UPA Newsletter: 1995 Dec

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December 1995

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Volume 15 Number 5

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. BOSTON S EEPS OVER SEA1TLE

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Page2

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

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• 1'BF. ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

The Ultimate Players Association 3595 E. Fountain Blvd., Suite J2 Colorado Springs, Colorado 80910 1-800-UPA-GetH • 719-591-1168 719-591-2461 (fax) • 70744.1562@compuserve.com

Send submissions for the UPA Newsletter to: Newsletter Editor: Bill Penrose 7752 16th Ave. NW, Seattle, WA 98117 206-789-0095 • 73744.2527@compuserve.com

NATIONAL DIRECTORS Executive Director Bob Byrne UPA Headquarters Colorado Springs, CO 719-591-1168 7102512.226@compuserve.com

Managing Director Cindy Fisher UPA Headquarters Colorado Springs, CO 719-591-1168 707 44. 1562@compuserve.com

National Women's Director

National College Director

Kim Forsten 231 Fairfax Road Blacksburg, VA 24060 540-552-5274 forsten@bio.che. vtedu

Jay Cohen 25 Carroll Road Hamden, CT 06517 203-288-5765 7 4404. 753@compuserve.com

Director of Competition

National Juniors Director

Eric Simon 2324 Riveria Drive Vienna, VA 22181-3118 703-242-4244 erlcs@access.digex.net

Vacant

Director of Marketing

Director of Public Relations

Frank A. DeFazio, Jr. 156 Gaskel Street Pittsburgh, PA 15211 (703) 893-3100 ext 241 fdefazio@aol.com

JR Reynolds 320 E. 60th Sl Savannah, GA 31405 912-356-1215 jrupa@aol.com

Direotor of Finance

Dir. of International Affairs

Carneyfoy P.O. Box 2331 Silver City, NM 88062 505-388-3111 74151 .1326@compuserve.com

Andy Borinstein 838 West End Ave.• #11 D New York, NY 10025 212-666-3819 74151.1330@compuserve.com

REGIONAL COORDINATORS (RC) Central RC

Central Women RC

Bob McSheffery 1497 W . 7th Ave. Columbus, OH 43212 614-487-1174 76735.1030@compuserve.com

·Lynne Nolan 11 Aldon Ct. West Montgomery, IL 60538 708-896·2148 Jynnenolan@aol. com

Mid-Atlantic RC

Mid-Atlantic Women RC

Dave Rafto 3254 ApfMegate Ct. Annandale, VA 22003 703-573-2940 darafto@aol.com'

Melissa lwaszko 6236 N. 18th Road Arlington, VA 22.2 05 703-533-TEAL 75057.256@compuserve.com

Northeast RC

Northeast Women RC

LeeTonuzi 233 Parkside Ave., #5 Buffalo, NY 14214 716-833-8980 102367.2622@compuserve.com

Linda Beach 185 Simpson Road Marlboro, MA 01752-1581 508-485-6150 beachl@bachman.com

SouthRC

South Women RC

RexO'Quinn 997 Slaughter Rd. Madison, AL 35758 205-837-1662 jroqulnn@intg2.b29.ingr.com

Kerry Ryter 470 Page Ave. NE Attanta, GA 30307 404-378-3581 k2ryter@aol.com

Northwest RC

Northwest Women RC

Jack "Poochie• Lynch 450 E. 14th Ave. Eugene. OR 97401 503-342-8095

Diane Pagel 1606 149th Pl. SE, #1 Bellevue, WA 98007 206-747-1440 102363.202@compuserve.com

Southwest RC

Southwest Women RC

JD Lobue 7814 Goddard Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90045 310-410-9178 gumboprod@aol.com

Rachel Noble 126 Montreal Ave. Playa Del Ray, CA 90293 310-827-7110 noble@scf.usc.edu

COLLEGE REGIONAL COORDINATORS (CRC) CentraiCRC Pat Wolf

WestCRC

507-645-4743 pVIIOif@carleton.edu

Skippy Jammer 408-459-4220 75672.2640@compuserve.com

Mid-Atlantic CRC

Central College Women's RC

Paul Socolow 908-247·9316 socolow@math.rutgers.edu

Julia North 608-257-6458 76245.3442@compuserve.com

NortheastCRC

West College Women's RC

Vacant

Andrea Barrio 408-425-4960 75672.2640@compuserve.com

SouthCRC John Malone 504-273-4187

vtmalon@lsuvm.sncc.lsu

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

PageS

Help Us Decide How to Allocate Nationals Bids

by Kim Forsten, National Women's Director Congratulations to Lady Godiva! The Boston women dominated the 1995 Nationals! Going undefeated through pool play, they followed up with impressive victories over Nemesis II in the semis, and against Women on the Verge in the finals. It was a fine display of ultimate at its highest and a return of the National Title to Boston after three years of West Coast victories. Look for them to be the favorites at Worlds this summer. Women on the Verge is also to be commended for a great Nationals showing with their first appearance in the finals (not surprising after their victory at Worlds this past summer). Ozone and Nemesis II were the other semi-finalists after some exciting pool play twists in which number 1 seed Phat City was eliminated from post-pool play.

Nemesis II not only played well at Nationals but also with spirit as they were voted 1995 Spirit of the Game award winners in the Women's Division.

In the Women's Masters Division, What? from New England (combo Boston/NY team) triumphed going 7-0 and winning over Central Region's RoShamBo in the Finals 17-6. Round robin play leading into the semis was quite exciting with a three way tie between the Central, Mid-Atlantic, and Northwest teams for 2nd having to be broken through point differentials.

Semis pitted a rematch between RoSbamBo and Old Pros (San Francisco) with RoShamBo revenging their loss in a capped pool play game. Gutter Girls from the Southern Region carried off the Spirit Award. Be sure to check out the coverage of the Women's Division.s in the Nationals Article!

This fall was a good season for women's ultimate!

The Fall Series saw 143 women's teams competing at Sectionals nationwide, up from 120 teams last year.

The largest growth was in the Northwest with a seventeam increase over 1994, including the first-ever appearance of an Alaskan women's team in the series.

All regions registered big turnouts and we all owe a big note of thanks to our dedicated women's sectional and regional coordinators. These women do a lot of hard work to ensure that the Fall Series proceeds smoothly and that new and old players alike have a good time. Each season the WSC needs to find contacts for new and returning teams, arrange for a tournament site, determine which format to use, collect dues, check rosters, and make sure that the tournament runs well for the women's teams.

There are several things which could be done to make their job easier. One easy step would be for teams to keep their contact name current. It is quite a chore to try and track down teams if you don't have a person to call. Also, players and captains should determine pre-tournament who exactly is a current UPA member and who needs to join. (You can call/fax the UPA office to get this information.) The Fall Series is a UPA event and to play you must be a UPA member. It's that simple. For a small membership fee you gain quite a bit, but regardless, the bottom line is you must be a current member to play. It is a complete hassle for the WSC to have to determine who is not current and track them down to collect the funds, especially since teams rarely bother to send in rosters in advance.

I'm sure that the majority that don't rejoin forget when their membership elapses, but it really shouldn't be that difficult - you receive a dated membership card each year, the mailing label on the newsletter has that same date, and you can always doublecheck with the UPA office. Also, the majority of club players join in the fall, so that is probably when you come up for renewal. Captains could also facilitate the process by

copying any fall pre-Sectionals rosters where players paid dues and include this with the Sectionals roster.

Individual mistakes about dues can influence how many teams from the particular region go to Nationals. Each year (this year is no exception) a few rosters are not included in the wildcard count due to errors.

This is extremely disappointing, especially if it costs a team the chance to go to Nationals, and I think it is our responsibility as players to minimize these kinds of problems.

This brings me to an important issue facing the Women's Division in 1996: bids to Nationals. With the split of the West into two separate regions last yearNorthwest and Southwest (big welcome to new Southwest WRC Rachel Noble) - it was decided that we should maintain the wildcard system for determining bids to Nationals for 1995. Each regional winner automatically advances to Nationals, with the largest region receiving two additional bids and the next four largest regions sending one additional team. Previously, each of the five regions received two automatic bids, with the West region (combo of Northwest and Southwest) receiving a third bid and the largest of the remaining four regions receiving a second bid. For 1995 (as in 1994), the same teams would have gone to Nationals regardless of which system was in effect: Central (Nemesis, Jane Air), Mid-Atlantic (Lucy, Mischief, Philly Peppers), Northeast (Godiva, Whak), Northwest (Phat City, Women on the Verge), South (Ozone, Hucksters), Southwest (LA Flygirls). However, with an equal regional representation plan, this would not be the case. The two driVing forces behind the wildcard system is: 1) regions with a significant number of more teams than other regions should be given an extra bid (though a big gap in numbers is seen in the Open Division and not the Women's), and 2) the idea that an extra bid to Nationals will provide incentive for coordinators and upper-level teams to help start, guide, or motivate beginning teams in the region. This season's growth (nearly 20% increase) indicates that perhaps this is happening, since each region was, for the first time, in a race for the wildcard (either to get the third team spot or to not get only~ single bid). Of course, this growth may have had nothing to do with the wildcard race. It is difficult to say.

There have been some concerns voiced that a strength-based or equal regional representation would be better. Some have even voiced the opinion that an increase in the number of teams invited so as to both maintain a minimum two-team representation and implement the wildcard bonus system xqight be ideal. I honestly can't see an increase in teams happening right now, due to both the sheer number of fields and volunteers required to handle Nationals and the fact that a fairly high percentage ( -9%) of competing teams are already included. That leaves us with a limited number of options.

Do we, as a division, feel that the wildcard serves a valuable role in helping generate new teams? Would we have seen the increase we saw this year without it? The question is, of course, whether new team numbers do in fact equal a real increase in individual players. Unfortunately I don't know that answer today. But I do need to know how you feel about the Nationals bid process. Please email/write me and let me know what you think and whether you feel things within your region/area were influenced by the wildcard race. What happens in 1996 has not yet been determined and your feedback can only help in ensuring that the Women's Division continues to grow and • Improve.

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Page4

Southwest Region- Women's Division

by Rachel Noble Howdy to all y'all! The Southwest Region has successfully rambled through the fall series as the San Diego men's team and the L.A Flygirls each advanced to Nationals in Birmingham, Alabama. Unfortunately for the Southwest, we became the scrape of the bottom of the barrel when it comes to team counts from Sectionals. Props to the Rocky Mountain sectional coordinators and the Southern California sectional coordinators for promoting tremendous growth within their sections. Now if only the other sections would follow their example!

In sectionals play, Rare Air took top spot in the Rocky Mountain section. The L.A Flygirls and San Diego Safari battled for the top spot in the Southern California section as the Flygirls triumphed in the fm.a ls 18-10. In the NM/AZ section Chicks 'n' Salsa clinched the top spot from the Solar Sisters.

With only one spot to go to Nationals, the women's regional tournament, held at the prestigious Rancho Santa Fe polo fields in Del Mar, CA, proved to be nothing less than knock-down, drag-out great ultimate.

Last year's regional champs, DV8, returned with a vengeance and a new name, Rare Air, to defend their title. The results of pool play pitted Rare Air and San Diego Safari against each other in an exciting semifmal. In a game to .15, Rare Air sequestered the lead early with great defense by Allison Boyd and Heidi Pomfret as they stayed a few points ahead until they reached the deadly 14. At 14-6, San Diego put together a zone defense and some great transition offense throws by Wende Coates to score five in a row to make it 14-11. Rare Air finally shook the defense and scored to go onto the finals.

Meanwhile, over in the other semifinal, L.A and the Solar Sisters went head to head early at 4-4. After a pickup in the intensity of the defense from the L.A women, they went on to take the half at 8-5 and with the extra help of some zone defense fmished the game at 15-6.

In the fmals, it was a rematch of the fmals from last year's regional championships. Rare Air and the L.A Flygirls battled in the coastal breezes of Del Mar for that one spot to the "big show." The defense of both teams was flying as the wind wreaked havoc on the throws early in the game. At the half, the Flygirls were up 9-6, after a few successful upwind scores. Consistency paid off for the Flygirls as Patti Crump, Chris Wagner, and Katie Mares put together the backbone of the offense. At 14-8, Rare Air made the surge with some great defensive plays and great catches by Mary Hagler to make it 14-10. The Flygirls went on to victory as they scored upwind to make it a final17-10.

I would like to thank all of the women's teams from the Southwest region for coming to regionals to put together a great competition and represent their region. Hopefully in the future we will be able to attract more women's teams to regionals. Congratulations to the Flygirls on their trip to Nationals!

Central !legion -

Women~

Division

by Lynne Nolan

Fall is a time for change. And things are changing in the Central Region. Most notably, Jane Air from Minneapolis earned their f:arst trip to Nationals! Congratulations! Minneapolis eiilerged on the scene as a force to be reckoned with about four years ago. The hard work of a core group of women, the emergence and strengthening of a summer league program, and development oflocal college teams have all contributed to a notable increase in the level of play in the Twin Cities area. Good luck to them at Nationals!

Nemesis IT won the regional tournament, held in Minneapolis. The fields were gorgeous - soft to the point of resonance capabilities. Weather held out and 10women'steamsparticipated:fiveNorthwestsectional teams, three Chicago teams, and (special long-distance kudos to) Spike (Ann Arbor) and Disc Claimers (Cincinnati). RoShamBo, who played in the Women's division forregionals, will represent the Central region in the Master's division at Nationa1s.

With a sigh of relief, I look ahead to Nationals and being a player. While I've done the best job I could as a WRC, this initiation year has been exhausting. I --

sincerely thank the women's teams' captains for their support and flexibility as I tried to track down answers and get back to them. I also thank the women who stepped into the roles of sectional coordinators, as well as those who have faithfully served for years. You have been terrific[ Some regional positions will be open this year- sectional coordinators are needed for the East and the Central Plains. Also, while I'm planning on filling this role through next year, I'd like to start fmding a replacement now, so we could work together and make a smooth transition when the time comes. If you are interested, please let me know.

In the Central region, the Open Coordinator position is up for re-election. Communication and cooperation are key ~ order to have an effective working relationship between RC and WRC. While I'm not an unreasonable person, I'm a hard worker and sometimes demanding. I will always speak up on behalf of the women and what I think is best for the region. I'm not a rookie at this anymore and know what's supposed to happen. I can help you out. If you are considering running for the RC position, please consider the "team" nature of the job. After all, playing as. a team wins games.

Special thanks to Dot Payne and Liz Schmidt and their teams for hosting late-October tournaments for women's teams. With the early date ofRegionals, some teams couldn't make it to Minneapolis, and for those that won't continue on to Nationals, it'll be a great opportunity to play again, especially now that those teams are formed! Dot is also running a workshop on recruiting, organizing practice, and improving skills!

To all teams, as you wrap up your fall season, look ahead to next year and decide now in what tournaments you want to play. Set goals for conditioning and skills now. When_you think as a team (these are the things that '~e" will improve), it makes it easier to motivate each other and to plan the rest ofyour life and budget. Try to attend at least one out of region tournament - to see new ~ms, see a ne-w place, and find time to hang out with one another. Look for Central regional tournaments such as Arctic Vogue (Feb.) in Cincinnati and Fools Fest (April) in Lawrence as possible starts to next year's spring season.

Mid-Atlantic Region- Women's Division

by Mellwaszko Another fall season has come to an end for most of the teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region. During the fall, many of the area leagues struggled to fmd field space for tournaments. However, women's ultimate continued to grow in our region. We added three new teams from last fall. Good luck is extel}ded to all three teams; especially the University of Maryland team which attended Sectionals after one month of forming.

Many thanks to Ginny, Tammi, and Lisa, our Sectional Coordinators who did a great job in recruiting new players and new teams. As a result of their hard work, the Mid-Atlantic received a Nationals wild card bid.

At Regionals, in the fmal round for f~rst place, it was Lucy over Mischief, 17-13. On the other field, Philly Peppers clinched the wild card spot by defeating the Baltimore Banshees. Congratulations to the top three qualifiers, Lucy, Mischief, and Philly Peppers.

At Nationals, Lucy and Philly Peppers both placed third in their pools, and Mischief placed fourth behind Philly. All in all, I'd say the Mid-Atlantic did welll Have a great winter and I will see you in the spring!

Mid-Atlantic Region - Open Division

by David Ra.jlo For so few t"Durnaments being scheduled in the Mid-Atlantic this fall, it certainly was an eventful season. I have too many folks to thank for helping me out this fall to list them individually, but special thanks must go Melissa and AJ lwaszko, who have offered me their knowledge and experience since day one. The Mid-Atlantic is lucky to have them.

I was lucky enough to travel to some great tournaments hosted by Brian CanifT, Briarl Boger, and Scott Sayers. I saw new teams on the rise like Flathall Nation (a spirited bunch from North Carolina who finished tied for seventh in the region) and What Exit? from Montclair, New Jersey. I was similarly privileged to play in a series of tournaments between some of the

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

cities in Virginia (and a few other teams like UNC's Darkside). Teams and events like these will keep the spirit of the game alive and well in the Mid-Atlantic. .

This leads to the disappointment of Regionals. The results will show that the Port City Slickers swept their way through the event and that Ring of Fire valiantly took the second spot (along the way beating teams like PhiUy Rage, Chesapeake, Three Rivers Flow, and Anodyne, the second, third, fifth, and seventh seeds).

What will be long remembered and discussed, however, was the lack of spirit displayed by a few of the players.

The disgusting displays in the semifinals and finals will probably lead (or, by the time this is published, have led) to some system for sanctioning players and teams for the extreme lack of spirit in their play.

For those of you outside the Mid-Atlantic, do not be misled: Ultimate is still played with SOTG in this region. Myself, the women's and college regional coordinators, the sectional coordinators, the Director of Competition, and the UPA will see to that.

Southern Region-Open Division

by Rex O'Quinn I would like to thank all teams in the South for your continued excellence in growth. Over the last few years there have been new summer/winter leagues popping up and more people playing Ultimate. This year we had 21 womens teams, 57 open teams and five open masters teams. The Masters division won the wildcard for the 3rd year in a row. From what I have heard sectionals and regionals were all well-run tournaments. I know some people are going to say that the new Nationals wildcard format helped the south to grow, but I looked over the rosters for southern teams and saw only a couple of teams that could be credited to the wildcard system. Over this winter I will be working hard with other UPA officials to see how we can make the wildcard work better for all. Please let me know if you have any input.

Congratulations go to Ozone, Chain and Lovehandlers for winning their division at regionals.

All three represented the South very well at Nationals.

Ozone and Love Handlers made it to semis and Chain went 3-2 for their best finish ever.

I would like to give a big thanks to the Birmingham Club and all volunteers, who took a dream of hosting nationals and put on what is possibly the best-run nationals ever. I think they provided for all of the players' needs and showed the rest of the country the true meaning of southern hospitality. Hopefully all of the attendees will not think twice about coming to those great southern tournaments th.at are hosted throughout each year.

If you are interested in hosting Southerns, College Regionals, College Nationals, Fall Regionals or Fall nationals please let me know.

Northeast Region - Open Division ¡

by Lee Tonuzt

It has been yet another great year for Northeast ultimate. Coming into the season with the loss of Pablo Martinez was a challenge for the entire region, but we did OK. The big shoes left to fill were no problem, all you need is a lot of stuffing and we were ready to go!

Sin~ I've been asked ro write a Regionals article long after Regionals, please forgive my groggy recollections. The recap is on page 10.

I would like to commend all the teams, especially Div I, for what seemed to be an especially spirited season; we all came in to do what we enjoy, and we went about it in a very focused way.

Congrats to the teams that advanced to Nationals: Death or Glory, Cojones and Cornell. Cojones and DoG played it out in yet another Northeast semis, with DoG eventually going all the way to win their second consecutive National Championship!

Coming to a close, I would like to give thanks to every ultimate player in the NE who made my transition to RC easier and more tolerable. Special thanks to Pablo once again for the help and time.

And, a shout out to any person willing and able to tft:ke on the experience as College RC for the NE-call me, it'll be awesome! Peace for now, and keep those di~s flying.

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Wanted! Ultimate Live or on Tape The P.R. Department of the UPA is creating a new way for you to involve yourself in the growth and progress of Ultimate: the UVG. The UVG, or Ultimate Video Group, will be a group of volunteer videographers who want to help document Ultimate tournaments around the country, as well as having input as to the UPA's approach to, and use of, Ultimate video.

The reason for the formation of this group is that there are many times when the UPA wants to get games, tournaments, or other events on tape, but has no fmancial resources to do it. Most often, the time and effort it would take to accomplish the goal without money eliminates the idea from serious consideration, and the job does not get done. We hope that by having a list of interested volunteers already on file, some of these tournaments or events will be recorded, and the UPA will have better archive and reference departments.

A second problem that the UPA faces is the lack of funding to shoot the National Championships. Many players wonder why Ultimate is not on ESPN or the Sports Channel. The answer is usually that it takes money we don't have. If the participation in the UVG is good enough, we may be able to provide a good volunteer crew to work the Nationals tournament, and enable us to shoot higher quality video for less money.

Interested videographers can apply to the Media Man.

You do not need to own a camera. We just want to know who is available, what they are available for (local only, will travel sometimes, etc.) and what experience they have (none is required). There will be training provided, and the group will review various videos to develop a consensus on prefeiTed methods of shooting, tournament techniques, and the like. If any of you techies out there think an Internet discussion group or chat group would be good for this idea, let me know how to do it. To promote the UVG, we are now announcing the first annual Ultimate Video Contest! To enter, submit a VHS copy ofyour Ultimate related tape. There will be two categories: 1) Games, and 2) Other. Professional videographers from Videotography, Inc., will be the judges. "Game" videos will be judged on camerawork, style, and overall coverage of the game (picture quality will count only as a tie-breaker, to eliminate 'format' as an advantage). "Other"videos will include edited pieces, promotional videos, team videos, and other items. They will be judged on what we like.

Winners will receive an Official Certificate from the UVG and the UPA, a mention in the UPA Newsletter, and an invitation to the first UPA All-Star Awards banquet, if we ever have one. Apply to: UVG Vuieo Contest, 320 E. 60th St., Savannah, GA 31405; phone: 91~897-4729; email: JRUPA@aol.com

Media Man

timate program put lots of energy into designing posters and flyers, and getting on local radio talk shows to promote their tournaments to encourage new players to come out. Yet they miss the obvious opportunities presented by new players already giving Ultimate a try. While their active market is good, it won't be successful without adding positive word of mouth advertising as well. You must take advantage of the new players who do find their way out to the Ultimate field by ensuring that they have a good time and want to come back out. To this end, I recommend the Media Man's "New Rules for New Players."

Go Easy-on New Players

by JR Reynolds, Public Relations Director It's autumn, and the season winds down for all but a lucky few. The air has a slight chill to it, and the disc flies through the brisk wind in a graceful arc - and straight back down into the ground. It. is off-season winter disc, and the swill is hitting the ground faster than the colorful leaves falling from the trees! As the disc hits the ground, Joe Newplayer goes towards it.

It's Joe's first time out, and he enthusiastically runs to pick up the disc. ''NO! NO!!" "LEAVE IT!" "DON'T PICK IT UP!!!"

These are the cries of the other players on the field.

Joe hesitates, stops, then realizes they do not want him to get the disc. He jogs back upfield.

Later that same play, the disc again ends up at.J oe's feet. 'Ha!' he thinks, 'no reason not to pick this one up -there's no one near me.'

Already the bleating begins in the background. ''NO! NO!" Joe thinks to himself... "Here comes Mike, the guy who brought me out here. I'll throw it to him." Mike slows down and opens his arms, looking to help out as he jogs in for the throw. There's the beach-backhand, up into the wind, and back down towards Mike. Not a bad throw, actually. Mike reaches out for the disc.

"BAM!'' Gary runs by and smacks the floating disc to the ground, sprinting for the endzone. One pass later and it's over. Joe's team trudges back to their goal, bitching at each other. Welcome to Ultimate, Joe. Does this ever happen at your practices? If it does, your team is a real loser! No, not really- this happens to lots of teams, but it doesn't have to.

Joe may never come back. And neither will many other newcomers, whose first Ultimate experience is remembered as one of sore legs, searing chest pain, and a game that consisted of one incomplete throw, two bad passes thrown totally out of reach to him, and lots of yelling to "go deep." Compare this to the experience of Robin Rookie, who was encouraged to pick up the disc when it came near her. An open player stood just a few yards away. The marker, realizing that Robin was new, kept her mark loose, and on the flick side, giving her an easy backhand. The upfield defender slowed her coverage and let the weak throw go through to the receiver. Robin jogs upfield happily, having completed her fust pass of the day! Later, Robin had numerous throws to her. Some she caught, some she missed. But never was she "shut down" by an overzealous veteran.

She was also encouraged to rest quite often, and left the practice field with a positive feeling and a desire to do this again!

This story helps illustrate the importance of one of the best public relations tools ever discovered: word of mouth. It's a simple concept. If the new players who come to your practices have a good time, they~ talk about it to their friends, and bring out even more new players. Simple, but undervalued by many tntimate teams. Veteran players who want to expand their Ul-

Rule #1 You're O.K., I'm O.K. Encourage them to pick up the disc if it stops near them. Tell them to pick it up and throw¡it to you. Try not to yell.

Rule#2 Don't sweat the small stuff Let them have a short pass. Don't stuff, package, block, biff, d, snatch or spike their throws. Be nice.

Rule#3 Be an easy date Don't turn them down. Especially if they're open.

You sometimes may want to throw to them even if they're not open.

Rule#4 Jl'ake it easy, take it slow (but go, team, go) Don't ''hit" on the new players too soon, but do invite them to social functions. The Ultimate experience is more than just an athletic endeavor for most people. It fllls a need for companionship, team membership, and meeting new people. Whether it's a formal party, or just a few beers after practice, social events will do a lot to keep your team together and make it more attractive to new people.

Sound Bites....

The results are in from Media Man's Ultimate Jargon contest! (Drum roll please...) Third Place: Dan Zaffuto and the boys from DUF, who call a one-handed catch a "cookie grab."The Second Place winner is ''Who am I, Claude Raines?" sent in by reader Jon Gewirtz of Seattle, whose team used this term to refer to a player being turned down on au open cut. (Don't get it? Claude Raines was the actor who played the original invisible man!) The First Place winner is ''Bottom Feeder," sent in by player Jay Mahar from Montclair, N.J., who uses it to describe a player who doesn't jump for a party disc, but waits for the disc at the bottom of the pile and attempts to catch it as it falls from the top. Honorable mention goes to the Rochester Ultimate team, who use the saying "Get a card" for that player who needs to get a library card so they can learn to read (one of many variations on this theme). Other notable terms (for those of you keeping score) are "Hospital Pass,""Vertically Challenged" and "Hail Mary'' pass (meanings should be obvious), and "Shriv," whose meaning is not so obvious: to fold, collapse, or fail to perform ('\he mark got in his face and he shrived immediately,.

Thanks to all who entered, and a case ofbeer is winging its way to Jay Mahar and the Montclair Ultimate team.

Congratulations!

Page5

Amid the Clutter Editor Sticks to No-Predictions Vow; Verge, Sockeye Make National Finals

by Bill Penrose, Editor Quick quiz: How often has a first-time Nationals team made the fmals? Answer: never (I bet). Way to go, guys (and Women). You've done us proud. Lots of us are running around town going, 'Yeah, I used to play with Sockeye...." And a LOT of us did.

This note was found scratched into the wall of the Magnuson Park womyn's room after the I Am Woman tourney: ''Notably absent were the Oregon women. Schwa, exhausted from their hour and a half drive to Solstice two months earlier, declined to attend. Maybe we'll see them next year as they had plenty of time to rest up after Regionals. We're ready to stop the hurting if you are."

Seattle: let's steal the Labor Day tourney from Santa Cruz. Great weather, huge field complex available, soft grass, no fog, easier camping, closer airport, one of the world's great music festivals (Bnmbershoot), and you'd never catch Jeff Jorgenson babbling over the PA during the women's final (see letter p.24).

Let's do it.

Careful readers of the Letters to the Editor section will note that one letter is unedited. I wanted folks to get some insight into the mentality we're dealing with in NC, but I couldn't inflict the first page of Toad's latest on y'all. Say, what's the graduation rate for ultimate players at ECUIUNC-W? Correction: In the last issue, the next to last sentence in paragraph seven of my column should have read, ''One particularly vocal guy, who shall remain aimless, if not Ruthless, showed his [spirit] by spiking the first goal." Thanks for paying attention.

Space won't allow inclusion of the letters written by an irate parent and~ school ad'!'inistrator, but suffice to say NW Regionals won t be at North Thurston High anytime soon. By finding that place, Rene bailed us out of a huge jam, saving our collective regional butt, and we left behind hundreds of beer bottles, did drugs on sehool grounds, and pissed on the field (something tells me this wasn't the women) in full view ofjuvenile soccer players. C'mon, people, any assweepay knows not to leave an alcohol container at a school. We gotta do better. Use the Honey Buckets.

With that name, they've got to be sweet.

Here's an idea: every team should obtain a copy of the Rules of Ultimate and teach them to all its players.

If you're gonna ref, you need to know the rules.

Anyone catch the name of the purple-haired damsel with the Scarsdale accent at Turkey Bowl West?

Jeannie Jah, perhaps? Was that costume from the Halloween parade in the Village? '~areer and other interests," indeed.

Tootingthe Horn Dept.: Ifyou have a Web browser, check out the Disc section of Adrenaline in Hotwired.

It's at http: II www.hotwired.com, and they've run two of my pieces so far. Of course the originals are better, but I suppose editors serve some useful purpose.

[Watch it, pal. -Ed.]

WHEN DO YOU EXPIRE? The UP A operates under a two expiration date system. Expiration dates are either February 28 or August 31. Memberships received between December and June expire on February 28 of the following year (If you signed upln December It would be a year from the upcoming February). Memberships received between July and November expire August 31 of the following year (If you signed up In July It would be August .o f the following year). This corresponds with the UP A College and Fall Series, and makes It easy for players to keep track of their expiration date.

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Mattei "Tool" is Now a UPA Approved Disc

by Mark Licata The '-rool" (T501 Mold) from Mattei Sports has been approved by the Flight Test Committee (FTC).

The FTC determined that the disc is suitable for Ultimate play by a 6-1 vote. There are now two UPA Approved Discs: the Mattei '-rool" and the Discraft "UltraStar". The UPA Disc Approval is a two step process. -First the disc must meet measurements as specified by the u'PA Disc Standard. Once it meets the technical standards, it must then be approved by five of the seven voting members of the FTC. Dan Roddick, head of Mattei Sports Promotions, worked hard in getting the Tool approved. Dan refused to give up, even after initial molds failed the technical Disc Standard. After the Tool passed the technical specs, Mattei fo1lowed through with a mailing of samples to all 42 members of the FTC. "I'm very happy to have our new Ultimate disc be the first to come through the official disc approval system," says Dan. 'We've been working closeir with players to develop the tool, and we are counting C?n gettingcontinuingfeedback from players as we begm

to get the disc into circulation. We look forward to working with the illtimate community to promote the healthy growth of the game."

The FTC is an international group comprised of seven voting and 35 non-voting members. The seven voting members include five UPA Regional Representatives and two"at-large" members from World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). One WFDF member represents Europe and the other represents the Eastern Pacific Rim. Each voting member has five non-voting advisors in his/her region.

The UPA Disc Standard consists of seven measurements: Weight, Diameter, Profile, Rim Thickness, Stiffness, Height, and Rim Angle. The specifications have been published in the UPA Newsletter in the past, and we hope to put it on the Ultimate Web site sometime this year.

Please email me at 70743.3232@compuserve.com or snail mai1 me at 201 Peace Dr. Ruther Glen, VA 22546, if you have ·a ny questions.

She's a Woman Now: Happy 30th Birthday Carolyn Skolnick She was sweet sixteen when Kevin Cande spotted her and dragged her out to the DC Summer League.

His •projecf' moved on to the big leagues where she played for Andromeda, Zulu, UofO Du~ks, Satori and most recently Women on the Verge with whom she won a World Championship and competed in this year's Nationals finals. Happy 30th Lina from your Ultimate Family. · The layouts may get harder, but you'll always have the fluff.

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TOE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

UPA Restructuring Plan Delayed The September, 1995 newsletter, contained an article entitled "Restructuring the UPA Administration.'' The article stated that the UPA is restructuring and rewriting the By-laws. It also contained an explanation of the proposed structure, and an estimated timetable for implementation. Because this is such a significant step, the UPA wants to ensure that the best possible structure is developed. Therefore, the restructuring process will not be in place for the 1996 ~nual meeting in January, but will be continued through 1996. The Board members will be elected by the CC (as they are now) for 1996 and serve a one-year term. The annual meeting in January will operate under the current By-laws.

Some parts of the plan have been solidified; such as having the Board of Directors elected directly by the membership. Other aspects, such as what role the Coordinating Committee (CC) will play, have yet to be determined. The UPA does not want to adopt a less than completely satisfactory plan for the sake of expediency. The new executive director has already started, and a new office manager will be hired in the spring of 1996, so progress is being made. But the ~oard and central office are committed to developmg a .plan that will allow the UPA to react to things to come in the next decade and beyond. If you have any questions or suggestions related to the UPA restructuring, call the office at 1-800-872-4384.

What? You Want My SSN?!

What? I Can Fib? We require social security numbers for UPA memberships because it is the only unique number that distinguishes each member. There are over 250duplicate names in the our database, and over 300 duplicate records for members who have more than one name (i.e. nickname, John and Jack, two different spellings, etc).

The ssn is the only way for us to distinguish the Joe Layout in Pittsburgh from the Joe Layout in Stanford when he calls in a change of address, or plays at Sectionals. It is the only way fo~ us to figure out that Mary Huck on the roster 1s the Mary Ziggler in the database, or that Fre.d Openmind is also Fred Didit who changed his name when he got married. Or that Sarah Kuper is Sara Cooper who has a captain that ~oesn't know how to SDell her name.

We realize that some people do not wish to give out their ssn. That's okay, we don't check it or use it for any other purpose, so just fib. Really. Just two preferences to your fib: 1) remember it, pleaaase, and use the same number forever, and 2) start it with a 7 (7 is the only digit social security numbers do not start with so the odds of matching someone else's is slim). Use 77 plus your phone number. Or 765 and your birthdate.

Something that you will remember to use each year on your roster. And if it's assurance you want, the UPA has a strict policy against the sale or lease of its membership database. Even among staff, we never give out ssn information.

Please help us out. We are trying to clean up our database and keep it efficient. If we don't have a SSN for you, then unless everything matches (and the way ultimate players move around, they rarely do), we have to start a new membership record for you, creating yet another dupe. And it takes longer to process, and is more apt for mistakes, and... you get the picture.

Thanks.

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CONGRATULATIONS! •

WhDt ~ome people will do for m1 up~ide-down piece of platicl

To Mark and Lisa Licata on the birth of their daughter, Meredith McKenzie O'Brien Licata, who weighed in at 3208 grams and measured 46 centimeters on November 24th, 1995.

'l'HE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Vo]ume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

New Director of Marketing Brings Lots of Enthusiasm

UPA Hires First Full-Time Executive Director In Octolwr of this year, the UPA hired Bob Byrne as its first full-lime executir'e director. &b is a player from Columbus, OH, who brings with him lots ofexperience and enthu.siasm. Welcome, Bob! You see things that are, and say "Why?" But I dream things that never were and say ''Why not?"

- George Bernard Shaw Greetings from the newest UPA employee. I'll briefly tell you a bit about myself. I've played with the Columbus, Ohio, club for the past six seasons.

I've also played the laRt two years with the Neon SpiderR of the Pittsburgh Summer League. Obviously, the commute will be a little too far to continue. I have a B.A. in BusinPss Administration and Political Science <Otterbein College) and a Masters in Public Administration (Ohio State).! spent the last three and a half y..ears as a budget analyst for the Ohio Legislative Budget Office. More telling is that my interests run toward Jimmy Buffett, Humphrey Bogart, and Joseph Campbell. I am twenty-eight, single, and prepared to dedicate the next few years to the sport of Ultimate. Call the 1-800 line for any additional information.

I've played sports from tee ball up through NCAA Division III cross country (one meet, anyway), and none have compared to Ultimate. I will keep playing here in Colorado Springs, but now my focus is on improving the sport, not playing. There is a tremendous amount of room for growth in Ultimate (this will be a theme during my tenure). What type of growth will occur is to be determined by the players, the board of directors, and myself. This sport will see great opportunities in the next decade, and it's up to the UPA to .react to them. And it's up to the membership to guide the UPA on how to respond. That's why our sport is played and run .by members.

WFDF's acceptance as a full member into the GAISF and IWG (see separate article) is an example of what's happening. It could be less than a decade before you can turn on ESPN or TBS and see Ultimate being played in the World Games. We can't buy that kind of exposure (not on our budget). It's up to the UPA to shape our sport's participation in these types of events. That's part of my job. But the members are the voices that should let me know what the UPA players want.

I mean this sincerely. We have a 1-800 number, e-mail addresses, a home page, a usenet site and a newsletter. UPA members have every opportunity to give input. And to quote Frasier Crane, :'I'm listening." Decisions have to be made on various issues that affect both the organization and the individual players. I doubt participants in any other sport have as much chance to shape decisions and control the sport. Take advantage of it.

I foresee increased sponsorship in the next few years, hopefully occuring simultaneously with increased exposure. We must continue to attract new

UPA Insurance for Sanctioned Events Is Not Medical Insurance What It Is: The insurance offered to tournament directors through t~e UPA Sanctioning Program is liability insurance for tournament directors, sponsors, and field providers that protects them from being liable for accidents as a result of negligence on behalf on the field or tournament staff. It is not medical insurance coverage for players who get injured at these events.

Why It Is: Many field providers require field users to have a $1~000~000 liability coverage in order to use their fields for sporting events. Some sponsors require such insurance, and some tournament directors wisely opt for the coverage a_s well. For a tourname~t ~rector to attain such a pohcy on a per event bas1s 1s very costly. To respond to this increasing need, the UPA started its sanctioning program, which offers $1 000,000 liability insurance to tournament directors, fieid providers, and sponsors at minimum cost. While most players may not realize it, the UPA sanctioning program keeps tournament fees lower by offering insurance at, on average, one-tenth the cost of if the tournament director had to purchase the policy from an independent agent.

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players. We maintain the power to shape our growth, which means we can do so without selling out to sponsors. But have no doubts, we will grow.

A stagnant organization withers and dies. That won't happen to the UPA I bring strong budgeting experience, training in strategic planning and goal setting, more education than I know what to do with, a love of the sport, and an expectation of one day being able to simply say ''I play Ultimate" and not have to explain what I mean. We are closer to that day than ever before. I work for the Ultimate Players Association. Which means I work for the sport of Ultimate itself.

Whether it's through increased membership, a ·n ew co-ed division, Canadian teams playing at nationals~ . or ESPN coverage of major tournaments, as Ultimate grows and improves, it is we the players who will benefit. So I look at the future of our sport and say, ''Why not?" ·-Bob Byrne

Why Not Medical Coverage: The results frtim , the first two years of the UPA Questionnaire showed that 90% of playerS who responded have some form of medical insurance and 87% would not purchase a policy at an event if it were offered. Since the discount of player policies is based on volume, the UPA would not be able to get a very good deal for the players. The last time we looked into it, the cost was around $25 per player per event. Also, the coverage is secondary, which means that if you have another medical policy then that must be exhausted flrst before the event coverage would kick in.

Though there is a small percentage of players out there who do participate in Ultimate events and do not have any form of medical insurance, it is not enough for the UPA to be able to be helpful in this area. We do recommend, however, that all players carry insurance, even on off seasons when just attending practice. Playing any sport is risky and the cost of medical services and surgery these days is much too high for anyone to afford on their own. For around $40 per month, individuals can obtain a major medical or temporary insurance policy that covers emer~encies, hospitalizations, and surgeries, but does not 1nclude everyday health care. We recommend that players who do not have any medical insurance should call_an insurance agent to learn the details and cost of such policies. It could save you a bundle in the long run.

The fresh scent of thick green summer grass floated through the air as I sat and watched the strange new game being played with a Frisbee there in front of me, so many years ago. My best friend Gus had asked me to watch his team's Ultimate game, and so in a beautiful public park I sat alone, peacefully enjoying the early evening summer night. Gus' team had only seven players competing in a close Pittsburgh Summer Ultimate League game when one of his teammates went down with an ankle injury. Gus turned to me to fill the seventh spot, and having never played the game but with a keen sense of adventure I entered the game and fell in love with the sport of Ultimate for the rest of my life.

Before I continue, please allow me to introduce myself to all of you. My name is Frank A DeFazio, Jr., and I'm the newly appointed Director of Marketing for Ultimate Players Association.

I'm extremely excited about my new position, because since that frrst impromptu introduction years ago, I've always loved and enjoyed the sport and have always wondered, as I'm sure so many of you have as well, why more people don't play Ultimate. It's a difficult question to answer, especially since it offers so much in terms of competition fun, cardiovascular exercise and emotional rele~e. Now, for the very first time in my life, I have the opportunity to research that question, to understand the data, and to take the steps needed to bring this sport into the lives of a greater number of people throughout this country. In addition, I'll be wor.J.ang with potential sponsors who are interested in you as well. These sponsorships will allow us to make the toum~ents in which we play even better for everyone mvolved, and will allow us to market the sport to others who have never played it or have never heard of it.

My initial goals as the Director of Marketing are: 1. lincrease the membership levels of the UPA 2. Increase the awareness/recognition of Ultimate across the country and within specific segments of the population 3 . Create a standard for identifying and responding to sponsorship opportunities for Ultimate.

4. Help the sport to grow while maintaining its integrity.

I am 31 years old, and I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where ·I attended the University of Pittsburgh. I received my BS in Psychology/Communications in 1987. Mter graduation, I worked for one year at a small advertising agency in Pittsburgh, and in late 1988 I became a Management Consultant for Deloitte & Touche LLP. This was a fantastic job, full of unique challenges and opportunities, which allowed me to travel all over the United States, where I lived in about 12 different cities, wrote user manuals, training scripts, and testing scenarios for the large scale information systems, as well as performed some ofthe upfront functional requirements analysis. It was a wonderful job, but I knew that I needed a more creative challenge, and that my mind was always interested in marketing and trying to understand what motivated people to buy products and do the things we do. So I decided to go to graduate school.

I received my MBA in Marketing from Katz Graduate School of Business in Pittsburgh in Juneof1995,andjoinedafirmin Washington DC, Information Management Consultants, where I am the Director of Marketing/Strategic Analyst for our Transportation Industry Practice.

As the Director of Marketing, I've been designing the 1996 UPA Marketing Plan, as well as working on potential sponsorship opportunities for 1996. I am always open to suggestions and comments from all of you, and hope that if you ever feel the need to ask your Director of Marketing any questions, you will feel free to contact me directly at fdefazio@aol.com or (703) 893-3100 (work) or (412) 381-3556 (home). I look forward to working for all ofyou toward bringing tntimate into the lives of more people.

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Players Corner: Guide to the '96 College Series

by Jay Cohen, National College Director Well, 1995 was a great year. All went smoothly, both in the college season and the club, and I want to continue on that roll. Unfortunately there are always a few snags. First, we still need a new Northeast College Regional Coordinator, a position that must be filled for us to get anywhere. Additionally, there are always numerous College Sectional Coordinator positions that could use filling or restaffing (see below). Contact me or your CRC if you are interested in more information about one of these positions.

The following is all the info you need to know to prepare yourself for the upcoming season, so read it, learn it, live by it, and I'll see ya at Nationals (location still TBA)I

ROSTERS First and foremost is rosters. YOUR TEAM NEEDS TO BE ROSTERIZED IN ORDER TO PLAY in the series. And for the sake of everyone, especially your College Sectional Coordinator, the sooner you get it in, the better. lfs no fun to have to miss games because your roster's not up to snuff, not to mention the damage it does to your region's wildcard total. Just ask anyone from the Northeast about that Remember, too, the $20 late fee for handing your roster in less than one full week before your Sectional tournament. If your team doesn't have a blank roster form by the end of January, contact your esc, CRC, or HQ (in that order, please) and make sure we've got a contact from your team on our list. Don't forget your college Registrar has to sign and seal your roster, and that takes time, so get a move on.

To be officially Rosterized, your roster MUST meet the following requirements: • Your roster must be submitted to your esc at least ONE WEEK before your Sectional tournament • All players' information on the roster must be LEGIBLE and COMPLETE. • Your roster must be SIGNED and SEALED by your school registrar.

• Player membership DUES must be submitted WITH your roster.

To be officially ROSTERIZED, your roster MUST: 1) Have ALL your players' information LEGIBLY entered, 2) all players must be current or signed up on the roster, and 3) the roster must be signed and sealed by your school registrar.

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ELIGIBIUTY The College Series Eligibility Rules are listed to the left. The five-~ar rule means that if you played in a UPA event or joined the UPA before June 1, 1991 (excluding high school years), you are not eligible to play in the 1996 College Series. These rules are set up to make the College Series fair to every team, and consistent throughout all the regions. And for that reason we cannot make exceptions to these rules. What they can do however is clarify whether or not you are in fact eligible in odd circumstances (see below).

Note: Being ineligible for 'the College Series in no way inhibits you from playing with any team at any on-SfJries tournament throughout the season. Sanctioned tournaments only require U1at you be a paid UPA member, but not necessarily a student at the school you are playing with. But you must meet the eligibility rules to compete in the College Series tournaments.

CLARIFICATION REQUEST FORMS For a clarification of a peculiar circumstance, you must request a Clarification Request Form from the UPA HQ. Forms should be returned to HQ as soon as possible, as the sooner you let us know your situation, the sooner we can let you know your eligibility status. No forms will be excepted, however, later than March 15, 1996. No forms can be faxed or sent express mail so plan far enough in advance.

WILDCARDS Wildcard spots for the 1996 College Series go to the Northeast and Central regions, which had the most officially rosterized teams in 1995. The key words are officially-rosterized.

For a team roster to count towards the regional wildcard, it must be officially rosterized. All it takes is just a little time and preparation to ensure a legal roster and the counting of your team toward your region's wildcard count. For next year's wildcard, it's any region's gama. Make sure your team counts!

Note: Even if your team can't make it to Sectionals, get rosterized anyway, because it will count toward the wildcard count for your region for the following year, as well as allow your players to participate in any and all UPA sanctioned events all year without worrying about their membership status.

INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIPS The UPA Institutional Membership Program is in its fifth year and is growing slowly. It can be a useful tool in getting your school's support for your team.

Basically, it gives your school an associate membership, keeping them aware of what is going on in Ultimate, and making useful books and programs available to them. Additionally, depending on the type of membership they sign up for, it can include free UPA memberships for an entire school team. The full details on Institutional Memberships are available from UPA Headquarters. There is also the College Starter Kit available for those schools or teams that are trying to start a competitive college team. For more information call the UPA. STUDENT MEMBERSHIP RATE Student rates ($15) are only available by either signing up on your teams roster or writing to the UPA with proof of your student status. So make sure to fill out a roster so you can play in all UPA Sanctioned events all year.

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THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

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By the Numbers

Take Three Steps, Then Cut, and You'll Be Free as a Bird

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by Jim Parinella Today's topic: The basics of cutting. Next week original direction. will focus on the basics of covering cutters, and the .

These cuts are when you know where you want following week will be a more in-depth look at some to go and you want the defender to think you are of the subtleties of cutting. going somewhere else. For example, you may be the ·w hen you cut, you run to an open space on the first person in a called play and you're supposed to field to attempt to receive a pass. This is done by cut to the break the mark side. Or, you are last in some combination of running as fast as you can and the stack, and you can see the disc coming down the faking to make the defender think you're running to right sideline, but your defender is watching you, so you cut in on the left side for a few steps, then a different area. reverse yolirself. However, for many cuts, especially Cuts should accomplish one of three things: handler cuts, you takewhatever is open. This re1) Gain yardage, quires the thrower to stick with the cutter for a little 2) Move the disc to a better position on the field, while longer to see if he gets open. The extreme or example of this is the isolation (1 on 1). The receiver 3) Maintain possession. cuts, trying either to beat the defender to an open Most passes should be type 1, where the receiver spot, or else to get the defender off balance and go is relatively far downfield. Type 2 passes will get the the other way. Dump cuts are often this way, too. disc away from the sideline or else go to an un- You take three steps one way, if you're open you marked thrower. Type 3 cuts should be for high stall keep going, if not then you go the other way for three count dumps or else for weaker throwers. Usually steps (no Lynyrd Skynyrd references, please), until you want a handler making the type 3 cuts. Today you are open. we'll focus on type 1 cuts.

Long cuts require more running. Usually, you Most cuts originate from a narrow V -shaped dead change directions only 45 or 90 degrees rather than 180, like in many shorter cuts. Long cuts should zone. The base of the V is about ten yards from the thrower and extends 20-40 yards downfield. As the originate close to the thrower, as I've said before. If disc moves downfield, so does the dead zone. You you start your cut 30 yards from the thrower, you shouldn't sacrifice a good cut or continuity just for will be a long way away by the time the thrower can the sake of having a stack, though. The most basic get you the disc. Here is one way. Start from the offenses have a succession of cuts from this zone middle/back of the stack, cut toward the disc until back toward the disc, and that's not a bad place to your defender is at top speed, then break sharply start with the design ofyour offense. In this offense, downfield. The key here is to keep your linear momentum high (for the physics impaired, try not you want to create a flow. If the first pass is a forehand to the right side of the field, so should the to slow your absolute speed too much). Since you second and third passes be. As a cutter for the know you'll be changing directions, you can control second .pass, you should time your cut so that you your body position better than your defender ~n, will be entering the open area just after the first and you can open a lot of ground in your first k ,w cutter has caught it, landed, and is looking upfield. steps while the defender is adjusting. Another long You should begin your actual cut as the disc is in the cut is just a long clear. After you throw a pass, and air to the first cutter. This will give you a chance to especially after you throw a dump that the marker makes an effort .t o bloek, if you immediately sprint see whE're the disc is going, whether there will be a play on the disc, and whether there will be a mark. downfield, the marker will be significantly behind.

If you wait for the person to catch it and set a pivot So if you're on one sideline, dump it to the middle, before you start your yardage-gaining cut, you're you can sprint straight down the sideline and flare toward the middle and frequently be open. Often, losing the benefits of flow.

You can learn a lot about how to cut by watching another defender will pick you up, but if your teamthe more advanced players, especially the ones who mates are aware of this, the poached off man can don't seem to be as physically gifted. Unless you are gain a lot of easy yardage. They should be clearing much faster than your defender, you will have to do out the deep area for any long cutters, though some type of fake to get open. Perhaps the simplest (remember the poaching tip). Another good time to is the head fake. As you are standing, simply move cut deep is immediately after a turnover before the your head in one direction as if you're starting to other team realizes it's a turnover.

You can also make a cut by changing speeds move in that direction, then immediately sprint in the opposite direction. This works best on short cuts. without changing directions. You will often lull the Perhaps the next simplest fake is to run hard for defender into thinking that you're clogging, and three or four steps in one direction, then reverse then when you break suddenly, he won't be ready to directions. You can also take two steps in one direc- break at the same time. tion, reverse yourself for two steps, then head in the

Ozone Aware of Team Sponsorship

by Julie Halpern Ozone, Atlanta women's ultimate, received sponsorship for the World Club Championships from a new sportswear catalog, Ozone Aware.

Ozone Aware was started by Wendy Heather, an Australian fashion designer, who wanted to address, through her new clothing line, the many environmental issues linked to ozone depletion.

Her UV-protective clothing is for people who love to be out of doors, but are concerned about issues like ozone depletion, global warming, and acid rain, and who are taking their own kind of action to bring about change.

Ozone Aware features messages that convey the critical role the ozone layer plays in protecting life on Earth, and is endorsed by the Ozone Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to solving the problem of the depletion of the ozone layer. A portion of the sales are donated ta further their research and educational efforts.

Ozone the ultimate team learned about Ozone Aware when a member of our team received a catalog in the mail. We saw this as a perfect opportunity, a clothing catalog bearing our name!

With messages on the clothing such as, ''No Ozone No Fun!" and "Ozone Aware!" We liked that. So we made a few calls and mailed information to Joel Stander, and within two weeks we received shirts, hats, and sweatshirts from Ozone Aware. Joel's interest in and enthusiasm for ultimate and sponsoring our team was encouraging.

Throughout the week ,at Millfield College we received numerous compliments for our Ozone Aware shirts and hats. Many players wanted to trade, but few of our members were willing to part with these items. So for anyone, whether or not you were at Worlds, who may be interested in receiving a catalog, you can get one by calling 1 800 293-5985.

The members of Ozone, Atlanta women's ultimate, would like to thank Joel and Ozone Aware for their support at the 1995 World Ultimate Club Championships at Millfield College in England.

We appreciate the interest in women's ultimate and the generous donations we received!

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I~J..YINf- J)JS(~ (~IIJl)JJ•IttNSII Overall Competition $15,000 Prize Money

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FOR INFORMATION: The Wright life 200 linden Ft. Collins, CO 80524 (970) 484-6932 • f

CHALLENGE YOURSELF - JULY 24-28 Individual competition in: Accuracy, Discathon, Self-Caught Flight, Distance and Golf Double Dis.c Court, Freestyle U.S. vs. International Ultimate & Guts on Finals D

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

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1'DE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Division Ill Sectionals, North Cal Juniors Division

Northeast Open Regionals

by Dave 'Mo' Moscoe October 7, 1995 at Roble fields on the Stanford After pool games players retired to the shade and University campus in Palo Alto, California, marked a enjoyed the sub sandwich and soda pop lunch provided big day in local high school ultimate history. Last year by the tourney. Serra High had run out of time and had five schools attended the Northern California Juniors' to leave, setting up the following format: the top four Sectional Championships. This, the second annual teams would play semis for a bid at winning the chamNCJSC, drew nine Bay Area Division III teams, a pionship plaque, while the other four teams played for significant increase. fmishing standings. In the consolation bracket El CerThe teams were broken into two pools: Pool A- El rito just got by the Kool Katz of San Lorenzo, while in Cerrito, Davis, Palo Alto, Serra, Hotel Kick-ass; Pool the Davis vs. Menlo game it was Davis.

B - Bellarmine, Menlo, San Lorenzo Valley, San In the championship semis, San Mateo fell to Hotel Mateo. Because time was a limiting factor, there were Kick-ass, and Palo Alto lost to Bellarmine. The game three rounds. This enabled all teams in pool B to play for third place was San Mateo vs. Palo Alto, a neighone another, while in Pool A some matchups didn't take borhood rivalry ending with a score of the "Matty-0" place. Teams were ranked as follows: Jokers of San Mateo 13, Palo Alto 4. a5) Serra (0-8), a4) El Cerrito (0-2), aS) Davis (2-1), The championship game saw both undefeated a2) Palo Alto (2-0), a1) Hotel Kick-ass (2-0) teams play for the trophy. Though hard fought, with b4) Menlo (0-8), b3) San Lorenzo Valley (1-2), b2) plenty of layouts on 0 and D, the raw talent, height and edgy psyche of Bellarmine wasn't enough. Hotel San Mateo (2-1), bl) Bellarmine (3-0).

Kick-ass provided no room service, in fact there was a "No Vacancy" sign as the final score was 15-0.

Thank yous and kudos to the Coaches who help make an event like this possible: SLV, Will "X" Winkler; Serra, Eric Platt; Davis, Brad Norton; El Cerrito, John Fike; San Mateo, Miguel Appleman.

An especially loud round of applause for Bill Layden, whose hard work as Sectional Coordinator and this event's tourney director are paying off. Think about including a high school bracket in your next event.

by Lee Tonu.zi Regionals competition involved a last minute 20 team format that included a number of upsets in pool play at Albany's Windhover Fields. Pool A saw Cojones advance persuasively, with Vertebrates upsetting second-seeded Nathan's Hotdog in an excellent display of top notch NE ultimate. Pool B sent Death or Glory to day two, weathering a tight game against Y ungai@aol.com, with plenty of tongue-in-cheek mock arguments on calls. In addition, Pool B witnessed the upset ofYungai@aol.com by underestimated and administrative-logistics nightmare, PAM, out of Toronto, Canada.

Needless to say, after this close and unexpected defeat, issue was taken to the validity of advancing a team which was ultimately ineligible for a Nationals spot.

After discussion with Eric Simon of the UPA, it was decided to let the eight advancing team captains decide by simple majority vote. With Kenny Dobyns' poetic casting of a piece of cheese as his.vote, it was decided to let PAM advance, but deny them a spot at Nationals, with concession to their opponent in the game-to-go.

Any precedent set by this move is dubious at best, as this only acted as a temporary patch for the UPA's lack of a clear policy in such a circumstance.

Getting back to pool play... Pool C sent Sausage Cart as expected, and saw another upset in Fuchsia Shock over Red Tide, with the game extending into dusk, requiring a neon disc to finish play. And finally Pool D sent a stream-lined Cornell Buds into day two with second-seeded Blood hot on their peace pipes.

The weather on day two was almost as deranged as the tournament format. Double-elimination play battled bouts of hurricane-like gusts, rain, cold, and sunshine, all within of10 minutes of play - no joke. When the haze all cleared, the stage was set for the perennial Cojones vs. DoG showdown for the one-two spots, and also a Cornell Buds vs. Sausage Cart fmale for the third spot. From afar, the Cojones vs. DoG battle was a surprising romp by Cojones to a 17-6 final. The suspense may have been absent, but the level of play was spectacular as always. Across the way, the Cornell Buds vs. Sausage Cart dog fight kept close early on.

Casting a shadow of last year's Cornell Buds vs. Ma Huang battle, Cornell's squad was the same minus some extra baggage (dooh!), and Sausage Cart brandished some Huang alumni. Cornell took the half at 9-6, and took the third spot berth at 17-14, despite a last-ditch comeback by Sausage Cart.

In Division II play on the next weekend, 20 teams came out, but after some of the worst weather in Ultimate recorded history (i.e. hail, bone-chilling40F, and poor visibility from the sheets of rain), Srd round pool play was discontinued until day two. On day two, only eight of 20 teams showed up (don't blame 'em after day one), and play continued according to day one seedings with minor adjustments. After the dust settled, RPI lost to Boston College in a very close ana hotly contested game, and Columbia Univ. could not match the experience of BreatheRite. A rested BC met BreatheRite in the finals, and took the game rather convincingly to become the Division II Regional champs. The upcoming Spring bodes well for competitive College ultimate.

SUPPORT JUNIORS' ULTIMATE.

THE ULTIMATE TEACHING PACKAGE For starting a juniors team a juniors program or introducing Ultimate to schools Video • Teaching Curriculm • Tips on Starting a High School Team • Discs • Skills and Drills n1anual • and more! see Ultimate Stuff ad on page 2 7 for info

All U.S. Juniors Interested in Competing at Worlds Read This Any Juniors player born in 1978 or later who is interested in playing for the U.S. team in Joenkoeping, Sweden (about 150 miles southwest of Stockholm) from August 10-18, 1996 should send a letter of interest by March 1, 1996 to: Andrew Borinstein 838 West End Avenue, #11D New York, N.Y. 10025 An application will be sent out to all interested players by March 15, 1996. This application will be due by April 15th. The team will be selected

by May 15th. Any questions, please do so by email, 74151,1330@compuserve.com.

CLAMBAKE '95

photos by

Jeff Clarke

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Page 11

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CENTRAL REGIONALS NORTHWEST PLAINS SECTIONALS Minneapolis, MN * Madison., WI Top left: Buddha vs. Madison in the Northwest Plains Sectional Championship finals.

Top middle and right: Madison vs. Foosiers at Central Regional Championships.

Bottom: Matt Foster gets horizontal for the catch during the Foosiers vs. Buddha game at the Central Regional Championships. Photos by Andrew Reineman.

NORTHWEST REGIONALS

olympia WASHINGTON STATE SECTIONAL$ WA

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Top left Pete Bamouw of Sockeye makes a spectacular diving block with a catch vs. Mike Wing of Rhino dunng semifinal action at Northwest Regionals.

Bottom left MF of Furious George vs. Danny Radomsky of Kodiak at the Washington Sectionals.

Right Evan Woods of Furious George makes a diving block attempt vs. Jo of San Francisco at NorttwleSt Regionals. ,

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Volume 15 Number 5 â&#x20AC;˘ December 1995

Page 12

Northwest Women's Division Regionals

by Diane Pagel 'Twas the night before Regionals, and all through waited for Eugene, who had somehow forgot they adSeattle, vanced to the playoff bracket and had gone to the Not a player was stirring, they all headed south. consolation fields. VJ.rUS won that match, 11-5, and The fields were lined by volunteers with care then met the Townies, who had the winning cure, 13-3.

In hopes that St. Hellos soon would be there.

In the game to compete for second, the Townies and The players were bucking and diving for D's, Schwa battled it out. It was a point for point game with While visions of Nationals danced in their beans. lead changes, and in the end, the young California And Poochie at F.C. and I off to'play, women pulled an upset over the Portland veterans We had just settled down for a rigorous day, team, 14-12, to advance to the fmal round.

When out on the field there rose such a clatter, The Townies came out strong and slapped on a early Phat City sprang from the Bay to give Verge a battle.... zone against Verge. The game was close, and both

The First Northwest Regionals were held in Lacey, WA on Oct. 14-15. The weather was much more conducive this time than the last Regionals in North Bend.

This time, we had sun and more sun. The disc gods must like us as prior it was wet, windy and cold. But bright and early on Saturday, the sun was giving its best.

Sixteen women's teams were in attendance, with two being masters. The Big Sky and Oregon sent three teams, Northern California sent four, and Washington (Seattle) sent a record six teams. Pool A had Verge, Eugene, Tomatoes and Old Pros (SF Masters). Pool B was Schwa, Priscilla Queen of the Disc, Stumpie Joe and The Outlaw (Seattle Masters). Pool C consisted of Phat City, Fann, Sol Sistas and See Jane. Pool D had Salt Lake Virus, Townies, W asabi and Snatch. Rumor had it that there were four teams were in favor of contention for the two National spots.

After Saturday pool play, the top eight teams poised themselves for quarters. Verge met Stumpie Joe, advancing handedly with a 13-0 victory, while Townies won over Farm 13-4. Phat City defeated Virus, 18-1, and Schwa beat their sister state team Eugene, 18-2.

The Master teams had a long two-hour battle of point swaps, in which the Old Pros prevailed, 1311. It was a long and tough game and when it was over both teams were very tired and ready to win the party.

On Sunday the top four teams were matched for seeding. Verge and the Townies battled it out, with the Verge winning, 15-10, while Phat City beat Schwa 15-12.

The big game was first was now set. It was a long battle, with awesome playing from both teams. But in the end, Phat city prevailed, pulling ahead 15-13.

This sent the Verge in the second place format. It would be a long day for them waiting to see who would be their match for the second place game and the final bid to Nationals.

Farm beat Stumpie Joe, 13-5, to advance a notch, but then got knocked out by Schwa, 13-3.

Meanwhile, Virus patiently

teams exhibited great layout blocks and sweet layout catches. The crowd roared in approval of the awesome women's play, impressed with the relentless defense and the oontinuallayouts. Though they heckled from time to time on a some questionable calls. After a controversial endzone foul call, which drew jeers from the crowd, the tide seemed to turn. The Townies momentum was broken and Verge pulled away with a 16-12 win, earning the second Northwest spot to the National Championships.

In the Prize Pool, Sol Sistas rallied and beat the Tomatoes in the fmals to win a box of goodies. These gals looked great all weekend and had some of the best spirit around. The Spirit Award went to Montana, who showed up with a smaU team, played hard and did fantastic, especially oonsidering they are from all over Montana and have no formal practice. They're tough.

As is all the Northwest!

RickCoHins

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

San Di~go Takes Open; Beyondors Take Masters byJDLobue The fi.r st Southwest Regionals took place in San Diego Oct. 14-15, and much to my surprise, everything went relatively smoothly. The weather was foggy but cool, and everywhere people seemed to be ready to engage in pool play. In the Masters Division, the Beyondors were again back to undertake their commitment to a soaring offensive. The Burbank masters were ready. "Pop" from Tucson wasn't going to be walked on, and the Long Beach squad had been working up to this point. They did a round robin to see who would match up in semis on Sunday.

Sunday the Masters matched up with the Beyondors playing Pop. Although the desert team attempted to show the old Condors how it's done, the near extinct bird had a bit more soaring to do. The other semi between Long Beach and their cross-town rivals, Burbank, proved to be a showdown of masterful skill. After some talented performances by both teams, Long Beach was victorious. In the finals, SB prevailed and earned the SW Masters Division spot to Nationals.

The Open consisted of four pools of four, with Boulder and San Diego being the two favorites. Albuquerque was the top seed out of the desert section, and L.A. took the #4 spot in the tourney. With only the top two from each pool advancing to quarterfinals on Sunday, Saturday's pool play was guaranteed to make or break a team's hopes of going to the big show.

Boulder and San Diego easily won their pools. I don't think any team scored more than three or four points against them. At this point I was wondering if any team besides themselves would give them a fight. The other two pools were much closer and much more competitive. Santa Barbara, the 6th seed, upset Albuquerque in a tough and brutal battle 15-13, taking the #3 seed for quarterfinals. L.A. was able to hold off Phoenix 15-11. Boulder took the# 1 seed into quarterfinals, with San Diego, Santa Barbara and L.A. being #2, #3 and #4 respectively. Everything was set for Sunday.

In the quarterfinals, #1 Boulder faced #8 Breckenridge, which proved to be one of the best-spirited games of the day. Boulder took that game and looked to play the winner of the #4 and #5 seed quarter. Thank you Breckenridge for attending. Congrats on making it to quarters. You guys played HOTTA. Second seed San Diego faced #7 West L.A, which proved to be an easy warm-up for S.D., who would play the winner of the #3 vs. 116 seed matchup. Santa Barbara and Phoenix, facing elimination, did everything they could to win, and when the wind finally picked up, the Condors soared into the semis 15-18. Almost identical matches, the L.A. vs. Albuquerque quarterfinal ended with the same 15-18 score. L.A. pulled it out. â&#x20AC;˘ With the wind picking up, scoring upwind in the semis was going to take precision passing and short crispy cuts. San Diego faced Santa Barbara and Boulder faced L.A.. I wish I could say that L.A. played Boulder tough, but there were too many calls that inhibited really good ultimate to say that anyone got the ability to get in a groove. There's not much more to say except that the Ultimate Spirit took a hiatus during this game. Boulder won at the cap, 14-12~ In the other semifinal, San Diego faced a young Santa Barbara team that played well. The wind was strong and both teams rarely scored upwind. San Diego pulled it out as expected. The wind was becoming stronger. Whoever scored upwind the most was going to win this tournament.

Boulder was determined to make it to Nationals for the second year in a row, but the new and improved San Diego, maximized with all five of its out-of-region pickups, was not going to lie down. Boulder was going to have to defend one of the best set offenses in the nation.

Coming off an ugly semi against L.A., Boulder tried to intimidate San Diego, but the experienced team would have none of that. Both teams exploited the huck downwind, and scored relatively easily. Upwind was the test. Boulder was working the disc well, but San Diego, with its ever-present poachers, snacked on many easy D's. Both teams worked the disc upwind better than they had in semis. With San Diego going downwind and only having to score one more goal for the victory, Jim "Daddy" caught an easy pass in the endzone, looked over at me as I was picking up the cones on the adjacent field and said, "We're going, baby." And that was it. Congratulations Boulder, you have a good team attitude. I wish other teams would follow your hard work. San Diego - good luck at Nationals.

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Page 18

Verge Beats Phat, Fann at First I AM WOMAN T.o urney UPA SANCTIONED EVENTS Feb3-4,199614th Annual New Year Fest, Tempe, AZ. Tina at hatch@indirect.com or Eric at 602491aon ewerne@alt1.kyrene.k12.az.us.

Feb 3, 1996 (tent) Live, Freeze or Die Tourney, site TBA. Contact David Doughan 603431-2662.

Feb 17-18. Presidential Plastic Hatter, Melbourne, FL. Coed hat tourney. David 407-242-0020.

Feb 24-25, 1996. Mud Bowl XV. Birmingham, AL. See ad on this page. • • • • Feb 24-25, 1996. Maui Ultimate Hat Draw, Maui, HI. See ad on this page.

March 29-31. 19th Annual Fools Fest, Fredricksburg VA. See ad on this page. • • • •

***** *** ***

I

by Maria Langlais As the dancing girls in short skirts took the field, men watched, waited, and hoped, but were ultimately denied. This was a women's show after all.

The First Annual I AM WOMAN tournament was · an exhibition of st're~gth, sass, and spirit. Eight teams, from B.C., Beattie and the Bay area, attended the inaugural event, held Augilst 26-27 at scenic Magnuson Park in Seattle. ·

* ****

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Other Events Jan 20-21. 1996 3rd Annual Jan nus Jubilee, Tampa, FL. Mike or Butch 813-972-9414.

Jan 27-28. 7 Little Idiots, GA. Stick 404-881-141 0.

Feb 3-4. Orlando Tourney. Matt 407-331-3723. · Feb 17-18. 1996 9th Annual Mardi Gras Classic, Baton Rouge, LA. Peter Haynes 504-274-1763.

March 2-3. Frostbreaker, Gainesville, FL. Skool 904-332-3807.

Sean Ryan Memorial Holiday Classic In what has become a traditional early season preview of the upcoming Collegiate Ultimate season, the UC Santa Cruz Slug Ultimate teams put on another great tournament. Virtually every competitive team on the west coast showed up to check out the competition as well as their own teams. In the end, Stanford picked up the trophies by putting 3 of the 4 teams in the fmals. Stanford women split into two teams and ended up playing an intra-squad game for the finals. The men's team won a close ga.Il!e against UC Santa Barbara "X" in the semis before easily handling Cal Poly SLO in the finals 14-8.

The tournament was held in honor of the former Slug Ultimate defensive captain, Sean Ryan, who tragically was killed while attempting to perform a heroic rescue on Mount Rainier. Sean was a Mount Rainier Park Ranger and skilled in climbing as well as Ultimate. He was a member of Slug Ultimate from 1991-1995 and was an inspiration to teammates as well as opponents. Soft spoken, easy going and intense in the field, he was inspirational to the end.

The tournament itself found beautiful weather with early morning fog. It also found some shaking up in the ranks. Last year's Slug men's and women's teams are reformed and looking at a rebuilding year, as are former Nationals teams Las Positas College, Oregon men and UC Santa Barbara Burning Skirts.

Upstarts Oregon State and Cal Poly SLO look forward to a strong year with impressive victories throughout the weekend. One team that was particularly strong was UC Davis. The men came in second in pool play while the women fmished with a clean record on S~turday with a victory over eventual champs Stanford "X". Unfortunately for them, conflicts arose and they forfeited their games on Sunday.

Flying in for their tournament debut was Phat City. Shut down at Solstice, Phat got their money's worth at this all-woman venue. They lost two hardfought, though hardly close, games against Verge, a cross:-Over on Saturday and the final Sunday. The Canadian National Champs, Guests of Oprah, also gave Phat a good run but fell short of beating the talented Californians. The game of the weekend, however, was the Farm vs. Phat semifinal. Farm, the young Seattle squad in a performance reminiscent of the Whirled Peas, used grit, athleticism, and positive psyche to battle Phat in a point for point game. Point for point, that is, until they lost a controversial score dispute more than halfway through. Phat capitalized on the confusion and scored five in a row, showing that a cool head will take you further than the fastest pair of 22-year-old legs.

The tournament trophy was awarded to Snatch, Seattle's .all-lesbian/hi team. In celebration, of the 75th anniversary of women earning the right to vote, players voted for the I AM WOMAN winner.

Snatch came to the polls in force and walked home with a stunning trophy that would make Helen Reddy proud.

I AM WOMAN was the result of a coopera~ve effort by all the Seattle women's teams- Jane, Farm, Tomatoes, Verge, and Snatch. Thanks for all your work. The food was incredible and the fields spotless. Of course, behind every great woman is a man trying to get in on the action. Huge thanks go to Jonny G, the hostess with the mostess, and to DRC who as a last minute replacement for Courtney Love provided music for our dancing pleasure. Thanks also to our generous sponsors: Touchstone Bakery, Essential Baking Company, B&O Espresso, Zeek's Pizza, and Olympic Hot Tubs.

MAUl HAT DRAW TOURNAMENT February 24-25, 1996 $45 registration fee includes shirt, Sat/Sun field food, -Sat night party w/ band, beer and dinn~r Register early, .only room for 200 players. To register, send registration fee to address below and include the following: Name and address • height, shirt size • sex • SSN Playing Ability (1-5) • UPA Status (member or not) • For further info, call Lee Feldscher 808-667~2807, Sharon Faulkner 808-5725524, Charles Shaffer 800-359-6694, or write to HULAMAUl, PO Box 434, Kula, HI 96790, or summit@aloha.net.

MUD BOWL XV February ~3-24, 1996 Three Divisions: Elite, Open, and Women's. Minimum $2500 prize money. Bids must be submitted by January 15, 1996. Bids will be awarded February 1st.

Mail bids along with $150 entry fee payable to Birmingham Ultimate Disc Association (BUDA) to: Sean Cullen 835 Sherwood Forest Drive Birmingham, AL 35235 For more info, contact Todd Clark 205-823-5206 Sean Cullen 205-833-3124 BUDA Hotline 205-328-2832

At Victoria's Pumpkin Pull byMo The game we know as Ultimate the hungry athlete's meatThe defense's appetite wants plastic discs to eat.

Gallons of fluid we consume, gallons, through sweat, we excreteWhile the players' pulses pounding you can almost hear the beat.

The 'D' is in your pocket you sense the body heatThe game is capped, "the next one wins" a goal would sure be sweetThe disc is up, it's on the way you'll have to leave your feetThe spectators gawk and see the bottoms of four cleats.

The wind or rain could play a part and spell your team's defeatThe cone is at your shoulder neither '0' nor 'D' retreatBut look out, there's a poacher we're all on the edge of our seats!

Three pairs of hands reach for the disc will it be complete?

The question lingering in Pumpkin Pull air TRICK? or TREAT!

LOOK HERE, FOOL! lfs time once again to summon your creative powers and submit a bid for the 19th Annual April Fools Fest, sponsored by the Washington Area Frisbee Club (WAFC). This tournament wil be a UPA-sanctioned, 5-star event Twenty-four open teams and twelve YJOmen's teams will be selected for the tournament, which will take place on March 29, 30 & 31 (Fri.- Sun.), 1996, at John Lee Pratt Park in Fredricksburg, VA.

BIDS••• ... must be received by WAFC (i.e., "in our hands") no tater than WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14. Teams will be notified of their status no later than Friday, February 23. ...should include team name, contact, address, phone/fax, email address, and a check for $125 made out to WAFC. ... must be "creative." Use your imagination (not necessarily your wallet) to come up with something funny, stylish, eccentric, unique, etc. Please, NO BRIBES (we · still haven't finished drinking last year's bribes). Help· ful Hint #1: Tearn involvement helps and shows us the level of psyche among your entire group. Don't let all the work fall on one person. Helpfu I Hint #2: If your entire bid can fit on a single sheet of looseleaf paper, that's probably a bad sign. Helpful Hint#3: A little bit of seltzer water will take most stains out of a silk tie.

Mail bids to; WAFC, 1210 No. Taft St, Suite 907,.~rlington, VA 22201 .

For more information, contact Chris at (703) 532-6858 or Steven at (703) 243-2160 l

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Pap14

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

The 1995 UPA Nationals, held at the Ballard Polo Fields in Shelby, Alabama on November 2-5, looked to be the most wide-open of its kind in years, with several teams in both the Open and Women's Divisions with realistic chances at the title. The distant cities of Boston, Massachusetts and Seattle, Washington, however, had their own ideas, monopolizing both finals; in the end, the Northeast would prove twice triumphant over the Northwest.

Defending champs Death or Glory routed Sockeye in the Open Division, 21-1 0, following the lead of their cross-town friends Lady Godiva, who earlier had rolled over Women on the Verge, 19-9, for their first Women's title since 1991.

Thursday, November 2nd It was just ninety minutes before the start of Nationals '95, but the mood at the Waffle House in Binningham was, at best, subdued. The restaurant was swamped ·with Ultimate players and staff, all of whom had been excited upon their arrival a day earlier. But this morning, most of the electricity in the air was ~outside, in the ominous form of lightning- what few flashes were visible through the torrential downpour, an}'Way. If conditions remained simi/Jar at the field site, some 20 miles farther south, play would be difficult if not impossible.

Fortunately, by game time, the severity of the weather had lessened significantly. Rain still fell steadily throughout the first round (stopping by the afternoon), but the wind had decreased and the lightning had disappeared. The fields themselves, except for a few isolated areas, drained exceptionally well, so playing conditions, while not ideal, were not as bad as they looked to be over breakfast, with the mud confined mostly to the access road and parking areas.

Glory, Glory- Hallelujah!

by Mark Dixon Pool B \Yent as expected in the first round. Second-seeded Death or Glory commenced their title defense with a 19-11 win over fourth seed Chain Lightning, while San Diego defeated Lemon, the first Ohio team in any division to make Nationals, 19-13. The Cincinnati squad, seeded sixth, led 7-4 before no. 3 San Diego scored nine of the next 1 0 to take command.

The best opening match up in the B pool was betvJeen top seed Double Happiness and no. 5 Ring of Fire. In the latest battle of fierce rivals, Ring led throughout the first half en route to a 10-8 lead at the break. But DH carne back at the start of the second to take the lead, then held off Ring to claim a 19-17 thriller. This set up one of the most anticipated games of the weekend: world champion Double vs. national champ DoG, to decide the top two spots in the pool.

Double took the opening pull and scored; little did anyone realize it would be their only lead of the game. After a close first half, Boston maintained a two to four point margin the rest of the way, eventually winning 19-15 and gaining some revenge for their defeat in jolly olde England. Meanwhile, San Diego kept pace with DoG, winning 19-14 over Ring of Fire, while Chain rebounded to beat Lemon by the same score.

Opening round in Pool A featured the first upset of the Open Division, which completely rewrote the rankings. Chicago's Z, seeded second, faced fourth-seeded Seattle Sockeye. Although Sockeye was making their first appearance as a group, several players boasted extensive Nationals experience, most notably Jon Gewirtz of NY fame, Eric Kehoe from Boston, and ex-Windy City standout Chris Van Holmes, here pitted against the descendants of his former team. Though Z had made the semis of the Rick Collins Tune-Up, some questioned their lofty pool status. Sockeye The Central champs now faced an early must-win game against top provided an immediate and resounding answer, roaring to a 10-3 seed Cojones, 19-7 winners over no. 5 Miami in the first round. But the halftime bulge and never looking back on the way to a 19-1 0 rout New Yorkers must have swiped crib sheets from Seattle (or maybe not,

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Unlike the Open bracket, the Women's Division featured little drama on Thursday; only three times in 12 games did the losers even crack double digits (none closer than four points). Also, only one game failed to follow seeding- but that one upset, as on the Open side, would wreak all sorts of havoc on the Pool C standings.

On paper, the Phat City/Philly Peppers game appeared to be a mismatch; Phat was top seed in the division, having taken first in the hotly contested Northwest, while Philly was the only women's wild card. The fifthseeded Peppers also hailed from a region, the Mid-Atlantic, that although deep in number of teams, was widely considered the weakest.

Looking beneath the surface, however, revealed the potential for an upset Phat City, who had evolved from the great Felix and Maine-iac squads that between them had won the last three Nationals, had lost a number of key players from those teams, replacing them with younger women as yet untested at this level; most of the remaining veterans VJere entering the latter stages of their great careers. Philly, on the other hand, had added some depth while returning most of a roster that had run away with last year's women's masters championship.

Indeed, the Peppers ran off to a 5-1 lead, only to see Phat City come back to tie. But

Cindy Fisher

Philly got four of the next five to lead at half, 9-6, then scored two quick ones to extend their lead to five. The two traded a pair of goals before the NW champs, behind 13-8, showed their heart and began their last big run, registering three easy scores. Then with the wind at their backs, they were given at least four golden chances to pull within one. But they couldn't convert, and finally Philly ended the run on a great, long upwind huck by Melissa Ditz to a streaking Kathy Airey. The Mid-Atlantic women took the next two to lead 16-11 , eventually winning 17-13 just the beginning of what would prove to be three strange days in Pool C. The truth of that was immediately seen, as the trends set in that game didn't carry over to the next round at all.

Phat City was now faced with the daunting prospect of having to beat second-seeded Ozone, 17-8 winners over no. 4 Mischief in their first game, just to stay alive. The game

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

having their own Cribber), as they too easily solved their Chicago test- by the same margins: 10-3 at half, 19-1 0 finaf- ending Z's tournament hopes after one day.

The other first round game in Pool A featured bNo teams with a number of current and/or recent college players. Their reputations, however, could hardly have been more different The third-seeded Port City Slickers arrived in Alabama atop a tidal wave of controversy. The net had been buzzing with outrage after reports of flagrant disrespect, if not total disdain, for the rules in general and Spirit in particular- en route to the Mid-Atlantic title.

PCS came in determined to show they could win here without resorting to the tactics of which they had been accused. In dramatic contrast to the "bad boys" from Carolina stood no. 6 Cornell long known as premier examples of SOTG. As usual, mere virtue couldn't combat superior talent, as Port City demolished the Ivy Leaguers, 19-5, in a game without incident. That, however, would soon change.

Volume 15 Number 5 â&#x20AC;˘ December 1995

Page 15

with a rough shove, and Brian retaliated with a spike that narrowly missed the Refugee's feet That exchange earned the bNo the dubious honor of the first yellow cards in Nationals history, an experimental measure narrowly approved by the captains the night before.

The cards (bNo yellows or one red in a single game meant ejection; three cards of any color, expulsion from the tournament) seemed to work, as play settled down while PCS finished off Miami 19-12.

Though initially upset, both captains, Kevin from Port City and Kurt from Miami, agreed later that the system did indeed work (the yellow card may have influenced Brian

Cindy Fisher

New York teammates Jonny G. and Kenny D. with their new teams, both 2-0, wrestling for command ofthe A pool.

Friday, November 3rd The Slickers' next faced the Miami Refugees, a team also not known as shrinking violets. PCS was up early in the second half when tempers overflowed. An in-your-face flourish after a score by Port City's Brian Linkfield got too close, brushing the Miami defender's chin. He responded

positively as well, as he kept cool the rest of the weekend and had a fine Nationals).

Sockeye, meanwhile, topped Cornell19-11, to set up a Friday morning showdown with Cojones- long-time

started close, as expected, with Phat clinging to a 6-5 lead; the Southern champs then inexplicably fell apart, failing to score on 17 straight possessions, as the Californians scored eight straight goals on their way to a shocking 17-7 rout.

Meanwhile, Philly was riding major momentum in their game with no. 3 seed Nemesis II, who had also won their first round 17-8 (against 6th-seed Whak. who went on to lose 17-6 to Mischief). Perhaps the Peppers were overconfident, as they never seriously . challenged the Central champs, falling 17-8. Or was Nemesis, the only 2-0 team after the day, that good?

With four teams right behind them at 1-1, Friday's play could either answer that question, or confuse things in the C pool even further.

continued on page 16

had been terrorizing the East Coast all season. For the first half, at least, the game lived up to its billing.

Verge held the early three goal edge, but Godiva slowly but surely came back, finally taking their first lead at halftime point, 9-8. At 10-8 came the play of the day, if not the tournament, as the amazing Molly Goodwin pulled off a full-layout Greatest just above the turf for a phenomenal goal. Lady Godiva then scored two more, for a total run of six straight, before Seattle could answer with a goal of their own. It was too little, too late, however, as the efficient Bostonians (who committed just TEN turnovers in the game - an outstanding 63% ratio) finished a big 17-11 victory and established themselves as the favorites to win it all. continued on page 18

At least Pool D held form; the higher seeds 'NOn every game, most of them easily. Top seed Lady Godiva beat no. 5 Hucksters 17-5, while second seed Women on the Verge topped Lucy 17-6. Firsttime qualifier L.A. Flygirls, seeded third, made their first day at Nationals a good one, defeating sixth-seed Jane Air, 17-8, then downing the Hucksters by the same score. Fourth seed Lucy rebounded to ground Jane Air (first-ever Nationals team from Minnesota in any division), 17-13.

The best match in the D pool, as expected, was Godiva/Verge. The Seattle women came to Alabama hoping to stage a repeat of their triumph at Worlds, but Lady Godiva (who hadn't made the trip to England) Rick Collins

Port City and San Diego came into Friday 2-0, thanks to the "easy" first day schedule for the third seeds; it was now time to separate contenders from pretenders.

Against Death or Glory, San Diego fought back from several three goal deficits to tie at 9-all, and had a chance

Page16

to take their first lead at half, but failed to convert Pulling to start the second, DoG blocked San Diego's first pass on goal-line layou1s - not once, not twice, but three straight times - converting all three for easy goals and a four-point lead. The Mountain/Beach champs managed three sbaight of their own, but never could get the equalizer, as Boston pulled away to a tough 19-16 win.

Now 3-0, DoG needed but one win to win the pool; they got it quickly with a 19-7 squashing of overmatched Lemon (who had given Ring of Fire a tough time in the morning round before falling 19-14). That left Double Happiness, 19-13 winners over Chain Lightning in their first game of the day, to fight for second with San Diego.

Although both California teams were 2-1, only DH could clinch ~nd with a victory. In addition to beating Double, San. Otego needed a win over Chain (busy beating Ring of F1re 19-12) on Saturday to make semis.

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATIO

Add golden opportunities blown by each side mix in fal6ng temperatures and blustery cond~ tions, then top it off with the time cap, and when Sockeye finally ended the marathon point, again beating the zone, Cojones was all but beaten.

The difference between what was (down 13-9 cap at 15), and what might have been (12-1 0, cap at 14) was too huge for the New Yorkers to overcome; Seattle won 15-1 0, putting Cojones in a sudden must-win situation against the surging Slickers.

Barring a fourth-round Miami upset of Sockeye, Cojones had to win to keep their semifinal hopes alive. Port City, on the other hand, would make semis with a win, but would not be out if they lost (though the smaller the margin, the greater their chances). The young Slickers stayed right with the veteran New Yorkers through most of the first halt, the score was tied as late as 1-;· before Cojones tallied three straight.

After scoring the first goal of the second half to pull within two, however, Port City's relative inexperience caught up with them. With Cojones outscoring them 9-2 the rest of way, the 19-1 0 final bloated their point differential going into Saturday's game with Sockeye. Seattle · meanwhile, beat the Refugees by a deceptively close 19-15 score to go 4-0.

Saturday Pool Play In Pool 8, Happiness continued to shine, whipping Lemon 19-7. Perhaps looking ahead a bit, DoG trailed the enigmatic Ring of Fire at half, but . . came back to win 16-13 and go 5-0. (Who can Rtck Colltns fagure Ring? They lost to the two top teams by a ~ocke_ye hadn't c!inched semis, ·but needed only to combined 5 goals, yet fell to nos. 3 and 4 by a total of 12.)

Speaking of nos. 3 and 4, underdog Chain Lightning avotd losmg to the Slickers by seven or more to make it. led almost the entire way against San Diego, including a Finalizing the matchups was a touch more complicated.

S~e was. plus 5, their margin over Cojones, while Port 16-13 lead. But after committing 10 straight turnovers, City was mmus 9 after their second half collapse to the they were down 17-16 as the cap went on - then scored the next three to pull the upset, 19-17. Their comeback New York bunch (who were plus 4). Sockeye would take first - and meet regional rival DH - with a victory OR gav~ them ~ 3-2. record, their best ever showing at Nat1onals- m the1r 1Oth appearance (it also marked the a loss by one; a two to six point defeat would give them best performance by a Southern open team since the Sky second, and a date with a DoG. Port City's only chance Pilots ~ade semis in 1983). After winning their first two, after Cojones' win, was to beat Sockeye by a touchdown: It didn't look good early for the Slickers as the teams San D1ego dropped the last three to finish fourth.

In the A pool only one thing was certain: Cornell would traded goals, albeit two at a time. Port City scored the first finish sixth. Battling for fourth, Miami and Z were tied at two, onlr to see Seattle tie; PCS up 4-2, tied 4-all; PCS Uf? 6-4, tied 6-all... and so on for the entire half. However, seven and traded goals to the end. With the game deadwith the Slickers up 10-8, they got the first two goals of locked at 14, cap at 15, the Refugees got first crack atthe the second half, making their lead four - and a sevenwinner and took advantage, sealing a miserable weekend point victory seemed less far-fetched. for the Central region. With just one win between them, It started close, but didn't stay that way for long. After this was their worst Open showing since the expansion But as against Cojones, Port City's inexperience came trading goals to 4-4, Double Happiness notched the last to 10 teams in '82. back to haunt them. An ill-advised huck cost them a six goals of the half to break it open, and the rout was on. chance to go up five; then, up 12-9 but needing quick Coming off their big win over PCS, Cojones needed DH fashioned another six-goal spurt in the second half to scores with the cap looming. (One, uh... volatile Slicker put San Diego away, 19-8, roaring into the semis for the only a victory over Cornell or a Port City loss to secure a prolonged several disputes via his curious slant on the third straight year on a high note. Against a quality op- semi spot The back door went unused as the New rules, costing his team any chance of amassing the pGnent, DH committed six turnovers all game - quite Yorkers defeated their upstate rivals, 19-12. Now the only necessary lead before cap.) possibly a Nationals record (though if so, it M>uldn't stand question for Cojones was whether they would take the With the cap ~n .at 13-all, Sockeye was in, but the pool and face Double Happiness in the afternoon - or long...). matchups were still m doubt. Needing one goal to claim replay last year's thrilling semi with Death or Glory.

The suspense in pool 8 may have ended early, first place, Seattle was more focused on getting two. They but such was not the case in the A pool. Three of six scored to take their first lead of the teams entered Friday contending for two semifinal game at 14-13, and the matchups spots; both slots would remain up for grabs at day's were set. But the game wasn't over. end.

Port City scored, · and it was next Port City continued their fine play, going to 3-0 with goal wins. Both Seattle and PCS a 19-6 shellacking of disappointing Z. Now blew three chances to win before eliminated, the Chicago squad started playing to their Jonny G. cradled a pass in the end billing and took out their frustrations on Cornell, 19-12 zone to give Sockeye a 5-0 record losers to Miami earlier. Z won the matchup of 0-3 and the extra lift they needed. teams handily, 19-6, though it probably didn't much As for Port City, they faced a help their bruised psyches. mountain of negative press coming The key game of the morning round was Cojones in and did an admirable pb of putvs. Sockeye, each 2-0. With both teams ~ to face ting it aside to play fine, hard-nosed, increasingly scary Port City, this game would be a key aggressive and, for the most part. step to~ards the semis. Adding extra interest was the clean Ultimate. If anything, the PCS awaited matchup of former New York teammates reputation served more to take their turned bitter rivals, Kenny Dobyns and Jon Gewirtz. opponents out of their game, and It M>Uid be difficult to find two more intense comthey did what any good team should petitors on an Ultimate field, and now, for the first time do - used it to their advantage. at Nationals, they were on opposite sidelines.

I watched nearly all their games, After Sockeye scored the first two points, Cojones and was much impressed by the switched to zone and rode it to five straight goals and way MOST of their players handled a 5-2 lead. Seattle settled down to tie at 6s, then took themselves. Yes, there was an ugly a two-point halftime lead by beating the zone off the spot or several, but nothing worse than I've seen here over the years pull, scoring on their 34th pass.

- much less, in fact Perhaps the With Sockeye up 12-9 early in the second naif and criticisms leveled at them on the net the cap looming, thanks to long points and frequent w~re deserved, perhaps not; but zones, Cojones badly needed a quick score; what asade from one talented player who they got was a "point from hell. • Though each team needs to grow up a bit, their behad only four possessions, the point, with several havior here was exemplary - and arguments and two time-outs, lasted at least twenty their play highly entertaining.

Cindy Fisher minutes, and seemed longer.

'filE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION The Semifinals

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Page 17

long hammer from Jeff Haight completed what must be considered one of the biggest upsets in Nationals history (though perhaps Sockeye might disagree...).

Double Happiness' strength had inexplicably failed them at the M>rst possible time. Take away the cold snaps and DH was 16 for 19, but the three se1s of four straight turnovers - at the beginning of the game, middle of the second half, and M>rst of all, on their last four possessions- killed them.

First-time semifinalist Sockeye, on the other hand, got better at crunch time, going seven for seven to close the first half, and four for four to end the game. That incredible turnaround made possible a first in Nationals history - the same t'M> cities, Boston and Seattle, would face off Sunday in the finals of both divisions.

1995 continued a pattern, begun in '87 and continued in odd-numbered years, of Open semifinalists consisting of two teams from each of just two regions. Of course, since both· Boston and New York had each made semis since '86 (NY in '85 as well), it was up to one other region to pull it off, and as in the three most recent occurrences, that region was the (North)West.

After a shaky start, Death or Glory scored on eight of nine possessions to take an 8-4 lead in spectacular manner. Both teams kept launching long passes into coverage, but despite good defense nearly every one was caught, most on stellar plays by various receivers.

Cojones twice fought back to within two, but couldn't prevent DoG from taking an 11-8 lead after a first half filled with oohs and aahs from the large crovvd.

With Boston seemingly in contr.ol, but failing on t'M> early attempts to re establish a four-goal edge, Cojones made their best surge of the game. They scored on five straight possessions, first tying it at 11, then taking their The Final first lead since the first point at 13-12. Momentum seemed Round two of the Boston/Seattle private to have swung to the juiced-up New York sideline. DoG, finals party was about to get underway. however, stanched the flow, regaining their offensive Sockeye sought to avenge the fate of their rhythm by solving Cojones' zone with the first of nine goals friends, and did play much better. But Seatin their next 11 possessions. The New Yorkers hung tle was about to get a close-up view of tough, though, and the game was tied at every interval perhaps the most awesome display of Ulfrom 11-11 to 15-all. Boston then took a 16-15 lead. timate yet seen, at their expense. If dominatCojones was prevented from retying it thanks to a great ing best described Godiva's effort, what DoG would unveil block by ..Johnny Bar" Axon, followed by a long scoring was well beyond that, to the point of near perfection. pass by Swedish import Anders Jarhamre.

Perhaps the prettiest of all was when DoG's Jim Parinella somehow outran a 65-yarder by Alex deFrondeville that looked to be well out-of-bounds. Jim's great grab just inside the sideline set up a short pass to Corky (one of at least five Boston goals scored in a similar manner) for an 18-16 edge . The New Yorkers answered with yet another huck to get back within one, but two unforced Cojones errors on their own goal line gave DoG their easiest pair of goals all game, and a 20-17 lead.

New York had one last gasp snuffed in Boston's endzone, and Death or Glory avenged their Regional fiasco, eliminating Cojones for the second straight year. Apart from the sudden, an~ climactic ending, this otherwise TunAnderson spectacular game equaled last year's masterpiece. But this year lfs an Ultimate truism, much like the axiom "good it might not even have been the best game of the round, pitching beats good hitting• in baseball, that flawless as Double Happiness and Sockeye were staging a classic offense will always beat even the best of all possible of their own. defenses. If a team with the disc executes its cuts and The largest lead either team had was just two. Both throws properly, they can't be stopped - but how often teams would end up over 50% in goals scored/number of do you see perfect offense? This afternoon, a lot of people possessions, a good sign of efficient offense. Double saw something pretty close. DoG committed all of three placed an excellent 16 players on the scoresheet, 12 of - thafs three- turnovers the entire contest. them goal scorers. Sockeye, however, went one better, Boston took a quick lead and never looked back; only with an amazing 17 people involved in the scoring (with once did Sockeye score back-to-back goals, to "close" 18 goals scattered among 13 players!), led by Tom from 12-6 to 12-8. In fact, Seattle would manage only two Barnouw's four goals and one assist. more goals the rest of the way. But only a closer look at Seattle went up by two early, but once Double caught the scoresheet reveals the measure of DoG's perforthem at 4-all, they traded goals all the way to 12-12! Out mance. They outscored Sockeye 11-6 in the first half on of the last 14 combined possessions in the first half, there just 13 possessions - then did even better in the was exactly ONE turnover (by DH, allowing Sockeye to second, going 10 for 11 while giving up just four goals. lead at hatf). But Double kept up the pace, scoring on four Incredibly, all three turnovers occurred with their offensive of their first five chances (to Seattle's one for six) to take their first two-goal lead at 14-12.

After turning it over on their first four chances of the game, the Bay Area men were an amazing 14 for 17.

A second DH "cold snap" allowed Sockeye to tie at 14, but with the time cap approaching, Double tallied two more quick ones to lead 16-14. With Double's offense clicking and Seattle's stalling (just 3 for 12 in the second half to this point), things looked bad for the upstarts from the Pacific Northwest.

Out of nowhere, the momentum pulled a 180. Sockeye got huge blocks near their own endzone from Jon Gewirtz and the ubiquitous Tom B., and followed both with their first patient offense of the half, working the length of the field. Soddenly it was 16-all, game to 18. After Dilly went up in the endzone but came down empty-handed, Sockeye was one point from victory. DH then threw away the first pass off the pull-the fourth turnover in a row for Double, again - and 11 passes later a Sydney Wilson

team on the field. That means of 13 Sockeye turnovers, they got back none. DoG's defensive squad was a nearly incomprehensible, perfect 13 for 13 in conversions. On only four did they have to go the length of the field.

Even more amazing, all three Boston turnovers came in Sockeye's endzone: the Seattle team had to move the 'full length of the field on ALL 23 possessions (of which scoring 10 times is quite respectable; remember, 50% overall is very good, and percentages are much higher when the offense has to travel less distance to score).

Boston's defense forced seven turnovers in Seattle's own half of the field alone!

But perhaps the one statistic that sets Boston apart from the rest is in the scoring column. Death or Glory had more players register assists than goals in both semis AND finals, which is all but unheard of. When 12 players throw for goals, none for more than three, who do you stop? How can you shut them down? The answer is, you can't lfs tough to imagine a better offensive performance than the one DoG turned in. Only the fact that Sockeye played reasonably well, though not nearly well enough this day, kept the score as "close• as it was!

lfs too soon to tell if Seattle will remain a force; like the Verge, though, Sockeye has the key element of depth, without which championships are impossible. Of course, they have Double Happiness and other good teams in their region to contend with, but if they can survive the Northwest, they should remain a contender.

Death or Glory should remain intact at least another year. Until some other team can develop as good an offense - or devise a way to stop them -the road to the top will pass through the Hub. Yes, 'twas a far, far better thing than any city had ever done before... For the first time ever, the Nationals trophy shared by the Open and Women's champs wouldn't have to leave town for at least an entire year; for the city of Boston, Massachusetts, Nationals '95 was indeed the be&1 of times.

PagelS

Friday Pool Play Like the day before, the D pool went strictly according to Hoyle on Friday, with all favorites winning easily. Lady Godiva continued to ride roughshod over the rest, hammering Lucy 17-6, while the Hucksters broke into the win column with a 17-13 defeat of Jane Air. The third game was essentially a must win for each of the two remaining contenders. Verge needed to win to maintain control of their own destiny; a loss wouldn't efiminate them, but they would need help. Though the Flygirls had done well against the two lowest seeds, their real test would come today against the top two

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Mischief was very confident going into their game against regional rival Peppers; one Carolina player was overheard in the tent t>etween rounds saying, "We'll beat Philly; we always do...". What's that they say about famous last words? The Peppers broke open a see saw game late to go up 16-13, then survived six unsuccessful possessions of their own before a block by Kathy Airey kept Mischief from a tying score and set up Ph illy for the easy clincher. Still, the Carolina women weren't out at 2-2, but they would need help.

teams.

Early on, the L.A. women were holding their own, leading as late as 6-5. Seattle then went on a six goal

spurt to take command en route to a 17-11 triumph.

In their next game, against Boston, L.A. went on some runs but finally fell to Godiva, 17-9. With the win, Lady Godiva ctinched first, and Verge's 17-5 victory over Jane Air sealed second place for Seattle.

Finally, Lucy evened their record at 2-2, beating Hucksters, 17-7.

In C pool, however, things were not so cut and dried. Once again, resutts from one round seemed not to carry over into the next. The Peppers rebounded with a convincing 17-6 drubbing ofWhak.

Coming off Thursday's loss to Phat City, Ozone found themselves needing a win against Nemesis to keep their fate in their own hands. The Atlanta women trailed throughout the first half,·but down by two, scored the first five goals of the second to take a lead they would never relinquish, eventually winning 17-13 and putting both teams at 2-1. , Phat City seemed to have found their game against Ozone, but promptly lost it again against Mischief. The Mid-Atlantic champions never trailed, defeating Phat comfortably by a 17-11 margin and qreating a four-waytie for the pool lead. Stranger still, ~hat City, though. in fifth place at 1-2, was not yet qut. There were at least three scenarios by which tfley could still make semis, two of which required a pair of wins by both them and Ph illy. Weirdest of all ~the one set of possibilities that would result in a 1jve-way tie at 3-2 - which included a definite chance for Phat City to finish.first!

Naturally, the fourth round in this pool had to be different, and it was indeed. After 21 women's games, only four had been as close as four goals, none closer. So with a nearly endless set of playoff possibilities (the only sure thing being that Whak was out), all three games went right down to the last point In fact, each one resulted in an identical17-15 score - and four teams remained very much alive afterward.

The least likely upset was in the game between Ozone and Whak. The Atlantans had seemingly regained momentum against Nemesis, while the New Yorkers had yet to score more than eight goals in any one game. So when Ozone, up 16-11, failed on 11 straight chances to end the game, allowing Whak to pull within one, it was just business as usual in the C pool. But a point block by Atlanta prevented what looked like certain overtime, and allowed Ozone to avoid a major upset. The Atlanta streakiness especially showed in this game; they needed just 16 possessions to score their first 11 points, but 34 to get the final six. .

Cindy Fisher

Cindy Fisher

Phat City definitely needed to beat Nemesis II - and the bigger the margin, the better. From a 14-all tie, however, the Chicago women scored the next two before... you guessed it, they blew four possessions with a chance to win. Unlike Whak and Mischief, Phat City had two chances to tie, instead of one; like them, however, they failed to convert and Nemesis knocked Phat out of the running, assuring that the women's title would go somewhere other than the Bay Area for the first time since 1991.

would finish fifth, the loser sixth (think how much money you could have won from a pre-tournament bet on that scenario f). Phat avoided pulling a Rhino, salvaging some lost pride with a 17-5 win.

And the top four? Well, Ozone couldn't finish fourth, nor Mischief first, but all other positions were wide open.

Three teams were 3-1: Ozone and Ph illy would face each other, while Nemesis would tackle 2-2 Mischief. All of the 3-1 teams could guarantee semis with a win, but only PhiUy would be eliminated with a loss; Nemesis and Ozone had "back-door" possibilities even if they lost, depending on the other result Mischief had only one chance: beat Nemesis by at least six AND have Philly lose to Ozone.

Unfortunately for Carolina, not only did they not win by six, they didn't even score six. Atone point, the game was 4-3, Nemesis; the Chicago women then scored seven in a row, spotted Mischief a lone goal, then chalked up six more to end it (that's a 13-1 run!). After some narrow misses the last couple of years, Nemesis earned their first semifinal spot since 1987 in resounding fashion.

The Peppers were one win away from their first semifinal spot ever. They.actually twice led by two early, and were tied with the Atlanta as late as 6-6, but they finally ran out of gas, never coming closer than three goals after the first point of the second half. Though the Peppers succumbed 17-12, they VJere justifiably happy with their surprising third place (the Mid-Atlantic women as a whole took two thirds and a fourth; not bad for a "weak" region).

Ozone's victory, coupled with their win over Nemesis earlier, gave them first in the pool, setting up a rematch of last year's semi -and this summer's Worlds final against the Seattle women. Nemesis was left with the dubiou~ honor of facing the Lady Godiva steamroller.

Saturday, November 4th The weather finally took a turn for the better, at least somewhat; although the sun decided to put in more than a token appearance, the steady breeze along with the persistent cold front meant temperatures starting in the mid 40s for the morning games, slowly warming only to the upper 50s by later in the day.

With semifinal spots in Pool D already spoken for, the only things left to decide (other than final records) were head-tohead battles for third and fourth places.

Oddly, in both the open and women's pools, the fourth seed, two goals away from defeat, came from behind to upsetthe third seed.

All the games of pool D were finished save one; so far every one had conformed precisely to seeding. Tuning up for semis, both Lady Godiva and Women on the Verge had already wrapped up big viO .~. tories: Godiva 17-5 over sixth-place Jane Air and Verge 17-3 against the fifth-place Hucksters. It was up to no. 3 L.A. to make it unanimous, and after a late four-goal rtJn putthem up 15-11 , it looked liketheywould do j~st that- until Lucy came up w~~$ix stra1ght to leapfrog over the Flygirls 1nto third.

• Meanwhile, back in pool C.... not one position was set as of first thing Saturday morning. The Phat City-Whak winner

Cindy Fisher

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

The Semifinals After a weekend of strong similarities between divisions, the exception to the rule came in Saturday's second round. Over the last few years, the playoffs at Nationals have come to resemble those in the NFL; with the finals ending up in runaways, the real excitement has come in the semis. In the Open division, at least, that pattern would h<?ld,.~ith both semifin~l g~mes excruciatingly tense, nail-bitingly close affa1rs 10 doubt to the last point. Such would not be the case on the women's side, however.

Over the last year, the Atlanta/Seattle matchup has developed into a full-blown rivalry. Last November, Ozone had run out to a big lead, then held on to narrowly defeat Verge before falling to Felix in the finals. Seattle had gotten a healthy dose of revenge at Worlds, coming from behind again in prelims- this ti~ to win- t!'en rolling over the Atlantans 10 the champiOnship game. Verge seemed primed to keep the momentum going from the summer, jumping out to a 5-0 lead..Ozone ~ept chipping away, though, closmg to within one at 8-7 before surrendering the last two goals of the half. Unfortunately for Atlanta, however, they would never get any closer than that for the rest of the game.

1n the second half, Verge repeatedly pulled away, only to see Ozone cut it back to three on several occasions. Finally, at 15-12, Seattle put an end to the come- Harold Taylor backs with four quick ones, allowing them . . to head to their first Nationals final- and go lend s1dehne support to their homeboys in the Open division.

Verge once again utilized superior depth to ~ear down the Atlantans; 11 different Seattle players tallied goals, with three more adding assis1s for a total of 14 scorers compared to Ozone's six and 10, respectively. Moreover, over half of Ozone's goals/assists were spread among just three players.

Meanwhile, Lady Godiva, a semifinalist for the ninth straight year, took an early 5-2 lead only to see Nemesis fight back to tie at 5-all. All Chicago seemed to accomplish with that, however, was to make the Bostonians angry, which, safe to say, is NOT a good idea. Godiva went on Tim Anderson another of their patented outbursts . . . ironically the same kind Nemes1s had used earlter 1n the day - a'nd before the Central women k~ew it Boston scored eight straight (on only 10 ~ssess1ons) to break the game wide open, 13-5. Nemes1s finally managed to right themselves, but could only more or less trade goals the rest of the way, as Godiva cruised into their seventh women's final, 19-10.

TltTJ Anderson

Volume 15 Number 5 â&#x20AC;˘ December 1995

Page 19

The Final, Sunday, November 5th, 9 a.m.

It was the worst of times for the women's final to begin.

It would soon be the best of times for one team about to put on quite a show of fine Ultimate, but unfortunately, few would be on hand to bear witness. Most of those who arrived about 11 a.m. or thereafter - the maprity of those who eventually attended -and saw that play was not in progress, mistakenly assumed that it was halftime.

had to score twice for every Boston goal, they showed the grit that won them a world championship. When Godiva went cold at the beginning of the second half, Seattle closed to within . 12~, right on track, and had a good opportunity to get within five. But a great D by Godiva led to a fast break scoring huck- and three quick Boston goals. Now up 15-6, Lady Godiva put it into cruise control, content to trade goals, and soon the only question was whether Verge would crack double figures... which they didn't, going down by a final score of 19-9.

But watch out for Women on the Verge; they continue Harold Taylor to improve, (and most i~ portantly, add talent) every year. They frankly didn't play a good game in the finals, failing to use their most important asset, their depth. However, it was their first shot at the national championship game, and they were up against an incredibly deep, talented, and experienced team. They do have a younger core, but if they can continue to develop their roster while Godiva loses some of theirs to retirement, the Seattle women may soon have to come up with a new name- yeah, Verge!

They would be shocked to learn that the game, which had taken a scant two hours to play, was already over! Three major factors contributed to the sparse turnout. One was the weather, which was overcast, breezy, and cool (though it warmed to more comfortable levels as the day progressed). Two was ~e Saturday night .ba~h held in downtown Birmingham, 1n a cavernous auditonum better suited to throwing than talking or dancing, but enjoyable nonetheless (and which was officially "won" by yours truly, the last person out of the building aside from a few official types; after all, a good reporter has to stick around to verify facts!). The third factor was the half hour drive time between said hostelry and the playing fields, an unfortunate but unavoidable situation.

What the late sleepers missed was a clinic of great offense by the Lady Godiva juggernaut. After taking the opening pull the length of the field on 14 passes to score, the Boston women turned it over four times before chalking up their next goal, by which time Verge had taken a short-lived 2-1 lead. Once they got going again, though, Godiva didn't stop the r7st of the first half; that second goal was the first of mne straight -on just 11 possessions! The one good opportunity Boston did give up, while the game was still a contest, was taken right back on hot endzone ÂŁ? by the incomparable Molly Goodwm. Molly would go on to score the point on a nice layout for one of her game-high seven points (on two goals and five assists, in addition to three blocks, also tops in the final). It was 10-2 at the half, and the clock had yet to hit 10 a.m.

Verge simply couldn't get untracked at all. Their average passes per possession in the first halfwas just 2.5 (only twice in 15 chances did they complete more than two passes on a single possession). Some of it was good D by GodivafiVe blocks in the half but mostly it was uncharacteristically poor execution by a good Seattle team.

To their credit, however, Verge didn't quit at halftime. Knowing they

Cindy Fisher

Their third championship made Lady Godiva the first team in Nationals history- in any division -to go two or more years between titles twice (their previous crowns came in '88 and '91 ). Their dominance was fatal -their average margin of victory for the entire weekend was 9. 7 goals; the smallest was six, against Verge in pool play (ironically, their most efficient game offensively: 17/27, or 63%, one of four games, including both semis and finals, over the magic 50% leveQ. This year, life in the Women's Division was like a box of chocolates - Godiva chocolates, that is: you know you'll get nothing but the best.

Heartiest congratulations to a terrific group of Ladies Godiva rides again!

Harold Taylor

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Volume 16 Number 6 â&#x20AC;˘ December 1995

Page20

WHAT? BECOMES THE WHO OF WOMEN'S MASTERS article and photos by Cindy Fisher with assistance from Kim Forsten It was a season of newcomers. Five of the six teams competing at this year's women's masters division ChampionshJps were new to the event. with only Old Pros from California (1994 runners-up) returning. Of course, some of the players had been there before, as masters players and as open women division players, some even able to boast a Women's Division National title.

So if you 'had to bet on a team from a pool of primarily newteams, itwould makesensetogowiththeteamwith the most Nationals experience. And as logic sometimes has it, that was where the money was.

In the bingest sweep ever to hit the women's masters., ¡~ New England's What? cruised through the division with a record 18 total points scored against them in pool play (an average of 3.6 points per game scored by their opponents). They swept through the semis, 17-7, and then the finals, beating RoShamBo 1 7~. to become the 1995 Women's Masters National Champions.

Six teams made up the division, with What? being the first team from the Northeast region ever to compete at the women's masters Nationals. From the Central region, dominated for the past four years by Kansas City, came RoShamBo mainly from Chicago. (FYI: Chicago was the only city to have a team in every division.) Last year's winning region, the Mid-Atlantic, sent Old and In the Way. The Gutter Girlz represented the Southern region, while Old Pros (Northern California) and the outlaws (Seattle) were the Northwestern teams. (Outlaws got a wild card spot after the Southwest region couldn't field a team.)

Thursday Pool Play In the first round games, RoShamBo put away the Outlaws, 15-4, and New England cleaned up the Gutter Girlz, 15-2. In a battle of the Olds, Old Pros and Old and In the Way matched up in one of the best games of the day, with Old and In the Way squeaking a 14-13 win over the Northern California women.

Old Pros kicked off the second round with another close game, this time against RoShamBo. In the tight match, the teams traded points and leads. Unfortunately, the quick fall of night was not taken into account and the game was called on account of darkness at 14-13, Old Pros. A short captain's meeting was held on Friday to determine how to deal with the unfinished game; it was decided that the semis would be pushed back on Saturday morning to allow for the California and Chicago women to play their match out Meanwhile, the Gutter Girlz and Outlaws were playing their best game against each other. The Outlaws came out slow and fell behind early, while the Gutter Girlz looked more flow-wise than street-wise. The teams matched points for a while but Outlaws couldn't make up the deficit and Gutter took the game, 15-12. On the last

field, What? continued their dominance, this round's viotim, Old and In the Way, 15-5.

Friday Pool Play After Thursday's play it was clear that New England was the team to beat But they still had to face both RoShamBo, who was also undefeated, and Pros (1-1). TheGutterGtrlzand Old and In ~e Way vwere also 1-1 ' while the Outlaws vwere 0-2. It would be a battle . to the end for the

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:~~~~:~~dw~~~~~:: RoShamBo was matched up against Old and In the W ay, with both teams trying to hold onto second place. Third place would be okay, but a drop to fourth would mean a sure knock out in the semis if they faced What?.

It was another close game for Old and in the Way, only this time the tide went the other way. It was windy and both teams used a zone defense. RoShamBo came out strong and took a 6-1 lead, executing a smooth offense and pressuring the Mid-Atlantic women with a tight zone in a strong wind. Old eventually learned the zone, and before hatf were able to close to within two, 8-6. Old kept

Bo and if RoShamBo lost to Old Pros. The Outlaws were not going to make the semis but a victory over Old and In the Way could knock the Mid-Atlantic team out ofthe tace.

The final round had a lot of hopes riding on it But rather than a final-round upset like their masters counterparts, the women's masters final games vwent as expected. RoShamBo cemented their semi berth by eliminating the Gutter Girlz, 15-8. Old and In the Way was victorious against the Outlaws, 11-3, securingtheirsemispotaswell.

And New England kept their sweeping pace and secured first place defeating Old Pros ' ' 1 5.

The semis had been set with What?, Old and in the Way, Old Pros, and RoShamBo. What? placed first, but RoShamBo and Old Pros had to play outthe rest of their pool game to determine ranking for 2nd through 4th. The game lasted three points, two of which were Old Pro scores, giving them the match, 16-14, and the second place ranking through point differentials. RoShamBo and Old and In the Way placed third and fourth, respectively.

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Semifinals: Old Pros vs. RoShamBo The Old Pros and RoShamBo was the big semi matchup. The Northern Californians had narrowly defeated the Chicago women in pool play and the Central team was looking for revenge.

Old Pros started the game with a quick two points, but that would be their only lead of the game. RoShamBo answered back with a goal, and the next point - a very lo-o-ong one, with over 20 changes of possession and seven defensive blocks - triggered Chicago's momentum. They scored six in a row to go up 6-2. The Californians narrowed the gap to 7-5, but fell back again as RoShamBo took the half, 9-5. In the second half, the Pros got back their composure, but it was too late. After they traded points to 10-6, the time cap went on. They continued to trade points until Chicago took the game, 12-8, and the Chicago women advanced to the finals.

Semifinals: What? vs. Old and In the Way their zone offense going in the second half, coming within one at 9-8, tying at 9s, and taking their first lead of the game at 10-9. But the Chicago women would not bow down. After tying the game 13-13, they forced Old to relinquish the lead at 14-13. Both teams stopped playing zone at this point, and at 14-14, the game was in overtime.

A defensive block by RoShamBo on the first pass off the pull gave the Chicago women the disc, and they scored one pass later to bring the match to game point, 15-14.

And then, a repeat play- another defensive block, this time on the second pass. RoShamBo then turned it over to give Old and In the Way a second chance, but they couldn't make it work, and RoShamBo's scored on their next possession to win the match, 16-14.

On the other fields, Old Pros defeated the Gutter Girlz, 14-5, and New England thwarted the Outlaws, 15-2.

The next round went according to plan, with New Engalnd beating the Chicago women, 15-4, Old and In the Way wiping up the Gutter Girlz, 15-5, and the Old Pros hand ling the Outlaws, 15-7.

Coming into the last round What? was 4-0, Old and in the Way was 2-2, both Old Pros and RoShamBo were 2-1, Gutter Girlz 1-3, and the Outlaws were 0-4. The continuation of the Old Pros-RoShamBo game still needed to be played and was going to be critical for determining seeding. If Old Pros could pull out victories over both What? and RoShamBo they would be seeded #1 and What? would enter the semis in 2nd. If What? held them off then Old Pros would need a victory over RoShamBo if they hoped to avoid a 4th place finish. Gutter Girlz were still in contention if they could upset RoSham-

Old and in the .Way knew they were the underdogs.

The field was short with definite upwind/downwind ends.

Old and in the Way came out strong, capitalizing on a few What? errors to take an early lead 4-3. Having heard the wake-up call, What? called a timeout, regrouped and ran off six straight to take the half 9-4. The second half was all What?. The zone D that had worked so well all series was getting the turnovers, and their zone 0 (which they hadn't until now gotten to use) looked smooth. The overall skill and endurance level of What? enabled them to capitalize on a tired Old and in the Way and they took the semis, 17-7, ready to meet RoSh amBo in the finals.

Finals: What? vs. RoShamBo This was the game both RoShamBo and What? came to play. What? jumped to an early 7-1 lead using their zone to force turnovers on the crosswind field. RoShamBo looked tired after their semis match up and never really got into the flow of the game. Meanwhile, What? looked fresh and really opened up their long game with several nice grabs by Amy Wilbur in the endzone off long hucks.

Halftime saw What? up 9-3 and there was a definite feel that the Northeast women were ready to finish it off. They came out strong with a quick pull play score and never looked back, winning 17-6, to become the 1995 Women's Masters Division Champions.

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THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Page21

SQUASH: . OUT OF THEIR GOURD

by Cindy Fisher with assistance from Andy Borinstein .

This ~ar's Open Masters ·National Championships and some great catches. They continued trading points was, as in the past, a competitive, tough division of seven until Chicago took their first three-point lead of the game teams boasting some seasoned veterans. The two return- at game point, 16-13. Santa Barbara turned it over after ing teams from the West- both previous masters cham- three passes, and Chicago put it in for the match, 17-13. pions - were Us from the Northwest (the 1994 On the last field the two undefeated teams, Squash title-holders), and the Beyondors_from the Southwest and Us, were playing a prelude to the tourney's final. (who won in 1993). The Chicago Masters was a slight Squash began with a 2-0 lead. Us scored three in a row modification of last year's second place team, Slack. From to take a 3-2 lead, but then the Northeasterners came the Northeast came a squad named Squash, a combo of back to take half, 9-7. At 12-12, the Northern Californians some recent open division Nationals veterans. The South, again played catch-up, but at game point, 16-14, it was earning the wild card spot again this year, introduced the surpass or loose. Us received the pull butthe Californians Love Handlers from Texas and Master Blaster from Geor- eventually turned it over, and Squash took the opportunity gia, first and second at Regionals, respectively. Rounding to end the game, 17-14. out the division was Plastocene Man, a Mid-Atlantic Friday Pool Play combo team of Washington area players.

Among the master players is a lot of wisdom gleaned After three days of masters play, Squash added the second piece of the Northeast sweep, capturing the 1995 from Nationals-experience. Perhaps the most useful lessons from such exmasters National Championship perience are those title in an extremely tight final match most players learn by against Us, 15-13. the end of their first Thursday Pool Play National competition: it's not over until it's The tournament started off with over, and it may look the first upset. Squash, seeded good now but we ain't fourth, used a zone against second there yet. With these seed Chicago to take a 15-8 victory, two plastic r~les in while Master Blaster notched a win mind, the second day over Plastocene Man 17-11. Top of masters play seeded Us began slow but evenbegan. tually handled the Love Handlers, coming back from a 6-4 deficit to The Beyontake the half, 9-8, en route to a dors/Love Handlers 17-13 victory. game was a crucial match for both teams. l'n round two, Chicago squeaked The Handlers would out their first win against Blaster in be out of semi conovertime. Blaster came out strong tention at the loss of with some key defensive plays that any of their remaining gave them the half, 9-6. Chicago games. The Beyonbegan their comeback with three in dors had only one vica row to tie at 9s. Blaster took the tory so far and had yet lead again, but Chicago tied it at 14-14, thenfinallytookthelead, 15-14, thankstotwogreat to play the top two teams. Love Handlers came out fired blocks. At 16-15, Chicago, the cap went on. The teams _ up and cruised through the first half, while the Beyondors tied it at 16s, 17s, and 18s, with an awesome hammer seemed to still be sleeping. Santa Barbara never woke huck for Blaster's 18th point. At the sudden death point up, and Texas cruised to a 17-9 victory.

Chicago received the pull, but after four throws a miscomThe Us/Master Blaster game had both teams were munication gave Blaster possession. But the Georgia vying for second place - along with Chicago who was team couldn't put it in and five throws later Chicago scored favored to win their match against Washington -and the to win the match, 19-18. winner of this game would take a big step toward qualifyOn the other fields, Beyondors came off their first- ing for semis, with the loser vying for no better than fourth round bye to defeat Plastocene Man, 17-1 0, and Squash in the pool. The Santa Cruz men started out strong and never faltered, taking the game 17-12. As expected held the Love Handlers, 17-11.

In the Southern rivalry matchup, Texas took an early Chicago beat Plastocene, 17-9.

7 -41ead, but Blaster answered back with four goals to one, In the second round, Squash, coming off a first-round bye, stumbled through the first half, as Blaster took an tying the game at 8s, and eventually taking the half, 9-8.

While the Handlers stumbled on their momentum, Blaster, early tWo-goal lead, which they held for most of the first beginning to taste Regional vengeance, kept theirs half. Squash's zone then came to life and enabled the strong, scoring two points for every Texas one, and New Yorkers to convert numerous Blaster mistakes into widening the-lead to 14-11. Handlers stepped it up to relatively easy scores. Blaster hung tough, but the New come within one, 15-14, but would never lead again, and Yorkers took a hard-fought win, 17-11. finally went down to last seed Master Blaster, 17-15.

The Western match-up turned out to be a sleeper, as Meanwhile, Chicago and Beyo-ndors were playing a the Beyondors moved down the rankings with another near point-for-pointgame, with Chicago 9-8 at half. It was loss and Us moved up with a convincing 17-5 victory. The an offensive game, with precise throws, sweet hammers, Love Handlers continued -their Friday winning streak, beating Plastocene Man and adding a second win to their record.

Friday's last round included a rematch of last year's finals. This time both teams were vying for second place.

Chicago, who had an easy first game then a bye, needed to come out strong against the Santa Cruz·men. Us, on the other hand, had been rolling all day and. this was their chance to clinch second.

And they did with a 17-12 victory.

In the biggest upset of the division, the Beyondors beat Master Blaster, creating a ruckus in the division that had those two teams, and one other, scrambling to calculate point differentials and the numerous possible scenarios for Saturday's final pool game. Meanwhile, Love Handlers closed out the day with a win over Plastocene and the computations began.

Before the upset, the top four seeds were set regardless of what happened on Saturday. Now one game would decide the last two semifinal spots.

Cindy Fisher Squash had clinched first and Us had

clinched second, no matter the outcome of their games with Santa Barbara and Plastocene · Man : respectively.

Chicago was definitely in the semis as well, but their game against Texas would determine whether they would place third or fourth. The Master Blasters, who would have finished fourth behind Chicago had they not lost to the Beyond or s, Charlie Samuels finished with a 2-4record (they had a Saturday morning bye) and would advance only if their southern counterparts, the Love Handlers, lost to Chicago. But the Handlers, the team to benefit from the upset - who went winless on the first day and thought they were out of the running until Friday at dark - had to beat Chicago to make semis, and by doing so they would place third. There was no fourth place for Texas- they would be third or they would be fifth.

And the team that controlled their own destiny, the Beyondors, kept themselves alive, but barely, with their upset win over Blaster. Their only hope, albeit a slim one, was to pull another upset by beating undefeated Squash.

If they did, and if Texas lost, they could place fourth, or if Texas won, there would be a three-way tie for fourth, and point spread would determine who would advance.

Charlie Samuels

Saturday Pool Play The Chicago/Love Handlers game was close to the very end, with the teams switching leads several times during the first half, then a comeback in a controversial second-half cap. Texas took the first lead at 2-1, lost it at 4-3, and then took it back again at 6-5 with a huck strategy and a key trash catch in the endzone. Chicago tied it and then went on the first run of the game. Chicago was playing a strong defensive game, making four crucial blocks in the Texas endzone and one hand block, to take the half, 9-6.

At the start of the second half, Chicago went up 10-6 wttn a one-pass ~ore on a poor pull. Texas answered back with a 13-pass score, patiently shredding the Chicago zone. Texas showed more patience, and narrowed the gap to 11-9. At 14-12, Chicago, the game was supposed to be capped, but a miscommunication gave the game an extra point, a point which would result in a different outcome. The teams tied at 15-15, and Chicago scored their .16th point with a great horizontal catch in the endzone. B~t because of the discrepancy, the game was not over. Texas received the pull ahd patiently worked the disc down to near their goal, only to lose possession on a stall. But on the very next throw they got it back with a defensive block, and one pass later they scored to tie, continued on page 23

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

TOE ULTIMATE PLAYERS

RUFUS Musings

by Eric Simon, Director of Competition. kin 1992, one of the first ·mes we recorded, comf)iled, and anaiYZEMl RUFUS stats for the Fall Nationals (1992), it was dei!ll' that defense won the tournament For that tournament. the Maine-iacs and N York, the two winners, rolled up some impressive statistics on offense and dominating statistics on defense.

The last two years, however, have been different - and the statistics bear that out. In the Open Div'sion, it is c r that Death or G ry won because f their offense: th y finished second to ouble H ppiness in almost every category, yet finished no higher than fourth in defensive categories shown, albeit in four t of five of them. Of course the myth of DoG's "all offense, sometime defense" is overstated- eir defense was good, too, just not as good as their offense.

Conversely, Seattle Sockeye's s ength seemed to be their defense, finishing in the top two in almost every category, yet fifth or worse in nearly all the offensive cat ories.

As for the finals, Seattle seemed to be in the position of the C vela d Indians when they faced the At nta Braves in he last 1995 World Series - playing against a team that is game of playing s close to perfect as seems possible. DoG's ring on 21 of 24 (87.5%) ossessions is absurdly high- for any game much less in the finals of Nationals. Mo teams can't even complete a drill without throwing three incomp ete passes, without having to face th tenacious keye de nse.

A similar pattern emerges in the Women's Division. Last year elix led, or was near the top, ·n all the offensive categories, but were not quite as dominant in their defense going on to win the title. Th's year, Lady Godiva not only ed in four of five categories, but they completely distanced themselves from the other earns.

Their total efficiency, 48%, was not only nine points higher t en the Women on the Verge, but also seven points higher than any women's team last year. The Verge, on the other hand, posted the most impre ive defensive stats, inclu ing the all important Defensive Receiving Pull Efficiency. Some contend that this is the best measure of a defense because it measures a situation that starts with the throw-off, when both teams are set and ready.

Presumably the team throwing off has put in a CJefe sive team, and the team receiving 'has their offense in. So the question is, when your team throws off, how often can you get a turnover?

The Verge led in that stat, and was .1% behind G iva in overall defensive efficiency. In fact the Verg led Go ·va in al st every ·• other defensive category.

These stats quickly highlight team's strengths and weaknesses. Teams such s the Phi ly Peppers and Lucy, for example, were in the u per half of most de nsive categories, but in -the lower half in most offensive categories.

Nowhere is such a divergence more apparentthan the stats of Port Crty. Those that sensed PCS had a killer defense were absolutely right. I doubt that any team has led in de nsive total efficiency and the receiving pull efficiency without making the semis fore - and they led, or were second, in two other defensive categories. But their offense was in the lower half of the standings in every category noted.

A few other interesting stats which on't ppear in theta le: Ozone led teams with seven point blocks; three other earns had five (Double Happiness, Mischief, and Flygirfs). Wha , Lucy, ing, and S.D. were tie with the osttimes point blocked at five.

Only one team wa lied as many as three times II weekend: Ozone.

Note: more stats regarding this tournament are av. ilable than n be printed here in the newsletter. They are avai able at the Ultimate ftp nd web sites.

*KEY TO STATISTICS SPAIB/C: Starti posi · n A, B, or C, i.e., where a team's posses· sion start . A is within 10 yards of one's own goal line, 8 is from that 10 yard line to mid-field, and C·is s rting one's possession on the opponent' half of the field. The SPA Eft is the percentage of those possession hat result in a goal. In the big table, SPC% is the percen e of possessions that st ed in field position C. ln10 ff: "In 10" means that the ion, at so e point, got to within 10 yards of e opponents end zone. •tn 10 efficiency,• then, means the perc tage of t "in 1o· posses ions that resulted in a goal.

Rtm Eff: "Rtrn• is at m u meaning "l'i iving the pull." This percentage measures the percen ge of possessions that started with receiving the throw-off and ended with scoring a goa .

Pass Pet: The percentage of total passes thrown that were completed.

Effie· ncy: The percentag of total possessions that resulted in a goal.

Goals s, m, 1: the number of short (less than 10 yards), medium {1035 yards), and long goals (35+ y ds).

Unforced tos: unforced turnovers- the number of turnovers that were not the result of a defensive block or stall. blks, s, stl: Bloc s. Point Blocks, nd Stalls by the defense.

1'BE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

continued from page 21

16-16, and set up the sudden--death point Chicago received the pull, but after three passes a throwaway gave Texas the disc, on which they capitalized to score, win the match, and advance to the semis on their hucks and prayers.

The other games finished as expected. Squash beat a pesky but undermanned Beyondors squad, 17-12, and Us handed Plastocene their sixth straight loss, 17-10. This set up the following semifinal match-ups Squash vs. Chicago and S.F. Bay Area Us vs. the Love Handlers from Texas.

Semifinals: Squash vs. Chicago Squash, bolstered by the late arrival of Eric "E-man" Cochran and Pat "Sky" King, the latter a cornerstone of New York's championship seasons, employed a series of shifting zone defenses to force Chicago into numerous errors. The New Yorkers jumped out to an early six-point lead, dominating on both defense and offense. They had four defensive blocks, two of them great horizontal layouts by Pat King and Jeremy Seeger, and seemed to be able to score at will, which they did to take the half, 10-5. Chicago, tired from their final-round pool battle with Texas, could not keep up with the Northeasterners, and Squash continued to dominate throughout the contest, advancing to the finals, 16-1 0.

Page23

Winners of the 1995 UPA Nationals

LOST CAMERA AT NATIONALS

SPIRIT OF THE GAME AWARD

Olympia Stylus Please contact Andrea Schwartz at 708-802-9335 Found Cannon Sure Shot camera at Comfort Inn.

Nemesis II Double Happiness Gutter Girlz * Beyondors And the Spirit lives on •.•

Semifinals: Us vs Love Handlers The other semi was closer, but just like Chicago, Texas showed their weariness from the big battle, and M>Uid lose their steam by the end of the match. Down 8-4, the Love Handlers scored four in a row to tie the game 8-8. Us took the half, 10-8, and kept the lead in the second half with their swift offense and persistence defense. TV«> defensive blocks and a hot layout in the endzone by Us made the score 12-9. The relentless Texans again refused to give up and closed within one at 13-12. But their fatigue began to show, and Us would force turnovers on Texas' next three possessions with defensive blocks, to take a three-point lead, 15-12. Texas scored the next goal, but that would be their last, and Us went on to an 18-13 victory to advance to the finals.

The Finals: Squash vs. Us The best in the West vs. the beast of the East This final was reminiscent of some classic match-ups from the middle and late '80s open division days involving Kaboomi/New York, New York and the Flying CircusiTsunarnl This game turned out to be a classic match-up as well.

New York received the disc to start the game, and held •serve• and a one-point lead until midway through the first half. Both teams played man until NY changed tactics and threw a zone to slow down the speedy Californians, which Us handled all the way up the field. An errant hammer throw into the end zone was squashed and the ensuing point gave NY a two-point lead. Another conversion resulted in a three-point NY lead at the half, 10-7.

Us started the second half with a turnover, but NY could not put the game out of reach. Us cut the lead to one after two defensive blocks led to goals, one a SVJeet layout grab of a midfield pass, and the ~re was now 10-9.

Squash answered back with a hucking score after three passes, and then their own version of a 0-and-score play to make their lead 12-9. The cap went on at 13-1 0 due to darkness rapidly approaching. Squash came to game point two points later at 14-11, but Us heard the urgency and scored two in a row (again off defensive plays) to pull within one again, 14-13. On the ensuing possession, Squash, led by Pat King (who went down with a knee injury in the second half, but "pulled a Willis Reed" to play the last point of the game), iced the game, 15-1 3, with five crisp upfield passes that enabled the New Yorkers to represent the U.S. in the master's division at the World Championships in Sweden next August "ULDMATE-So!r!t of the Game"

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Page24

Upstate NY SC Retires After Five Years It is with considerable regret that I must inform you that I will step down as Upstate NY sectional coordinator, effective January 1, 1996.

It has been a very difficult decision for me to make, but I've been blessed with two beautiful kids since becoming SC in 1991 and they have shown me what things should be a priority in life. They deserve my full attention. It's time to move on.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Lee Tunuzi for stepping up and filling in as acting regional coordinator for the Northeast Region this fall. I wish that Lee would change his mind and decide to stay on for a term or two. I am also especially appreciative of the time, effort, and support of Cindy Fisher at the UP~ and Pablo Martinez, Steve Goodfriend, and Bruce Jacobsen during their stints asRC. . __ For the past several years, the Northeast Region has had to literally beg someone to be RC. As far as I can remember, we haven't held an RC election in at least a decade. [1983, Mooneyv. Borinstein- Ed.] I doubt that we have ever had an election for Upstate NY SC. After putting in five years, I can understand why it is so difficult to find volunteers for a position that is so often thankless and under-appreciated. People are quick to gripe and complain, but very few step up to accept the challenge.

I decided to become SC because, pardon the cliche, I really did want to give something back to the sport. Unfortunately that has been a mixed blessing for the section, because they have had to deal with me. I never became SC to win a popularity contest. For those who may have felt slighted, I apologize. What I wanted was for the section to grow, and I felt that consistency would be a critical factor.

My intent has always been to be fair, if not to everyone, then at least to most of them. tntimate is not just for a few select teams or prima donna players, it's for the other 95+% who just love to play. For the people that think I didn't do a good job, now is their opportunity to put up or shut up.

On a brighter note, I've had the privilege of meeting a lot ofgreat people, and made some good friends during my tenure. I will really miss seeing them every year. I'm especially going to miss my Division II teams, who without exception epitomize the Spirit of the Game. They are the next generation of ultimate and the future certainly looks bright. I hope that my replacement builds on what's here, and that the teams in this section will support him. I will always be available as a resource to assist anyone who wants to "step up."

-Nicholas P. Colasurdo Rochester, NY

The Naked Truth

with gin and vodka pit stop halfway up the hill, and shooters until the early hours ofthe morning. Offering free alcohol and a great party is one hell of a way to meet a huge number of ultimate players very quickly and be guaranteed free drinks for the rest of the week. I also found that public nudity helps in this regard Vancouver is currently finalizing a bid for World Clubs in 1997, although no commitment to host the event has been made at this stage. In the spirit of fostering development and participation of women masters at an international level. I would like to encourage US masters players to field co-ed teams. Canada fielded two co-ed masters teams at this year's World Clubs and will no doubt continue this, and other important traditions referred to herein, in 1997.

Thank you again to the now somewhat less bashful Seven Sages for joining in the free spirit ofnaked ultimate.

I look forward to playing you guys again in 1997, and providing further clothing removal assistance if required.

Oh, and yes, you can leave your hats on.

-Kate Smallwood Vancouver, B.C

0 Say, Can You See••• That Women Are Playing?

I am writing this letter to express my anger at the directors of the Santa Cruz tournament, Labor Day weekend. Never mind the fact that there was limited play and provisions. That much I've come to expect, unfortunately.

What really appalled me was the blatant disrespect of the women's games, particularly on Sunday. I am referJingto the obnoxious and just plain stupid "talk show" that incessantly plagued 't he time during which the women's final was being played. That these men thought they had to ''fill dead time" should speak very loudly to the ultimate community. Are women's games (even the FINALS) merely down time at tournaments? Do we consider men's games to be the only ones worth watching and, in this case, announcing, singing '-rhe Star Spangled Banner" (ugh) before, and shutting up for?! Sexism sucks, and we're all sick of it. Why is it still so hard for some to give women the same respect they give men?

This incident left a really bad feeling along the sideline at the women's game. People were upset that nobody told these guys to shut up, but I wonder if we should have to.

Should someone really have to say, "Excuse me, director of the tournament, as you know, the women are playing their finals, and it would be really nice ifyou would respect that fact and treat it as you would any men's final game.

Thank you." Puhleeze. Let's expect ultimate players to be adults, and respect EVERYONE's time on the field.

-West Coast Woman San Diego, CA

An important correction is required to Julia North's Ban the Zone interesting report on this year's World Club Championships. The author incorrectly asserts that the Canadian DearUPA:. masters team Old Growth stripped naked when down 18-0 My team plays zone. My team gets zoned. The zone is to the Seven Sages, anticipating that (and I quote)"... a a weapon. The zone sucks. Ban the zone. little peep show might bring them luck." It was even In the true spirit of pessimism, I could cite a hundred implied that the team may have capitalized on their co-ed reasons why I think ultimate, despite an ever-heightened line for this point. Julia, flattery will get you everywhere! quality of play, is failing miserably at its mission to inIn fact, our birthday suits were not displayed to the crease its status in the great American sports complex. international ultimate community and assorted specThe zone is just one factor in my defeatist theory, but why tators until after our first (and only) point was scored. rehash the same stupid spirit of the game argument in Interestingly, with the exception ofour captain, the naked • every 1ssue. celebration was performed entirely by the team's VanThe zone is dull, and from a viewer's perspective it couver members, the East Coast contingent having takes away from some of the game's most exciting modeparted rather promptly when public nudity was sugments. With the zone, the game is less of a manoa mano gested. contest, huckingis reduced considerably, and high-speed, Unfortunately, the initial response from the Sages was somewhat lame. Seven men may have dropped their , high-flying defensive blocks are virtually eliminated. In exchange for such excitement, we get perhaps the game's shorts on the line, but they continued to wear their long dullest phenomenon, the ''punt and zone," in addition to a team tanks. This left far too much to the imagination. multitude of tedious dumps and swings that serve only to Despite repeated heckling from Old Growth and the now drive the enthusiastic onlooker back to the parking lot. very enthusiastic crowd, full US nudity was not achieved There is an old argument that the zone is a great until one of the Old Growth women went on the line and equalizer, that it allows lesser teams to compete with physically removed all the US shirts. In fairness to the better ones. Bullshit. A better team will shred a lesser Sages, this action was generally uncontested. although a team's zone and will play zone against that same team to line call was made about whether the guys could leave rest themselves for later, more contentious rounds. their hats on.

Furthermore, the zone does nothing to increase the I was delighted to be able to participate in maintaining skill level ofnew players. So often, a team that is getting the Canadian (or should that be West Coast) tradition of zoned will utilize the skills ofjust a few of their playe.r s, World Clubs nudity. Why wait until day six to get naked while the remainder of the team languishes do~eld, when you can do so on day one, thereby allowing an entire cutting in vain. week for other teams to follow suit. A further Canadian Naturally, banning zone play would be difficult, espetradition was upheld with the Old Growth-sponsored cially since the game is governed by the honor system. mixed drinks party at the Tor on Monday night, complete

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Certainly, a prophylactic ban of the zone could be counterproductive, eliminating the ever-exciting poach and the novel use of the underachieving "clam." Perhaps a mere ban of the three- or four-man cup would be a better solution.

Ultimate's problems in gaining outside support are well chronicled. Pro basketball eliminated the zone, which aped up the game, created one on one confrontations, and courted a whole generation of fans. Comparisons aside, ultimate needs some type of infusion of excitement. Let's ban the zone. C'mon,just try it. I dare you.

--Jay Talerman Norfolk, MA

Spirit is the Santa Claus(e) oftntimate The spirit ofthe game is ajoke. I just came back from playing in a regional finals where San Diego called back ever:y defensive block against them as a foul. Some were fouls, others debatable, others obviously clean. When the crowd attempted to police (i.e. heckle) the game, some San Diego players responded by giving them the finger and calling them "bitches."

Who can blame San Diego? It's now a sport where yelling "travel" is the best way to thwart a score, and yelling "foul" the best way to keep possession of the disc.

Those who believe we can do without refs remind me of utopian socialists who in their grand schemes take everything into aooount except human nature. Despite our grooviness and lack of uniforms, we are not superior to human beings who play other sports and, like them, we need to have our basic, selfish impulses corralled. Doesn't it stand to reason that an individual who just spent six months or more working toward a goal will be a little biased in his or her own favor?

The spirit of the game is a sweet, antiquated hippie conceit that occasionally plays out nicely enough at co-ed tournaments. It has no place in the real game. It's like believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Time to grow up.

-David Gessner Boulder, CO

Hey Ten Year Ref It sounds like your complaints of the fake refs at '95 College Nationals stem from THAT particular officiating system implemented and those directly involved. Just because the UPA is incapable of setting up and running an efficient and effective officiating system don't blame it on The Institution of Objective Arbitration, nor on that of human nature.

As far as soccer goes. there aren't enough refs in soccer.

Basketball has a playing area 10 times smaller with half as many players as soccer, yet, no matter what the level of play, basketball has more officials with more ruling power. This enables them to better judge on a wider range of possible infractions witnessed. Of course, maybe that's why soccer players, as you say, feel they can "do whatever they have to do" (ie. hand checking, shirt grabbing, tripping, even sucker punching). Aside from that, they still must fear being carded. The basketball player must fear the technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct. Not to mention the individual and team foul limits. Football assesses yardage penalties and hockey has the penalty box. Surely such measures deter intentional and unspirited violations and help to promote respect for playing within the scope of the rules.

Ariother point... soccers "advantage" is ultimates "play on"..... so..... with little to no penalty for "not letting yowman score, no matter what it takes", what, I ask you, prevents the ultimate defender from developing that same, soccer, win-at-all-costs "mind set"? According to you, not a yellow card nor passive observers. And, as history has shown, not SOTG. Other things refs can do for ultimate: Interpret and enforce rules; Make quick and decisive foul calls; Make quick and decisive violation calls; Officially start games (on time); Help keep score/time; Keep game moving (time between points, time outs, half); Inform score keepers and spectators ofviolations, penalties and possession; Review. critique and change system for the betterment offair pay; Make game more official; Add credibility to sport; Help put an end to spirit-violators violating the spirit.

In conclusion, Mike, the sad truth of the matter i.a tb•~ those whom do not wish to play by SarG WII .L continue to play in your UPA league and there is not one God Damn thing that you or anyone else can do about it. Period.

-Andrew Zeldin WilmingtDn, NC

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

Just Say Mo Messed Up To the Editor: I was happy to receive my most recent (Sept. 1995) UPA Newsletter with information and photos of recent ultimate activity. I was particularly interested in the full page write-up on the Hats, Hops and Hucks Tournament.

This was a well-run, eqjoyable affair for everyone (except my friend Jay who broke his arm). The play-by-play of the final between Team Straw and Team Jade is generally accurate exeept for the final play. I worked hard all eight games to make a strong contribution to Team Straw and should receive credit for the cross-field forehand to Frankie for the WINNING GOAL, which was erroneously credited to Paul, whose play I cannot fault.

-Chris Hansen, M.D. Davis, CA

Ultimate Needs Refs To Get NCAA Sponsorship To the Editor: Major efforts should be taken to make ultimate an official NCAA sport. This is what can ~d will catapult ultimate to a more credible and publicized level. It would create higher participation levels in high schools and eventually trickle down to better organized junior programs. Who knows, it oould possibly spawn some type of professional league. So most ofyou would respond: The NCAA won't sponsor ultimate as an athletic sport without official referees. So I respond: What better place to use and train them. The key word here is "sponsor."

The sponsorship capabilities from college institutions are almost unlimited. Many oollege programs across the country already get healthy amounts of funding through their SGA [student govt. assoc.? -Ed.l or rec. departments. Just think of how much more support they would receive from a NCAA hacking. All UPA administrators must see this as a positive avenue in promoting ultimate!

It seems that the real issue here is everybody having to wrestle with the idea of giving up their sacred vision (more like hallucination) of our holistic game and stepping int.o the mundane world of sports. Come on, everybody, we live in a changing world, faster than ever now, and networking is one oftoday's key strategies. The UPA cannot (because it is unrealistic) have complete control over every aspect ofultimate forever. Ifthere ever is a collegiate sponsored ultimate league (which, realistically, is inevitable), some of ultimate's ideals and standards will, in all probability, have to be oompromised.

What people have to realize is that ultimate already has refs, there are 14 of them, sometimes more.

Everybody is a ref. Most are untrained and play by slightly different letters of the rules. At least with trained, impartial officials the game gets called evenly as well as accurately. I'm not saying this will be an easy transition. First, it's going to cost money, and seoond, who is going to do it? Well if this system was to be adopted it could be used initially and primarily in the oollegiate divisions. There would be an ample supply ofexperienced ultimate and or ex-ultimate players that could, if willing, fill such a demand. Also, think of the support a collegiate league would get with recruiting and training officials, not to mention paying for officiated matches and small inter-conference tourneys (large 20+ team tourneys would eventually give way to single match game events, small invitational tourneys. followed by divisional, regional, and national events).

I urge all to heed these messagt?s. R.Platively little has changed in the past 10 yPars. Everybody is still cackling about the SOTG and the only fans at Nationals are eliminated players, and wondering locals. You are getting STALE ultimate!

-'!bad Leber Wilmington, North Carolina

Sport and Television

Page25

The Challenges That Lie Ahead

by Bill Wright, President. World Flying Disc Federation While I was in Seoul, Korea representing the World THE OVERALL PICTURE Flying Disc Federation for the GAISF and IWGA Why did we really make the effort to become memGeneral Assembly meetings, I talked to many other bers of these two major sport organizations.? My take federation presidents and board members and also on the least often discussed philosophy of the game is heard several speakers on the topic of "Sport and this. One side says they don't want or care about Television''. An extremely interesting topic even con- exposure because all that matters is the game. The sidering we are far behind the even the most obscure other side says that we need exposure to get more sports in our television exposure. Shoul4 we be con- money in the sport. cerned? Probably not; our sport isn't going anywhere.

I say, why in the world would anyone be complacent Complacency, however, may actually leave us behind. to what you've got. It's a sport "drink it up". Take it to Generally, the world of TV does not want to work at the highest level. You can always enjoy a game at a trying to make a sport fit its criteria. The sport must grass roots level and admittedly that may be where its do what it takes to cater to the wishes of the TV gods. the most fun to play. But the challenge is to see how many people will play the game. What kind of athletes WHATIT'SALLABOUT For The World Flying Disc Federation, and for me could/would play this game if it were popular? How personally, there was some driving sense that we must many people might make their living playing this prove to the rest of the world that flying disc· play (of game? It's easy to stay where we are at. The challenge all types) has as many or more aspects of sport as many is to see where we can go. of the traditional sports in the world. Their criteria was SPORT AND TELEVISION different. In 1994 just before the vote of The General The congress in Seoul, Korea was full of extraordiAssociation of International Sport Federations nary meals and shows and tours. Members were (GAISF) to see if Flying Disc would be areepted as a treated like kings by the Korean Olympic Committee full member, there was an objection by one sport and Dr. urn Kin Yong president ofGAISF who is from federation. He was actually questioning billiards as a Seoul. Individually many of the sports have their own sport. He claimed it was a ·recreational activity first. level of successes and failures with commercial presenThe board of GAISF decided to postpone any tations. Together we stand tall. further voting and create a commission for the That is one of the primary hopes of flying disc is to definition of sport to. evaluate and define sport. They be included within multiple game events and gain returned a report three months later that said sport is international exposure. Are we ready? undefinable it would not be in anyone's best interest to Coming to mind specifically is Ultimate. What define something and then have to hold to an obscure would a World championships look like at The World set of guidelines. Instead the criteria to become a member of GAlSF and the IWGA was set to be a level Games in 2001? Would the players wear uniforms with numbers and names so the announcers could commenof organization. The new sport candidate must: tate the proceedings. Is play fast enough or are there too many delays? It would be a tremendous chance to 1) consist of predominantly physical activities be compared to other sports by a worldwide audience.

2) involve a significant element of skill What would be the advantage to prepare ourselves and 3) have performances and results which are able develop our game to the requirements of TV? Several to be compared in a of the speakers at the General Assembly meetings competition context referred to TV as the only way a sport could get (real) 4) have statutes money. Which ultimately means survival. In the PDGA 5) have at least 20 member federations from at there is only one full-time paid position, and two in the least three continents UPA. How long can 6) be practiced internationally in organized competitions volunteer help keep us all together? I'm not saying 7) have organized 3 world level competitions with that we all need to 'd rop what we are doing and design the participation of at least 15 countries from three the sport to fit the need of a TV audience, but inevitably continents. it will play a part and decisions will have to be made.

There were many good suggestions made.

The World Flying disc Federation was able to verify Alex Gilady ofABC commented that there are more these statistics and now has the task of maintaining and more avenues to watch sports. First is the Network this level of organization within our sport As it should broadcasting, then cable and satellite TV. Soon there be, "a sport" is then defined by the level of its will be point casting through the internet. You choose organization throughout the international com- what sport you want to watch and pay for it on demand. munity or world wide community. There is no better A subscription-based selection or pay-per-view may be test than that ofparticipation and execution. Everyone common within the next few years. The methods change, but the principal remains the same. You must must play by the same rules.

It was interesting what we learned as we tried to entertain the audience.

The principal criteria according to Neal Philson (a explain "spirit of the game" to the president of Casting.

I must have explained the difference between a ''Fris- sport agent ofsorts who helps international federations bee" and a flying disc at least 100 times. In four days negotiate their TV contracts.) are: 1)Revenue, we lobbied for the vote from our fellow sportspeople of 2)Audience, 3)Prestige, and 4)Scheduling. the world. This included The International Federation Acceptance into these two organizations will cerof Tug-Of-War, The International Badminton Federa- tainly help With prestige, and ultimtely in audience, tion, The International Baseball Association, and on leading to the revenue area. A rea1istic goal is to be and on. It was a long list of all the things I would not included in the 1997 World Games in Finland as an dream of wasting my time at. Of course, they all exhibition sport. Ideally, it would be followed by a disc thought the same of us. That was the ch_a llenge. Our medal status sport in the 2001 World Games. Also, the responsibility was principally to communicate that we Goodwill Games becomes an achievable goal. Obviousmet their guidelines on a regular basis and in fact offer ly, turning on TBS or ESPN and seeing a flying disc a stimulating activity for a huge variety of people. For sport as part of the World Games can result in greater the WFDFtheeffortisaboutcredibility. Wewantmore benefits to WFDF and UPA members. We have joined credibility so that we can get more exposure and so that the international sports community. We must now more people will see and enjoy our sport. That's the make the decisions that will shape our participation on holistic philosophy. Howbigcan we be?"Howbigdowe the international scene. We have made a major step want to be?" is a much broader question we must ~gin forward, but there are more steps to take. to ask.

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Volume 15 Number 5 • December 1995

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