Atlantic Open AJ lwaszko 703-533-8325 upa_ma_rc@upa.org Mid-Atlantic Women Melissa lwaszko 703-289-1793 • upa_ma_wrc@upa.org Mid-Atlantic Masters Craig Murray upa_ma_mrc@upa.org Northeast Open AI lwaszko 703-533-8325 • upa_ne_rc@upa.org Northeast Women Lori Parham 617-868-5132 • upa_ne_wrc@upa.org Northeast Masters George Cooke upa_ne_mrc@upa.org Northwest Open Chad Walters 650-969-0868 • upa_nw_rc@upa.org Northwest Women Sandy Angelos 415-221-2014 • upa_nw_wrc@upa.org Northwest Masters Baird Johnson 206-329-7422 upa_nw_mrc@upa.org
Dear Editor, Great newsletter - huge number of great pictures (I still have to read most of the text). I kept looking for a form for joining UPA, what the dues are and what my (sort of membership) dues are, and haven't found it yet. My address label says an expiration date, next December, but I don't remember what my dues are, and I don't remember what is the best way to send them. And, am I a voting member? I shouldn' t think so. I think players' parents, their other family members, and very interested friends are an untapped source of revenue for the UPA and word-spreading for the sport in general. It might be a good idea to print a membership/ renewal form on page 2 along with the letters to the editor and directors, etc. lists. Lots of full members who are so personally involved in the sport could be encouraged to give auxiliary memberships (or whatever they are called) to their parents, grandparents or other very interested people, at once being a good gift to give and helping explain Ultimate to the non-playing world. I'll show my newsletter to some folks, and I think 'most everyone else would, too. -A Mom
Southwest Open Alex Bellows 303-402-6721 • upa_sw_rc@upa.org Southwest Women Rachel Nobel 213-740-5546 • upa_sw_crc@upa.org Southwest Masters Jon Shepard upa_sw_mrc@upa.org
NEWSLETTER STAFF Editor-in-Chief OPEN Editor Carrie Simison • upa_newsletter@upa.org
Graphic Design Cathy Maykut upa_newsletter@upa.org Editorial: All submissions must be typed double-space and/or on a 3-1 /2. disk in RTF format. Email your submissions to upa_newsletter@upa.org Submit full name, address, and phone. All editorial submissions become the property of the UPA.
Photographs: Labeled prints and/or digital scans, black and white or color photos are acceptable. Please include all information on the back of each photo: Subject, event (ie Women's Nationals, etc) & name of photographer. Email photos as a jpeg of at least 300dpi to upa_newsletter@upa.org. Published photos become property of the UPA, unused photos will be returned upon request if accompanied with a SASE.
Ultimate Players Association
Winter 2001
Hello! Just received the Fall 2000 newsletter and opened it to the first page, "Letters to the Editor." Low and behold, to my great surprise the first letter is from a high-school friend I haven't heard from in a few years. Do you think you could forward Kyric Avery's e-mail address, or if there are confidentiality problems could you forward her mine? Thanks so much! I haven't looked at the rest of the newsletter yet but it looks good so far! - Cheers, Jesse
[Dear Jesse: While we do not give out members' contact info, we are more than happy to attempt to forward messages from UPA members to other "long lost" members whenever possible. - ed]
CORRECTIONS
To the Editor: I had to respond to the article in the UPA Newsletter regarding changes to the membership schedule. I understand that the current system is a burden and requires a great deal of time spent looking up people's term of membership. While a change needs to be made, the system in the article would be detrimental to college teams. Many students who join college teams do so in September or even October. Asking them to pay for a full year's membership that will expire in December is unfair. Some students may even decide to wait until the next semester to join, and then lose interest or become involved with other things in the mean time, and we would lose
Spear's Spirit of the Game Award for this year's Co-ed Nationals goes to Alexander Hartwiger. Pigs in Space SOTG Award goes to Hon e. Bear The Co-ed cover photo in the last edition was by Sara Rubinstein, Spear's Mel Ditz vs. Trigger Hippy's Julie Keck. We apologize to Masters Director Pete Giusti for missing his article last time.
Next Deadline: February 15, 2001
2
Hola: In your spring issue (I think!) you helped us out and published the dates for our Tournament in Mexico. There it mentioned a deadline in October. We were able to push back the deadline for the hotel. Can you make a note and inform people that they still can sign up! WE NEED YOUR HELP:-) http://www.discovolador.com/fiesta200 1 -Fernando Najera AMEDIVO Fnajera@ conversens.com
[Dear Mom- Great ideas! About renewing your membership, we will start sending renewal notices starting this month. You should receive a notice near your expiration
South Open Carl Parsons 214-358-4768 • upa_south_rc@upa.org South Women Leigh Gorman 512-708-0169 upa_south_wrc@upa.org South Masters J .R. Reynolds 912-356-1215 upa_south_mrc@upa.org
date. There is a great website for Ultimate parents, hosted by Condor Dad Joe Seidler at wwwseidler comjultimatejparents]
Letters to the Editor
their participation forever. Maybe only a few would do this, but it would still happen. It makes much more sense to make college memberships match the academic year. Most college teams spend the year building up to the College Series in April and May. If the current system needs to be changed, it would be better to make all college memberships expire in May instead of September. -Greg Seibel
[Dear Greg: Member expiration dates have been tied to a spring/fall championship schedule- Feb 28 and Aug 37, with a year being 8-74 months. Many people are confused, especially newer members, anyone out for a season, and sanctioned league & tournament players who never play in the series. Another problem has been that the cycles didn't match the fiscal year (Jan 7 to Dec 37), making it harder to plan. By shifting most member processing to the off-season, we expect to improve accuracy We also think handling most memberships during the offseason will allow more focus on quality events, reporting, marketing, and player services during the season. Hopefully it will be easier for players, too - dues will come up at the time you pay the least for tournaments, travel, uniforms and cleats. The idea is to shift to a universal Dec 37 expiration date, like many membership organizations. When we're bigger; we may want a monthly rolling cycle based on when you start. But we are still too small to repeat activities 72 times a year that can be done once. Improved online services will also help. Two issues with the proposed change are 7) the initial transition, and 2) /ate-in-the-calendar year joining like Greg points out. This topic will be discussed at the Annual Meeting in January Please send comments to upa_board@upa.org] To the Editor: This letter is in response to the Women's division coverage of the 1999 UPA National Championships held in San Diego, California. Most of the articles from past National events written by the UPA administration or tournament staff were often opinionated and filled with inaccuracies. However, one could attribute the inaccuracies to the number of tasks an over-worked volunteer is expected to accomplish. By hir-
Continued on page 6
PLAYERS ASSOCIATION Winter 2001
Vol. 22 No.4
54
Rules
Here it is, the long awaited draft for discussion
National Championship Photos
22
Photos from Womens, Masters and Open
women's Nationals is back!
Masters Nationals Keg Workers vs Pond Scum
Cindy Fisher A look back on the career of a UPA mainstay
Santa Barbara Condors A team profile and beyond
DoG Playing DoG.
~ith
Player Opinions
More Worlds
Get the scoop on ~hat the membership is saying
Continued coverage of the World Ultimate Championships from Heilbronn, Germany.
8
Open Nationals Condors soar
Ask the Rules Guy
~
2000 The UPA Newsletter, Vol. 20 Issue 4, Winter 2001. The UPA Newsletter is the official quarterly publication of the Ultimate Players Association. The UPA Newsletter relies on member contributions for its content. Subscription Information The UPA Newsletter is free to all UPA members. Single copy cost is $3. Membership rates per year: $30 U.S., $20 student and $15 junior. Send to UPA, 3595 E. Fountain Blvd., Suite J2, Colorado Springs, CO 80910. Change of Address: The UPA Newsletter is mailed bulk rate and is not forwarded. To change your address: email info@upa.org, or mail: 3595 E. Fountain Blvd., Suite J2, Colorado Springs, CO 80910 or call 1-800-UPA-GetH.
Table of Contents
Winter 2001
www.upa. org
3
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
THE PARABLE OF THE PHONE LINES
Joey Gray
Today's big accomplishment was installing new phones at UPA Headquarters. Nowhere near as exciting as the Condor's huge win, I know. It's just one more step towards the UPA meeting your expectations - we can now use the * and # keys! We now know which of 4 lines go to the modem, fax and voice. We can use multiple lines from all the live jacks and know which of the jacks are simply wall decorations. Best, the numbers for each live jack are written down so the next person won't have to start from scratch. I also now know that for a year, we paid for a sth line that was never in use. So I embarked upon a maze of voice mail to request a $600 credit. Well, we'll see. At least the re-wiring guy worked in exchange for the old phones to use as parts. Consider the phone example a microcosm of this year at the UPA. This minor project was started in January - one of the first things I did was crawl around to figure out the phone and network, making several calls to
written, an annual meeting host not yet confirmed, the actual fall nationals budget not finalized, the new formats committee not assembled, some checks not deposited, this newsletter article not done ... But my shoulders are lighter because one small tidbit, a foundation of better communication and a faster network, is better today than yesterday. Did you catch it? The key to the parable is, "written down so the next person won't have to start from scratch". The UPA is a bunch of players, just like you and me, who love Ultimate, love to be outside, get so fired up to make something happen, move away, get a great job, a new boyfriend, girlfriend or a kid. And somewhere, there is a basement, a box of papers, a bunch of emails in a folder on a computer that becomes obsolete, a group of friends who have it all in their heads, getting more jumbled with time. It's not about the phone system, it's about your UPA evolving bit by bit, so two phone companies and the landlord • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • any decision can be made by the along the way. Of course, the seasons appropriate people, with enough inforstarted, everything hit the fan and mation, at the appropriate time - withwhy did it take so long to get it fixed? today it's November. It wouldn't be fixed yet, if I decided to out having to re-create "how decisions finish any of a hundred other overdue How could a national office phone are made" every step along the way. We're almost there. Thanks for your tasks instead. There are unanswered emails - some from people I don't patience and thanks for your support. Every player getting this newsletter know, others from my very good friends who must think I dropped off has helped the sport by joining - so the face of the earth. Hi Hass! There remember to renew, and remind your friends, too. are receipts not yet written, merchandise not sent out, a business plan not
The UPA serves as the governing body of the sport of Ultimate in the USA: • To promote and support the sport of Ultimate • To preserve the integrity of Ultimate including Spirit of the Came • To serve the needs of the players • To provide a framework for organizing and conducting competition and other activities related to Ultimate.
4
Ultimate Players Association
Winter 2001
system not have a usable * or#%$! key, you ask? Well, now I know, and it made little sense to me, either, before I put in some time to figure it out. And
Executive Director
Consider this
phone example a microcosm
of this year at the UPA.
LC>C>KING FOR A TAX DEDUCilC>N?
CoNSIDER Tl--IE In the last issue, you may have seen my appeal for your charitable donation to the UPA this year. Thanks to Gaia-Ultimate Gear, a standard has been set! This startup company donated $5,000 US to the UPA for Ultimate development. Not sponsorship, no strings attached, this funding helps your UPA go the extra mile. Because of this donation, you will be able to
UPA
get the highest quality video production of Fall Nationals. We were sure it wouldn't happen. We could not have done this without outside support. There is so much more we can do. Help Ultimate get there. Individual and corporate donations welcome. The UPA is a registered 501(c)3, incorporated in the State of Colorado. Donations are taxdeductible. See page 19.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR REPORT
Joe Gorman
It still amazes me about how some people are still not aware of how their UPA works. A perfect example occurred the Friday before the last weekend of Regionals. I am trying to get all the rosters for regional teams organized to send to the respective RCs for that weekend. While trying to get out of the office by 3 so I can make the 12 hour drive to play in my own Regionals, a person called up and started loudly complaining about how the size wildcards are selected. I end up listening to about a half an hour of somebody complaining about something that isn't going to change the day before most of the Regionals are taking place. Sure part of it was my fault, because I tried to get into a theoretical debate about the size wildcard selection process. Plus it is great to hear from Ultimate players that are fired up about improving the aspects of Ultimate. Then this person proceeded to tell me that they were an Ultimate player and could come up with a better way of deciding wildcards. That was when the light bulb goes off in my head, because this per-
TAKE NOTICE Learn Your Member Number Over the next year we want to phase out the use of SSNs if possible. Learn your UPA Member Number, it is on your label. For now, still use your SSN when renewing- especially if there is any chance another member has the same name. The person with the following member number will receive a $25 Gift Certificate for Ultimate Stuff if they write info@upa.org to claim it before the next newsletter deadline, Feb 15. This issue's winner is# 23162.
Update your address! If you move or are not receiving your newsletter, especially COLLEGE STUDENTS, please write info@upa.org or calll-800-UPA-GET-H to keep us upto-date.
Keeping up There are a few important topics
that, despite their significance, did not make it in time for this issue to go to press. They include: World Games Update and Coed Timing Issue. Both will be available at upa.org, probably by the time you get this (unless I get sick from the all nighters). Will's arrival at HQ should get us back up to speed, it has been a long 3 months with only 2 staffers. I am especially happy the long awaited financial information (1999 Audit) and lOth Edition Draft for Discussion are available in this issue. These are long-standing UPA goals and meant some other, equally important topics didn't get in. There will be a separate mailing with a questionnaire, including Series Timing. See the web page for our official on-line poll about Coed/Open/Women's division timing. -Joey
son didn't understand this was totally in their power and they didn't need anything from HQ. They just wanted to vent, and you can call us for free so why not. If the problem you see with the UPA is not something solved simply, but a problem within the infrastructure or how a major event, such as the UPA championship series, is run, then put together another option and let a board member know about it. Every January there is a board meeting to decide major changes within your organization. A great way to help your organization is to be aware of this and present a board member with a well thought out alternative to the current system. This doesn't mean tell your board members we should redraw the sectional boundaries, but sit down with a map and redraw them yourself. Not only will you be able to see how hard it is to be fair to everybody with something like this, but you also may offer a new insight that maybe wasn't seen before. By being involved in creating a proposal or idea that the board considers, you allow them to have a clearer idea of what the membership wants in their organization. Even if your idea isn't adopted, it will allow the board to have a well-rounded view of the entire Ulti-
NEVV
mate community. If every player got a little more involved, to paraphrase the Doctor of kid's books, "Oh the places Ultimate would go." I mean the volunteers who help keep the Championship series running by volunteering as SC, RC, or even as a National Director are such important volunteers. That doesn't mean there isn't something that everybody couldn't contribute to the sport. It doesn't even have to be big thing, like redrawing sectional boundaries or a report on why and where Co-ed should be placed in the championship schedule. It can be something as simple as walking around after your next local tourney picking up cones. Besides with the proper beverage, this is a great way to carbo-load for the next day and helps prevent the lactic acid from building up in your system. Yet it is still one less thing that the tourney director has to worry about (unless you put the cones in your car and don't play on Sunday ... ). Enough with the hippie-feel-good stuff, but if everybody who came up with an idea did something concrete, this sport would blow up. Which is good for all players. Better grass-roots Ultimate means better competitive Ultimate. Better competitive Ultimate means better grass-roots Ultimate. It is so simple.
SIAFF
We are exceptionally happy to announce that Will Deaver of Athens, GA will be coming to UPA Headquarters as the newest Assistant Director. As a college coach, captain of Atlanta's Chain, tournament director, league co-coordinator, rules activist and more, Will brings a wealth of experience to the UPA. You can reach him at will.deaver@upa.org. Will's duties will include many of the championship activities that Joey managed for the last year, allowing her to take on more of an executive role, developing new programs, more outreach and strategic planning.
Assistant Directors
Will Deaver
Winter 2001
www.upa. org
5
BOARD OF DIRECTORS ELECTION RESULTS
Congratulations to our new board members and thanks to everyone who voted. A few current members wrote in to say they couldn' t vote online, mostly because the voter's name had to match EXACTLY with what's in the database (same as newsletter label). For example, if you' re Matt but we have you listed as Matthew because that's what your roster said the first time you joined, then you'd have to vote as Matthew. Thanks also to Bharat Medina and everyone who helped set up the online voting.
At large (2 votes per member) *** Jim Parinella 394 *** Kate Bergeron 327 Joanne Adamkewicz 157 Mike LaScola 117 Mark Brehob 52
Southwest *** Dan Revelle 47 Richard Hart 26
Holly Wright 19 Jonathan Shepard 11
Mid-Atlantic (Recounted) ***Paul Bonfanti 63 Tracy Berg 59 Rich Franck 34 Wendy Richardson 21 Steven Paul 18 • We waited 10 days for ballots postmarked on time to arrive. None came in after that. • One late-postmarked ballot was received and was counted because it came from Hawaii and the voter included a plea about how their newsletter arrived the day ballots were due. If this person's vote would have been the deciding vote on a race, this issue would have been discussed at length, with perhaps a different outcome. In the future, it will be made clear ahead of time whether late ballots should ever be considered.
Letters continued from page ing a reporting staff rather than relying on volunteers, the UPA would be indicating that they are working towards providing more thorough coverage of the National Championships. This year (99), the reporting staff, consisting solely of Tony Leonardo, did a good job trying to cover a field of 23 teams (women's and men's). In the future, it may benefit the Ultimate community to incorporate 'full ' coverage of all teams participating in the event. It would have been enjoyable to read the history and comments from some of the other teams. This would also provide a look at the next generation of individual players and teams climbing the latter. Publishing an article previous to the Fall Series (written by a hired reporter or in combination with the Regional Coordinators) pointing out to players to look for, team dynamics and other trivia may create more interest in the series as well. On another note, the angle that Tony decided to take on his article was somewhat of a mixed bag. Focusing on a particular ' spokesperson' may have its advantages, but there are plenty of play-
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Ultimate Players Association
Winter 2001
• Some people tried to vote online and couldn' t because their name had to be exactly as in the database or some other reason. We allowed these people to email or fax their ballots with permission after the deadline because we weren ' t always able to get back to them immediately. The only way we can learn about errors is if you tell us. Many thanks to those who wrote in with corrections. • One mailed-in ballot had two MA candidates marked, so that part of that ballot was invalid. • All MA mailed-in ballots were checked to see if the person voted online, too. None had voted twice. • Non-MA ballots were not checked for duplication because the other races were not close and the online tallies were proportionate to the mailed-in tallies. We did notice one non-MA duplicate, so that person's vote was only counted once. • Two ballots were mailed in with no
name or number written in where it says in bold, "You must include your last name and member number or SSN for your vote to be valid". Neither of these ballots was counted. • A total of 615 members voted, 540 online and 75 mailed (oremailed/faxed/phoned with permission). • There was an important discussion among HQ staff, Board members and former Board members about election mechanics after the election was underway. This year's format was different than in the past few years, where regional candidates were automatically up for an at large spot at the same time. It was determined that the election mechanics are not spelled out either way, that a detailed election procedure must be approved before next year' s election and that this year's election would be valid as is. Note that incumbent Jim Parinella did not participate in this decision.
2
ers on our team that have great things to say. Other players from our team were interviewed, but for some reason that was not relayed within the article. Schwa's team makeup is much more than one or two players input throughout the year. -Tracy Satterfield
[Dear Tracy: The UPA is always looking for reporters! This year; we chose to put our media time and resources into making sure the Above & Beyond crew would film. The result is top-notch videos, and on-time Nationals reports with less color I hope you enjoy this issue's special additions by DoC player Ted Munter; Condors founder Tom Kennedy, and various Player Opinion pieces regarding observers. It is still /00% up to players to provide Newsletter content. See page 52 for the 7999 audit which helps explain why By the way, next year there should be more focus on Women, as 2007 will be the 20th anniversary of the UPA Women's Ultimate Championships! If the budget permits, we may be able to fund extra writing for this or any topic. In any case, to submit an article, opinion or photos for the UPA Newsletter just write upa_newsletter@upa.org.]
IN MEMORY OF JANNE It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that Janne Granberg died on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2000 in a small plane crash returning from Mammoth Lakes. Janne was a good friend to many of us here and he will be greatly missed. A funeral will most likely be held in Sweden, where his family resides. I have known Janne for the last 5 years. His positive attitude about life and work made him a real joy to work with. He was a fun person to be around as well as being a great co-worker. I know you as his friends and coworkers also have high regard for him
personally and technically. Janne was very well known among fellow Utimate players here in Cupertino and in Santa Cruz where he lived & played. It's a shock for all of us.
-Mike Krug
COLLEGE DIRECTOR by Lyn Debevoise By any measure, college Ultimate has made remarkable progress in the last few years. The number of teams, as measured by inclusion in the UPA Rankings, has nearly doubled in both divisions since 1995. The innovative Callahan Rulessomewhat controversial when implemented -are wildly popular with players and have transformed the College Open division into one of the best spectator sports going. Much credit is due Kate Bergeron Gull, the outgoing National College Director, and it will certainly be a challenge to improve upon her legacy. To give a sense of the experience that I
bring to the position: I started playing Ultimate as an undergraduate at Williams College. I now live in Boston, where I work in the software industry and play for Death or Glory. My most recent foray into the College division was as a coach of Brown University last spring. Some specific short-term goals that I have for the division are to move rostering online (this year or next, depending on feasibility); address the issue of using XRules in the Women's division; and improve publicity and coverage of the nationals series, both within and outside of the community. I would like to announce
the site of Nationals a year or more in advance (this year, I'll settle for December) and do a better job of documenting the tournament on film. From a larger perspective, I would like the UPA to continue making improvements to the nationals series, while devoting more resources to the teams that don't advance that far. It is important for fledgling teams to feel that it is worth joining the UPA, even if their Nationals series experiences consist of little more than two lopsided losses. Of course, these financial resources do not currently exist, so a great effort to find new revenue streams (read: sponsor-
ship) is necessary. I am excited about the future of the College division, and I hope that UPA members will do what they can to help out, be it serving as a regional or sectional coordinator, training to be an observer, or even just going to spectate at College tournaments. As far as volunteer opportunities go, there will be many, so if interested feel free to contact me at upa_ncd@upa.org or stay tuned to the UPA Web site, rec.sport.disc and upcoming newsletters for information. - Lyn Debevoise <upa_ncd@upa.org>
DIRECTOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS
by Steve Moonee
THE ULTIIVIATE CONNECTION Once you have had the experience of playing Ultimate, it is one of those rare things that is impossible to forget. That doesn't mean that all who play a pick-up game become fanatics who play into their fifties, but it does mean that long after receiving our last pull, we remember its joy. I expect that many players would love the opportunity to reconnect with former teammates and the sport itself. With your help, I would like to begin to build an alumni association comprised of the many players and teams who fondly
remember Ultimate for its unique spirit, its incredible network of friends, and its competitive nature. At first, this association will be nothing more than a group of people loosely connected to the growing world Ultimate. I expect that many alumni will not be current UPA members since they may no longer compete in the various championship series. And that's fine. In time, the alumni base could grow to be more like our university alumni associations, with reunions, mentoring opportunities, career networking and charity fund
raising. But there is also an opportunity here to utilize the power of numbers to do outreach such as coaching programs, summer camps and educational programs for kids and people at all levels of the sport. The only way that we can do this is with your help, starting from the ground up. Let's start small and find out who's out there. We ask that you to join or create alumni team lists. We would like to encourage individuals to reconnect with past teammates by joining existing e-lists or starting new ones by
either using services like Egroups.com or by contacting their colleges and universities. STEP ONE is joining or getting a list together. STEP TWO is telling us about it. Please send us any e-lists that you are currently a part to: upa alumni@upa.org If you know of other alumni lists, please forward their addresses to us. At this time, we are simply creating a list of lists. In time we will work on the other ideas. -Steve Moonee Diredor of Alumni Relations upa_alumni@upa.org
ANNUAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS IVIEETING - IVILK VVEEKEND SAT JAN 13TH - SuN JAN 14TH , 2001 The UPA Board of Directors will meet, as in the past, on Martin Luther King weekend, the three-day weekend in mid-January. The agenda and a list of submitted proposals will be available at www.upa.org. In accordance with the bylaws, the annual memebers meeting will be held in conjunction with the board meeting. At press time, the location is not final. We are comparing costs and factors like meeting space, travel distance, weather, and local community involvement between three possible sites: Savannah, GA (TUSK Camp), Colorado Springs (UPA HQ) and a major airport hub like
Atlanta, Dallas or Phoenix where the meetings have been held in the past. The location will be posted as soon as the proper research is complete. The agenda will be set by the President, Jim Parinella. UPA members are invited to attend. UPA members may also make proposals to the Board in time for the meeting or at any time. The more attention you would like your proposal to get, the earlier you will turn it in. Review of proposals turned in after January lOth is not guaranteed. Proposals considered by the Board to be administrative in nature will be passed on to the Executive Director and the fulltime staff. Many of the types of proposals that have been turned in to the Board in
the past are to be handled by HQ now, as the Board puts more emphasis on strategic planning, long-term issues and financial responsibility. If you have an idea and would like to make a proposal, we strongly suggest that you talk with your regional representative, President Jim Parinella or Executive Director Joey Gray. Authors of successful initiatives usually do quite a bit of homework and re-drafting before submitting a final proposal. Sometimes, no proposal is needed, you just need to pick up the phone and talk to Headquarters about your idea. Members may also submit budget requests. Send budget requests for 2001 to info@upa.org by December 31 or
Director Reports
sooner. Member budget requests for 2002 will be due by Sept 30. If your ultimate community would like to host the 2002 UPA annual meeting, please contact UPA Headquarters at info@upa.org or 800-UPA-GET-H by March 30. Minimum requirements for 2002: comfortable conference room with rectangle tables, VCR, Internet connection; proximity to major airport; inexpensive room & board; playing field nearby; food nearby. Hotels are obviously perfect, but if there is a significantly less expensive option we will consider it, especially if that increases interaction with a local ultimate community. See page 2 for the Board list.
Winter 2001
www.upa. org
7
Ask the Rules Ciuy! Please send your rules questions to: "upa_rules_guy@ up a. org"
PULLS AND FOOT BLOCKS DISECTED This issue I look at two unrelated questions. The first one relates to some wording regarding the playing of the pull, sent in by an alert reader.
Team "A" pulls. The pull is one of those big inside out backhands that go way out of bounds and eventually (hopefully) come back in bounds in the other team's end zone. The disc is still in the air, and it looks like it will barely land in. But before it lands, someone on the receiving team runs out of bounds and catches it out of bounds. So the question: where does he check the disc in? I always thought that if you catch the pull OB, you are obliged to go to the nearest point on the "playing field proper" and then put the disc in play there. But here's what the rules say: VIII.3.H: <••• > If the throw-off is caught out-of-bounds, it is put into play as described in Section IX. 7 (OUT-OF-BOUNDS). IX.7: To start or restart play after the disc has gone out-of-bounds, a member of the team gaining possession of the disc must carry the disc to the point of the playing field proper nearest where the disc last crossed the perimeter line, and put the disc into play at that point. Does this mean that the receiving team gets to bring the pull all the way back upfield to the point where the pull first went out of bounds? Even though the pull would have probably landed in? [Tom Bok, WSL Allstars]
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Hey, I'm usually the one doing the quoting of rules! Yes Tom, you have correctly identified an error in the
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rules. I write "error" because although the 9th Edition Rules indicate playing the caught OB disc where it last crossed the perimeter line, in fact it is always played nearest to where the player caught it. We have recently rewritten Section IX in its entirety and corrected this (as well as other things), but those revisions have not yet made it out to the membership. However, you can' t go out and start playing the rule as written, at least not at most tournaments, and here's why. UPA Series tourneys and most other tourneys now use the new pull rules (see http://www.upa.org/pull.txt) which supercede certain areas of the 9th Edition. We knew about this problem when we wrote those pull rules, so were careful to include the following line: 3. If the pull is caught, the disc must be put into play at the point on the playing field nearest where the disc was caught. This corrects the anomaly in the 9th Edition you have pointed out. These "new" pull rules have been used at all UPA Series tournaments for the last several years, are common at most other tournaments, and will likely be incorporated as part of the official rules at the next opportunity.
I know "foot blocks" are sometimes banned from play because of the possibility of thrower hand mJunes, but it seems to be addressed on a tourney-by-tourney basis. Is it the same for Sectionals, Nationals? Does the UPA have a position on this? I am used to reading it in tourney rules of Co-ed tourneys that I've played in the last few years (" 4/3, Callahan, 10 yard brick, 2 timeouts, mirror half, no foot blocks" is the rendition I am used to). I don't remember whether UPA imposes it during UPA organized events. [Sam Emery]
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Ask the Rules Guy
This comes up from time to time. There is no formal rule against foot blocks, nor to my knowledge has there ever been one seriously considered as part of the official rules of Ultimate. Some tournaments, particularly those of the smaller local variety, do prohibit them. You are correct that safety is the main concern. I know of a few cases where fingers or hands have been broken as a result of foot blocks. In highly competitive Ultimate this tends to be not too much of a problem. Properly executed, a foot block is not overtly dangerous. The best way to attempt a foot block (both in terms of safety and to maximize likelihood of success) is to lift the foot from the ground, heel upward, and suspend it about 18" downfield of where the disc will leave the thrower's hand. Kicking at the disc (as some novices do) is both highly dangerous and generally ineffective. Placing the foot too close to the thrower's hand is also dangerous, and typically results in a foul. At the highest levels of competition players also tend to be aware that a foot block generally takes the marker out of ideal position for at least a brief period of time. Having both feet on the ground is crucial to being able to move nimbly as a marker. There are limited situations where a foot block attempt can be effective, but they are relatively rare. There is no official UPA position on the subject that I know of. Thus far the informal approach has been to educate people in the proper use of the foot block in order to minimize injury, as opposed to legislating against them. Please do note that the education approach will most likely not eliminate all foot block injuries, but in practice they aren't particularly common (not nearly as common as separated shoulders, blown out knees, or twisted ankles, for example). Of course, those who have been injured by foot
Troy Frever
blocks often still call for their banishment, and that is understandable too. As TD you should make the call as you see fit. As I mentioned above, tournaments where many novices are playing are particularly at risk, and sometimes choose to disallow foot blocks for that reason. Hmm, I guess I haven't quoted any rules in answering this question. How about: 1.3. Captain's Clause. A game may be played under any variations of the rules agreed upon by the captains of the two teams. In tournament play, such variations are subject to the approval of the tournament director. Such things as length of game, dimensions of the field, and stalling count can easily be altered to suit the level of play. This is the rule which allows tournament directors to set special rules for tournaments. These types of rules changes are usually discussed and approved at the captains ' meeting.
That's it for now Please send your questions to upa_rules_guy@upa.org and as always, play hard, play fair. See a Draft for discussion of the longawaited lOth Edition starting on page 54 .
NAME THAT NEWSLETTER Earlier this year it was announced that the UPA Newsletter would be getting its own name. Here is the list from all the contestants who submitted new names by the deadline, hoping to win a lifetime UPA membership. A straw poll (informal vote) will held be online. Watch the UPA homepage, and may the best name win!
ULTIMATE TIMES PLASTIC PAPER
U-PASS
The Discerner (one who detects with senses other than vision) Discourse (verbal interchanging
The Messenger The Binder The Hammer
FLAT WORLD The Ultimate Layout The Pull
of ideas) (The) Spin-Off (The) Round-Up
The Stack The Broken Cup The Tite-D Letter
the Zone the UPA Flyer The Daily Disc
The DISCourier Discommunity News Disclosure
The Plan-"A'' Letter
Disc Dish The UPA Dish Ultimate Propaganda
Upfront The Zone The Disc-o-File
you Peace always and through all Means Ultimate Central
Your UPA Dues at Work Inside the UPA The Stack
The Ultimate Flyer (or Flier)
Disc Central DiscUss DiscUs
Spirit of the Game Ultimate Spirit The There's-No-Way-That-Was-In-
Ultimate Wisdom The Frisbee Flyer
Bounds Reader The Cheer The Spirit of the Game (The) Inside Out
The Long Shot The Lord of Peace, Himself give
UPA DISCourse DiscSource
Up' (in use by German Frisbee Federation) SPIRIT (in use by Canadian UPA)
LAY OUT' Flipped Out The Layout From the Zone
S.N.A.G. Spirited News About the Game Up 1\2 (that's a "squared" sym-
The Revolution (The) Hard Cap
Disclines Sevens The Happy Poach
bol, like in E=mc 1\ 2) Ultimate Players Ultimate Periodical. U.P.U.P- UP/\2
Spin The Spin Discus/Discuss
DISCourse DISCussion DISCover
Poppers & Toppers Disc Dish Discography
HoZone Freebee DiscHo
DISCovery DISClosure DISClaimer
The Ultimate Times The Frisbee Flyer Reach
SoHo The UPA Ultimator The Ultimate Players Guide to
DISCretion DISCreet DISContent
The Spin Doctors Undefined
Everything Ultimate
Frisbee Flyer Layout
DISCOURSE
Fish DISCuss
DISCography The UPA LAY-OUT
Get UP Ultimate Spin Disc Spin
The Flyer Go Long
Send Zone S-End Zone S-end Zone
UPA Spin Association Spin
The Ultimate Layout The Layout Times The Horizontal Times
THE ENDZONE THE ULTIMATE DOSE Discussion
The Ultimate Sportsman (or Sportsperson) The UPA Sportsman (or
The Ultimate Connection The Ultimate Times The Spirit of the Game
The National Flyer The Daily Spin The Ultimate Scoop
Sportsperson) Ultimate Times The UPA Spin",
Connection The Ultimate Access Ultimately Yours
discPLAY discUS or DISCus DISCussions
The Ultimate Spin" The Mark UQ Ultimate Quarterly
Horizontally Yours The Frequent Flyer The Floater
Disk Jockey DISCpirit DISCtinctions
The DISChronicle The UPA Observer The Discpatch
The Flyer The Freeletter The Frisletter
Ultimate Discovery UPA Newsletter
The Fly Sheet
The Discletter
Naming Contest
EEBSIRF NEWS
* Names listed more than once were submitted by multiple people. I
Winter 2001
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9
CINDY FISHER RETIRES:
A
LOOK BACK ON THE CAREER OF A U PA MAINSTAY by Susan Redding
After more than a decade of service, Cindy Fisher is retiring from the UPA staff. Given the amount of time she has dedicated to the organization and the central role she has played in shaping it from an administrative standpoint, it is fair to say that her departure will mark the end of an era. Over the years she has held many positions: Managing Director, Newsletter Editor, member of the Board of Directors, Women's National Director. While her willingness to speak her mind and push hard for change when she felt it was necessary has made her controversial in some quarters, most people who have worked with Fisher praise her dedication to the job and her knowledge of the issues. Diane Pagel, a longtime UPA volunteer who has served as NW Women's Regional Coordinator and National Masters Director, says Fisher "was a driving force in getting things done, had a willing ear to any issues that came up. I really enjoyed working with her and her enthusiasm." Current Executive Director Joey Gray characterizes her as "a workhorse and a giver," a description echoed by the many people Fisher has collaborated with in transforming the UPA from a strictly volunteer-run group to a professional organization. Fisher's tenure as a UPA volunteer began at a pivotal point in the association's history. A journalism major in college, Fisher was recruited by Eric Simon in late 1989 to take over as editor of the UPA Newsletter. At the time, Executive Director Neal Dambra was running the UPA out of his small graphics shop in Houston, and "headquarters" was basically a sleight-of-hand. There was no paid staff and no office, so, as Fisher recalls, "whenever someone took over as the new Executive Director, they'd get shipped this pile of boxes. That was headquarters." The 800 number was answered by Dambra's regular receptionist, who knew nothing about Ultimate, and mail was directed to UPA accountant Carney Foy's post office box in Silver Springs, New Mexico. This skeleton structure was enough to keep the association going, but the expanding workload was becoming too much for the UPA's all-volunteer workers to handle. When UPA matters began to impede Dambra's ability to run his business, he lobbied for
a full-time UPA employee, someone to manage the association's day-to-day operations. After fighting hard to create the position, Dambra offered it to Fisher, who was between jobs and ready to move from Washington, D.C. to Houston and take on a new challenge. She became the UPA's first full-time paid employee in December, 1991, working out of Dambra's shop before moving to Colorado Springs in August, 1992, to establish the UPA's permanent headquarters. As Managing Director, Fisher oversaw the professionalization of the UPA. Those who worked with her at the time are quick to credit her leadership and work ethic as key reasons for the organization's survival though a difficult passage. "Cindy was absolutely crucial," states Simon. "Her approach [to the job] was total. She was totally dedicated. Because she wanted the job done right, she often put in incredible hours. I don't think very many people know that the UPA was in danger of falling apart, because we had too much work to do and too few people doing it. Cindy was the one constant during this transition from a volunteer organization which had grown too big, and the professional organization we have now. Holding the UPA together, almost single-handedly (because she was the only one who had the time), was a Herculean task. But she did it." Fisher approached her first year in Colorado Springs as a kind of excavation project, digging through over fifty boxes of UPA paperwork to uncover the foundation laid for the organization by previous executive directors and boards. The years immediately preceding her appointment had been productive: former Executive Director Rob "Nob" Rauch had solidified the UPA from a legal perspective, reestablishing the non-profit status that had been lost in the 1980s when no one filed the required paperwork. He had also dramatically improved communication with the membership by implementing the 800 number. Besides initiating important programs like insurance, tournament sanctioning, and showcase games, Dambra had used his graphics training and artistic background to create useful and distinctive documentation and graphics, giving the UPA the "look" it maintains to this day . But other ele-
ments of the UPA's administrative legacy had been all but buried for years, a fact Fisher discovered once she began unpacking the boxes she inherited from past Executive Directors-boxes she suspected hadn't been opened in a long time. Fisher says "I was amazed at the kind of stuff that was in there, the kind of information that was not being passed on and that we didn't have a perspective on because no one knew it existed." Making it possible for the UPA to develop a perspective on this material and gain a better understanding of the history behind it will stand as one of Fisher's most valuable and lastCindy Fisher ing contributions to the organization. Indeed, her most important work took place behind the scenes, designing and implementing projects she admits "are not the kind of stuff that would excite the average member;' but which did a great deal to strengthen the UPA internally and make it run more efficiently. In her years as Managing Director, she consolidated the forgotten work of earlier volunteers and condensed it into documents that helped to establish administrative continuity. Before this work was done, Fisher explains that "every time someone new came on board, things would happen all over again. They'd try something that had already been tried in the past without finding out what had already been said about it. .. There was knowledge to be passed on, but no one was aware of it or cared about it." Fisher ensured that this knowledge would circulate in the future. Her innovations include the UPA Policy Guide, a document she compiled through the tedious work of reading material such as old newsletters and the minutes of every UPA Annual Meeting in
Photo by Sara Rubinstein
order to extract all previous board and coordinating committee decisions. Having this information readily available allows the Board of Directors to make decisions in light of existing policy, something that didn't always happen in the past. Fisher also was responsible for the information packages distributed to Sectional and Regional Coordinators to walk them through the process of running tournaments for the UPA series. The packages, which took a lot of work and imagination to pull together, help these events run in a more organized fashion. Under Fisher's watch, the UPA became a centralized source of information for volunteers and players alike. Fisher's other major contributions came in the form of UPA programs she either initiated or improved over the years. While some of the projects she worked on were conceived by others, as Managing Director it was Fisher's job to implement them, a task that often required her to sift through reams of paperwork, decipher legal problems, and get other UPA staffers and val-
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Ultimate Players Association
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Cindy Fisher
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unteers on board with the changes. To mention just a few examples, she oversaw the beginning of the "Official Disc" and "Official Travel Agency" programs, and designed the UPA's marketing and fundraising plans. Fisher herself says one of her proudest moment as a staffer came when she saved the UPA approximately $19,000 by finding an insurance company that specialized in sports organizations to provide coverage for the UPA tournament sanctioning program. With money constantly an issue for the cash-strapped UPA, this attention to the bottom line helped free up funds for other projects that served to expand and improve the UPA for the players. Of course, not every project Fisher was involved with ran so smoothly or enjoyed such successful results. Looking back over the most difficult issues she confronted over the years, Fisher remembers Cuervo' s brief involvement with Ultimate in the early 1990s as a particularly trying time at HQ. The tequila maker was prepared to put much-needed money into the UPA, but at a price Fisher and others considered too high: control of the rules of play. While the UPA managed to establish a decent working relationship with the company despite their sometimes difficult attitude, the UPA was unwilling to give Cuervo control of the championship series. The UPA management simply thought it was not in the sport's best interest to let a sponsor change any rule it didn ' t like at an event as important as Nationals. Despite the lingering criticism about this decision, Fisher is adamant that the UPA made the right call in turning down this particular deal: " If we had said yes, which there was no way we would have, then they could have come up with some absurd rule and we'd be forced to make people play by it at Nationals. And then the players really would have lynched the UPA! " The UPA did give Cuervo information about other tournaments, and they moved forward with sponsored events that proved popular with elite players, who enjoyed the cash and prestige the company infused into the sport. When Cuervo decided to sever its ties to Ultimate, some of these players criticized the UPA, assuming that it had done something to sour Cuervo' s relationship with the sport. But Fisher claims the UPA had nothing to do with the decision, explaining that the company pulled money out of its other marketing projects, including Ultimate, to concentrate on "Cuervo Island," a Caribbean resort that opened recently. She points out that since Cuervo moved forward with their series after the UPA had rejected their proposal for Nationals, blaming the UPA for their decision to end their sponsorship makes little sense. Looking back, Fisher thinks that,
had Cuervo stuck with Ultimate and established a rival series with cash prizes, it is possible that it could have supplanted UPA Nationals as the sport' s premier event. But it didn ' t, and Fisher has no regrets about holding her ground and refusing to compromise the game in the face of corporate pressure. Internal controversy ensued when Fisher, working with previous Executive Director Bob Byrne, proposed a restructuring of UPA management. By 1994, Fisher recognized that the UPA had outgrown its administrative structure, in which the Regional Coordinators also served as the Board of Directors. Under the old system, the RCs were charged both with running their respective regions and governing the UPA itself. With so UPA annual board meeting, Cindy Fisher. much growth in the sport, they were overburdened, and HQ bership dues will be a necessary component was relying heavily on one or two people to of growth, she argues, and finding that keep the organization afloat. Fisher believed money is not easy. This concern has not that business matters in particular were being been high enough on the UPA's agenda in neglected, so she proposed a new governing recent years, Fisher claims, and she would structure to address these problems. like to see it get more attention both from the The restructuring did not progress as Board and from the HQ staff. The UPA is a Fisher had imagined. She proposed a Board corporation, she argues, and it needs to of Directors that was split into two subboards: one for play-related issues, the other behave like one. But it is also a players' organization, and for business-related issues. This set-up, she that, says Fisher, is its greatest strength. Ultibelieved, would give each area of concern mate is one of the few remaining sports that the attention it needed. But Fisher and is run for the players, by the players, someByrne's model was voted down after a conthing well worth preserving, in her opinion. tentious debate at that year's annual meetBut this focus on players' interests someing. The UPA did, however, go forward times comes at the cost of expediency when with a revised restructuring plan that reorgait comes to implementing changes to the nized the governing body into its current form. The Board was expanded, but respon- game. To those who believe the UPA is too bureaucratic to be an effective agent of sibilities were not divided in the clear manchange, Fisher counters that a true players' ner Fisher had advocated. The result was a organization cannot rush through big deciBoard of Directors that, in Fisher' s opinion, sions because it wants feedback from the has become overly focussed on play-related membership before proceeding. "The players issues, to the detriment of business conwho are unhappy make themselves heard cerns. She also worries that the Board has loud and clear," she says, but learning what become too large and meets too infrequently other members think about a particular issue to do its job effectively. The "new" UPA, often requires Regional Coordinators and the one she was instrumental in creating, National Directors to get out and talk to the now strikes her as overly formal and unforplayers. The UPA is very conscientious tunately constrained by time concerns when about this process, Fisher says, and it takes its governing members get together to distime. Furthermore, she hopes that the playcuss policy. ers remember that the UPA, as a non-profit In light of these developments, Fisher organization, is constrained by lack of funds: would like to see a strong, business-oriented "If we could put 8 to 10 people on staff at individual come in as a board member or headquarters, the UPA would run so much chair to remind the UPA's governing body smoother. It would be amazing how different that the organization cannot ignore the finanit could be. But we just can't afford that kind cial side of things if it is going to thrive. of thing. The bottom line is, we're underDeveloping revenue streams beyond mem-
staffed and we rely on volunteers to get things done. " Despite these limitations, Fisher is cautiously optimistic about the organization's prospects, expressing confidence in Joey Gray's vision for the UPA: "A lot of the time when I was working at headquarters I'd get frustrated because I had all these great ideas for things that could be done and I just didn't have the time to do them. But Joey has some great ideas and I see she's getting the opportunity to [implement them], although they are still shorthanded [at HQ]. So I think that's really good for the future of the UPA." But again, Fisher makes the point that the UPA cannot continue to rely solely on membership dues to pay its bills. Increased revenue, she insists, is the key to improving the organization. While the chronic lack of funds, the inherent shortcomings of volunteer labor, and the struggle to balance competing constituencies likely will continue to challenge the UPA staff for the foreseeable future, the UPA today is stronger and on far more solid footing than it was ten years ago. Although much of what Fisher implemented over the years is not readily visible to most UPA members, her legacy is concrete. There is a foundation for growth, due in no small part to the hard work, time and imagination Fisher contributed as she struggled to establish the UPA as a professional administrative body. That she succeeded is an impressive accomplishment, a tremendous benefit to the sport of Ultimate, and a testament to her managerial skills and love of the game. While Fisher will no longer be active within the UPA, we will enjoy the fruits of her labors for years to come.
Cindy Fisher
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by Jim Parinella
Risk and Revvard:
Discovering the Right: Choice The field of organizational behavior has exploded in recent years, particularly in relation to organizational accidents such as airplane crashes. It is rare when a major catastrophic event can be attributed directly to one cause. In most cases, the person who is the last line of defense commits some sort of blunder to contribute to the mess, but there is still usually a long line of contributing factors that all had to line up in order for the final error to be made. A good organization will have fewer of these latent conditions that allow people to make mistakes, but they will still exist as long as humans are involved. This article examines turnovers in Ultimate with an eye towards improving the organization/team. Let me state first that this is not intended to absolve the prime culprit of responsibility, or to point fingers at any level. Rather, I would like the secondary contributors to realize that just because they didn't throw it away or get scored on, doesn't mean that they were mistake-free. Players can usually get away with small mistakes because bad teams are unable to capitalize on them. Good teams and good players will take advantage, though.
This feature by Jim Parinella, member of sixtime UPA Open Champions DoG provides new insightful strategies on Ultimate. From recreational players to cagey Master veterans, take a look-you should find a new Types of errors: edge on how to 1.100% individual errors This would be dropping a perfect pass play the game. or turfing an easy forehand. These are
•
often concentration errors or random blips that you would have no reason to expect should happen again. As the overall basic skill level of a player or team increases, the number of these errors should decrease. Repetitive practice can help eliminate or at east reduce these. As long as these errors constitute a large portion of your team's mistakes, you ought to be spending a significant port-ion of your practice time on the fundamentals. Conversely, if drops comprise only 5% of your turnovers, then you are probably wasting your time on catching drills.
2.Acceptable errors based on reasonable decisions. In a 1972 case, the US Supreme Court declared "Safe is not the equiva-
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Ultimate Players Association
Winter 2001
Inside Out
REWARD GOOD THROWS BREAK MARK TO CREATE FLOW SHORT PASS WITH FORCE
•
HUCK TO OPEN CUTIER
•
HUCK TO COVERED PLAYER
BAD THROWS
CROSSFIELD HAMMER
DUMP
RISK lent of risk-free." A "safe" investment in a low-interest savings account is a bad long-term investment compared to the more volatile stock market. I've written before about the risk-reward curve and how it applies to Ultimate. The accompanying figure shows such a curve. A 90% pass can be better than a 98% pass (or even a 50% pass vs a 100% pass) if the team stands to gain a lot from it. There is an acceptable level of risk associated with most passes, with this risk depending on the game situation, the skill of the thrower and receiver, the inherent risk of the pass and how that pass fits within the guidelines of what we call "good choices."
2a.Unacceptable errors based on unreasonable decisions These are passes that carry too much risk for what they accomplish. Hucks into triple coverage, certain "art" passes which don't get you much, big crossfield passes if you don't have that throw and the like are generally the worst turnovers- the ones that dra the most ire from your teammates, and the least excusable, even when they work. From time to time, we all might engage in this behavior as a way to test ourselves or to expand our envelope or to practice difficult plays, but it becomes less and less acceptable to do this as the season progresses.
3.Communication errors These have to reduce as the season goes along. When it happens, discuss it
after the point, don't blame. Learn from it. "Go this way when I wanted you to go that way once, shame on you. Go this way when I wanted you to go that way twice, shame on you."
4. ~~what's wrong with right here?ll errors In one perhaps apocryphal story, Kenny Dobyns was wide open for an easy goal, but the pass came in well behind him, and he couldn't hang on to it. "What's wrong with right here?'' he screamed, holding his hands directly in front of his chest. Most drops fall into this category. It's still the receiver's duty to catch it but the thrower must realize that any adjustment the receiver has to make increases the odds of an incompletion. If a lot of your passes are dropped, it is probably due to your throws being tough to catch. A less obvious member of this category is when a receiver cuts to a less-than-perfect spot. Just like above, it's still the thrower's responsibility to make the pass (or to avoid throwing it), but the receiver should do everything in his power to make the thrower's job as easy as possible. In a practice this fall, a teammate had the disc about ten yards from the end zone and five yards from the forehand sideline and was being forced middle. I began my cut from about 15-20 yards outside of the end zone and 25 yards from that sideline. I
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RECOLI EC I IONS OF A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL STAR by Kevin Toderel One day a friend dragged me out to Jericho. "We were on a new Ultimate team, he said. "Frisbee?" I said, "You gotta be kidding!" Little did I know how my life would change. ... It was a cold day that November in 1987 yet the snow was mercifully absent (unusual for Ontario). As I stepped out onto the Astroturf at CNE Stadium, I knew today would be special. It was the Peel County High School Football Championships and I was ready for the game of my life. And what a game it was. We won 28-21 on four touchdowns by your humble narrator (a record no less). I was a champion, a hero ... After I quit laughing, I began to watch with interest. Holy cow there were guys with long hair playing ... and girls, too (although this wasn't a completely bad thing). These people weren't athletes. This was too easy. I would dominate. After all, I was a former high school football star. "Okay," I said. "Let's play."
ÂŤ
That first day was an experience. We met our captain, some guy named Kader, a lawyer with longish hair to boot. It looked like I had arrived just in time. Once out on the field, I knew I would immediately go deep and easily catch the disc. My plan was looking good as Kader got the disc. I decided not to run too hard, not wanting to get out of his range. (He was fairly skinny so how far could he throw it? He would never have made my football team.) The next thing I knew I was on the business end of a Kader huck, only it was 10 feet over my head and traveling rapidly past me. Evidently I had underestimated Mr. Kader! No problem. I was a former football star. I once ran a 4.9 40 meters. I sped after the disc only to have some girl named Lesley go whipping past me, leap high in the air and casually catch the disc in her left hand for the touchdown, err, point. Something strange was happening. Five minutes later, I was wheezing
and choking on the side line having proven beyond a doubt that I was one of the worst players ever. Much to my ego's horror, I was wrong about Ultimate; it was a real sport. But I would get better. My second game was only a little better. I was asked to not huck if I got the disc. Not having any clue what a huck was, I agreed. I caught the disc and promptly fired a bullet forehand ... right into the ground. But I would get better. My third game was even better, I scored my first touchdown, err, point. I was so happy I firmly spiked the disc and turned around to receive congratulations from my teammates. Only to have some girl named Trina yell at me something about testosterone! "Yah, go get a Kokanee commercial," I retorted. And then some guy was demanding $12 for a new disc. Oh well, I was getting better. The rest of the summer was filled with layouts, points, pulls and a champi-
Reprinted with permission from the Vancouver Ultimate League's "Uncontested" (7995)
focuses on these guys until six before looking for a dump. The closest handler hesitates for a second before starting his cut. The second handler would be open for a dump, but doesn' t tell the first handler to clear. The other two guys in the stack just stand there, allowing one man to poach in and stop that lane while the other defender can cover both. Meanwhile, the first handler cuts for the dump but is shut down, and the second handler makes a last second cut to the line, is blanketed by the defender, and the pass goes by both of them. A situation like this is partly due to systemic error, in that the strategies are not perfect and can not conceivably cover all contingencies, and partly a team error due to the collective errors or imperfections of the players on the field. The well-prepared player will have thought about these situations and rehearsed them in his mind many times before they actually occur on the field. You may work out your body so that execution errors are minimized, but you also have to work your head so that mental errors are also minimized. If any of the above players recognized the situ-
ation a split-second earlier, the turnover could have been avoided. The team also has the responsibility to create a system where these errors are less likely to happen. Plays need to have backup plans if they don' t work, and standard offensive schemes need to have ways to reset. Furthermore, the team needs to consider its skill level in crafting strategies, so as not to require throws or cuts that are beyond the ability of most of the players. Lastly, the system needs to be flexible enough to allow players to exercise judgment. No rule can perfectly apply to all situations, so blind adherence to what should really be just guidelines will sometimes contribute to turnovers. If players are not given the opportunity to learn to think for themselves, they will not be able to handle unexpected situations. A good team will consider the human factors I have described above in forming their strategies. A bad team will have an organizational culture of blame instead, and will believe that all their problems are the individuals' faults and can be eliminated through trying harder or by running one more drill. Be a good team.
onship. I was better, hell I was good. I was ready for the big time: pick-up with the Al-Bob's, Khai Foo's, Mich's and Adam's of the world. So off to Trafalgar I went. It was a cold week in December of 1994. The ground at Trafalgar Park was unmercifully hard. I knew today would be special. And it was. Maybe it was the many (missed) layouts on the frozen ground, or maybe it was getting burned constantly by the demi-gods of West Coast Ultimate. I'll never know. I was a mediocre player of a great sport, chock full of great athletes, all of us playing something we loved so much we would get as beat up as any football player ever did in a lousy pick-up game with nothing on the line and no score kept. But suddenly I realized four touchdowns in 1987 was no big deal, and I didn't care at all.
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ran inside my defender and broke to the cone. The thrower saw the beginning of my cut and so threw the disc to a spot well into the end zone, expecting me to flare more. What I should have done was to take a different angle on my cut that would have given him more margin on the throw and that would have allowed me to adjust to a greater variety of throws. Instead, my path dictated one particular throw, and when it didn't come, I couldn' t chase it down. The thrower still has the primary responsibility, but I could have made his job a lot easier without making it much more difficult on myself.
5.Team errors (three or more players share responsibility) 6.System ic errors (imperfect strategy) These can have a lot of causes and may generally be referred to as "stall nine errors." Sometimes these are simply the result of good defense, but more often they involve subtle errors by cutters and potential cutters, combined with less than
perfect ability by the thrower. One way to reduce these is through on-field communication by players. In decreasing order of goodness, the team can: a. Call a play specifically designed for that exact situation, b. Call a play appropriate to the general situation but perhaps not the best play, c. Stop the flow but take steps to reset the offense into a more basic configuration, d. Improvise a play call (for example, "Hey you, cut to the cone!"), e. Rely on its normal rules for offense, or f. When the cutters do nothing because of a lack of a call, the thrower calls timeout or forces up a bad pass on stall 9. If it gets down to the final option above, there will be many contributing factors besides just that "he threw it away." The first cutter goes deep but is double-teamed. The receiver poached off of hesitates in coming in. When he does come in, he takes a non-optimal line and is picked up. The thrower
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PADA MOSH IV:
PHILLV FINALLY FIRST By Aubrey Devon The Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance (PADA) held the 4th annual PADA MOSH this Nov 4-5, 2000. Twenty-four Co-ed teams from as far away as Virginia, OH and Rochester attended this sweet Philadelphia-based tournament. There are three distinct aspects of the MOSH that set it aside from other traditional tournaments. First, PADA is fortunate to have access to the Edgely Clubhouse in Fairmount Park, right next to Edgely's six playing fields. This provides a great venue as the clubhouse has a kitchen, large main room, office, pingpong, showers and toilets. The clubhouse's fireplace was used throughout the weekend, keeping MOSH players warm and cozy. Second, that warm and cozy MOSH feeling was enhanced by a slamrnin' party - repleat with the best pizza on the East coast, hoagies (that's a submarine sandwich for some of you), hot and cold beverages, phat Philly pretzels and a kickin' rock band from NYC called Moths (www.moths.com). Mark "Pickleman" Mittin supplied coolio decorations as well as shooters and pepperoni (http://members.aol.com/rnittinl) for most-spiritied teams (see list below). A latenite disc-golf outing of over 20 players- and
even the members of the band - was anchored by well-lit tiki torches. The success of dinner and the party was possible because of the tireless efforts of PADA's "Hostess with the Mostess;' Hannah Bar Giora. The party was won by none other that Big Huge Giant's Tom Coffin who brags that, back in the day, he created VOID (when he left UPENN), the Chicago Tune-Up, and the concept of the "elite" Ultimate division. Coffin was challenged by a seven-person-strong team from VA called Mothers, led by Laura Taylor. Coffin held out and Tournament Director Gamal Sherif agreed to keep Coffin on the payroll. Third, all MOSH teams had three games on Saturday in Pool Play and three games on Sunday in Chamionship Playoffs. Lots of tournaments have some kind of elimination format on Sunday, which is fun because it builds excitement around a big show championship game at the end of the day. However, teams that don't advance sometimes have poorly scheduled consolation games on shabby fields. The MOSH, however, was created with the idea of giving as many regularly-scheduled games to as many teams as possible. Teams advanced from Saturday into Sunday's four team round-robin playoffs with
teams that had similar win-loss records. The big upset was seeing two-time MOSH winners JuJu Beadz-esque take fifth (as Fun & Games). Shinny Happy People defeated Ultimate's X in an all-Philly Edgely Div I final. Philly's Donkey Bomb captured the Belmont Division going 6-0 for the weekend. It was an all Philly finish, final! y. Divisional Champs are listed below. An "*" denotes a "Most Spirited Team" at end of play on Saturday. "***" is most spirited team overall. Belmont Div I 1. Donkey Bomb (Philly) 2. Funk (N. Jersey) 3. Biting Gropies* (Ohio) 4. Critical Mass (Harrisburg) Belmont Div II 5. Smart Whore* (Swarthmore) 6. Mothers*** (VA) 7. Widespread Panic/Pornstars (NY) 8. Tangled Up in Blue (Philly) Edgely Div I 1. Shinny Happy People(Philly) 2. Ultimate's X (Philly)
3. NYCE(NY) 4. Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (Rochester) Edgely Div II 5. Fun & Games (DC) 6. His & Hers (DC) 7. Holy Calamity* (Philly) 8. Petra (DC) Edgely Div III 9. Vulcan Death Grip (Pittsburgh) 10. Max Power (N. Jersey) 11. Animal* (Phil! y) 12. Quaker City All Stars* (Philly) Edgely Div N 13. Bitch-n-Moan (Manhattan) 14. F-N Psyched (Brooklyn) 15. Big Huge Giant* (Philly) 16. Pogo (DC) Rumor has it that the Pittsburgh MARS champions will soon go up against Philly MOSH champions at a field near you. WUFF Co-ed champs want in as well. Keep an eye and ear out for the PADA MOSH V, scheduled for early November 2001. More information on past, present & future MOSH tournaments can be found at www.pada.org/padatourneys/mosh. Until next year, keep on MOSHing.
The Tournament from Hell
A
HELL OF A TOURNAMENT
By Brevin Balfrey-Boyd I am more than a little sure that this story will be a familiar one to many of you. If it does not ring a bell then you are one of the blessed few who play on a respected team, in an established program with effective leadership and organization ... and then there are the rest of us. Although we all may live breathe, sweat and bleed Ultimate, and that is a noble, respectful, and beautiful thing, we all experience it differently because of where we play. Ultimate is , after all , a very noble, respectful and beautiful thing to everyone who plays , but this story is dedicated not necessarily to the "big dogs" on National-caliber teams who stand out because of their talent, spirit, and success - these people obviously inspire us: they've done it. But this story is dedicated to everyone who has ever started, or led a fledgling team. Our sport is no less beautiful , respectful and noble for them- they just have to carpool and improvise a lot more. Our scene opens at dark o ' clock on a cold Saturday morning earlier this Fall on the campus of Mary Washington College
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in Fredericksburg, VA, home of my team, the sometimes-mediocre, always-struggling Mad Mary Ultimate Club. As I walk to our designated meeting place at the designated time, I'm confused and frustrated this fine October morning because Mad Mary in all her glory and fury is nowhere to be found. I honestly don' t know whether to laugh or cry. I try to explain to myself how this can be after all of my hard work. The whole situation is ludicrous , almost inconceivable when I think back to a month before: Mad Mary had just lost the closest, most intense game I've ever played in the finals of a small tournament in Shippensburg, PA to Gettysburg College' s Pan Fried Funk. Because the game had been so close and so much fun, the Gettysburg captains invited us up for a rematch at their tournament a month later. Because the Shippensburg tournament had been so much fun, and out of mutual respect, we accepted enthusiastically. How did the veritable enthusiasm of a team of forty-strong dwindle to the confu-
Winter 2001
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禄
Photo by Brevin Balfray路Boyd
tourna111ents 2001 Tournaments reported to the UPA as of December 1, 2000- Send your tourney info to: tourney_author@upa.org Contact info@upa.org if you would like your event to be UPA sanctioned.
.lan 6•7, .IANUS 2001, Tam~ta Bav,FL $125.00/Team; Deposit:$125.00 due Dec 10 6 Coed, 14 Open, 10 Womens Teams Floyd Roberts, FER3@bigfoot.com, h:727363-4825, w:727-363-7625 http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Pressbox/1012/janus20 OO.htm Warm Weather, Beach Party, Cheap air fare - questions call floyd
.lan 13-14, Lei-Oat Coed Beach Tournament, Los Angeles, CA $125.00/Team; Deposit:$100.00 due Dec 1 UPA Planned; inc! nner 2M/2F; 30+ Coed Teams Canada Gordon, gocanadag@aol.com, h:310.306.0448, w:310.625.0737 http://www.laout.org The 1st Lei-Out tournament was a big success. This year will be even better!
.lan 17-21, Ultimate Fiesta In Pie de Ia CUesta, Aca~t~~lco. Mexico $425/Individual; Deposit:$150 due Oct 15; Overage to Amedivo of Mexico City Extras: Disc, Shirt, Dinner, Breakfast Hat format,5M/2F; Teams Fernando Najera, fnajera@comversens.com Catherine Greenwald, ckgreenwald@ lermanet.com.mx http://www.discovolador.com/fiesta200 1 Includes 5d/4n at 5* resort, all food & drinks. Games on beach and grass.
.lan 20, cat In tile Hat. Tucson, AZ $10.00/Individual; inc! Breakfast & lunch 5M/2F; 8 Coed Teams Todd Shipman, tshipman@geo.arizona.edu, h:520-740-1537 Esther Kim, estherkim@canada.com http:/lhttp://clubs.asua.arizona.edu/-ultimate/tournaments/cith.htm
Feb 3-4, New Year Fest 2001, AZ $250.00/Team due Dec 1 35
Feb 17-18, Beach Ultimate, West ~talm Beach, FL $20.00/Indi-
Mar 10-11, Beach Ultimate, West Palm Beach, FL $20.00/Individual Other
Open, 20 Womens Teams Ken Mayer, kensmayer@aol.com Karen Broome, krbroome@ home.com http://www. vots.org
vidual 3M/1F; 16 Coed Teams Tim Finan, tfinan1060@aol.com, h:561-626-6735, w:561-626-6735, fax:561-626-5578 http://www.beachultimate.com 4 on 4 Mixed Hat Tournament. Beach Party. Great prizes to winners
format,2M/2F; 16 Coed, 16 Open, 16 Wornens Teams Tim Finan, tfinan1060@aol.com, w:561-626-6735, fax:561-626-5578 http://www.beachultimate.com
Tem~te,
Feb 17-19, President's Dav 2001, San Diego, CA $250.00/Team; Rated 5 Stars 28 Open, 16 Womens Teams Men: Gargamel and Nilla, squids@ucsd.edu Women: Meredith and Stacy, ultimate@ucsd.edu http://sdcc3 .ucsd.edu/-squids 2.17.2001 : The Ultimate Judgement Day. Where will you stand when it's all over?
Feb 17-19, Kalmana Klasslk 14. Walmanaolo. Oalla, HI $120.00/Individual; Deposit:$300.00 due Oct 27 Rated 5 Stars Extras: Disc, Dinner, Breakfast 16 Open, 12 Womens Teams Lori Daniels, lorizdisc@aol.com Kirk Hottendorf, leap96@ juno.com http://www.hawaiiultimate.com/kk 14/index .html
Feb 17·18, MUD BOWL 20, Birmingham, AL $150.00/Team due Jan 20; Overage to Bread & Roses Hospitality for Women of Birmingham, AL UPA Planned; Rated 5 Stars Extras: Dinner, Breakfast 20 Open, 12 Womens, 10 College Only Teams Dave Edwards, wavy@uab.edu, h:205-930-8174 http://mudbowl.org Please join us for our 20th anniversary celebration!!!!
Feb 24-25, Mardi Gras XIV, Baton Rouge, LA $150.00/Team due
Mar 12-16, High Tide Session I, Savannah, GA $150.00/Individual;
Feb 7 UPA Planned; Rated 5 Stars 16 Open, 16 Womens, 32 College Only Teams John Malone, malone@ bigfoot.com, h: 225-266-6473 http://www.turbodog.org/mardigras We are attempting to make this a Callahan event for College Division
Deposit:$300.00 due Jan 1 Overage to Coastal Assn. for Retarded Citizens of Savannah, GA Extras: Dinner, Breakfast 16 College Only Teams Ed Pulkinen, tuskcamp@worldnet.att.net, h:912-2326464, w:912-354-7744, fax:912-234-1113 http://tuskcamp.freeservers.com Includes lodging, meals, beach, tourney. $300 deposit before 111/01, $500 after
Mar 3-4, FrostBreaker, Gainesville, FL $125.00/Team;
Mar 19-23, High Tide Session 11, Savannah, GA $150.00- 175.00/Indi-
Deposit:$50.00 due Feb 1 Rated 5 Stars Extras: Disc, Shirt 16 Open, 16 Womens, 12 College Only Teams steven johnson, sckool @afn.org, h:(352)337-6098 Camping is allowed. Web Page up soon
vidual; Deposit:$300.00 due Jan 1; Overage to Coastal Assn. for Retarded Citizens of Savannah, GA Extras: Dinner, Breakfast 24 College Only Teams Ed Pulkinen, tuskcamp@worldnet.att.net, h:912-2326464, w:912-354-7744, fax:912-234-1113 http://tuskcamp.freeservers.com Includes lodging, meals, beach, tourney. $300 deposit before 111/01, $500 after
Mar 5-9, High Tide Session I, Savannah, GA $150.00/Individual; Deposit:$300.00 due Jan 1; Overage to Chatham Assn. of Retarded Citizens of Savannah, GA Extras: Dinner, Breakfast 16 College Only Teams Ed Pulkinen, tuskcamp@worldnet.att.net, h:912-2326464, w:912-398-1054, fax:912-234-1113 http://tuskcamp.freeservers.com/ Includes 4 day tourney Mon.-Thurs., 5 nights lodging Sun.-Fri., and 3 meals/day
Mar 30-A~tr 1, Dead Monkev Tournament. Greensboro, NC $100.00/Team; Overage to Boys and Girls Club of, NC Extras: Dinner 5M/2F; 10 Coed Teams Jennifer Bent, jenbent@yahoo.com, h:336-274-1917, w:336-334-5924 Steven Donai, UNCGswingr@aol.com Lighted fields, keg party, barbeque, dead monkeys what's not to love?
This list is up on the web. Check out the UPA Home Page, at www.upa.org or go directly to wwwwafc.orgjupajtourneys.html
«Continued from previous page sion and frustration of one by the day of the Gettysburg tournament? It happened slowly: too many tests here, not enough cars there, a couple of key players backing out, miscommunications, fall break, Homecoming, etc. I guess I didn't see the writing on the wall: I should have suspected there were by the time all three of our captains had backed out. Forty became thirteen a week before, only six the night before, and only one the morning of ... wait, make that two. On the far end of a bench, shivering and smiling, I see John C. I could have kissed him. Someone does actually read the mass emails I send out to the team. John was a start. Alone, I would have given up and gone back to my warm bed, but now I was optimistic. I went back into my dorm and started making calls to everyone I thought I might be able to wake up to play. I did the desperate, the unforgivable; that which I promised I would never again do after lasts year's Sectionals. I went around frantically knocking on the doors of players, prospects - in short - everyone
nearby I had ever seen with a Frisbee. By the time I was done, we were up to five: me, John C., Theresa C. (my girlfriend who had slept through her alarm - this was her first tournament), Meg C. (a beautiful, fearless, Amazon woman who can play with our men's team), and a Wildcard, Justin Gaines. Justin was a transfer to Mary Wash. and although it was his first year playing he already seemed to have the "Fever of the Disc," and he had shown really strong in our first two tournaments. I knew that if we were going to have any chance of doing well, Justin was going to have to come up big. In a way, he already had; the night before, he had requisitioned a friend's car and secured, and decorated for us two "Timmy's," the large, orange Construction barrels that were part of the tournament fee in Gettysburg, and part of the Pan Fried Funk tradition. So, at 6 a.m. that morning, the five of us and two dressed-up "Timmy's" embarked for that famous battlefield that decided the Civil War. Luckily, the night before, I had emailed the Catholic University Ultimate list-serve inviting any of their players to pick-up with us for the weekend. I had only gotten one response,
but he seemed earnest about going. We picked up Ray "Sharkyland" in the "Kiss and Ride" parking lot of the Springfield Metro station off of 1-95. This kid who had never met me had trusted me to be there at the allotted time, and this wasn't even his school's team. Furthermore, he was forced to bribe his roommate to drive him to the station for $40 because the metro didn't run that early in the morning. That was the kind of dedication that made me disappointed with all of the Mad Mary players who had bailed to go to Homecoming. We arrived in Gettysburg an hour later to find that several teams had bailed leaving only Gettysburg, Pitt-Johnstown, Carnegie-Mellon, and the six of us. Luckily, we were able to pick up a veteran from the area, named Pete (a long-haired, bearded bloke with great throws, experience, and a lot of heart.) and a highschooler. There's always a guy or two like Pete at tournaments if you are short a guy or two. I won't bore you with too many details about the tournament: in short it was wonderful. It was very well organized, the weather was incredible, and all of the teams interacted well - especially the second day when we had a hat tourna-
ment. Our team played great together and Justin came up huge scoring more than thirty times in seven games! A good time was had by everyone proving once again that everything always works out in the end. Everyone who missed the tournament missed a hell of a tournament. On the drive back to Mary Washington, all I can think about is how much I love this game: the layouts, the attitude, the excitement, the tournaments, the concept, the fun, even the name. Despite all of the college bureaucracy, the field space hassles, the mediocrity (or worse), the disappointments, the injuries, the ridiculing from the NCAA athletes, and the amount of time I put in, I remember why I do it. This weekend, those of us who went shared something simple, real and enjoyable. It was so wonderful it was almost unspeakable, and definitely indescribable. The best part is that you who are reading this know exactly what I'm talking about because this happens all the time. The people and places may be different, but despite all the setbacks that may arise along the way, there will always be that experience for those who are compelled to get out of bed those cold mornings across the world to play Ultimate.
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THE VVORLD DESERVES TO SEE THE PROFESSIONAL ULTIMATE LEAGUE by Steve Dodge Ultimate has the diving catches, the intense strategies, the quick turns, the huge plays, the easy-to-see disc, plenty of spots for commercials on TV, and the non-stop action of other team sports. And Ultimate adds to that mix Co-ed play and the Spirit of the Game: women and men compete on the same field and poor sportsmanship is not tolerated by players, coaches or fans. Ultimate is the only major field sport that always ends on a score, on a positive note. You can't sit on a lead in Ultimate. You can't stall the game until the clock runs out. You've got to keep on playing until you score the winning point. This is an amazing and important distinction. The game rarely goes five minutes without a score (even at my level of play). This allows for constant fan and player excitement. An Ultimate game cannot be boring.
It creates an environment that will capture and hold the attention of a public that has not yet met Ultimate. The PUL begins in January 2001 with the presentation of the PUL to the UPA Board of Directors. The remainder of the year will be spent ironing out league details and publicizing the PUL's inaugural event. After 2001 UPA Nationals, the PUL fundraising drive launches - $50,000 will be raised to host three PUL tournaments in the spring 2002. These Demonstration Tournaments will illustrate the appeal and marketability
Greatest field sport ever The PUL maintains the ideals of Ultimate: spirit, competition and camaraderie, while increasing the game's level of organization, competition and professionalism. The PUL draws fans, quality players and corporate dollars to the field of honor. The PUL is a complement to UPA sponsored and local league Ultimate play. PUL profits will be allocated to the growth and development of Ultimate through the construction of facilities, support of Ultimate Festivals, the development of high school and college Ultimate programs, advertising, and donations to the UPA. General Managers, coaches, and key players will be full-time employees of the PUL. They will teach Ultimate through high school, college, and community seminars in the off-season as well as participate in other Ultimate events locally and nationally. The PUL provides a stage for the best that Ultimate has to offer: the excitement of fast, non-stop, lay-out Ultimate, the spirit of Ultimate Honor that draws people to the sport, and the structure of a national standard of play.
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of Professional Ultimate and showcase the sport to potential corporate sponsors. Year 2002 will see the PUL budget drafted, the Official PUL Rules published, General Managers and Coaches hired, sponsorships contracted, and game times and locations scheduled. The first PUL games are played in the spring of 2003.
Why make a PUL? Why do we need the PUL? Why would anyone play in the PUL, why would anyone watch the PUL, and why would anyone sponsor the PUL? There are three primary reasons why now is the right time for the PUL. Firstly, Ultimate is growing. Corporate sponsors are becoming more and more interested in using Ultimate as a marketing tool (Jockey, Nextel, Toyota, Jose Cuervo, Gaia, etc). Ultimate needs to create a professional organization with which sponsors can negotiate advertising. Additionally, at Ultimate's current rate of growth, corporate ven-
Professional Ultimate League
turists will soon recognize the profitability of a professional Ultimate league or other series of tournaments. They will run it their way, without needing, or asking for, any input from the UPA and/or Ultimate players. Before another entity explores these avenues, the PUL needs to exist and succeed. The PUL will serve as an ambassador, drawing sponsors in to a player/UPA/PUL defined format. The PUL will merge the forces of profit and spirit and protect Ultimate from corporate pirating. Secondly, Ultimate is diverging into a sport and a game. Ultimate the sport is increasingly competitive, necessitating observers, rules clarifications, the introduction of cards, the NUA experiment, and lengthy captains meetings. Ultimate the game focuses on spirit and gamesmanship. The elan of Ultimate may call a great layout catch good when it was technically out or score based on style points. The PUL will mediate the intense competition of Ultimate the sport and preserve the joy of playing Ultimate the game. The PUL will fortify both approaches while allowing them to grow distinctly. Finally, Ultimate is an exhibition sport in the 2001 World Games. This will provide a broad exposure to Ultimate, thus helping to establish the possibility of TV contracts in 2003 for the PUL. A couple of seasons and/or tournaments will have been played before this occurs in order to properly tweak the rules, the travel and game formats, the observer's protocols, to make PUL matches as viewer friendly as possible while staying true to Ultimate, and to demonstrate that the PUL is an independent organization with whom a TV contract would be beneficial.
Why play in the PUL? There are four primary reasons to play in the PUL. There will be an increased level of competition and strategy. The competition will constantly improve forcing each player to improve his/her game as well. There will be one set of rules and
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Who is this guy? Steve Dodge (Washington DC) called UPA Headquarters several months ago with this big idea. He had obviously spent countless hours on this proposal before even venturing to call. I was impressed and am happy to entertain such forward thinking ideas in the UPA newsletter, especially when someone has put so much effort into it. I have consulted with Steve several times since he first called, because I think it will be important, sooner or later, to work toward a player-friendly and long-lived pro Ultimate league. It should be well integrated with other Ultimate activities and organizations- this article in the UPA Newsletter may be just the start. Not the first with the idea of a pro league, Steve comes at it from a unique perspective. So fat; I am impressed with his thoughtfulness, follow-through, patience and his ability to ask for and integrate a wide range of constructive suggestions. It is both extremely exciting and scary- probably an equal number of players feel either way And any given player probably feels a little of both emotions about pro Ultimate. To tap the excitement and avoid worst-case scenarios, Steve and I have discussed ways in which the UPA and a professional Ultimate league would work best together The concept is evolving quite differently than your basic National Governing Body-Pro League-Players' Union-TV Network-Fans model - into something I feel is more appropriate for our sport and more likely to succeed because of that. I believe it is possible to avoid many of the excesses of major sport leagues while enjoying an incredibly high level of play and sportsmanship. There is a market in this niche that hasn't been tapped, and what better sport to fill it than Ultimate? Steve has been invited to make a presentation to the Board in January and I hope he does. Will the PUL go the way of the 3 other pro league proposals that have come to UPA attention over the years, or will this one be THE one? Who knows! Equally important as a solid business plan and player/organizer buy-in is of course the money Without that, well, we're where we are today My guess is there's an incredible amount of untapped potential out there. If you want to be part of Ultimate realizing that potential, well, get ready to get ready to do something about it! Send your comments on professional Ultimate to both info@upa.org and pul@tripledisc.com. Write a letter to the editor: upa_newsletter@upa.org This would obviously be an incredibly major development for the sport, so speak up about it, even if you're not the type to speak up about other things!. Stay tuned! -Joey Gray
FLYING DISCS IN SOUTH AFRICA by St:uart Introduction SAFDA, the South African Flying Disc Association was first established several years ago by Justin Smith. It was Smith who first contacted WFDF with regard to seeking affiliation and who steered the fledgling game and governing body through the first difficult years as it sought to gain a foothold in the competitive world of South African sport. SAFDA has made it its mission to grow the game throughout the country. Fortunately it is a spectacular spectator game and an even better game to play, and each time newcomers are introduced to the sport, it usually wins a few converts. In the last 18 months Ultimate in South Africa has enjoyed a resurgence. Our youth development program,
sponsored by Truworths, continues to be the flagship of the development program, and the avenue which introduces the most newcomers to the sport on a yearly basis. While it will take time for these youngsters to come through the ranks where they will be able to play in national and international competitions, their participation in the game and their learning of the principles involved, is nevertheless a very good start. SAFDA must and will continue with its attempts to publicize the game at all levels. Media coverage, interviews, exhibition games and tournaments will all form part of our continuing plan to grow the game. While we may never see Ultimate during our playing lives played at the level or with the popularity in numbers that it
ÂŤContinued from previous page rule calling, there will be no extended debates about bad calls, and there will be sideline observers to eliminate questionable line calls. Observers and cards will ensure that the spirit of the games and the rules are followed. Players will earn fame and fortune. Players statistics will be tracked by thousands of fans online through the PUL website and the Fantasy Ultimate League and players will receive a modest salary. PUL players will be envoys of Ultimate to thousands of new fans and players and will help to form the foundation of the future of Ultimate. This does not even mention the fact that the players may be a part of the ftrst team to hoist the Ultimate Cup above their heads in victory.
Why will people pay to watch the PUL? The reasons are numerous. People will come to watch the PUL because it is Ultimate at its highest level. Ultimate is fast-paced, high scoring, has non-stop action, is the only professional Co-ed fteld sport, involves intense strategies and is the only sport in which a fan can learn to heckle for a scoober. More reasons people will go are that it is affordable, organized, professional and
positively charged entertainment.
Why will companies want to sponsor the PUL? Over 1 million people play Ultimate in North America alone, 2.5 million worldwide (according to the WFDF). The folks that play and watch are a prime market audience. They are active, well educated individuals between 15 and 55. Sponsors will be supporting a community-based organization that encourages people to get out and be active. They will align their corporations with a positive message from a spirited group called the Professional Ultimate League and we'll let them smear their corporate names, logos and message in front of tens of thousands of rabid fans each week. This is why the PUL will be formed. See you there!
2001 from March 1-4. Everything is on the international Ultimate players side! An exchange rate only to dream about [ 1$ = R7 , 1ÂŁ = R10] A venue unrivalled in the world! Huge parties and some excellent Ultimate. For more information on the tournament please log on to www.safda.org.za, there is a registration form for teams, individuals and spectators. Please support our efforts to grow the game in South Africa. Finally, if you are ever in this part of the world, we welcome all international Ultimate players and offer a game with a view ... Ultimate Africa.
enjoys in the United States and Canada, it is important that we put into place the structures, systems and foundations that will ensure that the next generation of players is able to compete and win on the world stage.
International Experience The South African team traveled to three tournaments in the past, Minneapolis Worlds, Clubs in Scotland without a win, and Heilbronn 2000 WUC. This year, we claimed two victories and this made a huge difference to those who previously played and ensured to all the newcomers we would all be returning for Hawaii 2002.
If you are interested, write stix@mweb.co.za or visit our Web site: wwwsafda.org.za
Beach Tournament This is the big one! South Africa will be hosting a beach tournament in
Beautiful Beaches. Cheap digs. Great _game. March 1-4, 2001 at Clifton Beach South Africa ,. $155 (R1000) per player*
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* COSTS INCLUDE:
Tournament transport, accommodations, ridiculous parties and the #1 beaches in the world. Does not include airfare
PUL contacts: Steven Dodge I 700 Jackson Street I Fredericksburg, VA 22401 Email: pul@tripledisc.com I Web: www.thePUL.com Phone: 800-4147564 I FAX: 540-373-3902
UPA contact: Joey Gray, Executive Director 3595 E Fountain Blvd, Suite J2, Colorado Springs CO 80910 Phone: 800-UPA-GET-H I info@upa.org
Join us in the sun for another South African first - the SA Ultimate Beach Tournament.
EXCHANGE RATES:
Co
Rand: Dollar= 7:1 and Rand: Pound = 10:1 so you see, it is a joke.
'
I you are interested, write stix@mweb.co.za or visit our Web site: www.safda.org.za South Africa
I Winter 2001
I www.upa. org I 17
TAU<IN., ABOUT A NEVV GENERATION
Thanks to a small (but dedicated) group of volunteers, Juniors Ultimate has finally come to Rochester, New York. Rochester has a long history of men's, women's, co-ed, local league, college, and open teams, top-notch tournaments and UPA involvement. Continuing in this tradition, Rochester now has a focused effort to introduce and provide Ultimate to schoolage youth looking for a healthy outlet beyond traditional physical activities. The desire to expand the sport locally initially led to the development of GRADA (the Greater Rochester Area Disc Association). GRADA was formed in early 1999 to actively promote Ultimate, coordinate the local leagues, and organize RUB (the Rochester Ultimate Benefit tournament held every June). fu late 1999, a core group of individuals expressed an interest in Youth Ultimate and formed YUP (Youth Ultimate Programs) as a focus group under GRADA. The culmination of their winter-long efforts was the formation of the Junior's Ultimate League in the spring of 2000. Almost 40 young men & women, ages 14 to 19, participated in an "instructional" league where adult players acted as "coaches". The intent was to build upon what little exposure these kids may have had to Ultimate, and introduce various levels of field awareness, concepts and strategy. By the end of the eight weeks, each player's skill levels had improved dramatically and many players asked for more. Success of this spring league led to the creation of a summer league with a slightly different format. Based on spring league
18
Ultimate Players Association
player feedback, the summer league used adult players who actively participated in play with the youth players. Although originally done to offset the weekly fluctuation in number of available junior's players, the participants commented that they really liked the active involvement of experienced players because it allowed them to better understand offensive and defensive concepts and strategies. One of the pleasant surprises that came out of the junior's leagues, was the knowledge that many local high schools already have some form of Ultimate in their physical education programs! A few schools even have regular, on-going "semi-organized" pick-up games and intra-school tournaments. Unfortunately, we also realized that the style and format of these games could barely be recognized as Ultimate the way we know it. Some games were being played with 2030 people on each team on the field all at once! Other variations allowed people to run with the disc, and many had no stall count at all! Because of these revelations, one of our missions has become to expose both student's and their physical education teachers to Ultimate as per the UPA rules. Over the past year and a half, we have introduced over 1,500 people to our sport. Although we have had some "large body count" successes, our committee continually struggles to get effective exposure due to a lack of resources (people, time & money). To that end, we have developed a full-color promotional brochure that will be distributed to area schools and activity centers. The eyegrabbing layout catches and leaping snags will hopefully attract attention as well as providing some information
Juniors Ultimate
yup jpgs does anyone know who took this photos? about the sport, the existence of the junior's leagues, and the availability of GRADA volunteers to provide clinics and demonstrations. YUP is continuing their efforts to provide instructional venues both in and outside of school situations, but time frames are often a problem. Since none of our volunteers are independently wealthy, they usually must take personal and vacation time to provide clinics and demonstrations. This, of course, is a barrier to having the large pool of volunteers necessary to provide instruction to the hundreds of middle schools and high schools in the area. Fortunately, we have more flexibility with local recreation centers that have programs later in the day and on weekends. Our difficulty has been, and will continue to be, effectively utilizing limited resources to gain the biggest impact and exposure. The leagues are viable because they are either on a weekend or after normal work hours so volunteers are not as
much of an issue. The problem with the junior's league has been getting a body count high enough to make them worthwhile. Getting increased turnout requires exposing enough juniors to the sport to entice some of them to participate. The best place to expose them, of course, is in school but it's very difficult to get volunteers during a work day. Unfortunately, it's somewhat of a Catch-22, but we are indebted to several volunteers who have been willing to take time off from work. As we set our short- and long-term goals for YUP, our focus will continue to be on providing the best venue we can for those who are already interested in Ultimate while exposing as many future players as we can to the sport. We're excited and optimistic for continued success because of the positive feedback that we have gotten on our efforts to date. Here's an example we received from one of the junior's players from last spring, " ... thank you for all of your effort and hard work ... you got at least one person to play Ultimate for the rest of his life ... " Wow!!! We done good ...
r--------------------------------------------
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I Winter 2001 I www.upa. orgl
19
Co-to
I llORLO In the last issue we ran out of time and space for the excitement at Worlds. Catch up on our Co-ed and Women's teams now!
by Garrett Dyer This summer, Raleigh Llama went to Heilbronn Germany and won every game (12 in all) to win the World Championship. As some of you already know, the Llama consists of Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) players as well as several players from Wilmington, and a couple thrown in from Columbia, SC. Because of the length of the tournament (7 days play), others were added to strengthen the roster. Among them were Debbie Byles, a player who has worn many hats in the past year playing with national caliber teams such as Backhoe and Spear, and Dennis "Cribber" Warsen, who made his mark as a member of the dominant New York, NY team of lore. Also along for the ride were Bill Neal and Jill Missar, a couple from Tampa, FL who were lucky enough to have parents living about 20 minutes away from Heilbronn. Upon arriving at Opening Ceremonies in Heilbronn on Saturday, the Llamas who were new to this experience were impressed to find that the magnitude and scale of the tournament was greater than imagined. This was no weekender, that was for sure. Nine soccer fields (split into halves for Ultimate fields) from six different soccer clubs hosted 1200 players from 23 countries in six divisions. There were kiosks with lots of different types of food, though most of us stuck to pizza and pasta. And you can bet there was plenty of beer. The fields were in prime condition, benefiting from a month of rest from the pounding of soccer cleats. Each team played two games a day, always with a two-hour bye between each game. This type of schedule was particularly welcome to the Raleigh Llama, mainly because the average age of its players was far greater than that of the other teams. Beginning play on Sunday as the second seed, the Llama started off against Great Britain and was immediately challenged. It was apparent that every team was there to knock off the cocky Americans. We got a quick lesson on European offense with "GB" playing an single-man isolation in the middle of the field, looking for a pass to space that the defender would be a step behind on. On a dewy-wet morning, we found ourselves down 2-4, but with a few lefthanded strikes from Cribber took half, 8-6. There were many calls that were discussed, which seemed to bring light to the fact that the Brits were a less physical team. After half, the Llama clamped down on defense, capitalizing on poor passes from GB's women in the zone and won going away, 15-7.
Coming in, the second match against Sweden had a us a little worried. Swedish teams are traditionally a great match for the American teams, and our captain Kenny Dobyns had us mentally prepared. We came out on fire, playing tight defense and taking away their cuts back to the disc. It was too much for the overwhelmed Swedes, who succumbed, 15-3. On Monday, the Llama cruised to victories over New Zealand (15-7) and the Czech Republic (15-4). The next serious challenge came in a Tuesday morning match against Germany. Perhaps still with sleep in our eyes, we fell into a huge hole. There were two things working against us that morning: their offense and ours. Theirs revolved around getting the disc to a handler in the middle of the field with the team set up in a T stack. Essentially, it gave them a dump at either side, the ability to send the disc upfield toward the sideline for the other handler to run on to, or the gravy play, a quick strike to the isolated man 15 yards upfield (similar to GB's strategy). We worked against ourselves dropping passes, throwing ill-advised ones, and generally not paying attention to what was killing us on defense. Down 5-10 in a game to 15, we needed to wake up, and did so, getting more aggressive at the mark and making sure that the downfield defenders, while still fronting their player, kept one eye back at the disc. The 15-13 victory was a scare, but definitely well worth the anxiety. The cockiness was kept in check without costing us a win. However, there was one huge loss - Cribber pulled his hamstring and was lost for the tournament. With a win later that afternoon over the futernational team (formed by players from countries without representative teams) by a score of 15-2, the Llama maintained its seed and won the pool. Onward to the regrouping ... The top four from each of the two pools were regrouped, and our first match was against the other pool's second placed team, Finland. We were very interested to find that Finland ran their four men in a homey offense,
USA Co-ed Raleigh Llama.
20
Ultimate Players Association
Winter 2001
World Ultimate Co-ed Championships
DiviSION
USA's Raleigh Llama vs. Cananda in the co-ed finals in Heilbronn, Germany.
almost completely leaving their women players downfield to stay out of the way. This seemed to work well for them, because they stuck with it and rode it to an eventual bronze medal finish. Their speed was difficult to keep in check, and the game was mostly point for point, the Llama seeming to be just one or two ahead throughout. Once we abandoned our straightup force and went with a hard force one way, we took half of their working space away and controlled the game, eventually winning by the score of 15-9. Meanwhile, the No. 1 seed of the tourney, Canada, was having fits with Great Britain, tied up at 13-all, but eventually pulled away with a win by scoring the last two points. Our second game was with Japan, who most of us knew would be a tough oppo-
Photo by Jeff Jorgeson
Photo by Jeff Jorgeson
nent. Before the game, they ran numerous drills and took up half of the field practicing their zone. What we didn' t know was whether it was for their offense or defense. It became apparent that it wasn't for their defense as they ran us hard from the get-go. However, when it was our tum on defense, they were not up to mastering our zone defense. With no wind to speak of, we were able to keep them from advancing past their own goalline on few occasions. They used the hammer effectively, and seemed to get into more trouble when they attempted high release break passes. We pulled away to a seemingly easy win, 15-8. The next morning's game against Switzerland was much of a repeat of the Germany game. We turned the disc over many times as miscommunication was the theme of the game. It appeared as if this was our first game together as a team, with many available passes not connecting to the open receiver. Fortunately they handed our mistakes back to us as often as we made them and we were able to win in ugly fashion, 15-7. That afternoon we finally faced Canada, which was surely a preview of the final. Growing weary of calling subs since game one, Kenny handed over the responsibility of calling offense subs to his brother Brian Dobyns. It seemed to have an electrifying effect as the previously sloppy Llama offense became crisp, clean, and patient. Team Canada threw a few zones at us, something
Continued on next page
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FURY AI Worlds Article (continued from last issue) Women's Division The World Championship in Heilbronn, Germany this August was a wonderful and challenging learning experience for the US Women's Team, Fury, from the San Francisco Bay Area. With only five of 22 players with Worlds experience, Fury learned about adversity as we coped with injury, jet lag, seven days of Ultimate, disoriented shuttle drivers and fine German cuisine. Six days before World's began, Dominique Fontenette tore her ACL in a Co-ed game. As much as we tried to
I IJORLOS
put it out of our minds, I think it had a big impact on our team without any time for us to regroup before the tournament began. Although Fury played well enough to win all of our games through the first three days of the tournament, we made things hard on ourselves by struggling offensively and winning many of our games by a narrow margin. Our claim to fame early in the week was our first jet-lagged game against Great Britain (ranked 8th in the tournament); we were actually losing 8-1 at half-time. Finally we awoke from our daze and inched our way
USA Women's Fury(California)
芦
back during the second half to win the game 15-13. By the time we played our showcase game against Japan, we had suffered an unexpected loss against Finland, another torn ACL and other assorted injuries. Fury 's game was a little tentative and Japan capitalized on our mistakes playing their best game of the week with confidence and few offensive errors. Meanwhile, Canada breezed through pool play, gaining momentum as the tournament progressed. By the time Fury and Canada met for our final pool play game, Fury was hag-
gard, injured and our confidence was shaken after two consecutive losses. After losing to Canada in pool play, we met them again the following morning in the semis and lost a second time. Canada played extremely well all week long and deserved to win the World championship. It was clear that Canada and Fury suffered from two very different plights. Canada, a very talented team, had a monkey on their back. In the last few years, they have come so close to winning games, winning tournaments and qualifying for the UPA championships. Fury, on the other hand, was coping with the pressure of defending our 1999 Championship. Fury felt the pressure of being a young team ranked number one and had a hard time overcoming adversity. We underestimated the caliber of the teams at Worlds and also expected ourselves to play better. As coach Bob Pallares said, "we kept trying to find our 'A game' but never brought it out at Worlds." Despite our losses at Worlds, Fury returned from Germany with many great experiences from playing against and interacting with the other teams. Some of these included distasteful Aussie cheers, Italian pasta making and how to seek revenge on DoG for conspiring to steal our belongings. We also returned with a renewed focus on how to bring our "A game" to every tournament, no matter what. See you at the next tournament.
Photo by Jeff Jorgeson
-Maya Conrad
Continued from previous page
that we had been hungry for all week and we ate it up, usually working the disc to midfield before Wilmington star Broc Adams would find Kenny, Debbie, or Matt Hull in the end zone. After taking half, 8-5, the Llama kept up the intensity in the second winning, 15-10. Canada had kept a few of its key players out of the game which had us guessing about whether we'd see a different team if we were to indeed meet in the final. The Friday semi-final rematch against Great Britain was something that many of us were looking forward to. After losing to us in the first game of the tournament, Great Britain went on a tear and established themselves as one of the top four mixed teams, making noise that they were very ready to play us again. We were very interested in showing "GB" that their optimism about winning the game was far from reality. Part of their optimism may have been due to the fact that they had not yet experienced Tully Beatty, who, along with wife Amy, wasn't able to make the first game. Tully was simply smashing, getting block after point block after layout D. The Brits laid down their arms to the Colonists rather quickly this time, and it was over in a jiffy, 15-4. And so it was, the Raleigh Llama would play for the World Championship in the main stadium. We arrived an hour early for our 11 a.m. finale and the Canadians were already there. Much of the scene had the feel of the movie "Chariots of Fire" when the sprinters were warming up for the 100-yard dash. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as I watched my teammates and our opponents go
through their warm-up routines. Things were quiet and intense. The announcer interviewed both captains, with our captain clearly winning (he certainly didn't back away from the topic that Canada had held players out of our first meeting with them). With that, the announcer called each player onto the field, perfectly pronouncing each name and jersey number - in German! It was a surreal experience for someone who'd never advanced past sectionals before joining the Llama. With consistent toss-loser Robin Miller coming through in the clutch and giving us the pull, the Llama started on D and took it to the Canadians. We shot out of the gate and roared to a 4-1 lead, and it looked to be a rout. But starting from the brickmark, the Canadians hucked deep to woman, who easily scored. Next came a second pass slip, which resulted in a Canadian block and an easy score from 15 yards out. Trying to force it, the next possession saw an attempt at threading the needle and quick flow for the Canadians as they scored from 20 yards out. The Canadians had crawled back into the game, tying the game at 4-all and had many chances to take the lead in a hell point, but couldn't capitalize on Llama turnovers. The last tie of the game would come at 5-all on a flick score from Team Canada. The Llama took half at 9-6, coming courtesy of excellent play by Matt Hull and Mike Soo, who threw two of the three scores and was an important cog in the 4-man that took half. The Canadians retreated to the locker room under the grandstand to escape the heat
USA's Raleigh Llama vs. Canada in the co路ed finals in Heilbronn, Germany.
while the Llama basked in the seemingly mild conditions. Things looked to be in control. Canada scored the first point of the second half, but then gave up five unanswered goals. Erin Alexander figured big in scoring two, and Tully and Kenny provided huge plays on separate points. How fitting it was that the two who gave birth to the team were the two who connected for the winning score as Kenny assisted to Brian. The Canadians stopped the bleeding with two scores to make the score,
Photo by Jeff Jorgeson
14-9, but a solid offensive point gave a nearly insurmountable lead to the Llamas. Three points later the game was over, a fitting end to the Llama's season as Kenny connected with brother Brian on one yard pass. The Raleigh Llama were World Champs. At the closing ceremonies, each Llama was adorned with a gold medal. The team was presented a large brass bell, constructed in a sturdy fashion typical to German products, which gave Kenny the freedom to spike it to his heart's content.
World Ultimate Championships
Winter 2001
www.upa. org
21
Godiva's Back! The first day of women's Ultimate at the 2000 UPA National Championship went almost as expected based on the seeding. The only pool that the top two seeds didn' t hold was pool A The top two seeds in the A pool were Prime and Home Brood. The Brood dominated the game taking a 5-1, which Prime never recovered from. This allowed the brood the victory and the No. 1 seed in pool A, with a final score of 15-9. The A pool also had Rogue, out of Boston, and Chicago's Nemesis. Rogue won the game to become the 3rd seed while Nemesis slipped to fourth seed in the pool. Pool B had all the teams holding seed with Boston's Lady Godiva going 3-0, Rare Air from Colorado ending up 2-1, and Philly Peppers at 1-2. Madison's Johnny Cocktail enjoyed the weather and cocktails at the beach after a disqualification for roster violations. Fury went 3-0 to keep the top seed in Pool C, after a close win over BackHoe. Fury took the half 8-4, but in the second half BackHoe came back to tie up it up at 12 all. It was tied at 13 all, before Fury got two defensive stops to get the victory, 15-13. Condors and Hucksters maintained their seed of third and fourth respectively. Another team out of the Northwest, Schwa, held seed and won pool D after a close 15-12 against a young Burban Sprawl team from Georgia. Bnogo beat Clutch to advance to third seed in pool D.
This left the reseeding for Friday with Pool E having Home Brood, Schwa, Burban Sprawl, and Prime looking similar to the Northwest regional. Lady Godiva, Fury, Rare Air and BackHoe made up the other pool of top seeds. The other two pools had the bottom seeds competing to win the pool and get one more shot at the Championship Bracket. Pool G had Rogue, Bnogo, Clutch and Nemesis trying to win the pool and play a third game on Friday. Philly Peppers, Condors and Hucksters were also trying to beat the pool and get another shot at advancing to play on Saturday. BackHoe from pool F had to play one more game against Rogue, the G pool winner, to prove they deserved to be in the Championship bracket. They accomplished this task by beating Rogue, 15-9. The other game saw Burban Sprawl, the bottom seed from Pool E, facing the top seed from Pool H, the Philly Peppers. This hard fought, intense game was one of the best games of the day. The up-and-coming Burban Sprawl took the early lead against the Philly Peppers, 7-3. Before Burban Sprawl could take half though, the Peppers heated things up by gaining two point back to make the score 86 at half. The second half started with Sprawl scoring the first point despite the ravenous water bottle bounding cheer of the Philly master's team, Old Sag. However the cheering seemed to inspire the Peppers
enough to allow them to tie the game at 13 all. They matched points making the score 14 all in the time capped game to 16. It was 15 all and Philly received the disc, they turned it over but got the defensive stop. However they threw it away again, allowing Burban sprawl to score and winning the chance to play on Saturday. Quarter-finals saw Schwa taking on BackHoe and Rare Air going against Prime in one branch of the Championship Bracket. The other branch had defending national champions, Lady Godiva, facing Burban Sprawl and Home Brood meeting Fury in a Northwest rematch. Schwa fell behind to BackHoe, 75, before coming back to take half at 8-7. After half, both teams matched each other point for point to make it 12 all. After a throw away by BackHoe, Schwa had patient offense to score the point. The next possession had a defensive stop by Schwa, which they took full advantage of to score another point and make it 14-12. The ensuing point had BackHoe making another turn allowing Schwa's steady offense to
score and advance to the semi-finals with a 15-12 win. In the quarter-final match up between Rare Air and Prime it was a tied game all the way to 13. After a Rare Air throwaway, Prime scored to make it 14-13. The next point Prime got the defensive stop they needed and went on to win and face their Northwest rivals, Schwa, in the semi-finals. The other Quarterfinals had Lady Godiva falling behind 0-2 to Burban Sprawl. Then going on a 6-0 run to take the lead, 6-2, it was all Lady Godiva as they went on to win the game, 15-7. Home Brood took a 51 lead on Fury in a Northwest rematch in the last quarter-final game. Fury caught fire and in a flurry of points tied the game at 7-7, taking half on the next point 8-7. Fury scored two more points after half, before Home Brood responded with their own score to make it a 10-8 score in Fury 's favor. Fury maintained the lead the rest of the game an advanced to semis with a 15-13 win. The semi-finals had Northwest teams fac-
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Ultimate Players Association
Winter 2001
Women's Nationals
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ing each other, yet again, in game between Portland's Schwa and Vancouver's Prime. Prime came out looking to dominate the game by taking the lead, 6-3, but Schwa didn' t go quietly. Schwa went on a 3-0 run and tied the game 6 all. Points were exchanged until half, with Prime in the lead ,8-7. The game continued after half the same way, with both teams matching each other point for point till it was 10-10. Schwa jumped out to the 12-10 lead as the game was capped at
14 all. Prime got the next point making it 12-11, but Schwa scored the next two points to get the ticket to the finals with a 14-11 victory. The other semi-final had Lady Godiva facing another Northwest team, Fury. Lady G. got the early 3-0 lead and never gave it up, taking half, 9-4. The second half went the same as the first with Lady Godiva advancing to the Finals to face Schwa with a 17-9 win. Lady Godiva was the only team to represent the East Coast teams in all three of the finals on Sunday. And represent was exactly what they did, jumping out to an early 4-1 on Schwa. Their lead got extended by taking advantage of Schwa's throwaways with their accurate and patient offense, allowing them to take half, 9-4. After the half Lady Godiva continued to pull away from Schwa. By scoring two points for every point that Schwa scored. At 13-6, Schwa went on a scoring run getting three in a row to make the score 13-9. It was to late for any heroics as the low turn over offense of Lady Godiva kept up the relentlessness to only allow Schwa to get a point closer. Lady Godiva keeps the 2000 UPA Women's National Champions title on the East Coast for another year with a 17-12 victory.
Womens Nationals
23
Union Pride of Seattle's Keg Workers of America, Local No.333, Defeats L.A. Pond Scum in 15-14 Thriller By Jim O'Donnell They say that history is written by the victors and this is no exception, as I am a Keg Worker, tried and true. Masters live in the shadow of the rising skill and athleticism of the Open Division. But would you deny 40-somethings Steve Mooney or Mike Glass a spot on an Open team? In fact, skills and athletes abound in the 33 and older Masters play. As in all sports, the real question is who has the heart of a champion at crunch time? Who has the character to make the right call? To take back the inevitable bad call? Who can bring the crowd to its feet with a huge throw or block? And who, at the end of the day, can shake hands and genuinely respect and thank your opponent for a hard fought match? The answer is in the Masters Division, where competition and camaraderie equally ruled the day. The Masters division went to 12 teams this year, two from each region. The format was round robin play in two pools of six, followed by cuts to quarters, semis and finals. Seeding was complicated by the lack of prior tourneys, soB Pool ended up tougher, with its 4th and 5th seeds (second in their regions) meeting for the national title. Coming in, defending National and World Champs Colorado Old and in the Way were
favored and looking to repeat, with a practiced, well-conditioned and good-karma team. Last year's runner up, Florida's Herniated Disc, was at home and hungry. They had cleaned up the hard, call oriented style of last year and were ready to win the right way with a talented roster drawn from South Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Virginia. Seattle's Keg Workers of America, Local 333, overtime semis losers last year, almost didn't come and had been thinking about this year's tourney for several minutes before arriving. They were fortunate to add Shawn Robinson, Sean Federbusch and Ricky Dude to their old Sockeye core to make up for this mindlessness. NY Pro State came in armed with Corky, trash talking captain Garbo and a big squad, few of whom had prior Open or Masters Nationals experience. North Carolina's Old and Cranky had reputedly added many former Ring players. And Los Angeles Pond Scum, losers of two tight Regional games to Old and in the Way, had a core of old Iguana players who knew how to win. By the way, the Masters Division team names need work. It is bad enough that our bodies are falling apart but Old Sag and Old Cranky and Old and Crabby and Old and in the Way and Alzhammers and Pro State? Enough self-effacing, silly plays on words. Next year, let's try for the Grim Reapers, The Godfathers, or the Dangerfields. Respect
Pond Scum, LA
24
Ultimate Players Association
Photo by Sara Rubinstein
Winter 2001
Master's Nationals
starts with your name. A quick note on the Keggy approach to Ultimate. Behind Union Boss Troy Frever, the Union had only four present members lacking Open nationals experience. But in a world of spouses and kids and mortgages, the Union has as many ski and mountain bike trips as tourneys and leaves training to the whims of its members. KWA won the 1999 Spirit of the Game award and fun was again its priority as El Diablo engineered a fresh keg for each of Nationals' four days (as the Union does for all tourneys). Nobody had to beg to drink from the kegs; beer was free in exchange for an entertaining story or joke. Ask someone who was there about the cantaloupe story. KWA also initiated a new Nationals tradition: the Shotgun Salute to Spirit. At the end of the first day, 100 players gathered and did a shotgun together (two cases of cans were supplied by KWA) with a toast to each other and all of the reasons we play. To KWA, this was as important as anything else that happened at the tourney. An omen on Day Two told me KWA was going to win it all. Four honest-to-God paid keg workers ran the huge Budweiser keg beer truck at the tourney. They wore blue collar shirts just like our team shirts, with "Budweiser" and their names embroidered over the pockets (instead of KWA). One was named "Gunner." He was willing to gun me for his
National Champions, Keg Workers, Seattle
shirt. He was huge and paid to work kegs for a living. My odds were bad. Bud the Union way is to punch the clock, have at it and never give in. So I won the shirt off his back and wore it the rest of the tourney. Am I really that good? Well, I just like to think of Bob Beamon at the '68 Mexico City Olympics long jumping 29 _feet, a record that stood for 30 years. Was Bob that good? Hell yes. He set the record. Hell no. He never came within two feet of that jump again. But he gets to keep the gold. So back off. I'm not racing you for the shirt. Now on to the games!
DAY ONE Round 1 In Pool A, No.1 seed Colorado Old came out ready to defend its title, which meant preparing for every game with its trademark team run, stretch and drills, and simply crushing its weaker opponents behind founder Gary Foreman, co-leader Bob Pease and team Beat Poet, Mark Carger. It did exactly this in taking down No.5 Philly Old Sag, 15-2. No.2 NY Pro State easily beat No.4 Chicago Trouser 2K, 15-7, while San Francisco's No.3 Old and Crabby romped over No.6 Birmingham Alzhammers, 15-5. In Pool B, No.1 seed Florida HD opened against No.5 LA Pond Scum. Everyone knew
Continued on next page
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Photo by Sara Rubinstein
that LA would be much tougher then its seed. Its roster included Jack Jacques, Tim Liddy, Steve Ferguson and John Babin. Babin is as controversial a player as there is in the Masters game. His athleticism, hunger and focus are remarkable and he made many big plays while being the emotional heart of his team. But he also made many big calls, argued them long and loud, and was in people's faces constantly. His presence squarely posed for many of us the question of how to balance competitive fire with fairness. Back to the game. HD came out on fire and were up 12-8 in a game to 15. But LA changed up its defense to zone in moderate wind and clawed back to win 1514. Both scrappy teams had many late turnovers and chances to score, but LA gutted it out as it would all weekend, with big plays at the right times, although never really gelling for a whole game. Sadly, HD would see more of the same as well. North Carolina's No.2 Cranky, a darkhorse
Pond Scum grab over Seattle's Troy Frever
for the title, opened with No.4 KWA. Mike Su's break mark throws were outstanding, and Eric Guajardo, TJ Cawley, Drew Preiss, Andy Scheman and Captain Christian Schwoerke led a deep southern squad. The game was close until about 5s, then KWA pulled away in the second half to win 15-9, making defensive adjustments with a strong trap and regularly converting turnovers, while the offense scored efficiently on few passes as "Butter" Sean Federbusch brought high energy and a positive head to the Keggy game, and Joey Johnson lent the steadying influence of 24 years experience in KWA's closest game other then against LA Kentucky's Black Lung, overseeded at No.3, beat No.6 Boston Wreckage 15-10 for their only Pool win behind Captain Rick Rydz, John Pohl, Steve Martin and John Reynierson. As an example of why this small squad was the Master's Spirit of the Game winner, their handwritten team bio said "We
are from Kentucky. We Ain't never been to a 4n Country B4. We go to git in on arplane. X." Wreckage got a good laugh when a tourney official asked them to use a RUFUS chart. At the end of round one, the top two B Pool seeds already had losses.
Round 2 InPoolA,No.1 Old crushed a decent No.4 Trouser, 15-7. The big game of the round was No.2 Pro State's 15-13 win over No.3 Crabby behind Eddie Stone. Crabby had the lead until late in the game behind Jimmy Conner's high release backhand and Craig's darting cuts. No.5 Old Sag (with Sven Peterson in his amazing fourth decade of Nationals tourneys) lost to No.6 Alzhammers, 13-11. The Trouser game sorely tested the Masters' reputation for good spirit, as Chicago's Kevin Cox kicked an KWA's Hans Frederick opponent (not an attempted point block). Tempers flared but the situation was controlled after some escalation. Still, a formal complaint was lodged and UPA officials put Cox on probation. Sadly, this would become an issue again the next day. Meanwhile, in Pool B, No.2 Cranky was spanking Black Lung, 15-5, while Pond Scum destroyed No.6 Boston Wreckage, 15-3. The big game of this round was No.1 HD against No.4 KWA. HD had defeated Keg in overtime in semifinals the year before with a hard fouling and call-oriented strategy. The Keg Workers were prepared for their worst, but were pleasantly surprised to get only their best, an absolute class act from start to finish from a talented team. HD ran hard and played well, as they did all week. Still, KWA had been pointing for the game for a long time. It was close at the start, but Keg crushed behind a couple of big catches and goal throws by Jimmy 0 going into the half and won going away, 15-7. Paul Rice and Dave Hynds had been in five Open finals between them, and their steady ability to break the marks and maintain possession was key. HD, with two early losses, still had faith they could win the title because in 1999 they had also lost their first two games to top teams then won five in a row, before losing in the finals.
Round 3 In Pool A, No.1 Old won decisively over No.3 Crabby, 15-9 behind team MVP John Hamm and perennial star Buzzy Ellsworth in its closest Pool game. No.2 Pro State had a surprisingly hard 15-10 win over No.6 Alzhammers while No.4 Trouser struggled to beat No.5 Sag, 15-11. In the B pool, No.1 HD got on the board with a 15-9 victory over No.3 Black Lung team. No.2 Cranky cruised over No.6 Wreckage, 15-1, leaving it at 2-1 but looking ahead to two brutal games set for the second day. The game of the day was LA Pond Scum against the Keg Workers in a preview of the finals. KWA had by far the hardest schedule of the day, defeating No.2 Cranky (15-9), then winning its grudge match against No.1 HD (15-7), and perPhoto by Sara Rubinstein haps were both a little tired as well as mentally drained on this day of sun and 82 degree heat. Now came well-rested LA, far better then its seed, which had followed a tough win over No.1 HD (15-14) with an easy win over weak Wreckage (15-3). KWA came out flat, with uncharacteristic drops and unforced throwing errors, while LA routinely converted the mistakes into goals and went up 6-1, with emotion surging through its ranks. KWA called a time out and regrouped behind spiritual leader and defensive rock, Pete Bamouw. They came storming back with suffocating D and took the half 8-6, as LA started bickering on its sideline. At the break, Keg Workers were confident they had found their groove. But LA had its own ideas. Late in the game, KWA threw away a goal line pass to go up two and LA tied it. As cap time approached, a Keggy player turfed the uncovered first pass off the pull and LA converted from the goal line to regain the lead. KWA pulled at 13-13, next goal wins, and Pond Scum marched it in to win 14-13, to finish the day 3-0 and in command of the Pool. LA and KWA shared some beers after this hotly contested game.
Recap At the end Day 1, Pool A was according to seed except for seeds five and six reversed.
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But Pool B was topsy turvey, with LA in control at 3-0, KWA at 2-1, Cranky at 2-1 , HD at 1-2, Black Lung at 1-2 and Wreckage 0-3.
DAY2 All teams had two games to finish pool play. At stake for the top four Pool B teams were the dreaded quarter and semis matchups with Old.
Round 4 In Pool B, the game of the round was Cranky over LA in a 16-14 game of surges. Cranky looked ready to close out a four point win but LA showed its characteristic scrappy heart and fought its way back in, winning some of its trademark brutal, turnover driven points before falling. Meanwhile, HD walked over Wreckage, 15-5 and KWA defeated Black Lung, 15-5 behind Getty's brilliant "Good Keg Beer" to the tune of "The Monkey and the Engineer." In A Pool, Old continued to toy with its opponents, warming up with a 15-3 win over Alzhammers. Pro State struggled to a 13-12 time capped win over winless Old Sag. Crabby took down Trouser, who was desperate to make the quarters. The Chicago-San Fran game was marred by a second Kevin Cox incident. He asked the sidelines to move back to give him a clear throw, a Crabby player agreed to move but did not, so Cox threw the disc at him and he threw it back harder. Some escalation followed. Ultimately, Cox was suspended for the rest of the tourney. Now I am not a UPA official, and the punishment may not have fit the crime, but Cox's unacceptable behavior (he had kicked someone the day before and been clearly told that no further transgressions would be permitted) was a blemish on both the Masters Division and the game. Now the above may not be a full and fair rendition of events that were a huge time suck and needless distraction at the tourney. But rather then debate politics and procedures, let me just say this. Each team is responsible for enforcing the spirit of the game among its members through the actions of each player. Take care of business in your own family and there is no need for "official" intervention. End of story.
Round 5 In the last round, A Pool No.1 Old destroyed No.2 Pro State 15-5 (despite Corky) behind Chuck Figur, among others. Crabby and Trouser took care of business as well, sending Philly and 'Barna out of the quarters 15-8 and 15-6 respectively. LA handled Black Lung, and KWA rolled Wreckage, 15-5. With Wreckage out of it, Mario Macera introduced a gun rule - at a time-out, the D could challenge to a gun, each team picks from its 7 on the field. If D wins, it is a turnover, if 0 wins, count goes to zero. KWA's Baird "What" Johnson pulled an "Old Faithful" geyser spew and Boston needed three tries to finish, in a waste of perfectly good beer. Just after this, in one of the more bizarre sequences of the tourney, Chrispy fell down and got a D when someone hit him in the back with a throw as he was getting up. Syme picked it up and tried to throw fluff for the goal but was partially point blocked. Rico caught it anyway, being close in screaming at him for the dump. Then Barkan, thinking the ensuing nine count backhand was for him, laid out and unintentionally macked it just out of reach of the intended receiver, O ' Hea, who lunged and knocked down the Rev, as the disc landed on his chest
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for the goal. Cranky and HD played a huge game for 3rd and 4th place in B Pool, with KWA getting first on tie breaker if Cranky won and LA first otherwise. The loser drew seemingly unstoppable Old in the quarters instead of struggling NY, and the two seed would get Old in the semis. HD ended up winning this critical game 15-11, behind the strong defense of Dave DeWitte and Captain Monte Adler and the steady offense of Scott Nolf and Harlan Wurster. Cranky just fell too far behind and could not make up the ground against Florida's controlled, opportunistic offense.
Recap At the end of pool play, A Pool had Old at 5-0, NY at 4-1, Crabby at 3-2, Trouser at 2-3, Alzhammers at 1-4 and Old Sag 0-5. B Pool had LA at4-1, KWA at 4-1, HD at 3-2, Cranky at 3-2, Black Lung at 1-4, and Wreckage at 0-5. The general consensus (among everyone but LA) was that Old and Keg were the two best teams, one of whom would be knocked out in their anticipated semis match-up, and the path through LA was the easy route to the finals. This should serve as another reminder not to listen to the handicappers.
Day3 Saturday was set up for quarters and semis, with the losers (as well as teams 9-12) having to play consolation games for final rankings. HD v. Pro State was the big game of the quarters. NY looked very heatable, having struggled in its pool while HD was starting to gel and believed it could still win the title. HD fell behind two early, but then put the pressure on. With the game tied at 14 and NY with the disc on the goal line looking to score, HD's defense got two consecutive stalls, but each was contested. On the third try, NY put it in and held on to win 16-14, upholding the honor of A pool. Trouser had scrapped its way into quarters behind Joel Price, Mike Balas, Mike Tower and Bill Jacobs, as well as captain John Culver, only to lose 15-11 to LA, despite "winning" the second half. Once again, the LA team was turnover prone, and Chicago felt it could have won and made semis. But Pond Scum again showed all of the intangibles required to take close games. Crabby faced a rematch of its 16-13 win over a ten man KWA squad at the NW Regionals. Crabby was playing well at Nationals, but KWA had 18 players this time, was playing for pride and came out on fire. The Keg Workers pulled away to win 15-5 behind brutal defense that scored at will led by Hans Frederick, Elod Toth and Dave Hynds, helped by a series of spectacular catches by Papa and Getty's deep forehand. Old had rolled its way in on the wheels of Karl Mimack, big throws from Dave Smith and steady play from spirtualleader/goal-scoring machine Randy Ricks. But the gritty and psyched Cranky squad, which may well have taken second in the weaker Pool A, was not conceding. Cranky started tough, but Old got in gear and won decisively, 15-10. The semis were set.
Semifinals Pond Scum took on Pro State. NY's defense rose to the challenge but squanderd its many stops and opportunities to score. LA pulled out to a nice lead and NY could never cut back into it, as LA won a grueling game, 15-10. Unfortunately, we lack more details about this game.
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Master's Nationals
KWA's Mark "Papa" Friedland
The KWA-Old match-up was widely viewed (by everyone but LA) as the game of the tournement, as these were clearly the best two teams when they played well. Other then KWA's one point loss to LA, KWA and Old had simply crushed every other team, with the deepest athleticism, skills and experience. The mutual respect between Keg and Old runs high and both teams were excited for the game. The D was tight both ways and the offenses were unable to break big plays early on as KWA checked Old's disciplined European box offense. But KWA was simply running better and making fewer errors. Despite frenzied Old defense by the end zone (and an incredibly doggy KWA offense in the red zone at first), Sean Federbusch, "Sugar" Shawn Robinson and Baird Johnson were able to keep punching the disc in. But then the game broke open when Sugar became a man playing a boy's game, as he dominated on offense and defense with a never-ending series of great plays.. The back breaker was when Papa Friedland sent up a huge floating deep backhand to Rickydude, who unfortunately was cutting underneath. We all watched Sugar run it down in the back of the end zone from forty yards out on a delayed break. Up 7-5, KWA was mindful that it had been in the same situation last year only to have Old take the half and the
Photo by Sara Rubinstein
game. KWA then got the defense and took half at 8-5 on a backhand huck from fearless speedster Mike Fina, who added another assist to his scorecard KWA came out and took the second half 71. Believe it or not, Old did not play that badly. They were the best team at covering the pull (behind the speed of Geir and Jim Glynn), although Troy and Papa managed to complete the first pass anyway, while CVH surprised the defense by making effective deep cuts instead of handling. Every Brother seemed to have one or two great plays up his sleeve, and players like Pete Barnouw quietly took their man out of the game. And once KWA got the turn, it was as good as gold. But it really was the Shawn Robinson show. He had about four blocks against the hardest running team we saw, one of them a craw in which he ran right past Buzzy, something you never see. That kept the fire burning, and from 12-6, KWA closed out the game to 15-6 with a series of huge throws. We all know that rare satisfaction of a game where you give no room for error to an opponent and score every time they err. That is what happened here, and it was amazing, as KWA played the game of its life. Nobody expected a blowout, and it is unlikely ever to happen again to a fine Colorado team. Old was
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as gracious in defeat as they had been in victory.
Consolation Rounds Reviews were mixed on the European format of playing out all spots, as few players with legitimate title aspirations are motivated to play once eliminated, injured players want to stop pushing it and lesser teams are denied the chance to watch the fantastic Ultimate in the Open and Women's semifinal rounds. Old took 3rd overall by beating NY again, 15-8 even though their hearts were not in it. Would LA have beaten Old? We'll never know. Cranky beat HD 11-10 for fifth place. In that game, free for the moment from administrative burdens, National Masters Director Pete Giusti set the crowd off with a backwards diving, trailing edge layout goal, but it was not enough. The disappointed HD boys, behind Ed, Tico, Billy and AJ, then set out to win the party (rumor is they are still at the Outer Limits) as they continued to spread good karma. The rest of the finishers from seventh on were Trouser, Crabby, Old Sag, Black Lung, Wreckage and Alzhammers.
Day Four The finals were set for Sunday at 2:30. A good sized crowd remained after the Open and Women's finals, perhaps due to the shaded stands, beautiful day and nearby beer truck. The makings of a great game were in place. Pond Scum was the only team that had beaten KWA, and the Keg Workers had a score to settle. They had been dominating, and if they played like they did against Colorado in the semis, it would be a rout. But the games are played on the field, not in theory. LA had many experienced players, including at least one who had won the $30,000 Goaltimate first prize, and the pressure was not likely to affect them. Similarly, ten Keg Workers had Open finals experience from the late 90's. And the weather was fantastic. Seattle pulled first. Pond Scum set the tone with a disciplined offense in which they cleared one side of the field, gave Rich Gallagher the disc and ran an isolation for big yards. It worked like a charm, with sweet hucks leading to easy goals the first two points. KWA also spread out the field and the first few points were goal trading. But then, on a windless day, suddenly there was an 11 turnover point, full of unforced errors, with one time out by each team. The fans were heckling as both teams were embarrassed, and Colorado and NY wondered where the sloppy play was in the semis. It was evident that KWA might have peaked a day too early, as they fell far short of the stingy disc control by the D squad that had characterized their romps through the quarters and semis. LA, as it had all tourney, won the hell point and began to pull away. KWA turned up the D and the points came harder. But LA continued to get the job done, as Brian Herman had an early point block to keep them in the driver's seat, and John Babin had an amazing end zone layout D to save a goal. Although KWA felt it was controlling play, successfully taking away LA's pull plays with a "zone for three passes" and making them labor for every throw, Pond Scum kept the lead and took it to half up 9-6. KWA simply had the best man to man defense in the tourney. In the quarters and semis, it was merciless in scoring once it got
the turns, but now it had simply been throwing it away. Meanwhile, LA was taking advantage of second and third chances to hold its serve, and pouncing on the rare KWA offensive miscues. At half, Seattle regrouped and came out focused and hungry, knowing it would win if it could stop making unforced errors. It took the pull to score and then got the tum for another quick score to make it a 9-8 game. The difference was never more then two points again. The Keg Worker offense kept them in the game, repeatedly holding serve with timely completions. And the defense, was routinely shutting LA down, forcing Pond Scum to rely on big plays late in the count. Could Gallagher keep coming up huge, with cross field throws on high counts, to keep LA alive? Or would KWA finally break through? In the second half, several Pond Scum players went out with injuries or cramps, while KWA remained comparatively fresh. As time ticked away, the game was tied at 11 after a big Sugar blade for a goal and Keg Workers pulled. LA scored, up 12-11 with the time cap approaching. The cap seems silly, in a national finals that is already on! y to 17 with darkness far away, but that's the way it was. LA's huge, high, underthrown hammer up the sideline on a high count with a foul was called on the missed catch was the most controversial play of the game. The observers ruled no foul, turnover. But the disc was checked in by LA during some confusion, and they scored, appearing to take a 13-11lead. But the observers called the play back, saying the turnover call had clearly been made and that there had been a miscommunication between the two observers that let LA put the disc in play. KWA then scored, 12-12. Part of being a champion is continuing to play your best regardless of the calls, and both teams had experienced unfavorable observer rulings to this point. On the next possession, LA turned it over and Keg Workers were an open 15 yard strong side forehand from the lead, but turfed it and LA dodged the bullet to put it in, up 13-12. Now the game was capped to 15. The Keg Workers scored on a Papa end zone sky, then Pond Scum held serve with no turnover. The Keg Workers then scored to tie at 14 on a huge Baird Johnson backhand, seemingly out of reach of Elod Toth, who reeled it in to the amazement of the remaining crowd. Now it was Pond Scum receiving the pull with the game tied at 14, next goal wins, exactly as it had been in pool play. The crowd was going nuts, as it had been all game. The Keg Worker defense rose to the challenge and completely shut LA down. LA was forced to huck a forehand to nobody on a nine count into back of the endzone. Jimmy 0 walked it up for Seattle and with Clem Morison and Rickydude, slowly worked it up until the disc got to MVP Shawn Robinson, who unleashed a 40 yard hammer to Pete Bamouw, wide open as he had been all weekend. Pete hit old LA player Mike Donnelly underneath and he quickly continued a short backhand to relentless cutter Hans Frederick for KWA's first lead of the game and the championship. LA was hands down the scrappiest team in the tourney. In the finals, Rich Gallagher was almost unstoppable. He made several long hucks and completed many throws to tightly covered players at high counts. Steve Ferguson came up big in the finals as well. And James
Master
Photo by Sara Rubinstein
Milan, while more of a role player, and captain Jeff Landesman joined them as hard fighting, yet always spirited players. LA was rarely pretty, but they had found a way to win in every other game. The only question is whether they could have beaten Colorado, which, of course, is the only the stuff of mindless drunken discussion, as they never had to do so. Pond Scum's poise under pressure, ability to make plays at the right time, and willingness to leave everything they had on the field of play are what deservedly put them one point away from the title. Undoubtedly, they deserved their post game champagne and will be back and contenders again next year. For its part, Keg Workers had dominated every team other than LA, including giving Old its only loss in two years of Nationals (15-1) by an unheard of 15-6 margin in the semis. It had avenged its only loss of the tourney, and its semis and pool loss from 1999. It had sung songs for competitors, hosted a 100 person shotgun, and opened its daily kegs for free to all who had a good story to tell. It had many new and old friends in the crowd and among its foes, having met its goal of putting fellowship and fun first (finishing a close second in the
spirit of the game award), and was privileged to share its post-game celebration with its Sockeye, Monkey and other peers, drinking the fresh tapped beers given to it by many in the crowd. And it was a special treat for KWA to receive the gold medals from Seattle's own UPA ED, Joey Gray.
Epilogue In the end, Masters is a reminder of why anybody has ever played Ultimate. Life is an ongoing battle. You get up every day, hopefully to a job and family that you love, and mixed in with fun are endless obligations. Then you realize how fortunate you are to play Ultimate. Go out. Run around. Make great plays. See great plays. Laugh. If you make a turnover, your son still eats, you still have a job, and you may still have your health. Winning a National Championship was truly the icing on the cake at the end of a long party. Thanks again to Nationals Master Director Pete Giusti; TD Tim Finan (the fields were unbelievably sweet); to Joey Gray; to Pond Scum, a worthy opponent; and to all the Masters teams, who have made this the most competitive year yet for the division with the likelihood of an even stronger field next years. Cheers to all!
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by Scott Todd
~ISE THE SPIRIT AND IIVIPROVE THE TEAIVI
I
My teammate looked at the roster of our league draft and said, "Wow. This team could definitely have a Chernoby !-level meltdown." Many of us have played on teams that had tons of skill and athleticism, but an equal amount of attitude and spirit problems that make team play and winning difficult. By the third game of the season, I was trying to figure out a way to cheerlead us away from that path, and the team indeed rallied around the concept of the "Spirit pointer of the week," each one on a placard and directing us toward positive thoughts. Bad spirit, over-aggressiveness, or obnoxious behavior is usually so demoralizing that even the most skilled teams can't get past a semifinal. A captain whose team is suffering from too many scowls might try these little tips, one week at a time, to keep the team focused on playing together and enjoying the game.
#1: NO IICOME ON.
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"Come on!" is a phrase that should be eliminated from the lips of all spirited sports fans. "Come on! Catch that!" "Come on, Jerry!" The phrase is negative more than 95 percent of the time, and even when it's meant as merely an exhortation to energy, it can come off as what it usually is: an expression of frustration, anger, disappointment or criticism. In the Hawaii Ultimate League, the captains agreed to ban this phrase completely last season. It was a symbolic gesture, meant to get people to notice their saying these evil words, and stop. (Teams found their own systems of enforcement: my team 's involved owing a beer to anyone the offender said it to, or two beers to the "team fund" if said on its own.) The
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spirit-of-the-game shirts at the end of the season featured COME ON with the universal-sign red circle and slash through it. Axe this phrase from your team'sand preferably your league's - vocabulary. The restriction focuses people on what they are saying. The absence of these two tiny words does wonders. Try it.
brating) is good for a team 's morale. At the 1999 Worlds, a member of my team sprinted for a disk that looked far out of reach, diving at the back of the end zone and dragging his toes to stay in while just barely catching the disk with one hand and coming down with a thud. As he got up, there was dead silence. He got up and said, "What's the call?" The person who had been defending him said in the most genteel British accent, "No call: nice catch." My team, though, was all back to business. "OK, so now we have to ... " How about a little congratulations, first? I've been on more than one team that didn' t know how to enjoy the moment. This was one placard that we kept around, and every time we scored, one of us would have to run up and down the field with it to remind us to cheer and be happy and keep the spirits high. Otherwise, a score becomes just another in the lines of items of business.
Player Opinion
#2. SMILE. Smiling people will make the team's spirit grow whether the smilers mean it or not. It's infectious. People may even be enjoying themselves but just not showing it. Sometimes they just need reminding. One teammate, realizing that he could get out of control, asked his captain to help focus his attention. The captain said that when she wanted to tell him that some ill spirit was starting to rear its ugly head, she would just say, "Smile, killer." He did. It was gentle, and it worked. A whole team will benefit similarly by being reminded to act happy when it is happy. The poster just showed a smiley face.
A whole team will benefit similarly by being remined to act happy when it is happy.
#3. CELEBRATE. Good teams celebrate their ongoing triumphs - in good taste, naturally. After a score, they cheer and rush the scorer. High-fives are constant. Celebrating (note: not gloating, but cele-
Player Opinion
#4: ENJOY IT. This one is very close to the previous two, but underlines and summarizes them. The whole point of our playing is to enjoy ourselves, but we don ' t always remember to do that. Someday we will be too old to play Ultimate any more, and all that's left will be (in the words of Bruce Springsteen) "boring stories of glory days."
American poet Billy Collins writes of people lying in their graves and wishing to go back and learn some Italian or enjoy a round of golf in a light rain. That won ' t be us, of course: we ' ll wish we were back playing Ultimate. Remind people to rejoice in the flight of the disc, the feeling of running, the thrill of the score or the defense.
#5: BE THANKFUL. This one came out on Thanksgiving weekend as a kind of a joke, but wound up being the surprise hit. As I marched around the field with this placard, I found my teammates thanking each other for all kinds of things. "Thank you for catching that." "Thank you for that nice defense." "Thank you for scoring. "Thank you, thank you, and thank you!" It was a running gag , but done with both a sense of humor and a kind of seriousness that became an echo of camaraderie. So if faced with a silent, gloomy, too-intense or over-critical team, try whipping up a few spirit signs, and bring one into the team huddle before each game. Hold them up as reminders during play. These are just five tips, and there are of course others that you can think of and tailor to your own team' s personality (or personalities). Keep the idea upbeat and get your teammates involved in the project, and we' ll see all you non-selfdestructors in the finals.
Scott Todd is a UPA Sectional Coordinator and former commissioner of Hawaii Ultimate, who would love to see "Come on" banned from all ultimate, as a universal quirk of our sport.
Photos by Sara Rubinstein
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Ultimate Players Association
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Co-ed National Championships
HOST FUTURE NATIONALS I We are currently taking bids to host 2001 and 2002 UPA National Championships in 8 divisions. We would like to get a year ahead on the schedule, so turn in your bids to host 2002 events now. Questions? Write info@upa.org
Co-ed National Championships
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Ultimate Players Association
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Nationals
DISC FOR KIDS The Disc 4 Kids program is in full swing. The school system agreed to extend the one week of Ultimate to two weeks, giving teachers more time to teach the basics and then move on to the game. Barbara Denison "wowed" the teachers with her great teaching skills, I highly recommend her to any group trying to promote Ultimate to teachers. Thanks again for giving us the grant, it was very instrumental in getting this program started Have you ever said to yourself, "I wish I would have learned to play Ultimate Frisbee at an earlier age"? With this key concept in mind, the Discs 4 Kids program has now completed two phases in its goal to teach Ultimate Frisbee to the children of Fayetteville, Arkansas. Phase one started with a clinic for all ten of the elementary school PE teachers within the Fayetteville public school system. Nationally sanctioned Ultimate instructor, Barbara Denison, lead the three-hour clinic instructing the teachers on drills, skills, methods and expectations involved with the sport and developing children's skills and interest in Ultimate. These drills and concepts were presented for different age groups and skill levels. Response to the clinic was overwhelmingly supportive. One attendee, Wes Mabry, remarked," I have seen Ultimate Frisbee played on a couple of occasions. But, I never thought it might be so much fun." To close out the clinic, and finalize phase one, each of the ten elementary schools were presented with ten discs each. With these discs and the skills learned at the clinic, each school will present a two-week physical education program teaching Ultimate Frisbee to its elementary school children.
With more teachers, we can teach more children. This is where phase two came into play. Barbara held a second clinic teaching the same concepts to members of Fayetteville's Ultimate organization, the Fayetteville Disc Association. By enabling more individuals to become certified instructors, the Fayetteville Disc Association already has plans to give its third elementary school program teaching Ultimate to the children. Long-term plans include Ultimate Frisbee summer clinics for children and developing intramural league for high school teams. The concept, and wonderful success, of the Disc 4 Kids program can be greatly contributed to the efforts of, Kellie Rollins. "Our children will be the Ultimate Frisbee athletes of tomorrow," says Rollins. "We were delighted to have the opportunity to share Ultimate Frisbee with the teachers," Rollins explains, "and with the help of our newly certified Ultimate players, we should have a very successful program for the kids." The Fayetteville Public School system implemented the new program in their curriculum during the last week of October and the first week of November. Not only can this program teach children Ultimate, it teaches them the Spirit of the Game and respect for other individuals. Barbara Denison closed the PE teachers' August 18th in-service clinic with this closing statement, " I believe that we can change the future by teaching our children the attitude of self-regulation. Play the Game, Live the Spirit!" Those interested in more on the clinics and the continued growth of the Disc 4 Kids program can obtain information at www.fayettevilleUltimate.com
Apply for a 2001 UPA Ultimate lnnovation Grant! The appli路 cation period will be in March. Look for a link to the application at that time on the UPA homepage.
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TAKE NOTICE ~~National Discard~~
Canceled
The NIT-like "National Discard" for the best of the rest non-nationals proposed for November, 2000, was canceled due to lack of interest. Now, this is exactly the sort of thing we would like to do more and more to provide services for all levels of teams. Please write to suggest the best way to serve more teams better.
NEW! Formats Committee Volunteers are needed for the new Formats Committee. Every year, formats questions come up at the sectional and regional level, as well as for
Innovation Grants
leagues and UPA sanctioned tournaments. UPA volunteers have a wealth of expertise on this topic, but it is not accessible to new coordinators or event directors. If you want to make sure your team never gets the shaft from a weird or inappropriate format, step up to help on this committee. Write info@upa.org
It's a Boy! Anyone who's ordered Discraft discs has probably spoken with Diane, new mother of Nicholas. We wish Diane well and hope to hear her voice at Discraft again soon!
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Open
Results Pool A:
A Bright, Sunshiney Win for Condors Wednesday Oct. 25, 2000 The Tourney Director, Tim Finan, and other tourney staff finish lining the end zones and adding brick marks on the Wednesday before the 2000 UPA National Championship series starts. A carload of
Condors arrives at the fields and head straight to the finals field to throw in the Florida breeze. By the time they had completed throwing their 25s, with and against the wind, there were seven of them. Large local hawks resembling the condors logo cir-
cled overhead as Tim asked "What, you guys think you're going to be playing here Sunday?" One of the Condors caught the disc and said, "Thinking it is one thing, actualizing it is a completely different thing." He turned and threw it smoothly back against the wind.
Thursday Oct. 26 2000 Pulling into the Sarasota Polo Fields on Thursday morning, you see the dew covered fields and the trails left by the cleats of the best Ultimate teams on our continent. The sun shined clearly, letting everyone know that the cool start of the day will quickly heat up. The wind was light, compared to the howling zone-only days of 1998's Championship at the same location.
DoG over Houndz 15-7 Sockeye over Madison 15-3 DoG over Madison 15-6 Sockeye over Houndz 15-6 DoG over Sockeye 15-13 Madison over Houndz 13-12
Pool B: Condors over Bomb Squad 15-8 CBASS over Blackjack 15-8 Condors over Blackjack 15-8 CBASS over Bomb Squad 15-14 Condors over CBASS 15-10 Bomb Squad over Blackjack
Pool C: Furious over Chicago 15-7 Ring over FBI 15-4 Furious over FBI 15-6 Ring over Chicago 15-9 Furious over Ring 15-10 FBI over Chicago 15-13
Pool D: Florida over Subzero 15-12 Jam over Boulder 15-11 Subzero over Boulder 15-9 Jam over Florida 15-11 Jam over Subzero 15-11 Florida over Boulder 15-11
Round 1 In Pool A DoG, the No. 1 seed out of the Northeast region, squared off against the No. 1 seed out of the South, Houston Houndz. The Houndz didn't look like the same team that made quarter-finals last year, losing to DoG, 15-7. The other game in Pool A had the third seed out of the Northwest, Seattle Sockeye, face off against the third seed from the Central Region, Madison. This game showed one of the reasons why the Northwest continually gets the strength wildcards. Sockeye got the win over Madison by a final score of 15-3. In Pool B the No. 1 seed out of the Southwest, Santa Barbara Condors, faced off against the second seed out of the Northeast, New York's Bomb Squad. Condors won, 158. The other B pool game saw the MidAtlantic second seed, C-Bass, face off against the third seed from the Northeast, Blackjack. Blackjack took an early 3-1 lead; C-Bass scored to make it 3-2. Blackjack dropped the ensuing pull from C-Bass allowing an easy score to tie it at 3-3. Points were exchanged until 5-5, when C-Bass pulled ahead and stayed there to win, 15-8. Pool Chad Furious George, the No. 1 seed out of the Northwest, going against the Central second seed, Chicago's Second Wind. Furious won it, 15-7. The second game in Pool Chad Ring of Fire, the No. 1 seed from the Mid-Atlantic region facing off 2000 UPA Champions- Condors
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Photo by Sara Rubinstein
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PoolE: DoG over Florida 15-6 Jam over Sockeye 15-13 DoG over Jam 15-13 Florida over Sockeye 15-14 Sockeye over Chicago 15-11 Subzero over CBASS 15-5
Pool F: Condors over Ring 15-9 Furious over CBASS 15-10 Furious over Condors 15-10 Ring over CBASS 15-7
Pool G: Madison over Boulder 15-9 Subzero over Houston 15-6 Subzero over Madison 15-9 Boulder over Houston (unknown)
Pool H: Bomb Squad over Chicago 15-10 FBI over Black Jack 15-10 Bomb Squad over Black Jack 14-13
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« Results continued from previous page Quarter Finals Results: DoG over Subzero 15-7 Furious over Sockeye 15-7 Jam over Ring 15-11 Condors over Florida 15-10
Consolation: Ring over Florida (unknown) Sockeye over Subzero (unknown) FBI over Bomb Squad (unknown) CBASS over Madison (unknown) Chicago over Boulder (unknown) Houndz over Blackjack (unknown)
Semi Finals Results: Condors over DoG 17-14 Furious over Jam 17-14
Finals Condors over Furious 16-15
against the fourth seed from the Northwest, Portland's Federated Bonzi International (FBI). FBI tied it at 10-10 before the Ring caught fire and went on a 5-1 scoring binge to win the game 15-11. Pool D had Sub-Zero, the No. 1 seed in the Central Region and Tune-Up runner up going up against the second seed from the Southern Region, Florida. Florida took advantage of their hammers and their dread head Ultimate superstar Dan Depaul, as well as Sub-Zero's throwaways to take a 4-0 lead. Sub-Zero tightened down the screws and scored four of the next five points. Several more miscues by Sub-Zero, including a turn on the goal line, allowed Florida to score three of the next four to take half, 8-5. Sub-Zero came out after half with chilly 0 to score 3 in a row for a tie at 8s. Florida uses their hammer and a Sub-Zero scobber throwaway to score two in a row and take the lead, 10-8. Sub-Zero came right back against the Florida zone with a plethora of scobbers and hammers for a score. This was the closest they got the rest of the game as Florida scored two points for everyone that Sub-Zero scored. 8 points later Florida had staged the first up set of the tournament. The other first round Pool D game was Jam, the second seed out of the Northwest against the second seed out of the Southwest, Boul-
der. The irresistible Jam defeated the immovable Boulder, 15-11.
favorites never recovered from with the final, 15-11.
Second Round
Third round
Pool A had DoG facing Madison, the game was never close with Dog jumping out to a 6-0 lead and eventually winning the game, 15-6. The other game in the second round was Sockeye against the Houndz. Sockeye swam away from the Houndz with a 15-6 victory. Condors met Blackjack in the B Pool second round. Condors took the early lead and steadily pulled away to win 15-8. Also squaring off in the B Pool were C-Bass and Bomb Squad. C-Bass avoided getting
The last round of play on Thursday featured the 1 vs. 2 and 3 vs. 4 games of every pool. DoG and Sockeye played in a solid, low turnover game, which was tied nine times. DoG took the last two points and won, 15-13. Madison and Houndz met in the other A Pool game. With Madison getting the time capped win, 13-12. The B Pool No. 1 ranked Condors faced off against No. 2 CBass in a game that the Condors won, 15-10. Bomb Squad lined up against Blackjack in a Northeast Regional rematch for the B Pool 3 vs.4 game. Bomb Squad held seed and won the rematch. Ring tried to burn Furious George and at least singed them by taking half, 8-7 in the 1 vs.2 match-up in Pool C. All that did was make the Monkey mad as they came out after half to only allow Ring 2 points. Furious wins 15-10. In the 3 vs.4 game of C Pool, FBI was successful in breaking up the Chicago racket winning 15-13. Going into the D Pool1 vs.2 game, Sub-Zero had to win against Jam and get some help from Boulder against Florida to maintain their No. 1 seed. Jam warmed it up though and melted Sub-Zero, winning, 1511. Boulder got off to a solid 3-0 start in their game against Florida. Than Florida slapped their tight four- man cup on Boulder and scored six in a row. Boulder scored two more to make it 5-6, but they never were any closer as Florida wins, 15-11. The reseeding for the second day of play were A1= DoG, A2=Sockeye, D1=Jam, and D2=Florida in Pool E. With Pool F having
nuked by the Bomb Squad winning the timecapped game, 15-14. There was regional rematch in Pool C between Furious George and FBI. The Monkeys avoid getting busted by the Feds winning the game 15-6. Ring of Fire and Second Wind met in the other second round C pool game. With the Fire burning Chicago for the win 15-9 in a game that was never close. Sub-Zero finally warmed up and beat Boulder, after the score was tied at 7s in the second round of the D Pool, 159. Fresh off their upset, Florida faced Jam in the other D Pool second round game. Jam took an early 4-1 lead. That the local
Final Standings 1 Condors 2 Furious George T3 DoG T3 Jam 5 Ring of Fire 6 Florida 7 Sockeye 8 Subzero 9 FBI 10 Bomb Squad 11 CBASS 12 Madison 13 Chicago 14 Boulder 15 Houndz 16 Blackjack B1=Condors, B2=C-Bass, C1=Furious George, and C2=Ring of Fire. Pool G had A3=Madison, A4=Houndz, D3=Sub-Zero, and D4=Boulder. B3=Bomb Squad, B4=Blackjack, C3=FBI, and C4=Chicago were in Pool H.
Friday, Oct. 27, 2000 The second day dawned with a foggy sunrise that burned off by the start of the first game. Everyone could tell that the teams felt a little more pressure today with the final cuts being made for the championship bracket being made at the end of the day. The first round match ups on Friday saw DoG chewing up on Florida, 15-6. The other E Pool game was a regional rematch between Jam and Sockeye. Sockeye jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. They held until Jam's tight defense got several blocks and went on a 3-0 run to take half, 8-7. Jam scored the first point after half and maintained the lead the rest of the game to win, 15-13. Pool F had Condors against Ring of Fire in the first round. It was tied at sevens, until Condors took half. After the half, Condors only allowed Ring two points and won
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2000 Spirit of the Gome A words These teams each picked someone from their own ranks that most exemplified Spirit of the Game for the season or for Nationals. Congratulations and thanks to all of these players for reminding us why we play this game! Any team that participated in any division at the UPA championships in 2000 may select a SOTG winner.
MASTERS Old & in the Way- Gary Foreman Cranky- TJ Cawley Keg Workers - Chris Van Holmes Old & Crabby- Tom O'Shea TEAM: Black Lung (Lexington)
OPEN DoG - Eric Zazlow Madison - Dave Marquardt Boulder - Michael Lutz Furious George - Garrett Crosby Blackjack- Pepper Williams Houndz - Todd Peters CBASS - Fritz Portland - Chris Thomas Ring - Brent Shannon NY- Jay Dono TEAM: Black Jack (NY)
WOMEN Chicago - Kerry R yter Hucksters - Courtney Westlake Philly - Stacy Balinsky Condors- Jen Casell Godiva - Christine Dunlap Prime - Theresa Fong Fury - Kim Zabora Rare Air - Michelle Stockton Bnogo -Andrea Apo Backhoe- Berkeley Gadbaw & Marcie Wily Sprawl- Evelyn Ogburn Homebrood - the Gator TEAM: Nemesis (Chicago)
If your 2000 team is not listed, please have the captain e-mail upa_newsletter@upa.org with the team name and the person's name for the next edition.
the game 15-9. C-Bass took on Furious George in a game that Furious dominated after it was tied at four all. Furious never let C-Bass back in it winning 15-10. The G and H pools had the most at stake, because they were fighting to get a shot at pre-quarters. The first round of G Pool had Madison roll Boulder, 15-9 and Sub-Zero freeze Houston, 15-6. H Pool had Bomb Squad and Chicago tied at 4 all, before Bomb Squad hit the target four times in a row to take half, 8-4. Chicago never got close and Bomb Squad won, 15-10. FBI busted Blackjack in the other H Pool game, 15-10. The four teams already guaranteed a spot in the Championship bracket faced each other in Round 2. DoG and Jam were tied at 13-all before DoG took the next two points to win the game, 15-13. In the other game of the undefeated, Condors met their West Coast rivals Furious George. Furious was in control the entire game beating the Condors, 15-10. In PoolE Florida met Sockeye to see who was going to have to play an extra game to earn their spot in the championship bracket. Sockeye led most of the game, and at 14-11, needed only one point to secure their spot in the championship bracket. Florida staged the comeback of the tourney scoring four in a row to win the capped game, 15-14. Sockeye was now forced to play Bomb Squad, the H pool winner, for one of the final spots in the championship bracket. Bomb Squad had just come off their own time capped victory over FBI, 14-13. The other game to go featured C-Bass, who had lost to Ring 15-7 in their last F Pool Game. Their opponent was Sub-Zero who had beaten Madison, 15-9 to get a shot at going to quarters. The Sockeye vs. Bomb Squad was tied at two all before Sockeye pulled ahead and won, 15-11. The other game to go had Sub-Zero filleting C-Bass, 15-5. The championship bracket was now set with the quarter-final matches featuring DoG vs. Sub-Zero in a rematch of the Tune-Up final. In an East Coast/West Coast match up, Florida took on Condors, while the regional rivalry between Furious George and Sockeye made up the third quarter-final match-up. Ring of Fire vs. Jam was the fourth quarterfinal game.
Saturday Oct 28
Lance of Holes & Poles, SOTG award recipient 2000.
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Yet another beautiful Florida day for quarter-finals and semi-finals. The quarterfinal game between DoG and Sub-Zero was not as exciting as the Tune-Up final. DoG won it easily 15-7. In the Condor- Florida game, Condors played steady and only turned the disc three times. Condors win, 15-10. Furious took half against Sockeye in the third quarter-final game. Sockeye only scored twice in the second half as Furious won 15-7. The last quarter-final game between Jam and Ring of Fire contained one of the hottest plays of the weekend. It was a
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huck to a streaking Jam player with his defender right on him, as well as a Ring poach defender helping out with the defense. The Jam player is bracketed by the two defenders as all of them jump, front defender gets a finger on it, Jam player gets his hand on it enough that it is macked out the back. All three land in a pile in the end zone. The Jam player, who was poached off of streaks across the field, jumps from inbounds and blindly flicks the disc back for a greatest. Which the Jam player on the ground gets up and catches to make it 14-11. I don't even do the play justice, so look for it on this year's Above and Beyond video. Jam wins, 15-11. The semi-finals were set to be outstanding games featuring a rematch of last year's final between Condors and DoG. Furious George and Jam, a rematch of the Northwest Regional Final, were in the other semi-final. Furious and Jam matched each other point for point the entire first half. Jam had no throwaways and only got D' ed three times the entire first half, while Furious threw it away twice and got D' ed twice allowing Jam to take half, 9-8. The second half started like the first half with both teams playing steady and exchanging scores until Jam got the defensive stops to go up 13-10. Jam threw it away twice which allowed Furious to come back and tie it at 13-all. The last five possessions of Jam only end in one
score as Furious gets four defensive stops that end in goals. Furious heads to the final with a 17-14 win. The semi-final between Condors and DoG was a rematch of last year's final. DoG jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. The Condors came right back and tied the game at 33, exchanging points to make it 4-4. Condors took the lead after they got the defensive stop and Chris Gavigan threw the score to Jason Seidler for the 5-4 lead. After a DoG throwaway, Condors put it in again to make the score 6-4. DoG fought back and tied the score at 8-all, before Condors scored again to take half, 9-8. Coming back after half DoG scored and tied it at 9s. They exchanged the next two points before DoG threw it away twice and the Condors took advantage to get a 12-10 lead. DoG scored on their next possession to cut the lead to 12-11. The Condors scored twice before DoG got back in the end zone, 14-12. The next three points were hard fought with Condors putting a straight up mark on the thrower and effectively switching off the deep cutters. This new strategy seemed to shake the normally steady DoG offense, which threw it away on four successive possessions. The Condors took advantage and expanded their lead to 16-12. DoG was steady the next two points and brought the score within striking distance of a comeback at 16-14. Condors would have none of it, as
their steady offense maintained and scored the game winner. Thus assuring that there would be a new National Champion for the first time in six years. Condors win, 17-14.
Sunday Oct 29 Another perfect bright sunshine day for Ultimate. With a start time of 9 a.m. it was still a little cool well as cool as Florida gets in October. The level of play in the championship game heated the morning up quickly. The beginning of the game was all about chilly offense with both teams matching points to a tie at 4-all. Furious George took advantage of two Condors ' throwaways and 3 defensive stops to jump out to a 7-4 lead. Condors swooped right back in the game with their own defensive stops to tie it back up at 7-all and then took the lead, 8-7. Both teams found their offense again and matched points with Condors taking half 9-8. Condors scored first after half to make it 10-8 in favor of the
birds. Furious scored two out of the next three to bring it back within one at 11-10. Then the Condors defense stepped up allowing the Condors to go on a 3-0 run giving them a 14-10 lead. Furious decided to show the Condors they had defense of their own, scoring three points before the time cap to bring the game within one point at 14-13, game to 16. Condors scored on the first possession after the cap, leaving them just a point away from the National Championship Title. Furious didn' t go away though, scoring the next two points tying the game at 15-15 -leaving one point for the whole enchilada. Furious pulled and after a couple swing passes Condors went for the deep pass to #33, Steve Dugan. Catching the pass over the Furious defender and sending it along to a streaking #11 Taro Ramberg in the end zone. Taro Ramberg let it float into his hands uncontested for the point and title as Condors everywhere started celebrating.
WHAT THE ... ? Do you know who these Ulty players are? Send your best guesses as to which region they hail from and who the specific players are (by row, left to right) to newsletter@upa.org or mail them to UPA at: 3595 E. Fountain Blvd. Suite J-2 Colorado Springs, CO 80910 Attn: Where Are They Now Contest
Beach Ultimate 1001 Event Schedule FEBRUARY 17th Singer Island, Florida (Mixed Hat Tournament)
MARCH 10th Singer Island, Florida (Mixed Team Tournament)
MAY 12th Clearwater Beach, Florida (Mixed Team Tournament) TWO DIVISIONS:
Play either 3/1 or 2/2 Mixed. Limited to 16 teams in each division. Unlimited number of players on a team roster. Hat tournament will be decided at the event.
Registration: (Mail) Send to Ultimate Athletics, PO Box 32895, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33420 (Online) Go to www.AdiveUSA.com. A deposit of $100.00 is due two weeks prior to the scheduled event. NO REFUNDS after one week prior to scheduled event.
Entry Fee:
$20.00 per player (minimum $120.00 per team).
Awards:
Team Trophies and individual prizes for winning team.
Parties:
Saturday Night Parties TBA.
For more information on registering, rules and format of each event go to www.beachultimate.com or contact Tim @ (561) 626-6735 or tfinan1060@aol.com
PIP!!!!!!!~l
I Winter 2001 I www.upa. orgl
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PLAYING VVITH
DoG by Ted Munt:er
In the 1998 National final , played in more or less gale force wind, the game turned on upwind goals. The Santa Barbara Condors had scored three in a row (two upwinders) to tie the game with us, Boston's Death or Glory, at 14-14. Steve Mooney calls time out and we gather together amidst a bit of worried chatter about what will happen next. But Steve shut us up, "This is my time out." Steve looks around the circle. "This is my time out," he repeats, "we are going score this goal and take this game right now." A minute later, after ripping a huck from Paul Greff out of the sky, Jeremy Seeger is standing in the end zone and DoG is on its way to its fifth title. The next year DoG won its sixth title, again beating the Condors in the finals. Apparently in championship Ultimate, you have to lose a bunch of close games before winning it all. Boston's run of six straight titles came after losing to New York for five years in a row and this year the much deserving Condors, after two years of coming in second, won the national championship by beating Furious George in the final and beating DoG in the semi. So Boston' s storied run of six straight national championships is over. As a role player who has only been with the team since ' 97 (and who has had little to do with the team 's on-field success), I have still been afforded a great view of the of the sports most successful team. Here are a few thoughts about Ultimate, winning and playing with DoG. Every team says "get psyched," "think of all the work we put in this year," "we can beat these guys," and "play like you mean it." Steve's time out turned into a win because DoG turns its rhetoric into reality. Its not easy to say why some teams can do this and others can't. It probably starts with talent, which any team competing for a title has to have in abundance. Players who think as much and cut as well as Jim Parinella, or who throw as well as AI DeFrondeville, or who see the field as clearly as Bill Rodriguez give you the sense you have to tools to compete. Many of DoG' s star players have been playing since the dawn of competi-
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tive Ultimate and that, apart from the other obvious reasons, is why I wanted to play on the team. In 1982, playing my first tournament (in Mars, Penn.), people were already talking about Jeremy Seeger, then 19 years old, as the most dominant player in the game. My whole career Jeremy has been the sports best and most graceful player. (Buzz Ellsworth, now of Old and In the Way, who taught me to play and was a college teammate of Jeremy 's told me decades ago that for fun he would throw to Jeremy 's defender just to see if Jeremy would get the disc-- which he always did.) The only player better known to us in Mars, is Steve Mooney, even then a kind of grand old man of sport. Fifteen years later, at my first DoG practice, we play 3 on 3 as part of a drill, and I draw Steve and Jeremy as my teammates. But goose bumps were standard fare that year. That is the year Diasuke Koyama comes from Japan just to play for the team, something three other international stars Taka Honda, Stephan Carlsson and Anders Jerhamre do during the six years. Nineteen ninety-seven is also the year we go down 10-4 to Ring in the semi's. We come back to win after Bill challenges us in the huddle: "We are better than this" he says. And, that year, prophecy becomes pornography, as Bob Lobel begins to speak of a new special kind of block, the "Pork Sword." He speaks of coming from behind his guy, catching up and "slipping it in." Playing Chicago, Bob races back with a big cutter, lays out, reaches around with his right hand and blocks the disc while still, somehow, taking the guys shorts down to his knees. The night before the final Bob claims "It's gonna be a porno show out there." That final ended up being pretty close but the first significant score was 7-0 DoG. Draw your own picture. That year, too, as a rookie, I have to learn how to get through the team' s Tuesday night workouts: three miles of 200's and 400' s at the Harvard track. I spend those Tuesday's trying to come up with a legitimate excuse to stop: the pain in my foot, the hamstring tweak I am sure I feel. A year later I am glad to hear that veteran Jeff Brown does the same thing. But both of us know that all
Team Profile
DoG , Open Champions 1999
this work makes the games tough mental moments easier. Covering Rickey Milner of Seattle during a hell point of the final of '97 I hear someone from Seattle say "Rickey, he can' t hang" and, since I am at least a step behind him no matter where he goes, I think to myself how true that is. But I also know that I have pushed through countless unbearable sprints at the track. So when Rickey cuts in for a throw that is a little slow and a little wide, I get the lay out block. The personal shining moment of my anonymous career, perhaps, but a block I never could have had on a team that sets up false mental hurdles for itself. When Steve, who at forty, trails only Eric Zazlow and Lenny Engel in the 400's says "we work harder than any other team" no one doubts him. A great team in a great season gives its players the sense they can get the job done. Of course, that sense has to come from the players to the team as well. In '98 , after we win at Regionals, Steve has us sit down and express our goals for the next three weeks. I say something like "aahhh, stay on the force side of my guy and mark well." Paul Greff says he wants to " be the difference" in big games. The team refers to Paul. as TGPITG: the greatest player in the game, a label he earned playing with Detroit playing against New York. That juggernaut of a team found Paul
unstoppable and figured he had to be the best there was. In ' 89 I watched Kenny Dobyns dominate nationals and the sport by making every play that came to him. In '98 its Paul 's turn. In pool play against the Condors he hears Bill telling him to drop in the zone and gets the game saving block in the back corner of the end zone. He picks up the disc and throws an into the wind hammer (no conservation of greatness here) to begin our long march up field for the winning goal, 18-17, our only lead of the game. In the semi against New York, after something like his eighth block, Steve wonders aloud "why would they throw anywhere near him?" And in the finals, after the Condors score that upwind goal to tie the game at 14-14, it is Paul's fifty yard huck into the wind to Jeremy that puts us up. (Later Paul says that he thought about the mark, and the wind, and the score but says also, in words I hear as an Echo of Buzz, "I never hesitate throwing to Jeremy.") That score should have ended the game but he Condors work their next possession upfield and upwind all the way to the goal line. There they throw a floater that hangs in the wind long enough for Paul to race to and tip just out of reach of the four Condors scrambling for the garbage. It's time to add two letters to Paul's moniker. Now he is TGPITGBF. The greatest player in the game-
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By Far. Oh yeah, I think I marked pretty good that year. Anyone who saw Paul playing flawless Ultimate this year as the team unbuckled a bit around him knows that he still deserves his title. Paul, like Jeremy and Bill and Jim and Steve, is the kind of athlete I used to envy for their talent, their speed, their height. Born like them, I used to think, and I could be on the cover of the newsletter too. Playing at close range with these guys quickly disabuses you of such notions. Plenty of guys out there in Ultimate land have gifts. Very few are always the hardest working guy at practice. Very few insist that their teammates buy into the team strategy. Very few are perpetually unsatisfied with their own play or the score until the trophy is in their hands. Losing so often to New York, playing in the obscurity of Detroit, getting a taste of winning-whatever the reason-DoG became more than a collection of talent but a team of players who, as the rhetoric goes, know what it takes to win. No one player, as the rhetoric also goes, can carry the team. In '95 DoG committed three turnovers and beat Seattle in a lopsided finals at Nationals. Admittedly, Seattle was just happy to be there, but that year Jeremy did not play and Paul had not yet joined the team. Its strange to watch the fuzzy tape of that final, DoG cruising to its second championship, without two of its hall of fame players. In the team's history there is a sense that no matter how much we always ride Steve's voice and Bill' s brain, and Jim's cuts, and Lenny's intensity, different people step up in various years. Chris Corcoran in '95. Michael Cooper and Jay Bickford in '96. Jeremy and Diasuke in ' 97. Paul in '98. Fortunate Mueller in ' 99. Winning always depends on everyone doing their job. Bim Johnson never gets much press. He' s not too flashy a player, even if he reads poaches brilliantly. That's him, though following the play and making the great garbage catch in the Above and Beyond video. Of course there are plenty of egos on the team too, not just because winning has given us big heads but because most guys on the team are so hooked on the game. They want to repeat that first forehand or layout grab that made them Ultimate junkies. Don' t we all play the sport for that weird mixture of personal glory every play offers and the team success every year promises? On DoG we have been lucky enough to get a lot of both. We also play for the private lore and in jokes that are part of every team at every level. Joining the team mid-run, I hear much of DoG ' s private history second hand, like the story of Jordan Haskell (inch for inch the game' s best player) taking a twenty foot spill off the camera platform in Lexington, Kentucky after the team' s first championship. Or the one about Jordan getting locked in a trunk. Or the time the people who fly the friendly skies announce over the P.A. that "smoking is not allowed in the bathrooms" in order to get Jordan back to his seat while his plane, bound for Plano, waits on the tarmac. The stuff I see first hand is better: Jordan getting lost on the beach for an hour in Sarasota after the '98 win only to greet us in his typical enthusiasm with "I am so psyched I found
you guys! " Or his constant call at practice of "Champions of The World!" and "Genius!" You can' t get a better teammate. Jordan's whole vocabulary of "rips" for big grabs-"The ripper," "put it in rip-ository," "he' s a doctor of rip-ology"-is just a typical days work, Like any team, too, DoG has defining moments. Winning worlds in Sweden while also winning the spirit award cemented the teams reputation as a worthy champion. Anyone who joins the team after Sweden benefits in terms of flattery that other teams express. After each game in Heilbronn, Germany, for instance, where we competed for the world championship this summer, our opponents talked about the standard of play and sportsmanship they felt we had established and which they hoped to emulate. You know your living a sweet Ultimate life when captain of Australia's team says in the post game huddle, "we thought our whole trip here would be worth it if we got a shot at playing you guys. Even down under we follow your team." Of course the team has never been perfect in either its play or its sportsmanship, losing a handful of games and making some questionable calls along the way. And at times our success probably made us act like arrogant jerks. But following Steve's lead the team always tired to play and compete up to the highest of standards. This year, as we were losing to the Condors, several of their players started grandstanding, showing up Fortunate and Jim. O.K., the energy of going up four points on the defending champs is huge. Maybe, too, they thought we were making weak calls as we were going down, which maybe we were. Moreover, the Condors are a great team with twenty year history and they don' t need to look to DoG as a model of how to behave. Like any team they have their own style. But I hope the Condors will think of their roles as champions as meaning more than just being the guys who flaunt the trophy. We did. In Germany kids asked us to autograph shirts and discs. Everyone there wanted to make sure they knew which one was Fortunate, which one Jim. After each game our glory players got interviewed, as they do at Nationals. Its gratifying, to say the least, to be the center of attention during a time of the sport's exponentially growth, to be thought of as the sports ambassadors. For the past few years the Ultimate world has seemed to revolve around us and, well, it was hard not to love that. Even better, though, Germany provided a glimmer of Ultimate's future as a legitimate sport. Not just because some of our players were treated like celebrities, but because the grandstand was full of fans new to the game. Watching the junior girls final between Canada and the U.S., hearing the "oohs" and "ahhs" brought on by every lay out and every big throw, it was easy to imagine a time when lame politicians will court Ultimate moms, not soccer moms. DoG has been a great place to watch the sport change because the team has links to Ultimate's past, which, given the sport's brief history, means its origins. A healthy number of us played timed games, used the Schmidt rule, and counted stall to 12. I once wore hippie T-shirts and looked forward to the days when the sport would look more
like soccer. Now with Gaia, it kind of does. But our team artist (and the best point to ever play in a zone) John Bar Axon, kept our shirts looking enough out of the mainstream to stay honest to the sports roots. All this is true of the way the game is played, too. The repeated losses to New York, which hammered into the founding DoG guys a will to win and win again, also made the team, desperate for a successful strategy, a crucible for innovation. So while I remember New York switching defenses mid way through a point in 89 ' , DoG 's repeated wins and high exposure has made its strategies of multiple, switching, defenses the standard. When the hammer was invented I was starting to play Ultimate at one of the hand full of high schools in the country with a team. My buddies wanted to call this new throw the space-invader. Now Atari is out, hundreds of high schools have programs, and high school teams play the 1-3-3 and the clam. Steve Mooney is over forty, Moses Rifkin, who will still be at the top of the game a decade from now, twenty. So you can see the future of Ultimate in our players as well. No one on the team doubts DoG's future was born at Club Worlds in St. Andrews, where a few DoG vets and a band of Boston' s best young players won the tournament in style. Never, in the words of Doug Moore, has so much winning and so much drinking been combined at one tourney. Many of the kids on this roster are those who chose not to play with DoG the previous fall. Understandably soured by their one experience with the team (the losing effort at Worlds in Blaine, Minnesota in the summer of ' 98) they chose to stick together as the core of Boston' s second team. But by the summer of '99, when we buy our plane tickets, we all assume that St. Andrews will mark the start for a new DoG team that includes these young stars. The late summer negotiations to make this happen did not, however, work out and on the first night in Scotland we all learn we will not be teammates in the fall. "They cut us again!" Jordan says. "You guys should call your team NO!" Instead of melting down, we all play our best Ultimate. Doug and Jim are unstoppable; Fortunate Mueller, who has been lounging around Switzerland all summer without touching a disc, owns the Condors; Justin Safdie owns the skies; Taka Honda becomes the worlds most popular player; Jordan throws scoobers to in his sleep. While the Finnish team has a guy named Timo who they call "The man who never makes mistakes," our Nathan Wicks goes the whole tourney (thirteen games) without a turn over. Tom Matthews throws roughly a thousand passes on the final point of the tournament before Justin finally cuts in the end zone so Tom can throw the winner. After that final goal we head to the medal ceremony to pick up the Gold that the young guys have had such a huge part in winning. Then its off to dinner, still in our muddy shirts, to prepare for a night of serious inebriation. In the dining hall the teams we have been eating with all week-Ring of Fire from America, Carnegie from Sweden, Thrillseekers, a Co-ed team from Australia-toast us. A
player I have never seen before speaks of the tradition of fair and fine play he thinks the team embodies and how that inspires both he and his teammates. Then, while we sat in their midst, these other players give us a standing ovation. Speechless over our chicken and salad, we all-young players and old- reap some unforgettable rewards because of the shirts we wear. The win in Scotland convinces these young players to rethink and after the kind of painful negotiations where friends are lost they join DoG. The team has never been stronger. The best Ultimate anywhere in the world is being played at our practices, we say, especially when we scrimmage the old guys against the young. Yet Furious George, the team that beat us twice in Minnesota, gives us an incredible game in the semi's. We are down two at half and only win because our zone plays well and, I think, because we have been in that situation a few times more often. We play the Condors in the finals and commit only four turnovers. Our game winner, a long forehand from Jeremy to Fortunate, seems perfectly fitting, since Fort is J's natural heir in skill and grace. Winning in our society is obviously overvalued. Certainty winning a frisbee game doesn't mean diddly. As Brian Cameros told Steve at one of Mooney 's many retirement parties: "Five National Championships and a buck will get you a cup of coffee." Still, losing hurt, not having the trophy hurts, the likely retirement of legends hurts. And lots of people have asked me "what happened? Why did you lose to the Condors this year?" Well, ... because they are a great team and gave us little margin for error. Because they had learned from losing two years in a row, just as DoG learned by losing to New York. Because all the things that went so right for so long each and every previous year didn't quite fall into place this year. Besides, as we have always known, the difference between winning and losing, in spite of the talent and the work and the history, is tiny. If winning is clearly over-valued, it isn' t overrated. It feels great. For a little while it confirms that you attained all your goals, that all the words you spoke rang true, and that all the people you spoke them to are brothers. The run might have ended any previous year- Ring in ' 97, Condors in ' 98, Furious in ' 99-but it didn't. And in that time DoG's wins in big game after big game gave us a ton to appreciate about the sport and the team and each other. You don't feel all this ending without the kind of tears we had in our circle after the loss. Contrary to what people seem to think, past accomplishments do not assuage the disappointment or curb the desire to return to form. We know, as Jim said after we lost in Minnesota, that "the mark of a great team is how it comes back from loss and disappointment." DoG won the next two national titles and two world titles after that loss. There is plenty of glory in DoG 's future. Count on it. Congrats to the Condors and thanks to all the people who make the sport operate and are helping it grow as well as to everyone who ever took an interest in the team. Thanks, especially, to my teammates. It an honor to say I played with you and for DoG.
Team Profile
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I www.upa. org I 39
SANTA BARBARA CONDORS:
A
TEAM PROFII E AND BEYOND by Tom Kennedy,
This article is written to convey the sources for that information. The article titled, "The History of Ultimate Frisbee" beginnings of the Santa Barbara Condors Ultimate Frisbee* team and, to a minor written by Larry Schindel and Paul J. degree, west coast Ultimate. Realistically, I Schindel in 1977 and edited by Edward D. am not able to separate the beginnings of Summers, is probably the definitive history. the Santa Barbara Condors and my own The authors were Columbia High School roots of involvement in competitive frisbee students during the time the game was being developed. The second source is a sports. What prompted me to write was a 1990 paper, "Ultimate: Columbia High request from a former teammate, who played later in the Condors' history, for a School and Beyond" written by Eric bit of background for a local tournament Halpern also a Columbia High School stunewsletter he is putting together. It turned dent, twenty years after the game was into a project that allowed me to capture developed. my involvement with the Condors and the sport of Ultimate. This is more than Dan asked for, but it allows me to reflect on a special time in my life. Subsequent to the formation of the Santa Barbara Condors I was also involved with the formation of the Ultimate Players Association and its beginnings are also cov_ .... .-c.....,. ered here. My hope is that this article Santa Barbara vs. LA Field Meet, 1976 allows the reader to better understand the relevance and timing of certain events. My path toward becoming deeply involved began innocently enough in a park The Wham-0® company first introon a Sunday afternoon late 1973 when I duced Frisbees® to their product line in the asked a stranger holding a Frisbee if he mid-50s. To address the growing number of Frisbee enthusiast Wham-0®, under the wanted to toss it around. That stranger direction of Ed Headrick, started the Interturned out to be my life long friend and frisbee partner Tom Shepherd. This event national Frisbee Association in 1967. took place at Palm Park in Santa Barbara, I do not address the history of Ultimate California. Palm Park is a flat, lawn area Frisbee. Ultimate was developed by Columbia High School students in Mapledirectly adjacent to the beach near the wood New Jersey in the late 1960's. I was Santa Barbara pier. The park is an especially beautiful place to play both because not present nor involved in frisbee sports during that time and the scope of my of its picturesque setting and a steady flow of unimpeded wind. For those reasons awareness concerning this time is limited to contact in later years with lrv Kalb, Dan alone it is still a very popular spot among Roddick and, to a limited extent, Larry freestylists. However, when we first began meeting there to play, an added attraction Schindel. I know that many individuals for us was the music which was played as made significant early contributions to furan accompaniment to a group of folk thering the sport of Ultimate and although they may not be mentioned, I mean them dancers who also gathered at the park every no disrespect whatsoever. Sunday. Tom and I soon formed a relationship revolving around weekly Sunday If the reader is interested in the history meetings at Palm Park. We soon began to of Ultimate, there are at least two good
*Frisbee is a registered trademark of Wham-0. The generic term is flying disc.
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Team Profile
increase how often we played and included the Mission Lawn as one of our regular playing venues. With the beautiful ocean vistas, large rolling lawn and location adjacent to the historic Santa Barbara Mission it is a natural place to play frisbee. The first Frisbee Tom and I played with was an All American model. As new Frisbee models were introduced into the marketplace, we would try them. We tried the first yellow fastbacks for a short time but when the Super Pro model became available it became our Frisbee of
choice. Our involvement in frisbee was further expanded when we joined two of Tom's friends on a trip down to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California in August of 1974. His friends, budding professional film makers, had arranged to shoot some footage of the first World Frisbee Championships. Although we were not participants, we followed the film crew right down onto the fields where we saw many skilled Frisbee throwers up close. I remember being wideeyed and overjoyed to find that so many kindred spirits shared our love of flight and the frisbee. That day we were also witnesses to a demonstration game of a team field sport called "The Frisbee Game" also known as "Netbee." Though the team sport of Ultimate was well known to the people at Wham-0® in 1974, they chose to stage a demonstration of a different team field sport field at the Rose Bowl in August of that year. The game had two teams playing each other as in Ultimate, however the
January 1997
object of the game was to throw a Frisbee into a net which was guarded by a goalie, similar to soccer. After we returned to Santa Barbara, I called Wham-0®, the sponsor of the Rose Bowl event, to inquire about our interest in future participation. I was told that it was an invitation only event and that in order to be invited one must first pass a demanding skills test known as the World Class Masters test. They gave us the phone number of Tom Boda, a long time player in southem California, who could administer the test. We subsequently drove to Laguna Beach and both succeeded in passing on our first try. Upon completion of the test we were sent a postcard officially inviting us to the 1975 World Frisbee Championships to be held in August at the Rose Bowl. Wow... we were excited! The sequence which brought us to this point was not lost on many of our friends who by now shared more regularly in some of our frisbee throwing sessions. Bolstered by the invitation to participate, we stepped up our throwing schedule and included an even wider circle of friends. It was at one of these group throwing sessions in the spring of 1975 that about ten of our friends were gathered on the Mission Lawn. We were basically just throwing, running and catching when we came up with the idea to figure out a team game we could all play. Collectively we had many good athletes with extensive backgrounds in traditional ball sports. We started out by putting down markers (shirts and shoes) to define the four comers of a field We basically started out playing football with a Frisbee, trying to score goals on long bombs but soon altered the game by eliminating huddles which slowed down play. We tried several variations and were prevented from continuing only because of darkness. As we were leaving, I remember how excited we were by what we had ere-
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only to get a "we'll see" answer. I found out ated, and we decided to try and recruit more people to join us. We agreed to meet the folon Saturday, after having won the Frisbee Golf lowing week at Santa Barbara High School event, that I would be allowed to play in the East vs. West All Star exhibition Ultimate football field where the playing surface would game. What I didn't know at the time was that be flat, unlike the slightly sloped Mission lawn. Looking back now, it was on that day on the all of the other players had been specially Mission lawn that we formed what was to picked and were known as the Ultimate Allbecome the Santa Barbara Condors. Five of American Squad. These were players from existing, estabthe people present on that day were on our first lished east coast teams who were flown, at National Championship team two years later; Wham-O®'s expense to the Rose Bowl for this Tom Shepherd, Greg Sharp, Michael Minnini, Jeff Home, and myself. demonstration. To my knowledge, I was the It was early in this period of our team's only person from the "West" playing on the development that we came across an article in Western All Star team. During the playing of the game I remember being frustrated at not Time Magazine that gave us details of the team being passed to again and again in favor of sport being played on the east coast. We incorother teammates. The game was played using porated the rules that made sense to us and we the newly introduced 141 gram Frisbee which were off and running- literally. I remember, was definitely better but not that different from after one of our early playing sessions, realizing the Super Pro Model that Tom and I were just how physically demanding it was to play. As we took a break, everyone was red-faced accustomed to. The other Ultimate players had mixed opinions about its use in that on the East and puffing from exhaustion. One guy was Coast Ultimate was played exclusively with a puking on the sidelines. We soon had recruited Master Frisbee. This exhibition game was enough people to allow for a couple of subs played using the 5th edition of the rules of Ultiand we were truly hooked, almost everyone who played had fun- BIG FUN. mate which incorporated the use of a hot spot Three months later, Tom and I went to the in the end zone. If a team scored in the hot spot, it resulted in a 5-point score; if a team Rose Bowl. It was one of the biggest thrills of our lives. The competition itself was based on individual perforThe mance in a series of events: -distance; - accuracy (28 throws from seven different spots); - throw run and catch (a meaULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION sured, single handed caught SPECIAL CHAMPIONSHIP ISSUE throw starting from a 12-foot diameter circle); - maximum time aloft (stop watch timed, single handed caught throw); - frisbee golf, and freestyle (competed in with a partner). In addition during the final day in the Rose Bowl, they also had demonstrations of Guts, and Ultimate. We arrived at Cal Tech in Pasadena where we were assigned a free dorm room for four days as well as a players' package which contained all sorts of Frisbee-related items including the brand new set of G series Frisbees®. These were like nothing we had ever seen before. The Frisbees® were two different sizes but of identical high quality design. They were called World Class Frisbees® and one was 119 grams (40 mold) the other 141 1980 UPA Newsletter, TK was editor grams (50 mold). It was evident to me right away that these new scored in the end zone, a 3-point score was Frisbees®, especially the larger 141 gram Frisawarded. bee flew much better than anything we had ever used. The knowledge and enthusiasm we brought Shortly after we arrived, we attended an oriback with us from the Rose Bowl experience brought additional focus and commitment to entation meeting. The logistics of the tournaour Ultimate playing group. We made up pracment were outlined by the International Frisbee Association director Dan "Stork" Roddick. tice jerseys (dark blue tank tops) so that when we split up into teams we could easily distinAfter the meeting I went up and introduced guish one team from the other. We did, in fact, myself to him and in the course of our conversation told him of our Ultimate playing group adopt a team name at this time. We called ourselves the Santa Barbara Disc Connection. Our in Santa Barbara. I also made inquiries about the demonstration Ultimate game and let it be entire focus was on just playing among ourselves though our practices were spirited and known that I was interested in participating. I competitive. We had in fact not played any was told to check back later to find out if that other team. The reality was that there were no was possible. I checked back a couple of times
UPA
Newsletter
other teams in our area to play, at least none that we knew of. We increased our playing frequency by playing two days a week, once on the weekend and once on a weekday afternoon. We also moved our playing site to Dwight Murphy field, using the boundaries of the soccer field as our sidelines and incorporated the goal crease as our scoring area. This in effect eliminated end zones and created a hot box for scoring. In August of 1975, another significant thing happened. Dan (Stork) Roddick came to work full time at Wham-0® as director of the I.F.A. Prior to corning to Wham-0® Dan had been publishing, since 1973, a magazine called Flying Disc Magazine. His new position at Wham-0® was fortuitous for the future of the sport of frisbee in general but more importantly, relative to this article, to the sport of Ultimate. Dan was a graduate of Rutgers University where he had starred on the National Championship Ultimate team. His influence on the company's policy/perception regarding frisbee as an object used for sport was key to its future. Dan implemented many programs which gave the sport of Ultimate the serious consideration it deserved and promoted frisbee sports inside the company as only a true player could. One of the first things Dan did was to combine the I.F.A. News and Flying Disc Magazine to produce a new publication sponsored by Wham-0® called, Frisbee World. In the first issue he announced the formation of rules' committees for each of the various frisbee games. The initial I.F.A. Rules Committee Chairman for Ultimate was Larry Schindel. Larry had been helping organize and promote Ultimate since 1970 when he was a student at Columbia High School. This was significant for the sport, in that Larry would be compensated for phone calls and postage by Wham-0®. This marked the first time an outside source had helped further the growth of Ultimate. On December 22, 1975, after the formation of the previously mentioned I.F.A. Ultimate rule's committee, a meeting with fifty-five players representing thirty Eastern, mostly school and some club teams, took place in Maplewood, NJ. The gathering was organized and run by Larry Schindel, I.F.A. Ultimate Rules Committee Chairman. By December of 1975 there were fifty-three known teams. Of that thirty-nine were college teams, and six club teams. Of the teams listed at the time there was only one team west of the Mississippi; that was an unconfirmed team at the city college in Bakersfield, California. We began having regular communications with Dan Roddick both because he was our connection at Wham-0® and the I.F.A. but also because he was forming a L.A. Ultimate team. The first time that I can document our team playing another team was in January of 1976 when we traveled to La Canada High School in Los Angeles for a field meet. Afield meet (Dan's creation) was a format where two clubs/teams could compete in six individual events and two team events. We lost every
LA player, 1976
event except Ultimate where we convincingly beat them. Our team continued to play twice a week and to minimize time conflicts, we began a night practice once a week under the lights. We clearly played for the joy of play, however, the prospect of playing other teams did appeal to a large segment of our group. Under Dan Roddick's influence, Wham-0® began sponsoring a series of tournaments throughout the country where by individual players could qualify for the "World Championships." These qualifying tournaments were referred to as the North American Series and Santa Barbara was the site of the first of these tournaments March 13-14, 1976. Putting on the event was a lot of work for the few of us in charge but it also furthered our group's identity and cohesion in that almost everyone assisted in the staging of the event. In the spring of 1976 we began to receive regular correspondence from Larry Schindel, I.F.A. rules committee chairman, regarding rules issues. This was our official start to becoming involved in the National Ultimate scene. During this same time Wham-0® made another significant impact on the Frisbee world with the introduction of a third World Class Frisbee. This new Frisbee incorporated the same high quality design of the previously mentioned 119 gram and 141 gram Frisbees® but
Team Profile
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I www.upa. orgJ 41
this new Frisbee was 165 grams (80 mold). As soon as we got our hands on one we began using it for Ultimate. It was an easy transition from the 141 gram 50 mold we had been using. By the middle of 1976 we had changed our team name to the Condors. The other significant thing for me was an invitation to become one of the official fifteen members of what was called the Ultimate Frisbee Players Committee, which I accepted. In April of 1976, sixteen college Ultimate teams played for the National Ultimate Championships in New England We had received an invitation to participate in this National Championships but practical considerations, primarily money, prevented us from making the trip. Of the sixteen teams that did participate, thirteen were from the east coast and three were from Michigan. Rutgers University defeated Hampshire College in the finals to claim the title. This marks the first use of the 6th edition of the rules of Ultimate which introduced limited end zones and the stalling rule. For first time, the rules of Ultimate were printed by Wham-0® with the I.F.A. logo on the cover page. The Master Frisbee was listed as the official disc. In the meantime the L.A. frisbee club gained in strength drawing from the entire Los Angeles area and soon we had a rivalry. The emergence of a quality opponent proved very beneficial to our team. lrv Kalb, who had recently relocated to L.A., was deeply involved in the promotion of the sport since his involvement at Columbia High School, one year after it was introduced. He was also the captain and one of the stars of the current National Champion Rutgers team. lrv along with another recently transplanted Rutgers teammate, Alan Bonopane, joined with Dan Roddick to form a top quality nucleus from which the team could grow. They used a zone defense giving us our first exposure to anything other than man-on-man. This experienced trio gathered the raw talent of the Los Angeles area and formed the Foothill Institute of Frisbee Culture. We played many close games against them following our initial meeting, but we always managed to win. On March 28, 1977, the first issue of The Ultimate Frisbee Newsletter was issued. This was the first national publication dealing exclusively with Ultimate. James Powers Jr., one of the Penn State team founders, was the editor. The operation was based in Philadelphia, and subscriptions were available for $3.00 for three ISSUeS.
On our local scene we continued to increase our player base by word of mouth giving us many talented players to draw from. Any time we would either host other teams or travel to tournaments we would split into two equal quality teams to compete. This was an interesting time of growth for our team. As we became exposed to more teams, the issue of competitiveness had to be addressed. This was especially true in that the Western Regionals were fast approaching and an opportunity to play an "eastern team" would result for the winner. We openly discussed any issues which affected our team's play including how often and when to play, team size, and team selection. The biggest question we faced however was, do we send a single best team to competitions or do we continue to spread the wealth by sending two equal teams? It was decided after much discussion, followed by a vote by everyone, that we would send our best team to the more prestigious competitions and continue to
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use two equal teams any other times. We developed a comprehensive practice schedule to prepare for the upcoming Western Regionals. On July 9-10, 1977 we traveled to Irvine California to play in the Western Regional Championships. We did field two teams in the nine team tournament, a stronger team and one made up of those that didn' t make the "A" squad. The winner was to meet the Eastern Champions at the World Frisbee Championships in August for what would be the first true National title. This was the biggest challenge we had faced and our preparation proved fruitful as we beat Foothill Institute of Frisbee Culture in a close final game to take the regional title. We were scheduled to play the Eastern
mate Championships in San Jose, we suffered our first loss ever. The Foothill Institute of Frisbee Culture, after two years of frustration, beat us in the finals. The official splitting of the country into East and West regions had been established with Larry Schindel being in charge of the East (all states east of Kansas) and myself for the West. On April 8-9, 1978 the Western Regionals Ultimate Championships were held in Stanford, California. The sixteen-team tournament had representatives from five western states. We again took two teams to the tournament. Our "A" team went 7-0 throughout the round robin competition and beat a Northern Californian team (Northwind) in the semis. This set up another Condor vs. Foothill match up in the
1984 Condor Johny Olcott defends NYC Kaboom's Pat King
Champion Penn State Team in August and were motivated to represent the West as best we could. Penn State had come through a very competitive Easterns on April30-May 1 and being a school team didn' t have the opportunity to play together as a team after June. When we did meet in August, the squads were limited to fifteen players, this number dictated by the Wham-0® transportation allocation. Before the game I approached the captains of the Penn State team with a proposal to use a 165 gram World Class Frisbee for the game. This was an interesting proposal since the Easterns had been played using a Master Frisbee. Master Frisbees® had been used exclusively for the sport of Ultimate since its invention, except on the west coast. The first serious debate regarding choice of Frisbee occurred at the captains meeting of the Easterns that year. The Easterns had made up special Master Frisbees® incorporating the same artwork used on the 165 gram (80 mold) used for the Western Regionals. Penn State graciously agreed to use the 165 gram for the entire game. The final score was Condors 32 Penn State 14. Neither Penn State nor we knew what to expect from each other, but once the game started it became evident that there was a significant difference in age and athleticism. Our average age was around 27. Penn State, a college team was probably about 21. The athletic experience represented on our slightly older team was a contributing factor to our lopsided victory. Later that year, at the California State Ulti-
Winter 2001
Team Profile
finals, which we won 14-10. This again provided us with the opportunity to play an Eastern team as Wham0 was again paying transportation cost for the winner of the Easterns to fly west in August in conjunction with the World Frisbee Championships. The official rules used for Ultimate (7th edition) were again printed by Wham-0 and now listed the 165 gram Frisbee as the official disc. The Eastern Ultimate Championships were played on April 28-30, 1978 in Amherst, Mass. Regional qualifying tournaments were used to determine the 17 teams (out of more than 225 teams) that would compete in the Eastern Regionals. Cornell narrowly defeated Glassboro in the finals to win the title and a trip west. August 29,1978 was set for the match up that would produce a National Champion for Ultimate. We played the game at the University of California at Santa Barbara stadium in front of 4000 spectators. Cornell was a better prepared and significantly tougher opponent than Penn State. After a close first half, Cornell had a lead early in the second half. However, we went on a 10 -3 run to close out the game. All seventeen of our team members either threw or caught a goal as we defeated Cornell 23-17 for our second consecutive National title. By 1978 the Ultimate Frisbee Newsletter had changed names and editors. It was now called the Ultimate Frisbee National Newsletter and Larry Schindel became the editor. Larry
was and had been involved with every level of organization and was still the head of Ultimate Frisbee Rules Committee previously called Ultimate Frisbee Players Committee. Larry soon stepped away from involvement with the sport due to work and marriage commitments. The efforts of Larry Schindel over the years were extremely significant. He consistently put his time and energy into promoting and organizing the sport at a time when resources were very limited. Ultimate had experienced dramatic growth. Dan Roddick with his unique foresight, put in motion the beginnings of a truly autonomous Ultimate organization. With his influence and some financial assistance from Wham-0, Dan initiated an effort to create a true players organization for the sport of Ultimate. Five regions were defined and in the Jan./Feb. 1979 issue of Frisbee World (volume 4, number 1), an article outlining this new structure appeared. The five regions would each conduct their own Regional Ultimate Championships with the winning team from each region going to the Nationals, tentatively scheduled for May 28, 1979 in Philadelphia. The regions, as announced in the article were much as they are today with the original Regional Coordinators being; Buz Laughlin-Northeast, Andrea Cumrnis-Middle Atlantic, Ross Snyder-South, Andy Klein-Central, and myself-West. Although Andy Klein was unable to fulfill the role of central regional coordinator once the organization officially started, he did contribute significantly to the effort. Bruce Johnson took his place as the first Central Regional coordinator. Prior to the publishing of the Frisbee World article, there had been extensive letter writing and phone calling among all of us to get to the point of being able to announce our intentions. Beyond that, an infrastructure from which the organization could grow had to be established. All of this took significant amounts of time and we incorporated the efforts of those active in our respective regions to help. At some point in these proceeding, almost by default, I took over the responsibility for coordinating our efforts by being the communication link between the regional coordinators. After months of effort we had come up with a set of bylaws for a players association but before we could move forward we needed the approval of the players at large. The annual East Coast Captains' meeting, which had been in existence since 1974, was the natural choice for a venue in which to accomplish this. The East Coast Captains' meeting had initially been setup to provide the eastern college captains a place to meet and set up playing schedules for the coming year. It soon evolved to include discussions of all aspects of the sport, especially rules. Because of the deep history of the game in the area and geographical convenience in that region, this meeting was the only practical way to get at large player approval. To that end, I traveled to the East Coast Captains meeting in December of 1979 to introduce the bylaws that we proposed as the basis of the new players' organization. The players in attendance scrutinized the bylaws and with minor changes accepted them. The Ultimate Players Association was officially formed. Earlier in the year, the Condors had hosted the Western Regionals on April21-22, 1979 which had a field of sixteen teams from six states. We again went undefeated and beat the Berkeley Ents in the finals, 17-9.
Continued on next page
»
Smoke over Bat Masters 16-14 -by Jonathan Shepard
If your regional results are not listed, please send them to upa_newsletter@upa.org by Feb. 75 and we'll try to get them in the next issue.
hour and fifteen minutes. One timeout per half/two per game only. No equipment timeouts. Mirror play through half or use a TO from first half if you still had one. Round one Old over Phoenix 13-4, LA over Denver 13-1 Round two Old over San Diego 13-1, Phoenix over Denver 13-11 Round three LA over Phoenix 12-4 (capped), San Diego over Denver 8-6 (capped) Round four Old over Denver 13-5, LA over San Diego 13-4 Round five Old over LA 13-11, San Diego over Phoenix 13-9 Saturday night we reseeded and the fifth place team dropped from Sunday play.
Northeast Masters - by George Cooke
Seeding: 1) Pro State Masters (NY) 2) Bag 0' Bones (Boston) 3) Wreckage (Boston) 4) Ultramen (Rochester)
Round 1Pro State over Wreckage 17-6 Bag 0 ' Bones over Ul tramen 17-1
Round 2Pro State over Bag 0 ' Bones 17-6 Wreckage over Ultramen 17-7
Reseed: 1. Old and in the Way (Boulder) 2. Pond Scum (LA) 3. Smoke (SD) 4. Bat Masters (Phoenix) 5. Father William (Denver-LA-Bad Ahi merge) Sunday was windy and less hot... high 80's/low 90's. We played Sundays games to 15/17 cap at hour and a half. Three TO's per game, two max per half. Still no equipment time outs. Masters can tie our shoes. It was trying something new from the College rules and everyone liked it. Maybe next year we'll use the Callahan goal too.
Round 3Pro State over Ultramen 15-5 Wreckage over Bag 0' Bones 17-13
Final Standings: 1) Pro State 3-0 2) Wreckage 2-1 3) Bag O'Bones 1-2 4) Ultramen 0-3 Pro State Masters and Wreckage advanced to Nationals.
NEMasters
Southwest Masters -Jon Shepard
Sunday Semi's
Saturday in Tempe: 98 degrees in the shade. No more need be said about that except that even after drinking ONE gallon of water (personally) before noon, I still got light headed and nauseous in the third round And I was mainly playing D points. Apparently, the fields were in much better shape than during New Year's Fest- very hard but green vs. very hard, brown and yellow. LOTS of strawberry flesh all weekend long. We played pool games to 13/15 cap at one
ÂŤ
In attempt to avoid groans but still have some kind useful behavior rating, we didn't have a spirit of the game vote in our division this year. Instead we had a Conduct rating. After each game, each team gave the other team a score on a scale of one to ten that rated the opposing team's conduct. I suppose you could say that Masters can and do play with HUGE and intense spirit, but that doesn't mean we're always well behaved. There were some tens but there were also some 5's, so in the end there was a two-way tie for best Conduct between San Diego Smoke and Phoenix Bat Masters. I'm proud to say that three teams were awarded a 10, and every team received at least one 9, so there was a LOT of good sportsmanship around. It was a pleasure to be the Southwest Masters Regional Coordinator this year. I KNOW now that SW has the potential to field 11 masters teams ... now how can we make that happen for next year? Thanks go out to the Local TD's Jill Blutt, Sara Youngblood and Phil, and all the happy locals who turned out to line fields and help in so many ways. Big Thanks to Jason, Dave Samuels, Oakey, Keith and the observer crew. Also, very sweet disc design by Kevin Hatch - thanks Tempe and Valley of the Sun Ultimate (www.vots.org) for coming through! I'll never understand how you can think 87 degrees is nice and cool.
Old over Phx 15-4 LA over SD 15-7 The LA/SD game was really close in the first half, LA took it home in the 2nd
Finals Old and in the Way over Pond Scum 1511
Back door for third place
1. Old & In the Way -Boulder 2. Pond Scum - LA 3. Smoke - SD 4. Bat Masters - Phx 5. Father William - Denver/LA merger
observer job. Appropriately, the captains and teams removed the two players. Things cooled down and everyone drank beer and smiled about it.
Southern Masters -by JR Reynolds The Southern Region Masters Division Championship Round was a one-horse show this year, as the Florida Masters dominated from get-go. Winning all four of their Pool games handily, Florida showed the speed and handling skills that won them a second place finish at Nationals in '99 and gave notice that they will be a team to be reckoned with in 2000. Atlanta stepped up from a dismal showing in Sectionals to go 3-0 in pool play Saturday, setting up a showdown for the top spot on Sunday morning. Atlanta beat second seed Birmingham easily, and cruised by Arkansas and Orlando as well, and a trip to the big show seemed likely. Birmingham went 2-2 on Saturday, followed by Arkansas and the pesky Orlando squad. Orlando made a fine showing in it's first trip to Regionals, and for many of the Orlando players this was only the second time they had played with rules, much less in high-stakes competition. The Downtowners proved their mettle however, and with the help of veteran Tripp Ckeeke they were able to give a good game to both the Arkansas and Atlanta teams. Florida proved to be too much for Atlanta in the Sunday morning Championship game, and so the Atlanta rematch with Birmingham turned into the Big Game, and became the featured match of the tournament. Birmingham turned up the heat in the second half, and when a tired Atlanta squad couldn't make the plays when it counted, Birmingham stormed into second place and the Nationals bid.
Final Standings
Old and In the Way and Pond Scum go to the show The final was hard fought and intense. The observers made two calls, one to ward off a potential altercation which is not an
Florida 4-0 Birmingham 4 - 2 Atlanta 4- 2 Arkansas 1 - 4 Orlando 0-5
Continued from previous page
The other four regions also conducted tournaments to establish a Regional Ultimate champion. These teams traveled to State College Pennsylvania for the first five-region National Ultimate Championships in May of 1979. The regional representatives, three college and two club teams, were; Cornell University-Northeast, Glassboro State-Middle Atlantic, Michigan State-Central, Orlando Fling-South, Condors-West. Each team played the other in a round robin format to produce a Glassboro-Condor final. We had gone undefeated up to this point, however Glassboro prevailed, 19-18 to become the 1979 National Champions. In the winter of 1979, the Condors established contact with the University of California at Santa Barbara Recreation Department. Through persistent phone calls we set up a demonstration/workshop to expose the admin-
istrative personnel to the sport of Ultimate. Our interest was in establishing Ultimate as a sport that could be offered through the Intramural Department. We were successful, and in the fall of 1980, Ultimate was offered and 32 teams signed up. The program continued to grow, and by the fall of 1981, they had 72 Intramural Ultimate teams. In January of 1984, Greg Sharp and I formed the U.C.S.B. college Ultimate club sport team. We held tryouts and actively coached for the first two seasons. The tradition of excellence of Santa Barbara Ultimate continues. The current U.C.S.B. Black Tide team are the reining National Champions and a continuing credit to the sport. The Ultimate Players Association put out the first U.P.A. newsletter in April of 1980. Since that time the organization has continued to grow. Events that occurred in Ultimate after this time are thoroughly documented in the
U.P.A. newsletters. One of the most satisfying accomplishments I was involved with while serving in the U.P.A. was the updating of the rules from the 7th edition to the much more comprehensive 8th edition, but that's a whole other story. My intention in writing this article was twofold. First, while memories were still retrievable, to document our team's somewhat unique beginnings. We were an extremely close-knit group and I attribute that as a major contributing factor to our success. Secondly, I wanted to share with the reader the climate surrounding the development of Ultimate that led to the formation of the U.P.A. Without WhamO's financial support and Dan Roddick's perceptive mind and thoughtful actions the U.P.A. would not be. I want to acknowledge the selfless contribution of time and energy, then and now, of key
individuals whose efforts further the sport and the enjoyment experienced by the players. It would be impossible to name everyone. Eric Simon is someone whose consistent contribution over the life span of the game warrants special attention. I have mentioned Dan, lrv, Larry, Eric and I include myself, as people who have loved the game and have wanted for any number of reasons to see it grow and to feel the satisfaction of being highly involved in something so special. I also want to acknowledge the present generation of men and women who organize and facilitate everything from the Nationals, to making sure everyone knows the schedule of the local summer league. A few are still putting out for the many. Ultimate has continued to grow and evolve since its inception in 1968. It is the 'spirit' of the game that has set it apart from all other sports, and hopefully that will never be lost.
Regionals
I Winter 2001 I www.upa. orgl
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If your sedional results are not listed, please send them to upa_newsletter@upa.org by Feb. 75 and we'll try to get them in the next issue.
Central-East Plains Women -Miriam Allersma Sectionals were held in Versailles, OH on Sept. 16, 2000. East Plains Sectionals went really well. We had gorgeous weather, the fields were sweet and everyone played a lot of Ultimate. The captains of the various teams told me they had a great time. I'd like to get a few more teams to come out next fall and then maybe we can have a real two day affair. One thing that would really help would be a later date -even one week later. A lot of the college teams are just getting back and it's a rush to get their team together in time. Thanks to people that helped me: Chris Hung and Deanna Ball sent me lots of contact addresses, Dave Bradbury (ESP OC) was very helpful because he organized the tourney. (I just had to tell him
CAT - Cleveland Area College Team SPF - Ohio University Righteous Babes - Michigan State University (new team) Venom - Hope College (new team) If you have a Women's Ultimate event in the works, tell me and I'll tell the rest of this list. That's all for now. Seeya on the field
-MA
MA-North Women's Division -Tracy Berg WSC The PA/NJ/DE Women's Sectional Tournament was held at the Lower Perkiomen Park in Oaks, PA. Fourteen teams, a record number, attended this year's tournament. The number was particularly impressive given that some of the college teams had only been in session for one week. This can make gathering seven women to travel their first weekend in school a chore. Kudos to these college team's captains in getting together rosters
RESULTS: Women Central-East Plains Pool A: AA 13 v. OU 3, AA 13 v.CAT 2, OU 13 v. CAT 4 Pool 8: CIN 9 v. MSU 5, OC 9 v. CIN 5, OC 12 v. MSU 6 Pool C: LEX 12 v. HC 0, LEX 11 v. CLV 6, CLV 13 v. HC 1 Quarters: CLV 13 v. CIN 10, OU 10 v. LEX 7, AA and OC byes Semis: AA 13 v. CLV 2, OU 12 v. OV 4 Finals: AA 13 v. ou 4 3/4 Consolation: CLV forfeits to OC 5/6 Consolation: LEX 13 v. CIN 1 7/8/9 RR: MSU 8 v. HC 2, CAT 13 v. HC 2, CAT 7 v. MSU 3 Final Standings: AA, OU, OC, CLV, LEX, CIN, CAT, MSU, HC how many fields I needed.) And all the team spokeswomen were very good about getting their forms and checks in and with keeping on schedule. Nine teams showed up (no one bailed!) and it made me very happy to see growth but made setting up a format a little tougher. Three pools of three played round robin, the top six finishers played a single elimination with consolation games and the bottom three played another round robin. This gave most teams four games and a couple teams five games. The seedings were based on last year's club sectionals, college sectionals and regionals results: Clutch - Ann Arbor Spinsters of Cin- Cincinnati Airhart - Lexington Clevedge - Cleveland Praying Manti - Oberlin College
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Ultimate Players Association
Winter 2001
there so early even though you had a bye); fifth to another Philly club team, SOL, sixth to Penn State's Isis, seventh to Venus from U. Penn, and eighth to the savage crew from Univ. Delaware. Mare's Nest from Philadelphia and Yugo Girl from Pittsburgh made a great showing with good spirit. Thanks again to everyone who helped: my score keepers, Susan and Jen; field setter-uppers MC and Natalie (next time take the map with you); foodie Rachel, field liaison Gina; advisor, roster checker and my moral support Chris Cianfrani .
and bodies for the tournament: PSU, Bucknell, Penn, U. Delaware, Princeton, Drew, Bryn Mawr/Haverford and Swathmore. Next year we will be looking for Eastern College, Rutgers and Lehigh to join us. The results this year were surprisingly pretty much the same as last year. There was a new Philadelphia Club team (Phatitude) made up of women who I have played with sometime during my tenure in Philadelphia. The Philly Peppers hosted the tournament (thanks to Gina and Chris) and also came in first place. The biggest surprise of the weekend was the dance by the University of Delaware Women. The Peppers beat Lemmings (Pittsburgh) in the Finals 13-3. Third place went to Phatitude who definitely had attidude! Forth went to the Bucknell Peace Frogs (thanks for getting
Sectionals
Northern California Women(NW) -by bur/79 and chewie33. The 8 teams that tionals were: (listed outcome) 1. Fury 2. homebrood 3. Misty Hyman 4. Heroine
attended NW Secin order of the 2000 5. 6. 7. 8.
Aeryn Sun A Aeryn Sun B Monistack 7 Something Stoned
After a week of heavy drizzle and clouds in Santa Cruz on September 23-24, the sun rose at 6:52am Saturday morning and stayed out both days, providing excellent Ultimate weather all weekend. In pool A, the 1 vs. 2 seed match-up featured homebrood against Heroine. One might describe Heroine as a titillating concoction of former Toast players and UCSC Sol women who were riding "high" in their first team appearance at Sectionals. homebrood, by contrast, came out a bit flat-footed and committed several unforced errors in gusty winds, leading to a 4-0 lead Heroine lead. After a brief pep talk, homebrood was able to SIMMA UP NA! The final score was 13-7, but Heroine is an enticing addiction to the Bay Area and definitely a team to watch! In the second 1 v. 2 seed match-up, Fury and Misty Hyman duked it out in a capped game, with Fury taking the game by three points. According to firsthand testimony by the saucy Sandy Angelos, "It was close at first, Misty 5 - Fury 6. Then they pulled away. There were lots of turnovers on both ends. Honestly, it was kind of@#$!!@# ugly. Fury's zone was useless. Our defense going downwind was useless. They went up 10 to 5. We scored three in a row, so they asked for the hard cap. You know (WINK WINK) the one they didn't think we should use. Well, so (pause while Sandy counts on her fingers) ei ... eigh ... yes, eight to 10 game to 11, they scored. Weren't nothing to be proud of.. ..." [ Please excuse the artistic
liberty I've taken with the quote! :) ] Quarterfinals were also played on Saturday, but before that, there was the Pinatas. The one on the left was a 4.5 foot bunny (converted from it's original ant-like appearance through extensive plastic surgery) wearing a painted Krispy Kreme T-shirt and blue shorts with yellow racing stripes. The target on the right was a round, star-shaped pinata with Mickey Mouse and "Happy Birthday" written all over it. The pinatas' were hung from the crossbeam of a soccer goal and women from all of the teams gathered around to pummel the papier-mache with frisbees. While this might seem like a trivial task, in actuality, it is far from easy. There we some golf discs mixed in with the 175gram Discrafts. Good thing too, otherwise that bunny would have never fallen. On a recent episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, one of the questions was, "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?" The answer was three, but when dealing with papier-mache, it takes many, many, many more. It was quite a spectacle to see 80 women whaling on a dangling bunny and seastar pinata. Limbs flew off one by one as the bunny spilled entrails of skittles, smarties, GU, mouthwash, toothpaste, toothbrushes, body wash, tampons, condoms, and assorted candy. Surprisingly, it was a lot of FUN! The results of the quarterfinals matchup were: Homebrood 13, Something Stoned 2 Heroine 12, Aeryn Sun A 8 Misty Hyman 13, Aeryn Sun B 0 Fury 13, Monistack 7 2 And then we were off to the party at the Whole Earth. The band was a group of eager-to-please college boys, willing to cover any song that they knew. They faltered at the start, testing the waters with 'n sync songs (thumbs down!) but soon hit their stride. The crowd was small but boisterous, and there was plenty of beer, yucca, and g&t's to quench the thirst of the dance floor jitterbugs. Heroine made a strong showing, possessing a precociousness for partying well beyond their years, but in the end, homebrood won the party crown. Sunday 10 a.m. - homebrood's semifinal game was against Misty Hyman, formerly the Pink Posse. This team consists of wily veterans including such premiere players as Alita Sanchez, Cathy Histon, Sandy Angelos, Jen Sonderby, Kathy Porter, Janet Wong, and many more. They are, one might say, your basic North West All-Star Team. It was a good, close, competitive game with Hyman relying on the strength of their long game and good zone-to- man defense. In the end, home-
Area. By holding fun, enriching open brood took the game 15 to 12. In the Open Sectional took place on a sunny other semi's, Fury played Heroine and weekend in mid September at Dale practices and setting up clinics to teach took care of business, 15 to 3. Wilker's field of dreams in Versailles, fundamentals, women like Jo, Becky, and In the finals Fury opened up a devasPam Lopez are pioneering new venues for Ohio. Sixteen teams made the trip this women seeking to learn women's Ultitating 5 - nil advantage, from which year, up from twelve last year, and were 1. Bnogo homebrood never fully recovered. By mate. Also, thanks to CoolTown for prosplit up into four pools of four to start. 2. Pandora switching to a zone defense, homebrood viding a salsa of frisbee and fun for Bay The top seeds were fairly easy to fig3. Juice was able to close to within two points, 9Area women Ultimate players. I hope ure out. Heartland was the favorite going 4. Salisbury there will be more CoolTown events to 11. Painful! y, there was an excess of in, considering their recent performances 5. Heavy Flow - Fredericksburg turnovers by both come! at Chop Tank and Tune Up. Ghetto Force 6. UVA teams, but fortuAlso a special was up there with their combination of 7. GW thanks to all the youth, experience and tall dudes. Mad nately for the fans, 8. American/U of MD people who helped each team's defense Cow took a core of talented players from with the tournawas as feisty as Columbus and added some Ohio State allWe had 16 teams at East Plains Sec-AndreaApo ment including Bob stars and a few of last years champions their 0 was impretionals. The top six teams were: Polaris, Karin from cise. To their from Cleveland; and Cuyahoga Sheet Metal came in drooling for a qualifying UC Regents, and credit, Fury exhib1: Heartland (Ohio) Claire- the volspot to Regionals. After that, it got kind ited a ferocious trap 2: Mad Cow (Ohio) of sketchy. Oberlin, Ohio University, D to which homeunteer cleanup 3: Ghetto Force (Dayton) the top 8 teams or the top 12 teams into a brood had quite a crew. Also a huge Miami and Denison had all been to Col4: Karma Tsunami (Cinti) double elimination format; and, of course, bit of trouble thanks to Skippy lege Regionals last spring, but how would 5: Cuyahoga Sheet Metal (Cleve) it ended up in a tie. Flip a disc? Who Jammer, without adjusting. The final they stack up against the club teams? 6: Flying Horsecows (Oberlin) would call it? Rock, paper, scissors? Too score was 13-9. whom the tournaBlack Lung and Age against the Machine many players. Cowboy, ninja, bear? Get Congratulations to ment would not were in the mix this year, but were planTwo of the 16 teams (Black Lung & real. Time for quick decision; It would be have run so Fury, 2000 NW ning on using their golden buckeye cards Age against the Machine) are planning a 12-team modified double elimination to get to Florida in the Masters Division; Sectional champs! smooth. I would on playing in the Masters Division. format with the first round played on Satalso like to The backdoor and Wooster placed 5th last year at Sec- David W Bradbury urday. The top teams from each pool final (for 3rd and tionals, but that was then and this was announce the birth (Heartland, Ghetto Force, Mad Cow and 4th place) was of his second son, now. Black Lung) went straight into the semifiEarl Jammer, born between Misty The first three rounds of pool play nals while the second and third place Hyman and Heroine. Heroine, a large went down quick with Heartland, Ghetto on Sept. 20th, weighing 7lb 3oz. Andrea teams from each pool played off for 3rd team touting a full roster, naturally wanted is doing great, I saw her up and jamming. Force, and Mad Cow finishing where they and 4th place overall. The 0/4 teams from to play to 17. Early on, the game went were supposed to with a 3/0 record. In Kenny Ray is as cute as ever and even has each pool (Denison, Cleveland, Oberlin B Pool D, Black Lung upset Cuyahoga by point for point. Heroine came out with a a two-finger! Congratulations to you and Wooster) started a 4-team round-robin two (15-13) in a close third round game to bang, capitalizing on Misty's turnovers both, you are the perfect example of peoplayoff to decide 13th through 16th place. take 1st place, while Dayton dominated and converting every time they got the ple who create Ultimate people! A speThis format seemed to work well. It Wooster (15-4) for 3rd place. Karma cial, special thanks to Joy Chen, without disk. According to an anonymous source resulted in some great match-ups between Tsunami, a pick-up team from southwest for Entertainment Tonight reporter Leeza her help in all faucets of the tournament, I teams of equal caliber, nullified any Gibbons, "Gretchen Sponburgh was would have had to work a lot harder. Ohio, finished 2nd in Pool C below Mad advantage or disadvantage created by iniabsolutely unstoppable. Misty was sloppy Cow; and Lexington and OU moved up in tial seeding, and gave more teams a their pools. but managed to go up 8-4, then 10-5. chance to qualify for Regionals. Then the rookie on Misty, a wily 21 yearStarting out with sixteen teams SaturThe semis were played late Saturday. day morning, it just didn't seem right to old, did the smart/clumsy thing and Heartland won it, Mad Cow came in Heartland vs. Black Lung and Ghetto tripped over Gretchen, hurting Gretchen's narrow it down to eight by Saturday after2nd, Ghetto Force was 3rd, and Karma Force vs. Mad Cow. Both games started noon. So in the spirit of Ultimate, the ankle and taking her out of the game. Tsunami was 4th; but there was so much out with teams trading points up to the Heroine then lost their mo. Misty slapped captains voted to decide whether to take more to it than that. The East Plains on Alita and Sonderby in a zone D. Heroine had no answer. Those guys definitely had some moments, and usually Gretchen was in the middle of it." Misty Hyman pulled away in the end, final score 15- 7. Saturday's Pools: (W /L record after pool play) The backdoor quarters also comPooiA PooiB Poole PooiD menced at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Something Heartland 3/0 Ghetto Force 3/0 Mad Cow 3/0 Cuyahoga Sheet Metal 211 Stoned, a pickup team consisting of Miami 1/2 Age agnsthe Machine 1/2 Flying Horsecows 1/2 Black Lung 3/0 young, fired-up Cal-Berkeley girls and Lexington Denison Ohio University 211 211 0/3 Wooster 0/3 some Santa Cruz locals, chose not to play Cleveland 0/3 Oberlin B 0/3 Karma Tsunami 211 Dayton 1/2 on Sunday, but I would still like to thank them for their help in making the 2000 Sunday's Finish: team (overall W/L record) NW Sectionals a success. I would also 1lth(tie): Miami (1/4) & Age against the Machine (1/4) 1st: Heartland (5/0) like to thank the women of Aeryn Sun A 13th: Denison* (3/3) 2nd: Mad Cow (411) and B, two newly-formed teams in the 3rd: Ghetto Force (511) 14th: Cleveland (2/4) Bay Area, both of whom lost in the back4th: Karma Tsunami (5/2) 15th: Oberlin B (1/5) door semi's, but not without a fight! I 5th: Cuyahoga Sheet Metal (6/2) 16th: Wooster (0/6) hope to see these teams in future tourna6th: Oberlin Flying Horsecows (4/4) ments! It is women like these who play 7th(tie): Black Lung (3/3) & Ohio Univ. (4/2) * Spirit of the Game Award for the love of the game, who insure the 9th(tie): Lexington (3/3) & Dayton (2/4) longevity of women's Ultimate in the Bay
Women MidAtlantic Middle
Open, Central-East Plains
East Plains Open
East PLains
Sectionals
Winter 2001
www.upa. org
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NE-Metro Women Ambush Ambush Ambush Ambush Ambush
v. Brickhouse-- 13 v 3 v. Columbia -- 13 v 0 v Yale 13 v 1 v Wesleyan- 13 v 0 v Vassar-- 13 v 0
Team fee was $150. half. But as the games wore on, the the B-Division playoffs AND the Spirit of Brick House v Columbia-- 13 v 1 deeper teams had the advantage and the Game award. The strong wind and Extra thanks to Meg Parker and Eva Brick House v Wesleyan-- 13 v 0 the "no-cap" rule for the last round had emerged victorious. As the last round Chmielnicki for their help, especially durBrick House v Vassar - 9 v 1 games were finishing, the grill was fireding the early morning banana fiasco. Wooster and the Cleveland areas college Brick House v Yale-- 13 v 2 up, the keg was All teams demonstrated excellent team playing a two spirit, and it was a very fun day. tapped, and Sunand a half hour Columbia v Yale- 11 v 9 -Amy Lief day 's match-ups game that ended Columbia v Wesleyan- 13 v 0 with Cleveland were drawn up. It Columbia v Vassar- 13 v 0 would be Heartland claiming bragging and Mad Cow rights. There Yale v Wesleyan - 13 v 1 Here are the results for the women's playing in the seemed to be more Yale v Vassar-- 13 v 0 Winner: Salt Lake Sweet Northwest playing section in the cenfinals while Ghetto beer exchanged in SOTG winner: Salt Lake SweetS. tral region: Force and Black the playoffs for the Wesleyan v Vassar - 6 v 2 Budget: $5 per person tournament fee Jane Air went 5-0 Lung would get 5th place than in the plus a six-pack of a favorite beverage for Madison (Johnny Cocktail) 4-1 another chance in playoffs for 16th So, the final outcome: the party; the host teams offered their Torrid Affair 3-2 place. Oberlin's B the lower bracket. 1. Ambush houses to traveling players, and set up disGlu 2-3 OU, Cuyahoga, team got their win 2. Brick House counts at local restaurants so that players Carleton 1-4 and some quality Lexington, and 3. Columbia could eat more cheaply. Winona 0-5 playing time against Karma each won 4. Yale Special thanks to: Sarah Lundstrum, The format was a six team roundtheir first round OU on Sunday. the tournament 5. Wesleyan directorshe bravely robin tournament with a $75 per team games of the douEveryone was all 6. Vassar took the helm without ever doing this entry fee. ble elimination and smiles at the party before and did a great job; My husband would move on Saturday night. You Paul and two daughters Emmon (7) and drive). - Rebekah Tempest couldn' t help it with towards the qualiLeidy (4) put up without a wife/mom for It is also tough because of the sparse the bonfire, the fying spots. weeks before the tournament, and yet population. It is very hard to support a Sunday morning spaghetti, the card were helpful with ideas and offers of women's team in many of the towns in started out sunny and calm but by the end tricks and the trampoline; not to mention assistance (but they did make me promise our area. The two largest cities, Salt Lake the cow on the road and Nick's naked of the first round, a steady wind was to never do this again ... ); The whole crew City and Calgary, are the only places that blowing. OU's numbers helped them backflip off the zip-line into the pond. at Logan Ultimate put in a lot of work to have consistent women's teams for tourThanks goes out to Dale Wilker and his squeak out a win against Cuyahoga at the make it a good tournament. The details: naments including sectionals (Calgary cap (11-10), which put them up against a family for another great tournament and For Big Sky women's sectionals, there was the team that was going to come and well-rested Ghetto Force. On the other to the Berger's for their hospitality. were going to be three teams. One didn't didn't, largely because of the 14 hour then side of the bracket, Karma Tsunami beat end up coming and another decided not to drive each way). Lexington (12-8), only to see the more turn in a roster. So there was only one The sparse population makes Co-ed experienced Lexington team, Black Lung, official team. work better for this area, and many of the Hello! Women's Metro Sectionals in their next game. Karma and Lung were Big Sky is tough because of the diswomen players here play Co-ed most of were held on Sept. 16th, as planned. The evenly matched and it came down to a tances involved (18 hours from the souththe season. A number of good female one-point game, with Karma ending up on tightest game of the tournament was ernmost team to the northernmost one, players from our section play with the Cotop (13-12). Ghetto Force had no trouble between Yale and Columbia during the of that driving is 75 mph interand most ed Trigger Hippy team. With Co-ed with OU's army, winning easily (15-4) , third round. It turns out it was the game to state! If we get a team in southern Utah it nationals just two weeks before women's go to regionals. Columbia won in a and advancing into the game for 3rd place will add another four or five hours to that sectionals, these women are just coming capped game, 11 to 9. against Karma. After playing two close games earlier, Karma still had a lot of fight left. They were able to keep it close against Ghetto Force, but eventually lost (11-15). And in the game for 5th place, POOL A Games to 11 Final Standings after Crossover for Regional Seedings: Cuyahoga Sheet Metal out drank Oberlin's Flying Horsecows (12pack- 10). Scores FIELD 1 FIELD 2 Scores First Place: Winner of A1 v. B1 , Backhoe In the finals, Mad Cow came out psyCombo v. ECU Helios 9-3 11-0 Bhoe v. App Second Place: Loser of A1 v. B1, WUFF Wahine ched up to knock off the favorite and led Bhoe v. Duke 11-0 11-2 ECU v.App Third Place: Winner of A2 v. B2, Combo Team most of the first half. Every point was Bhoe v. ECU Combo v. Duke 11-0 11-2 Fourth Place:Loser of A2 v. B2, Dixie Flicks big, but the one that stands out was when Duke v. ECU 9-4 Combo v. App 11-0 Place: Winner of A3 v. B3, UNC-gave up Regionals spot Fifth Lee Franklin caught a trailing-edge, overBhoe v. Combo Duke v. App 11-0 11-0 Sixth Place: Loser of A3 v. B3, Duke-gave up Regionals spot the-shoulder goal from Paul Devine, who **Seventh Place: Winner of A4 v. B4, NCSU-going to threw it from the other end, to put Mad POOLB Games to 15 Regionals Cow up by two (6-4). Heartland Eighth Place: Loser of A4 v. B4, App. State-still wants to go answered with some solid offensive points Scores FIELD 3 FIELD 4 to Regionals from Arron Klein and Keith Allen and Wahine v. UNC Dixie Flicks v. Disc-O 15-2 15-1 Ninth Place: AS, ECU -still wants to go to Regionals ended the first half with the lead (9-8). At Wahine v. NCSU Dixie Flicks v. UNC 15-1 15-1 this point, it was anybody's game. In the Wahine v. Dixie Flicks UNC v. NCSU 15-3 15-5 Due to the adverse weather conditions and a small team of second half, John Tuttle's defensive layout mainly new players, ECU chose to leave instead of playing the Backhoe vs. Wahine 15-5 A1 v. B1 set up an easy upwind goal for Heartland. game for Regionals (they had to wait to play the game and they Dan Zistler's flick to Larry Dean started Combo vs. Dixie Flicks 15-8 A2 VS. B2 were all tired and cold.) They were actually A4. They still want an offensive roll and Jed Thomas's layout Duke vs. UNC 8-15 A3 v. B3 to go to Regionals. A4 VS. B4 goal catch late in the game sealed it for App. State vs. NCSU 2-11 Heartland's 17-9 championship win. Meanwhile, Denison was winning both
Central-NW Women
NW-Big Sky Women
NE-Metro Women
Mid-Atlantic NC Women
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NW-NorCal Open Tournament fee was $115 and three teams declared they will play in the Master's division: Bushmaster Ancient Ruins Young For Their Age off the high of nationals when it is time to go to sectionals again. For other teams, it is just usually too hard to get a women's team together for travel. Calgary is interested in hosting sectionals next year. My guess is that, if sectionals are there, Alberta teams and Salt Lake will be there. It would be a pleasant surprise if any other team showed up. The women in Big Sky like to play women's Ultimate, but with the limitations listed above, I don't think it will be really strong here in the near future. I think we will just keep on trying to encourage women's Ultimate and hope for the best.
Four Teams played in Tuscaloosa, AL in the women's Gulf Coast Sectional, ranked for seeding based on when they contacted me and paid the entry fee. 1. Flaming June, Birmingham, AL 2. Towanda, Fayetteville, AR 3. Piece, combo 4. Velvet Ants, Huntsville, AL Squealy Mason of Birmingham gets kudos for turning in COMPLETE, TYPED rosters with waivers and check attached!!!! Go Squealy.
-Anne Hedrich
South - Florida Women The teams voted to have no "extras" like fruit and bagels, so no entry fee was charged. Water, ice, and lined fields were provided. BIG thanks to Steve "Skool" Johnson, sckool@afn.org, for reserving and lining the fields, providing cones, coolers, food for sale, and setting up Frisbee central. BIG thanks to Deanna, Peaches, and Monica for hosting the Saturday night party at their home! -J Green
Sectional Report South - Florida Women W-L Records 4-0 3-1 2-2 1-3 Beach) 0-4
Hucksters (Tampa Bay) Diva (Gainesville) Special Sauce (Orlando) Women in Plaid (West Palm Rip Tide (Miami)
Hucksters vs. Diva 13-8 vs. Special Sauce 13-1 vs. Women in Plaid 13-2 vs. Rip Tide 13-1 Diva vs. Special Sauce 13-6 vs. Women in Plaid 13-1 vs. Rip Tide 13-1 Special Sauce vs. Women in Plaid 13-7 vs. Rip Tide 13-4 Women in Plaid vs. Rip Tide
13-11
First round began almost promptly at 10 a.m. and the day went as follows: Round 1 -Flaming June over Velvet Ants 13-2 & Towanda falling short to Piece 6-10 Round 2 - Flaming June losing to Piece 9-10 & Towanda over Velvet Ants 11-4 Round 3 - Flaming June over Towanda 13-0 & Piece over Velvet Ants 10-4 At the captains meeting the decision to "play it all today" was unanimous and thus we went directly into the finals after a short 30 minute break. No. 1 seed, Flaming June, defeated No. 2, Piece 13-3, while No. 3 was secured by Towanda defeating No.4, Velvet Ants, 13-4. Yielding these final standings: 1. Flaming June 2. Piece 3. Towanda 4. Velvet Ants
Stepping' out with Texas, Women! Plaid Skirts, and AWESOME jerseys everywhere! TEXAS Women were Looking' Good! Every woman in the South KNOWS it's all about looking good on the line (and serving a fine cocktail!). Six Women's teams entered the plush UT-Austin IM fields looking and feeling GREAT!! While UPA responsibilities were being fulfilled, teams were going through a full warm-up repertoire. Large groups of women were running and stretching and throwing. Texas WOMEN! Yeeeee HA! Captains voted to play games to 15 points! WE ARE READY TO PLAY! The featured game of Round 1 matched Buttercup (Austin) against SPIN (Houston) Austin, full of break mark throws, was a bit surprised by the SPIN
1) Jam 2) Sick Of It All 3) Super Foaming Pipe Snake 4) Davis Damento 5) Donner Party 6)NBA 7) Valhalla 8) Young For Their Age (masters) 9) Five Assed Monkey 10) Skunky Mofos
PRAM 1-3 Berkeley C 0-4 Davis Damento 13 Five Assed Monkey 6 Young For Their Age 13 PRAM 4 Davis Damento 12 PRAM 7 Five Assed Monkey 13 Berkeley C 0 Davis Damento 13 Berkeley C 0 Young For Their Age 13 Five Assed Monkey 6 Davis Damento 13 Young For Their Age 5 PRAM 13 Berkeley C 4 Young For Their Age 13 Berkeley C 2 Five Assed Monkey 13 PRAM 4
PooiD:
SATURDAY POOL PLAY
Valhalla 2-1 Super Foaming Pipe Snake 3-0 UCSC Slugs 1-2 Ancient Ruins 0-3 Valhalla 15 UCSC Slugs 9 Super Foaming Pipe Snake 15 Ancient Ruins 5 Valhalla 15 Ancient Ruins 7 Super Foaming Pipe Snake 15 UCSC Slugs
Pool A:
9
Jam4-0 Donner Party 3-1 Skunky Mofos 2-2 Spite & Ire 1-3 Daddy's Belt 0-4 Jam 13 Skunky Mofos 5 Donner Party 13 Spite & Ire 1 Jam 13 Spite & Ire 3 Skunky Mofos 13 Daddy's Belt 2 Jam 13 Daddy's Belt 1 Donner Party 13 Skunky Mofos 4 Jam 13 Donner Party 6 Spite & Ire 13 Daddy's Belt 3 Donner Party 13 Daddy's Belt 2 Skunky Mofos 13 Spite & Ire 3
Super Foaming Pipe Snake 15 Valhalla 12 UCSC Slugs 15 Ancient Ruins 12
SUNDAY PRE QUARTERS Donner Party 13 Five Assed Monkey 9 NBA 13 UCSC Slugs 10 Young For Their Age 13 Skunky Mofos 11 Valhalla 13 Team X 9 Jam 15 NBA 7 Sick Of It All 15 Donner Party 7 Davis Damento 13 Valhalla 11 Super Foaming Pipe Snake 15 Young For Their Age 7 Skunky Mofos 13 UCSC Slugs 12 Five Assed Monkey 13 Team X 9
Pool B: Sick Of It All 4-0 NBA3-1 Team X 2-2 Unico Union 0-4 Bushmaster 1-3 Sick Of It All13 Team X 10 NBA 13 Unico Union 6 Sick Of It All 13 Unico Union 5 Team X 13 Bushmaster 7 Sick Of It All 13 Bushmaster 0 NBA 13 Team X 11 Sick Of It All 13 NBA 9 Bushmaster 15 Unico Union 13 NBA 13 Bushmaster 9 Team X 13 Unico Union 7
Jam 15 Super Foaming Pipe Snake 6 (semifinal)
Sick Of ltAll13 David Damento 11 (semifinal)
NBA 14 Young For Their Age 13 Donner Party 12 Valhalla 11 FiveAssed Monkey 14 Skunky Mofos 10 Jam 17 Sick Of It All 10 (final) Super Foaming Pipe Snake 13 Donner Party 7 Davis Damento 13 NBA 10 Valhalla over Young For Their Age (forfeit)
PooiC: Davis Damento 4-0 Young For Their Age 3-1 Five Assed Monkey 2-2
Super Foaming Pipe Snake 13 Davis Damento 7 Donner Party 11 NBA 4
zone. Forcing the turns, Spin adopted the "I do what I gotta do in the end zone to get the disc" attitude. Great catches brought oos and ahhhs! A well played game on both sides. In Round 3, the newly formed women's' team at University of TEXAS (Lady Marmalade) posted it's first ever WIN! In a time capped game, Marmalade laid it out in the end zone to score the game winning point! (GO NAZ!) The Ladies Marmalade were pulling out their break mark throws; and putting up 40 yard hucks! A beautiful display of Burnt Orange Ultimate! The game of the day
was 2nd seeded SPIN v. 3rd seeded Weird Alice of Dallas. There was intensity and anxiety; it even had a bit of the Jerry Springer show (you know when everyone's yelling something from the audience about a call/comment and you can't understand a word they're saying but they're yelling anyway? Spin was down early on (4-1). Houston turned it up a notch (HUGE D! , nice hucks, even hammers!). Weird Alice started the second half up by one (8-7). The crowd was growing larger and wilder (and time cap was approaching). After two hours, Weird Alice was up 14-10 ... with the cap, that
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What
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earilen~ and more reunions than a
KISS eoneert?
Texas Women 1 Ho-Ju, Texas! 2 Lady Marmalade, University of Texas 3 Miss Red, Rice University 4 Weird Alice, Dallas 5 Spin, Houston 6 Buttercup, Austin
Saturday Play Games to 15 Points, Time Cap at 1 :45 hr.
~~~~~ BUU~B
10:00: 1 - 4 (0 - 15) 2 - 3 (5 - 15) 5 - 6 (8 - 15) 11:30: 1 - 5 (3 - 15) 2 - 6 (0 - 15) 3 - 4 (0- 15) 1:00: 1 - 2 (10- 13) 3 - 6 (2- 15) 4 - 5 (15 - 16) 2:30: 1 - 3 (7 - 15) 2- 5 (3 - 11) 4 - 6 (5 - 10)
BBBT!! This year's 24th Annual will prove to be one of the best ever. We have plenty of fun & games planned and some new tricks up our sleeves. Get your bid in as soon as possible, don't delay! The tournament will take place at John Lee Pratt Park in Fredericksburg. VA on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, March 30, 31 and Apnl 1, 2001. Bids are due - in our hands - by February 16, 2001, and must include the following: • A check for $225 made out to "WAFC': • A short letter telling us about your team. This letter should indude: team name, a brief history (maybe some past/present team members), city of origin, and a paragraph or two on what April Fools Fest means to you. • Team contad info, induding: name, address, phone, fax, e-mail (and/or web address). • A new stuffed animal (that you've purchased) for donation to a children's charity. ALL of the stuffed animals we receive will be donated to children's charities in the D.C. metro
area. • Send COMPLETE bids to: WAFC. 1808 No. Quantico St, Arlington, VA 22205. For further information, please visit WWW.WAFC.ORG/FOOLS or contad one of your tournament directors ... • Rod Druckemiller (301) 588-4905 IGoLong@aol.com • Melissa lwaszko (703) 533-8325 Melissa@wafc.org
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meant a game to 16! SPIN was reading the disc like it was a Dr. Seuss' ABC 's. Alice was working it and hucking it with perfect patience. Both teams were running hard and heating up. Tight D was ticking ' off TEXAS chicks! Fighting (literally) to a 15-15 game, NEXT point wins! Weird Alice in the zone, SPIN hucked off the swing to a perfectly poached player in the end zone. SPIN WINS THE GAME!!! There was much rejoicing, and much sorrow; and a bit of distaste for poor Spirit. (Remember, NO SET of RULES can replace a players RESPECT for one another.... ) With that game over, the women played a very anticlimactic last round. The men beat us to the Yummy sandwiches brought to the fields by Garden SPOT catering. Sunday Play Semi-finals Rankings after pool play determine seed. Game to 15 points, time cap 2:45. Game Time 11 a.m. Sunday brought a semi-finals rematch against the most tightly matched teams: SPIN and Dallas, but this time the spirit was better and the intensity, if you can believe it, was even greater. SPIN went up early (3 - 0) but Weird Alice was not about to go down without a strong, strong fight. Diana O'Quinn (staying in TEXAS and playing with ALICE this year) had beautiful long hucks into the end zone. Andrea Backsheider (playing with SPIN and not NEMESIS) kept the disc alive on TWO lay-out D's (GO PEACHES!) in the same POINT!
Sectionals
SPIN took the half at 8-6. The second half, teams traded points. Running hard, laying out!; Patient offense in the zone. A fine example of Texas Ultimate, with NO CALLS and GREAT Spirit! After 2 hours and 45 minutes, The game was tied at 16-16. It was sudden death-ultimate point for 2nd seed. WHO could believe it! Fantasy Ultimate on the sidelines, people placing bets .... The final pull was UP. Dallas had the fortune of being in the down-wind offensive position for this point. Spin forced the turn-over, after Dallas worked it 20 passes down field. Dallas D'd the HUCK! Spin set the zone--the point lasted about 7 minutes! Alice pulled out one last give-n-go combo which flowed it into the end zone for a 17-16 final score! Buttercup (15) vs HO-JU (0) Spin (16) vs Weird Alice (17) Weird Alice against Buttercup in the women's final of the 2000 TEXAS SECTIONAL Tournament. HO-JU forfeited the consolation game against SPIN; cause they had been finished playing for two hours! Well played SPIN, we'll fix you a cocktail! Finals/Consolation Game to 17 points, no cap Game Time 12 p.m. ( ... more like 2 p.m.) Buttercup (17) vs Weird Alice (9) Spin(17) vsHO-JU(O) WATCH OUT SOUTH ... TEXAS is sending competitive AND spirited teams to the Regional Tournament. Spirit of the game AWARDS were presented as nominated by teams. Thanks! Individual players were nominated including: Harper Ray HO-JU Lesley Zacharrs HO-JU Barbara Denison HO-JU Mary Prescan Lady Marmalade Mollie Caveda Buttercup Anna Huang Miss Red Brenna Gerdelman SPIN The most Spirited TEAM Award goes to LADY MARMALADE! Yee Ha!!! Many thanks to the Tournament Committee: Jill Noel, Kelly McBride, Nickie Senger, Scott Gross, Barbara Denison, Robin Benson Barnes, Gail Solod, and Chris Dixon worked hard to put together a kick-ass tourney. Also, GREAT BIG (Huge) Thanks YOU! to University of Texas field staff and players of Marmalade and S.L.U.T. Field Committee thanks to The U.T. Players who set-up the fields on Friday
Evening! Matt Stone Cara Crouch Elaine Hale Travis Hale Jessica Marshall Bryna Daigle Jesse Sun Brandon Hill N azish Waliary Chuck Tson Mike Natenberg Michael Bogomoly Moses Chang Hannah Mcintire Thanh Phan Brittany Byerly Reid Smith Mary Prescan Scott Price Katie Smith Tanya Hagerwert Bridget Wadzuk Richard Sinclair Rashi Gupta Stephan Lindsay Jenny Sailer Matt Lane Maria Lane
- Peace, Bubba
So Cal Women Here are the results: 1. Safari 2. Condors 3. Flying Discs (Sugar) 4. Clarmont 5. Chick Flicks 6. OxyHeroine Game scores: Chick Flicks 9 Clarmont 12 and Sugar 13 Oxy 3 (round 1) SEMIS = Safari 15 Clarmont 1 and Condors 15 Sugar 7 FINALS = Safari 17 Condors 15 3rd and 4th = Sugar 11 Clarmont 4 5th and 6th = Chick Flicks 15 Oxy 4 Each team paid $65. $360 of it went towards fields and renting the pool on campus for the party. $30 of it went towards water and bagels. One problem at tourney was getting the bathrooms unlocked. It was resolved by finding a faculty member to look for our contract and then finally get security to open it. This process took about two hours! Thanks to Rachel Noble, Rich Hart, Dave Cardiff and Nicole Belle. The tourney was alot of fun and ran very smoothly.
-Shar Stuht
OBSERVERS DO NOT HAVE THE BEST PERSPECTIVE by Evan \Nood October 30, 2000 was a sad day for Ultimate. Not because the best team on that day did not end up victorious-they did. During the Open finals, the fundamental principle under which Ultimate is played, "which places the responsibility of fair play on the player," was not adhered to by either team in the Open division. A series of mistakes led to the game being played in this way. Although my presence as a competitor on the field that day may bias my perspective and leave me victim to my own recollection, I hope this letter will provide insight into how games such as this can be avoided in the future. Prior to game time, Furious' captains agreed that they would try to play the game with the Observers responsibilities being restricted to calling the lines. Since 1996, Furious has only played one game with Observers (1999 UPA quarter-finals) and our experience representing Canada at 3 WFDF World Championships, where no Observers are used, was that additional'outside' enforcement was not necessary. Our previous day's semifinal against JAM had been played without Observers for on-field violations and, despite the enormous stakes, was among the most spirited games played at UPA's this year. Before the final, Furious' captains had hoped that the Observers would be present for the dialogue at the pre-game captain's meeting, but at 15 minutes before game time only one of the scheduled Observers had arrived at the fields. At this time, when Furious' captains suggested that Observers be restricted to line calling, the Condor captains, likely having the majority of their big games played with Observers in the UPA collegiate series, felt it was wiser to have fully empowered Observers. Furious would have to live with the Condor's decision, but both teams agreed to attempt to solve all disputes without going to the Observers. To the Condor's credit, the first several fouls called by Furious did not go to the Observer. In fact, in an impressive display of spirit, the first foul called by a FG receiver on a long huck, went uncontested by the Condor defender. When a similar call was made a few points later by FG's Andrew Lugsdin, another prime exam-
ple of levelheaded, self-officiating took place directly in front of one of the Observers. Andrew is among the most respected Ultimate players internationally, not only for his playing abilities, but also his commitment to fair play. He does not embellish calls with soccer-style dives and does not attempt to influence anyone on the field in any other way than giving his honest perspective. Meanwhile, Taro the Condor defender involved in the play, was equally levelheaded during the exchange, which led to a re-do being agreed upon. At this point, a mistake was made which I believe sent the game into an abrupt downward spiral. During Taro and Andrew's brief discussion, members of the Condor's sideline elicited the Observer's opinion about Andrew's foul call. The Observer, extremely unwisely and unprofessionally, responded that had he been asked, he would have called the play no foul. With his disclosure the Condor's hope that they had been wronged was validated and as play resumed, they immediately started yelling at Andrew from either side of the Observer. Without being sanctioned by the captains, the Observer stepped into the game and enraged one of the teams. Then, several points later, as if by fate, another huck went up to Andrew in the same comer of the field. When it fell short, and his and a young Condor defender's hands appeared to converge simultaneously on the disc, Andrew pulled the disc away and the defender called Strip. Did the defender know that in the event of a tie the offense retains possession? Would Andrew agree that the defender's hand had closed down on the disc first? If so, would he be willing to give up a disc, which would put his team up,S-4? Would history judge the players for their decisions at this critical point of the game? Unfortunately, we will never know. As soon as the call was made directly in front of the same Observer, the entire Condor team screamed for their teammate to go to the Observer. Although no time was given for the players to attempt to resolve the call and there
was no agreement to go to the Observer, when the Condor player turned to face the Observer, the Observer simply yelled, "Strip" and the Condors immediately took possession of the disc. This was one of the Observers who had been 'unavailable' for the pre-game captains meeting. The shameful display that took place from this point on is now just a sad fact of history. On several plays the word Observer was used in place of contest even when the defender knew a legitimate call was being made. Virtually every call went to the Observers without any attempt by the players to self-officiate, and in no instance did an Observer admit to not knowing or suggest that a re-do would be appropriate. In retrospect, I am sure that all self-respecting players on both teams would agree that the majority of the Observer's calls were either incorrect or that the violations should have simply resulted in the disc going back to the thrower. The most obvious plays were when a well-positioned Furious defender was knocked down and injured while defending against a huck, or the hand slap hand block that went Furious' way during our comeback late in the game. Who is to blame for spectacle that was the 2000 Open final? Some would say that given their behavior the players are responsible for sacrificing their Spirit for winning. This is something we have to live with. However, after only a few Observer calls were made, it became immediately apparent that the Observers were totally and completely untrained for their job. If only one team was to risk nothing and gain everything by going to the Observer on all defensive plays, that team could win effortlessly. Alternatively, given their calls and conduct, some might start finger pointing at the Observers. However, the poor volunteers who ended up refereeing the most important game of men's Ultimate of the year should also not be held accountable. As a group they were simply unprepared for what was expected of them that morning. Personally, I believe that active
Player Opinion
Player Opinion
Andrew Lugsdin, Furious George Photo by Sara Rubinstein
line callers are all that are needed at Ultimate's highest level. Even having the most highly skilled Observers will result in players contesting obvious fouls in hopes that the Observer did not see it, and players taking dives for the sake of the ref. If Observers are restricted to line calling, history has no one to judge other than the players and the decisions they make on the field. If the UPA is committed to having Observers, however, then it should pay money to adequately train a group of people who have not only played at the highest level, but have also demonstrated their commitment to fair play. From my perspective, what happened on October 3oth was pretty sad, and the UPA is to blame for their inadequate selection, incentive, and training program for Observers. I urge teams to follow the example set by Boston for most of the last decade and keep Observers restricted to calling the lines. For those players who are naive enough to think that Observers can take the place of mutual respect between teams, the UPA must set aside an appropriate amount of our UPA dues for the training of competent Observers.
Evan Wood is a co-Captain Furious George 2000. He can be reached at: ewood@hivnet.ubc.ca
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DoN'T DISMISS THE
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by Alexander (Sas) Pet:ers For too long, I have watched many of Ultimate's greatest players, as they advanced in years, simply drop out of our ranks because they felt they could no longer compete. Whether they were advancing in age and felt they had simply slowed down or were now fully ensconced in raising children and working at a demanding full-time job, our beloved sport was a luxury of time they could no longer afford. When you come home from work and your children are desperate for your attention, your wife is exhausted and needs a break, you are not as ready as you once were to hit the track and work on your wind sprints. In fact, they may well be the last thing you can focus on. As the Masters Division takes off this year with a huge increase in teams, it is now time to add the divisions which will make our sport one that a player can look to continue with for all their time left in this life. Our fabulous Northeast Regional Masters Coordinator, George Cooke, worked to get eight teams at Regionals. In the end, less than that showed up, but the increase in interest level at playing and competing as people grow older is massive in the Northeast, and I understand it to be the case throughout the country. But Ultimate has nowhere for players who still want to play as they get older to go. It is time for Grand Masters (45-55), Veterans (55-65) and Seniors (65-75). Athletes in other sports such as swimming and running have different age divisions every
three or four years, but let's start off with something that we can make work. The senior golf tour is immensely popular as is the master's tennis tour. Thousands of people want to still see Borg, MacEnroe and Connors. The great players I played with during the eighties still want to play. They just don't want to get blown off the field by young, speedy opponents who they don't have a chance at competing against. Nor should they have to. Players shouldn't be forced to play against people who are fifteen years younger than they are. We should still be able to see Finley Waugh, a Rude Boy great of the 80's. Fid Speer, Tommy, Gus, Barkin and other Hostage and Rude Boy greats should have the chance to play Ultimate at a competitive level if they want to. The UPA needs to make this possible. The growth of the sport will never be accomplished as long as the corporate sports interests in this country think that Ultimate is a sport for the young and groovy twenty something. I am 44. I want to play as long as I can. I'd much rather be outside on the beautiful Purchase fields with Skip, Matty, Kenny, Eddie, Nevo, Paul, Sanjheev, Garbo, Conrad, Shake and Bake Chaik, Mike Winser, Billy Baer and the rest of my crew and our children than in some snotty country club setting where the
big thrill is playing golf. Tennis whites versus cleats and tie-dyes? I don't think so. Tournaments should be much more family friendly, with a place for the family and friends. Only when the sport is filled with successful lawyers and bankers will we get the kind of respect that will lead to the sport's inclusion in the Olympics. I know that a lot more people play Ultimate worldwide than beach volleyball, synchronized swimming or fencing. But we are perceived as a sport of the young hotshot with little appeal for anyone past 40. This should be a sport where the institutional memory of champions and hard working lawyers like Pat King and Eric Cochran can come out on a beautiful day with their kids and play Ultimate. The game loses when we lose so many of our past champions. Few players can be as dedicated as Moons or Kenny Dobyns and keep up the kind of training to stay at the top open level. In closing though, I want to take my hat off to the exciting Masters Division, which is grow-
Player Opinion
ing in leaps and bounds. The best team won at last Nationals, and I want to congratulate my old Crimes of Passion pal, Chuck Figur, and Billy Harwood (East Hampton still loves you, baby) for their awesome World Championship. But don't think we won't be corning at you in Sarasota, or that we won't want to sit down with you after the game, because of course we will. Now we need to get our old guys and gals back on the field and welcome them back to the sport they never forgot how to play. Suzanne Fields, where are you? Masters Women, let's make it happen again.
[This year's master division grew to 36 teams, with long lost players coming out of the woodwork. Alumni players: Let us know what you want! Write Alumni Diredor Steve Moonee at upa_alumni@upa.org -Ed.]
VIDEO KILLED THE QUESTION IVIARK by St:eve P. I preface this by stating that I am actually in favor of observers and line judges, but an alternative that is interesting to consider in some cases is the use of video replay. The use of video leaves quite a few challenges, but a system mirrored after the current NFL system could be used. Here's an example. The offensive player catches the disc and calls himself or herself in bounds. Their defender claims they were OB. If the defender wishes, they may choose to go to the video for a replay. If the defender is proved wrong maybe they lose a timeout.
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If the defender's call is upheld then offensive team loses the disc and it costs them a timeout. Either way, if a team values its timeouts, then they will have to limit the questionable calls for those times where it really makes a difference in the game. In cases where the tape is inconclusive, the disc goes back to the thrower. Last year during a game between the
UNCW Seamen and the NC State Jinx, a player from Jinx caught the disc near the end zone and sidelines and called himself in bounds. The Seamen player called him out. There happened to be a Jinx parent nearby videotaping the game. Rather than arguing about the call and the best perspective issue, they mutually agreed to review the tape. The tape showed the player clearly OB.
Player Opinion
Player Opinion
The use of video does provide for some logistical problems such as bad camera angles, obtaining cameras for games, etc., but the objectivity of this system has some merit. Because the number of times you may go to tape is limited by the number of timeouts available, it leaves most of the calls to the players. Obviously the game needs some process for resolving issues fairly, speeding up the game, and keeping a bad call from changing the outcome of a game, because contrary to common belief sometimes "the disc does lie."
THE NEED FOR SPEED researched by \Nard Miller A comet can hurtle through space at 25 miles per second (relative to the sun). fu 1960, a man nearly broke the sound barrier as he skydived from 100,000 feet. A disk rockets across a field at. .. well ... what? A few years back, I set up a radar gun at my hometown tournament as a kind of side show diversion, thinking players might want to test their hucking mettle against a pulse of electromagnetic radiation. A case of Harp, promised to the strongest arm, attracted a curious and thirsty group. They threw at a large canvas tarp emblazoned with our sponsor's logo some 15 feet away. The radar gun came from one of those speedball booths you see at county fairs (not the most scientifi-
TIIVIING
&
cally accurate method, but hey, they were throwing for beer, not world records - no one seemed to mind). As the queue grew, so did testosteronecharged speculation of how fast the throws would be - 80mph hammers, 70mph backhands, 50mph flicks; their bravado knew no bounds. But their bravado was about to learn some bounds. I already knew from backyard test runs that my fastest throw, my backhand, rarely exceeded 50mph. While I'm not what you'd call a world-class thrower, I doubted the average player could do much better. Most of the participants in our experiment threw backhands. Average speeds for competent male throwers ranged from the mid-40s to the mid-50s. Women's results
varied more widely; strong throwers made 45mph backhands and only one broke 50mph. Several people opted to throw hammers. Speeds were comparable to the backhand, but some people had lousy aim. Several throws whizzed right past the canvas target. I didn' t want to spend my day combing the woods for lost discs or be sued by a bystander creamed by a stray hammer, so I forbade the hammer (it wasn' t a popular decision). Forehands were typically slower throws, with the guys averaging 30-40mph and the women's flicks just a little slower. A few guys broke 50mph. The disk slows quickly as it flies though. Few people can send a disc from one goal line to the other in less than 4.5 or 5 seconds, which works out to an aver-
age speed of between 28 and 32mph for that distance. Of course, you generally don' t want it to get there that quickly. You usually put a little bend in it or float it while the cutter runs to it. Proper hang time and accuracy are more relevant than raw speed. The winning speed came from Pittsburgh's "Iron Mike; ' currently living in California, who launched one at 62 mph. Bryan Dobyns, currently living in North Carolina, was a close second with a 61 mph toss. These were the only two to break 60 mph all day and they did it using the spinning backhand they used to pull the disk in a game. Mike seemed satisfied as he toted off his prize, a bit of leonine swagger in his gait.
PLACEIVIENT OF CO-ED COIVIPETITIONS by burl79 & chevvie33
Before I jump into my write-up of Sectionals, I would like to use this platform to express my views about the timing and placement of the Co-ed Series in the scheme of year-round ultimate competition. Lately, there has been an open discussion on email in the Bay Area regarding this issue, this is my response. This year, there were 8 women's teams competing to attend NW Regionals. Last year, there were only 4 women's teams, but the year before that, there were 8 women's teams. Simple math shows that holding the Co-ed Series concurrently with the Fall Series is detrimental
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to women's Ultimate. On the flip side, the number of teams participating in the Bay Area Co-ed Series has also increased this year. I feel that it is good to have these two series separated, thus allowing for growth in each area. fu other parts of the country, women's Sectionals attendance has increased from last year as well. For example, last year the Big Sky section had zero women's teams. This year
they had three teams and are se sending a team to the NW Regionals -Welcome back! There are other examples, but I will end this topic on this thought: I feel the Coed Series would be best played concurrently with the college season, in the spring and on into the summer. My reasoning is that there needs to be an adequate amount of time between the
end of the Co-ed Series and the beginning of the Fall Series to organize women's teams, practice, and build team cohesion. If Co-ed nationals were held say, Memorial Day, Labor Day, or even the 4th of July (to allow the bad weather states a little more time to practice outside), co-ed teams would still be given the opportunity to work together from late fall into the summer. This way if you are addicted to Ultimate like me, you can play all year long, just like in the college days, ahhhh!!
deal with truly dangerous, inappropriate behavior as other sports do. We have no authority figures to enforce such rules even if they were in place, and we cannot always transcend the attitudes and behavior of individuals for whom winning is everything. All sports, including Ultimate, have players who justify assaulting fans and intentionally fouling opponents in the name of victory. Ultimate needs both a set of rules to address the actions of these players and local officials who are empowered to enforce the rules. Until that time, all players must be vigilant and intolerant of such behavior and such players. We must insist on observers
for all games in which those players participate, and we must bear witness to their actions, attitudes, and behaviors so they do not permeate and pollute our sport.
Player Opinion
-bur/79 & chewie33 N. California Women
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most cases. We do not need umpires in every game calling every play. We do however sometimes need referees: neutral, veteran players we can refer to who will resolve disputes, make active line calls, and discipline those players who have no selfdiscipline or who can not play within the rules in the absence of an enforcer. Even before the Rules Committee meets to debate these issues, however, I would like to suggest a player-based solution to the problem. If players encounter assaultive behavior, intentional fouls, or consistently unspirited play, they should stop the game and request that observers be present before
the game resumes. Teams with players who consistently abuse the rules, the other players, and/or spectators, will find every team that plays against them requesting observers even before the game begins. Until the rules are changed and the observers become empowered to discipline players, observers will be official witnesses without the power to eject. Perhaps players who are officially observed each time they play will begin to alter their behavior. Every sport deals with the problem of players who are willing to cheat to win. One unfortunate difference between Ultimate and other sports is that we have no rules to
Player Opinion
Bill Stewart has 79 years of experience as a player and six years experience as college coach. He is a former collegiate national champion and a semifinalist and finalist of World and U.S National Gub championship teams. He has played summer league, pickup, and Co-ed Ultimate in Amherst and Boston, Massachusetts. He is also an elementary school teacher who has taught hundreds of young men, women, and children to play the sport of Ultimate. I Winter 2001
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0
BSERVERS NEED TEE I H by B iII St:evva rt
fu many sports, cheating to win and hyper-aggression have become the standard and the attitude among the athletes is, if you haven't been caught, then you haven' t broken a rule. We see that winning-at-all-costs attitude broadcast daily in professional sports like the NBA with its assorted fouls, including "fouls to give" and multiple instances where it is beneficial to foul. We see it in the NFL (where, according to Pro Football Weekly, coaches have recently complained the new pass interference rules are trying to tum football into a game of Frisbee), as well as in youth soccer, hockey, and Little League, where
coaches often teach children to keep cheating until they get caught, and parents are killing one another over the results of games. Two notable incidents related to this attitude that winning justifies dangerously aggressive behavior occurred at the Northeast Regional Championships at Devins, MA this fall as part of the UPA National Series in the Open Division. The first involved a player assaulting a spectator, and the other involved one player intentionally and repeatedly fouling another player in the semi-final round to determine second/third place overall. The assault involved a spectator heckling a player whose call he disagreed with. After the point, the player approached the spectator to challenge and taunt him and they exchanged further insults. Then the player assaulted the spectator, knocked him over in his chair, and threatened to punch him in the face before he was hauled away by onlookers. The second incident involved a player from the Canadian team YES (Toronto) who intentionally fouled a player from Red Tide (Portland, Maine) several times without provocation. The first foul was an elbow to the back on a throw attempt. The second was a two handed shove on the same thrower's back, with a laugh. The third was an elbow to the chest on a cut. The fourth was an intentional, very hard shoulder blow to the chest The fifth was the juvenile act of knocking the Red Tide player's hat from his head to provoke a fight. When asked, the YES team at first claimed to have no captain, then volunteered a player to act as captain who refused to speak to the offending player or attempt to discipline him. The player who had been repeatedly fouled was forced to ask the Regional Coordinator for observers to police the behavior of the team from Toronto. The Regional Coordinator agreed to act as an observer but said he would be unable to discipline or eject any players because there was no Yellow/Red card procedure in place to enforce such a decision. Disciplinary procedures which have been established to handle such behavior in other sports need to be made a part of the way we police ourselves in Ultimate, especially if we hope to preserve the Spirit of the Game and the integrity of the sport. Players and spectators need to be safe and able to enjoy Ultimate in an environment which is free of assaultive, dangerous behavior. fu no other sport can a player attack a spectator with impunity. The player who assaulted the spectator at the Northeast Regionals should have been ejected from the game and perhaps from the tournament. fu no other sport can a player intentionally, repeatedly foul another player without fear of repercussion. How can we as players tacitly support that kind of hyperaggressive, unsportsmanlike play by allowing the rules to remain mute on the topic? fu college Ultimate, the Callahan Rules were adopted in part to address these very issues and those rules have been fairly successful in speeding up the game and resolving ugly disputes before they escalate. fu the past few years,
players and spectators at Club Nationals and Worlds have witnessed fistfights; spitting; vicious, intentional fouling; and blatant cheating by players who were out of control and for whom there was no effective behavioral check. There is also increasing evidence of that hyper-aggressive style of play at the junior level as well, where young players strive to emulate what they see in club Ultimate- and what they too often see is club players hacking and cheating to win games. These issues are not new to the sport. One can read ten or 15-year-old issues of the UPA newsletter and find heated editorial/opinion page debates about Ultimate and the need for referees or observers. These voices were frequently silenced by those who believed that our sport could transcend referees, that teams would police themselves, and that Ultimate Justice would prevail. While there are excellent examples of teams which are able to keep their hotheaded players in check, there are many teams which cannot or do not choose to have control over the behavior of individual players who cheat to win. While there are certainly times when justice has prevailed and cheaters have lost, there are also more than a few players with national and world titles who have successfully bent the rules to win games and championships. fu neither instance I described at the Northeast Regional Championships did the teams police themselves. Neither player was sanctioned by captain or teammates, and neither lost playing time. Furthermore, the belief that the disc does not lie - so often quoted by players in response to cheating by opponentsis not an adequate deterrent, nor does it always prove true, especially in the short term. For those players who flaunt the rules- who behave aggressively to the point of endangering others, who assault spectators and opponents, whose desire to win overcomes and overwhelms their sense of fair play- we need other solutions. The rules need to provide consequences for these players which are not ethereal and which do not rely on the players teammates to discipline them. As the Rules Committee meets to revise the Ninth Edition Rules, I urge them to empower the tournament director and his or her appointed staff members to officially: 1. Observe games 2. Appoint observers 3. Issue warnings 4. Make disciplinary decisions, including the decision to eject a player from: a.Agame b. The field for the duration of the game c. The tournament 5. Sanction teams who disregard disciplinary decisions and allow ejected players to play. Ultimate can and should be played without officials in
Player Opinion
Please write explaination for these observer pictures. Photos by Sara Rubinstein
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AUDIT OF
U
PA FINANCES
For those of you who have been holding your breath for UPA financial information, here is something that will surely liven your day. It is the actual, real, live results of our self-imposed audit of 1999. May 2000 is the first time the UPA has undergone an audit. Now, I am not a financial person, so I will put this in context for everyone like me. From what I can tell (yes, some of your fears were true, the bookkeeping was not well organized, which is why I wanted an audit) the UPA annual budget has been in the $300,000-$400,000 range for the last few years. This includes all the normal association expenses like insurance, rent, salaries, taxes, temps, newsletters, postage, phone, all national championship and outreach programs, video production, plus any other projects. Most of the small sports' national governing bodies here in Colorado Springs, some Olympic, some not, operate starting in the $1-$5 million range each year. Now, want a reality check? Keep in mind an annual budget has little to do with net worth, but I think you'll get the picture anyway. The net worth of Major League Baseball was approximately $3 billion, NHL $1 billion, NFL $3.5 billion and NBA $2 billion (from Financing Sport, 1995). -Joey Gray
accounting rules. For example, a member who joined in Sept 1999 for $30 got membership through Aug 2000. In the cash flow statement the entire $30 is counted because we received the entire amount in that year. However for the income statement, we only show 25% of the $30. This is because the UPA still owes the member 9 months of membership in the following year. The combination of this accounting rule and the cost structure of the UPA mean that when we grow in members we will take an accounting loss. This is because more that 25% of UPA expenses have come in the fall and these expenses scale with the number of members. Thus we incur greater than 25% of the expenses but can only claim 25% of the revenue in that year - thus leading to a paper loss. Generally we realize an offsetting gain in the first three quarters on the next year, however if we continue to grow and everything else stays the same, then our fall expenses will continue to grow and we will continue to incur accounting losses.
Statement of Activities and Changes in Net Assets
December 31, 1999
For the Year Ended December 31, 1999 REVENUE:
Membership dues Corporate sponsorship Event income Merchandise sales Cost of sales Sanctioning Team fees Contributions Interest Miscellaneous Advertising Loss on disposal of assets Total revenue
$241,923 93,727 30,378 19,833 (26,418) 18,753 7,845 2,000 947 802 120 (876) 389,034
EXPENSES:
Program services: Series events Membership Outreach Total program services Supporting services: General and administrative Board of governors Total supporting services Total expenses CHANGE IN NET ASSETS NET ASSETS, beginning of year PRIOR PERIOD ADJUSTMENT (Note C) NET ASSETS, end of year
198,044 115,939 31.078 345,061 25,246 24,979 50.225 395.286 (6,252) 118,175 (99.951) $11,972
The Statement of Activities and Changes in Net Assets (Income Statement) represents net earnings for 1999. This is different from the cash flow statement due to
The Statement of Financial Position ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS: Cash and cash equivalents Accounts receivable Prepaid expenses Inventory Total current assets PROPERTY AND EQUIPMENT- at cost: Furniture and equipment Less accumulated depreciation Property and equipment - net TOTAL ASSETS
$112,954 14,363 2,893 3.152 133,362
TOTAL LIABILmES AND NET ASSETS
For the Year Ended December 31, 1999
CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES: Change in net assets $(6,252) Adjustments to reconcile change in net assets to net cash provided (used) by operating activities: Depreciation 2,058 Changes in assets and liabilities: 2,431 Decrease in accounts receivable Increase in inventory (1,952) Increase in prepaid expenses (780) Decrease in accounts payable (2,519) (2,198) Decrease in accrued liabilities Increase in deferred revenue 30.293 Total adjustments 27,333 Net cash provided by operating activities 21,081 CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES: Disposal of property and equipment 876 Purchases of property and equipment (4.449) Net cash used by investing activities (3.573) NET INCREASE IN CASH 17,508 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, beginning of year 95.446 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS, end of year$112,954mparison is tough to make.
The Cash Flow Statement shows what has happened to the cash balances over the past year. Basically, it shows how much cash did we make (or lose) over the course of 1999. Ensuring that we have sufficient cash to continue to fund operations is critical for an organization of this size. The critical takeaway for us is that we were able to increase our cash balances over the course of 1999.
BUDGET NOTES
9,939 (1.839) 8.100 $141,462
LIABILmES AND NET ASSETS
CURRENT LIABILITIES: Accounts payable Accrued liabilities Deferred revenue Total current liabilities NET A Unrestricted Total net assets
Statement of Cash Flows
$10,422 3,503 115.565 129,490 SSETS:
11.972 11.972 $141,462
The Statement of Financial Position (Balance Sheet) represents a snap shot in time of the finances of the UPA. The critical element in this statement for the UPA is the large deferred liability, in other words, the liability due to memberships expiring in August. This deferred liability represents memberships that expired Aug 2000. Like with the other two reports, it is important to compare a balance sheet with the previous years. Since this is the first UPA audit, a comparison is tough to make.
Any member may make a budget request to the UPA. Budget requests for 2001 must be turned in for consideration by December 31, 2000 preferably earlier. It is not likely that a major request would be accepted for 2001, but on the other hand, your idea might be really good and help us save money in other areas. Do not hesitate to write info @upa.org about this. Now that we changed accountants, accounting system and had an audit, we will be better able to project future expenses. The deadline for 2001 budget requests will be Sept 31, 2001. The Nationals budgets for Junior, College, Coed and Fall nationals have been turned in by the tournament directors. The juniors and fall ones still need some work so call or write if you have questions about these. So far, it looks like neither the UPA nor the hosts have lost money on any of these events which hasn't always been the case in the past.
Financials
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Rules of Ultimate:
1Oth Edition Draft for Discussion by the 2000-2001 Standing Rules Committee PREFACE UPA Members, this document represents some of the current explorations of your Standing Rules Committee for the 10th edition of the rules. The 8th Edition came out around 1983 and the 9th around 1990, with amendments and clarifications in 1995. This draft is being presented in order to garner feedback from players and the membership before proposing a 10th Edition for approval. The publishing of this text does not necessarily imply that the final version of the 10th edition will take this form. Nor does it suggest thatthere is consensus on the committee for any particuar rule. Please address any feedback to Chris Van Holmes, Standing Rules Committee Chair, at upa_standing_rules_com@upa.org The purpose of the rules of Ultimate is to provide a guideline which describes the way the game is played. It assumed that no Ultimate player will intentionally violate the rules; thus there are no harsh penalties for inadvertent infractions, but rather a method for resuming play in a manner which simulates what would most likely have occurred had there been no infraction. In Ultimate, an intentional foul would be considered cheating and a gross offense against the spirit of sportsmanship. Often a player is in a position where it is clearly to the player's advantage to foul or commit some violation, but that player is morally bound to abide by the rules. The integrity of Ultimate depends on each player's responsibility to uphold the spirit of the game, and this responsibility should not be taken lightly.
I. Introduction
A. Description: Ultimate is a non-contact disc sport played by two teams with seven players each. The object ofthe game is to score goals. A goal is scored when a player catches any legal pass in the endzone that player is attacking. The disc may only be moved by passing as the thrower is not allowed to take any steps. The disc may be passed in any direction. Any time a pass is incomplete, intercepted, knocked down, or contacts an out-of-bounds area, a turnover occurs, resulting in an immediate change of possession of the disc.
B. Spirit of the Game: Ultimate has traditionally relied upon a spirit of sportsmanship which places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect between players, adherence to the agreed upon rules of the game, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate adverse conduct from the Ultimate field. Such actions as taunting of opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional fouling, or other "win-at-all-costs" behavior are contrary to the spirit of the game and must be avoided by all players. C. Captain's Clause: A game may be played under any variations of the rules agreed upon by the captains of the teams involved. In tournament play, variations are subject to the approval of the event organizer(s). Such things as length of game, dimensions of the field, number of players and stall count can easily be altered to suit the level of play. Before a game starts, each team designates one captain to represent that team in disagreements and arbitration. D. General vs. Specific rules: Many of the following rules are general in nature and cover most situations of play. However, some specific rules override the general case, and may or may not be designated as such.
ally participating in the game at any one time. 2. Disc in play: Anytime the play may proceed without acknowledgment by the defense. To put the disc into play at a particular spot on the field means to establish the pivot at that spot on the field.
3. Ground Contact: All player contact with the ground directly related to a specific event or maneuver, including landing or recovery after being off-balance, e. g., jumping, diving, leaning, or falling. 4. Possession of the disc: Sustained contact with and control of a non-spinning disc. a) To catch a pass is equivalent to establishing possession of that pass. b) Loss of control due to ground contact related to a pass reception negates that receiver's possession up to that point. c) A disc in the possession of a player is considered part of that player. d) The team whose player is in possession or whose players may pick up the disc is considered to be the team in possession. 5. Pivot: the particular part of the body in continuous contact with a single spot on the field during a throwerfs possession. When there is a definitive spot for putting the disc in play, the part of the body in contact with that spot is the pivot. 6. Legitimate position: the stationary position established by a player's body excluding extended arms that can be avoided by all opposing players when time and distance are taken into account. 7. Pull: The throw from one team to the other which starts play at the beginning of the half or after a score. 8. Brick: any untouched pull that initially lands out of bounds. 9. Turnover: any event which results in a change of the team in possession
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shown on the
accompanying diagram (Appendix 1)
B. The playing field should be essentially flat, free of obstructions, and affords reasonable player safety. Well-trimmed grass is the recommended surface. C. The playing field proper is the playing field excluding the endzones. D. The goal lines are the lines which separate the playing field proper from the endzones and are part ofthe playing field proper. E. The corners of the playing field proper and the endzones are marked by cones made of a brightly colored, flexible material. F. An additional, restraining line is established at least five meters from the perimeter lines, surrounding the field. Spectators and gear should remain behind this line to ensure the perimeter lines are clear during play. G. All lines are marked with a non-caustic material and are between two and four inches wide (2" -4"). Lined fields are not necessary for the purposes of practice or other informal games of Ultimate. IV. Equipment
A. Any flying disc may be used as long as it is acceptable to both team captains. If the captains cannot agree, the current Official Disc of the Ultimate Players Association shall be used.
B. Individual players may wear any soft protective clothing as long as it does not endanger the safety of any other player or provide unfair advantage.
11. Line: Boundary defining the playing areas. On an unlined field, the boundary is defined as an imaginary line between two field markers. Line segments are not extrapolated beyond the defining markers.
D. Each player must wear a uniform or other clothing that distinguishes that player from the players on the other team. In tournament play, matching uniforms and numbered jerseys are recommended.
12. Offensive player: any player whose team is in possesSion. 13. Defensive player: any player whose team is not in possession of the disc. 14. Throw: The disc in flight following any throwing motion, including after a fake attempt which results in loss of contact with the disc. 15. Stoppage of play: Any halting of play due to a call, discussion or time-out that requires a check or self check to restart play. The term 'play stops' means there a stoppage of play occurs 16. Best Perspective: the closest and most complete viewpoint by a player that includes the disc, players and line markers involved in the play
maximum of 7 players in order to start play
1. Player: any of the fourteen (14) persons who are actu-
A. The field of play is a rectangular area with dimensions as
C. Cleats which have any sharp or dangerous parts are not allowed. This includes metallic baseball cleats, track spikes, and worn or broken studs exhibiting sharp edges.
1. Each team must have a minimum of two players and a A. Definitions
Ill. Field of Play
10. Event organizer: the person, persons, or entity organizing the competition, whether it is a tournament, tournament series, league, single game or any other type of Ultimate event.
B. General rules of play
II. Clarifying Statements
3. A rolling or sliding disc may be stopped by any player, but it may not be advanced in any direction.
2. No defensive player may ever pick up the disc.
10th Edition DRAFT
E. Players may not use clothing or equipment to inhibit or assist the movement of the disc or another player. V. Length of Game
A. A game to points: a standard game is played until one teams reaches or exceeds a score (fill in your favorite!) (winning total) with a margin of at least two points.
1. A goal is worth one (1) point to the team scoring the goal. 2. ALT1: Current scoring attempt: the scoring attempt in progress. A scoring attempt begins when the previous goal is scored and ends when a subsequent goal is scored ALT2: Current scoring attempt: the scoring attempt in progress. A scoring attempt begins when one team signals readiness to begin play and ends when a goal is scored.
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3. Caps: Maximum score limits imposed prior to or during a game to limit the time required to declare a winner. The game ends when one team reaches the cap.
1Oth Edition Draft for Discussion
a) A soft cap is an maximum score limit imposed prior to the event
must announce advance warnings of 20 seconds, 10 seconds and 5 seconds.
b) A time cap is a maximum score limit imposed during a game when a predetermined time of play has elapsed and when the current scoring attempt is completed.
(b) If the defense has not checked the disc within 20 seconds of the end of the time out, the thrower may perform a self check and put the disc into play. To invoke this rule, the offense must announce advance warnings of 20 seconds, 10 seconds and 5 seconds.
c) A hard cap is the ending of the game when a predetermined time of game has elapsed and when the current scoring attempt is completed. If the score is tied, the teams play one additional point. 4. The team with the higher score at the end of the game is the winner. 5. Winning totals, caps, half-time length, and other procedures related to tournament logistics may be determined in advance by the event organizer(s).
B. Halftime occurs when one team first reaches, or exceeds, half the game total. Halftime lasts 10 minutes. C. Overtime occurs when the score is tied at one point less than the winning total. Play continues until a two-point margin or a cap is achieved. (Example: In a game to 15 points, overtime occurs when the score reaches 14-14). VI. Time-Outs: A time out call that stops play and time limit clocks either during the current scoring attempt or between one goal and the subsequent pull
A. Team Time-Out: The number of team time outs per half is subject to adjustment by event organizers. A standard game has two time-outs per half. 1. Each team is permitted exactly one time-out in overtime. This means that any team time-outs remaining from regulation are discarded and each team is awarded a single team time-out. This rule does not come into play during caps unless overtime is also reached. 2. Each time-out lasts 100 seconds. 3. A time-out may be called by either team after a goal and before both teams have signalled readiness to start play. If both teams have signalled readiness, a team time-out may not be called until a player is in possession of the disc. 4. While the disc is in play, only a player who has possession of the disc and established a pivot can call a timeout. a) The player calling the time-out must form a 'T' with his/her hands and the disc, call "time-out" loudly. The time-out begins at the moment the first of these actions is performed. The thrower must then place the disc on the ground at the pivot spot. b) ALT1: When play resumes after a time-out: (1) The players on the field at the time of the time-out must return to play unless an injury time out has also been called. (2) The player who had possession puts the disc into play with a check at the spot of the pivot and the marker resumes the stall count with the word "stalling" followed by last number uttered prior to the injury plus one. (3) ALT1: All offensive players must establish a stationary position at the end of the time out and the defense has up to 20 seconds to check the disc into play. ALT2: The team calling the time out must signal the end of the time out by establishing appropriate stationary positions and then announcing "END TIME OUT'. The opposing team then has up to 20 seconds to check the disc. (a) If the offense is not in stationary positions after 100 seconds a defensive player at the point where the disc will be put into play may announce "END TIME OUT'. The offense must hold their current positions and the defense must announce the "DISC IN PLAY" within 20 seconds and may then initiate or resume the stall count. In order to invoke this rule the defense
5. It is a turnover if a player in possession of the disc calls a time-out when his/ her team no has time-outs remaining. To avoid confusion, there is a stoppage of play and a check on the disc.
B. Injury Time-Out: A time out called due to an injury to any player. During an Injury time-out, the health and safety of the injured player is of primary concern. 1. Injury time-out can be called by any member of the injured player's team. The time-out call is in effect at the time of the injury. In other words, the call is retroactive to the time that the injury occurred.
nailed readiness.
3. Before the beginning of a half; 4. To replace injured players. If a team replaces injured players, the opposing team has the option of substituting a like number of, or fewer, players. VIII. Starting and Restarting Play
A. Start of the game: 1. ALT1: Representatives of the two teams each flip a disc. The representative of one team calls "same" or "different'' while the discs are in the air. The team winning the flip has the choice of: ALT2: Representatives of the one teams flips a coin and catches it in a disc. The representative of the other team calls "heads" or "tails" while the coin is in the air. The team winning the flip has the choice of: a) Receiving or throwing the initial pull; or b) Selecting which goal they wish to defend initially.
2. If the disc is in the air at the time of injury, the play is completed.
2. The team losing the flip is given the remaining choice.
a) If the disc is caught, the player who caught the disc puts the disc into play after the injury time-out.
3. The second half begins with an automatic reversal of the initial choices (mirror).
b) If the disc is not caught, a turnover results and any player on the team gaining possession may put the disc in play with a check.
4. If only one team fails to signal readiness for the start of a scheduled game, the opposing team may be awarded points by the tournament organizer(s) at a rate of one point for every5 minutes elapsed after the posted start time.
3. When play resumes after an injury time-out: a) The player who had possession of the disc when the injury occurred puts the disc into play. If that player leaves the field due to injury, the replacing player puts the disc into play. b) The disc is put into play at the spot where the disc was when the injury occurred, or at the spot of the disc if a turnover resulted.
B. Pull 1. Play starts at the beginning of each half and after each goal with a pull. 2. The pull consists of one player on the throwing team throwing the disc toward the opposite goal line to put the disc in play.
c) The play is restarted through the use of a check and the marker resumes the stall count with the word "stalling" followed by last number uttered prior to the injury plus one
3. Each time a goal is scored, the teams switch the direction of their attack and the team which scored pulls to their opponent.
d) All players must assume their respective positions on the field when the time-out was called. Players may not set up when restarting play after an injury time-out, unless it is also a team time-out.
4. The pull may be made only after the thrower and a player on the receiving team raise a hand to signal that team's readiness to begin play or after any time limits have expired and any appropriate warnings announced.
4. Injury time-out results in a team time-out if the injured player does not leave the game. An exception is allowed when the injury is caused by an opposing player. 5. If an Injury Time-out is called during a team time-out, the opposing team must be notified as soon as the injury is discovered. C. EQUIPMENT TIME OUT: An equipment time-out may be called to correct a hazardous condition such as damaged or lost eyeware, a disc with a cutting edge, or a player with hazardous equipment. 1. A player unable to remove or replace hazardous equipment in a timely manner will be substituted as in an Injury time-out. 2. Play may be stopped and the game disc exchanged when the disc is cracked, torn, deeply gouged or punctured. 3. Any player may briefly extend a stoppage of play (e. g. during a foul or violation stoppage) in order to correct faulty equipment, such as tying shoelaces or straightening a warped disc. However, active play may never be stopped for this purpose unless a hazardous situation exists. Note that play has not stopped during a turnover even if the disc is out-of-bounds. 4. A team erroneously calling an equipment time-out will be charged with a team time-out. VII. Substitutions 1. Substitutions can be made only:
5. Positioning prior to the pull a) The players on the pulling team are free to move anywhere in their defending endzone, but may not cross the goal line until the disc is released. b) The players on the receiving team must stand with one foot on their defending goal line without changing position relative to one another. c) As soon as the disc is released, all players may move in any direction. d) If either team fails to maintain proper positioning prior to the pull, the other team may audibly announce "Offsets" and request a re-pull. The call must be made immediately. 6. No player on the throwing team may touch the pull in the air before it is touched by a member of the receiving team. 7. If the pull is allowed to hit the ground untouched, it is put into play as follows: a) If the disc hits and remains in-bounds, the disc is put into play at the spot where the disc comes to rest. (Note: rules allowing players to stop a rolling disc apply.) b) If the disc initially hits in-bounds, then becomes out-ofbounds before being touched by the receiving team, the disc is put into play at the spot on the playing field proper (i.e. excluding the endzones) nearest to where the disc last crossed the perimeter line prior to becoming out-of-bounds.
Continued on next page
2. After a goal and before the substituting team has sig-
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1Oth Edition Draft for Discussion c) If the disc becomes out-of-bounds after being touched by the receiving team, the disc is put into play at the spot on the playing field nearest to where the disc last crossed the perimeter line prior to becoming out-ofbounds. d) f the disc initially hits out-of-bounds, the receiving team has the option of putting the disc into play:
(a) The receiving team has 70 seconds to signal readiness. (b) The pulling team has up to 20 additional seconds to prepare their defense and pull the disc. D. The Check
H. To resume play when the disc becomes out-of-bounds, a member of the team gaining possession of the disc must carry the disc to, and put the disc into play at, the spot on the playing field proper nearest where the most recent of the following events occurred: 1. the disc completely crossed the perimeter line;
(1) at the spot on the playing field proper nearest to where the disc last crossed the perimeter line in flight; or,
1. When any call or event stops play, all players must come to a stop as quickly as possible and remain in their respective positions until play is restarted.
3. the disc contacted a defensive player;
(2) after signaling for a brick/middle by fully extending one hand overhead and calling "brick" before gaining possession of the disc:
2. When the situation is resolved, the player determined to be in possession offers the disc to the marker for a check.
4. the disc became out-of-bounds due to contact with an out-of-bounds area while the any part of the disc was inside the perimeter line.
(a) at the brick mark closest to the goal the receiving team is defending; or
a) The marker restarts play by touching the disc in posI. Events occurring after the disc becomes out-of-bounds do session of the thrower and announces "DISC IN PLAY" not affect where the disc is put into play. or "STALLING". If the thrower attempts a pass before the marker touches the disc, the pass does not count X. Endzone Possession regardless of whether it is complete or incomplete, and possession reverts back to the thrower. A. If a team gains possession in the endzone which it is defending following a turnover, the player taking possesb) Any stall count in effect is resumed with the word sion must make the immediate decision to either: "stalling" followed by the last valid number uttered by the marker plus one. 1. Put the disc into play from that spot, (making a fake
(b) at the spot on the long axis of the field nearest to where the disc last crossed the perimeter line in flight. 8. If the pull is caught the disc is put into play at the spot on the playing field nearest to where the disc was caught. 9. If the pull is touched by the receiving team before the disc hits the ground and then allowed to hitthe ground it is considered a dropped pull and results in a turnover. The disc is put into play in the same manner as a turnover during a point in progress, as described in Sections II, IX, X, XII, and XIII. 10. After a pull, the disc must be put into play by whichever player takes possession of the disc. If a player drops the disc while carrying it to the spot where the disc will be put into play, the other team gains possession of the disc at the nearest spot on the playing field proper. 11. There is no stoppage when putting the pull into play. If the disc is put into play at some point other than where possession was gained (e.g. if the disc was out-ofbounds) then the thrower signifies the start of play by touching the disc to the ground after establishing a pivot at the spot on the playing field where the disc will be put into play.
c) Change of field position by any player before the disc is in play is a violation and requires a return to original positions and a check.
3. Self Check: Whenever play is to be started with a check but no marker is near enough to touch the disc in the thrower's hand, play is re-started using a self check. a) To put the disc in play using a self check, (1) The defense must acknowledge readiness, (2) The thrower establishes a pivot at the appropriate spot on the field, touches the disc to the ground and announces "In Play". The disc is in play when it touches the ground. IX. In- and Out-of-Bounds A. The entire playing field is in-bounds. The perimeter lines are not part of the playing field, and are out-of-bounds.
C. Time between pulls: 1. These rules attempt to simulate the action of the game had no time limit violations occurred. 2. ALT 1:The time allowed between pulls in no more than 90 seconds. Each team is responsible for keeping time. a) The receiving team has 70 seconds to establish position and signal readiness to receive the pull. b) After 70 seconds, the pulling team may pull the disc whether or not the receiving team has signalled readiness. To invoke this rule, the offense must announce warnings of 20 seconds, 10 seconds and 5 seconds. c) The pulling team has 90 seconds to signal readiness to pull the disc. d) After 90 seconds the receiving team may put an alternate game disc in play at the center of the goal line they are defending whether or not the pulling team has signalled readiness. (1) To invoke this rule, the offensive player who will put the disc in play must announce warnings of 20 seconds, 10 seconds and 5 seconds while holding the alternate game disc over his/her head. (2) The receiving team may be supplied a pre-approved disc by any non-player. (3) Play is started with a self check at which time all players may move freely. (4) The pulling team may pull at any time until the offense announces "in play". (5) Only players on the field at the time of the pull or the disc being put into play may be participate during that goal attempt. ALT2: The time limit between the scoring of a goal and the ensuing pull is 90 seconds.
56
with any area must be completely in-bounds. If any portion of the first point of contact is out-of-bounds, the player is considered out-of-bounds.
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Winter 2001
B. Any area not in-bounds [IX. 1. A] is out-of-bounds. C. Any object or offensive player contacting an out-of-bounds area is out-of-bounds. An airborne player is out-of-bounds if his/her last ground contact was with an out-of-bounds area. All out-of-bounds objects and offensive players are considered part of the out-of-bounds area. The following exceptions apply:
2. the disc contacted an in-bounds player;
throw or pausing after gaining possession commits the player to put the disc into play at that spot); or 2. Carry it directly to the closest spot on the goal line and put it into play from there. If this option is chosen, the player taking possession commits the player to put the disc into play at the goal line and failure to do so is a travel.
B. If, as a result of a pass from a teammate, a player receives the disc in the endzone which they are defending, that player does not have a choice of advancing the disc to the goal line. C. If a team gains possession other than by interception of a pass in the endzone which it is attacking, (which is a goal see XI.A), the player taking possession must carry the disc directly to the closest spot on the goal line and put the disc into play from there. XI. Scoring A. A goal is scored when a player catches any legal pass in the endzone which his/her team is attacking. (Note: This legalizes the Callahan goal)
B. In order for the receiver to be considered in the endzone after gaining possession of the disc, his/her first point of contact with the ground must be completely in the endzone.
1. Defensive players are always in-bounds. 2. Should the momentum of a player carry him/her out-ofbounds after gaining possession of an in-bounds disc and landing in-bounds, the player is considered inbounds. The player carries the disc to the spot where s/he went out-of-bounds and puts the disc into play at that spot. If the player traversed the endzone being attacked, then rule XI.C applies.
3. The thrower may pivot resulting in contact with an outof-bounds area, providing that the pivot remains in contact with the playing field. Movement ofthe pivot out-of-bounds is a travel. 4. Contact between players does not confer the state of being in- or out-of-bounds from one onto another. D. A disc becomes in-bounds when play starts, is restarted, or is put into play. E. A disc becomes out-of-bounds when it first contacts an out-of-bounds area. F. The disc may fly outside a perimeter line and return to the playing field, and defensive players may go out-of-bounds in order to make a play on the disc. G. For a receiver to be considered in bounds after gaining possession of the disc, his/her first point of ground contact
10th Edition DRAFT
C. A player cannot score by running into the endzone with the disc. Should a receiver's momentum carry him/her into the endzone after gaining possession, the receiver must carry the disc back to the closest spot on the playing field proper and put the disc into play at that spot. D. A player must be completely in the endzone and acknowledge that s/he has scored a goal. If that player plays the disc unknowingly into a turnover, then no goal is awarded. XII. Turnovers A. An incomplete, intercepted, or knocked down pass, or a pass in which the disc becomes out-of-bounds results in a loss of possession. If a disc in play is dropped by the thrower without defensive interference, and it contacts the ground before the thrower regains possession, it is considered an incomplete pass.
B. A pass is considered intercepted if a defensive player catches a pass. If a defensive player catches a pass and accidentally loses possession of it before or during ground contact related to that catch (II.A.6.b), the defender is considered to have blocked rather than intercepted the pass. C. The follow-
Continued on next page
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ing actions result in a loss of possession, stoppage of play and a check:
1. If the marker's count reaches the maximum number;
a pass after the third ground contact and before coming to a complete stop, that receiver has traveled.
e) Violations (Travel, Pick etc) ... count reached plus one or 6 if over 5
5. A defensive player who establishes possession of the disc becomes the thrower, but may not throw the disc before s/he establishes a Iega I pivot. To do so is a travelling violation.
f) Strip one
6. Exceptions:
(2) Second Call. .. one; with a check.
the disc is touched by another player during its flight it is considered a complete pass and is not a turnover.
a) A non-standing player may lose contact with a pivot point in order to stand up without a travelling violation provided s/he has not attempted a throw or fake.
i) Offsetting Calls ... count reached plus one or 6 if over 5
5. If a player's movement is intentionally assisted by a teammate in catching or blocking a pass. If a defender assists a teammate, the intended receiver retains possession.
b) It is not a travel in the case where the thrower has just received a pass and is throwing before the third ground contact in accordance with XV.5.
2. If the disc is handed from player to player; 3. If the thrower intentionally deflects a pass to him/herself off another player;
4. If the thrower catches his/her own throw. However, if
6. If a player uses an unfair equipment advantage to catch or block a pass. If a defender uses unfair advantage, the intended receiver retains possession.
XIV. The Marker: Only one defensive player may guard the thrower at any one time; that player is the marker.
A. The marker may not straddle (i. e. place his/her foot on XIII. The Thrower: The thrower is the offensive player in possession of the disc, or the player who has just released the disc.
A. ALT 1: If the disc is on the ground, whether in- or out-ofbounds, any member of the team becoming offense may take possession of the disc and must do so without delay.
1. Once an offensive player has picked up the disc, that player is required to put the disc into play.
2. If possession is gained at the spot where the disc is to be put into play, the thrower must establish a pivot at the spot of the disc.
3. If the disc is to be put into play at a spot other than where possession was gained, the thrower must carry the disc to the appropriate spot on the field, touch the disc to the ground, and put the disc in play at that spot. ALT 2: If the disc is on the ground, whether in- or out-ofbounds, any member of the team becoming offense may take possession of the disc. l.lf the disc is on the playing field proper, a member of the team becoming offense must put the disc in play within 10 seconds. After 10 seconds have elapsed, a defensive player in position at the spot of the disc may initiate and continue a stall count. In order to invoke this rule the marker must give warnings of 10 and 5 seconds. 2. If the disc is not on the playing field proper, a member of the team becoming offense must put the disc in play within 20 seconds. a. If the disc is not retrievable within 20 seconds, (i.e. far 08 or through a crowd), then the thrower may request and be provided an alternative game disc. b. After 20 seconds have elapsed, a defensive player in position at the spot the disc is to be put into play may initiate and continue a stall count. In order to invoke this rule the marker must give warnings of 20, 10 and 5 seconds.
B. The thrower has the right to pivot in any direction. However, once the marker has established a legitimate stationary position, the thrower may not pivot into the marker. C. The thrower may throw the disc in any ways/he wishes. D. Travelling: The thrower must establish a pivot at the appropriate spot on the field and may not change that pivot until the throw is released. Failure to do so is a travel and results in a stoppage of play and a check. The continuation rule (XVI.E) applies. 1. The thrower must keep all or part of the pivot in contact with a single spot on the field. Should the thrower lose contact with the appropriate spot, the thrower has traveled. 2. Whenever a pivot spot is defined in the rules and the thrower fails to establish contact with that spot, it is a travel.
3. If the receiver obviously takes more steps than are required to stop after catching a pass, that player has traveled. 4. If a receiver, after receiving a pass on the run, releases
either side of) the pivot of the thrower. To do so is a violation.
B. There must be at least one disc's diameter between the
g) Fast Count/Double Team (1) First Call. .. count reached minus one; Disc is in play.
h) Contested Stall. .. nine j) Unresolved Calls ... count reached plus one or 6 if over 5 5. If the defense decides to switch markers; and if the new marker wishes to count, s/he must re-initiate the stall count.
6. The thrower may contest a stall call if s/he feels that s/he had released the disc before the first utterance of the word "ten". a) In the event of a contested stall, if the pass is completed, play stops, and possession reverts back to the thrower. After a check, the marker resumes the stall count at "nine". b) In the event of a contested stall, if the pass is incomplete, it is a turnover, and play continues without interruption.
upper bodies of the thrower and the marker at all times. It is the mutual responsibility of both players to respect each other's position and not encroach into this area once it is established.
7. Fast count: If the marker counts more quickly than at
C. The marker cannot position his/her arms in such a manner as to restrict the thrower from pivoting or throwing. Contact resulting from such an action is a foul on the marker.
one second intervals, or if the marker fails to use the word "stalling" to initiate or resume the count, the thrower may call "fast count".
D. Deliberately blocking a thrower's eyes is a violation on the marker and is a foul. E. Double-Team:
1. Only one marker is permitted to guard the thrower.
2. No other defensive player may establish a position within three meters of the pivot of the thrower, unless s/he is guarding another offensive player in that area. To do so is a double team.
3. Only the thrower may call Double team.Should the thrower recognize a double-team situation, s/he first calls "Double-Team" as a warning.
4. On the first "Double-Team" call, the marker must subtract 1 from the stall count at the time of the call and continue the stall with that number preceded by the word "stalling". 5. If "double-team" or "fast count" is called again within the same possession, play stops and is resumed after a check with the count reset to one. F. Stalling: The Thrower is allowed 10 seconds of possession in order to release a throw. 1. A marker within three (3) meters of the thrower may initiate and continue a stall count. If an offensive player moves into a position within three meters of the disc without putting the disc into play, the marker may issue a "Delay of Game" warning. If the disc is not picked up, the marker may initiate and continue a stall count. 2. The count consists of the marker calling "Stalling" and counting at one second intervals from one to ten (1, 10) loudly enough for the thrower to hear.
a) The first "fast count" call is a warning. On the first "fast count" call, the marker must subtract one from the number last uttered at the time of the call and resume the stall count from that number preceded by the word "stalling". b) If "fast count" or "double team" is called again within the same possession, play stops and is resumed after a check with the count reset to zero. c) The continuation rule [XVI.E] applies to fast counts. d) If the fast count occurs in such a manner that the thrower does not have a reasonable opportunity to call "fast count" before the utterance of the word "ten," the play is treated the same as a contested stall [XIV. 5(F)]. 8. In the event of a stall call, the once marker, now offensive player, does not have to take the disc after the check. The once thrower, now marker, hands the disc to the new thrower, if s/he does not want the disc, the marker "checks" the disc by placing it on the ground and announcing "in play." XV. The Receiver: Any offensive player either in the act of catching the disc, or not in possession of the disc.
A. Bobbling to gain control of the disc is permitted, but purposeful, controlled bobbling to oneself (i. e., tipping, delaying, guiding, or brushing) in order to advance the disc is considered travelling and is not allowed.
B. No player may intentionally assist a teammate's movement in order to affect a reception or turnover. To do so results in a loss of possession for that team.
3. If the thrower has not released the disc at the first utterance of the word "ten" ("10"), it is a turnover. Play stops and is resumed after a check.
C. After catching a pass, the receiver is only allowed the fewest number of steps required to come to a stop and establish a pivot.
4. Any time the marker's count is interrupted by the call of a foul, violation, strip, time-out, fast count, or double team, it is the responsibility of the thrower and marker to agree upon the correct count prior to the check. The count is resumed with the word "stalling" followed by the number listed below:
D. If the receiver is running or jumping as s/he catches the disc, the receiver may throw a pass before the third ground contact after catching the disc without coming to a complete stop; however, change in direction or increase in speed while in possession of the disc is a travelling violation.
a) Defensive Foul Uncontested ... one
E. If the disc is caught simultaneously by offensive and defen-
b) Defensive Foul Contested ... count reached plus one or 6 if over 5 c) Offensive Foul Uncontested ... count reached d) Offensive Foul Contested ... count reached plus one or 6 if over 5
sive players, the offense retains possession. F. If a pass arrives in such a manner that it is unclear whether a catch was made before the disc contacted the ground (grass is considered part of the ground), the player with the best
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perspective makes the call. G. If it is ever unclear where a receiver was in- or out-ofbounds at the point of making a catch, the player with the best perspective makes the call. H. Force-Out Foul: If an airborne receiver catches the disc, and is contacted by a defensive player before landing, and that contact caused the receiver to land out-of-bounds instead of landing in-bounds, the receiver must either call him/herself out-of-bounds, or call a force-out foul on the defensive player. If this foul occurs in the end zone and it is uncontested, a goal is awarded. XVI. Violations & Fouls A. In general whenever a foul or violation occurs that stops play, players must resume their respective position at the time the foul or violation was called .
1Oth Edition Draft for Discussion 1. It is the responsibility of all players to avoid contact in any way possible. 2. The player initiating contact is guilty of a foul. 3. A foul can only be called by the player who has been fouled and must be announced by calling out the word "Foul!" loudly immediately after the foul has occurred. 4. Dangerous, aggressive behavior, reckless disregard for the safety of fellow players or harmful endangerment is always a foul. This rule is not superseded by any other rule. 5. If a player's attempt to make a play on the disc causes significant impact with a legitimately positioned stationary opponent, before or after the disc arrives, it is considered "harmful endangerment".
B. In general when there is an infringement of the rules play is halted and the disc is put back into play atthe spot of the last possession before play was stopped. Exceptions are specified elsewhere in these rules.
6. Throwing Fouls:
C. If a foul or violation occurs which has no effect on continued play, play stops, the result of the play stands, and the disc is put into play with a check.
b) Contact occurring during the follow through (after the disc has been released) is not sufficient grounds for a foul, but should still be avoided whenever possible.
D. Should a foul or violation result in possession reverting to a thrower who was airborne while releasing the disc, play shall be restarted at the spot on the playing field proper closest to the location from which the throw was made.
7. Receiving Fouls:
E. Continuation Rule: 1. Disc In the Air: a) If a foul, violation, or pick is called while the disc is in the air, or while the thrower is in the act ofthrowing, the play is always completed. b) lfthe team which called the foul, violation, or pick gains possession as a result ofthat pass (e. g., an incomplete pass following a travelling violation, or offensive foul). play continues un-halted. It is the responsibility of the player who made the call to announce "Play on" to indicate that this rule has been invoked. c) If the pass is completed, but the defensive effort on the pass was affected by the violation (e. g. a pick), the pass does not count and possession reverts back to the thrower. d) If the pass is not completed, but the offensive effort on the pass was affected by the violation (e. g. receiving foul on the defender). the pass stands and possession is retained by the fouled player. 2. Disc Not in the Air: a) If a foul, violation, or pick is called while the disc is not in the air, or while the thrower is not in the act of throwing and the thrower subsequently attempts a pass that is not affected by the violation before play has stopped, and the pass is incomplete, it is a turnover. It is the responsibility of the player who made the call to announce "Play on" to indicate that this rule has been invoked. b) If a foul, violation, or pick is called while the disc is not in the air or while the thrower is not in the act of throwing, and the thrower attempts a subsequent pass before play has stopped, and the pass is completed, the pass does not count, and possession reverts back to the original thrower. F. Unresolved calls: lfthere is ever a failure to come to an agreement over any call, play stops and the disc reverts back to the thrower with the count same or 6 if over 5. G. If offsetting violations are called by offensive and defensive players on the same play, the disc reverts back to the thrower with the count same or 6 if over 5 and put into play with a check. H. Fouls: A Foul is the result of physical contact between opposing players.
a) A throwing foul may be called when there is contact between the thrower and the marker. The disc is considered to be part of the thrower.
XVII. Positioning A. It is the responsibility of all players to avoid contact in any way possible. B. Every player is entitled to occupy any position on the field not occupied by any opposing player, unless specifically over-ridden elsewhere, provided that s/he does not cause personal contact in taking such a position. C. Picks: 1. No receiver may move in such a manner so as to cause a defensive player guarding that receiver to be obstructed by another player. To do so while the defensive player is within 3 meters of the receiver is a "pick". 2. In the event of a pick, the obstructed player must immediately call "Pick" loudly; play stops and is resumed with a check, unless the continuation rule [XVI.E] applies. D. A player who jumped is entitled to land at the same spot without hindrance by opponents. S/he may also land at the another spot provided the landing spot was not already occupied at the time of take-off and that the direct path between the take-off and landing spot was not already occupied.
a) A receiving foul may be called when there is contact between opposing players in the process of attempting a cut, catch, interception, or knock down. A certain XVIII. Observers amount of incidental contact during or immediately after the catching attempt is often unavoidable and is A. Observers may be used if desired by the captains and/or not a foul. tournament organizers. Observers are non-players whose role is to carefully watch the action of the game. b) If a player contacts an opponent before the disc arrives and thereby interferes with that opponent's attempt to B. Observers may perform any or all ofthe following duties, as make a play on the disc, that player has committed a designated in advance: foul. 1. keep time and announce time warnings and expirac) If a receiving foul occurs and is uncontested, the tions; player fouled gains possession at the spot of the 2. resolve player disputes; infraction. If the call is disputed, the disc goes back to the thrower. If an uncontested foul (with the exception 3. censure or eject players for sportsmanship violations; of a force-out foul [XV. 9]) occurs in the end zone, the 4. render opinions on other on-field events (such as line player fouled gains possession atthe closest spot on calls and off-side calls). within the scope determined the goal line to the infraction. in advance by the tournament organizer(s). d) The Principle of Verticality: All players have the right to the space immediately above them. Thus, a player C. By playing under observers, the players agree to abide by cannot prevent an opponent from making an attempt the observers decisions. on a pass by placing his/her arms above an opponent. Should contact occur before the outcome of the play is XIX. Etiquette determined, it is a foul on the player restricting the verA. If a foul is committed and not called, the player who comtical space. mits the foul should inform the infracted player of the foul. 8. Blocking Fouls. a) When the disc is in the air, players must play the disc, not the opponent. A player may not move in a manner to prevent an opponent from taking an unoccupied position. Contact resulting from playing the opponent is a foul on the blocking player.
B. It is the responsibility of both teams to adhere to all time restrictions.
b) When the disc is not in the air, players may not take a position that is unavoidable by an opponent in motion when time, distance, and line of sight are taken into account. Contact resulting from a player taking an unavoidable position is a foul on the blocking player.
D. Should a dispute or confusion arise on the field, it should be common practice to stop play, and resume play with a check when the matter is resolved.
9. Strip: No defensive player may touch the disc while it is in possession of the thrower or receiver. If a defensive player initiates contact with the disc, and the offensive player loses possession as a result, it is a strip. A strip handled in the same manner as a foul but an uncontested strip in the end zone is a goal.
C. It is a violation against the spirit of the game for a defensive player to call for a pass from the thrower.
E. In the case where a novice player commits a violation out of sincere ignorance of rules, it is common practice to stop play and explain the violation. Appendix 1: Standard Field Diagram
UFO
I. Violations: 1. A violation occurs when a player violates the rules in a manner which does not result in physical contact. 2. A violation may be called by any player who recognizes that a violation has occurred unless specified differently elsewhere. The player must immediately call "violation" or the name of the specific violation loudly. 3. Play is halted and resumes through the use of a check.
The "UFO Sightings - Ultimate in the Media" page, needs an editor! Sightings will be back, we just need someone to coordinate all the good stuff people send in. Please continue sending sightings to upa_newsletter@upa.org. Who can help out with this?
10th Edition DRAFT
I Winter 2001 I www.upa. orgl
59
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THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER • COLORADO SPRINGS • COLORADO
High Ultitu de
by David ~chneider
VOLUME 20 • NUMBER 4 • Winter 2001
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