Wednesday, October 31, 2007

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.

Monday, October 29, 2007

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.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

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!

Friday, October 26, 2007

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?

Thursday, October 25, 2007

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.

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

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!

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

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!

Sunday, October 21, 2007

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.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

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.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

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!

Monday, October 15, 2007

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!?

Thursday, October 11, 2007

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!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

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.