Someone Else's Post

Check out Simon T's list of Unwritten Laws of Ultimate, now conveniently written down for you.

Bulletin Board

ITEM: There's been a changing of the guard over at the UQ Club, with gangrenous Gref stepping up to take the Presidency, the jive-talkin' Julz slipping around in the Veep role, and fan-favourite jocular James Jackson wearing the Secretary pants. Meanwhile postumous pouncing Pete Allen has stepped back from day-to-day management, although if you need strings pulled, keep his number in your little black book or public restroom stall.

ITEM: Gold Coast League kicked off last night, and the LD was so keen he mailed out the scores as soon as he got home from the pub. Team Bob defeated Heat 12-8, while The Hard Road edged out Three Immobile 10-8. New players are welcome throughout the next five weeks of the season.

ITEM: A few of the posse got around to watch the KGSHS Junkies take on the MSHS Stranglers on Saturday, for a festival of huck and chase. In the end, it was Junkies 15, Stranglers 4. MVPs were Junkie Lewis Knox, and Strangler Rashaun “Kamikaze” Hoh who showed the ground who was boss.

ITEM: It looks like folks can't get enough of WWOS, with reports coming in from around the country (well, three at least) of new people turning up to find out "what this Ultimate Frisbee thing is all about" and youtube downloads hitting 1,400.

Guest Bloggers Sought

We're looking to freshen up here by getting some other people to put a post or two up.

How about you? I'm sure you'd be great!

Or suggest someone else?

Chimichampions!

The 2008 Chimis - back row - aL, Pete, Bruce, Josh, Hamish and Arrlann. Front row - Shoes, Maylin, Emma, Peta and Tunno.

Congratulations to the Chimichangas, winners of the first season for 2008 of the Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League.

This season of Monday night has been one of the most competitive this blogger has seen, and certainly the largest.

The Chimichangas rolled Plastic Scourgery 21-11 in Monday night's final, which was more of an armwrestle than the score suggests.

The Chimichangas are also the only team in the League with its own brand of shorts.

Most Valuable Women in the final was Adele of the Scourgery, while Most Valuable Male was big aL, co-captain of the Chimis.

The ever-loving blue-eyed Mellow Yellow took home the Spirit Prize for the season.

Thanks were extended to Tam and Maylin for organising the BBQ, and to the people who helped with the cooking.

Thanks were also extended to Dan and Adelia for another smoothly run season, which featured 10 teams, two locations, and a whole lot of fun.

And thanks again to Lookfly for their sponsorship!

Registration for next season has begun.

May and Dan VS Zack

With only their disc and smiles to protect them, daring Danielle and manslaughterin' Maylin went searching on the weekend for the undead menace that walks the streets and parks of Brisbane ....

With her Mixed Nats disc in hand, Maylin feels safe and secure, while Danielle finds the zombie horde getting too close for comfort.

Fame

Nationals makes it onto Wide World of Sports, and Dom was watching, recording, and posting onto youtube.

Thanks to Julian for the hot tip that got us going.

Zack in Action

Late call out for this Sunday ... http://www.zombiewalkbrisbane.com/

Weekend Action II

For the second weekend in a row there's something cool on that people can get down to, have a throw, and show some people what Ultimate is all about (and of course - good timing with new leagues kicking off soon).

I suspect a few spotters from some BPL Clubs will be wanting to head down to sign up some new talent (before they all become Buggers, anyway).

Saturday 25 May 9.00am Mansfield State High (corner Ham and Broaderwater Roads)
Inter-school Open grudge match between Mikey's Marauders (aka Kelvin Grove State High School) vs Spinner's Stranglers (aka Mansfield State High)

Ultimate Summit 2010: The Ramblin'

So tomorrow afternoon the glorious Maylin has invited all and sundry to a few drinks and a gasbag about Ultimate in Brisbane over the next few years.

If you're not going to make it, why not post a few comments?

To get things going, here's nine things I'd like to see happening by 2010 (if not before), and a bit of strategy about how to get there. I'm sure a lot of this isn't new or original - I'm just blurting it all out there in one place. This is all personal, and quite probably uninformed, and of course I'm not committed to any of it. They're just ideas. Do what you want, people, and don't worry about me!

The thing I tend to be really committed to in Ultimate Administration? If someone wants to do something, don't fuss too much about what that something is – just get out of their way and let them do it their way!

1. Open and Women's League on the same night.
This would increase the sociability interaction, and free up a night for another mixed League and/or training. To get there, someone just needs to make the decision to move. If you wanted to do it soon, then I'd go for moving Women's to Thursday at Annerley, just because there's scope for field space. But there's nothing to say both Leagues couldn't move to a new place, or to a new night all together.

2. Open League having two divisions.
I think BPL's success indicates that there's lots of guys who want to play hard Ultimate, and I think a default goal is to keep increasing the numbers. To cope, new teams get formed, and its fair to say, the standard may drop a bit. But in the longer term, the numbers can be converted into two tiers, with the current BPL continuing, but with a four team Super-League or A-Grade sitting above it. I'd like to see A and BPL (Reserve Grade?) teams linked through a Club system where possible (that is, each Club in A Grade should also have a Reserve Grade team) to foster development and so forth. The A Grade might even be limited down to four teams to keep it very high end, a lots of pressure on individual players to retain their spot in that Grade. While the two divisions would stay on the same night to allow easy player movement between the two, the times might be staggered a bit so that teams can support their fellow club members (for example, an earlier start for the second division, and a 30-60 minute later start for the first division).

How to get there? Keep recruiting and possibly tolerate weaker players coming in for the next season or two. Have teams talk to each other if they start to get too many numbers, so that new teams can be formed and so that teams don't stop recruiting their mates and so on.

3. Women's League following a BPL-style development path
Its always easiest to comment on what you know least about so forgive me, but from the outside, Women's League looks stalled, with just the same level of numbers and skill from season to season over the last few years. The critical mass doesn't seem to have come, and while there's new beginners each season, people are also leaving.

I think its time to move the focus from recruiting beginners (with lots of learn to play, training drills together, and hat-style teams) to forming fairly permanent teams and having a regular League. Keep recruiting beginners of course, but focus on providing a good experience for everyone, particularly to women who come across from Mixed Leagues - make them want to stay.

When BPL kicked off, as I understand it, it formed three teams and tolerated byes because that was the right number for the players they had and the level of play they wanted. Forming fairly permanent teams gets people recruiting for their teams, and encourages people to build commitment to turning up regularly and for each new season.

4. Two divisions of Mixed Social
The Monday night League's growth is heading this way, with 10 teams now. Once the numbers get to enough for twelve teams, I'd like to see two divisions here, with again an A-Grade and a B-Grade, with the latter being considered open to beginners and to entirely new teams. I've offered the suggestion in the past that if this League can get to 12 teams by the end of 2008, then the start of 2009 would be a good time to split into the two tiers of six, using the results of the final season of 2008. If the plan can be announced late in 2008, and if which teams are going into which tiers can be confirmed in December, then this gives until late January for people to work out what they want to do.

To me, the two divisions would feature promotion and relegation from season to season, with the winner of B-Grade going up, and the wooden spooner of A grade dropping down (this is different to a two division BPL,.where I'd see players moving up and down, not teams). Any time a new team is formed or entered, they would start in B grade, with A grade staying a consistent six teams (at least until we see see 16 teams running around on a Monday night.

As in the past, the eventual pressures on field space can be managed via development of two time-slots, or finding additional fields.

5. Gold Coast League
I think this is a given, and its great that Stef is about to kick off the first steps, and I've ranted about it before somewhere else on this blog.

6. No more "night's off" between seasons
Its kind of standard to have a few weeks off between seasons. Part of this is to give League Organisers a bit of a break, and fair enough to them. Part of it is because it’s a hangover from days when it was the only League in town, and there weren't enough people to sustain all the teams all the time. The numbers are now there on most teams that they can handle if people are away or take a week or two off during the season.

I think we need to change this mould and use these weeks – make sure the lights are on and the fields are available, and factor the cost into the preceding League's fees. Depending on the League, set these between-League-nights up as two weeks of Learn to Play (perhaps best suited for Women's and Mixed nights), encourage teams to come down and train (great for the week before the season starts, to build up the vibe), or just announce that pickup is on (which is an excellent way to let new people get a flavour for the league, and let people play with people they normally play against. I think BPLers and Monday night socialers would love the opportunity for some pickup play). Yes, there are people who will take this time off, but we may as well facilitate it if people want to keep up their regularly weekly night.

Of course, the December/January break should stay there because of the general social disruption, although it wouldn't hurt if each year someone looked at the calendar, picked out which night of the week isn't directly affected by the public holidays, and booked some fields and lights (for example, for the end of this year, a Summer Hat League could run be run very neatly on Mondays 15, 22, 29 December 2008 and 6, 13 and 20 January 2009). This break is nonetheless a great time to foster strategic/structural changes to Leagues (as noted under Monday night social above).

7. Fostering a Club-based scene
A few months back, some folks asked me to think up a few ideas for a Clubs policy for QUDA, and I recently dumped it on them (and its way longer than this). Now, I'm not a real fan of people being fairly permanently attached to the same Club of people – something I've liked about Ultimate relative to other sports is that we're all a community together. But as the community has grown, we're not a face-to-face group any more – nobody knows everyone, even within particular Leagues. So I'm coming around to thinking we need to get a new band in there, and Clubs fit the bill. And we're seeing it in reality anyway – the BPL Clubs, and most of the YUFL teams are getting very very solid. Look at UQ, with its own development league, two teams in BPL, another team in YUFL.

So lets foster more of that, and have Clubs going that next step from organising shirts and paying team-based fees, to having a bank account, doing some fundraising (by holding events like tournaments), linking up with other teams to support each other (for example, Open teams and Women's teams aligning, or teams aligning across divisions to recruit and promote players up and down).

Let's see UQ getting game enough to buy, store and sell 200 nice UQ shirts (and heck, why not shorts and socks too), selling them to players and using them across their BPL, YUFL and (one day) WUFL teams over a few years, and having a real identity of supporting each other, running tournaments to raise money to make their shirts cheaper for members, having Club Coaches, filling out a social calendar, and so forth.

And lets see other groups following that model (and those that don't have captive University development pool populations like UQ does, can be looking more closely at High Schools some would see the Buggers doing at the moment via Mike and Spinner).

8. More Coaching and Training
At the elite end, aside from developing and limiting numbers in A Leagues to foster development through week-in, week-out high level play, a great way to improve the quality of Ultimate is through Coaching.

Coaching also helps a lot at the learn-to-play end. If you've ever watched an "old hand" teach newbies, and then watch a qualified coach, you'll see a big difference.

So let's be doing what we can to get more people interested in and qualified to Coach Ultimate. There's a whole bunch of ideas here that I can't unpack right now, but its all doable.

Connected to Coaching. There's been steps the last few years, and I hope that by 2010 there is always some sort of training night, year round, going on. Whether it is fostered by particular Clubs, or is an 'everyone welcome' thing (a bit like Firestorm do now), its really valuable. Fostering Coaches will foster people wanting to have training and to benefit from it.

9. Sunday Pickup
It still pains me that in Brisbane we don't have a regular and large pick-up game in Brisbane – as a pathway/route into Ultimate; to have a break from disciplined play; and also as a way to maintain the old-school informality of Ultimate.

Having some well-known and reliable regular pick-up on allows potential new players to have look or get a taste of Ultimate, without any pressure to continue.

It also helps to free people from the 'shackles' of disciplined team play and stretch themselves – it’s a concern at the moment that we're too busy teaching people to stack and dump and think and conform, and they aren't getting the chance to run about and huck and have fun.

Regular pickup also provides a space for people to see old mates and make new friends across Leagues and nights and genders and so forth. Pickup gets random people who have the time to have a game together. Its also from pickup that I can see new organiser-types emerging – people who're interested in Ultimate and have time to talk about it.

So lets get some Sunday pickup happening soon (Sunday being relatively free and flexible). Maybe from the start of Spring this year. Maybe from 3pm. Maybe at Kalinga Park.


So that's that - an hour's typing from early this morning. What do you think? Or drop by Friday night to give us your two cents.

....

Got nuthin' today. Too much other stuff to do.

Mixed Nats - Viva Bris-Vegas

If you look in any tournament manual worth its salt, you'll see the following priorities:

1. Book fields and settle on dates.

2. Decide and announce party theme.

3. Other stuff that we'll get to.

So for Mixed Nats 2008 here in Brisbane, you'll already know that the fields are booked and the date is set.

Well, the theme for the party will be Viva Bris-Vegas!

Now, not to limit your creativity (after all, I talked a team into turning up dressed as Smurfs to a "When I Grow Up" themed party), but here's a few vibes:

Vega$ ... showgirls, feather boas, Elvis, Tom Jones, tourists, Frank Sinatra, slot machines, cards, dice, shotgun weddings, sequins, dancing girls, gambling, fear and loathing, CSI, Stardust, casinos, Oceans 11, Celine Dion, the Mafia, the porn industry, the ratpack, Sammy Davis Jnr, Austin Powers, Sin City, Marv, pimps and hos, hobos, Kevin Sorbo, Tina Turner, gold nuggets, chips, blackjack, bachelor parties, Andre Aggasi, glitz, glamour, Liberace, bouncers, Panic!attheDisco, James Bond, Rain Man, Heroes, the desert .....

not the best photo-manip, but it'll do for today

Observations Post-Nationals

So Nationals 2008 was a month ago, but a few thoughts have been floating around in my head, at least regards team management and so forth. The following is provided to get them out of my head - whether they're of any value is up to you.

Youth Wings
I figure in the next year or two, many of the regular Open clubs playing at Nationals will have some sort of Youth squad, and within a year or two after that, the benefits will start to be seen for the main team, as strong fit young fellas start coming through a more structured development. The Youth Wing will be involved in squad training in the lead up to Nationals, play Regionals (and possibly make Nationals in their own right) and then keep training with any NUFLers and build up to Youth Nats each year in June.

Long Calendar
Its been a given for the last few years that preparation for Nationals is starting earlier. I think now its stablilised in mid-November - a couple of weeks after Mixed Nats. But Clubs are also starting to sort out their calendar or plan before that, so that when the preparation physically starts in mid-November, the long plan is in place, noting training sessions (and not just "every Wednesday ... but counting down as "Training Session NatsMinus18, Training Session NatsMinus17, etc), tournaments, away-weekends (becoming more common as squads grow to allow scrimmaging), local scrimmaging, and also Club social events that build bonds through the season (including with ladies). Some plans are even now going post-Season, with post-Season social event, come-down weekends, and just plain "lets play fun Ultimate now" sessions. These plans of course have some flexibility in them, but they help people work out their commitment, budget their time and money for the season, and maintain a group sense of buildup.

Planning Non-Playing Time
I've noticed teams planning their non-playing time at Nationals. The old style was "here's the draw and there's a party some night". Some teams are now timetabling the whole thing (with room to move and adjust of course), but factoring in longer warmups at the start of the day, good warmdowns at the end of the day, warmups and downs between games, lunch and snacking, team meetings, and also socialising in the evenings (including with the ladies).

Apparently when FU went to NZ, they emailed one of the women's teams and asked them out to dinner on one of the non-party nights, and apparently had a great time as a group. I think they then took Raging Wahine out one night at Nats? Having this planned ahead seemed to be a good idea - people knew what they were doing each night etc, rather than drifting from the fields and doing whatever, or pissfarting about trying to work out what they're doing.

Stats Collection
As selection becomes much much tighter, teams have turned to using stats to help justify selections. But we all know (even though most of us don't do it), stats can provide a lot of help in both training and determining tactics (recognising strengths and weakness, providing goals) as well as learning how to ignore reputations and recognise form and improvement instead.

A suggestion I have picked up for teams with a long calendar - have a stats-taking roster so that for each training session (and most scrimmages), it is someone's turn to sit out the session (or have two people and sit half out each) and take stats and post them the next day on the team e-list and insert them onto a database.

Training and game stats don't need to be taken for everything, as while its good that some drills are played for 'perfection', other drills need to be open for people to stretch themselves - so as part of planning a training session, confirm that there are some "no stats" drills. Keep stats also on the fitness elements of training and do this about once a month leading up to Nats and see how people change.

With a roster, the "missing out on training" load is spread evenly, but also everyone gets to look at each other with different, stats-focused eyes. People can also trade their places on a roster, and this helps motivate people to come to training when they were injured or crook - they can trade and take stats that time around.

Individuals use the stats to motivate themselves and plenty of humour can used between players to motivate each other, and some boffins can get keen and generate graphs and such to show improvement over time.

Stats also help drive decisions about which drills to run at subsequent training sessions, and obviously to guide selections.

A/B - X/Y
I've said before and I'll say it again - I reckon Clubs should articulate an alternations over a series of years between A/B/C/etc teams, and "even" teams. Players benefit from both setups, as do Clubs. Agreeing the plan over multiple seasons (it doesn't have to be one year of one, and then one year of the other) lets people know what they're working for over the long term.

Mid Way
Make sure you have a good social event, like a Club dinner, say half-way through the season. Maybe use it to announce selections rather than email - make an event of it and recognise people who've been working hard. Build the team's vibe and use this as the point from where individuals were working on getting selected to now working on doing well at Nats.

Traveling Together
FU having a bus and Firestorm carpooling to Coffs really showd the benefit of doing the travel. A strong bond develops between players, and lots of the talk of the previous six months becomes more and more focused.

I still remain stunned that team air-travel remains really disorganised. Partly this is individual circumstances (people can fly at different times due to work/life demands) and partly this is budget (some people find cheaper flights at different times). Now, its not really feasible to book as a group, but it is doable to, the day after Regionals and confirmation that you're going to Nationals, and/or at the time you confirm your squad for Nationals, someone in the leadership group can book their flight (an after-work one) and tell everyone which one it is and encourage them to book now and get on it (or one about the same time). If its more expensive for individuals, yes you will save money anyway by travelling together to and from the airport in shared cabs, and yes, you will have a much better tournament and its worth it.

Scrimmaging vs Punching Bags (aka local pickups)
I've mentioned elsewhere that, back in the day, prep for Nationals was about going to tournaments. This was partly because of a lack of quality local people to scrimage against. Nowadays, there's plenty more. Rather than always scrimmaging within the Club at training sessions, its now very possible to organise scrimmages against local punching bags. Punching bags do unexpected things and teach you to react better as a team than you would scrimmaging against your Club-mates.

In Brisbane, an idea before the first BPL season of the year starts, to ask work with the BPL TD to set aside two empty Thursday nights, which would be used to have games between the Firestorm teams and Punchingbags of BPLers who aren't going to Nats. The Punchingbags would probably enjoy a hard run at their regular time, but this time with different team-mates and playing different teams (this is also easier than trying to arrange games some other time, via "please help" emails).

Three team scrimmages are also really valuable at training. Set up three teams, play games of first to five, and then the losing team rotates off. This challenges whole squads against fresh opponents (ie if you'd just played five points and then the opposition went entirely off and a new team came on, having had a good rest together).

BUMFL Finals Week 3 Draw

Note these special rules for this week and for next week's Grand Finale:
- Game start 7:15pm
- Time cap 8:50pm. When 'Time Cap' is called, if the disc is in play, finish that point, then add two to the highest score and play to that.
- No half time, two timeouts per team- Gender split: 3/4 (at captain's discretion)

New Seasons Coming Up

Brisbane is about to be blossoming with opportunities to start or change up your Ultimate playing.

Monday Night Mixed
With the Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League on Monday nights finishing the season in a couple of weeks, dates for the new season have been announced.

The season will start on 23 June 2008 with two weeks of 'Learn to Play' and pickup games.

Astute teams will see these as weeks to introduce and/or find new team members, or to do a bit of pre-season training.

The 'home and away' part of the season then kicks off on 7 July. Register your team and yourself at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=809

Tuesday Night Women's
Starting again on 8 July and running through to 26 August, at Oakman Park, Toowong.

Wednesday Night at Uni of Queensland
The UQ League is taking a month or so off while exams and the mid-year break are on, but will be back early in Semester 2. There is a big of pickup happening in the meantime, running from about 6.30pm on Oval 7.

Thursday Night Open
Next season starts on Thursday 12 June and runs through to the end of August. This league is for fit, experienced players only. Registration at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=807

Sunday Pickup
While there's a bit of a break between leagues, Sunday pickup is back from 2.30pm at Dorrington Park in Ashgrove. Just turn up and bring a light shirt and a dark shirt. Brand new beginners through to national-level players welcome. Its FUN!

Messy Buggers BPL Champions

Here's what I can recall from the BPL Final last night ... sorry I was distracted and had a couple of drinks. I am happy to post corrections if you send them to me.

Messy Buggers defeated UQ Passion 15-12 to take out BPL Season 1 2008 in a hard fought final.

The crowd was very very big and a testament to the buildup of finals night over the previous two seasons.

Spirit Winners for the season were Rawhide.

Most Valuable Player for the season was Buzz 'Chris' Burwell of UQ Passion (who picked up a fancy new BPL MVP Cup!)

Most Improved Player for the season was Spinner of Messy Buggers.

Heckle of the Night, at least in my hearing, would be "Leave that kid alone" after Liam hit the ground in front of Buzz.

And I'm sure everyone was pleased to see that BPL is now somehow or other sponsored by:

Lookfly make sportware and Brisbane's own Ben 'Beej' Blackman is the Australian rep, so have a chat to him about what he can do for you about geat for your team.

New Arrival

Via email from Mat R:

G'day Queensland Ultiamte players,

I'm very happy to announce that Bronte Healy Ross made her successful debut on
Tuesday. Altogether too comfortably ensconsed in Mother's belly, she required
considerable persuasion to take the field proper. She was delivered via C-section at 4.28pm on Monday afternoon. Mother Gen and baby Bronte perfectly healthy and happy. Dad Tony looking a little worse for wear :-)

Vital player statistics: 3.81kg, 57cm long with a very impressive blonde mohawk and cute as hell.

Welcome to the big game Bronte! We hope that you inherit all the charm, humour, generosity and thunderous hammers of your parents.

Weekend Action

Just a reminder of two Ultimate events you should get yourself to this weekend:

Saturday 17 May 3.30pm Robina Common (Gold Coast)
Help sweet sweet Stefan show a big bunch of Coasties how awesome Ultimate is. Followed by BBQ and some free drinks (we know how you love free drinks), and no doubt some sort of party at Stef's place.

You know I've had a rant here and there in the past about how the Gold Coast remains Australia's biggest Ulti-frontier, so if there's somewhere you want to help spread the seeds at, this is the one.

Sunday 18 May 2.30pm New Farm Park (near the soccer field on Sydney St)
The Real Adventure Women (RAW) will be introducing themselves to Ultimate Frisbee. Get on down and have a throw.

Ultimate Battle Ultimate Style II: The Revengening

BPL Final - this Thursday night. More exciting than this. Free alcohol for spectators.

I Red Teh Internetz So U Don' Hav To

So occasionally we here at stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion log onto the internet and see what's to be found. And to save you the trouble, here's our most recent treasure (or not).

New: Canberra Ultimate Blog
Recognising the primacy of the Brisbane Ultimate Blog as the best thing ever (in its category), the folks down in CBR are thinking they might have a go. I guess they've got all that energy left now that Fyshwick United has wound down post Nationals. Expecting big things. Good enough to make our links list over there on the right - we'll be keeping a close eye on these peeps to see if they're maintaining the franchise requirements.

New: Dingoes training blog
Really this is just for the geographically dispersed Dingoes and friends to talk about their training in the leadup to Worlds2008. Not that entertaining or information, but worth a look to see what the fellas are putting themselves through, and the occasional humour. Good enough for our links list, anyways. You can always post them an encouraging comment.

Old: Sublime Ultimate
You'd think there'd be some potential there - I'd be vaguely interested in a team that, to most of the country, are a bit of a mystery (or perhaps more of a conundrum .... nah, maybe just a sudoku), but alas, lack of posting is bringing them down. And I am still occularly-scarred by the whole 'denim and nuts' thing from the party at Nationals. No links list for this punk.

Old: Heads of State
Looks nice, and I've been waiting for something to happen here for many many months now. It all looks promising. But nada. Glossy with no substance. Maybe this is a metaphor for the team itself?

Let us know if there's other sites you'd like reviewed and added or bagged.

FCU ICU UQ

So your blogger was busy with drywalling on the weekend (and saving energy for the big Chimmis vs Scourgery matchup tonight) and had to miss the Saturday university+friends tournmament.

Fortunately, saucy Pete gives a rundown over at http://uqultimate.com.au/.

BUMFL Draw - Finals Week 2

Ultimate Battle for Ultimate Power!

To be continued?

Or see the real thing - Messy Buggers vs UQ Passion - at the BPL Grand Final next Thursday Night, from 7.30pm at Annerley Junior Soccer Fields.

The Sultry Bucket of Awesome

So as Nationals sinks slowly into the collective memory of the lucky crew who got to go, here's a few pictures from the Sultry campaign, courtesy of the delightful Stephanie L (thanks Steph!). As usual, click to embiggen, and feel free to throw in a few details for posterity via the comments function!

BPL - Finals Time!

Linkdumping Off the Sideline

For those still suffering from PNW (post-Nationals withdrawal) and the related virus DGTGTN (Didnt' get to go to Nationals), here's a big list o' places to go:

Roger has his Nationals photos up.

DJ has his Nationals photos up.

If you spot any particularly "Brisbane Ultimate" photos that we should share here on the blog, let us know.

Aaron has posted a few videos on Youtube - showing the mud, and showing the spirit.

Badass Scott did some sweet sweet podcasting during Nationals too:
- The Call of the Finals (26meg)
- The Presentations (6meg)
- Inteview with Raging Wahine after their Final (1meg)
- Interview with Wildcard after their Final (1/2 meg)
- The ANZAC Day Test Match (20meg)
- Interview with the Aussie and NZ Captains After the Test Match (4meg)
- Call of the Day 2 Game, Taipans vs Fakulti (7meg)
http://frisbee.mindsocket.com.au/podcast/080425%20Taipans%20v%20Fakulti.mp3

Scottie interviewed yours truly at some point, but I'm not sure where that would be.

And while I'm on that - darn WWOS for bumping us to next week. I watched that whole damn 90 minutes waiting to find out if I'd be tarred and feathered by the Ulti-community, and now I gotta wait another seven days!

Jangles has been busy updating the NUFL site

And lets chuck some more photos up here, this time of the Byron-Bay-and-Friends outfit, the Pass.

The Pass after a particularly muddy match:

The Smurf Pass, ready to party:

Back row from left: Underwater Hunter Smurf (aka Townsville Smurf), Surfer Smurf, Twin Smurf, Twin Smurf, Sleazy Record Producer Smurf, Teen Hippy Smurf, Jester Smurf Ventura, Supersmurfette. Front row from left: Cowboy Smurf (aka The Beast), WUCC2006 Smurf aka Crazy Dutch Smurfette, Jordan Smurf, Nimbin Smurf.

Ultimate at Robina

Did you know there's now some regular pickup games at Robina on the Gold Coast?

Most Saturday afternoons from 3.30pm at Robina Common.

And on 17 May, they're inviting every Ulti-kid within 100km to come down and show them a thing or two.

Contact big Stef at srappazzo at hotmail dot com if you can lend a hand.

This is a great chance to get these guys on the path to Halibut 2008 and beyond, so hope you can mark your diary to get on down there.

BUML Goes Into Finals Mode!

So the Monday Night Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League (BUML) has finished the 'home and away' part of the season, and gone into a pretty funky four weeks of finals.

Here's the standings after the finish of the 'normal' games.


And Finals Week 1 looks like this:
Yeronga:
Field 1: FINAL A - 1 Chimichangas vs 4 UQ Lovers
Field 2: FINAL B - 2 Plastic Scourgery vs 4 Bermuda Triangle

Annerley:
Field 1: FINAL C - 5 Dyspnoeics vs 8 Poachers
Field 2: FINAL D - 6 Mellow Yellow vs 7 Dark Matter
Field 3: FINAL E - 9 QUTies vs 10 Heroes

Should be a week of close games, and the way I (quickly) read the Finals Draw, the top four could finish anywhere between 1st and 8th, the bottom two can finish as high as 3rd, and everyone else could end up anywhere between 1st and 10th!

BPL Round 10 Results

Brisbane Ultimate 101 - FAQ

Greetings and welcome to the Brisbane Ultimate Scene.

This post is a set of information (as at May 2008) to help you find your way. Links on the right might help too.

What is Ultimate Frisbee?
Ultimate is a seven-a-side sport that uses a frisbee. Its a fast, free-flowing game played world-wide, combining elements of netball, soccer, grid-iron and touch footy. The basic aim is for the team with the disc to pass it up the field to others on their team and catch it in the end zone. At the same time the defensive team is trying to intercept it or knock it down. If they succeed, they get possession of the disc and attempt to score in their end zone. Distinct to Ultimate is its non-refereed set-up - known as Spirit of the Game - where players are responsible.

Why Play Ultimate?
Its a running-around team sport without getting knocked around or dealing with grumpy referees, coaches or opponents. In Brisbane it is an incredibly social and friendly sport, played by a range of people of differing ages and experience. It's cheap - all you need is some friends, some grass (or beach) and a disc.

How do I Find Out More?
General announcements, particularly regarding new seasons, upcoming events and pickup games are generally made via the Brisbane Ultimate Disc Association list - BUDA (check our links). Get yourself on that for the latest. You can also post a comment to this here blog to get help!

What's This Blog Then?
Mostly it exists to support the Brisbane Ultimate community, and hence has a range of news, views and just plain silly stuff, depending on the whims of the main poster. Yes, there's a few in jokes, and on occasion it ventures well beyond the limits of Brisbane and/or Ultimate Frisbee. Don't take it too seriously.

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

Monday sees an Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League (BUML) at Yeronga AFL Club off Cansdale St and Annerley Junior Soccer in Greenslopes off Victoria Terrace. New teams are regularly forming, and 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 usually 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, Plastic Scourgery, 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 up to 50% of the League is non-students - so really anyone is 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.

Thursday night features the Open A-League (known at the Brisbane Premier League of BPL) at Annerley Junior Soccer Fields off Victoria Terrace, Greenslopes. 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.

There are also regular Leagues kicking off at the moment at Townsville and on the Gold Coast.

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 form that event (most recently, The Pass, Dojo Mojo, Thor and Minx).

Groups of Brisbane players also routinely form for Mixed Nationals in October, and various other tournaments around Australia. Mixed Nationals 2008 will be held in Brisbane (see links). Best known are Bootius Maximus and the Lounge Lizards.

Tournaments
A lot of Ultimate is built around weekend tournaments. These are usually accompanied by a big party, and are a great way to develop your on and off field game!

March sees 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. Nationals 2009 is planned for Perth.

May traditionally features the Fight the Phat mixed hat - open to all comers.

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. Brisbane will be hosting Mixed Nationals in 2008.

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).

KGSC Ultimate League Hucks Off!

Round 1 of the Kelvin Grove State College Senior School Ultimate League was played this Friday afternoon.

The School has 4 houses and each will play each week through Term 2, and we'll be endevouring to keep you up with the scores and table.

This week the Herbert Hawks faced the Bowen Bulldogs and got the points due to a Bowen forfit. Hebert then won the fun game they played against the Bowen + ring ins 6 to 4.

Meanwhile the Lutwyche Lions defeated an understrength the Petrie Panthers 8 to 3.

Looks like a cracking season ahead!

We've had a bit of a go at some logos so you can get to know the teams and their colours, but if the real thing is out there or someone reckons they can do better, let us know!



And here's the table (early days yet though!):

Anniversary

On 2 May 2007, here on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog, there was this post.

Twelve months and 287 posts later, we're still going. Who'd a thunk it!?

Thanks to the people who comment, to the 70-80 or so daily readers Google Analytics tells me we have, to the 4,368 people who've dropped by since 1 January 2008, to our blogging arch-foes Simon and Tiger and Semfel and the squad at Ulti-talk, to Rubes and Rena for starting the blog in the first place and then inviting me on board, and of course to the occasional person who walks up to me and says "That bit was good/nice/funny, Jase!"

Yeah Brisbane Ultimate.

The MinXperience - Nats08

So we're starting to clean out the camera ... lets start with a few pics of Minx.

Ange shows off the new Minx strips:

The Minx girls give the Indies a group hug.

Jen offers a live human baby as a sacrifice to the Spirit Goddess.

Kel prefers to grab a bit of Minx over touching the aerobics instructor to her right.

Tippy Toes

So with the conclusion of the 'home and away' part of the BPL Season tonight, we'll soon feature the full round up of tipping for the season.

You need to have made at least a few rounds worth of tips to be included, but don't have to have tipped every week. So get those tips in for Round 10 today.