UPA Newsletter: 2002 Winter

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BOARD MEMBERS: President Kate Bergeron • kate.bergeron@upa .org Vice Pres. Dennis Karlinsky (NW) • dennis.karlinsky@upa .org Treasurer Joe Seidler • joe.seidler@upa.org Secretary Dan Revelle (SW) • dan.revelle@upa .org Paul Bonfanti (MA) • paul.bonfanti@upa .org Kurt Dahlenburg (S) • kurt.dahlenburg@upa.org Jennifer Donnelly • jennifer.donnelly@upa.org Tim Murray (C) • tim .murray@upa.org Jim Parinella • jim .parinella@upa .org Tommy Proulx (NE) • tommy.proulx@upa.org Dave Remucal • dave.remucal@upa .org Henry Thorne • henry.thorne@upa .org

HEADQUARTERS STAFF: Executive Director Joey Gray • ed@upa .org Assistant Director - Championships Will Deaver • will.deaver@upa.org Assistant Director -Junior Outreach Kyle Weisbrod • kyle.weisbrod@upa .org Assistant Director Media & Communications Stephanie Kurth • stephanie.kurth@upa.org Administrative Assistant Melanie Byrd • info@upa.org

NATIONAL COMPETITION DIRECTORS: Open Director David Raflo upa_nod@upa.org Women's Director Melissa Proctor upa_nwd@upa.org Mixed Director Jen Christianson upa_nxd@upa.org Masters Director Pete Giusti upa_nmd@upa.org College Director Lyn Debevoise upa_ncd@upa.org Juniors Director OPEN

CLUB REGIONAL COORDINATORS: Central Open Adam Goff • upa_central_rc@upa.org Central Women DeAnna Ball upa_central_wrc@upa.org Central Masters Alexander Dee upa_central_mrc@upa.org Central Mixed Ron Williams upa_central_xrc@upa.org Mid-Atlantic Open Eric Prange • upa_ma_rc@upa.org Mid-Atlantic Women Valerie Kelly upa_ma_wrc@upa.org Mid-Atlantic Masters Mark Cornacchia upa_ma_mrc@upa.org Mid-Atlantic Mixed Mark Licata upa_ma_xrc@upa.org Northeast Open Geoff Doerre upa_ne_rc@upa.org Northeast Women Nurit Bloom upa_ne_wrc@upa.org Northeast Masters OPEN upa_ne_mrc@upa.org Northeast Mixed Ben Tapper upa_ne_xrc@upa.org Northwest Open Chad Walters upa_nw_rc@upa.org Northwest Women Sandy Angelos upa_nw_wrc@upa.org Northwest Masters Baird Johnson upa_nw_mrc@upa.org Northwest Mixed Ray Birks • upa_nw_xrc@upa.org South Open Carl Parsons • upa_south_rc@upa.org South Women Christina Robinson upa_south_wrc@upa.org South Masters J.R. Reynolds upa_south_mrc@upa.org South Mixed Stu Downs • upa_south_xrc@upa.org Southwest Open Alex Bellows upa_sw_rc@upa.org Southwest Women Beth Thomas upa_sw_crc@upa.org Southwest Masters Randy Ricks upa_sw_mrc@upa.org Southwest Mixed Chuck Brunson upa_sw_xrc@upa.org

COLLEGE REGIONAL COORDINATORS: New England Open upa_ne_crc@upa.org New England Women upa_ne_wcrc@upa.org Great Lakes Open upa_gl_crc@upa.org Great Lakes Women upa_gl_wcrc@upa.org Central Open upa_central_crc@upa.org Central Women upa_central_wcrc@upa.org Northwest Open upa_nw_crc@upa.org Northwest Women upa_nw_wcrc@upa.org Southwest Open upa_sw_crc@upa.org Southwest Women upa_sw_wcrc@upa.org Atlantic Coast Open upa_ac_crc@upa.org Atlantic Coast Women upa_ac_wcrc@upa.org Metro East Open upa_me_crc@upa.org Metro East Women upa_me_wcrc@upa.org

NEWSLETTER STAFF: Editor-in-Chief Stephanie Kurth • upa_newsletter@upa.org Graphic Design Cathy Maykut

Editorial: All submissions must be typed doublespace and/or on a 3-1 /2" disk in RTF format. Email your submissions to upa_newsletter@upa.org Submit full name, address, and phone. All editorial submissions become the property of the UPA. Photographs: Labeled prints and/or digital scans, black & white or color photos are acceptable. Please include all information on the back of each photo or in an email message: Subject, event & name of photographer. Email photos as a jpeg of at least 300dpi to upa_newsletter@upa.org . Published photos become property of the UPA, unused photos will be returned upon request if accompanied with a SASE. Deadlines: Feb. 15, June 15, Aug . 15, Nov. 15 Circulation: 15,500

2

Ultimate Players Association

Winter 2002

Thank You Joey, VVelcome Sandie Dear UPA Membership, As lovers of the sport of Ultimate, we owe Joey Gray a tremendous "thank you" for making our sport and our organization better than it has ever been. We also have every reason to be excited about the potential Sandie Hammerly, our new executive director, brings to the UPA. First, Joey. Having watched some of the greatest contributors to this sport in action as a board member over the last six years, I think Joey is the number one contributor ever to Ultimate. I can't speak for Tom Kennedy because I don't know him, but I watched the other contenders - Eric Simon, Cindy Fisher and Troy Freverand I put Joey at #1. Before she even started pouring herself into the UPA directly, she had built Disc Northwest and then a whole new UPA division, the mixed division. Once she allowed us to tie her energies into the UPA, she went on to: • Grow our membership from <11,000

in 1999 to> 15,000 in 2002 • fucrease UPA dues income from $253,000 in 1999 to over $400,000 this year (and this is a big deal because it means the UPA can do all the great things people want to see happen in this sport without burning people out) • And #1, she hired absolutely top notch people into the organization as HQ staff.

Furthermore, Joey is a great visionary. Whether you agree with her or not, there is no one I know who thinks more deeply and broadly about Ultimate. So Joey, I know I'm speaking for a lot of people when I say: "Thank you Joey for pouring your heart, soul and mind into Ultimate and the UPA over the last few years, and we hope you will never stop."

Welcome Sandie Hammerly, the new executive director of the Ultimate Players Association.

Sandie Hammerly is a professional administrator and manager of non-profits. She started her career as the associ-

Having watched some of the greatest contributors to this sport in action over the last six years, I think Joey is the number one contributor ever to Ultimate.

2002

ate executive director of the United Way of Central Virginia in 1979 and spent 11 years in the United Way organization, moving through training and technical consulting to 70 local United Ways chapters to $15MM offundraising and finally to becoming the manager of national corporate relations for the United Way of America in 1988. She then spent four years as executive director of an independent non-profit educational foundation, the futernational Society of Hybrid Microelectronics, then moved into athletic non-profits in 1995, becoming the assistant executive director of U.S. Field Hockey, the U.S. Olympic national sport governing body with over 15,000 members.

She will make the processes and systems within the UPA run like clockwork to provide you with the services and value you want as members. With those processes in place, she will work with us to find ways to implement programs and provide services and value to you in the key growth areas: Juniors and League Affiliation. With a large growth story, we believe we will be well positioned to gain the credibility, media recognition and sponsorship that the sport of Ultimate and its players deserve.

Henry Thorne UPA Board Member Executive Director Search Committee Chair

BOARD ELEC liON RESULTS

Congratulations to Elizabeth Murray, Deirdre Abrahamsson, Todd Demetriades, and Eric Zaslow, the newest members of the UPA board of directors. Elizabeth and Deirdre replace Jen Donnelly and Dave Remucal as at-large representatives, while Todd and Eric replace Kurt Dahlenburg and Tim Murray, respectively, as representatives from the south and central regions.

Voter turnout this year was 840 (711 online ballots/129 paper ballots) , or 5.5 % of the membership, compared to 693/5.2% in 2001 (when the lOth edition rules were also on the ballot). The board thanks all the candidates for running and all of those UPA members who voted.

At-Large Vote: 208 Elizabeth Murray 189 Deirdre Abrahamsson 179 Samantha Salvia 161 Matt Healey 141 Kelley Kneib 140 George Cooke 102 Chris Sherwood 93 John O'Connor 92 Laura DeLong Frost (80 Todd Demetriades) (68 Eric Zaslow)

Central Region Vote: 87 Eric Zaslow 1 Kaiser Shen (Write-in) 1 Ernie Hughes (Write-in)

South Region Vote: 54 Todd Demetriades 51 Laura DeLong Frost UPA headquarters in Boulder, CO.

Letters to the Editor

(We're downstairs.)

PLAYERS ASSOCIATION Vol. 22 No.4

20 Open

Championship

Furious George vs.

Ring of Fire

Oct. 24-27

Sarasota, FL

Lady Godiva vs. Fury

35 Mixed Donner Party vs. Hang Time

lntervievv vvith Nevv ED Sandie Hammerly

by Ste ph a ni e KuTth

Executive Director ~

Legend of the Game Kenny Dobyns

2002 Freestyle World Championships

by Randy Rick s

by P au l K e nny

Financials

38 Masters

lntervievv vvith Juniors Coach Eileen Murray

OLD SAG vs.

Old and In the Way Ph oto

lub Championship Scoreboard

2002 The UPA Newsletter, Vo l. 22 Issue 4, W inter 2002. Th e UPA Newsletter is th e officia l q uarterly publicatio n of th e Ultimate Pl aye rs Associa ti o n. Th e UPA Newsletter relies o n member co nt ribu tions fo r its co ntent.

Subscription Information: Th e UPA Newslette r is free to all UPA m em be rs. Sin g le co py cost is $3. M em bershi p rates per yea r: $30 U.S., $20 student and $ 15 junio r. Send to UPA, 741 Pea rl Street Bo ulder, CO 80302 .

Change of Address: Th e UPA Newsletter is m ailed no n-profit rate and is not forwa rded. To change yo ur add ress, go to www.u pa.org, ca ll 1-800-UPA-Get-H, o r w rite info@ upa.o rg.

Table of Contents

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Winter 2002

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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Joey Gray

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Ultimate Players Association

Winter 2002

For three years, I've talked about "Foundation, Financing, Fun" - a threeword plan, starting with "F" for Flying Disc, to get the UPA through a major settling and growth period. All three should, and do, go on all the time. But the promise of Fun-exciting new projectsin my 3rd year as ED kept me going.

Just by providing timely information about membership status, dues income went from $242,000 in 1999 to $389,000 in 2001. It looks like it will be about $440,000 this year, thanks to you. But this growth may not even have much to do with actual growth in the sport-that could be much greater. What this growth shows is the UPA's ability to track and manage membership well, and your commitment to being a good citizen of Ultimate.

Together, we brought expectations down to a still ambitious, but reasonable level. At the same time, we all worked to increase the UPA's ability to meet expectations. For me, that has also taken saying things no one likes to hear-that any choice to do one idea also means a choice not to do another; that we can do anything, but not everything at once; that projects endure best with good planning first; that we must be consistent even if a specific exception request seems to make sense; and that growth and quality depend on specialized roles, with the right people doing the right activities at the right times.

This also means not having the wrong people doing the wrong things at the wrong times. Most of that can come out sounding like "no" at first, even when the results are bigger "yeses" for you and for Ultimate.

Which brings me to another "F." Somewhere between Financing and Fun, I got Fried. Don't get me wrong-2002 included the elements of "Fun" we all hoped for. Being able to hire new staff, Kyle Weisbrod for Junior Development and Stephanie Kurth for Media & Communications, is 100% the intended Fun. Again, we can' t do it all at once-I can think of ten more positions to fill tomorrow-but these two new positions are long awaited additions to the Championship position (Will Deaver) and the Administrative Assistant (Melanie Byrd).

The new positions are huge steps towards the exciting growth ahead. It is com-

Executive Director Retirement

pletely rewarding to see these amazing people every day at work, in place to do Ultimate full time.

However, within one 12-month period, I was in charge of all the normal UPA administrative activities; the overhaul, foundation laying and growth mentioned above; our participation in Ultimate's first medal appearance at the World Games; the UPA being the only known national league to play all regularly scheduled games last September; and an office relocation. For such a small staff, that is crazy!

I hope I never get so Fried again.

Everyone said, "Don't burn out; ' and I said, "Yah, yah." But just saying that has nothing to do with prevention. Even so, every single thing I've been involved with was completely rewarding, each in its own way. There's not much I would do differently, except thank people more. It's such a cool thing to go 100% into something you care about, for a while. The last couple years were the perfect time in the UPA's history for someone to just roll up their sleeves, with the help of many, many others, and deal. But it will take me weeks to chill out.

So, after years as a player-organizer, plus this year of organizing and not playing, I am "F' for Finished. I take it as a welcome omen that the letters on my new license plate came up "PLY." I just want to play. If you know of a beach house that needs tending-let me know!

But first, I will say what I really think about Ultimate..

Most of my reports mentioned the importance of UPA membership. Not because that is the most important to me-Spirit of the Game is, by far-but because as your ED, it is my job to foster a healthy organization. You know how incredibly important membership is to the future of the sport and to the quality of your own experience. I just don't understand the idea that some players think of the UPA as "them;' not "us." The only explanation I can come up with is that some people would rather point fingers than take a bare minimum of responsibility. Maybe they, or you, just don't know how easy it is to be responsible. Or maybe we are the "them." There's a book called "Them," which I recommend if you want to laugh really hard about a topic

that is not supposed to be funny. I digress.

Here goes ...

Responsibility in competition translates to good citizenship in more ways than I can imagine. It's not unique to Ultimate-both fair play and cheating can be found in any sport. For example, Olympians take an oath and then it is up to each athlete to decide how seriously to take it. We all know some do and some don't, amid incredible pressures that I doubt anyone who hasn't been an Olympian can begin to imagine. But in all other sports there are limits to personal responsibility. At some point, a judge, a referee, an umpire or an agency draws a line and then assumes responsibility for the maintenance of that line's integrity.

The integrity of the line becomes more important than the integrity of the person.

Each sport has its unique elements, mentally, technically, athletically, and strategically. For Ultimate, it is the opportunity, and the incredible challenge, to play at a highly competitive level without referees. That takes a unique kind of mental fortitude found no where else in team sports. Not everyone can do it. Maybe there is no one who can do it all the time.

If the quote on display at the US Olympic Training Center ("Success is a journey, not a destination") holds any truth, then the pursuit of Spirit of the Game in the most competitive situations is what matters, more than anything. No other team sport can even think of leaving this 100% up to the athletes. That is an incredibly valuable asset to the UPA, to society, and to the players fortunate enough to be presented with this challenge.

By entering into a game of Ultimate, each player agrees, up front, to play within the rules. The Rules of Ultimate simply acknowledge the willingness of both parties to play fairly, respectfully and honestly. If you believe that fair play is impossible, then it is very simple. Do something else.

Is it utopian to believe that even higher levels of physical athleticism are possible in Ultimate without stepping further down the path of third party control? No. I believe it is not only possible to go further our way, but probable for a long list of social and technical reasons I don't have room for here. Who would have thought

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Seven on the Line Productions Announces the Release of I Bleed Black on DVD & VHS.

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we'd get this far--our top athletes are top athletes period-without a more traditional approach? The more I learn firsthand about other organizations and about the sports industry in general, the more it seems we are doing things right already.

The idea of Utopian Ultimate may even be harmful-the more unrealistic the expectations, the harder the fall. Of course we expect the highest levels of sportsmanship from ourselves, our teammates and our opponents. But to present the sport like it is perfect, or to expect it to be, or to act among non-players like Ultimate has some sort of monopoly on sportsmanship - all that does so much more harm than good.

The UPA elected a pro-reffer to the board of directors for 2002-2004 and to the position of vice president for 2002. That may be seen as progress. But what exactly is the goal?

The question is not "observers vs. no observers" or "refs vs. no refs." The important question is, "What are the goals?" Then, "How do we achieve each goal?"

For example, one of the main functions of a game official is to facilitate communication, typically via visuals (hand signals, flags, lighted clocks), sound (whistles, bells, starting guns) and voice (magnified with sound equipment). The three main types of communication necessary in a high level game are: inter-team communication, rarely the official's responsibility, except perhaps in the case of injury; intra-team communication, traditionally 100% the official's responsibility; and game-> spectator communication, again traditionally 100% the official's responsibility.

In Ultimate, we can easily break down which areas need to be improved and do that in ways which do not disrupt the opportunity for Ultimate players to reach the highest levels of sportsmanship. For example, when there is a huge, roaring crowd, how do players on both teams know about a violation? The traditional approach is to train refs to quickly identify violations and to make a call every time they see a violation, without judgment as to whether the player or team that would supposedly benefit would want that call to be made, and then to communicate those calls quickly and effectively to the other players and the crowd. The Ultimate approach is to train game assistants to quickly identify calls made by players and then to communicate those calls quickly and effectively to other players and the crowd. The entertainment value, the cost of managing the program,

and the infrastructure requirements may be similar both ways, and the goal of communication is achieved. Yet the Ultimate way leaves control of the game up to the players.

If there is any value at all in the idea that sports teach integrity, teamwork and conflict resolution, then the UPA is sitting on a goldmine. To throw that away for the glorification of whoever's ego needs to be on TV would be tragic. It's not even a given that this sacrifice would be necessary for TV. In fact, the idea that Ultimate, without offering something unique, would realistically compete head to head against generations of established sports seems not just a little ridiculous.

Refs and judges clearly do not solve all the problems in other sports. I have heard international and national sport leaders express things like the executive director of a US Olympic sport who said, "Now, that's interesting. We always wondered if we could do that-it would solve so many problems."

Or the executive director of a different Olympic sport who mentioned that their refs had threatened to strike. Someone asked, "What are they actually for now that you have the new equipment [that makes them obsolete]?" The answer was a chuckling shrug that implied, "Tradition. Politics." Or, "Yep." Or the sports commission officer from Australia who said, "We didn't have any idea what we would see [at our first Ultimate tournament] , but the thing we especially liked was the way it works without referees."

Going forward, our debate is clearly no longer just among ourselves. It's exciting to hear all the same pros and cons not only within our own ranks, but outside flying disc sports. We have started to engage the greater sports community and see that experienced members of the sports establishment hold the same wide range of opinions held by players.

The debate itself has entertainment value as Ultimate evolves further-it's only going to get more exciting!

Lastly, thanks to everyone I've had the great pleasure of working with and learning from since our local Greenlake teams, Yow Yow and the Tribe, hosted Seattle's first Jamboree & Potlatch, starting especially with these homies, whose love of fun, Ultimate and Spirit of the Game inspired me in the first place-Jon DeLeeuw, Chris Heizer, JK Wesley, Bill Sleeth, Bruce Miller, Vicki Clarke, Warner Scheyer, Peter May, Frank Taylor, Max Miller, Jude Stoller, Connie Thomas, Ed Babb, Katie Sauter, Andy Ackerman, Jon Levin, Tom George and our friends from the Calgary Ho-Down.

The much anticipated feature-length documentary film from Seven on the Line Productions is now available for purchase on DVD and VHS from www.GAIAultimate.com. The film follows the 2001 UCSB Black Tide, one of the most notorious and successful teams in Ultimate Frisbee, and its rollercoaster quest to win a coveted College National Championship. Over 150 hours of footage was compiled to create a dramatic and inspiring 90 minute film. The Special Edition DVD includes Bonus Footage, Film Trailer, and a Scene Selections page. Check out www.ibleedblack.com to view the trailer and for more info.

I Bleed Black

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CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT

VVill Deaver

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Ultimate Players Association

Winter 2002

Well, another year of Ultimate has come and gone, and with it, a lot of great moments and experiences. But it' s the memories that last and that in the end will make up a large percentage of the satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) related to each experience. At least that's what they told us in Recreation 101. And as I think back over the year, it makes sense.

Most of our Ultimate memories are of things that happened at tournaments. I'll just pull a few of the strongest ones from 2002 off the top of my head. My second season with Bravo, full of ups and downs , but overall an experience that was overwhelmingly positive. Beating Furious at nationals was a fantastic high the kind that I hope everyone gets to experience at some point. The quest for which keeps us coming back year after year.

The Paideia vs. Amherst final at the junior championships; squint your eyes a little and you'd have sworn you were watching two top college teams going at it with an incredible mix of desire, patience and class. The several hundred Atlantans and tournament attendees are lucky to have seen that game.

The William and Mary vs. Swarthmore rosham for the team spirit trophy in Spokane. In front of a couple thousand people, two fires thrown, one of which is "extinguished" for the win! Never seen anything quite like it.

The classic Ozone vs. Schwa battle at worlds, where with blocked hucks and flying bodies, you really do get to see that defense wins games.

And Ozone pulls off another miracle comeback, the likes of which are starting to become more commonplace than miracle.

The Donner Party vs. Hang Time mixed final in Sarasota; average passes per possession ... seemed like around four. Can you say "fan friendly"!? Scotty is all over the place. Lenny rips down a 70 yarder over two defenders at 17-18. 19-18

Championship Report

with an equal number of turnovers for each team; that' s one to remember.

Styrofoam noodle fights on the beach on Saturday night. Ouch!

Where 'd that beach chair come from?

Take a second to think back over the year and see what pops into your head and brings a smile to your face.

Then there are the things that an Ultimate organizer gets to remember.

Working with all of the championship tournament directors; it was a pleasure. Working with the national division directors and all the UPA coordinators making it happen around the country. Seeing a tournament come

Think about what you want in terms of priorities, rather than as a wish list.

together. Hearing about teams from at least two cities chartering buses to haul their teams to regionals. Seeing more teams than ever turn rosters in on time, and watching the UPA membership reach all-time highs. Getting sites for 2003 nationals set up almost a full year in advance. Moving headquarters to Boulder, where the local Ultimate community has already put in hundreds of hours of work - from building she! ves and hauling desks to developing and improving website and database structures. Not to mention that a cool office, a bike ride to work and a coffee shop around the corner will surely attract good employees for a long time to come. Seeing three new full-time employees hired (Admin Asst, Juniors, Media), and unfortunately seeing one leave. Awesome working with you, Joe Gorman.

Like I said before, it's those memories that stick with us and will

undoubtedly keep us coming back for more. But as successful as the year has been in many ways, there are a lot of ways that we can make improvements. Specifically, I look forward to maintaining the level of service the champ series offers in some areas (nationals , rostering , scheduling, reporting) and improving it in others.

I look forward to spending some time and money on formats, seeding criteria, coordinator recruitment/training/evaluation, observers and team/player eligibility ISSUeS.

There's a lot to do, and you have a direct say in what gets done. The UPA board is a group of representatives elected by you, the members.

Those representatives make decisions about where the organization will put its limited time and money. They draw from various sources for information, and member opinion is one of those sources. So let the board know where you want your dues money to go. Realize that there is a growing infrastructure that needs much of that funding simply to support UPA programs. And realize that oftentimes when you choose one thing, it's going to have to be at the expense of another. Think about what you want in terms of priorities, rather than as a wish list. And given that knowledge, you can and should let the board know if you think resources should be put towards improving formats, sectionals, statistics, the website, the newsletter, juniors, membership cards, or whatever is important to you.

The members help the board make strategic decisions; the board gives guidance to the administration; the administration plans and recruits volunteers from the membership to help carry out the mission and achieve goals. It' s a system in which everyone takes part. And it can lead to more satisfying experiences and to memories that will last well beyond any single event and will keep us all coming back for more.

See you on the fields.

JUNIORS REPORT

by Kyle VVeisbrod

Spirit of the Game. Self-officiating. These are skills in the sport of Ultimate that are often not recognized as such. When practicing with your team, you will often focus on your throws, your cuts, your defense or your team strategies. But how often do you practice making the right calls or working out an acceptable solution for a contested call?

You practice your break mark backhand so that when you get to a tournament you won ' t make a mistake. How come your team is not practicing how to make the right call so that you will not make a mistake when the game is on the line in the quarterfinals?

The answer to this question is pretty obviouswhen the game is on the line, completing the break mark backhand will help the team; making the right call may not.

As Ultimate players, we are in a unique position.

Not only are we the athletes that play the sport, we also have the responsibility of being the judges that officiate the sport. As such , it is imperative that when we teach new players the game, and as we ourselves continue to learn aspects of the game, we focus on both the physical and mental skills that this sport requires.

As we find ourselves in higher levels of play, we find it more difficult to make the right calls. This is not only, or even primarily, because we do not want to lose the big games. The more common reason is that we focus so much on what we are doing physically - going for the big grab or getting the layout block - that whether or not you landed in or how much contact you had with the receiver becomes difficult to determine.

In lower level games, pick up, practices or beginner level Ultimate, the issue of good self-officiating and spirit often becomes moot. It is easy to resolve conflicts when winning or los-

ing are irrelevant. These, however, are opportunities to develop the skills of self-officiating that become important when outcomes do matter.

As I talk to PE teachers, school administrators, parents and coaches, there is one selling point of Ultimate that I believe in and that I never fail to mention. Unlike most other sports, Ultimate builds conflict-resolution skills, confidence and higher moral reasoning through the self-officiated aspect of the sport. These qualities are what makes Ultimate such an ideal sport for youth. It is important that we take the opportunity to teach the skills of self-officiating to players who are just learning the sport.

Teaching players self-officiating and Spirit of the Game is not any different than teaching a player any other skill in Ultimate. You begin by explaining the skill, and then you create opportunities for them to practice the skill in different situations.

It is important that we take the opportunity to teach the skills of self-officiating to players who are iust leaming the sport.

1. Teach the rules.

You would not want to play a basketball game with a referee who did not have a full grasp of the rules.

Likewise, it is important that every Ultimate player knows the rules. Too often, only one or two players on a team have a firm grasp of the rules.

When difficult situations arise, players turn to those teammates to help explain them.

In Ultimate, we must teach new players the rules. Let your team know where they can find a copy of the rules (http://www. u pa.org/ul timate/rules/ 1Ot hFinl.pdf) and be sure to bring a copy to every practice and tournament.

When an unclear situation arises, do not just tell them what the rule is; let different players look up the rules and find out how to apply them. At the end of practices , propose a confusing rules situation and have them solve it

Juniors Report

for the next practice.

All players should be familiar with the rules and know how to apply them.

2. Build moral dilemmas into your practices.

Coaches and captains often plan practice to minimize the occurrence of moral dilemmas by choosing teams fairly, allowing everybody to participate in all aspects of practice and distributing discs fairly. However, unless athletes are faced with opportunities to experience dilemmas and discuss them, moral development might not occur. Some possible dilemmas include: • Creating unequal teams for scrimmaging • Devising a drill in which there are unequal opportunities for practice; for example, a ten-pull drill in which only one team gets to play offense • Devising a drill in which players might be tempted to mock other players; for example, unfair relay teams or a drill that demonstrates a player's weak skills • Give one disc to five players to warm up and two discs to four other players It is important that after these dilemmas you provide opportunities to discuss them.

3. Apply the rules.

It is important when teaching Ultimate to not only teach what the rules are and how to apply them, but to actually apply them. The rules that will apply when your team plays games in tournaments should be the same rules that are applied in your practices and your league games. This is particularly important for new players.

Many players see calling violations as unspirited. This view could not be further from the truth. Instead of calling a travel after a huck, they will say "watch the travel next time." This is detrimental for multiple reasons.

First, it is not teaching the player who violated the rule how to follow the

JUNIORS REPORT continued on page 10 »

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IVIEDIA REPORT

by Stephanie Kurth

As I write this, mini discs are flying dangerously close to my head. Tomorrow we're having an open house to show off the new headquarters, so I figured I'd better clear off my desk. And now it's become home (temporarily, I hope) to Joey 's mini disc golf basket. .. about three feet from my head.

I guess this is how they haze the new girl.

And I have to admit the past few months have felt like a hazing period in many ways. Jumping into a newly created position always poses some challenges-what are the goals, what are the expectations, what are the priorities?

None of these questions have been fully answered yet, and between the club series, these newsletters, and just learning about Ultimate, there hasn' t been a lot of time to do anything but keep up.

As soon as the newsletters go out the door though, I'll be able to step back for the first time since I started and really think about what we can accomplish in the area of media and communications over the next year. So far, I've just been getting initiated into the UPA. Now is the time when we can start building new programs and making some changes in how things are currently done. Joey has done an awesome job of laying the groundwork so we can make big strides in this area. The next year will be the time when you start seeing results.

Below are a few areas where I think we can make the most progress.

More Info Available via the Web I'm a huge advocate for improving the range and quality of content available through the UPA web site. I know that whenever I'm looking for any sort of information, I usually start with the Internet. Any time of the day or night, you can hop on and track down what you need. And you often end up discovering other useful information in the process.

I'd like to get the UPA web site to the point where different audiencesplayers, parents, the media, sponsors, volunteers, coaches, etc-can quickly find exactly what they need. Information needs to be arranged clearly and logically, with more consistency in the look and feel of the pages. A lot of information is already available at

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Media Report

upa.org, but it's often scattered in different places, formatted differently from year to year. This can be understandably frustrating for users.

In addition to organizing information better, we need to make more resources available online. A few of the ideas I've heard include adding regularly updated fact sheets about the sport and the demographics of its participants; creating a searchable image gallery that allows you to find photos of specific players, teams or events; posting team and player profiles so the outside world can start to connect and identify with the people playing Ultimate; and listing RUFUS stats and championship results in a central place.

It's not going to happen overnight, but you can expect to see changes in this area over time. It will make life much easier for anyone seeking information about Ultimate, and it will also free up staff time in the long run.

Improved Media for Championship Events This is another area where I think we can make some improvements.

Again, a lot of the groundwork has already been done; it's just a matter of getting the processes to run more efficiently and with greater consistency.

Having a full time staff member dedicated to these areas will allow the UPA to do things that were impossible in the past.

My resounding impression before, during and after the club championships was that most everyone wants every bit of information about the tournament they can get- and they want it now.

This isn't unreasonable. It's gotten much easier to make information available almost instantly, and so people have come to expect it. Scores, photos, game write ups, player and team information, videos, stats. We tried to make most of this available as quickly as we could with the club series this year, but I think it will only get better. Equipped with the experience of this year's nationals, we' ll continue to improve the speed with which we get info to you, and hopefully the quality as well.

More Media Exposure There are so many great stories to be

told about Ultimate and those who play.

It's one of my goals to make sure that more people hear them.

Many local Ultimate leagues have had great success in generating media attention in their communities. I'd like the UPA to be able to support these efforts and to offer assistance to leagues that don' t know where to begin to build a media campaign. It's not all that difficult, but it takes some time and persistence.

As a first step, the UPA will be working on establishing a standard media kit and building our network of media contacts so that we can offer these resources to you. I'd also like us to ramp up our efforts nationally to increase general awareness of the sport.

A Change in the Newsletter Pulling together these two issues of the newsletter has been another part of the hazing process for me-one that I wasn't sure I'd ever see the end of.

Contrary to how it may appear (you hold in your hands 100 pages of Ultimate), I don' t necessarily think bigger is better when it comes to the newsletter.

I think a lot of the content in the newsletter could be posted to the web, leaving the printed version as a place for great photos and a few well written, thought provoking articles. I think most people would have rather read a lot of the content in these newsletters months ago- and it's inexpensive and easy to do this via the web.

Of course, it's still nice to have something you can hold in your hands.

By moving much of the content to the web, we could possibly develop a shorter but higher quality publication without increasing costs too much.

None of these are particularly radical ideas. I've heard most of them again and again from players, board members and staff. But they can't be done by just one or two people. We rely on the talent and hard work of our volunteers to make things happen.

Thanks to the many people who ' ve already offered to help. I will definitely be in touch in the coming months. And for those who have suggestions or would like to get involved, please feel free drop me an email at stephanie.kurth@ upa.org.

AN I NTERVIE\N VVITH N E\N ExECUTIVE DIRECTOR SANDIE HAMMERLV

by Stephanie Kurth Sandie Hammerly joins the UPA as executive director beginning in January 2003. Sandie has over twenty years of experience as a non-profit administrator and worked most recently as the assistant executive director for US Field Hockey.

Sandie Hammerly, new executive director of the UPA.

SK: How did you hear about the executive director position, and what made you interested in the job?

SH: I learned of the position through the Internet, but I cannot recall exactly where I came across the announcement.

After more than seven years at a sport governing body, I was intrigued by the rapid growth and development of the sport of Ultimate and the fact that much of this growth has been accomplished by dedicated volunteers at the local, regional and national levels. There was strong evidence that the UPA staff, while relatively new, had outstanding skills as well a passion for the sport and its principles and progress. Together these factors demonstrated that there was a strong potential for continued growth-providing an exciting opportunity for a non-profit administrator with a desire

to be a part of Ultimate's continued expansion.

SK: What will be your primary goals as the new ED? SH: Initially, my goals are to gain as much information and knowledge as I can from current executive director, Joey Gray-who has truly made an incredible contribution to the sport, and the organization and administration of the UPA office-as well as members of the board of directors and staff. I firmly believe that in order to act, one should listen first. ...

SK: What do you think is the biggest issue facing the UPA and Ultimate over the next few years?

SH: Based on the results of the board of director's triennial strategic planning retreat, it appears two of the greatest issues facing the UPA are resource development (both financial and human resources, including areas such as sponsorship and coach development) and information technology-critical resources in developing programs and services for Ultimate's key growth areas of juniors and league affiliation.

SK: Tell us a little bit about the sport of field hockey and its culture.

Were you a player prior to joining the organization as assistant executive director?

SH: Touted to be the second most played team sport in the world (after soccer), field hockey is pretty much a niche sport here in the US with most athletes concentrated in the northeast and California. Introduced to US women by an English physical education teacher in 1901, field hockey has been a critical part of the growth of women 's athletics-providing one of the first opportunities for American women to participate in outdoor team sports and travel abroad for sport competition (1920 's).

The majority of US field hockey athletes are women. Of the few thousand men who play here in the States, many are foreign born and have come to the US to pursue employment opportunities (and bring their passion for field hockey with them). For young women, field hockey is an important collegiate sport, with many

top athletes receiving scholarships to leading NCAA Division I programs.

Like Ultimate, field hockey has an extremely passionate following , and some athletes continue to play the game well into their seventies. Ultimate and field hockey are similar in a number of ways , including the fact that athletes must be aerobically fit, with outstanding hand-eye coordination. (I have even heard rumors that members of the US men 's field hockey team play Ultimate as part of their aerobic fitness regimen!) Field hockey is an Olympic sport for both men and women.

While I was not a field hockey player, many of my college friends were, so I was pretty familiar with the sport when I joined the US staff in 1995.

As a college athlete, I was bit more aggressive ... and helped to form one of the first women's rugby teams on the east coast. I hung up my cleats when I cracked a couple of vertebrae after a ruck collapsed.

SK: What was your primary role with US Field Hockey? What were your main accomplishments?

SH: Originally hired on a short term contract to generate financial resources for the US Men's and Women 's Olympic teams, I was promoted to assistant executive director in the midst of the 1996 Olympic Games and became a permanent member of the staff. At that time, I assumed responsibility for all marketing, communications, individual and corporate fundraising (including sponsorship, event/merchandise and advertising sales, and licensing), and membership programs, staff and volunteer committees. During this period we achieved significant growth in all areas, but I am particularly proud of the improvements made to our print publications and web site (with little to no net increase in cost).

SK: What were the biggest challenges you faced during your time with US Field Hockey? How did the organization change over the seven years you were there?

SH: At the time I joined US Field Hockey, the organization was primarily focused on the US National Teams

New ED Interview

and preparation for the Olympic Games. By and large, grassroots players felt disassociated from the national office and its services. It became my mission, and that of my staff team, to overcome the negative perception held by the grassroots players. We accomplished this by making significant changes to our print publications, web site and membership services-becoming more customer sensitive and developing US Field Hockey as the source for information on field hockey in the US , from juniors to high school to college to club and masters play, as well as the national team.

SK: We heard you attended the southwest regional Ultimate tournament in Colorado Springs. What was your impression of the sport and its participants?

SH: Incredible. The fitness and athletic ability of the participants was poetic . I was also somewhat mystified as to how they were able to overcome the wind that was blowing that day ...

SK: Have you played much Frisbee? Do you think you will be taking up Ultimate?

SH: Fortunately for all of us , the board did not hire me for my athletic ability ... As far as taking up Ultimate, anything is possible!

SK: Ultimate players are known for having an occasional crazy streak. What's the craziest thing you've ever done?

SH: Right now, I think my family would say I was crazy for picking up and moving across the country to Colorado.

(I am the only member of my family to ever live west of the Mississippi.) I am sure that I have done other things that seemed crazy at the time, but now it just seems part of life.

SK: What do you like to do when you're not working?

SH: Hang out with my friends.

Listen to music. Walk/hike. Read books (I was an English major. .. not sure I will ever give up my passion for reading.)

We welcome Sandie to the UPA! She can be reached at ed@upa.org as of January 2nd.

I Winter 2002

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ÂŤ JUNIORS REPORT continued from rule. Second, it is demeaning to the player who made the throw by implying that it was only possible because of his violation of the rules. Third, when that same call is made in an "important" situation, players see the call as "unspirited."

Applying the rules will allow players to further learn and follow the rules and will also provide additional opportunities for discussion of moral reasoning.

4. Discuss the dilemmas, reasoning and outcomes.

Ultimate provides many opportunities to discuss moral dilemmas and come to resolutions. This is where the skills of Spirit of the Game and self-officiation are actually tested and improved.

When foul and violation calls do arise, it is important that players con-

Annual Meeting Notice The 2003 board of directors and members meetings will take place Martin Luther King weekend, January 18-19, in Boulder, Colorado. A members' forum will take place Saturday at 4 p.m. Those interested in attending should RSVP to info@upa.org.

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test these calls, when appropriate.

Players should not let a foul go uncontested just because the outcome of the game or drill is unimportant.

These situations provide perfect opportunities to improve conflictresolution skills in a low-pressure situation.

All contested calls may be followed by respectful discussion where each player involved is permitted to explain his perspective. The players involved should then agree on an outcome.

In situations where moral dilem-

mas arise that are not covered in the rules - for example, situations that you build into practice - once again you must provide an opportunity to discuss the dilemma. Bring the team together and allow players to discuss the dilemma in relation to individual needs and interests. As players discuss their feelings about the rights and responsibilities implied within the dilemmas, they should attempt to come to an agreement on the subsequent action to be taken.

Players should not let a foul go uncontested iust because the outcome of the game or drill is unimportant.

Teaching players the rules and then providing situations for the rules and Spirit of the Game to be applied will develop the skills needed for players to be able perform all of the skills, both physical and mental, that are required of the sport of Ultimate.

Then, after making that sick layout catch in the semis, your player will be able to turn to his defender and say, "Your disc. I landed on the line." And that takes the most skill of all.

For more information on teaching sportsmanship, check out the Handbook for Youth Sports Coaches ( 1987), edited by Vern Seefeldt and published by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

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HOST A UPA CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2004 OR BEYOND! The UPA is looking for host sites for its 2004 Junior, College and Club Championships (aka Nationals). The interest and cooperation of fired-up local Ultimate organizations are essential to pulling off UPA championship events that are a highlight of the Ultimate year.

Running a championship tournament with the UPA can be an exciting, challenging and ultimately very rewarding experience. Benefits include exposing the Ultimate community to your little part of the world, exposing your little part of the world to some amazing Ultimate, financial opportunities both for your club and your city (think about getting the local CVB or sports commission involved), and the intangible rewards that come with teamwork and the smiles on the faces of Ultimate players as they chase their dreams on the fields that you set up.

The Junior and College Championships are held in late May, and the Club Championship is held in late October.

2003 Events All bids for 2003 have already been awarded.

• Junior Championships - Binningham, AL • College Championships- Austin, TX

• Club Championships- Sarasota, FL Bid deadlines for 2004 and beyond are as follows:

2004 Events • Junior and College Championships Bid deadline 12/31/2002. (End of this year!)

• Club Championships - Bid deadline 5/31/2003. (Start thinking about it now.

Polo fields anyone? Sites in the west?)

Go to http://www.upa.org/events/bids/championship_bids.shtml, or send an email to headquarters to get bid outlines for these events. If you have questions regarding the bid outline, bid proposal or bid process, please contact UPA headquarters.

Look forward to hearing from you and bringing great Ultimate to your town!

Run a tournament, get to drive a sweet golf cart!

For questions and/or to submit a bid, contact: Will Deaver Championship Director Ultimate Players Association 741 Pearl St, Side Suite Boulder, CO 80302 1-800-UPA-GETH

Women's Event Promotion Kit • Want to recruit more women to play on your team or league?

• Are you interested in hosting a women's teaching clinic or a women's hat tournament?

The Women's Event Promotion Kit is aimed at helping individuals and teams organize and run events that promote and introduce the sport of ultimate to women.

If you are a UPA member and are interested in promoting or introducing the sport of ultimate to women, please contact HQ at info@upa.org or call 1-800-UPA-GETH.

(303) 447-DISC (3472) (303) 447-3483 (fax) will.deaver@upa.org

Regional and Sectional Championship Events

UPA Championships? Contact your regional or sectional coordinator about possible dates and what your site has to offer. Coordinator contact info is located in the front of the newsletter or at http://www.upa.org/upa/contacts/contacts.shtml.

Interested in hosting a qualifier for the

RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP TODAY & RECEIVE OUR SPECIAL OFFER! Because 2003 will be the UPA's :ftrst full year on a calendar membership cycle, we are making a special offer for those who sign up early.

The :ftrst 1000 people who join or renew their membership by January 31, 2003 will receive a FREE Promotional Highlight Video.

Join today!

You may join online or via mail. www.upa.org info@upa.org 1-800-UPA-GETH

Host aChampionship

Winter 2002

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COLLEGE SERIES ANNOUNCEMENTS Series Tournament Dates Sectional tournaments must be scheduled Apr 5-6, 12-13, or 19-20.

Regional tournaments must be scheduled Apr 26-27 or May 3-4.

Sectional and regional tournaments should be scheduled with a free weekend between them. Please contact your sectional and regional coordinators for more information on when and where your tournament will be held.

The UPA College Championships will be held May 23-25 in Austin, TX.

Website for 2003 College Series Info: www.upa.org/college It is very important that captains and players consistently check the UPA college division web page for updates and information regarding the 2003 College Series.

www. up a. org/ college Series guidelines, roster information, deadlines, announcements, tournament dates, tournament results, coordinator contact info and more will be available and will be updated on the website prior to and throughout the season. Coordinators are responsible for running your qualifying tournaments and for helping you with administrative and competition issues. However, it is each team and player's responsibility to be aware of the series information provided on the website.

One more time: www.upa.org/college Coordinator Contact Info Find coordinator contact info on the UPA website at www.upa.org/upa/contacts/contacts.shtml.

Eligibility Review Process V. Clarifications (From the Eligibility Rules) These rules are designed to be as fair as possible to the wide range of schools and players participating in the series. Experience has shown that there can be cases where these rules do not determine absolutely the eligibility of a particular player. The following procedure is available for players/teams for whom the rules are not clear: A. The team spokesperson or the player in question may submit an inquiry to the College Eligibility Committee via its online form on the college web site.

B. The inquiry form must be filled out completely and submitted by the date on the form. Late requests may require a fee and may not be considered, at the discretion of the Eligibility Committee.

C. The form will be reviewed by the Eligibility Committee, and responses e-mailed.

D. This clarification procedure is NOT intended to allow exceptions to the eligibility rules. Rather, it allows accurate and consistent determination of eligibility status WITHIN these rules.

You can find the eligibility inquiry form at www.upa.org/college/elg_form.shtml.

Cases will be considered starting in January. The deadline for submitting an inquiry form is March 1. Eligibility cases that need committee clarification that come up through the rostering process (i.e. after rosters are submitted to HQ) are "late requests" and may not be considered. It is very important that questionable cases are brought to the Eligibility Committee's attention before the deadline.

Eligibility Rules (changes) There have been a number of recent changes to the college eligibility rules.

These changes will be in effect for the 2003 UPA College Series. The current rules, with changes highlighted, are printed in this issue of the newsletter. Please make sure you are familiar with them and that all players on your team comply.

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Consortium Applications The UPA consortium program allows two or more schools meeting certain requirements to compete under singleteam status in the UPA College Series.

Please check the website for further information: www.upa.org/college/team_singl.shtml

College Series Announcements

Please note that consortium applications are due by Feb 15th. Further questions should be directed to the Chair of the Eligibility Committee at upa_coll_elig_comm@upa.org

Bids to Regionals from Sectional Rosters This year it is even more important for teams to submit their rosters by the early deadline. (Not sure what this means? See the UPA website at www.upa.org/college for more details about the college series rostering process.)

For the past two years, the UPA has used the number of rosters submitted by this deadline to determine the size wildcards to college nationals. So if you blew off the deadline and showed up at sectionals with your roster in hand, you hurt your chances (and those of the other teams in your region) of making nationals. This year, in addition to the national size wildcards, the number of valid rosters received at HQ by the roster deadline will also be used to determine the number of bids each section gets to regionals.

The formula for bids to regionals stays the same: N=total number of teams participating at sectionals R=total number of spots in regionals

a=number of teams in section A b=number of teams in section B (and so on) a+ b... =N Section A gets ( a/N) x R bids to regionals ... except that theN will now be the number of teams that submit valid rosters to HQ by the deadline, rather than the number that participated at sectionals. (Note: if no teams from a section submit rosters on time, the section will still receive one bid to regionals.) Please understand that there could be serious consequences for any section whose schools do a poor job of getting their rosters in.

The rationale behind this change is simply to provide greater incentive for teams to abide by the early roster deadline. Rosters that are turned in at sectionals are an administrative nightmare, and the extra time they take to process impairs the ability of the UPA to continue to improve the college series. In addition, this will allow sectional coordinators to know exactly how many bids their section will get prior to the tournament (which will further help with planning and improving the quality of the series). This change is likely an intermediate step towards requiring all teams to submit rosters by the early deadline.

NATIONAL COLLEGE DIRECTOR REPORT

by Lyn Debevoise

It has been brewing for a while, so this fall's sudden burst of anti-wildcard energy on rec.sport.disc (Ultimate's very own talk radio) did not come as a complete surprise. After all, the college wildcard system had been in place forever, and everyone had been pointing out its deficiencies for years. People were briefly happy when the strength wildcards were introduced to universal acclaim-"the wildcard system has been fixed!" they said (no, shouted!)way back in 1999, but since then ...

Wait a second. 1999? Can that be right? Nineteen ninety NINE? You mean to tell me that it was just three years ago that the annual RSD carping about wildcards ended? That just three years ago everyone was in agreement that the UPA had done something right and that college nationals had been saved overnight?

Well ... gosh.

Before we run out and get rid of a system that came into being three years ago with overwhelming support (a UPA-wide referendum at the time showed that wildcards were favored over no wildcards by an 83-17% margin), we should probably try to figure out what is going on. There is an obvious answer that no one bothered to mention on RSD (probably because it was so obvious): size wildcards have never been particularly popular with the west coast, and strength wildcards lost their appeal because they were not going to the regions that people expected them to go to.

Let's examine that for a moment.

Strength wildcards are losing support because their results have been unexpected-and NOT because people have decided that improving the quality of teams at nationals is an unworthy goal.

Well, if people still want the best teams at nationals, why not find a way to improve the strength wildcard system so that it selects the best regions? The answer that wildcard opponents would give, I think, is that it is not possible to design such an algorithm, so let's just junk it. Which begs the question: if it's not possible to determine which regions are deserving of the wildcards, how do you know that the algorithm is selecting the wrong regions?

There are two problems here. One is that people are making assumptions about the relative strengths of regions without thinking very critically about methodology. (Here's a hint: the Top 25 rankings and results from big tournaments in Febru-

ary and March are probably not as meaningful as games at college nationals.) And then they use these assumpions to inform policy debates. That's like the GM of the Lakers deciding to trade Shaq for Shawn Bradley because he can never seem to beat the Mavericks when he plays NBA Live 2003 against his friends. The second problem is that if you read between the lines, it is clear that many people are deciding whether to support or oppose wildcards simply by determining which would result in the most bids for their region. That's understandable-people often vote according to their pocketbook-but it is not a particularly good way for the UPA to make decisions.

Let's try to put aside regional interests and figure out what's best for the sport.

Let's consider the wildcard issue a little more thoroughly.

To begin with, we need a basic philosophy. What is the point of nationals? It is to crown a national champion, yes, but the tournament is also a showcase of the best that the sport has to offer. Regional representation is obviously necessary, but the strength of the field is also an important consideration. Better teams improve the competition for players, bestow more credibility upon the event and offer up a better product for spectators. So I would argue that after meeting a certain baseline of regional representation, the UPA should do what it can to host as strong a field as possible.

The next step is to determine a minimum level of regional representation. I think most would agree that one team per region is mandatory, although it seems clear that some further structure is necessary (since few people would want a field where nine teams are from a single region). It would probably also be a good idea to have a more general geographical balance (for example, the open division could conceivably have only two schools from west of the Mississippi this year, which is almost certainly a bad thing). A

College Director Report

possible way of accomplishing that would be to group the regions into two conferences when determining wildcards (each conference would be allotted half the total). Finally, you'd probably want to cap the number of teams from each region at three or four.

Given 16 teams and eight regions, the obvious number of wildcards to have is eight. (There is the possibility of rotating 'non-wildcard' bids from region to region, but the inherent randomness of this seems counterproductive if the goal is to improve the quality of the teams.) There have been a number of strategies proposed for determining wildcards: â&#x20AC;˘ Size wildcards. It is argued that bids should be somewhat proportional to the number of teams in a given region. However, given that regional representation is taken care of elsewhere, it is not at all clear that size wildcards contribute anything meaningful to nationals, although they certainly provide an administrative incentive that contributes to the quality of the series and arguably to the growth of the sport. They certainly do not necessarily yield a stronger field, and the idea that they promote fairness is questionable, at best. [Full disclosure: my college team twice made it to college nationals thanks to a size wildcard. I'm glad we got to go, but I'm not convinced it was the best thing for the tournament or the UPA.] â&#x20AC;˘ Results from the previous year's nationals. This is what is currently used to select the strength wildcards. Its deficiencies are well known-final rankings at nationals are not determined perfectly, and teams change a lot from year to year, so last year's strength might not inform this year's. The first is a real problem that is a result of cramming a 16-team championship tournament into three days; it's not going to go away unless we reduce the number of teams or increase the number of days. The concern that consolation results are of questionable value because teams lose focus (and seniors don't have much stake in a wildcard game) is legitimate, but not completely convincing. That team strength varies from year to year is unquestionably true, but regions tend to vary in strength less than individual teams.

In other words, how the second team from a particular region finishes at nationals

Continued on next page

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UPA

COLLEGE ELIGIBILITY RULES

These rules will go into effect for the 2003 UPA College Championship Series. Changes from the previous version of the eligibility rules are outlined in boldface type.

Note: The changes to Section ll.D.l. are not retroactive. Therefore, the first group of UPA members to whom this new rule could apply would be those who graduated from high school in 2002.

elusion of the spring semester or quarter in the current year.

2. Students qualifying under a and b above are not eligible for subsequent College Nationals Series competitions before graduating with the degree to which this "light load" status was applied.

3. Graduate students engaged in research, teaching, or thesis production qualify under this rule.

4. Programs that cuhninate in only the awarding of a certificate are not considered "degree-seeking!'

5. Correspondence courses and those taken through a "Continuing Education" program, may not be used to fulfill the above requirements.

6. Students seeking a second bachelor's degree must have full-time status to be eligible.

C. The above registration requirements must be applicable throughout the entire spring semester at a school on a semester system, or throughout either the entire fall or winter quarter, plus the following spring quarter at a school on a quarter system.

D. Not more than five (5) years must have elapsed between the player's initial membership in a national Ultimate governing body or initial participation in a national Ultimate championship series, and June 1st of the current year. This excludes juniors participation.

I. If a player joined the UPA while in high school (or before), the initial UPA membership/participation date is

I. Prologue: The intent of these rules is to keep the College Series just that- a college series. The heart of these rules can be summed up in two parts: to have schools represented by teams whose players are all current, legitimate students, and to limit the players in the College Series to less than five (5) years of post-high school Ultimate experience.

IT. To be eligible to compete in any event of the UPA College National Championship Series (sectionals, regionals, and nationals), a PLAYER must meet ALL of the following requirements: A. S/he must be both accepted and enrolled in a regularly matriculated degree program at the school for which eligibility is to apply.

B. S/he must be considered at least a halftime student by his/her school registrar (two (2) full-time classes or equivalent).

I. The half-time requirement is waived for students who are BOTH: a. taking at least the minimum courseload required to graduate, where 'minimum courseload" is at least one class; and b. going to graduate at the con-

«

III. TEAMS must meet ALL of the following requirements: A. Each player's eligibility must apply at the same college or university (or the same UPA approved scholastic consortium). If the school has multiple branches or locations, all players must be attending the same branch or location.

B. Each team must have a designated Spokesperson who will be responsible for the integrity, completeness, and timeliness of the team 's Roster.

C. Each team must submit a completed Official UPA College Roster form BEFORE playing in any Series event.

The Roster must meet all of the following requirements: I. It must be BOTH signed and sealed by the registrar of the school.

2. It must contain the name of the school and branch or location, if applicable.

3. It must contain the team Spokesperson's mailing address, phone number, e-mail address and signature.

4. Each player on the Roster must be a UPA member in good standing at all times during the Series.

IV. Violation of these rules may result in disqualification from he current Series and/or disqualification from any or all UPA sanctioned events for up to one year. This penalty is applicable to any and all players on the violating team at the discretion of the UPA, and may include UPA events after the graduation of violating players.

V. Clarifications These rules are designed to be as fair as possible for all of the wide range of schools and players participating in the Series.

Experience has shown that there can be cases where these rules do not determine absolutely the eligibility of a particular player. The following procedure is available for players/teams for whom the rules are not clear: A. The team Spokesperson or the player in question may submit an inquiry to the College Eligibility Committee via its online form on the college web site.

B. The inquiry form must be filled out completely and submitted by the date on the form. Late requests may require a fee and may not be considered, at the discretion of the Eligibility Committee.

C. The Form will be reviewed by the Eligibility Committee, and responses emailed.

D. This clarification procedure is NOT intended to allow exceptions to the eligibility rules. Rather, it allows accurate and consistent determination of eligibility status WITHIN these rules.

continued from previous page

might not be a great predictor of how that same school will do the following year (although it often is), but it is pretty well correlated with how the second team from the same region will do the next year.

• Top 25 rankings. Amazingly, people still cite these rankings as evidence of regional superiority. Let's be real. While the Top 25 is a great tool for hyping teams, tournaments and the division, there are structural limitations in college Ultimate that greatly inhibit its accuracy.

Scores often aren't reported; most teams don't travel more than a couple hundred miles all year; teams that do travel often take weak squads; many of the major interregional tournaments occur while there is still snow on the ground in parts of the country; pre-series tournaments don't enforce UPA eligibility rules; etc, etc, ad nauseum. If there is one thing everyone should agree on, it's that the

14

taken as the earlier of: June 1st of the year after high school graduation or the player's first post-high school UPA tournament.

E. Each player must be a UPA member in good standing at all times during the Series.

F. Each player must produce a picture ID upon demand of the tournament director or UPA official in charge of a Series event.

Ultimate Players Association

Winter 2002

Top 25 rankings should not be used to determine wildcards.

• Qualifying tournaments. An interesting idea, but it suffers from many of the same problems as the rankings, since a lot of teams struggle to travel (and southern teams definitely enjoy an advantage in early season tournaments). Also, since the tournaments would not be run by the UPA, host teams would have incredible power in determining who gets to compete for the wildcards.

• Selection committee. I actual! y think that a selection committee would consistently do the best job of producing a strong field for nationals. Although the logistics would still be a little trickywho's on the committee? what criteria and procedures would they use?-the real problem with this system would be political in nature. It's one thing to fail to qualify for nationals because of a strange wildcard algorithm, but it's another thing

College Eligibility Rules

entirely to miss out because a bunch of people in a room decided you weren't good enough.

The final option is, of course, no wildcards, which is the cause currently being championed by a number of players and RSD posters, and is what prompted me to write on this topic. Given the philosophy set out above, however, the elimination of wildcards is definitely a sub-optimal solution, since it does nothing to improve the strength of the teams at the tournament. It should only be used if all other options are so flawed as to be worse.

And while that's definitely true for some of the ideas, it's not so cut and dried with the others. The current system has its problems, but it has probably done a better job than it's been given credit for.

And who knows how the system might work if size wildcards were eliminated (since they often work in opposition to the strength wildcards)? A selection

committee would be controversial, but it might also be the optimal solution.

I don't know for sure what the best choice for the UPA is. It depends in part on whether the purpose of college nationals is as I suggested above. There are also a number of administrative considerations that I did not go into in this essay. (Like it or not, such considerations have a tangible effect on the quality of the series, so they should be taken into account.) But whatever the answer is, the issue is undoubtedly quite complicated- far too complicated to be summed up in the pithy slogans found on RSD. The UPA board will almost certainly address this issue at the annual meeting in January. If you have a strong opinion or ideas about what the UPA should do, they are the people to contact. But let's try to put aside regional interests and figure out what's best for the sport.

NATIONAL OPEN DIRECTOR REPORT

by David Raflo Another fall series of club open Ultimate is in the books; twenty-three sectional championships and six regional championships culminating in the 2002 UPA Club Ultimate Championships held once again in Sarasota, Florida. We enjoyed a great series thanks to the thousands of hours of work by the sectional and regional coordinators, their counterparts in the other divisions, tournament hosts and numerous others. I'd like to single out one volunteer to thank individually, but my appreciation extends to all of those who made contributions to the series.

David Samuels has volunteered for the UPA many times. He was a Rocky Mountain open sectional coordinator, and he was doing media work at the 2001 Club Championships when I first

met him. This year's Tune-Up was held on September 7-8. The first southwest sectionals were scheduled for the following weekend and two more on the subsequent weekend. It had only recently become clear that the southwest open regional coordinator was going to be unable to fulfill his duties. I went to Tune-Up to work for the UPA; David went to Tune-Up to coach WORM, a women's division team. At Tune-Up, I asked David if he would be willing to help us out once more. At that late date, David Samuels stepped up as interim regional coordinator and oversaw three successful sectionals and then regionals.

Thanks again, David.

As successful as the series was, we can make it better. We will try to retain

a high percentage of our sectional and regional coordinators. Those that do stay on will have one more year of experience next fall and the knowledge learned from our collective mistakes.

And mistakes there were, at all levels.

There were problems with tournament formats, problems with communications between coordinators, problems with coordinators being unfamiliar with our procedures, and unfortunately, problems with some of the UPA policies and procedures. Especially problematic is the methodology for determining the final regionals bid(s) among the sections.

Additionally, the UPA needs more specific seeding guidelines. Captains and teams can disagree all they want about how they should be seeded, but our asso-

ciation needs to be able to present one set of guidelines rather than a range of opinions. This is especially true in this era of parity in open Ultimate. Two examples of parity: 1) for the third year in a row, no open team has gone undefeated at nationals, and 2) neither of the two teams that were in the championship finals won their sectionals. And I think that parity will only increase as the UPA and Ultimate continue to grow, and I must say that I am looking forward to it.

Thanks to everyone and please get in touch with ideas and comments about the season, including things that went right and things that we can improve together.

David Raflo upa_nod@upa.org

NATIONAL VVOMEN'S DIRECTOR REPORT

by Mel Proct:or This will be my last column as the UPA national women's director. I definitely have mixed emotions about stepping down. I am sad that I will no longer be working with the other volunteers and staff at the UPA to promote the cause of women's Ultimate. On the flip side, I am glad that I will be able to play "organizerfree" Ultimate again. No longer will I be asked to clarify the lOth edition rules during a game. (Thank goodness, 'cause I don't know them yet either. I have Alan Hoyle of Ring of Fire's cell number on speed dial in case of emergency.)

Prior to my new career, I was able to balance my duties as national women's director with the joys of playing Ultimate on a nationals qualifying women's team.

This year I wasn't able to do everything, and I ended up trying to juggle all three without focusing properly on one. I am relieved to be able to devote more time to my new demanding career in the corporate world AND to being just a player.

As a spectator, I was able to enjoy one of the best women's games I have ever seen-the 2002 women's finals. The game pitted Boston's Lady Godiva, the #1 seed at the tournament, against San Francisco Bay Area's Fury, the #3 seed. In order to earn their spot in the finals, Fury

had to beat tough teams including Riot (twice), Schwa, Backhoe, Nemesis, Fuse and Pounce, while Godiva had to beat strong teams including Ozone (twice), Rare Air, Lady Condors (twice), Nemesis and Clutch.

Fury and coach Bob Palleres came up with a great strategy against Godiva-a four-person cup. Although it was not particularly windy, everyone knows that Godiva will always choose the "sure thing"-the short, 95% pass-over the huck. Godiva plays conservatively, and this style of play has earned them more UPA Championship titles than any other team. Fury's four-person cup performed as expected, forcing Godiva to throw an average of at least 30 passes per point, which also encouraged Godiva to make unforced and uncharacteristic errors.

The game was time capped at 2.5 hours after Fury had scored to bring the game to 14 - 14. As the cap went on after the point was scored, the game was to be played to 17. If memory serves me correctly, Godiva scored first to make it 1514. Fury answers back, 15-15. Godiva scores, 16-15. Fury answers back, 16-16.

Game point. The four-person cup gets put on again. It's getting pretty dark outside.

Godiva works it all the way down the field

when someone does something very unGodiva-like-she throws a 20+ foot pass to jam it into the end zone. The Fury deep-deep player reads this pass like a book, snags it out of the air, and passes it to a teammate up field But there is a Godiva player injured on the play. She's okay, but takes an injury sub after a couple of minutes. The disc comes back to Fury.

Unfortunately, Fury turfs the fust throw on Godiva's goal line. Godiva picks it up and scores in two passes. Game over; Godiva wins 17-16.

Thank to the finalists for an exciting display of quality Ultimate. Although Godiva has won more than any other team in the history of women's Ultimate, this game is evidence that other teams are catching up. The final could have been won by either team. Women's Ultimate just keeps getting better and better. If all of us continue to get involved by running clinics, coaching juniors, volunteering, etc., our division will continue to flourish.

The official final standings for 2002 nationals are: 1-Lady Godiva, 2-Fury, 3 I 4 Ozone and Riot (game not played), 5Lady Condors, 6-Nemesis, 7-Schwa, 8RareAir, 9-Fuse, 10-Backhoe, 11-Safari, 12-BNOGO, 13-Pounce, 14-Bait, 15Clutch, 16-Buttercup. Congratulations to

Club Championship Reports

all of the teams that competed at the 2002 nationals and in the 2002 series. Due to the strong finish from all three teams from the northwest region, this region will be granted both strength wildcard bids for 2003 nationals.

Before I go, I want to take a few minutes to publicly thank some women and men who either encouraged me to become national women's director or have helped me along the way: Jon Proctor, my best friend; all the athletes on Backhoe-you ROCK; all of the 1992-1999 Philly Peppers teams; PADA; my mom; all of the women's regional and sectional coordinators; my cats; and finally, last but certainly not least, UPA gurus Will Deaver, Joey Gray, Dave Raflo, Jen Christianson, Pete Giusti, and ex-NWD Kim Forsten Williams. Big thanks.

The UPA has a few extremely qualified NWD applicants and hopes to appoint the new NWD by January 1st. Until then, I look forward to my "lame duck" directorship where I will try to introduce new uniform regulations which require numbers on all sports bras and will appoint all of my friends to important UPA positions before I leave ...

Melissa Proctor (formerly Ditz) upa_nwd @upa.org

Winter 2002

www.upa. org

15

NATIONAL IVIIXED DIRECTOR REPORT

by Jennifer Christianson Flying home from Sarasota after the finals of the Club Championships, I found myself too tired to read. My eyes were unable to focus correctly, so they strayed from the pages of my book to the back of the seat in front of me.

Rather than fight it, I closed my book and studied the pattern of the seat in front of me. In my condition-low on sleep but high on the incredible event I had just attended-the weave of the fabric took on significance.

The organization was originally iust a few threads, loosely woven, designed to hold a new sport.

I picked out a few threads running through the weave that were a different color than the others. Tracing them with my finger, I thought about how the fabric would look with just those threads. It would be more a net than a fabric.

The UPA started out like that. The organization was originally just a few threads, loosely woven, designed to hold a new sport. In the early years, lots of things slipped through the net.

As the sport and the organization grew, new threads were added.

Instead of becoming larger, the net became thicker, more tightly woven.

Thinking about the state of the UPA today, I can mentally trace some long, strong cords running the length of our fabric. People like Joey Gray, Will Deaver, Jim Parinella

and Kate Bergeron are just such cords. In Sarasota I had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie Kurth, our new director of media and communications. Stephanie is already adding value to our fabric , even though she's only been on the job a few short weeks.

Then there are the regional and sectional coordinators. Without their threads , the holes in our organization would be large. In the mixed division, we couldn't run the fall series without tons of work from people like Chuck Brunson in the southwest and Ben Tapper in the northeast. We've got strong threads on a lot of our committees too, such as Romey Connell on the Observers Committee and Chris Van Holmes on the Standing Rules Committee.

I also appreciate the fine filaments.

In Sarasota, Eric Hassenzahl, a player on Seattle's Shazam, approached me about potential ways to overhaul the strength wildcard system. Instead of sitting back and whining about the way things were currently done, here was a player willing to get to work on the problem, to weave himself into the organization in a small but meaningful way. Perhaps Eric's contribution will turn out to be a highlight in our fabric this year.

I am proud to be a part of such a beautiful, richly woven tapestry. It's full of variety and style, and it will continue to grow stronger and tighter over time.

You know, I sat down at my computer intending to fill this column with a bunch of statistics about our mixed championship series, about how many teams and players we had, how many players were new UPA members, results from all the different regional and sectional events, and then close with a recap of the finals in Sarasota. But then when I actually started typing , all that stuff about the fabric of the UPA was what came out. I'll leave it at that though. There's great coverage of the final event elsewhere in this issue, and the rest of the facts and figures can wait for the next newsletter, when we 're all doing our year-end reports for the annual board meeting in J anuary.

Congratulations to Donner Party on becoming the 2002 UPA mixed champions, and thanks to Hang Time for giving us such a great final game. It was overall our best mixed season yet.

NATIONAL IVIASTERS DIRECTOR REPORT

by Pet:er Giust:i Greetings from your national masters director (NMD)!

It has been a few issues of this fine fish-wrap since last I wrote. In the meantime, there was a little tournament in Sarasota, Florida where we crowned a new UPA champion. Going into nationals, we knew there would be a new champion because two-time defending UPA and reigning world champion Keg Workers of America failed to qualify out of regionals. But what a surprise the eventual champ turned out to be! It wasn't KAVU, the team that knocked the Keggies out; it wasn' t Skeleton Crew, who recently placed second at worlds; and it wasn't Old and In the Way, 1999's UPA champ and recent perennial runner up.

No, we must offer our congratulations to the new UPA masters division

Masters is retro-chic Ultimate. champions, One Last Ditch Shot At Glory, better known as O.L.D. S.A.G. The third "last shot" turned out to be the charm for this raging gaggle of elder statesmen from the mid-Atlantic 's City of Brotherly Love. Combining speed and athleticism, endurance and grit, and quite a bit of good ol' Ultimate skills (you know, catching and throwing), the boys from Philly were the class of the masters division at nationals-the only team to go undefeated en route to their first championship ever.

Congratulations are also in order to the other masters teams that competed in nationals. After a little rancor concerning the seedings and pools, the teams came to Sarasota and played with exceptional spirit and heart. Anyone who was lucky enough to be a spectator of a masters game at nationals was treated to high level play that never crossed over into "win at all costs." And the masters final was

every bit as exciting as the other divisions and every bit as well played.

Perhaps for the first time in my tenure as NMD, the division truly met its potential of providing exceptional competition in an atmosphere that was fun and friendly in the nature of a family reunion.

2002 also saw the largest pool of masters teams competing in the UPA fall championship series. The "antiwildcard" system again provided incentive for growth in the division, both in terms of total teams and total players.

New teams were formed for the fall championship series, veteran players "graduated" from the open division, and even a few rookie rec-leaguers began playing masters as their introduction to the competitive side of the sport. In 2002, a strength anti-wildcard was introduced into the regional bid allocation regime in an attempt to remedy perceived inequities from years past. Next year, this will be tweaked a bit in a further attempt to fine tune the system, to achieve a better balance of encouraging growth in the division, to ensure that the highest caliber teams advance to nationals, and to make sure that all regions are properly represented.

This may sound like something you've heard (or read) before, and it sort of is. We tried and now we're going to try again. Everyone thinks their theory of "how" (as in "this is how it should be") is the best until it is tested by being put into practice in the Real World, where we discover that all "hows" are not created equal. At that point, the egoless administrator assesses and revises in order to better meet his or her goals. That is what we're doing in the masters division. It ain't broke, but it ain't perfect yet either, so we' re trying to fix it without reinventing the wheel. The basic structure will remain the same for next year with a few minor improvements in how we (the UPA's tireless staff and volunteers) do things. But the rest is up to you, the players.

If you want a better masters division, step up and get involved. Volunteer to be a masters regional coordinator; there are sure to be vacancies.

Host a masters tournament.

Host a masters division in an existing tournament.

On the other hand, "more"

may not be the road to a better masters division. I have walked this road, and it is not well traveled.

Part of the reason for this is that the masters division is populated by players with many distractions in their lives other than Ultimate, like jobs, spouses and children. My previous efforts to increase the number of masters events were met with enthusiastic verbiage but little action. It may be that masters players prefer playing open in the "offseason" (non-fall championship series events), often with shells of their masters teams fortified with youngsters (playing defense), saving the pure masters experience for the series. If this is so, it would be a fine role for the division, and certainly not an argument for its elimination or contraction. However, it is extremely important to the long term success of Ultimate that this role is defined, perhaps as a place for the sport's veteran superstars to continue playing and staying involved in the competitive side of Ultimate. If these folks are only showcased once a year during the series, then that is better than not at all. Much better.

There will always be nay-sayers who argue that a division that exists solely during the fall championship series is no division at all. Of course,

Masters Championship Report

they would be wrong (and too young to play in the masters division). All that that tells us is that the masters division is unique among the club divisions.

Ultimate should be the exception to our me-first-now society with cookie-cutter culture that gives you only a "choice" of Wal-Mart, Starbuck's or McDonald's. We should celebrate the otherness of the masters division. Its season is different; its fall championship series is different; its players are different; even its culture within the sub-culture of Ultimate is different. Masters is retro-chic Ultimate. As the club division dog is led by its college division tail (see lOth edition rules) , players can look to the masters division for a taste of old school Ultimate played with passion, skill and spirit, and played under modern rules.

So if you like the game of Ultimate, thank a masters player. Your opportunity to say "you're welcome" will come sooner than you think.

Peter A. Giusti upa_nmd@upa.org P.S. If you want to get involved or just make a suggestion, drop me an email at upa_nmd@upa.org.

Winter 2002

www.upa. org

17

CONDORS PAR I NER VVITH SOUTH AFRICAN ULTIIVIATE ORGANIZATION

by Greg Husak The Santa Barbara Condors are pleased announce a partnership to encourage the growth of Ultimate in South Africa. To appreciate the development of Ultimate in South Africa and the purpose of this relationship, it is necessary to consider the current situation in the country. fu 1994 South Africa emerged from over fifty years of white minority rule. During this time the black population was grossly exploited, and white and black people were rigidly segregated-a system known to the world as apartheid.

The legacy of apartheid is an exceptionally unequal society. Nowhere is this more evident than in Cape Town. Here, an affluent, mobile minority lives in one of the most beautiful settings in the world-huddled at the base of Table Mountain with the fudian Ocean on one side and the Atlantic on the other. Yet the vast majority of Cape Town's inhabitants live in relative squalor in the townships that sprawl on the outskirts of the city, known as the Cape Flats. Here a black population struggles to make ends meet, and comrnu-

nities suffer up to 60% unemployment as well as an intolerable level of crime.

Although apartheid has been dismantled, any visitor to areas like Cape Town will be faced with its enduring legacy.

Despite its troubled past, South Africa is a place with a great deal of optimism and potential. The transition to democracy stressed forgiveness and the need for a truly non-racial future, a concept that is now celebrated as the Rainbow nation.

This partnership between the Condors and South African Ultimate is aimed at making a real contribution to breaking down barriers, providing unique opportunities to disadvantaged children and promoting our beloved sport. It is a proposal that requires vision and commitment, yet it has the potential to significantly benefit all those involved.

South African Ultimate is organized by the South African Flying Disc Association (SAFDA), which has been in existence for ten years, although it has been relatively dormant for much of that time.

SAFDA has recently lodged an application to register formally as a non-profit organization and is now run by a dedicated group of volunteers.

A core aspect of SAFDA, as well as the Ultimate scene in Cape Town, has been its progressive development program, which started in 1996. The aim of this initiative is to bring Ultimate to the Cape Flats and in doing so, to help strengthen impoverished communities.

We believe that Ultimate, particularly due to the emphasis on Spirit and self regulation, is perfectly suited

Despite its troubled past, South Africa is a place with a great deal of optimism and potential.

"T" Group.

18

Photo courtesy of Greg Husak.

Ultimate Players Association

Winter 2002

South African Partnership

"T" Group demonstrates the Flick.

Photo courtesy of Greg Husak.

to the needs of these communities. fu 1997 the development program was given a boost by corporate sponsorship.

The company concerned bought into the idea of self-refereeing, and they also liked the fact that Ultimate was an alternative team sport that was cheap and easy to play. With the hard work of certain key people, the Ultimate scene in the townships grew quickly. Discs were distributed, the rules explained, training organized and eventually a junior league was established.

While in the short term the development program was a resounding success, the momentum proved difficult to sustain. fu response, SAFDA made the decision to focus its energies on a smaller number of players. This group, many of whom have now been playing for five years, are seen as the future generation of a non-racial Ultimate scene-players who will in time develop the sport themselves in their own communities.

Each Monday SAFDA organizes a busload of regular 'dev-players' to practice and play with Cape Town's leading team. In addition, the dev-team is included in all local competitions, and they are rapidly becoming a force to be reckoned with. However, as with South African Ultimate in general, SAFDA

knows that the level of Ultimate will only truly accelerate when leading dev-players are given the opportunity to play overseas and amongst some of the world's best teams. There is no substitute to seeing elite-level Ultimate from the sidelines.

Bearing in mind this situation, a longstanding dream of SAFDA is to be able to send a truly mixed team to a world championship, hopefully by 2004. While the prosperous future of Ultimate is of key concern, realizing this aim will of course provide an amazing experience for many kids who have not travelled outside Cape Town, let alone got on a plane, allowing them to experience new cultures and make friends from overseas. No doubt it will also prove to be an immensely rewarding experience for those who can accompany and compete with the devplayers.

The Condors contribution to this effort will consist primarily of the transfer of knowledge to the players of South Africa, with a special emphasis on the development players. The Condors also have access to a number of resources that are unavailable to the South Africans, primarily the access to many tournaments and potential sponsorship resources.

Initial efforts in this relationship began

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with the travel of one Condor member to Cape Town where he participated in pick up games. fu addition to pick up, there was also the formal introduction of some fundamental techniques, as well as drills to reinforce these techniques. This was

Initial efforts in this relationship began with the travel of one Condor member to Cape Town where he participated in pick up games. accompanied by an exchange of strategic information regarding Ultimate at the elite level in the United States and some strategic suggestions for teams on the rise.

With respect to sponsorship , Condors representatives got in contact with Discraft, who has generously donated discs to be given to the development players and used in fundrais-

ing efforts to assist in getting development players to the world championships in Finland 2004.

Finally, it is hoped that some of the leaders of the Ultimate movement in South Africa will be able to visit the United States for training and tournament play with the Condors this spring.

This experience will undoubtedly prove valuable for transfer of information as well as exposing the South Africans to play at elite levels of American Ultimate.

It is hoped that this partnership will help Ultimate grow in South Africa and spread the sport to people who would not normally be exposed to it. Additionally, the development program provides a wonderful opportunity for a tremendously disadvantaged segment of the population. The Condors hope that this will serve to add to the legacy of the success of the team as well as be a keystone of our outreach efforts.

At this time efforts in advancing this relationship have just begun. Any comments, suggestions or offers to help can be directed to Greg Husak (husak@ geog.ucsb.edu).

"T" Group and ISO.

Photo courtesy of Greg Husak.

"T" Group and Blue Moon.

Photo courtesy of Greg Husak.

'Doctor Pinn s §ame Cornyany 1

y resents

§o '1-{o: rThe ru(timate Card §arne Go '}[o is the exciting new strategy 3amefor 2 y_(ayers, ages 12 and uy, designed ana manufactured 6y Steve 'Finn cif Seatt[e Shazam.

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South African Partnership

Winter 2002

www.upa. org

19

Canadians Take the Open Division Championship

by Derek Gottlieb I was sitting on the Sub Zero sideline under an unmerciful sun late on Saturday morning when Tim Murray's unmistakable ankles walked into view. " Seven minutes, Zero!" he called. "Condors are already warming up. Let's go!" Groans from the surrounding players. Alex Masulis, who was sitting beside me, pulled on his cleats and said, "Man, if you would have told me yesterday that we'd be playing the Condors today, I'd have been like, ' Sweet! Semis.'

But backdoor semis? Jesus."

is the division, after all, that has crowned only three different champions in the last twelve years. As disorienting as it was to see the Condors and Sub Zero warming up to play each other in the backdoor semis, already out of contention, it was exciting as well. Possibly, it's the harbinger of a new era. More likely, it's the result of an unusually long season for the top teams. Either way, it brought serious drama to a division that needed some shaking up.

From the first round, it was anybody's tournament. The top teams were not looking like top teams, and the lower seeds gained confidence and energy to fill the gap. The Condors and DoG were the exceptions here, cruising to easy opening victories. Furious George and Sub Zero, meanwhile, had to overcome first-half deficits in order to knock off their firstround opponents. Boss Hogg and New York, respectively, were not ready to come out and lose to somebody because they were rumored to be good, and they fought to the end, losing those games by scores of 15-12 and 15-11.

Johnny Bravo, Electric Pig and Sockeye also started out cold, struggling against the bottom seeds from their respective pools.

Though each of these higher-seeded teams pulled out victories, it was becoming clear that the distance between the top eight seeds and the bottom eight was not as large as it has been in years past.

That said, however, the first day saw only two serious upsets. While Chain Lightning, the thirteen-seed, did indeed beat twelfthseeded New York, and Pike beat the higherseeded PBR Streetgang, these were not significant changes of fortune. It could be argued that Sockeye's pounding of Sub Zero (15-7) was equally insignificant, given that it only reordered one of the next day 's power pools; but this game was the first real test for both teams and each of the combatants would carry the outcome with them for the remainder of the tournament. The lower half of the seedings is often far less accurate than the higher one, and those bottom-half upsets are, paradoxically, expected. But Sub Zero was supposed to beat Sockeye. Not badly, but they were supposed to win. Sockeye had radically different ideas. All game long, they looked great on both sides of the disc, committing few turnovers and then getting them back when they did. They were ruthless in punishing Sub Zero's mistakes and jubilant in celebration. They played this game like champions. Sub Zero, meanwhile, looked hesitant and uncertain, espe-

When was the last time anyone saw this kind of upheaval in the open division!

It was that kind of tournament. Before lunchtime on Saturday, two of the top four seeds had been eliminated. Gone were the days when you just waited until Saturday afternoon to watch the serious Ultimate, when Jam, Furious, Condors and DoG would square off in the semis. In this year's nationals, first of all, Jam was notably absent. The top four seeds soon found themselves facing each other in the quarterfinals while on the other side of the bracket a five-seed and an eight-seed stared each other down in the semifinals. And it was the eight-seed that made it through to the finals.

When was the last time anyone saw this kind of upheaval in the open division? This

Furious George's John Frame Curt Leimbach.

20

near miss.

Ultimate Players Association

Photo by

Winter 2002

Open Championships

cially early on, as if they just wanted it to be over. In a good summation of the feelings following this particular upset, Sub Zero's Dave Boardman said to me, "Don't write anything about this game. Nothing happened here."

But even this was not the biggest upset of the day. Electric Pig had won Tuneup in Chicago a few months prior to nationals and had played very well at worlds in August.

They came into nationals rightful! y expecting big things from themselves.

After having a tough first-round game, however, they found themselves in actual danger in the second. Boss Hogg had taken Furious George to the wire and carried that confidence into their game with the heavily favored Pig. It was close all game Death or Glory vs. Furious long, but at the end, Pig let down and it was Boss Hogg who took it away, winning 16-14. Pig's situation was looking dire until Chicago's Machine turned around and upset Hogg in the following round. All Pig had to do, at that point, was beat Furious George to qualify automatically for the second day 's power pools. And they were leading when the Machine vs. Hogg game ended, but they couldn't hold on. Machine, in a huge coup, came out on top of the resulting three-way tie for second place and qualified instead. Electric Pig, certainly one of the country's top teams, was now looking down a hard road if they even wanted to make quarterfinals.

But that was it. So far, seven of the eight teams who were supposed to be in the top pools for Friday had made it there. It was in those power pools, however, that the real turmoil began.

The first pool featured a prime match up between a Sockeye team on the rise and a Condors team who was looking to maintain

George.

Photo by Rick Collins.

the sport's status quo. In a real battle, Sockeye out-toughed the Condors at the end of the game and took over Santa Barbara's seed.

Sockeye also demolished Raleigh 's Ring of Fire by playing a literally flawless offense and taking advantage of Ring's second-half errors. Sub Zero, who had already lost to Sockeye, lost an unsurprising game to the Condors by the somewhat surprising margin of 15-7. The only game they needed to win on this day was the last one. If they beat Ring of Fire, they'd qualify for quarters automatically and have a morning game against Johnny Bravo to look forward to. Ring kept the game tight all the way up to the end, however, and in the last two points snatched it away from the stunned Minnesotans. One extraordinary goal-lineD, one tragic goal-line drop and two easy passes later, Ring was celebrating in the end zone before Sub Zero could quite process what had happened. In the

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ÂŤ continued from previous page backdoor game, Sub Zero didn't play a whole lot better, but their opponent, Boss Hogg, simply couldn't keep up. Sub Zero's prize: a quarters showdown with Furious George on Saturday morning.

The other pool saw even more upheaval.

In the very first round, Johnny Bravo faced Furious George. Boulder has a mediocre history when playing higher-seeded teams, and odds-makers were surely betting on the Canadians. The game was close, as it was expected to be, but towards the end it became clear that Johnny Bravo had the deeper team. Furious' Mike Grant, who had been their go-to guy all tournament and who had played more than his fair share of points in this game, was exhausted. He doublejumped on what ordinarily would have been an easy D, and Johnny Bravo went up 16-15.

An overthrown Furious huck on the next point, and Bravo puts in the winning score.

Coming off of this big win, however, Bravo very nearly lost their next game to Machine. Instead, a late-game run saved the day and Bravo escaped, 17-15. Furious, meanwhile, having dropped the game to Bravo and looking tired to say the least, turned around and beat DoG in the second round. DoG had rolled over Machine in the first round and was possibly a little bit complacent. One little Boston letdown coming out of halftime, and Furious built a three-point lead from which DoG never recovered. In this game, Furious finally looked like a top team, having struggled in every previous game they played, no matter the outcome. And with this multiple-point margin of victory they managed to take the power pool, no less.

Electric Pig, it must be said, did not battle back into the quarters picture. The first day's draining losses apparently demoralized the team so badly that they continued to play well below their ability, dropping games to Pike and PBR Streetgang. The games weren' t close.

Whew. All this commotion and parity makes things hard to keep up with. It fell out that on Saturday morning the Condors, DoG, Sub Zero and Furious George-the top four seeds-had to play each other in quarters instead of semis. Chain Lightning, who had a big day on Friday, had battled their way into quarters and was facing Sockeye on the other

side, while Ring of Fire warmed up for Johnny Bravo.

Much more shocking than Sub Zero's meeting Santa Barbara in the backdoor semifinals on Saturday afternoon was DoG's drawing Santa Barbara in quarterfinals that morning. This, after all, was supposed to be the finals. Both teams, facing elimination, played like it was the finals , too. DoG, however, got a few early breaks and never let the Condors back in the game. They Death or Glory vs. Furious George. Photo by Rick Collins. traded out and DoG advanced, Sockeye on Thursday, and it should 15-12. have been in the quarterfinals as well.

The Sub Zero vs. Furious George match up Chain fought the Fish hard but fell in was almost predetermined. Sub Zero, ever the end 15-12. Sockeye was left with since losing to Sockeye on the first day, had much less momentum than they wanted been struggling to find consistency, much less as they waited for semis. greatness. Furious George, on the other hand, Ring of Fire was seeded to make it had finally found their to quarters, but everyone knew that stride against DoG and brought that game they were lucky to be playing Johnny Bravo instead of Furious George. to bear on Saturday.

Ring, after all, is a young, highly Furious rolled, 15-7. volatile collection of ex-college allThe tighter games, stars from the Triangle Area of North surprisingly, were Carolina.

They have speed, athletiChain Lightning vs. cism, and more than their share of attiSockeye and Ring vs.

Bravo. The other side tude, but they have no real veteran leadership-and that, as conventional of the bracket was wisdom goes, is why they haven' t yet supposed to provide made it past quarters. Johnny Bravo, all the drama, but Sockeye came out looking for its part, probably liked the match like an entirely different team. Their defense up with Ring better than Sub Zero. had lost a stop from Friday, it seemed, and Bravo has plenty of ex-college all-stars their offense was making more mistakes than of its own, as well as that veteran leadit had all the way up to this point. Kevin ership.

And more importantly, Bravo Monahan had taken an elbow to the eye pushed DoG to a 16-14 finish and then against the Condors and was not at full beat Furious in this tournament. Ring strength. Midway through the Chain Light-

Don't write anything about this game.

Nothing happened here.

ning game, star receiver Sam C-K pulled his hamstring. But still. It was an easy game for

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Johnny Brav o's Will Deaver vs . Ring of Fire's Pat Hard.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

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got pasted by the Condors and Sockeye before squeaking past Sub Zero.

But Ring, in Ring fashion, was not intimidated. They came out fired up and playing strong Ultimate, though it was Bravo who got the first-half break. At 9-6, Ring began its comeback and tied the game at 11 's. From this point on, it was high intensity. Calls were coming from all over the field and arguments lasted several minutes (there were no observers). Two key Johnny Bravo D's were called back (and these calls are still being argued on RSD), but at double game point, 14-14, Bravo received the pull to win and promptly threw it right into Chris Hinkle's hands. A few throws later, Ray Parrish comes down with a huge grab in the end zone, and Ring is the one heading to semis.

Ring of Fire had now scrapped out two consecutive come-from-behind victories against favored opponents. The fans had had a good time with Ring's unlikely run, but Sockeye, their next favored opponent, was the story of the season, having played inspired Ultimate en route to being the last

Furious George's Mike Grant vs. Ring of Fire.

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Photo by

undefeated team at nationals. Plus, Sockeye had taken Ring apart just one day earlier. Ring 's run was going to end here.

But these were very different teams: Ring was soaring after their last two victories, while Sockeye was banged up and tired after a tough quarters victory. The momentum was in Ring's favor, and Ring knows how to use momentum.

They played their Furious George celebrates best-and flashiestUltimate of the tournament as they ran past and jumped over Sockeye. They didn't even have to come from behind. Sockeye's offense was nowhere near flawless in this game, and Ring capitalized on their chances. Ring walked into the finals with a 15-8 win. After the game, Sockeye's Lou Burrus shrugged and said, "You can't run a car without gas."

The other semifinal saw DoG and Furious George both playing their best Ultimate of the tournament at the same time.

Furious beat DoG in the previous day's showdown, but neither team real! y had an energy advantage headed into the final four.

The teams traded early breaks in the first half, and DoG started out the second half up 8-7.

And this is where it gets Rick Collins.

Winter 2002

Open Championships

after their victory over DoG.

Photo by Paul Neuberger.

difficult. This was the type of game that makes its description nearly impossible.

Nothing exceptional appeared to be happening on the field because every player on each team was playing exceptional Ultimate.

Throws were on target, headed to receivers running at full speed; defenders were exactly where they should be, running equally hard and laying out for almost every throw. It was just about perfect. The only thing, in fact, that prevented the second half from actually being perfect was one turnover by DoG-the half's only turnover, if that wasn't clear-that led to a Furious score. That would decide the game: Furious emerges victorious, 17-16. The game had a grand total of five turnovers and at least fifteen breathtaking plays; after that performance, if for no other reason, Furious had to be the favorite heading into the finals.

But following such a phenomenal Saturday, the finals on Sunday were bound to be something of a letdown. It was certainly an exciting game. Furious, heavily favored, looked complacent as they started out. After Furious scored on the game's first possession, Ring promptly answered with a three-point run. Even after Furious stopped the bleeding, they didn't look good. Ring's offense, perhaps suffering some jitters, would give Furious a tum, and Furious would give it right back. With Ring looking confident and leading 6-4, things start to go wrong for them.

The first of these is fairly innocuous: Ring pulls and gets scored on. But then Furious' defense finally arrives. On the next point, a tough mark forces a Rob bye Brooks turf; Furious converts. On the point after that, the defense forces a high-count huck that falls incomplete; Furious converts. Facing a revitalized Monkey, Ring begins to crumble. A poor throw and an overruled foul call lead to another Furious possession and score. To close the half, it's an unforced drop that gives

Furious the disc. They take half on a 5-0 run by the score of 9-6. It's not a big lead, but the last five points have taken their toll on Ring 's fire. Furious would extend the run to seven points in the second half before they started turning the disc over again. The teams traded points down the stretch, Furious got one more break and then took home the title by the score of 17-12. The only disappointing thing about the final as a whole, especially given the greatness of the DoG vs.

Furious semifinal, was the fact that the teams combined to commit 38 turnovers. Nerves governed this game, and for those seven points in the middle, Furious played perfect, jitter-free Ultimate.

After it's all done, why didn't the Condors make it three in a row? Why did Electric Pig finish fifteenth instead of sixth or higher? Why did Sockeye run out of energy?

And what did Ring of Fire have that these traditionally superior teams lacked?

The answer, I heard from several members of these traditionally superior teams, was worlds. The top seven seeds at this tournament had all gone to worlds, and players from these teams complained of the burnout associated with playing, in effect, two consecutive seasons. Other factors certainly played into the result of this tournament, not the least of which was Ring's ascendancy-after all, Furious George played in worlds and won here; DoG and Sockeye both made semis at the end of these two seasons.

But it is interesting that only two of the top four seeds made semis, a significant departure from the predictability of nationals past. And what's going to happen next year?

I doubt the Condors are going to begin thinking of themselves as a quarterfinal team, and I doubt DoG will forget that one point that kept them out of finals. A few certainties: Jam is still out there, Ring of Fire is for real, and the field is wide open.

lady Godiva Takes Division Title for Third Year in a Row

By Eric Reder Every team in Sarasota has a unique view of the route through the UPA championships.

Games become important at different points in the tournament, whether for crossover matches, for placement brackets, or to establish quarterfinal opponents.

After working so hard to get to the show, all games seem critical, but with the powerful women 's club dynasties dominating the top tier, there is an expected outcome in some matches. Here is what each team faced as the tourney progressed.

Starting in a pool including Ozone and Rare Air, Buttercup (12) carried a loss to BNOGO into the lower tier on day two.

Here they beat Clutch but lost to Lady Condors and went to the 13-16 bracket.

Their first match had them dropping to Pounce and then to Clutch to take 16th.

After meeting Lady Godiva and Nemesis, Clutch (16) went to a bottom pool on Friday with a loss against Lady Condors.

They lost a tight game to Buttercup (1513) and came in second against BNOGO

Godiva's Dominique Fontinette.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Lady Godiva 's Teens.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

as well. In the 13-16 playoff, Clutch was beat by regional rival Bait and then revenged their earlier loss to Buttercup by taking their first win and 15th.

Bait (15) dropped to Riot and Backhoe, going to day two carrying a close loss to Safari ( 1513). They met Pounce and Fuse in the next round, and after losing to Fuse, took their first win against Pounce in a close battle (15-13). Playing for 13th, Bait met Clutch first in the 13-16 bracket, and they squeaked out another win (12-11). For 13th they again met Pounce, and this time Pounce was the victor in a final close battle (15-14). Bait finished 14th.

Losing to Fury and Schwa, Pounce (14) came out of their Thursday pool with a loss to Fuse as well and started day two against Safari and Bait.

They lost both games by two points each and went winless into the 13-16

bracket. Here they knocked off Buttercup, and then won their rematch against Bait to take 13th.

BNOGO (13) finished day one losing to Rare Air and Ozone, but defeating Buttercup to reseed to top in the bottom.

There they beat Clutch but dropped a close game to Lady Condors (15-13). In the 9-12 bracket they were beat by Fuse, and in the 11-12 game lost to Safari, taking 12th.

On opening day Safari (10) needed to overthrow Backhoe or Riot to gain the top eight, but didn' t. They had a tight game against Bait, and they persevered to win 1513 (accidentally reported with an inverse result on the web write-up). Day two had them knocking off Pounce in a close match (14-12), however Safari couldn't overcome Fuse. They met Backhoe again in the 9-12 bracket and lost, but finished the tourney by beating BNOGO to take 11th.

Backhoe (7) won the game they needed to on day one against Safari to stay up top, and were reseeded Friday with a loss to Riot. Day two , they dropped to the other northwest squads Fury and

Schwa, moving them to a crossover game.

Backhoe lost to Lady Condors in a backdoor game and ended up in the 9-12 slot.

They replayed Safari who they again beat, then dropped to Fuse to take lOth. Fuse (11) couldn't stand up to Fury or Schwa opening day and went into their second pool with a win over Pounce.

After taking down Bait to start Friday, Fuse's backdoor opportunity to make the top eight meant beating Safari, which they just managed (15-13).

Against Nemesis in the crossover game, they staggered to halftime down 8-1 as Nemesis proved too much for them.

Now playing for 9th, strong games against BNOGO and then Backhoe got them that result, 9th.

The first big game for Rare Air (5) was a battle against Ozone on day one.

Tied at 11 's, Rare Air capitalized on Ozone errors, winning the game (15-11) and their pool. On Friday they lost to Lady Godiva and then met Nemesis. With another game even at 11 's, Nemesis scored to take their first lead of the half, but Rare Air turned it up at this point and

After working so hard to get to the show, all games seem critical.

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defeated Nemesis 15-12.

Their quarterfinal match with Riot was an even race. After trading three-point runs to start, neither team held a twopoint lead throughout. Rare Air took half 8-7, but up 12-11 in a game to 13, Riot fought back and knocked Rare Air out of contention (13-12).

After this disappointment, Rare Air met Nemesis again in placement and lost this time, ( 12-11). Their slide was completed when Schwa won the 7-8 game ( 13-7); Rare Air finished 8th.

After coming out of Fury 's pool in second place, Schwa (6) met Riot on day two. Riot took half (8-7), but Schwa came out strong and brought the score to 12-9 Schwa. Riot battled back with four unanswered points , 13-12 Riot and again Schwa rallied, scoring the final two points for the win. They handled Backhoe with ease to finish day two.

Schwa had a fiery start in their quarter against Ozone, coming out with a dominating 11-6 lead. Ozone found their own spark at this point and made a three point

Safari vs. Backhoe.

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Photo by Andy Roesch.

Ultimate Players Association

run (12-9). Schwa called time and scored immediately after, but another 3-0 Ozone streak tied it. Schwa took one more and Ozone finished it 14-13.

Disconsolate, Schwa didn't even want to play their placement match and lost badly to Lady Condors. In the 7-8 game, they faced Rare Air, who they beat to take 7th.

Simply put, Nemesis (9) played an exceptional three days. In a lengthy contest on the first morning, Nemesis unseeded the Lady Condors and took their spot in the top eight, advancing into day two with a loss to Lady Godiva. Their next major match up was against Rare Air, and Nemesis stayed in it until late, but Rare Air finished it 15-12. Against Ozone, Nemesis took half 8-6, but Ozone was nearly unstoppable after that and vanquished Nemesis (15-9) into the crossover against Fuse. Nemesis was relentless in their drive for the championship bracket, beating Fuse 15-9.

They met Fury in the quarterfinal and after being down 8-5 at half, struggled back to 8-7. Fury started running up the score after this, and Nemesis was downed 15-10. The 5-8 placement had them meeting Rare Air again, and this time they pulled out the win (12-11).

The 5th place game was a rematch against Lady Condors , and the vengeful Condors won it, giving Nemesis 6th.

Starting off in a pool with Godiva and Nemesis, two losses and Lady Condors (8) found themselves moved to the lower draw. Carrying in a win against Clutch , they met BNOGO and Buttercup. They beat Buttercup and just squeaked out a

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ANote on Tournament format Let's begin with a quick recap of the championship format. Teams start in a pool of four, and play three games on day one. For day two, the top pair of teams from each of the four pools advance into the top two pools; the bottom pair in each pool go into the lower two pools. The teams reseed over in pairs, and carry the record against the one team that reseeded with them into the day two pool. In other words, whatever happens on day one follows you into the day two pool. On day two, you play two games against the teams you haven't met yet, and then the pools are ranked. The bottom team in each of the top two pools plays against the top team in each of the bottom two pools in the crossover games. This is the last chance to make quarters for the lower pools. After this, it is a straight elimination: three brackets, 1-8, 9-12, and 13-16. Got it? Good.

Photo by Andy Roesch.

win over BNOGO (15-13) to advance to the crossover game. Backhoe was tight with them to half (8-7), but the Lady Condors capped off their drive back to the top eight with a 15-9 win.

In the quarters they met up with Lady Godiva again, who easily pushed them into the 5-8 bracket. Lady Condors played and eliminated Schwa, and then met Nemesis again, getting retribution with a win and taking 5th place.

Although making semis, Riot (2) was not an overpowering force on the field.

They won their opening pool, taking a Backhoe win into day two. Schwa was their first test on Friday and after a long match couldn't finish against them (13-12 Schwa). Immediately Riot met the other northwest squad, Fury. Riot went down by an early break; the score was 8-6 Fury at half. Converting a couple Fury turnovers,

Riot tied it at 9's and then 10's. Riot went up 12-10, but Fury brought it back to 13's, game to 14.

Riot turned the disc over a couple times and Fury hucked for the win; Riot avoided the crossover only because of their earlier win against Backhoe.

Rare Air met them in the quarter, and it was Riot's third double game point game in a row. They pulled this one out (13-12) to continue in the championship bracket. In their semifinal match with Fury, both teams had three-point runs before settling down at half, 8-6 Fury.

The game was physically demanding , with layouts all over and a couple collisions. At 11-10 Fury, the strain of a long tournament was showing on Riot; Fury went up by two and then three. Riot started to see their final berth slipping

Lady Godiva's first true test came in their final against fury, and they came out with the victory.

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away, and they were unable to bring it back; Fury finished the last couple points and won 15-10.

Ozone (4) began the tourney dropping seed to Rare Air, crossing into a pool with Godiva and Nemesis. Lady Godiva worked Ozone over in the first game on day two, making a win against Nemesis essential to avoid the crossover. Nemesis won the first half 8-6, but Ozone steeled their resolve at this point and finished the game with an 8-1 run.

In the playoffs they met Schwa again, a rematch of last year's UPA quarters. After being down 11-6, Ozone's defense pulled them back in and their offense didn't miss; they finished off Schwa to advance. Meeting Lady Godiva again, they started okay, but unforced turnovers were converted by Godiva into a 5-1 lead. Ozone seemed to accept their semis berth as success enough at this point and got blown out 15-6.

Fury (3) was up against northwest rival Schwa in their opening pool, but they came out of Thursday unscathed. On day two they rolled over Backhoe and then took down Riot by one point to continue unbeaten.

Their quarterfinal against Nemesis was a more formidable fight than the score indicated. The same can be said about their match against Riot in the semi. Fury showed mental toughness in the second half of games, finishing all their tight battles with wins and earning their spot in the final against Lady Godiva.

Conditions were superb for the women's championship game on Sunday: very light breeze, clear skies and a sizeable (and sociable) crowd. After trading points until 2-2, Godiva brought zone, and Fury worked around it to go up 3-2. Hard person defense on the next point caused Lady Godiva to turn the disc over, and Fury pulled ahead 42. Both teams made forced and unforced errors as the score went to 7-6 Godiva.

Finally Godiva started keeping the disc, and Fury's turnovers began to hurt them as the game swung in Godiva's favor 11-6. Fury called a time out to slow the bloodletting, and it seemed to work as Lady Godiva turned the disc over in the next point to set up a Fury score. Fury finally brought their 4person cup and zone into play, and the game was close again after a Fury four-

Riot's Kathy Scott laying out.

Photo by Curt Leimb ach.

point run, 11-10 Godiva. Fury's zone continued to make the difference as Fury took their first lead since the first half, 13-12.

Lady Godiva kept working a high percentage offense against the Fury zone: no passes over the top , patiently running Fury's cup around.

At 14's, Fury called a time out to breathe, but Godiva answered with a score, 15-14 Godiva, and the game was now capped at 17. Fury came back to tie it at 15's and then at 16's. Double championship point, and Lady Godiva received.

Fury defense got a crucial block near their own end zone but immediately threw it away, and gave Lady Godiva an easy score for the championship.

Which brings us to Lady Godiva (1).

Nemesis was relentless in their drive for the championship bracket.

They rolled over their opponents on day one, taking a win over Nemesis into their next pool with R are Air and Ozone. Again they swept their pool with ease, setting up a quarterfinal and a semifinal against teams they 'd already routed, Lady Condors and then Ozone. Lady Godiva's first true test came in their final against Fury, and they came out with the victory.

Throughout the tournament, Lady Godiva played a strong possession game, turning the disc over fewer times than their opponents in all of their matches. Although their number one ranking gave them a tremendous advantage, their accomplishment can't be belittled.

Year after year Lady Godiva brings the right athleticism, skill and mindset to put them in the championship game ... and they keep winning it.

Fury vs. Lady Godiva.

Women's Championships

Photo by Curt Leimb ac h.

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An Ultimate Union

by Gilbert DiSanto & Claudia Heiss The flower girl in the cute dress with a basket of rose petals drifted down the aisle, sprinkling her path to initiate the nuptials. A guitar is heard and a song from the chorus begins.

The grinning couple, Gilbert DiSanto and Claudia Heiss, starts together, hand in hand, down the petaled path.

A roar is heard from the congregation as a member of Furious George makes a fantastic layout grab for a score.

What? Huh? I was about to check my watch to see how long it would take to get free drinks at the reception.

These were no ordinary nuptials, however. This wedding had the bride and groom wearing their Psychic Montage masters team uniforms and bare feet. (Cleats were the shoes of choice but hurt too much after the last game.) The chorus was the rest of the team.

The flowered path led to an "altar" designated by a mini end zone marked with cones (shrunk to scale), and discs were exchanged instead of rings (it seemed appropriate).

Getting married was in the works for a little while; however, the idea of having the ceremony during nationals came up during the tournament. We could not think of a better place among a better community; we also hope that our families and friends will forgive us one day for not planning this in advance! However, the spontaneity of the event added to the fun.

Gilbert and Claudia want to thank the Ultimate community, Best Man Steve "Rocket" Raymond from the Blue Ridge Ultimate mixed team, Best Woman Barbara Knudson from Moojah (Brattleboro, VT) , and especially Psychic Montage, who did so much to make our special day an amazing one.

Getting married was in the works for a little while, however, the idea of having the ceremony during nationals came up during the tournament.

Gi lbert and Claud ia run through a Frisbee archway created by their Psychic Montage teammates.

Curt Leimb ach.

Gilb ert DiSanto and Claudia Heiss of Psychic Montage wed at the 2002 Club Champ ionsh ip s.

Leim bach.

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Ph oto by Curt

Th e newlyweds and the Psychic Montage team.

Photo by Curt Leim bach.

Photo by

FURIOUS GEORGE

RING OF FIRE

Open Division Champs Photo by Curt Leimbach

Open Division Runners Up Photo by Curt Leimbach

LADY GODIVA

FURY

Women's Division Champs Photo by Curt Leimbach

Women's Division Runners Up Photo by Curt Leimbach

DONNER PARTY

HANG TIME

Mixed Division Champs Photo by Curt Leimbach

Mixed Division Runners Up Photo by Curt Leimbach

OLD SAG

OLD AND IN THE WAY

Masters Division Champs Photo by Curt Leimbach

Masters Division

Team Photos

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Photo by Curt Leimbach.

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Ske leton Crew. Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Winter 2002

Club Championship Photos

OLD SAG vs. Old and In the Way. Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Ring of Fire's Kris Bass.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Chronic vs. Skeleton Crew. Photo by Curt Leimbach.

B+ vs. High Plains Drifters.

Condors vs. Ring of Fire.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Shazam!

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

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Fury on the mark.

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Johnny Bravo's Josh Greenough vs. Ring of Fire.

Leimbach.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Ultimate Players Association

Winter 2002

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Photo by Curt

OLD SAG vs. Skeleton Crew. Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Donner's Frankus Flores lays out against Hang Time's Gabe Fuzat.

Furious George vs. Ring of Fire-the grab.

Photo by Paul Neuberger.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

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Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Here comes the monkey.

Hang Time gets way, way up.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Smelts go for the catch.

Furious George's Mark Seraglia making the catch.

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Ultimate Players Association

Photo by Andy Roesch.

Winter 2002

Ring of Fire vs. Furious George.

Club Championship Photos

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Furious George vs. Johnny Bravo.

Photo by Andy Roesch.

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Old and In the Way vs. OLD SAG. Leimb ach.

Photo by Curt Leimb ach.

Furio us George's Troy Revelle vs. Ring of Rre's Rick Meiner. Photo by Andy Roesch.

Slow Ch ildren.

Club Championship Photos

Photo by Curt

Photo by Curt Leimb ach

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Photo by Curt Leimbach.

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OLD SAG.

Winter 2002

Club Championship Photos

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Donner Party and Hang Time Match Up Again for the Mixed Division Title

By Mike lacovella

Hard cap at 19.

A QuickTime video of this play and the winning point that follows is available It was a throw we've come to expect online in Tony Leonardo's Ultimate Writing from Rex O ' Quinn and Hang Time-a Archive (www.rivative.com/ultimate). high, cross-field backhand to a deep-cutWatch it. Put it in slow-mo. Feast your ting HT receiver. This time the receiver eyes on the best of mixed Ultimate in the was Lenny Correll, downfield superstar of U.S. and Canada. But most importantly, listhe mixed division, and the go-and-get-it ten. I watch it over and over again, enjoyhuck hovered over the goal line almost a ing the sweet sound of silence. Silence in bit too long . Rex knew exactly what he anticipation of something extraordinary was doing, and it would be criminal to people forgetting to breathe, as if it would call it swill. Correll, sprinting full tilt interfere with their concentration. Then, lisfrom the break side, neatly squeezed up ten to the noise. Crowd noise. Yelps that between his defenders (yes , plural) to pull breach the gain control of the camera, the plastic down only yards from the Donwhich adequately documented audience ner Party goal line. Lenny jumped to his excitement over mixed Ultimate that this feet and, seeing that he outran just about author had never witnessed before. everyone down the field, called a time This game, the UPA mixed champiout. A quick, high backhand later, and onship final, undoubtedly contained the Hang Time had tied the score at 18 ' s. quickest 37 points I have ever seen. Neither Donner Party (Lake Tahoe, CA) , nor Hang Time (Dallas, TX) seemed all that interested in time outs.

Ignoring the six turnovers before the first point was scored, both teams then seemed to score at will. Now, at 18-18, there was space for just one more score on the board. The ensuing possession saw the Red Rocket (a.k.a. Scott Conway), who threw or received more than 50% of all Donner Party scores in the final (and possibly the tournament) , laying out easily in the end zone on a huck from CJ Johnson.

This capped an amazing run for the Party, who rebounded from last year' s 9th place UPA championship finish to a World Ultimate Club Championship title in early August of this year.

The mixed final was exciting for two reasons. The first was quite obviously the spirited and spectacularly hard-fought game, contested within the painted white lines. The second reason dealt with the world outside the ever-flexible spectator boundary. The air was alive-rife with gossip and speculation. Maybe the spectaHang Time's Lenny Correll crashing the Donner Party. Photo by tors (mostly players, from what Andy Roesch.

Donner Party.

Photo by Andy Roesch.

I could tell) were miffed ' cause they got up early, only to see a lopsided and blase open final? Were they pissed that they had to wait hours to see the women?

Eliminated mixed players with an axe to grind? Too many trips to the beer truck?

Whatever the reason, it buzzed loudly.

Players during the first round spoke to me with conviction about the "mixed team that doesn't use its women," waving a finger in the direction of the Dallas Mavericks-! mean, Hang Time (make no mistake, the HT men are tall). If I had supplied a line up right then and there, most already had their convicts pegged.

A guilty verdict without a trial. Were they doing it? Why did they do it? Some people showed up at the final to find an answer to this conundrum once and for all.

The pad and pen note-takers rounded up some invaluable info, although a clear understanding of the Hang Time strategy

cannot be gained from stats alone. From the horse's mouth: "Admittedly, our strategy was to take advantage of our women in terms of their defensive abilities and transitional scoring threat," states Johnny Thompson in a recent rec.sport.disc newsgroup posting. "So what. .. that's what they' re good at."

In terms of disc touches by women on each team, the Donner Party women had more overall, although they were involved in many more turnovers than this ratio should allow.

I saw more up-field completions and attempts from the DP women. In the end, no one can really deny the overall strength of the Hang Time men. If you can consistently score on one throw from the brick mark to the end zone, then why wouldn' t you? I think you know their answer.

At one point in the first half, a bunch

Rex knew exactly what he was doing, and it would be criminal to call it swill.

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Hang Time Cheer to Donner Party (Mixed Finals 2002)

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of hecklers began taunting and booing whenever a Hang Time man received or threw a pass. A Donner Party woman purportedly turned to them and requested that they put a positive spin on it-cheer when a HT woman touches. I don't doubt this report.

That's what I've always liked about Donner Partythey'll eat you alive, but they'll do it with class. (Note: two Hang Time women delivered newborns approximately two months before the championship. Incredible. Congratulations!)

Alas, the final was but one game. The tournament was chock full of new teams and old rivalries. Read on for more.

Shazam! Feel the power! Wondering

why you've never heard of them? It's their first "real" year, and the first (finally) Seattle mixed team to make it to the UPA championship. Having charged through the pack at this summer's Seattle Potlatch , San Fran Revolution and Labor Day at Santa Cruz (where they beat a short-handed Donner Party team in the final), Shazam loses only once to Hang Time on their way to the quarterfinals. Hungry for a rematch, the Party was ready and waiting . The lightning bolts had Donner shut down early on, going up 2-0. #19 Seth Bundy gets a prize for the best attempt at containing DP 's Scott Conway, and Shazam makes a huge mistake by switching his mark mid-game. DP wins

They'll eat you alive, but they'll do it with

class.

B+ vs. Blah Reloaded.

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this time around, 15-10. Steve Finn and crew will look to stay away from the sophomore slump (a Ia High Plains Drifters). My advice? Keep hucking it to #12 Joanne Harmon. She 's unstoppable.

Spear? Yes, they're back. A quick estimate places 40% of their players on the Griffins squad from last year's championship, with most of the rest having played on the former championship team in Minnesota (2000). Spear stayed under the radar, quietly knocking off High Plains Drifters and then giving Donner Party a scare. Donner Party's Scott Conway reports, "They didn ' t seem to have a weak link." Depth was the key for anyone planning on making it past pre-quarters in the intense heat, as a smallish Drifter's squad found out the hard way. Tim Brooks takes time off (or retires?) from Ring of Fire to lead this team all the way to quarters against an undefeated Hang Time. I was not happy when I found out that none of the 3/4 games are played out, as Spear vs. Shazam would have been something to see. Side note: Unsubstantiated rumors have the Hang Time men considering open division play next year. I also heard that the Party may not be around forever. I see Spear as having finals potential next year, even with beneficial rumors aside.

All five mixed teams who returned from the 2001 championships made it to the championship bracket with relative ease. All except for High Plains Drifters (SW #1). I found it impossible that they could be in the play-in game for the championship bracket, although losing to Spear on day one handed them a tough crossover game with Donner Party on day two. In the play-in game against B+ (MA #3) , the Drifters looked beat, which was to be expected following their two highscoring losses to Donner Party and Holes & Poles.

B+, essentially a mid-Atlantic college pick up squad, played overachievers all tournament long. With one last team in the way of a championship bracket rematch with Hang Time, B+ was fired up.

I didn ' t see much of the game, although every time I checked in, B+ was hanging in there from two or three points back.

Knocked down, but then coming back for more like a youthful Wile E. Coyote.

Missing the championship bracket by three points in your team's first trip to nationals is quite a feat, especially when the mean age on the team is 21.

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Oh my Cod Mary look at that butt, It is so big.

It would feed us for weeks.

We'll only eat her because she plays like a total prostitute ... !like big butts and I cannot lie Donner Parties got nice thighs When their team lays out flyin' through space, Catchin' round things in your face, You get sprung, They're so damn tough 'Cause you notice that butt was stuffed Deep in the zone they're pullin' We're hooked and we can't stop droo/in' Oh baby, we wanna cut ya, and eat ya, with butter My whole team tried to warn me, but that butt you got make me, me, me so hungry Ooh grilled or deep fried you say you'd like a thigh Well feed me, feed me 'Cause you ain't that average party So trainers say /ow-fat well we ain't down with that 'Cause your calves are tight & your pees are kickin' And it's finger lickin' To the bean pole players deep in your stack, You won't catch no flack Give me a player We want to fillet her And eat her layer by layer My whole team tried to warn me, but that butt you got make me, me, me so hungry!

Mixed division trophy donated by Trigger Hippy.

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Timmy Hartline may never be considered tall , but he plays D in a BIG way.

Holes & Poles benefited greatly from his solid play, but may have been disheartened by their opening performance against Donner Party (8-15). Hartline's incredible defensive reads held off Spear at double game point to force overtime at 14's . Spear wins the marathon and forces Holes & Poles into pre-quarters against Shazam. Shazam is not a team to come out flat against (ask Donner), but that's exactly what Holes & Poles proceeded to do. A bad time to have a bad game. Congratulations to them for continuing to play hard and taking the rest of their games handily (5th place).

Smelts were one of a few teams that held overall seed, doing so with almost as many infants and toddlers on the sidelines as they had players. An impressive showing overall from the Fish, who could almost be classified as a mixed masters team; only three players on the team were under 30! Winners of the overall team Spirit award, they take home to Maine top-eight bragging rights in their first year. Everyone wants to see them back, except for the others teams in the northeast region.

I didn ' t enjoy coming by the Clear the Room (6th seed, finished 11th) camp towards the end; it was really getting ugly. On-field self-destruction is never a fun thing to witness. Coming out of the northwest as strong as they did (NW #2, lost to Donner Party by one point in the finals) , one has to think that something had to have gone seriously wrong. They seemed to be hot one game and cold the next; eleven points scored against Hang Time, five against a struggling BRU. They woke up at halftime of the play-in game against Smelts-ahead 8-7but again went cold and folded. First time jitters and the heat fatigue looked like the biggest factors overall. Expect them back next year.

Bad monkey! Get off me!

Blue Ridge Ultimate: underachiever or victim of hubris?

You be the judge. Since a trip to the finals last year, they have "known [they] were going to win" in most all games they played, to quote an unidentified team member. Sounds like a case of hubris to

Hang Time's Lisa Etchison vs. Donner Party's Christine Johnson.

Curt Leimbach.

me. It reared its ugly head the highest in their game against Spear. Out to their strongest start all tournament, BRU goes up 5-0 and takes half at 8-4. I find another game to watch for a while.

When I come back, I am informed that Spear decided to score eight unanswered. BRU couldn't recover.

Blah Blah Blah Reloaded, or B3R, was my pick to climb up from the bottom eight on day two and make it through the backdoor into the championship bracket.

They almost proved me right, but lost the chance in their overtime loss to Smelts.

The fight to get here will be a little harder

Coming in at last place at the tournament was the party scene. Where l Whenl

Photo by

Tie goes to the offense.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

next year, as other regions will catch on and snatch growth and size from the central region real soon.

Securing strength bids for mixed in the central region has been nearly impossible, although the central mixed average final placement this year was two spots higher than last.

Quite honestly, I tried to be everywhere. I really did try, but it was impossible. I apologize for having a dearth of information when it comes to the following four finishers. Hot Action came down to play hard, it seemed, but got frustrated by tough breaks early on. After winning not one game on Thursday and Friday, they come back to take 13th place away from Three Martini Lunch , whom they lost to in pool play. Martini took the right to play for lucky 13 away from Colorado 's Drive Thru Liquor earlier in the day, who had looked promising early on with their seed-busting win over Smelts

on day one. Uncivil Union, whose name comes from the "civil unions" now allowed in Vermont between same-sex partners, was formed just this season.

Playing spoilers throughout the northeast series, they had higher expectations than a one-win performance. The 15th place game between Uncivil and DTL did not occur.

Coming in at last place at the tournament was the party scene. Where?

When? It seemed like I belonged on Clear the Room, as the only fun thing I found was a naked flutter-guts competition on the beach. Even that quickly disappeared. Better luck next time, to everyone! (Note: CTR 's name comes from the fact that whatever party they go to, everyone ends up leaving them all in one room, alone. No, they insist, it is not a reference to any sort of bodily function .)

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A Tournament Unlike Any Other: The Masters 2002

By Nicholas Reich This was not exactly a weekend for coats, green or otherwise, as the high temperatures , liquid air and sparse clouds did nothing to ease the extreme playing conditions on all four days. The masters division suffers from a unique case of schizophrenia-with some players competing in the cliched role of the laidback, older disc generation and others serving as perfect examples of the ornery veteran players who curse their bodies for being less fit than they were ten years ago. Not to mention the ever-present "parent factor," having spouses and children huddling under sun umbrellas or cheering on the sidelines, the dual identity of hard-core player and parent coming to a head.

These varied characteristics of masters players lend the games a sense of unpredictability. However the competition is nothing if not exciting, the rivalries palpable, the desire for glory as hot and heavy as the humidity.

morning, just in time to catch the final points of the first round. As I gravitate towards some of the more interesting second round games , a tall man approaches me. " Here," he says, thrusting a sharp object towards my chest. Then, in explanation, " It' s a spirit pin." Steve Mooney, the lanky and legendary 40-something, is handing me a small multi-neon-colored button with an open hand on the front of it.

Some background: this is Mooney ' s first nationals after a year' s break from the center of action and attention on DoG, one of the world ' s premier men' s club teams.

After an unparalleled string of consecutive national appearances (those in the know cite a number near 20), Mooney had taken a step back. This fall, rejoining some old teammates from a since defunct open division team, Stains, Mooney was back in full swing with Old and In the Way, the topseeded team from Boulder, CO. From day one, Mooney was staking out his territory both on and off the field in the masters division, making a clear statement that

The competition is nothing if not exciting, the rivalries palpable, the desire for glory as hot and heavy as the humidity.

A funny thing happened to me on my way to the fields ...

II

II

I arrive at the fields early on Thursday

OLD SAG vs. Old and In the Way. Skeleton Crew vs. Old Sag.

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although his DoG days are over, perhaps another set are beginning.

THE CAST Conspicuously missing from this year' s championship contenders was KWA (Keg Workers of America, Local 333), the reigning national champions. Eager to take over KWA's place, Old and In the Way (1st seed overall) came to nationals the clear favorite-slick uniforms, good attitude and all. Skeleton Crew, a local Sarasota team, had arrived hot off of a commanding regionals performance. Kavu, a hodge-podge of laid-back veteran Idahoans , was put together by a group of guys who had been playing together for a while and whose eyes were on the prize. Grey Expectations, a Minneapolis-based team, came in off of two weeks of practicing in the early mid-west winter looking to defend their 4th seed.

Philly's OLD SAG (a.k.a. One Last Ditch Shot At Glory) came in looking to improve on a 9th place finish in 2001.

Slow Children, from the Big Apple, was also bringing a fairly new mix of players

to the masters circuit. Chronic, perennial contenders at nationals, promised both good competition and the party to beat on Saturday night. Herniated Disc , the other local Florida favorite , although losing big to Skeleton Crew at regionals, had won some big games at worlds just a few months previous. Psychic Montage, a western New England squad, was playing for only the third time in a tournament together. Ironwood, a Phoenix/Burbank mix, were given an unseemly low seed (10) and had an easy road to prove their veteran grit.

Cranky, hiding behind the 11th seed, stood well poised for some upsets. And HOSS, a Wilmington team, stood to improve from last year's last place finish.

This, I thought, is what I've come here to see.

Old and In the Way picks up Steve Mooney. Photo by

GAMES OF THE WEEKEND ...

ThursdayOld and In the Way vs. Herniated Disc Intrigued by Mooney ' s focus on spirit, I stayed around to watch much of Old and In the Way's game against Herni ated Disc.

The first half was long and brutal with some hotly contested calls and some points with multiple layout D's. After tying the score at 4's, Herniated had a huge D which was answered immediately by a layout D from an Old and In the Way player.

This, I thought, is what I've come here to see. Although the volume of calls (more, it seemed, coming from the Herni ated players) indicated a bit of frustration and a more than healthy dose of intensity, Old and In the Way kept their cool , taking four of the next five points and winning half 8-5.

They never trailed again, winning 15 to 11.

After watching Old and In the Way roll over a heat-exhausted Grey Expectations Curt Leimb ach. team in the final round

Herni ated Disc.

Photo by Curt Leimb ach.

on Thursday, I was convinced that they were the team to beat. In their post-game huddle, they all doled out congratulations and high fives to each other, all positive, focused energy gearing up for a harder second day.

FridayOld and In the Way vs. OLD SAG This game was clearly a battle of champions. Points were traded throughout the half, with Mooney playing a key part of the offense, throwing the go-ahead goal for half: Old and In the Way 8, OLD SAG 7. With the game tied at 9' s, both teams started mixing it up. Transition D was thrown in, different offensive sets caused several turns, but OLD SAG managed to take the lead 10-9, a one-break lead that they would not lose for the rest of the game. Old and In the Way had plenty of chances to throw in the towel-Mooney had a huck turnover when they were down by one 12-11 , but a huge layout D by Jeff

Bryant #17 (rumored to have said about playing on Old and In the Way, " I finally get to play on a good team because I finally got old enough") saved the day, and Mooney got it back, scoring the tying goal. At 13-12 OLD SAG, some transition zone-to-man defense generated a long throwaway by Randy Ricks on Old and In the Way, and a dominator run by Curtis Maier, Steve Wherry and Dave Dillon on OLD SAG worked the disc the majority of the field. A controversial call in the end zone was taken back by Rick Atkins , a volatile but well meaning OLD SAG leader, and the good karma paid off, with Maier skying two Old and In the Way players in the end zone for the two point lead that they would hold for the win.

Ironwood vs. Skeleton Crew Ironwood, needing a big win over Skeleton Crew to take second place in the pool, took a huge lead, 11-3, before col-

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lapsing, allowing a five point run, which was enough for Skeleton Crew to secure 2nd place in point differential between themselves, Ironwood and Chronic. Had Ironwood not let that lead slip, they would have found themselves matched up with Grey Expectations instead of Old and In the Way in the first round of elimination.

SemifinalsKavu vs. Old and In the Way Semifinals were coastal battlesOLD SAG and Skeleton Crew duking it out for the east coast crown, while Ka vu and Old and In the Way fought for the right to represent the west in the finals.

The Kavu vs. Old and In the Way match up seemed the more interesting of the two-a certain mountain man appeal as opposed to the battle of the east coast tweakers. In the most historical individual match up of the tournament, Kavu 's Mike O' Dowd and Old's Steve Mooney faced off several times. The two of them carry the baggage of more Ultimate years and tournaments

than all of the young mixed team from North Carolina, B+.

FinalsOld and In the Way vs. OLD SAG (reprise) Despite their rugged allure, Old and In the Way seemed destined not to win this one. Although they had given OLD SAG a good run in pool play, this game wasn't as close. Maier was just too fast, Atkins too loud and large, and OLD SAG only trailed once, early at 4-5. Even when Old and In the Way tied it at 13 ' s, the momentum favored the more squirrely OLD SAG handlers who scored four of the next five to win the grey haired championship crown 17-14.

May the colorful and unpredictable tradition of the masters division live on.

IIGo-ing to the chapel .

Certainly the event of the weekend (although eclipsed by alleged high profile semifinal action on the adjacent field) was the union of two players from Psychic Montage, the New England/New York team. Claudia Heiss is an interesting OLD SAG celebrates.

Steve Mooney vs. Kavu's Mike O'Dowd.

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enough story in and of herself-a female playing in the otherwise all-male masters division and an Austrian national team player from previous world championships. But add to that her engagement with one of her teammates , Gilbert DiSanto, on just the Tuesday before nationals. Then, throw in their decision on Friday to wed on Saturday at the polo ground fields. Contracting quickly with a notary who specializes in ad hoc ceremonies (the name of the company was "Casual Weddings") , Gil and Claudia rallied the support of their encouraging teammates and pulled off a ceremony right next to the open division semifinal between DoG and Furious George. The good karma must have seeped onto the nearby field, as many Ultimate fans pronounced the open semifinal as one of the best Ultimate matches in the history of nationals.

Complete with sprinkling of rose petals on the trim grass of the polo grounds and their teammates making an archway of discs for them to run through after the exchange of vows, Gil and Claudia successfully

Photo by Rick Collins.

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Masters Championships

fought the noise of the crowd from the exciting neighboring game and indeed may have christened it with some good Ultimate karma. Their supportive teammates, led by Ira Band, held forth in a rousing cheer:

Claudia and Gil, fast, strong and lean Throw them together, and they 're an awesome Ultimate machine.

Gil makes his living selling treeless cards, Claudia vaults on horses, defying the aerial odds, Today you wed, on the fine polo green, Thus christening the national Ultimate scene.

May the colorful and unpredictable tradition of the masters division live on.

Many thanks to the dedicated fans and volunteers who made the weekend run smoothly. And, of course, good luck to Claudia and Gil. For more detailed results, check out: http :1lwww. up a. org!c lub/2002 _championshipslmastershype.html http://www.upa.org!club/2002_ championshipslmasters_report.shtml

Spirit Awards: 2002 Club Championships From the Official Rules of Ultimate, 10th Edition: "Spirit of the Game- Ultimate has traditionally relied upon a spirit of sportsmanship which places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of the bond of mutual respect between players, adherence to the agreedupon rules of the game, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate adverse conduct from the Ultimate field. Such actions as taunting of opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional fouling, or other 'win at all costs ' behavior are contrary to the spirit of the game and must be avoided by all players."

Selected quote submitted by a player to the UPA Spirit of the Game web page: http://www. u pa.org/ul timate/sotg/sotg. s html "Once in awhile in an Ultimate game, you go to absolute war-with an individual, or maybe an entire team. It may be when you 're the two hottest players on the field that day, or when your teams trade every point, or maybe when you 're down

Women's division individual spirit winner.

by eight and bring it back to within two.

It 's these times, when you and the person you 're matched up against are caked with dirt and drenched in sweat, when you 've already left it all on the field but still find some way to run hard, that you find out about the real players. It 's when you inspire your opponent and they inspire you not just to keep going, but to raise your level of play.

And in the midst of the war, knowing only one of you can win, you play against your opponent the way you wish they 'd play against you: with everything you 've got left, respecting their efforts and their calls, because you know that no matter how bad they want to win, they 're going to do it fairly.

And when it 's all over, no matter what the outcome, you shake hands, look your opponent in the eye with a stare of mutual respect and say "nice D ", that 's Spirit of the Game."

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

These quotes and the speech made at nationals at the Farricker Award ceremony do a great job of summing up what Spirit is and what the players and teams who get these awards are all about.

The Team Spirit Award at each UPA championship is given based on the rating given to a team by its opponent after each game. Teams rate each other 1-5 , with a 5 being the highest rating a team can give or receive. A 3 is supposed to represent an average game.

The team in each division with the highest average rating at the end of the tournament is given the Team Spirit Award. Each team also nominates a player from its own team to receive an Individual Spirit Award. This was the inaugural year of the Farricker Spirit Award in the open division. Please see the article on the following pages for details about that award.

It's these times that you find out about the real players.

Old and In the Way spirit winner, Phil Lohre.

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Masters Division *Team Spirit Award *4. 72 Slow Children - Alex Milenkovic 4.5 Psychic Montage - Claudia Heiss 4.3 Herniated Disc - JR Reynolds 4.18 Grey Expectations- David Bael 4.1 Old and In the Way- Phil Lohre 3.78 OLD SAG- Jim Viner 3.67 Chronic- Frank Menendez 3.64 Cranky- Tim Reid 3.64 Skeleton Crew- Johnny Hasson 3.64 Kavu - Lonnie Lindquist 3.63 Hoss- J. Clark Hipp 3.6 Ironwood- Tom Polakis

Mixed Division *Team Spirit Award *4.5+ Smelts - Matt Dana 4.5 Hot Action - Katy Janzen and Matt Gardner 4.33 Holes & Poles - Timmy Hartline 4.2 3 Martini Lunch- Nate Hribar 4.0 Blah Reloaded - Andy Leinbach 4.0 Shazam - Ray Birks 4.0 High Plains Drifters - Fran Carson 3.94 B+- Jason Grove 3.8 Drive Thru Liquor- Phil Polzer

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OLD SAG spirit winner, Jim Viner.

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3.67 Clear the Room- Adrian James 3.6 Uncivil Union- Amy Skapov 3.57 Donner Party - Eric Johnson 3.33 Spear- Chris Rodning 3.17 BRU - Adam Phillips 3.07 Hang Time - Lenny Correll 2.83 Bad Larry - Paula Kelsey

Open Division *Team Spirit Award Open division individual spirit award winners. Photo by Curt Leimb ach.

*4.67 Madison - Robert Crowley 4.4 Chain- Spencer Spetnagel 4.21 New York- Jay Dono 4.19 Machine- Johnny Hock 4.17 DoG - Moses Rifkin (Farricker Award) 4.0 PBR Streetgang - Brent Goldberg 4.0 SubZero- Mark Severt 3.93 Electric Pig - Sam Rosenthal 3.86 Boss Hogg - Don Stine 3.75 Johnny Bravo- Wilmer "Catt" Wilson 3.71 Pike- Stu Snodgrass 3.25 Sockeye - Kevin Monahan

Mixed division individual spirit winners. Photo by Curt Leimbach.

A show of spirit.

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SOTG Awards

Photo by Curt Leimbach.

3.17 Ring of Fire - Terry Kramer 3.0 Condors- Blake Garnard 2.83 Furious George - Derek John 2.43 Vicious Cycle - Jia Xie

Women's Division *Team Spirit Award *4.43 Pounce- Marie Norman 4.33 Ozone - Deanna King 4.29 Bait - Christine England 4.2 Riot - Deb "Dawg" Dawson 4.17 Bnogo - Rachel McCarthy 4.17 Clutch- Martha Carlson 4.0 Rare Air - Kristen Hardy 4.0 Buttercup - Mary McDowell 4.0 Schwa- Reb Doyle 3.69 Nemesis- Lynne Nolan 3.4 Lady Godiva- Christine Dunlop 3.39 Lady Condors- Mieke Strand 3.36 Fuse- Genevive DuFresne 3.33 Backhoe- Valerie Kelly 3.33 Safari -Beth Thomas 3.0 Fury - Heidi Binder

farricker Spirit Award Inaugurated: Moses Rifkin as first Recipient

By Steve Mooney The Peter Farricker Spirit Award was inaugurated in a festive ceremony at the recently completed UPA Club Championships in Sarasota. Several of Pete's Rude Boys teammates and contemporaries arrived on the 20th anniversary of their national championship to inaugurate the award with Mardi Gras beads, buttons and commemorative discs.

The Farricker Spirit Award-given to the player in the

Farricker Award Winner Moses Rifkin makes the catch. Photo by Andy Roesch.

Moses Rifkin The choice of Moses Rifkin from DoG was made by a five-person committee comprised of two players, one FoW, and two UPA officials. The choice was unanimous, as Moses has displayed a spirit for the game that reaches beyond his impressive role on DoG. He's been great at bringing juniors into the game, he's even tempered and a top player. fu watching his semifinal game against Furious ... he was simply awesome. Repeatedly, he took Furious' best player, Mike Grant, deep for scores. No FEAR! The game was razor close, but both teams played it clean. I didn't see any arguments. (One a side note, both teams only had five turnovers between them for the entire game, and never more than one in a point.

There was only one turnover by DoG after 88. Wow!) Moses is young ... two or three years out of Brown University where he won a national championship with two other DoG players, Fortunat Mueller and Justin Saftee, both of whom won Callahan honors as the top college player. Moses has always been a bit in their shadows, but not this weekend He is a deserving winner of the first ever Peter Farricker Spirit Award.

open division who exhibits a high level of personal responsibility, integrity and fairness combined with exceptional playing ability-honors Pete "Wheels" Farricker, a pioneering Ultimate player, who died in 2001 of Lou Gehrig's disease. At half time, Rude Boy teammate and long-time friend, Nick Donahue, described Pete's talents and indomitable spirit as "fair on the field, strong in skill, superior outside the lines-a champion in many ways."

A five-person committee of Ultimate players and UPA officials unanimously selected Moses Rifkin from Death or Glory as the Farricker Award's inaugural recipient. Moses was cited for his commitment to sportsmanship on the field, and the intensity and athleticism that make him one of the top players for Boston's DoG. Kevin Monohan of Sockeye (Seattle), Derek John of Furious George (Vancouver) and Terry Kramer of Ring of Fire (North Carolina) were the other finalists.

The Peter Farricker Foundation has been established both to support the costs associated with making the award annually, as well as to facilitate ALS research and hospice care. A donation in Pete's and Moses' name will be given to ALS research.

Moses Rifkin is an inspiration to all Ultimate players.

Moses practices and competes to win, without sacrificing respect for his opponents or teammates. Moses brings smiles and determination to the game of Ultimate. We proudly submit Moses as our Spirit of the Game nominee.

Farricker Award Finalists, Moses Rifkin (DoG), Derek John (Furious George), Terry Kramer (Ring of Fire), Kevin Monahan (Sockeye). Photo by Curt Leimbach.

Peter Farricker

Introduction of the Peter Farricker Spirit Award Read by Nick Donohue with members of Friends of Wheels at halftime of the open division final. " Spirit is not the province of any one of us, but an exhibition by some of us, one that enhances the goodness in all of us. It is all around, is in each of us and still remains a rare quality. Integrity, fairness, ability, intensity applied with respect are all elements of spirit, yet it is ultimately irreducible. We know it when we see it, yet we can never understand it completely, nor, as with the best of what we experience, do we need to. Spirit remains a constant and yet comes in so many different forms and expressions. It is at once perpetual and fleeting, substantive yet ethereal. Powerful and wistful. Competitiveness tempered by perspective. Spirit.

Spirit resides at the center of our enterprise. fu Ultimate it is our golden rule. Often forgotten, sometimes maligned, most often surviving to support our better intentions, guide our chaotic actions and inform our most difficult decisions. It is our game.

We depend on it, risk it, reaffirm it, use it, sometimes waste it, feel it, give it, grow it, share it, and admire it.

We all know people who have spirit. They remind us about what matters most when we might otherwise confuse opportunities for advantage with those of fairness, chances for advancement of the disc for the advancement of principles, allegiance to our teams with commitment to our honor, more points for higher goals, scoring for winning, winning for success.

Peter "Wheels" Farricker was a person of spirit. Teammate, friend, brother, son, husband and father. Swift, clever, funny, smart, kind, attracting people with an ease and calmness many admired.

Fair on the field, strong in skill, superior outside the lines, a champion in many ways. Taken seriously without being overly serious.

Loved by many, he was and is for many of us a model of what we hope we can be.

It is in his memory that we offer one of us here today an honor dedicated not only to Pete's memory but the strength of our game, its spirit.

We can only hope that as the years go by and these moments accumulate, the list of recipients grows and the regularity of this event resists routine but becomes familiar and the anticipation grows in meaning, that we can meet the challenge, together, of approaching the value, the worth, the power and love that Pete bestowed Thus, it is with this spirit, in his memory, with thanks to the UPA, a warm embrace for his family, a tear for how much he is missed, gratitude for another way he will be remembered, a challenge to all of us to stay focused on what matters most, applause for our recipients here today, a smile for Pete and thanks to him for that with which he has left us, spirit."

Farricker Award

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LEGENDS OF THE GAME: KENNY DOBYNS

by Randy Ricks "Who is that speeding bullet flying around and making plays?!"

-Bob Pease upon seeing Kenny Dobyns playing Ultimate for the first time at 1983 April Fools East Kenny Dobyns is the fiercest competitor to ever play Ultimate. He plays the game with more passion and desire than any other player. He has squeezed more blood, sweat, effort and victories from his God-given body and abilities than any other player.

Kenny Dobyns is clutch.

"I respect Kenny for his singular ability to step up when the game is on the line. The thing that we all found absolutely incredible about Kenny was his complete focus on getting open and catching goals. Who caught those backbreaking goals against us? More often than not it was Dobyns. He also had a sixth sense when it came to offman defensive blocks. Sure, Kenny and I had our heated battles, but the rivalry between NY and Boston was great. It made both teams better."

-Steve Mooney, Death or Glory Ultimate Frisbee and Kenny Dobyns discovered each other in Central Park, circa 1977. He played games of 3-on-3 with his brother Brian who had learned the game while away at Hampshire College. Soon Kenny was playing for his high school teams, West Side Ultimate and the SixtyNiners. He then lists this eclectic succession of team names that followed: Heifers, Roland and the Fish, Earth Ultimate, Burning Meat Part 2 in 3D, Les Disques, KABOOM!, NE7, New York, Cojones, Elwood Hound, Blood, WSL All-Stars, Red

Tide, Raleigh Llama, Bullseye, Warriors.

It was a long and fruitful relationship. It wasn't always pretty. But it was always gritty.

"Kaboom was the evil empire. They were very intimidating and were personified by Kenny.

Imagine Genghis Khan leading a band of Huns to rape and pillage the Ultimate scene between Boston and Washington DC It was incongruous that Kenny 's mom was always there with her roving training table and the huge beer cooler. I hated the scene when it was Kaboom and loved being a part of it as NY Ultimate. Kenny was Bill Romanowski or Claude Kenny Dobyns diving; Dennis Cronin catching.

Lemieux-only his teamdownfield for the transition to mates loved him and there was no one offense.... classic Ken! you would rather go to battle with.

"Another time he came off the field at "Playing with Ken I got to know him nationals with a sore ear. Someone touched He was already a 'legend ' by then (1987). it, and it started pouring blood down his He was a study in contrasts. He was at neck It had been severed sometime during times very thoughtful, polite and kind. At the play. No one looked better with blood other times he was foul, crude, profane and on him than Ken. capable of walking off the field, abandon"I had a great time playing with Ken. ing his team in the middle of a game. He is He deserves the recognition you are giving very intelligent and capable of intellectual him." conversation on a broad range of topics, -Will Longtain, Boulder Stains, Spot but if you didn 't know him you might think (NY), and Dobyns' teammate on NY he was pure Neanderthal.

Ultimate "He had that fireplug body-greatupperbody strength with legs that carThe Interview ried him well and gave him a RR: What are your best memories of great vertical leap. He was playing Ultimate? perfectly willing to sacrifice KD: My best memories are all from his body and often did. I times when we went to tournaments with remember once he was playreally small teams and played a lot. fu 1982 ing middle-middle (one of we (Heifers) were at a one-day tournament the best at the position) in a in Westchester. We split our team before the zone and while leaping he finals to send eight players to Cornell to took a blistering throw right play the Cornell Buds under the lights. We in the forehead at short won the finals and beat the pants off of range. The crowd went Cornell with eight players. It was awesome. 'oooh ' and hushed to see About the same time we rented a car what would happen. Ken one weekend and drove to Bull Run in got up yelling 'FACE Manassas, VA to play Ultimate with seven.

BLOCK! ' and was streaking There was an individual event tournament

Kenny Dobyns with the catch. 1991 Ultimate Nationals, Sanford, FL. Photo by Karl Cook.

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going on at the same time. We had to play sixes while my brother competed in the individual events. After we got eliminated, we sat on the hood of the car and watched him take third in the individuals. fu 1983 with NE7, we traveled with only ten players to the World Flying Disc Championships in Santa Cruz. It was a weeklong tournament. We went 3-0 the first day and ended up losing to the Condors in the semis after giving them quite a scare.

RR: What's changed the most about the game during the 20+ years you've played?

KD: The disc has changed. The Discraft is really a dramatically different flying disc from the Wham-O.It has shortened the field and made for more good throwers (in the sense that targets can be reached by more throwers). There's less true touch of the kind Danny Weiss had, and that's a pity. Players' lifestyles have also changed-less partying and more serious athletes. It seems like less camaraderie, but that may be nostalgia talking.

RR: What's changed the least about the game?

KD: The strategy has changed the least.

I can elaborate. KABOOM! had an astonishing number of plays as early as '83, some of them taken from a purloined copy

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Kenny Dobyns takes another in the final.

1993 Worlds, Madison, WI.

of Flying Circus's playbook, but the others from our own imaginations. That spirit of innovation carried into the New York years when we were constantly changing things in an effort to stay a step ahead of Boston. In most cases we came up with a new defense and then the offense to beat it during long, intense offense vs. defense scrimmages at practice. We were our most dangerous opponent. Nothing I see in today's game makes me believe that anything different is going on now. The bottom line is that for all the bells and whistles and fancy, funny names for plays, it is still and always will be a very simple game: throw and catch.

RR: New York was the first team to have the full sideline entourage, complete with tables stocked with food and drinks. Your

Kenny Dobyns making the catch.

Photo by Toby Green.

mom, ''Mrs. Dobyns;' became a personality in Ultimate for her involvement in this.

What was the origin and extent of this phenomenon and do you think it helped you win? Did it seem to intimidate teams?

KD: SUNY, Purchase 1982. My mom and dad are at a game, and they can't believe that we have nothing to drink or eat. They go to the store and come back with a bag of chips, three bottles of Gatorade and a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon. From there it progressed into an early, small table. In 1984, I played for KABOOM! and Brian played for The Heifers. My mom came and flew a kite with a long tail that said KABOOM! on one side and Heifers on the other. This was in addition to the ever-expanding table. Bit by bit she added sandwiches

1991 Eastern Ultimate Championships.

Photo by Karl Cook.

(PB&J during the games, ham and cheese after the games) and various beverages (Gatorade and coffee during the games, beer afterwards). When we played close to NY, she often went to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and got a full spread of Italian delicacies (soppresata, prosciutto, provolone, stuffed hot peppers, etc). Eventually she had a full medical kit (including suture kit), an astonishing array of food and drinks, and a blender and coffee maker running off the car battery.

It was a tremendous rallying point for the team. Whenever you needed comfort or strength, you went to the table. It may have been an advantage as far as fuel for the fire, but mom never, ever turned any opposing player away from the table. And let me tell you, there were a few times when we were losing to Boston that watching Moons come over, hug my mom and get himself a sandwich was a little tough to take. But everyone was always very gracious to her, especially Steve, and she always felt very much a part of the community.

And that's really what mattered most to her.

RR: The catch you made against Dallas at the 1983 UPA Nationals in New Orleans-flying through the air about five feet off the ground, fully extended and barely gripping the disc between one finger and thumb before crashing in a heap to the ground but holding on-that may have been the best play I ever saw. Were you injured on that play?

KD: I lost a fingernail on that one. But I can't remember now if it was left or righthanded Old age setting in.

RR: What are some of your favorite memories of ''big game" moments?

KD: 1989 semis versus Titanic. A long, brutal game between fierce rivals. After the win I wondered how we could possibly get up for another game. (That was the last year that semis and finals were played on the same day.)

We did. Barely.

1993 worlds in Madison against Double Happiness. Everybody said we were over the hill, washed up, about to be taken out by the next generation. Didn't happen.

1988 worlds semis against Sweden. "The block that saved America."

1994 nationals semis loss to DoG playing

with Cojones. One of the greatest games I've ever been involved in. It was intense, hardfought, filled with amazing plays, a great crowd, and incredibly clean with almost no calls. It was probably my all-time favorite game for sheer intensity with spirit.

RR: Unbelievably, I had forgotten that you also get credit for the invention of one of Ultimate's most revered plays, known simply as ''the greatest." There must be an equally "great" story behind this historic moment in Ultimate history.

KD: Yes, this is perhaps the memory I remember most, the first "greatest." It was 1984 at the World Flying Disc Championships in Santa Cruz. We were playing the Flying Circus in the quarterfinals. The thing that was so amazing was that even though no one had ever done it before, when Nevins threw the pass and it started to sail out of bounds, I had my back to the field but was thinking about laying out O.B., catching it and throwing it back in. Suddenly, before I even leave the ground, I hear Pat King behind me saying, "Throw it back, Ken, throw it back!" I threw the pass from a backhand grip, upside down, without looking. I threw it to the sound of his voice. He pancaked it without having to move. In the ensuing days and nights of endless rehash, we began calling it (in no way hyperbolically) "the greatest play in the history of the game." Mercifully, it was soon shortened to "the greatest."

RR: And, finally, we gotta get this one out of the way, Ken. Exactly how many "rings" do you have? (UPA nationals titles and world titles).

KD: Twelve.

RR: That is incredible.

In closing, here's one more Dobyns memory that really epitomizes what type of player he was: "Back in '83 or '84 Ken and Brian Dobyns played with the Rude Boys at April Fools. I remember launching a huck 45 degrees DIRECTLY OUT OF BOUNDS with the Foolish thought that it would catch the wind and come back in. As I released the disc, everyone on the field stopped running, thinking it was out... everyone except Ken, who tracked it all the way downfield to the back of the end zone where he toed it for a goal. That was Ken. He never gave up. Not on a play, not in a game."

-Steve Mooney (If you 'd like to submit a candidate to be featured in the "Legends of the Game" series, please email your submissions to randy@thefanclubs.com)

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FREESTVLE PLAYERS AssociATION 2002 VVORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

by Paul Kenny Women's Pairs

Coop (3 person teams)

The women's final took place on Saturday and the weather cooperated with plenty of sun that brought out a great crowd. To encourage some of the newer freestylers, many of the more established players teamed up with less experienced jammers. This brought many new players into the finals, and everyone was excited to see the fresh faces. I have a feeling this will not be the last time we see this new talent in the finals.

Tita Ugalde and Beth Verish started the finals off with a nice routine to finish fourth. Beth completed some clean rolls, and Tita had some good catches as well as throwing consistently strong sidearms.

Next up were the third place team of Renee Pardo and Lori Daniels, and they clearly did their homework, completing many hot coops. Renee hit a number of rolls and showed great control with an extended figure 4 delay. Lori nailed a number of spinning catches, and they ended with a clean double roll coop.

Cindy Kruger and Sarah Bergman followed with more great moves from an experienced player along with a first time finalist and finished second. Cindy used the wind to complete a number of brushing runs, bringing some fear into the crowd as she culminated one combo with a crushing spinning gitis catch.

Sarah 's strong performance in the semis along with a solid performance in the finals showed she had the potential to be a strong competitor in the future.

The finals culminated with the experienced team of Judy Robbins and Bethany Sanchez winning . Judy had a hot combo including consecutive spinning kicks. Bethany used her smooth style and awesome extension to complement Judy, and when she nailed a noisy scarecrow towards the end of the routine, you knew it was all over.

Although not making finals, one particular highlight for everyone was the all hot-Betty team of Mary Lowry, Lisa Hunrichs-Silvey and Cindy Kruger.

Playing to Sweet Child of Mine by Sheryl Crow, these ladies fired up the audience with crisp coops and physical indies. They did muscle poses to goof on the misperception that coop is a male division. These ladies shredded and finished 4th in their semi pool. In almost any other year, they would be finalists and a very real threat to finish top three. The routine was so good and fun , they were asked to demo the routine during finals day.

Up first and starting off finals Sunday to Rocky Mountain Way were Carlos "Pipo" Lopez, Pat Marron and Jeff Kruger. Some moments to remember included Jeff' s gitis off his partner ' s perfect set and a Krugerian double flamingo. Pipo had his own double flamingo as well. Other highlights included Pat' s gitis, Jeff' s gitis off Pipo ' s under leg chest roll set and their triple loop roll to end it. These guys finished 6th.

Dave Lewis, Arthur Coddington and Tom Leitner stepped up next playing to Tool. These guys exhibited complex coops, both counter and clock, using all sides of the disc as desired.

Dave' s heel kick to Arthur' s chest roll was cool, and Arthur's scarecrow off Dave' s set on the music was particular! y tasty.

Tommy 's big chest roll indie to spinning phlaud fired up the crowd. Then Dave and Tom do a coop with Dave's planted gitis to finish , Tommy completes a tipping sequence to scarecrow, and Dave follows with a tipping sequence to double flamingo to elevate the energy further. Arthur hitting his patented flying bad attitude sealed their meal. These guys finished 4th.

Toddy Brodeur, Rob Freid and the

When she nailed a noisy scarecrow towards the end of the routine, you knew it was all over.

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Cindy Kruger in a huge gitis. Photo by Paul Kenny.

legendary Joey Hudoklin jammed to a Zeppelin medley with Toddy in charge of hitting music cues. Joey had some awesome moves highlighted by tips to kick to flamingo, a double chair and gitis off a heel kick. Other moments included Joey 's kick brush to Rob 's catch and Rob 's behind the neck cuff to phlaud. Toddy snagged his patented Olivia after a figure 4 delay hold as well. A particular highlight was Joey 's double bump around the neck thingy.

They finished in 5th place.

Team Texas displayed a deep and dramatic teamwork session. Dan Yarnell, Tristan Doshier and Steve Hanes began with four discs and complex coops from the start. .. discs in domes, weaving, turnover passes and other complex moves captured the imagination of the fans immediately.

They exhibited a gymnastic flair with Tristan flip passing to Steve over Dan while Dan is delaying and Dan's turnover to Tristan using Steve to flip.

Other moments included thei r chorus line dance, Dan's double flamingosis , Tristan's spinning planted gitosis, Dan 's set to Tristan 's flamingo brush to Steve's crow, Dan' s Scarecrow Brush off his partner's set and Tristan's leg

trap catch. They finished 2nd but had enough to finish higher.

Up next were the eclectic (electric?) team of Randy Silvey, Ted Oberhaus and Erwin Velasquez. Playing to The Doors The End, these guys ended all suspense with shining choreography.

Starting with a giant rubber band used to accentuate their interactions, they began with a sweet coop intro with classic passing and artistic body language.

They had a triple chest roll while Ted was all wrapped in rubber. Gymnastically, Erwin pulled Ted over his back as Rando passed to Ted. There was a lot of visual symmetry with the rubber band used to provide hoops and various forms of propped restrictions. More highlights included Erwin 's spinning flamingo, a Rando crow pose and Randy 's and Erwin 's upside down clock coop. The strongest moment was Erwin' s HUGE double flamingo pull with other spinning restrictions to a double flamingosis that provided a big energy pickup when they seemed to need it most. Congratulations to the winners. Erwin' s win assured him being the first jammer ever to win a world title in four different decades.

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What is Freestyle?

Information courtesy of the FPA website Performing creative, artistic and athletic moves with flying discs is the essence of freestyle. One of the most dramatic events in disc sports, competitive freestyle combines aspects of gymnastics and dance with the basic game of throw and catch. Teams of two or three players perform choreographed routines consisting of throws, catches and moves with one or more discs.

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Playing last was the team of Larry Imperiale, Joel Rogers and Paul Kenny. This team began with a double disc intro with multiple passes and turnovers and ending the first block of music with Laerbs hitting a crow on the note. Paul followed with a double disc precession to disc on dome delay to double triple fake thingy followed by a 3-disc scarecrow. Joel and Laerbs each took long rollers followed with cool moves and punctuated with a gitis in each

Jeff Kruger gets some air.

Photo by Paul Kenny.

bite ... er. .. move. Other highlights included Joel's spinning foot brush to Paul restricted pull, Paul's big air gitis on the note, Joel's tipping sequence and Laerbs consecutive extendo-jams. With the depth of choreography and teamwork of the previous two teams, these guys finished 3rd.

As Tom Leitner said, "Overall, the coop final was a great representation of what makes freestyle such a great sport-being able to have so many different styles of

play and types of routines compete and play together."

Mixed Pairs Lisa Hunrichs-Silvey and Erwin Velasquez came out of the box with a "striptease" song and hit a bunch of quick catches to many music cues. They used a strong double disc block following this to get the party started. Highlights included Lisa's big phlaud off a strong combo and Erwin's double spinning flamingosis off an excellent lead-in set of moves. Although finishing 6th, they still had a great routine and had the crowd into it.

Defending mixed champs Mary Lowry and Dan Yarnell also came out with a strong double disc intro including some cool technical transfers to a James Bond groove thang. Their chest roll exchange was particularly tasty. Some other highlights included Dan's phlaud pull, scarecrow brush to Mary and an indigenous pull.

Mary plays so relaxed and comfortable, her partners always play well. The former champs finished in 5th place, another indication of the depth of the field.

Lori Daniels paired up with Jeff Kruger and came out with big energy, playing to Sheryl Crow. They started strong with a good coop intro. Lori had a behind the neck catch off a sweeping leg pull sequence, while Jeff fired up the crowd with a big air under leg catch right on a music cue. They also inspired with a fun multiple under leg coop transfer and ended the routine with a large gitis to end the festivities. This fun team finished in 4th place.

With an excellent 3rd place finish to take bronze, Anne Graves and Carlos "Pipo" Lopez, playing to Dave Matthews, had a pleasant jam, playing cleanly and relaxed. Anne finished a nice combo with a chair catch and made a nice save of a wayward set from Pipo. Pipo showed his patented set of big moves including the Tempest and Piposis.

Judy Robbins and Steve Hanes came out in their strong and smooth manner playing to Seal. These strong , seasoned veterans really got hot as Judy 's milky rolls and Steve's gymnastics captivated the large fan base. Particular highlights included Steve's cartwheel turnover and back to an Olivia and Judy 's dizzying spinning combo. Another tasty exchange

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Starting with simple moves like a behind-theback catch, freestyle has evolved into a crowd-pleasing event with moves such as air brushes, nail delays, and triple-spinning catches. Routines are three to five minutes in length and are evaluated by judges who base their scores on the difficulty (to), artistic impression (10) and execution (10) of the routine. The team with the highest score wins (3o is a perfect score).

Often you'll find competitive players freestyling just for fun. Improvising with each other, often in large groups · and no judges. This is called jamming, and to most players, it's the most important part of the sport.

Pulling off co-operative moves ("Co-oping") is jamming at its best, whether it's planned during a routine or it just happens spontaneously between players at a park. For example, a jammer may kick the disc to a second player who then chest rolls the disc to a third player who finishes the move off with a leaping flamingitis catch.

Some Basic Techniques As you would expect, throwing and catching the disc are basic parts of each routine.

There are many ways to throw a disc and even more ways to catch it. You can use a backhand or sidearm throw (see the info sheet on throwing techniques). By changing the angle of the disc it will curve to the left or to the right.

The easiest and safest catch is the "pancake catch" (with both hands). In freestyle routines you will see much more difficult and riskier catches. A few simple catches include the under the leg and the behind the head. Advanced, hard to describe moves include the flamingo, flamingitis, triple fake, scarecrow, and the bad attitude. Take your pick. The more air you get the better.

Then there is the nail delay. You delay the catch by basically spinning the disc on your fingernail (although some people can also do it on their teeth, feet, and elbows). Once you have good spin or Z's on the disc, you can then pass the spinning disc under your leg, behind your back, etc. Often players find they can nail delay better with clockwise spin, while others prefer counter clockwise, and a few top players are proficient with both spin directions.

Air brushing is another way to keep a disc spinning. By repeatedly hitting a slightly-angled disc with your hand (or foot) on the outside rim, it keeps spinning and therefore remains in the air. Try this by yourself or with a friend the next time you have a nice steady breeze. And to make moves like this easier, always face the wind.

Another move is the body roll. Spread your arms, tilt your torso back a bit and let the disc roll from your fingertips over your arms and chest towards your other hand. Again, face the wind. There are many more moves than we can describe here. Join the FPA and get connected to other jammers around the world.

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was Steve' s spinning downwind kick right into Judy ' s chest roll. This team set the bar high and resulted ultimately in 2nd place to take silver.

Playing last, taking 1st place and taking home the gold, were Cindy Kruger and Paul Kenny. Playing off Aquarius from the movie Hair, including appropriate period clothing and, well, hair, this team went big out of the box. A long, double disc beginning with complex coops culminated in a tasty catch on a big music cue. Other highlights included a buildup to a five discs scarecrow, Paul 's gitis from Cindy's set and Cindy's indie to spinning catch on another music cue. The ending was particularly cool with Paul doing a twisting turnover to an upside down gitis, Cindy's phlaud off Paul's set with the crescendo being Cindy's massive and dramatic flying planted gitis right at the four minute mark to end it. The team was featured on NPR radio as well.

completed solid double-spinning under the leg catches. The judges seemed to like what they saw, granting them a 4th place finish.

Accompanied by a jazzy number that at first sped up, Paul Kenny and Dan Yarnell both used a total of five discs within their choreography. Mirroring each other' s combinations seemed to be the ongoing theme throughout the routine. Their coops flowed quite nicely as they passed the five discs with only a few minor bobbles that prevented them from executing the multi disc work perfectly. As the music changed midway through to the television theme of Identical Cousins from the 1960' s Patty Duke television show, Paul and Dan matched coop moves. As the music changed back to the same jazzy tune which started fast then slowed down, Dan had an extensive tipping combination to an under the leg pass to Paul 's tip back to Dan's big final catch. The combination was mirrored by Paul and closed with Paul ' s big air catch. At the end of the routine, Dan fed Paul the multiple discs for another coop combination that ended with Paul clamping down on each of the five in successive scarecrow catches. All in all, the energy and flow was evident for the judges and the errors were insignificant enough to make this routine a runner up for the division title. Both Dan and Paul were given the third place nod for their efforts that afternoon.

Following Paul and Dan were the tie dye team of Jeff Kruger and Pipo Lopez.

Opening to the beginning of Beethoven's Symphony No.5 and shifting into Walking on the Sun by Smashmouth, Pipo and Jeff started off well. Pipo looked rather relaxed during the round. Unlike Pipo, Jeff went "balls out" for his big air moves.

Pipo had a very nice double spinning flying under the leg catch as an individual highlight. Jeff closed the routine strongly with a feed from Pipo into a big-air phlaud catch. This team in 6th place.

Third to last were Tom Leitner and Pat

These strong, seasoned veterans really got hot as Judy's milky rolls and Steve's gymnastics captivated the large fan base.

Open Pairs (any two people) Erwin Velasquez and Ted Oberhaus had to drop out of the round due to a severe calf strain that Erwin experienced during their warm up, thereby surprising Matt and Jacob Gauthier as the team that had to play first in the round.

Jacob and Matt chose a classical piece of music this year. Their Hawaiian shirt attire seemed to match the relaxed nature of the routine. Matt opened with a combination to a lovely flowing front body roll set to a foot brush, which he misaligned to miss the consecutive flying crow catch to open their routine. Jacob had some bright moments with a big coop combination that fed into Jacob 's big phlaud catch. Matt and Jacob finished where they started, in seventh place.

Playing next were Rodney Sanchez and Randy Silvey. Some coop highlights included Randy's body roll combination passing to Rodney ' s standing gitis catch and a sweet under the leg set to Randy ' s spinning crow catch. Individually, Randy completed three consecutive back rolls with an around the neck grab to get a big crowd response. Both Rodney and Randy

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Randy 'Rando' Silvey is huge.

Photo by Paul Kenny.

Marron. They opened with a nice skidding coop. Both played with determination.

Tom executed a bad attitude brush that went wayward into the crowd which Pat was able to save with an under the leg catch. Tom had a nice roll combination with a behind the neck pull into a double spinning combination into a big triple fake.

I think there was a collective sigh of frustration when these two walked off the field as the gnarly wind dominated. The judges were sympathetic though, they awarded 5th place to Pat and Tom. Joel Rogers and Larry Imperiale, playing to Santana and a noticeably lighter wind, opened with a big upside down coop to Joel ' s feed through Larry ' s hoop and closed by Joel's flying gitis catch. Larry followed suit by going big with a foot brush into a spinning crow catch. The crowd could feel the energy change as both Larry and Joel both hit a multi-tip combination to the music. As the tune slowed, Larry pulled off three consecutive body rolls to a 50/50 body roll closer. As they neared the end, both Joel and Larry brought out the scarecrow moves. Larry fed Joel with a crow brush, and Joel mir-

rored it back to Larry ' s crow catch. Larry fired an upside down throw to Joel that he quickly closed with an upside down crow catch. The air was filled with excitement as both players knew they had only dropped two or three and the difficulty was executed too! But was it enough to beat the next team? Yes! Arthur Coddington and Dave Lewis definitely play to a different drummer.

Set to percussion, Dave launches into a big double-spinning move into a flying under the leg catch. As he loses his footing into the catch, he lands on the ground but doesn't lose grip of the disc! Arthur also produces a big opening double spinning combination into a stabbing crow catch. Dave has a great consecutive spinning leg-over over an upside-down clock throw. Closing out this energized routine, Arthur and Dave pulled a big coop combination into Dave' s flying gitis catch.

After the explosive ending, the armchair competitors wondered whether it was enough to win, which it was not.

Congratulations to all finals competitors and cheers to those who achieved the title of 2002 World Freestyle Champions!

INNOVATION GRANT AVVARD

by Sheillah Guint:os

Translation of the 1oth Edition UPA Rules into French Finally, the lOth edition of the UPA Rules have been translated into French.

The Association de Ultimate de Montreal (AUM) would like to thank Raymond Chevalier, of the Lanaudiere Ultimate League, for tackling this enormous task. The following AUM members, Lome Beckman, Patrick Duchaine and Franc;ois Moisan, also contributed tremendously to this project.

For those of you who are lucky enough to comprehend another language, I'm sure you would appreciate the amount of time, effort and beers that are required to translate those unique Ultimate terms. Here's a look at the glossary that was put together.

To see the final product, go to our website at www.montrealultimate.ca and click on Translation of Rules. If you have any questions regarding the translation, please feel free to contact the rulesguy @montrealultimate.ca

The application deadline for 2003 Innovation Grants is January 31st.

See www.upa.org/grants for more information.

ENGLISH-FRENCH GLOSSARY ANGLAIS

FRANÂŁAIS revers

FRANÂŁAIS

ANGLAIS

backhand

aire de jeu

playing field proper

bobbling

cafouillage

arrachee

strip

blocking

faire de ['obstruction

auto-validation

self-check

bounds

balises

balises

bounds

brick

brique

brique

brick

check

validation

but

goal bobbling

self-check

auto-validation

cafouillage

cheer

ovation ou chant

centre

middle

cleats

souliers

compte

stall count

"disc in"

En jeu

compte rapide

fast-count

disc space

espace disque

compter

stalling

double team

double-marque

coup droit

forehand

end zone

zone de but

demie

half

fake

feinte

deplacement

travel

fast-count

compte rapide

double-marque

double team

forehand

coup droit

En jeu

"disc in"

foul

faute

espace disque

disc space

game

match

faire de ['obstruction

blocking

goal

but

faute

foul

half

demie

feinte

fake

half-time

mi-temps

hors-jeu

off-side

a crampons

line

ligne

hors-limite

out-of-bounds

goal line

ligne de but

infraction

violation

marker

marqueur

interference

pick

marking

marquer

['esprit du jeu

spirit of the game

middle

centre

lancer d'engagement

pull or throw-off

off-side

hors-jeu

lanceur

thrower

out-of-bounds

hors-limite

le Ultimate

Ultimate

pick

interference

ligne

line

pivot

pivot

ligne de but

goal line

playing field

terrain de jeu

marquer

marking

playing field proper

aire de jeu

marquer un point

score

pull or throw-off

lancer d'engagement

marqueur

marker

score

marquer un point

match

game

spirit of the game

l 'esprit du jeu

mi-temps

half-time

stack

rang

ovation ou chant

cheer

stall count

compte

pivot

pivot

stalling

compter

rang

stack

strip

arrachee

rem placement

substitution

substitution

rem placement

revers

backhand

thrower

lanceur

revirement

turnover

time-out

temps mort

souliers

travel

deplacement

temps mort

turnover

revirement

terrain de jeu

playing field

Ultimate

le Ultimate

validation

check

violation

infraction

zone de but

end zone

a cram pons

Innovation Grant Award

cleats time-out

Winter 2002

W'NW.upa. org

49

,/1/1/1//l,f Y/2-Y/3 HOI 0

BACK THE SNOVV

By Dean Wright

giate to battle it out in the spirit pool.

There weren't too many surprises in the middle school division. Island Pacific School The ninth annual Hold Back The Snow (Bowen Island, BC) did have their top seed Junior Ultimate tournament was held on Octotaken away from them by SJR-Gold in a very ber 19 and 20, 2002 in Winnipeg. This was exciting game. Seattle Country Day School our largest tournament ever (also Canada's and SJR-Red earned the top two spots going largest junior tournament ever), with twentyinto Sunday's playoffs, on account of a 4-0 five teams from across North America attendrecord and the fewest points against on Saturing. The families of St. John's-Ravenscourt day. This provided them with a bye straight School, the tournament host, opened up their into the semifinals, while Island Pacific met homes to all of the out of town players, proSJR-Grey and SJR's Gold and Steel Blue viding meals, beds and unmatched hospitality. played in the quarterfinals. Four teams (Team We met on Saturday morning in - 3o C temperatures. (As the day went on and sun got Tigers of Toronto, SJR's Blue, Orange and Sand) were to play in the Ranking pool, while higher in the sky, it did warm up to Oo C.) It three more teams (Hedges, Lincoln and Bruce was a pretty impressive sight-thirteen middle Middle Schools) would meet in the Spirit school teams and twelve high school teams round robin. warming up on eleven fields spread across 9:00, Sunday morning: a layer of frost covAssiniboine Park first thing on a chilly Octoered the fields and the nighttime temperature ber morning. was still lingering around - 6o C. A steady Play was exciting and competitive in both breeze and cloud cover made it feel divi sions all day long. All of the ------teams were there to show their even colder. The overwhelming best, and they did. The day sight around the fields was the multitude of blankets, definitely had its share of exciting games. Most sleeping bags, parkas, toques and mitts. But, notable in the high school division was the match once the games began, between SJR's Varsity the only people comand Raging Safari of plaining about the cold were the parents and Cretin-Derham Hall (S t. coaches on the sidelines.

Paul, MN). The point lfiNNIIJEf;, f~llNAJ)A There were no upsets in spread was never higher than the quarterfinals. In the high one, and the match went down school games, SJR JV (8th seed) to double game point in the time and Dirt (7th) put up a valiant effort. cap. SJR squeaked out the win, 9-8.

But, G-Men (1st) and MUT (2nd), respecThi s was a big game for both teams, as it was tively, were too much of a force for either the game that had the most effect on seeding team. It took Nelson Mac (4th) a little longer for the top six teams going into the playoffs to defeat Vincent Massey (5th). Ironically, on Sunday. Elmwood High School and VinSJR Varsity (3rd) and Raging Safari (6th) met cent Massey Collegiate had a tight match with in the remaining game. The rivalry picked up Massey holding on to a 10-8 victory. Dirt exactly where it left off on Saturday afterfrom Toronto almost upset Raging Safari, but noon. Though Varsity managed to build up a Raging pulled away in the last few points, larger lead going into the second half, Raging winning 13-11. refused to let up. Once again the game went In all three high school pools, the top two into a time cap and eventually down to a douteams managed to hold their ranking with ble game point, with Varsity winning 10-9.

G-Men of Calgary, MUT of Madi so n, WI and SJR's Varsity completing the round The high school semifinals were very exciting.

But the disciplined play of MUTled them to a robin with perfect 3-0 records. Nelson 10-7 victory over the energy-drained Varsity Mac Collegiate, Raging Safari and Vincent team. Unfortunately, the game between GMassey finished second in the respective Men and Nelson Mac started extremely late, poo ls with 2-1 records. SJR's JV and Dirt, as this was showing as the game of the weekthe two youngest teams in the hig h sc hoo l end, with a seesaw battle and an impressive divi sion , earned the final spots in Sunday display of unstoppable offense. G-Men scored morn ing 's quarterfinal round with some a marathon fin al point to earn a berth in the impressive pl ay of their own. Thi s left final, 9-8.

College Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Lorette ColThe middle school playoffs were just as legiate , Elmwood and U of Winnipeg Colle-

2002

50

Ultimate Players Association

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Juniors Tournaments

exc1tmg. As was expected, Island Pacific and Gold both won their quarterfinals games with Grey and Steel Blue, while SCDS and Red had the opportunity to rest a little longer. The semifinal games were two very well matched games, Island Pac(fic vs.

Red and SCDS vs.

Gold. It was the west coast vs. SJR! Having beaten SJR's all-star team in Seattle last May, Island Pacific was G路Men of Ca lga ry. Photo by ready to repeat this feat, and Red wasn't prepared to go down easy. Red managed to control the first half, mounting a lead of 85. But, Island Pacific regrouped at half time, changing their defensive strategy. This effectively, shut down Red's top players in the second half, taking the game 13-9. Any game between Seattle and SJR is bound to be exciting. SCDS and Gold did not disappoint. As is usually the case, scoring went back and forth, with strong defense being played by both teams. SCDS managed to take the first half 86. A time cap was put on during the half, leaving two closely contested points to be won

by SCDS. There was a great deal of parity in the Ranking and Spirit pools in both divisions.

The games were well played and evenly matched. Most went to time caps. Be sure to check the tournament website to see the final ranking of all teams in both divisions, www. sj r.m b.ca/ultimate One of the most exciting events of the weekend took place on Sunday morn ing, before any games were played. SJR Orange and Blue completed Saturday's pool play virtually tied, even after all tiebreakers were taken into consideration. In order to determine their seeding for the Ranking Pool (7th or 8th), each team selected two players to compete in a two-on-two Iron Man match, a ten-minute non-stop game. Spectators surrounded the shortened field, and they were not disappointed. The first point came in the very first possession with Orange 's Kevin Boreskie (grade 5) making a full layout catch in the back comer of the end zone. After ten min-

2002

Elli ot Nege lev.

utes of constant play, Orange earned the higher seed with a two point victory in the Iron Man tiebreaker.

At 2:00p.m., all that was left were the final games, MUTvs. G-Men in high school and Island Pacific vs. SCDS in middle school.

Though all four teams had played an excellent tournament, it seemed that G-Men and Island Pacific were on a mission going into the finals. Though MUT and SCDS played hard, they could not match the offenses of their Canadian rivals. Calgary's G-Men went on to win the high school championship, 17-7.

While Bowen Island's Island Pacific downed SCDS 15-5. Congratulations on a most impressive tournament to all four fmalists.

Island Pacific managed to enjoy "double happiness" as the other teams selected them as the most spirited team in the middle school division. Vincent Massey earned the high school spirit award for an unprecedented third time.

Despite the tournament's name, we did have occasional snow flurries during the day on Sunday, including stronger winds during the finals. No doubt, this was a first for the two middle school teams from the west coast.

Thanks to the entire crew of parent volunteers who were instrumental in helping to make the tournament such a success.

Dean Wright is the tournament director for Hold Back the Snow and coach of the St. John's-Ravenscourt School varsity Ultimate team. He also coached the Canadian juniors open team to a gold medal and a spirit award at the 2002 World Ultimate Junior Championships.

,/1/1/1/IIJ' 111'-113 Results DIVISION I AT BELMONT PLATEAU Rd 1 Scarsdale (NY) 13 Burlington Ultimate (NJ) (BUTT) 4 Highland Park (NJ) 13 Beacon (NY) 8

KAT IN THE HAT 2002: BUILDING A COMMUNITY

Rd

Mt Lebanon (PA) 13 BUTT 8 Yorktown 0/A) 10 Beacon 9

By Mark Rosser The 7th annual Kat in the Hat juniors tournament took place on Saturday, October 19, in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Edgely Fields have been the home to this event in the past, but those fields were still recovering from a very dry summer. As a result, this year's event was held at three different sites. Six division I teams played at Belmont Plateau, six other teams competed at the Ohio House Fields, and eight other teams competed at the Dairy Fields.

The twenty teams that competed traveled from a variety of areas. Two teams ventured east from Pittsburgh, one team was from Virginia, and there were a number of teams from New Jersey and New York. Nine teams from the Philadelphia area competed. We were also excited to have a certain team from Maplewood, New Jersey.

The draw this year actually featured two teams from Columbia High School, the birthplace of Ultimate. Columbia showed why they are proud of their present players as well as their past. Both teams competed in a special division that started at 1:00 p.m. This division was for teams that had to deal with PSAT's, cross country meets, or other miscellaneous conflicts. Columbia's B team won the spirit award for the Dairy Fields division. Meanwhile, the A team won four straight games to capture the Dairy Field Championship.

Columbia had actually captured the Kat in the Hat Division I title in 2001 and 2000.

This year's division I final game featured Scarsdale against Mt. Lebanon. Scarsdale came away with a 13-8 victory to continue their success in Philadelphia. The week before,

2

Rd 3 Scarsdale 12 Mt Lebanon 7 Highland Park 11 Yorktown 5 Semis Scarsdale 13 Yorktown 7 Mt Lebanon 11 Highland Park 6 Championship Scarsdale 13 Mt Lebanon 8 Spirit Winner: Beacon OHIO HOUSE DIVISION (DIV II) Rd 1 CB East (Philly) 13 Cheltenham (Philly) 6 Pennsbury (Philly) 13 Wissahickon (Philly) 4

Rd

2

Cheltenham 13 Stuyvessant (NY) 9 A.F.R.O. (Pittsburgh Central Catholic) 13 Wis路 sahickon 7

Rd 3 Stuyvessant 13 CB East 4 Pennsbury 13 AFRO 9 Semis Cheltenham 13 Pennsbury AFRO 13 Stuyvessant 9

10

Consolation Wissah icko n vs CB East 3rd place game Pennsbury 7 Stuyvessant 5 Championship AFRO 13 Cheltenham 7 Spirit Winner: Cheltenham

they won a tournament hosted by Pennsbury.

Both teams have their sights set on a strong showing at junior nationals in the spring. You could see the desire of these players and their skill with the disc, but there was something else that was in the air as well.

Common themes that were apparent at each of the sites were the themes of community and family. It's a long drive from Pittsburgh, so some of the Mt. Lebanon players spent Friday night at the Saul residence. Reuben and his father Bailey both play Ultimate, and Reuben is starting to follow in his father's footsteps as an organizer of Ultimate. Bailey is the president of the Mercer County Ultimate Disc League; Reuben and teammate Noah organized a tournament at his high school (Pennsbury) with six teams on October 12.

Reuben's Pennsbury team also features the brother/sister combo of Keegan and Brittany Baird. In

pool play, the Pennsbury squad actually beat the eventual Ohio House division winner, AFRO, from Pittsburgh. Pennsbury also won their other pool game with Kevin Vanose catching the winning goal against Stuyvesant with a layout in the end zone.

As a result of winning their pool, Penns bury had a semifinal game with Cheltenham High School. Cheltenham played well and upset Pennsbury for a 13-10 victory. This earned them a championship match up with AFRO. The name of the Cheltenham team is the Spirit Animals, and they lived up to their name. They were the proud recipients of the spirit award for the Ohio House division. Here's what their captain Pete Lyon had to say about his team's experience at Kat in the Hat: "It was some of the most spirited play we have ever seen, and we made lots of new friends. It is always fun to play Pennsbury; they are great guys. Despite some of the rivalries that seem to exist, we love everyone.

CB East is always a great team to play, and they are in great shape. AFRO was the best

Continued on next page

DAIRY DIVISION (ALSO DIV 10 Rd 1 JP Stevens B (NJ) defeated Springfield (Philly) Perkiomen Valley (Philly) 11 Columbia B (NJ) 2 Columbia (NJ) 10 Neshaminy (Philly) 4 Penn Charter (Philly) defeated Woodlynde (Philly) (forfeit)

Rd

2

JP Stevens B 11 Perkiomen Valley o Springfield 11 Columbia B 2 Columbia 11 Woodlynde 5 Neshaminy defeated Penn Charter

Rd 3 JP Stevens B (NJ) defeated Columbia B (NJ) Perkiomen Valley (Philly) 11 Springfield 7 Columbia (NJ) 11 Penn Charter (Philly) 2 Neshaminy 11 Woodlynde 5 Rd 4 7th place game Columbia B 9 Woodlynde 5 3rd place game Neshaminy 11 Perkiomen Valley o Championship Columbia 11 JP Stevens B 5 Spirit Winner: Columbia B

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,/1/1/1/IIS 111'-113 HucK OR You'RE NoTHING

By David Vatz

two weeks earlier at mid-Atlantic club sectionals, with Columbia winning 10-7. The rematch provided both teams with an extremely intense and close game. Mt. Lebanon started the game by asserting their powerful zone D. They went an extremely well run • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • up 3-0 in a hurry.

However, Columbia and competitive tourcame firing back, nament. going on a quick 5-1 Pool play provided run on Lebo, making tons of excitement and the score 5-4 in favor great games for all parof Columbia. Columticipants. As per the bia brought it to half at format, the top two 7-5. After half, Mt. teams in each pool Lebanon made a surwould advance to the prise switch from zone semifinals, which were to man defense. They were able to close the crossover games with the other pool. fu pool gap on Columbia and bring it to a one-point one, Mt. Lebanon, Watchung Hills, Pennsbury, game at 8-7, but with cap being called, the Wissahickon and Princeton High School faced game was to nine. Columbia was not to be off in a round robin. Final standings in the denied this game and went on to win 9-7. pool, after a final round battle for first between The other semifinal game was played Mt. Lebanon and Watchung, left Watchung in between JP Stevens and Watchung Hills. Both first place with a 4-0 record and Mt. Lebanon in second with a 3-1 record Pool two provided teams played well in their respective pools, and from the beginning it was clear that a close perhaps more excitement, with JP Stevens and game was ensuing. Both teams were close Highland Park with 2-2 records, and Columbia together throughout the entire game, and the High School with a 4-0 record. JP won the score was capped at 7-7. JP Stevens, having tiebreak based on head to head with HP. Final just scored, pulls to Watchung. JP makes a crustandings in pool two were Columbia HS in cial D ten yards from their end zone. One first with a 4-0 record and JP in second with a quick pass and JP wins, 8-7, and is headed to 2-2 record. finals.

The first semifinal game pitted Mt. Lebanon Finals were a rematch of pool play, where against Columbia HS. These two teams met On September 28, 2002, Princeton High School hosted the first ever Huck Or You're Nothing tournament for juniors teams. Ten teams from as far away as Pittsburgh attended

Tournaments such as this one are exactly what juniors Ultimate needs to grow.

«

Columbia came out on top of JP 9-7. However, after their exciting win in semifinals, JP was fired up. JP came out strong and never let up, and went on to throttle a powerful Columbia team, with a final score of 9-4 (the game was hard capped at 9 due to the fading daylight).

This tournament was extremely successful and a special thanks should, once again, be given to Steven Hood. Steven plays for Princeton HS, and he set up an incredibly well run, competitive tournament. Tournaments such as this one are exactly what juniors Ultimate need to grow. Other tournaments being planned for

the spring season include the annual Amherst fuvitation (Massachussetts), Hip Hop on Pop (Eastern PA), and Know Swill (Central PA).

Also, Terminus (GA) has a juniors division.

These tournaments will no doubt draw similar crowds of strong teams. For information on tournaments that are being held in your area, go to www.upa.org and make your way to the tournament calendar.

David is a junior and assistant captain on the Mt Lebanon High School Ultimate team out of Pittsburgh, PA.

continued from previous page

high school team I have ever seen. I would have liked to have seen the game where Pennsbury beat them, so I could have figured out how the heck they did it. It's just great to be able to spend time with these great people, playing a sport I love, and the fact that we somehow got 2nd (instead of last) doesn' t really matter-we just love Ultimate!"

The Burlington Ultimate Tournament Team (BUTT) has a number of players who also love Ultimate. It's possible that two particular players may have inherited that love from their parents. One of those players is Ruben Concepcion. If he ever wants to

practice his flick, he can go throw with his dad, Pete Martz. Pete started his career with Spastic Plastic and has been a part of a number of other successful teams since then. One of Ruben's teammates Saturday was Nichole Smith. Her father Sean has been playing for a number of years in the Philadelphia area, and Nichole's uncles Brian and Brendan are also players. fu fact, Uncle Brendan was just down at nationals in Sarasota playing with Electric Pig. Another teammate of Nichole and Ruben was Sean Stefaniak.

He was the captain of the team, which I guess makes him the BUTThead. Talking with Sean

The draw this year actually featured two teams from Columbia High School, the birthplace of Ultimate.

52

Mt. Lebanon Hi gh Schoo l sets the zone aga in st Pri nceton Hi gh Schoo l.

Ultimate Players Association

Winter 2002

Juniors Tournaments

gave me the sense of community that is already developing in the high school scene. Sean told me he was glad to get a chance to see some of the friends he had met this past summer at Tiina Booth's Ultimate camp for juniors. Although these players may be on opposing teams, the friendships they are already making enable Ultimate's Sprit of the Game to carry on to the next generation of players.

Co lumb ia Hi gh Schoo l, Division 1 Champ ions.

,/1/1/1//IS 112-113 BAY AREA JUNIORS ULTIMATE CLINIC By fan Ranahan The idea for a juniors clinic first came into being a couple of years ago whilst I was remembering my high school glory days of disc without cleats. I realized that I never played Ultimate competitively before college, mainly because I had never been exposed to organized Ultimate. I also knew that there were a number of high schools in the area where juniors regularly played disc.

Furthermore, I wanted to give something back to a sport that has been such a big part of my college experience and I knew that other people on my team would be just as willing to lend their time helping out. With these thoughts in mind, I came up with the idea for a clinic

N

where new players could be introduced to basic concepts like the stack, the mark and rules. I first proposed the idea to Joe Seidler, who quickly put me in touch with Kyle Weisbrod. Both of these men were instrumental in making the clinic a reality, and I cannot offer them enough thanks for the assistance they provided.

The clinic took place on September 15th and was three hours long. We had 20 participating juniors and another ten players that helped teach. We covered the basics and were also able to get into some more advanced topics with some experienced San Jose juniors.

All in all, the clinic was a success for both the juniors and everyone who decided to help out.

INJAFEST

By David Vatz On November 10, 2002, Mt. Lebanon Ultimate hosted Ninjafest, a local, one day tournament. Five high school teams from around Pittsburgh showed up to play in Mt. Lebanon. The teams played in a round robin format with games to 11. After the round robin, the standings were: (1) Mt. Lebanon Varsity, 4-0, +43 (2) Taylor Allderdice, 3-1, +2 (3) Fox Chapel, 2-2, -7 (4) North Allegheny, 1-3, -6 (5) Mt. Lebanon N , 0-4, -32 Taylor Allderdice, with a 31 record, earned a second shot at Mt. Lebanon in the finals , who had beaten them 11-0 earlier in the day.

In the finals, Allderdice came out strong and were able to hang with Mt. Lebanon to a 5-5 tie. Lebo then proceeded

2(X)2

to clamp down and not look back as they finished the game on a 10-0 run to win 15-5.

In short, Ninjafest was a simple, well run tournament.

The chance to play in a small tournament against intra-city rivals gave every team a chance to play and improve and also boosted the community of high school teams here in Pittsburgh.

If there are other high school teams in your area, consider putting together a small, local tournament. It is easy, cheap and fun. It does not have to be too complex: fields + teams = tournament.

David Vatz is a junior and assistant captain of the Mt. Lebanon Varsity team. He, along with Mark Harris and Steve Hall, organized Ninjafest 2002.

CALLING ALL FOOLS! •rhe washir1·'3·tor1 Area Frisbee Cltlb prc)tldly preser1ts the 26th Ar1r1t1al APRIL FOOLS FES'J.l!!

If you only attend one tournament this year (shame on you), then make it this one. This edition of .. Fools .. will mark the introduction of a Coed/Mixed division to complement the existing Open and Women's divisions. The opportunities for reunion and theme based teams are now endless. So gender blend, or come with the same cast of characters that you've always attended with, but just make sure to send your team's bid ASAP. The tournament will once again take place at John Lee Pratt Park in Fredericksburg, VA on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 4, 5 and 6, 2003.

Bids are due - in our hands by February 14, 2003, and must include the following: • A check for $275.00 made out to "WAFC".

• The completed tournament registration form, located at www. wafc. org/fools/reg istration • (Optional) Short letter telling us about your team.

This letter should include a paragraph or two on what April Fools Fest means/has meant to you.

• A new stuffed animal (that you've purchased) for donation to a children's charity. ALL of the stuffed animals we receive will be donated to children's charities in the D.C. metro area.

• Send COMPLETE bids to: WAFC, 1808 No. Quantico St., Arlington, VA 22205.

For further information, please visit WWW.WAFC.ORG/FOOLS or contact one of your tournament directors:

Rod Hannon (301) 588-4905- IGolong@starpower.net Jessica Oi (703) 892-4346 - Jessica@wafc.org Juniors Tournaments

Winter 2002

www.upa. org

53

,/I/J/1/I/I/,f 111'-113 INTERVIEVV VVITH Ell EEN MURRAY

by Sam Berry Eileen Murray always wanted to be a high school teacher, so to her, coaching a team of high school kids just made sense.

She was born in Bethesda, MD, but lived most of her life in Pelham, NY. After living in Chicago, Pennsylvania and Tucson, she has now found a niche in the Ultimate community of Atlanta, where she plays for the premier women's club team Ozone, semifinalists at the 2002 UPA Club Championships. At Woodward Academy, a prestigious private high school in south Atlanta, Eileen teaches math and also coaches the school ' s Ultimate team, Instant Karma. Eileen also runs Atlanta ' s Fall Juniors league, which just finished its second season, and she is on the UPA' s Junior Advisory Council.

Recently I had a chance to ask her a few questions.

SB: How'd you get involved in playing Ultimate? Who introduced you to the game?

EM: I started to play in college because a couple friends of mine ran the Ultimate team. It was all guys though , so I only played for one year and then

switched to rugby. When I moved to Tucson, I was looking for something to do and saw an ad in the paper about Sunday pick up. I went out and was immediately hooked.

SB: How did you first get involved with junior's Ultimate?

EM: Well, I always knew I wanted to be a high school teacher, and when I got my first job it turned out that there was a teacher who had already started an Ultimate club at the school. He was leaving the year I started, so he handed the program over to me, and it has grown ever since. It just kind of fell into my lap.

SB: How long have you been coaching at Woodward?

EM: This upcoming season will be my third year. I started to coach Woodward in the fall of 2000.

SB: Is coaching a team a new thing for you?

EM: It wasn't totally new because I coached my college rugby team and helped run practices in Tucson and at Georgia Tech. I am a natural coach because I love telling people what to do.

SB: Was it tough getting the team started?

How did the first couple practices go?

EM: Not really. As I said, I'm kind of a natural.

It also helped that when I started I had plenty of seniors who had been playing for a couple of years.

They really helped me by suggesting what we should focus on in practice. The team was very democratic and still is. I take suggestions and have the players decide on a lot of what will happen.

SB: What would you say is your best memory of coaching?

EM: One of the best memories of my coaching was the first junior nationals I took Woodward to.

They played Columbia and lost, but it was one of the best games I had seen any

of them play. They were all so excited and emotional after that game, I knew that they were hooked on ultimate for life. To see all of them leave their hearts on the field and love every minute of it is what I want to see in all the kids I coach.

SB: What positive things do you think set juniors apart from other Ultimate that you have been around?

EM: Juniors are so much more excited about the sport than adults. They are so excited just to be playing and learning. I love watching the faces of new players as they finally get how to cut or make their first really good catch or D. It' s so fresh and new. The Spirit of the Game is so much more a part of the sport for junior players, and I really love that part of it. It makes me happy to see it in action.

more competitive and much more exciting to watch.

SB: Where do you think juniors Ultimate will be in five years? Where do you think Woodward will be?

EM: I think juniors Ultimate will be much more commonplace in high schools in the next five years. There will be more leagues, and I also think that we will have regular scheduled games and city tournaments like the other more traditional, sports.

Woodward will have a larger program with middle school teams and elementary school intramurals. Our program can only get stronger and bigger at this point.

To see all of them leave their hearts on the field and love every minute of it is what I want to see in all the kids I coach.

SB: Can you see current juniors players being big Ultimate names in the future?

EM: Of course! In a way they already are. Imagine playing for ten years before entering club. The game is going to totally change for the better. It will get

Eileen is now looking forward to the spring as Woodward High School attempts to improve upon its 2002 Junior Nationals quarterfinal appearance.

Sam Berry is a senior and captain of the Ultimate team at Paideia HS in Atlanta, CA. He and his teammates are also looking forward to the upcommg spnng season.

UPA

FINANCIAL REPORT

by Joey Gray

One of the UPA board of directors' major responsibilities is to oversee the financial health of the organization, including passing budgets for upcoming years. Allocation of funds to programs and projects, to be implemented by the administration, has the most concrete direct impact on the future of the sport.

Let your board members know your priorities as they set future UPA budgets.

INCOME ADVERTISING: Paid advertisements in the UPA Newsletter and event programs.

CHAMPIONSHIPS: Event participation fees and late fees. The $25 regional participation fee was discontinued in 2001. 2000 includes worlds tournament as well as training and uniform fees for junior national teams. The application fee for World Games candidates, mentioned in the Spring 2001 NL, was not charged due to time constraints.

After 2000, fees related to international programs do not fall into this category.

Championship income comes primarily from participation in nationals, where the participation fee is managed through headquarters.

ROYALTIES: Mostly corporate sponsorship, including value in-kind. The UPA's most significant sponsor over the last decade has been Discraft, maker of the UPA's "Official Disc." Royalty income for 1999 reflects a one-time agreement with Jockey, much of which

Income & Expenses 1999·2001 UPA Audits

1999 Audit

2000 Audit

2001 Audit

INCOME Advertising Championship Fees Royalties Donations Interest Dues Sales Other Income Sanctioning Income TOTAL INCOME COST OF GOODS SOLD Cost of Goods Sold TOTAL COGS GROSS INCOME PROGRAM EXPENSES Championships International Mktg/PR/Media/Archive/Spons Member Services Outreach Rules, SOTG, Disc Stand.

SUPPORT SERVICE EXPENSES Board of Directors General & Administrative TOTAL EXPENSES NET INCOME

0 32,800 94,000 2,000 1,000 253,000 27,000 0 5,200 415,000

3,000 75,000 33,300 6,200 2,100 263,700 39,300 2,100 3,400 428,100

3,400 68,000 44,000 11,500 2,400 388,700 49,000 1,300 4,500 572,800

26,000 26,000 389,000

30,100 30,100 398,000

50,300 50,300 522,500

198,000

111 ,000 22,200 35,300 129,000 48,000 2,900

122,300

20,200 56,000 364,200 33,800

21,700 68,000 463,000 59,500

116,000 31,000

25,200 25,000 395,200 -6,200

148,000 42,600

was value in kind. Recently, the sports marketing industry has seen significant turmoil and contraction. This could be an opportunity for the UPA, as companies seek less expensive up-and-coming sports with which to get involved.

DONATIONS: A big thank you to all members who contributed above the basic membership level. Donors have gone from one in 1999 (Thanks DL!) to over 80 so far in 2002, including 100% of your elected board of directors who contributed this year. The UPA is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Donations to the UPA are taxdeductible. Many companies will match employee gifts.

INTEREST: We are able to earn some interest on account balances. CD rates are down, so for the most part, savings have been kept in more liquid money market accounts. 2002 interest should still be slightly up from 2001.

MEMBERSHIP DUES: This is our primary source of income- 74% of gross for 2001. Annual dues levels are $30 regular, $20 college, $15 junior, with one-time event-only fees available for sanctioned events. These are only set at $10 adult and $5 junior. All annual memberships end Dec 31st. Brand new players who join for the first time from September through November. are eligible for a one-time pro-rated introductory rate of $20 regular, $15 college and $10 junior. Starting December 1st, dues may be paid for the following year. Lifetime memberships are $400. The average annual dues paid per member in 2001 was roughly $26. Membership income is accounted for in the year it is for. For example, dues paid in December for the following year are deferred into the next year's income. And three quarters of the 16-month transition dues paid by many members in fall 2001 will show up in the 2002 audit. Lifetime dues are accounted for in the year received. The 2002 budget anticipated a one-time decrease in dues income of $20K from 2001 as a result of the membership cycle transition. Actual dues income for 2002 looks to be around $440K (unaudited), an increase of $50K over the previous year and approximately $70K ahead of budget.

Continued op next pa~e

• Numbers approximate due to rounding.

»

1

Financial Report

I Winter 2002

I W'NW.upa. org I 55

2002

Budget

Approved by the board, July 2002

芦

continued from previous page

SALES MERCHANDISE: HQ sales have been outsourced and national-level event merchandise may be handled differently at each event, so year-to-year sales comparisons are not yet stabilized. There is enormous growth potential in this area.

OTHER: Includes unpredictable income such as use of images that is shared with the photographer or consulting fees.

SANCTIONING: The event sanctioning fee is now a refundable deposit to encourage prompt return of rosters, waivers and dues to HQ from your local event coordinators. The $2 per roster fee was discontinued in 2000. Prompt return of sanctioned event materials means better service for all members who play in UPA sanctioned leagues, tournaments and practices.

COST OF GOODS SOLD: COGS is the amount paid for items to be sold and is accounted for differently than other types of expense. COGS are subtracted from the total income first, to get gross income.

COGS includes merchandise previously bought for sale from HQ and merchandise sold at events. See Sales Merchandise above.

PROGRAM EXPENSES Program expenses include staff time spent on those programs and a percentage of overhead, including rent. The difference between the finalized audits on the previous page and the 2002 budget is that staff time and HQ overhead has not yet been allocated to programs in the budget.

Audits are typically completed in March of the following year, to be approved by the board of directors in July at the latest.

Budgets are typically prepared in the previous year, to be passed by the board at the January annual meeting at the latest. The UPA's first audit was in spring of 2000 for 1999.

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: Event expenses include items like fields, transportation, volunteer management, and general liability insurance. Insurance is expected to continue to rise significantly.

INTERNATIONAL: Includes all costs of managing national and club teams representing the USA and UPA in international competition, and significant voluntary support of WFDF as an investment in the future of the sport worldwide. The goal is for the UPA to get further out of direct international flying disc "missionary" work, but to continue to support those efforts as determined by the WFDF board of directors as WFDF becomes sustainable.

56

Ultimate Players Association

Note that WFDF events are on a four-year cycle. Budgeting well over a year in advance for participation at the multi-sport games level is now an issue.

MARKETING, PUBLIC RELATIONS, MEDIA, ARCHIVES, SPONSORSHIP: This bunch of projects has been temporarily lumped together due to significant overlap and the need for a serious look at them all in the context of UPA's 20+ year history, player expectations, growth (eight championship divisions now, plus other programs), and future goals.

Includes brand identity development, video production, press releases, photography, marketing packets, development of TV opportunities, intellectual property rights, acquisition and preservation of archival material, sponsor relations, graphic design, multimedia equipment, and industry conference attendance.

MEMBER SERVICES: Membership processing, including info tech (database, online registration) and data entry. Also includes standard member benefits such as the quarterly UPA Newsletter, membership cards and the 800-number. Printing, postage and outsourced handling are the major costs.

OUTREACH: This category is a year or more ahead of the Media/Marketing category in the evolution of well-defined projects and programs, so the main ones currently funded are listed separately below. A healthy combination of permanent staff time, budget for that program' s projects, and a plan constitutes a full-fledged program.

The UPA's two biggest outreach efforts, Sanctioning/Affiliate and JuniorNouth development could easily become permanent stand-alone programs soon.

Sanctioning/Affiliate- The oldest ongoing program within Outreach is event sanctioning for practices, tournaments and leagues. General liability insurance is typically the major cost. There is enormous potential to grow this program into a fullfledged affiliate program with benefits and support going both ways between any group of players and the UPA. Juniors/Youth Development- Like club affiliation above, junior development has been talked about within the UPA for years. In 2002, the board boldly chose to invest heavily in juniors, which allowed for the creation of a temporary full-time position.

Innovation Grants - Funding for independent projects that further the sport of Ultimate in creative new ways. Goals are to raise the level of development by encouraging and recognizing innovation, and by fos-

Winter 2002

Financial Report

INCOME Advertising Championship Fees Royalties Donations Interest Dues Sales Other Income Sanctioning Income TOTAL INCOME COST OF GOODS SOLD Cost of Goods Sold TOTAL COGS GROSS INCOME

4,000 70,000 30,000 10,000 2,000 368,000 30,000 4,000 5,000 523,000 15,000 15,000 508,000

PROGRAM EXPENSES Championships International Mktg/PR/Media/Archive/Spons Member Services Outreach Outreach-Leagues & Events Outreach-Juniors Rules, SOTG, Disc Stand.

SUPPORT SERVICE EXPENSES Fundraising Board of Directors General & Administrative* TOTAL EXPENSES

5,000 15,000 185,000 538,000

NET INCOME

-30,000

95,000 10,000 34,000 103,000 15,000 35,000 40,000 1,000

路Ha expenses & staff time to be allocated to programs.

tering stronger connections between innovators, other organizers and the UPA. Applications are accepted in January each year.

THE GAME: Funding for the most essential pieces of Ultimate, used throughout the sport and the UPA, including the rules, Spirit of the Game, formats, observers and disc standards.

SUPPORT SERVICE EXPENSE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: The 12 board members meet each January in person to set policy and to review its implementation by the administration. A mid-year conference call is held in July, along with monthly Executive Committee conference calls. Transportation and communication are the major costs.

GENERAL & ADMINISTRATION: General administration includes overhead

not allocated directly to programs, such as taxes, insurance, staff time, training, equipment, depreciation, accounting services, and subscriptions and memberships to professional organizations. While it is very difficult to calculate the percentages of time & overhead to allocate to programs in a small office where each staff member typically works on several projects at once, we have made significant progress with the creation of program-specific staff positions.

[For the previous financial report see UPA NL Vol 27, Number 7, Spring 2007, pages 7-8 Note that there was a typo on page 7, Table 2-Expenses, under the 2007 (Budgeted) column. The three items following International should read Library/Archive 3, Media 25, and Marketing 4. This was reported in Vol 27, Number 2 under "Corredions." - For more information, contad Treasurer Joe Seidler at joe.seidler@upa. org]

2002

Club Championship Series Scoreboard

For more detailed tournament information, write ups,

and pictures, check out the UPA website. Go to www.upa.or&'club . Click on the "Results" link for info about Sectionals and Regionals. Click on the "zooz

Championship Website" for info about the Club Championships in Sarasota.

2002

CWB CHAMPIONSHIPS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: MASTERS FINAL Old Sag Assists Goals Q'> ~ Curis Maier 5 3 Hector Hernandez Paul Minecci Bruce Kuo Chris O'Connor Jim Viner Dave Dillon Steve Wherry John Bellwoar Mark Cornacchia Sam Sackett Gerry Garzone Marc Schoettle 1 Totals Q 1Z 1Z Old and in the Way ~ Bob Pease Phil Lohre Randy Ricks Dave Smith Mark Karger Brian Oliver

Assists

Goals

Q'>

TO's 3

TO's

1 6-

1!!.

1.4

lZ

* Several D's not attributed to anyone ** 6 TO's not attributed to anyone INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: MIXED Donner Party Assists ~ Katy Carman Scott Conway #17 Christine Johnson Frankus Flores John Flandrick #9 #2 #32 len Yockey

FINAL Goals 3 8

Q'>

Finals Furious George over Ring of Fire t7·t2

2

~

l9_

Assists Goals

Q'>

Semis Lady Godiva over Ozone 15-6 Fury over Riot t5-10 Finals Lady Godiva over Fury 17-16 MASTERS DIVISION CWB REGIONALS *4

to

g

RESULTS: MASTERS DIVISION Final Standings Old Sag, Philadelphia, PA 2. Old and in the Way, Boulder, CO 3· Kavu, Ketchum, ID 4· Skeleton Crew, Sarasota, FL 5· Ironwood, Phoenix, AZ/Burbank, CA 6. Grey Expectations, 7- Cranky, Durham, NC 8. Chronic, Chicago, IL 9· Hoss, Wilmington, NC to. Herniated Disc, Miami, FL 11. Slow Children, New York, NY 12. Psychic Montage, MA 1*

8*

A

l9_

Assists Goals 6 -

Q'>

TO's 4 3

6

Quarters Old Sag over Chronic 15-9 Skeleton Crew over Grey Expectations t5-6 Kavu over Cranky 15-6 Old and in the Way over Ironwood 15-4 Semis Old Sag over Skeleton Crew 15-11 Old and in the Way over Kavu t5·t2 Finals Old Sag over Old and in the Way 17-14

2 6*

Totals 18 18 * 6 TO's not attributed anyone

to

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: OPEN FINAL Furious George Assists Goals Mike Grant 4 Andrew Lugsdin Rick Meiner Tobias Marcoux Allan Nichols Kirk Savage Marc Roberts Jon Gewirtz Ada Chochinov #10 John Frame Marc Seraglia Derek John Duncan Macdonald Greg Liburd l:§y~

Totals 1Z 1Z * t D not attributed to anyone ** 4 TO's not attributed to anyone

Assists 3

Goals 3

~

Q'>

l9_

TO's 3

RESULTS: MIXED DIVISION Final Standings 1. Donner Party, Lake Tahoe, CA 2. Hang Time, Dallas, TX 3.(tie) Shazam, Seattle, WA 3.(tie) Spear, Raleigh, NC 5· Holes n' Poles, Baton Rouge, LA 6. High Plains Drifters, Denver, CO 7- Blue Ridge Ultimate, Chartottesville, VA 8. Smelts, Portland, ME 9· Bad Larry, Denver, CO 10. B-t, Winston-Salem, NC tt. Clear the Room, Mountain View, CA 12. Blah Reloaded, South Bend, IN 13. Hot Action, Minneapolis, MN t4. Three Martini Lunch, Indianapolis, IN 15. Drive Thru Liquor, Ft. Collins, CO t6. Uncivil Union, Burlington, VT Quarters Donner Party over Smelts 15-6 Shazam over Holes and Poles t5-11 Hang Time over High Plains Drifters t5-8 Spear over BRU t5·tt

*1

-4

2

lQ

Q'>

TO's

Semis Donner Party over Shazam t5·to Hang Time over Spear t5-11 Finals Donner Party over Hang Time t9·t8

*1

RESULTS: WOMEN'S DIVISION Final Standings 1. Lady Godiva, Boston, MA 2. Fury, San Francisco, CA 3.(tie) Ozone, Atlanta, GA 3.(tie) Riot, Seattle, WA 5· Lady Condors, Santa Barbara, CA 6. Nemesis, Chicago, IL 7· Schwa, Portland, OR 8. Rare Air, Boulder, CO 9· Fuse, Ottawa, ON 10. Backhoe, Raleigh, NC 11. Safari, San Diego, CA 12. BNOGO, Washington, DC 13. Pounce, Pittsburgh, PA 14. Bait, Minneapolis, MN 15. Clutch, Ann Arbor, Ml 16. Buttercup, Austin, TX

Quarters Lady Godiva over Lady Condors 15-9 Ozone over Schwa t5-t4 Fury over Nemesis t5-11 Riot over Rare Air t)-t2

1.

l9_

TO's

Martita Emde Bryn Martyna Jennifer Donnelly Stacey Schoemehl Kimber Zabora Janet Wong Karli Sager Robin Knowler Jennifer Beck Nicole Beck Nicole Binder Jody Dozono Alicia Mercer Gwen Ambler Amy Little Maya Conrad Julie Baker Totals 16 16 ..-;;-TO's not attributed a player

attributed to anyone not attributed to anyone

Ring of Fire ~ Robbye Brooks Brian Lang Chris Hinkle David Williams Jon Proctor Mickey Madzinski Troy Revell Mick Ribault Ray Parrish Paul Klenk John Pearson #2 Derek Dail #27

Semis Ring of Fire over Sockeye 15-8 Furious George over DoG t7·t6

*4

TO's

Annie Dixon Dawn Grass Jeff Rllinger Jeffrey Marvan John Brokaw Will Sutton Mary Burke Jennifer Mader

Hang Time ~ John Gryzwinski Tom Etchison Johnny Thompson Lenny Correll Diana O'Quinn Becca Dublin Lisa Etchison Brian Shumard Sarah Deering Gabriel Fuzat Jody Ayers Rex O'Quinn

Yusi Wang *1 Totals lZ 1Z * t assist not attributed to a player - 4 TO's not attributed to a player l:§y~

Jeff Vanspriell Geir Kvaran Ben Thielhorn Jim Glynn

Totals

Quarters Sockeye over Chain Lightning t5·t2 Ring of Fire over Johnny Bravo t5-t4 DoG over Condors t5·t2 Furious George over Sub Zero t5-7

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS: WOMEN'S FINAL Lady Godiva ~ Lori Parham Molly Goodwin Christine Dunlap Dominique Fontinette Anne Westcott Vicky Chow Abigail Anker Adelaide Egan Nurit Bloom Christina Cianfrani Whitney Kakos Shana Cook Sarah Cook Alison Hramiec Jessica Young Johanna Neumann Judy Layzer

Fury

Steve Mooney

* 1 D not ** 8 TO's

16. Madison Ultimate, Madison, WI

.8_

#22 1'i

Kevin Hamilton Alexander Esrey

Totals

Totals t2 t2 * t TO not attributed to3nyone

RESULTS: OPEN DIVISION Final Standings t. Furious George, Vancouver, BC 2. Ring of Fire, Raleigh, NC 3.(tie) Death or Glory, Boston, MA 3.(tie) Sockeye, Seattle, WA 5- Condors, Santa Barbara, CA 6. Johnny Bravo, Boulder, CO 7- Chain Lightning, Atlanta, GA 8. Sub Zero, Minneapolis, MN 9· Boss Hogg, Boston, MA 10. Pike, Nl tt. Vicious Cycle, Gainesville, FL 12. Machine, Chicago, IL 13. New York Ultimate, New York, NY 14. PBR Streetgang, San Diego, CA 15. Electric Pig, Washington, DC

:<2

Central Regionals 1. CHRONIC 2. Grey Expectations 3· Los Fossils 4· Age Against the Machine 5· Gimme Seven Bucks 6. Grey Area 7· Grand Adirondack Seven Mid-Atlantic Regionals 1. OLD SAG* 2. HOSS* 3· Cranky* 4· Thor 5· Grampage 6. NEW SAG 7· NJ Master Northeast Regionals 1) Slow Children 2) Psychic Montage 3) Slip Disc 4) Wreckage 5) The Dukes 6) Run?!

Northwest Regionals KAVU 2. KWA 3· Johnny Unitas 4· Pipefitters 5· SAW

1.

South Regionals t. Skeleton Crew 2. Herniated Disc 3· A~hammers 4· Last Call 5· Genry Hat Trick

Southwest Regionals 1. Old and in the Way 2. Ironwood 3· The Hustlers 4· Sub-Division 5· SNAFU MIXED DIVISION CLUB REGIONALS AND SECTIONALS Central Regionals t. 3 Martini Lunch 2. Blah Reloaded 3· Hot Action Central Plains (No final sectional report submitted) East Plains (No final sectional report submitted)

Michigan Section t.Disclexia 2.Flegenplatte 3.Viscous Coupling 4.Deep Thrust 5Anarchy 6.Firedogs 7.Cleveland Rocks Northwest Plains 1. Hot Action 2.

XXY

3· Brewtown 4· Flaming Moe West Plains 1.HITCH 2.IOWA'S MOST WANTED Mid-Atlantic Regionals 1. BRU 2. Spear

3· B+

4· Animal s/6 Kitchen Biscuit/His and Hers 7/8 Donkey Bomb/Elvis 9· Snarf to. Cape Fear 11. SCULTI 12. BOP 13. B-Bop Capital Section 1) BRU 2) SNARFF 3) SCULTI 4) Blind 5) His and Hers 6) Scum bag College 7) Mothers

Founders Section 1. ANIMAL 2. DONKEY BOMB 3· BALANCE OF POWER 4· YOUR MOM 5· B-BOP North Carolina Section t. Spear 2.

B-t

3· 4· 5· 6.

7· 8.

Elvis Needs Boats Cape Fear Kitchen Biscuit Nice Hat SugarBuzz G-Spots

Northeast Regionals 1. Smelts 2. Uncivil Union 3· Zumo 4· Grin 5-6. Wicked Run Pablo Run 7-8. WHUF Tattoo Hattie 9-t2. Giacomo NYCE B-Pool All-Stars Monkey Love 13-16. Critical Mass Black fly Armada F&C East New England Section 1. Smelts 2. Wicked 3· Giacomo 4· Critical Mass 5· Run Pablo Run 6. B Pool Allstars 7· Woods' Hole Ultimate (WHUF) Metro NY Section t. Hattie 2. Zumo 3· Fresh & Clean 4· NYCE 5· monkey love 6. traffic 7· 7-express 8. LID 9· lucrispeed Upstate NY Section t. Armada 2. Juce 3· Vitamin West New England Section (No final sectional report submitted) Northwest Regionals t. Donner Party 2. Clear the Room 3· Shazam 4· Grind 5-8. RFBF PIMP D'oh Bonesaw 9-t2. Persuaderr Maquina del Fuego Cradle Robbers Feral Cows 13-16. Jim Rippit Psychic Friends Network Rogue Big Sky Section t. Persuader 2. O'lei

Northern California Section t. Donner Party 2. Clear the Room 3· Red Fish Blue Fish 4· Rippit 5· Maquina del Fuego 6. PIMP 7· Grind 8. Feral Cows 9· Rogue 10. Big Wreck All-Stars 11. SACK 12. Solid Gold t). Frizbee Nation 14. Bling t5. Canned Yams 16. Thin Air t7. Commanding Moses t8. Faux Hammer 19. MUD Oregon Section 1. Cradle Robbers* 2. Jim* 3· Psychic Friends Network* 4· Magma 5· Scuber Du

Club Series Scoreboard

6. Swizzle 7· Ring on Fire Wash/BC Section t. Shazam 2. D'Oh 3· Bonesaw 4· Two Ton Pig 5· Frantic 6. Team 7· Rust 8. Wasabi 9· Arm and Hammer South Regionals t. Hang Time 2. Holes and Poles 3· Gridlock 4· Crunch 5-6 Eat 2 Win Hyzer Soze 7· Death Knell 8. Big Hands

East Coast Section 1.) Gridlock 2.) Eat 2 Win 3.) Big Hands, Big Feet, Big Disc 4.) Crunch 5.) Y'All Gulf Coast Section t. Holes and Poles 2. Gooey

Texas Section 1. HANGTIME 2. HYlER SOZE 3· SPIN 4· VORTEX 5· UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS 6. VORTEX: SHORT BUS Southwest Regionals 1) High Plains Drifters 2) Bad Lanry 3) Mixed Superstars 4) Drive Thru Liquor 5-6) Barrio Aion 7-8) Ho Cakes La Familia 9-12) Sak Spanish Inquisition Jay Birds Bliss 13-14) Pickles and Petals Soul 7 Desert Section 1) Barrio 2) Sak Rocky Mountain Section 1 High Plains Drifters 2 Bad Larry 3 Mixed SuperStars 4 Drive Through Liquor 5 Ho Cakes 6 La Familia 7 Jay Birds 8 Bliss 9 Pickles & Petals 10 Soul 7 11 Swilly Rabbit 12 Too Hard Too Early 13 Lickety Split 14 KAOS Southern California Section t.Aion 2.Huck Fine ).Spanish Inquisition 4.John Talbot's Men's Team 5-Claremont y 6.Claremont X 7.Disco Elvis OPEN DIVISION CWB REGIONALS AND SECTIONALS Central Regionals 1- Sub Zero 2- Machine 3- Madison 4- Burn 5- BAT 6- Jackleg 7- Go Dog Go University of Illinois 9- Slippedisc to-Cooler 11-ATG Mad cow 13-Winnipeg 14-Shake 15-CSM

Central Plains Section t. Chicago Machine 2. University of Illinois A 3· Shake 4· Stonecutters 5· Ball State 6. Union Crew 7/8 Purdue A1 7/8 Purdue A2 9-14 University of Illinois B Indiana University At Indiana University A2 Jerry Go Round (UC/Northwestern) Purdue B Purdue C 15 Eartham East Plains Section t Burn 2 MadCow 3 Cuyahoga Sheet Metal

continued on next page

Winter 2002

www.upa. org

» 57

«

continued from previous page

4 Lou EVIL Villians 5 OU I 6 Age Against the Machine 7 OSIS 8 no show-forfeit

Michigan Section 1.Big Ass Truck 2.Siippedisc Northwest Plains Section Div I 1. Sub-zero 2. Madison 3- Cooler 4- Grey Expectations 5- General Strike 6. Against the Grain 7- Swank 8. GOP 9- Northern Lights Aurora to. Miss Forward 11. Winona St. 12. CUT 13. Los Fossils 14. TBA 15. U of MN 16. Madison (13-16 are unofficial) Division II 1. Dark Cloud 2. Friar Huck 3- Marquette 4- U of MN B 5- Homegrown 6. Northern Lights Borealis t7. South t7. Hopkins West Plains Section 1) Go Dog 2) Jackleg 3) sos 4) Trout 5 tie) IHUC 5 tie) Smoklahoma 7) MUtants 8) ISUC 9) Nucleus 10) SLU 11) Zontals 12) McPherson 13) Bud lights 14) Columbia 15) OK Univ.

16) WNBA 17) OK State Mid-Atlantic Regionals (No final regional report submitted.)

Top 4 finishers 1. Electric Pig 2. Ring of Fire 3- Pike 4- WUFF Warriors

Old Fat Clown Bowdoin Newton North Metro NY DlV l 1. New York Ultimate 2. Brooklyn Knights 3- Swamp Donkey A 4- Wesleyan Nietzsch Factor 5- Temporary Anarchy

4) 5) 6) 7) 8)

Founders Section 1. PIKE 2. SCRAP 3- TEAM TENT 4- RAGE (OLD SAG masters) 5· RUN 6. PSU 7- VOID 8. PRINCETON 9- LEHIGH 10. CMU 11. HAVERFORD North Carolina Section 1 WUFF WARRIORS 2 RING OF FIRE 3 WSUP 4 UNCA 5 ASHVILLE Northeast Regionals Div I 1 DoG 2 Boss Hogg 3 NY 4 Goat 5 Zebra Muscles

6 Texas 7 Twisted Metal 8 Brooklyn Knights 9/10 MIT/Log 11 Superfriends 12 Tufts 13/14 Giant/Williams 1s/16 Berkshire/Swamp Donkey

DlV ll 1 Junk of Pork 2 Amherst Regional High EAST NEW ENGLAND Div l DoG Boss Hogg Twisted Metal Tufts Giant Brown MIT-A Red 1ide Harvard- A MBtA Div ll Junk of Pork

58

Ultimate Players Association

DlV ll 1. NYU Purple Haze 2. Bronx Zealanders 3- SLIPdisc 4- Fordham Flying Jesuits 5- Vassar Swinging Monks 6. Yale Superfly 7- B team Blues 8. Swamp Donkey B 9- Wesleyan B 10. Columbia A Upstate NY 1. Zebra Mussels 2. Goat 3- Superfriends 4- Lake Effect 5- U of R West New England (No results submitted.)

Northern California Section 1. Jam 2. Kaos 3- Pray for Mojo 4- Valhalla 5- Code Orange 6. Chico State 7- Bush Jr. 8. Berkeley X 9· Berkeley Y 10. Hazard Disc

Southern California Section 1. Condors 2. PBR 3· Traffic 4· Smoke (5-8) UCSD No town (left earty)

UPSTAIT NY SECTION 1. Fuse (Ottawa) 2. Comell Wild Roses 3- Queen's (Kingston) 4- Comell B 5· Queen's B 6. Skidmore

Zoners ( 9-12) occidental korbostars superplush penultimate

West New England Section 1. Harmony 2. Williams 3 U. Mass 4- Middlebury 5- Dartmouth 6. Smith 7- Amherst 8. Williams B Team 9· Annana

Central Regionals 1. Nemesis 2. Bait 3· Clutch 4· Deep Dish 5-8 Johnny Cocktail Saucy Nancy WhoDat Level Central Plains Section 1. Nemesis 2. Deep Dish 3· New Chicago Women East Plains Section 1. WhoDat?!

2. Stark Naked 3· Level 4· Stacked (Ohio University) 5· Preying Manti (Obertin College) 6. Sweet Snatch (Miami University)

Oregon Section Axe 2. Humboldt Buds 3- Southbank (Eugene) 4· Spartacus

Michigan Section 1. CLUTCH 2. MSU 3· HOPE

Wash/BC Section 1. Sockeye 2. Furious 3- Diesel 4/5- Rut & UBC 6. Juniors 7- SAW

Northwest Plains Section 1 Bait 2 Johnny Cocktail 3 Wisconsin Women's Ultimate 4 Bad Monaz

South Regionals 1. Vicious Cycle 2. Chain Lightning 3- Doublewide 4- Refugees T5. Bulge T5. Tanasi 7- Flux 8. Turbodog 9· Drunken Lemurs 10. Big Sak T11. Pray for Mojo T11. Quien Sa be 13. Helmar 14. Black Angus 15. Aftershock 16. Ludicrous Speed

West Plains Section 1. Iowa 2. Iowa St 3· KC Women 4· KU 5· MU Mid-Atlantic Regionals 1. Backhoe 2. BNOGO 3· Pounce 4· Philly Peppers CAPITAL SECTION 1. BNOGO 2. Pulse 3· William & Mary 4· Grabity 5· GW Hungry Hungry Hippos 6. Salisbury St. Flash 7- UVA Agent Orange 8. American 9· Richmond 10. James Madison 11. Maryland Avalou

East Coast Section 1. Chain 2. Helmar 3· Tanasi 4- BigSak 5- Dawgs 6. Trump 7- SUDS 8. Tech 9· SUN 10. Tigers

Founders Section 1 Pounce (Pittsburgh) 2 Philly Peppers 3 Electric Mayhem (NI) 4 Penn State Isis 5 University of Delaware Sideshow 6 Offensive Women (PA) 7 CMU/Pitt Pansy 8 UPenn Venus 9 Swarthmore Warmothers 10 Rutgers Shakti 11 Loca 12 Haverford I Bryn Mawr Sneetches 13 Princeton Clockwork 14 Lehigh 15 Drew Bovine Intervention

Rorida Section 1. Vicious Cycle 2. Tampa Bay Bulge 3· Miami Refugees 4- Tallahassee Gu~ Coast Section 1. TURBODOG 2. ALZHAMMERS 3- AFTERSHOCK 4- LUDICROUS SPEED

Texas Section 1. DOUBLEWIDE 2. FLUX 3- PRAY FOR MOJO 4- BLACK ANGUS 5- QUI EN SABE 6. DRUNKEN LEMURS 7· JUJU BEES 8. RIVERSIDE Southwest Regionals 1) Condors 2) Johnny Bravo 3) PBR

Club Series Scoreboard

East New England Section Godiva New Boston Women 3- Rogue 4· 1idal 9 5- Hotrod 6. Hussey Sound 7· Brown 8. Wellesley 9- Harvard to. Bowdoin 1.

2.

Metro NY Section 1) New York Ambush 2) Connecticut Supernova 3) Yale 4) Columbia 5) New York University

WOMEN'S DIVISION CWB REGlONALS AND SECTlONALS

Big Sky Section 1. Northwest Nazarine University

1idal 9 7-8. Williams Cornell 9- Supernova 10. Hot Rod 11. UMass

Rocky Mountain Section 1. Johnny Bravo 2. rvtamabird 3· Old and In the Way 4· cribless 5· Air Force 6. Pimps 7- Colorado Springs 8. Wasabi 9· Hibida 9· Hustlers 9· HERO

usc

Northwest Regionals 1. Furious George 2. Sockeye 3- Jam 4· Kaos 5- Axe Pray For Mojo 7- Humboldt Valhalla 9- Southbank 10-13: Bush Jr. Diesel Northwest Nazarene Univ.

Spartacus

Winter 2002

csu

Desert Section 1-PHOENIX MASTERS 2-HANTA VIRUS 3-SPRAWL 4-THE HUSTLERS 5-BURNING MAN

1.

Capital Section 1) E. Pig 2) Bullet 3) Stunt Cocks 4) William & Mary 5) Medicine Men 6) U Virginia A 7) Bus 47 8) U Richmond 9) Bait Galatica 10) U Richmond

Traffic Mamabird Hanta Virus Cribless

Northwest Regionals 1) Riot 2) Fury 3) Schwa 4) Prime 5-6) Home Brood 5-6) Heroine 7-8) Fever 7-8) Davis Northern California Section 1. Fury 2. Herion 3- Homebrood 4· Davis 5· Pie Queens

6.

ucsc.

Oregon Section 1. Schwa 2. Fever 3- Eugene 4· Sweets Wash/BC Section 1. Prime 2. Riot South Regionals 1. Ozone 2. Buttercup 3· Zanzara 4- Something Blew 5- Rip 1ide 6. Weird Alice 7- Rhythm Method 8. Savage Booty 9- GT 10. Diva 11. Fever 12. Atari East Coast Section 1. Ozone 2. Something Blew 3· Savage Booty 4· TN GT's 5- Atari Florida Section 1. Rip 1ide 2. "Z"

3- Div 4· Sauce Texas Section 1. Buttercup 2. Weird Alice 3· Zanzara 4· UT Lady Marmalade Southwest Regionals 1. Rare Air 2. Condors 3- Safari 4- Sol Sistas 5- WORM 6. Muppet Madness 7- Wind Shear 8. Hell's Belles Desert Section 1. Sol Sistas, Albuquerque 2. Huckwallas, Phoenix 3- Rodeeho, Tucson

North Carolina Section 1. BACKHOE 2. LUNAR PULL 3· FRENCH BROADS 4· CHAKRA 5· DURGA

Rocky Mountain Section 1.RARE AIR 2.WORM 3.WIND SHEAR 4.CU-KALI 5.CSU HELLS BELLES

Northeast Regionals 1. Lady Godiva 2. Fuse 3· Ambush 4· Brute Squad 5-6. Rogue

Southern California Section 1. Safari 2. Condors 3- Muppets 4- Ladies

·onals

Southwest Regionals Colorado Springs, CO • Od 5-6, 2002

Northeast Regionals Rocky Hill, CT • Od 5-6, 2002 Southwest open champs, the Santa Barbara Condors. Photo by Tony Porter.

Southwest women's champs, Boulder's Rare Air. Photo by Tony Porter.

Southwest mixed champs, Denver's High Plains Drifters. Photo by Tony Porter.

Southwest masters champs, Boulder's Old and In the Way. Photo by Tony Porter.

Alison Fischer of Fuse goes for the catch against Ambush.

Photo courtesy of Derek Sigurd-

Southwest trophies.

Porter.

Photo by Tony

Mid-Atlantic Regionals Wilmington, NC • Od 5-6, 2002

Junk of Pork (Portland, ME) celebrates after winning their second regional championship in the masters division. Photo courtesy of Peter Kelley.

Central Regionals

Southern Regionals

Milwaukee, WI • Odober 5-6, 2002

Jackson, MS • Odober 5-6, 2002

Pike, third place finishers in the open division at mid-Atlantic regionals. Photo courtesy of Dan Heckman.

Northwest Regionals Davis, CA • Sep 28-29, 2002 • Photos by Scobel Wiggins

Regional Championships

59

The World's

SPORTDISC™ Quality runs deep, consistency always works, and dependability rules.

For over 20 years, we've supplied players and tournaments with the finest disc ever designed for the sport of Ultinuzte •••

ULTRA-STAR™ 175 gram.

OFFICIAL DISC

OF THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

DI5CRAFT WORLD'S FINEST PROFESSIONAL SPORTDISCSTM

www.diecraft.com 29592 fleck Road • Wixom, Michigan USA 48393 • Ph: 248.624.2250 • Fax: 248.624.2310

THE ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER • BOULDER • COLORADO

VOLUME 22 • NUMBER 4 • WINTER 2002

YOUR CHANGE OF ADDRESS: The UPA Newsletter is mailed non-profit rate and is not forwarded. To change your address, go to www.upa.org, call 1-800-UPA-GetH, or write info@upa.org.

High Ultitude

by David ~chneider

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage

PAID ULTIMATE PLAYERS ASSOCIATION 741 Pearl Street, Side Suite Boulder, CO 80302

'

Although Ebo found Discraft's new reflective design very attractive, unfortunately, it had an adverse effect on his game.

Permit #498 Colo. Springs, CO