Slowing Down

Best of the Year

The masses of readers of the Brisbane Ultimate Blog have spoken:


Halibut was the best. Groovy.

Hope you enjoyed the blog this year. Not too much is happening in Brisbane Ultimate over the silly season, so I'm going to shut down for a few weeks.

Feel free to dig around the archives for things like the Cult of Potts chant, Jangles having a plan, all the Dusty/ Notty/ Dan/ aL/ Peta/ Shawn/ boy/ boy/ girl/ girl/ etc/ etc action you can handle, crazy ramblings, payouts on all and sundry, and for some reason, my personal favourite of the year.

Have a good one. Yeah Ultimate. See you next year.

jdr

ps I think this is post number 150.

I Wake Up to Some Joy

Australia have bagged GOLD GOLD GOLD at the World Beach Ultimate Championships!

The absurdly grinning faces of Keith Cameron-Smith and Brett Matzuka spring immediately to mind! Shawn Robb will never blink again I am sure. Al Don, Al Don, Al Don, and James Larkin and Chris Cuncliffe and Adrian Gepp now have more happiness than sand inside of them.

I guess we may as well call them a Queensland team anyways!

And let us not forget the ladies! Women – BRONZE medal, GOLD spirit. Well done Queensland ladies - Danielle, Notty, Bree, Rena and Claire. And Beth played for GB and picked up gold too.

Here's a cut and paste from what's floating around the web:

Finals Sunday:

Open: Australia - Philippines 14-12 (Australia World Champions!)
Women: Great Britain - US 11-8 (GB World Champions!)
Mixed: US - Germany 11-9 (US World Champions!)
Master: US - Great Britain 11-9 (US World Champions!)

Spirit of the Game winners:

Master´s: Brazil
Mixed: Switzerland
Women: Australia
Open: Philippines

More Movember

Why I'm glad only a few Ultimate players get into Movember each year.

Lounging on the Deck - the Jack of Hearts

Not much is happening with the Summer Break. So here's another card.

Lounging on the Deck Again

Blogger seems to be throwing a fit about posting pictures at the moment, but here they are again.

Lounging on the Deck

The start of the Lounge Lizards Playing Cards project. Suggestions welcome.

Back to the Beach

Badman has been in touch. He's looking to book the Lennox Heads venue for a tournament early next year - likely to be one of the last two weekends in January as the place is largely booked out Feb-April.

There's been some talk about running the event as an Men-Only one, to kick off the season leading up to Nationals. Maybe as a hat, maybe using say four of the BPL teams as cores, with other players added. Let me or Bads know what you think asap.

While we're at it, here's the other photos that Sean sent me a few weeks back. As usual, click to make bigger.

Famous faces (and not so famous fashion) on the line:


The closing ceremony:


More Freestyle Flanstyle:

We're On a Mission from God

All the talk here on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog has been about clubs lately. Sorry about that, but I'll just get this last one (about MY) club, out of the way.

Rawhide was one of the new clubs founded this year as part of the expansion of the Brisbane Premier League to six teams. It’s a mix of old fellas who've played a bit together before, and newer dudes standing wide-eyed at the gates of hell that is BPL. We have character our sprouty-green shirts with the bull logo, and our occasional quoting of Blues Brothers dialogue. In our first season, we didn't get a win, despite some close runs. This season, we made the semi's, and came within a whisker of making the final, with Dojo Mojo defeating us in the final point of the game.

We were gutted, but really, it's been a good inaugural year for the Rawhide Club.

To finish off the season, Rawhide spent the last week voting on a few awards, which were presented at the BPL final on Thursday night.

The Rawhide Best and Fairest 2007 was a close race, so congratulations to Mr Jon Good for taking the vote! Also polling high were Joel Smith, Tim Ferguson, Sean Flanagan and Shawn Robb. Good work fellas.

Meanwhile in the Rawhide Player's Player Award, the winner stood out by a mile – well done Mr James "Grannie" Gransaull!

As noted in the BPL Final report, Mr Sam Challis was also recognised as Rawhide's Rookie of the Year!

And finally, special mentions were made of the Club's Inaugural Captain for his all-round awesomeness – Mr Shawn Robb!

Cheers to all our award winners, from the 2007 Rawhide squad: Sam Challis, Roger Church, Dustin Czok, Jason de Rooy, Tim Ferguson, Sean Flanagan, Luke Fletcher, Huddy Fuller, James 'Grannie' Gransaull, Jon Good, Stewart McGlashan, Nate Peterson, Shawn Robb (c), Beth Rougier, Tony Ross, and Joel Smith. HYAAA!

BPL Spring League 2007 - Final

So for those who weren't in the crowd last night, here's Jon's report via the BPL list this morning (with a bit of bolding from me to make your life easier):

Hi guys,

BPL 2007 season 3 was won by Crusty Bugs who defeated Dojo Mojo 15-10 in a close fought final where injuries reduced Dojo to 6 players for the latter part of the game. Congratulations to Crusty Bugs who, despite halving their player base from last season, still managed to take out the title.

Most Valuable Player for the season was Dave Watson (Dojo) averaging 1.3 votes per game. Other contenders were: Al Don (Lovers) 1.1; Special G (Crusty) 0.9; Buzz (Passion), Pottsy (Passion), and Mike Neild (Crusty) all with 0.8.

Well done Watto, I’ll get the trophy engraved and in your hands once Hjelmie gets back.

Rookie of the Year went to Julian Sacre of Passion who had a truly excellent debut season in the BPL and was recognised by all but one of the team captains as the standout choice. Players nominated from the other teams were: Pete Allen (Lovers); Sam Challis (Rawhide); Luke Allen-Ankins (Dojo); Kirsten Nott (Fresh); and Mick Kanowski (Crusty) – congratulations to all of them.

Winners of Spirit for the season were Lovers with an impressive average score of 9.2 out of 10; other scores were Rawhide with 8.9, Dojo and Fresh with 7.8, Passion with 7.7, and Crusty with 7.4.

I have updated the BPL website: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/dog-cup/database

My sincere thanks to all of the team captains, JDR, Rob Lowe, Shawn Robb, Beth Rougier, Al Don, Mat Ryan, and Jay Ray for all of their help throughout the season – they make my life so much easier and without them the League wouldn’t exist.

The tentative start date for season 1 in 2008 is 14 February, although this is by no means final; I’ll keep you all posted of any changes. Enjoy the Christmas break and work hard on recruitment between now and February to try and increase your rosters and avoid the incidence of forfeits next season.

Jon

A few extra thoughts from me:

BPL continues to be extremely well run, thanks to Jon and also to the (sometimes unsung outside their own little group) Captains. Jon was a deserving winner of League Director of the Year, and I continue to feel right in trumpeting BPL as the highest quality league in the country. 2008 will be a big year, as (I guess, although there may be other ambitions out there) we further solidify the six teams, and start getting each squad up from 9-12 to 13-16 players.

The game itself was a good one. Dojo were going to be doing it tough I feel from the start in having minimal players (and eighth arrived just on starting time), while the CBs had 10 or 11 9, all there and warming up. Dojo have negotiated this at different times through the season, but its particularly hard when you're playing the very hard running Crusty Bugs. Then the injuries occured and that was it for Dojo unfortunately (although they were working well and still scoring). They had fallen a few points behind before Steve and Matt were sidelined.

The first half for the Buggers was very much the Jason and Mike show that we all know very well (and enjoy). It seemed once they gained the lead and felt comfortable, the Bugs were more willing to use the whole team and that seemed to be just as effective. Again, Mike and Jason have grabbed a group of lean athletic blokes and moulded them into a hard working TEAM.

Dojo were perhaps more spectacular in their greater desperation, and were really only a few drops out of it in the first half. The underdog-loving crowd also appreciated their valliant efforts once down to six players in the second.

Spirit looked pretty good from the sideline, although there were still a few dangerous play incidents which I don't think anyone likes.

The free booze tactic certainly worked to get a crowd along, particularly of a lot of unfamiliar and un-Ultimate faces along (Spinner and Stef both seemed to bring along their own cheer squads). Cheering and heckling seemed fairly quiet and mild except maybe for yours truly as usual.

Congrats to the Crusty Buggers. A good game, a good end to the season, and a good night out!

Remember, Remember, the End of Mo-vember

Some Mo-vember efforts from the Queensland Ultimate Community.

YUFL's own Rodney "Chopper" Weatherhead:

Townsville Ultimate's own Man "Issac Washington" Sauce:

More Ramblings on Regionals 2008

So a month or so ago I had a ramble about Regionals. Today I forwarded off to the AFDA the formal bid to host Regionals again at Griffith Nathan (same as last year), and that got me thinking more about Regionals and Nationals.

Since the advent of Regionals, in the North, we've worked out how many teams we are allowed to send to Nationals, and then formed ourselves into the right number of teams (so in 2005 we had two plus one slots and went as Buggers, Dojo and Flood; and in 2006 we had three slots but only sent Firestorm and Thor). Its not clear yet as to whether we'll get 3 or 2 slots in 2008.

John McNaughton let me know that there's thought that Firestorm will aim to get two squads to Nationals next year. This is good, and I’m glad to see people thinking about it all early for once. Presumably, Firestorm's goal will be to get the 44 or so best players in SEQ (if not all of Queensland and Northern NSW) together, training and working hard and down to Nationals.

The only problem with this though is it probably bollocks' up Regionals as an event worth having (particularly if the Region only gets two slots to Nationals). Players instead will focus on getting onto one of the Firestorm squads.

Under the rules, we have to have Regionals to ensure we get our full number of Nationals slots, but if the top 44 or so players are in two teams, I don't think the event will attract many other players, which makes it a bit of a dud (might as well just call it Firestorm Training Camp 2 and be done with it).

For growing the future though (and noting that as time goes by, the AFDA will start adjusting slot offers based on Regionals participation, so we will probably soon really need to make Regionals have more teams), I want Regionals to be a good event in itself, and I think this involves getting more teams involved.

So here's a vision for Open Regionals 2008 – six teams, based around:
1. Brisbane A (Firestorm Core A)
2. Brisbane B (Firestorm Core B)
3. Townsville
4. Byron Bay (plus Armidale?)
5. Gold Coast
6. Brisbane University Rookies / Pickup (can we use Regionals as part of UQs O-Week recruitment strategy?)

There could of course be some merging of two groups from 3-6. I'm also going to have a go an encouraging some folk from Darwin to come. We might also be able to generate another Brisbane/YUFL/Capalaba/pickup team.

To get these non-Firestorm teams to happen, particularly if the Northern Region only gets two slots to Nationals, would require some careful management by Firestorm.

This is the challenge, really.

What I'm getting at is that there are senior players in Townsville, Byron Bay, the Gold Coast and the Unis, who will want to go to Nationals and do well and will see the best way to do this is with Firestorm. But if they play for Firestorm at Regionals then teams from those areas won't happen, or will get thoroughly smashed by stacked Firestorm squads and not bother again.

Given that teams at Regionals must have minimum 10 players, but may take up to 28 to Nationals (although 18-22 are more usual), there's plenty of potential for use of the rule that players who's Regionals team do not qualify for Nationals may join other teams that do qualify for Nationals.

A way forward could be for Firestorm to select its teams (say 44 players (I assume that to develop us in long term, you'd agree North needs to start sending big teams to Nats as soon as possible)), but then release some players (10-12?) to organise and play for other teams at Regionals (with a gentlemen's agreement that if in the unlikely circumstance that one of these teams beat Firestorm A or B into 1st and 2nd place, they would not take up a Nationals slot).

There are obvious people from those locations who might do this (with enough support from Firestorm of course), but the Firestorm brains trust might also pass on some Brisbane fellas to increase the value of getting better teams happening.

All of the above is pretty much in the 'only two North slots' scenario. If the AFDA gives three slots to the North region, then I'd suggest:
- Gentlemen's agreement that Firestorm A, Firestorm B and Townsville/Byron would attend Nationals
- Firestorm release players to help generate Gold Coast and University teams for Regionals
- Byron and Townsville compete at Regionals separately, but merge into Thor for Nationals.

2007 Queensland Club of the Year

You'll have to forgive me for another long and wordy post, but here's the info backing up the 2007 Queensland Club of the Year.
*Update – now edited with further Halibut results*
The objective was to recognise the growth of ongoing clubs in Queensland and Northern NSW – both in terms of doing well at tournaments, but also in terms of just getting themselves to tournaments in the first place. So not just looking at who won, but being able to compare the clubs on a somewhat objective scale, and possibly motivate people from year to year in getting to more tournaments and invoking a club identity more often.

Before we get into the results, here were the ground rules:

Qualifying Elements
1. Clubs must play two tournaments, or have travelled over 700km for one tournament.
2. Club must be majority Qld or NNSW players.
3. Players may play for multiple clubs through the year, but only one club per event.
4. Clubs may accrue additional points via multiple teams in the same event.
5. A tournament must have at least four teams to be included, and be by open invitation/qualification (hence, NUFL not included, as only certain clubs can compete).

Determining Points
1. Points are given for placing in relation to the size of the tournament. Last place gets 100 points, each placing above that gets 100 points, but to 10 teams.
2. If there are more than 10 teams, the maximum points are 1000, and the points per placing distributed down to 100 points for last.
3. Spirit points are given as 20 points per team at the tournament - so for example, winning spirit at a 8 team tournament is 160 points.
4. There is a travel bonus to recognise that getting a team a distance takes more effort. 50km-700km is 100 points, 700-1400km is 200 points, more than 1400km is 300 points
5. Bonus points up to 100 for miscellaneous at the discretion of the award organiser.

So how'd Queensland's Clubs do in 2007? Lets go in reverse order, and hope that my math is roughly right:

10th on 735 points – GU-nit (Gold Coast Griffith Mixed)
Sprang onto the scene this year under the leadership of crazy Stef Rapazzo and got themselves to Halibut (15th of 16* for 160 points), Lovefest (equal 5th of 6 for 150 points) and AUGs (18th of 20 for 200 points). Travelling up to Brisbane twice got two lots of 100 travel points, plus an extra 25 points for the ridiculously good outfits at the Halibut party.


8th 9th on 780 points – Concrete Donkey (Townsville Mixed)
Concrete Donkey quality for getting themselves together and down from Townsville (so 200 travel points for that) to play, and play well at that (8th of 16* is 580 points). Down from Shoot To Kill's 1112 points of 2006.

7th 8th on 960 points – Thor (Townsville/Byron Bay Open)
Did a lot of travel (to Brisbane for Regionals (200 points) and then to Melbourne for Nationals (300 points), and had a great time, although results on paper (2nd of 4 at Regionals for 300 points, then 15th of 16 at Nationals for 160 points) held them steady.

9th on 750 points7th on 990 points - The Pass (Byron Bay Mixed)
Byron have really amped up their profile this year, with the Pass getting to both Halibut (13th of 16* for 280 points 9th of 16 for 520 points) and Lovefest (equal 5th of 6 for 150 points), and picking up Spirit at Lovefest (120 points). Two lots of travel bonus there too (200 points). Seeing some of the Byron players at BPL and as part of Thor's Nationals campaign was great too, as was Badman's Birthday Bash at Lennox Heads in November. For future reference, I have been informed that the Pass is a famous surf spot. There you go. Oh yeah, and it looks like the Byron region will be sending more Juniors to the World's selection camp in January than all of Queensland put together, so more to come!

6th on 1030 points – QUTies (QUT Mixed)
Up from 680 points in 2006, QUTies picked up well with a good result at AUGs (11th of 20 for 530 points) and Lovefest (3rd of 6 for 400 points). Travel to the Gold Coast gets another 100 points. QUTies being one of the dominant YUFL teams is one of the reasons we should try to work out a way to integrate points for Leagues into this Club of the Year thing.

5th on 1380 points – Firestorm (Brisbane Open)
Two teams at Regionals (Firestorm 1st of 4 for 400 points and Firefighters 3rd of 4 for 200 points), was followed by 8th at Nationals (for 580 points) and the Melbourne travel bonus of 200 points.

4th on 1480 points – Sultry (Brisbane Women's)
A second great year for Sultry and up from 1280 points in 2006. Two teams at Nationals coming in at 9th (520 points) and 10th (460 points) of 16, plus two teams times 200 travel points for getting to Melbourne, and 100 discretionary points for the one day event at Regionals, all gave a big score.

3rd on 1640 points – Lounge Lizards (Brisbane Mixed)
A big second year for the Lizards, taking two teams to Halibut (6th of 16* for 700 points, and 14th for 220 points), one to Lovefest (4th of 6 for 300 points) and 21st at Mixed Nats for 220 points, plus the travel bonus to Sydney (200 points).

2nd on 1700 points – Bootius Maximus (Brisbane Mixed)
Probably Queensland's best known club thanks to a fantastic 2006 campaign (where it would've been club of the year with a huge 2991 points), Bootius scored again with a maximum 1000 points for winning Mixed Nationals (in Sydney so a further 200 travel points), plus 500 points for coming 2nd of 6 at Lovefest.

1st on 2040 points – UQ Lovers (Brisbane Mixed)
Won AUGs for 1000 points, plus 100 points for travelling to the Gold Coast. Won Lovefest for 600 points. 12th of 16* at Halibut for a further 340 points and the Club of the Year 2007 title. Well done!

Final thoughts – I am sure people will see different ways to weight the points, but I can say I made my best estimate for rewarding turning up, travelling and playing well, and then ran the team results through it. I was pleased to find total points that seemed about right, and that certainly gave Clubs some encouragement for 2008! Good luck to you all, and as usual, comments and corrections welcome.

*Most Halibut results are estimates – final results have yet to be confirmed – however these results do not appear likely to influence placings a lot?
*Edit – well, the fine folk of the Pass emailed me to say they came in 9th at Halibut rather than my poor guess of 13th – while slides them up the rankings to 7th. Fixed now!

A Night with the Stars - QUDA Bash 2007

So here's a one-eyed report from Saturday night's QUDA Bash. I was sort of busy being the MC for the evening, and then went home relatively early (I'd been renovating all day and was buggered). If I get anything wrong, blame the bacardis. But updates, corrections and additions welcome – just use that comments button at the bottom.

About 50 people descended on the Ashgrove Golf Club on Saturday 24 November for a bit of an end of year get together. Many people had dressed themselves up real pretty like, although the most fashionable accessory to be sporting was some sunburn picked up at the McTournament: New Tastes event earlier in the day. Most useful accessory was Cath's radio, from which she was able to pass on results from the Federal Election as the evening progressed.

Some fine food was laid on and the barstaff kept busy as chief organisers Maylin and Peta welcomed everyone at the door. Some enjoyed the deck area, and several social butterflies flutters around for the first hour or two.

Eventually, MC Jase (ie me), got the group assembled and relatively quiet for the presentation of a series of Awards. A few 'Who Am I' quiz questions livened things up and got the crowd a-thinkin'.

Queensland Club of the Year 2007
First up was Queensland Club of the Year 2007. As discussed elsewhere on this blog, the idea was to reflect the continuing growth of ongoing clubs in Queensland (and northern NSW) and their tournament results usings a fairly 'objective' set of rules to award points and such.

While there was only one winner, it was good to go through the efforts of the various clubs through the year. Check out tomorrow's Brisbane Ultimate Blog for the full results and analysis, but particular note should be made of the Gold Coast's GU-nit (props to Stef!), and Byron Bay's The Pass for their exceptional grooviness this year.

Congratulations were thus extended to the UQ Lovers who were named Queensland Club of the Year 2007. The Lovers had a great year, winning AUGs of course, plus hosting and winning Lovefest, getting a lot of rookies to Halibut, having the fab-est shirts at AUGs, and winning one BPL season and coming runners-up in another. The delightful Bree received the award on behalf of the Lovers. Yeah Lovers!

Little Miss Tickle
Next up was the first of the Sultry Awards, this one presented by the delightful Emma Bendall. It had a proper name but sorry I forget. Something to do with Mr Tickle and orang tang arms and recognising the awesomeness that is Maylin Chua! Yeah Maylin!

Brisbane League Director of the Year
The third award for the night was Brisbane League Director of the Year. Four League Directors (plus their helpers) were nominated:

Already-a-legend Brett Matzuka for his enthusiasm in that most venerable of Queensland Leagues, the UQ League (UQL);

Eireann Gilligan, who's been running the Women's Ultimate Frisbee League (WUFL), currently on Tuesday's at Toowong. Perhaps the highlight of the League has been that it generated two teams of women who went down to Melbourne for Nationals in April;

Jon Good, who took on the Brisbane Premier League (BPL) at the start of the Year. The BPL has grown from four to six teams during 2007, while maintaining what's arguably the highest standard of Open League in the country; and

Mark Malloy (and his sidekicks Adilia Murabito and Dan Blacklock) for the Monday night Mixed Yeronga Ultimate Frisbee League continues to be the most popular league in Brisbane, having to (unfortunately!) turn teams and players away as it exceeds capacity!

This all indicated a great year for Leagues in Brisbane - thanks to these fabulous League Directors!

The tension built as delightful Maylin Chua opened the Oscars-style envelope – to report that the judges (after several days of struggle) had agreed to a four-way tie! Congrats Brett, Eirrean, Jon and Malloy&Adilia&Dan!

Roger, Over
The Sultry brains-trust again took the stage to pass out a big THANK YOU to Roger Church for his efforts in coaching the two squads to Nationals this year. Well done Roger!

Outfit of the Year
Somewhere in the flow of things, there was also the Outfit of the Year Award. There were three nominations:
- Liam Gilliam's Mankini from Nationals, AUGs and Surfers Paradise Police Watch-house;
- Dusty Czok's Blue Lizard from Mixed Nationals; and,
- Peta McNaughton's Queen's Frock from Halibut.

The decision was made by the crowd screaming for each nominee … and the winner was Peta McNaughton! Yeah Pete!

Queensland Arse of the Year
The QUDA Bash then saw Brisbane adopt a prize originating from Newcastle Ultimate (first they take our Halibut trophy, now this!). So blame Notty.

First, through a convoluted process involving sex, drinking and coin-flipping, Ange Connellan was selected as the Judge.

Next, all the menfolk in the room were made to face a wall, with much joviality ensuing, particularly from Sean Flanagan, for whom this all seemed very familiar.

Judge Ange was then blindfolded and led down the line, pausing for a professional feel of each male arse. With advice from Steph, Maylin, Emma and Eireann, Ange appeared to be using a complicated scale considering such qualities as size, firmness, curvature and whether and what sort of noise the owner made while his arse was being grappled with.

After a second feel, the Best Arse in Queensland was announced as Heather's boyfriend Dave, who doesn't even play Ultimate (but may start now).

Mike Neild, Matt Eastburn and Al Don voiced some protest and appeared to be ready to call for a re-grope, but giggling generally prevailed. Next year the Arse of the Year may well be an all-female category, so start asking for those 2008 QUDA Bash tickets now!

Volunteer of the Year 2007
QUDA Treasurer Bruce McNaughton then stepped up to speak on a great year for Ultimate in Queensland, and present the Volunteer of the Year award. A lot of great stuff had already come up through the evening, but a few others were mentioned here:
- Biggest Halibut ever

- Bootius Maximus winning Mixed Nationals
- Yeronga Disc Golf Course
- Capalaba League kicking off

- more teachers becoming accredited coaches

- Indoor tournament in Brisbane
- Townsville leading a team to Nationals
- and a bunch of other stuff.

Bruce also introduced the new QUDA Volunteer of the Year Award, noting that, compared to other sports, volunteers in Ultimate have an extra load, as they are usually players too.

Brett Matzuka and I were recognised for our volunteer efforts in 2007, and Bruce said lots of nice stuff about us. Thanks Bruce!

That wound up the awards, and dessert arrived, but I've rambled enough for now.

Readers, if you have some photos from the night, send them to me to post, or send me the link.

Overall, a great night out, and to summarise those awards again:

Club of the Year - UQ Lovers
Special Sultry Award for Maylin
League Director of the Year - Four Way Tie!
Special Sultry Thanks Award for Roger
Outfit of the Year - Peta McNaughton
Arse of the Year - Heather's bf Dave
Volunteers of the Year - Brett Matzuka and Jason de Rooy

Worlds2008 Website Up

http://www.wugc2008.com/

The Canadians have updated the website. Still a little bare, but info about which countries plan to attend.

Not Getting Your QUDA Bash Tickets Makes Baby Maylin Cry

Seriously - get your tickets!

And because we like to offer content here on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog - did you know Maylin has a blog?

Simpson's Disc Golf

If you weren't out at WUFL or the Self Improvement Session (sounds vaguely Maoist) on Tuesday night, you might've caught Milhouse getting in a bit of disc golf on tonight's second episode of The Simpsons. Cromulent!

Queenslanders in Aussie Masters Squad

No time to comment, but here's the Queensland folk named in the Australian Masters Squad for World 2008. The squad heads to a selection camp in February (after a few of these names have been put in or out of the Open team) in Sydney, to battle it out for places.

Matt Anscomb
Dom Ventura
Chris 'Buzz' Burwell
Piers Truter
Jonathan Potts
Matt Ryan

Go old farts!

Anyone Got html Time and Skills?

I'd like to bling up the blog beyond Blogger's standard templates, but don't have the time and skills. Anyone interested?

To start, I'm keen to personalise the banner, and get all the labels into a group (rather than a lengthy list).

Thunking Up the Queensland Club of the Year Award

Hey people,

In getting everything just right for the upcoming QUDA BASH, Maylin (bless her) asked a few people if a bit of award presenting would be appropriate.

Yes I said! And so I got to thinking, and decided that one thing that would be quite cool would be a "Queensland Club of the Year" Award.

But rather than the higher-effort approach for the AFDA Club fo the Year (which involves nominations addressing several on and off-field critera, then voting by the AFDA Board), I'd pinch some of Potty's work on Walkabout, which was about giving points for attending and succeeding in tournaments, and modify it to suit our Queensland environment.

A key thing I also want to do is that, aside from recognising the overall top club, is to recognise all the other clubs and what they've been up to. Perhaps they can aim to improve from year to year to generate some bragging rights.

So I've done my thinking and this is what I've got. I figured comments from the readers here might be useful, so your thoughts welcome. But I ask that you not spoil the surprise for the QUDA Bash by trying to work out the results for 2007 (which of course I will post here eventually)!

Guidelines - Qualifying Elements
- Clubs must play two tournaments, or have travelled over 700km for one tournament (we don't want "one-off" groups involved, but do want to ensure non-Brisbane efforts are recognised).
- Club must be majority Qld or NNSW players (to include Byron).
- Players may play for multiple clubs through the year, but only one club per event.
- Clubs may accrue additional points via multiple teams in the same event.
- A tournament must have at least four teams to be included, and be by open invitation/qualification (hence, NUFL not included, as only certain clubs can compete).

Guidelines - Determining Points
- Points are given for placing in relation to the size of the tournament. Bottom place gets x points, each placing above that gets x points, but to 10 teams.
- If there are more than 10 teams, the top points are 10x, and the points per placing distributed down to x points for bottom.
- Spirit points are given as y points per team at the tournament - so for example, winning spirit at a 8 team tournament is 8y points.
- There is a travel bonus to recognise that getting a team a distance takes more effort. 50km-700km is z points, 700-1400km is 2z points, more than 1400km is 3z points. (So you can see, Gold Coast/Byron/Townsville get recognised for getting to Brisbane, while all teams get recognised for travelling to Sydney/Adelaide/Perth/etc).

Test: Last Year's Club of the Year
Applying this to the *2006* results (with some small pieces of subjective judgement in the input stage), here's what I get:

1. Bootius Maximus 2991 points (success at Halibut and Mixed Nats + WUCC make it big)
2. UQ Lovers 2076 points (Halibut, Lovefest and AUGs success in Adelaide)
3. Dojo Mojo 1400 points (Regionals and Nationals success)
4. 74 Flood 1390 points (Regionals, Nationals, WUCC + spirit at Nats)
5. Sultry 1200 points (special for Regionals, Nationals + spirit at Nats)
6. Buggers 1150 points (Regionals and Nationals)
7. Shoot to Kill 1112 points (travelling and a good result at Halibut helps!)
8. Crikey 1065 points (travelling and a good result in Ballarat helps!)
9. Lounge Lizards 890 points (Halibut and Lovefest, but stayed in Brisbane)
10. QUTies 500 points (Lovefest and AUGs, but low results)
11. No Panda 400 points (travelling to Regionals gets them on the board)

Sound good?

I'm looking forward to announcing the 2007 result (pending Dusty getting me the Halibut results! C'mon Dusty!!). Clubs in the running seem to be the Pass (Byron), GU-nit, Bootius, Lovers, Firestorm, Sultry, QUTies, Lizards, Thor, Armidale Freeze and Concrete Donkey.

More Sandford

I'm not picking on Sarah, its just that people like Leon seem to take photos of her that I can use.

Byron Bay - Redux

So while we were visiting the NSW Sport and Rec Centre at Lennox Heads last weekend for Badman's Birthday Bash, Sean Flanagan and Tony Ross and others revealed that the venue had hosted many a frisbee event back in the day (the day being the '90s).

The flashback got Sean to go digging through his big box of photos, and we'll be featuring a few of the results here at Brisbane Ultimate Blog: Your Choice for Brisbane Ultimate History!

Sean thinks these date from around 1991 or 92. For those who were there last week, the dunes look the same, the fields a bit rougher, and there's a lot less in the way of buildings!

Click to make a lot bigger!

Of the next row of three, Sean says: "This one has me, Simon Wood, Joel Duckham, Sam Howard, Brendan Love and Stew Marcoom looking into a frisbee for some reason. The second photo shows the fields before the basket ball hall. And the third shows a young Jenny Keys - the guy in red in the same photo lives in lismore and organised most of these events for about 9 years (Greg Lynn)."

Click to make bigger!

And here's one of the man (Flan) himself, getting into some freestyling.

You really want to click to make this one bigger.

We've got a few more to post next week.

If you've got some old photos - why not email them and we'll post them for posterity and share the wisdom with the young-folk.

Shake It All About

Another of Leon's NUFL2 pics.

Oh, the humanity!

From Leon's NUFL2 photos.

Badman's Birthday Bash

The lack of blogging has been due to the sheer fantastic awesomeness of the Badman's Birthday Bash two-day hat at Lennox Heads (south of Byron Bay) on the weekend.

It was so good its difficult to write about in a coherent fashion. The venue was outstanding. The food was outstanding. The people were outstanding.

I can only suggest you catch up with one of the lucky people who were there.

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in making it a great event.

Molly has posted some of her great photos, featuring the fine people, lovely campfire and quality play.

And here's a couple from me:

Blue sky, lush fields. Beach off to the left, lake off to the right.

The Cabins we stayed in were right next to the fields.

Fine food.

Badman's Birthday Cake!

I predict the next one of these to be heavily oversubscribed - so if you see the chance, register early!

Coaching and Adults

The Australian Sports Commission has launched an on-line basic coaching course. Good on the UFNSW for spotting it.

I'm curious if anyone has some time to have a poke around - let us know. If its useful and not too time consuming we might spread it around the qld-ultimate lists.

The site indicates that it has a particular focus on coaching kids, but I'd be interested in what it says about coaching adults.

I've said to a few people that one of the things I like about Ultimate is watching people come to an entirely new sport as an adult. That's a pretty rare experience for most people, and something which I suspect puts a lot of people unconsciously off giving Ultimate a go ("I'm worried I'll embarrass myself because I don't know what I'm doing so I'll stick to the sport I've been playing since I was a little tacker").

Once they're playing though, the thing that separates adults from kids (and I don't really have the terminology for this) is that they can self-direct their learning. Many adults new to Ultimate will pick up the strategy and tactics of Ultimate well before they develop the skills to use them (not just throws, but perhaps more importantly, reading the play). Or at least they'll recognise that there's stuff they don't know, and start to ask.

Brisbane Ultimate Blog Awards

So now that I've got polls and stuff bedded in, and now that I've finalised posting the AFDA Awards on afda.com, I started to think about rolling out the 2007 Brisbane Ultimate Blog Awards.

Of course, the Awards would be all about you, the readership, so give me a comment and we'll see where we get. Suggest an award, or suggest a nomination for some other award, or tell me to forget about it.

Here's a couple of ideas to get you going:

Best Thing to Happen to Brisbane Ultimate in 2007
Nominations: Bootius Win Mixed Nats; BPL Grows from 4 to 6 Teams; Lovers Win AUGs; Biggest Halibut Evah.

Best Off-Field Moment in Brisbane Ultimate in 2007
Nominations: Liam's Mankini; Notty Moves to Brisbane; Boy on Boy / Girl on Girl Chants; Jangles Getting Caught.

McNaughton of the Year 2007
Nominations: Bruce; Peta.

Brisbane-Based Website of the Year 2007
Nominations: Brisbane Ultimate Blog; QUDA.

Worst Team Name in Brisbane 2007
Nominations: Passion; Hooray for Everything

Biggest Loss in Brisbane Ultimate 2007
Nominations: Rena; Scott Massey; Rubes and Tegan; Women from a Season of BPL.


Hit me!

The Masses Have Spoken

So my use of the new poll feature (on the right) has generated its first result.


Four people prefer Griffith Uni Nathan for Northern Regionals 2008, and three prefer Kalinga Park.

And just so you know that polls here at Brisbane Ultimate Blog are the REAL DEAL, I rang Griffith Uni this morning to make a tentative booking. Conveniently, the call for bids for hosting regionals also came out this week, so we're on track.

Like I've said below, I'm keen to make Northern Regionals 2008 a great part of our calendar, and getting fields sorted early is always a great way to start.

Cutting Machine

The Joy of Non-Issues

I was talking to Mel Gangemi last night (Mel is the President of the AFDA, of which I am the Secretary). Mel was putting together stuff for the bi-annual national administrator conference and she pointed out an interesting statistic to me.

Of the eight key Ultimate associations in Australia (deep breath now - AFDA, QUDA, NSWFDA, VFDA, TUA, SAFDA, WAFDA and ACTUA), four presently have women Presidents (so 50%), and two have Presidents with indigenous heritage (so 25%).

Name another sport that would have that kind of mix amongst its key administrative posts.

I can't think of one.

But I figure what's more interesting, is that if some other sport had this mix, you'd hear all about it. It would be a big deal.

For Ultimate, its not an issue. Not even a "not an issue".

Near as I can tell, nobody on the Ultimate scene has noticed, or cares anyways.

Groovy.

Because We Love Danielle

So my posting of something with very very little to do with Brisbane Ultimate has garnered some more stuff with very very little to do with Brisbane Ultimate, this time from Danielle:

Saw this as I was casually flicking through the inaugural edition of 'Women's Health' magazine....It was in an article on what makes you sexy!! Who is this Jay who likes to watch girls lay...out?

Cheers, D

So there it is ladies - LAY OUT - and you'll have him begging for more. A magazine said so!

Northern Regionals 2008

So I've been meaning to put my hand up again to run Northern Regionals. I'm assuming nobody will complain ;)

What this means at this stage is booking some fields - so check out the new poll function on the right there.

But I also wouldn't mind fostering a bit of thinking beforehand about what the Northern Region wants out of this event (Northern Region being North Queensland, South Queensland and the Northern Territory, plus folk from Northern NSW (Byron, Armidale) who have the option of qualifying for Nationals via either Northern Regionals or Eastern Regionals.

Officially, Northern Regionals, like the other Regionals events, is required by the national body to enable the qualification of teams (and players) to attend Nationals. In practice, the Northern Region produces two teams that get to go to Nationals, and for players, if you played on one of those teams at Regionals, you must play with them at Nationals. If you played with some other team at Regionals, you can play with any team that will have you at Nationals.

For our region though, we've generally been able to organise ourselves to ensure we have the two teams to fill the two slots (in both Open and Women's). Hence, Northern Regionals has been about having an event to satisfy AFDA - and of course, its good for us to have an Open/Women's event on the calendar in Brisbane [note assumption that Northern Regionals will be in Brisbane for the foreseeable future].

Assuming that we're going to continue this way in 2008, I figure we should ask ourselves if there's a better way to do it than in 2007.

In 2007, the Open Division featured five regoed teams, which became four at the start of day 1. Two of the teams intended to go to Nationals and featured most of the stronger players in the region. The third was a small number of stronger players who weren't going to Nats, and the fourth was a fairly weak pickup team.

The event did its job in generating two teams for Nationals, but it was pretty lop-sided. I can't help thinking that perhaps we couldn't do it differently, although I guess at least the Nats-bound teams benefited from two days running around together, even if against some weaker opposition.

Perhaps we could make the event more of a hard-training and/or even selection event? Players register as individuals, indicating whether they also want to go to Nationals (but certainly lots of not-Nats players welcome, as its our ONLY Open tournament of the year). The Brains-Trust pick teams with an eye to generating two teams for Nationals (whether thats A/B or X/Y or something else is up to them) but also to making sure we have a good hard tournament (ie with reasonably even teams where possible). If there are more players wanting to go to Nats than there is space on two teams, then the event also becomes a selection event.

This may be an event that's inviting particularly to newer players, for example from the Universities (including now Gold Coast Griffith). And it should ideally also link to BPL, with BPL teams 'scouting' for players at this event.

I think this is what Sultry did with their one day of Regionals, and in addition they were very open to new players (I suspect for an Open tournament people wouldn't be keen for rank-beginners).

Anyway, enough rave. What do YOU think?

Now On Sale

I'm looking forward to the QUDA Bash in four weeks.

Maylin has announced that tickets are now available from Molly, Shawn and the divine Ms Maylin herself.

As per usual in Ultimate circles, it really helps organisers if you buy early. As an organiser-type myself, I can say that the biggest source of pain in doing these things is doubt. You spend weeks thinking "Will people come? What if it all goes to shit? Why hasn't Buzz or Chaddy or Huddy or Eirrean bought their tickets yet? Oh why did I agree to do this?"

Yes, only you can prevent Maylin-angst, by buying a ticket asap.

Checkout the QUDA website (link on the right) for more info.

UQ Renew!

UQ Renew! It could be a superhero phrase, like "Flame on" or something.

Anyway, the UQ club recently held its AGM, and congratulations to the new "Masters of Love" aka UQ Lovers General Committee:

President: Peter Allen
Vice-President: Will Churchill
Treasurer: Julian Sacre
Secretary: Geoff Grundy
Social Convenor: Tom/Steve Daley

I hope these people take the time well before O-Week 2008 to plan their recruitment of fresh souls to university Ultimate - and more importantly, that everyone chip in and help out!

Smooth Airborne Handler

The wonderful Roger (and buddy Dave) has again posted thousands of photos from Mixed Nats. Check them out, and let me know if there's any potential loldiscs!

Because We Love Maylin

Its nice to know that someone out there is reading, especially when they send you awesome email like this:

"hey jdr,

i found this photo while doing 'research' for a fashion assignment. I
couldn't help but scan it and thought you might like to share it on
your blog...

it was an italian magazine, a vogue bambini I think, of course, the
clothes and the eyebrows are a dead give away. i was impressed with
the discraft quality though!

=)

cheerio!
may"

And here's the pic:


ps Congrats to Matt and Emma on their engagement! I've been smilin' all day.

Mad Scramble

Its just on halfway through this season of BPL, so lets check out the table.

1 Fresh Buggers Won-3 Draw-1 Lost-1 Forfeit-0 Points-12 GoalDiff +1
The New Kids on the Block of BPL (Jimmy even looks a bit like Jordan Knight) seem to have surprised a few with their hard running athletic game. Came through the UniGames/Mixed Nats disruption well, particularly in beating Rawhide with only six players available. The Crusty Bugs still demonstrated mastery over them, leaving a few question marks about any capacity to take the title, or even hang onto their top of the table position through the second half of the season.

2 Dojo Mojo Won-3 Draw-1 Lost-0 Foreit-1 Points-11 GoalDiff +16
Undefeated, but held back by a disappointing forfeit a few weeks back, due to missing a few Mixed Nats players I guess. Kind of like the Broncos during Origin time? Rawhide pushed them last week, and the rematch against the Fresh tonight (after their draw in the first round) should give an indication of the future. How well they can integrate their new legs from the Gold Coast (can anyone remember the last time Dojo got new players? Should help with their history of forfeiting issues anyway.) will be the key to the finals. And where the heck is Awesome Dom Ventura?

3 Rawhide Won-2 Draw-0 Lost-3 Forfeit-0 Points-9 GoalDiff -2
Hard for me to be objective here because I play for them, but the Band's numbers have settled and got them a few points on the League board through the middle games. Certainly an improvement on the winless previous season. The return of Sean Flan seems to have lessened the talk and increased the walk. A good showing in tonight's game against the Crusty Bugs, who have a history of imposing their will upon the Rawhide, will be vital.

4 Passion Won-2 Draw-0 Loss-2 Forfeit-1 Point-8 GoalDiff -1
A step behind Rawhide because of their unfortunate forfeit, but might more trouble leading into the Exam season, which would be disappointing after some early wins over the fancied Lovers and the Crustys. If they can replicate those results over the next two games, they'll be close to the Finals.

5 Crusty Buggers Won-2 Draw-0 Lost-2 Forfeit-1 Points-8 GoalDiff -5
That these toughened animals are fifth is perhaps testament to the evenness of this season, and the unevenness of the Crusty squad each week. For their two wins, they smashed Rawhide (15-4) and the Fresh Bugs (15-4), but then (on the scores at least) went down tamely to Passion (9-13) and Dojo (7-15) during the UniGames/Mixed Nats weeks.

6 Lovers Won-1 Draw-0 Loss-4 Forfeit-0 Points-7 GoalDiff -9
Last season's finalists are finding it tough this time around, but then last week's win over their nemesis the Buggers might be the turning of the corner. Threatening.

Bash Me!

Worlds on the Horizon

The AFDA Chair of Selectors, Mr Owen 'O-Shep' Shepherd, this morning announced the 'selection squad' for the Open, Women's and Mixed teams for the World Championships in Vancouver in 2008.

These are the 'train on' group, who'll now converge for a few training camps, before the final teams are selected in February (if I've got it right).

From Brisbane then we have:

Chris Cunliffe
Al Don
Brett Matzuka
John 'Cheeseburger' McNaughton
Mike Neild
Kristen 'Notty' Nott
Jonathan 'Pottsy' Potts
Piers Truter

And we'll call Rueben Berg ours - even though he "lives" in Melbourne these days - he does read this blog. (Go RUBES!)

So I call upon all folk in the state of Queensland (and beyond)!

If any of these people ask you for a throw, a run, or even to spare a dollar for a raffle ticket - HELP THEM OUT!

New Northern HQ

Its not quite the proper business of this blog, but then Brisbane folk love to head north to the Ultimate-garrison city of Townsville.

Well, now we have a proper HQ to visit.

Yes, MattA has bought a house, and has been emailing everyone about it.

Well done Matt (and lady-friend)!

Plenty of floor to sleep on, eh!?

PTD or PTP?

After a big event like Mixed Nationals, many people talk about PTD or Post-Tournament Depression. That is, after the highs of a whole weekend or more of fun Ultimate, catching up with friends, being away from home and dancing or drinking or both a hell of a lot, its tough to go back to everyday life, and lethargy sets in.

So what am I doing wrong? Instead of PTD, I suffer Post Tournament Panic! Coming back from Mixed Nats, I've got this huge list of stuff to get done. I mean its Thursday now and I still haven't unpacked my suitcase!

So the blog's been a little quiet. But here's a photo of the Supreme Bad-Ass Overlord of Queensland Ultimate, Mr Dusty Czok:


And the Super Happy Lounge Lizards - 21st at Mixed Nats 2007!

Bootius Maximum - Australian Mixed Ultimate Champions!

You Know I Love You, Baby

I've been a bit late, but I should mention that Rawhide got its first BPL win last week.

UQ Lovers win 2007 Uni Games Title

On Friday I managed to slip down to Southport to watch the last afternoon's play at the Australian University Games, and was very pleased to watch UQ win the title.


Since I seemed to be the only person taking 'unofficial' photos, I guess I should post a few others.

Here's MacqU, who picked up the Silver medals:

And UNSW with their Bronze medals:

And finally, the Australian Green and Gold team (this is the team that would represent Australia at the World University Games if Australia sent a team). Unfortunately, the shadows were getting long by this stage, but you can work out who's who:

There are writeups over at Ulti-Talk.

Blog Tidy

Hey readers,

Hopefully you've seen that I've done some tweaking of the blog. The template has been changed, and the links updated, including a link to the Brisbane Ultimate 101 post, should any new folk find us on the interweb.

If anyone can show me how to replace the orange star up the top left with something else, can you let me know?

Comments as always welcome, particularly on 101.

Brisbane Ultimate 101

Greetings and welcome to the Brisbane Ultimate Scene.

This post is a set of information (as at September 2007) to help you find your way.

Although I'll try to update this every once in a while, you should know that Ultimate in Brisbane is pretty fluid. Your best bet for current information is to check out the various email groups that comprise the main source of communication for Brisbane (and Australian) Ultimate. At the very least, they should help you find a current contact (and people are very friendly, so don't hesitate to call or email)

General announcements, particularly regarding new seasons, upcoming events and pickup games are generally made via the Brisbane Ultimate Disc Association list - BUDA. Get yourself on that.

Leagues

There's a range of options for playing Ultimate on various weeknights in Brisbane.

Monday sees an intermediate mixed league at Yeronga AFL Club off Cansdale St - YUFL - this League is pretty full, but individuals can usually get themselves onto teams before or during a season by contacting the League Director. While its a League for people who know how to play, teams are sometimes willing to take beginners under their wings. Teams are generally the same from season to season, although some players move around and come and go. Regular teams include Bermuda Triangle, Mellow Yellow, Red Peppers, Dispoenics and the Chimichangas. University teams from UQ and QUT also regularly compete, as does the Brisbane Women's Team, Sultry.

Tuesday sees a Womens League at Toowong's Oakman Park off Union St - WUFL. This League is extremely welcoming of Women players from rank beginners through to World-class. There is generally some skills training as a group each evening before games. Teams are generally formed hat-style at the start of each season, to foster general fun and development.

Wednesday features UQ mixed league at the University of Queensland at St Lucia, on Oval 7 off Coleridge St - UQL. Generally for UQ students, but non-students are welcome. The League generally runs to match the University semester, although there is often pickup between seasons. Teams are usually formed at the start of each season, with experienced players spread across them to support beginners.

Also on Wednesday, some pickup has also begun at the Griffith University Nathan Campus on the rugby field near the corner of Kessels Road and Griffith Road. Non-students are especially welcome as the Griffith Club look to build their profile on campus. Its likely this pickup will be quiet during University breaks.

Thursday night features the Open A-League (known at the Brisbane Premier League) at Annerley Junior Soccer Fields off Victoria Terrace, Greenslopes - BPL. This is a six team League that demands a high level of experience and/or athleticism. Hence, experienced players new to Brisbane and looking for a solid run will be welcomed onto teams throughout the season. Current teams include Dojo Mojo, Buggers (two squads - Crusty and Fresh), Rawhide, and UQ (two squads - Passion and Lovers).

There are often pickup games on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, but they can vary. Notification is typically via the BUDA list.

Brisbane Representative Clubs

At present, Brisbane is represented at the National Ultimate Frisbee League (NUFL) by Firestorm in the Open Division, and Sultry in the Women's division. These clubs also tend to form the core of teams attending Open/Women's Nationals in April of each year, although other teams also for that event (most recently, Thor and Dojo Mojo).

Groups of Brisbane players also routinely form for Mixed Nationals in October, and various other tournaments around Australia.

Tournaments

March traditionally sees Disc Del Mar, a five-a-side mixed beach hat held on the Gold Coast.

March also sees a tournament held as the Northern Regionals - the qualifier for Nationals in Open and Womens division (although its not taken too seriously in these parts).

April is dominated by Nationals, which rotates around the nation. The Northern Region is next due to host Nationals in 2013.

May traditionally features the Fight the Phat mixed hat.

May and June also feature Brisbane teams playing in the NUFL events held in Sydney and Melbourne.

At the end of August, Brisbane hosts Halibut, the Australia's largest Mixed Ultimate tournament outside of Mixed Nationals (many southern teams come north to enjoy some sunshine during Winter). The highlight of the Brisbane Ultimate calendar, and the traditional start of the Australian mixed season.

In September, the UQ Club hosts Lovefest, a mixed tournament that works as a warmup for both Mixed Nats and the Australian University Games.

During the mid-semester holidays in September, the Australian University Games are held at a site rotated around Australia. In recent times, Ultimate has become the largest sport at the Games. In the past UQ and QUT have sent teams, while Griffith's participation generally depends on how far away the Games are.

October is dominated by Mixed Nationals. The Northern Region is due to host in 2008 (expected to be Brisbane).

There are also various smaller tournaments held throughout the year. And many Brisbane folk travel to various tournaments in other cities (and love to take people with them).

Badman's Birthday Bash - Get Excited

Brisbane Ultimate Blog's favourite chiropractor has put out the word, and we've responded with today's post.

Badman's Birthday Bash Two Day Hat Tourney near Byron Bay is indeed announced!

Get this one in your diary. I reckon it'll be a great weekend away for all Brisbane ulti-folk. Get a carload together.

What: Byron Badman's Birthday Bash Two Day Hat Tourney
When: 3-4 November
Where: Lake Ainsworth, Lennox Heads (two hours drive from Brisbane - about 20km south of Byron). I think this is it?
Includes: Canoeing, pool, accommodation 20m from beach. Kid friendly so bring the family. All the Ultimate you can get too.

More info to come.

I am bloody excited. Our region has been desperate in my mind for a full on fun weekend and this could be it!

Red Peppers - YUFL Winter 2007

Just for posterity. Yeah Peppers.

Doin' Whatever a Spider-Pig Can Do

I had to put in a quick note on the genius of a Mixed Nats team having the name ‘Spiderpig’.

Spiderpig, if you missed it, is a gag from the recent Simpson’s movie.

One of the things that’s always make Ultimate more fun for me has been the fluidity of teams and clubs. Other sports have this view of 'eternity' with regards their team names. Once you're the UQ Shaggy Dogs, you're the UQ Shaggy Dogs forever and so forth. (I'm leaving aside the professional end of sport, where names are tied into marketing and all).

Ultimate hasn't ever swung that way, although some people are trying, perhaps in an attempt to emulate traditional sports (I'm thinking Chilly, Wildcard and Fakulti here).

Fortunately*, Mixed Nats remains a bit of an old school event where team names largely exist for a season or maybe two and then die off.

But the coolest thing, and the reason I mention Spiderpig? Its very very cool when Ultimate frisbee team** names when reflect the pop culture of the time. Remember Canberra's 'Unrepresentative Swill'? Genius. Sydney's 'Powdered Toastmen'. Ultrastar Wars / The Empire Strikes Backhand / Return of the Redeye. I'm sure there are many more (hello comments) but its early in the morning for me.

* I'll leave the goodness or illness of the distinctiveness of Mixed Nats as a topic for another day, although the 'fortunately' rather than 'unfortunately' should leave my views out there.

** And tournaments - I always loved SA's "Footprint of God" tournament name.

Hey Johnny M

The Power of Vice

One of the overlooked but very important roles in the world of Ultimate Frisbee Admin and Volunteers is that of the Vice-Captain.

If you run a League or Tournament, make sure you always insist on having Vice-Captains / Number Two's / Second Bananas / Whatever you call them.

Most obviously, they help your event to run better, particularly in the case of a Captain / Number One / Boss disappearing for a little while - the team has someone else that knows what's going on.

Less obviously, but perhaps more useful in the long term, Vice-Captains are proto-volunteers.

Say for example you're the Director of a League, and you want to stand down. First stop to find a new LD is to talk to your Captains about one of them taking on the role. I mean, they've shown that they're willing to do some organising by sorting their team, people know them, and they probably have a good idea how things work.

Having Vice Captains around obviously expands on your pool of possible recruits, but also helps you when one of the Captains says "No." You can say back to them "Well, if you're saying 'No' because you're worried about who's going to manage your team then you shouldn't, because you've got this great Vice-Captain who can take it on." Or you can say "Well, fair enough to say 'No', but do you know someone who might say 'Yes' (maybe your Vice-Captain?)".

So to conclude - if you're running a league or tournament, insist on there being Vice-Captains as well as Captains - for the good of Ultimate Administration and the long-term renewal of Ultimate organisers.

Stylin'

And, We're Back. What'd I Miss?

Aaaaand we're back. Miss me?

Scanning the email, it looks like I didn't miss too much while I was away, thanks to a week of rain that knocked YUFL, WUFL and BPL around. But here's what I did miss:

- the new six-team BPL kicked off last Thursday night, with wins to the Old Buggers over Rawhide (obviously missing Tony Ross), Passion over Lovers (score one for lust), and a draw between the Baby Buggers and Dojo Mojo (a good start for Jimmy L's lot).

- Lovefest seems to have gone well on Saturday, with John McNaughton emailing a few details:

A quick wrap-up of the Lovefest tournament that happened this weekend.

On a warm, sunny Saturday, 6 teams presented at UQ for the second annual Lovefest tourney. Most teams played close to savage, and the draw was a full round robin - considering this, the level of play was maintained very well throughout the day.

Booty enjoyed kicking back with a beer as the Griffith Uni Slamtown Giants (their intended last-round opponents) needed to get back to the Gold Coast and party... However, even the departure of half of the Byron crew couldn't stop the remainder from scraping together some pick-ups and playing another game against the Lounge Lizards to cap off the day.

An exhausting last-round match-up between the AUG-bound UQ Lovers and QUTies (where a number of players were cramping mid-game) proved one of the more intense games of the day. We hope that this match practice provides a launching point for all 3 uni teams to play some great frisbee down the Coast next week.

WINNER: UQ Lovers
RUNNERS-UP: Booty
MALE MVP: Tie - Mike Neild (QUT) and Ben "Beej" Blackman (Lizards)
FEMALE MVP: Sarah Sandford (QUT)
SPIRIT: The Pass

- Oh yeah, and before I went on holidays, I sent out my final issue as editor of AU. Hope you got it and enjoyed. I now just have to get it up on the web.

And because you like photos (another one of Roger's):

And now it is time for a break

Dear Readers,

I am going on holiday overseas for the first half of September. So I won't be updating the blog (although someone else might).

Hope you've enjoyed it and have been checking regularly!

If you're wondering what's happening in Brisbane Ultimate, I suggest checking out the yahoogroup (link down on the bottom left there).

But to summarise:
- Monday Night there is YUFL a Mixed League, which is doing Finals in early September
- Tuesday Night is WUFL a Women's League which has just started a new season and new ladies are very very welcome (beginners included).
- Tuesday Night also features Firestorm training, where A-Grade men are also welcome. Firestorm is Brisbane's team in the National League.
- Wednesday Night has just kicked off a new casual League at UQ.
- Wednesday Night also has a recently established pickup night at Griffith Uni Nathan campus.
- Thursday Night is BPL the Open A-Grade Leage starting a new season on September 6.
- There is also some pickup on Fridays and Sundays.

Join the buda yahoogroup or look through the archives and you'll get all the recent notifications.

See you soon.

jdr

ps Given the overnight effort of Newcastle NRL star Joey Johns, will Pie Wagon change its name to Pill Wagon?

Capstoning

I'll do a separate post to make it clear to the casual reader, but I'm going overseas for a couple of weeks and won't be putting any posts on Brisbane Ultimate Blog again until mid-September (hopefully though one of the other contributors (like Wonderful-Rubes, even though he lives in Melbourne now, or aL the Dishwasher) will take over for a bit.)

But this brings me to a point that has pained me for some time. People in Ultimate who get websites going (good stuff), set them up to be updated (challenging but rewarding), and then when they stop doing it (which is always fair enough), don't put a 'capstone' on them (which is the sin I'm most annoyed by).

Capstoning is putting something on your blog or website to say "This website won't be updated with up-to-date info (like you've seen below) for a while. However, here's the 'eternal' information you might want, which can stay here until the site starts to get updated again or it gets taken down."

If you don't have a capstone, then your online presence looks really disorganised and just plain awful.

Remember, your website is what people find when they search to find out about Ultimate in your neighbourhood.

Lets look at a few sinners, drawn from this blog's link list down on the bottom left there:

Townsville's JCU Tossers website – hasn't been updated since November 2006. This thing at least needs a "Sorry, we're not updating this at the moment – for the latest info in Townsville Ultimate, contact [email] or join our mailing list as nudi@yahoogroups.com

UQ Lover Blog – hasn't been updated since August 2006, although at least it finishes with "we got back from Uni Games". But the UQ Lovers are such a strong group, I'm surprised they can't do better.

NUFL – disappointingly out of date. Perhaps it was too ambitious to start with?

Since I'm commenting on the sinners, lets also mention some better sites:

QUTies – its just the basic info, but that's all you need! Contact details, bit of history. Simple.

Griffith Gold Coast – even more basic, but does the job in providing contact details.

Bugger Blog – is maintaining its momentum and purpose – a posting every once in a while, mostly from Mike, with a bit of Mat.

QUDA - hums along quite nicely, under I think Tim's watchful eye.

I should get around to adding the link to O-Shep's excellent site. Any other recommendations for sites with a vague connection to Brisbane Ultimate?

Now to take my own advice on improving this web-presence. After my holiday, I'll be adding a link at the top of the blog that gives key bits of info about Brisbane Ultimate. Just for anyone who doesn't want to dig.