Uni Games - Day Two

Day Two saw teams fighting for survival and went a long way to deciding where teams would finish up the week.

UQ
UQ overcame the disappointment of losing their first game to win both games, against Macquarie (Sydney) and Australian National Uni (Canberra). These wins see them go into the super-awesome pool with the team that topped their pool (Flinders) and the 1st and 2nd placed teams for the other pool (Monash and Newcastle). Results yesterday:

UQ 15-4 MQU
UQ 15-7 ANU

GU
Griffith haven't had much love so far in the tournament. Their 2 games yesterday resulted in 2 more defeats, which sees them finish bottom of their initial pool. They had a heartbreaking loss to Melbourne on double-game point. They should now have more competitive games against teams of their own level. Results yesterday:

GU 10-11 MELB
GU 7-15 ANU

QUT
One good win and one touch up were QUT's results on day 2. They got the win over UWS to finish 2nd in their initial pool and stay alive in the competition, but then fell victim to a seeding error and lost 15-0 to the Kiwis. Still in the hunt for a medal though, but may now be aiming for the bronzed colour one. Results yesterday:

QUT 15-6 USW
QUT 0-15 NZVUW

Tune in tomorrow to find out who is still in the hunt to come home with some bling.

Uni Games - Day One

Rather than having you all trawl through the scores trying to make head or tail of how the Queensland teams are going down the Gold Coast we decided to fulfil some more of our court ordered community service and give you a summary of what has happened so far:

UQ
Two of the big favourites for the title, UQ & Flinders, are in the same pool and faced off yesterday in their first game. Unfortunately for UQ, they went down 12-9. They recorded 2 strong wins to finish off the day and keep their title hopes on track. Results so far:

UQ 9-12 Flinders
UQ 15-4 UTS
UQ 13-2 UWA

GU
The home town kids look to possibly be out of their depth in division one. Having said that, they may have been far to strong for division two. Haven't had the best luck on the field so far, but will probably be having much better luck at the parties. Results so far:

GU 3-15 Uni of Sydney
GU 3-15 Uni of Ballarat
GU 1-15 Monash

QUT
Started out with a loss to UniSA/Adelaide (are these guys eligible to win the title? Anyone know?) then a win against Australian College of Physical Education, QUT needs to win their final pool game to keep themselves alive. Should be able to do that against a team that has lost to QUT's previous 2 opponents. Results so far:

QUT 3-14 UniSAdelaide
QUT 11-6 ACPE

More details to follow as they come to hand.

Become a Genuine Queensland Champion

We know that most of you readers out there are Queenslanders, and when we see you around we're happy to call you "Champ" 'cos it makes you feel good.

But as for many of us we'll not be winning the Halibut (aka Queensland Ultimate Championships) any time soon, in a few weekend's time you'll get a second shake of the sauce bottle at the Queensland Disc Golf Championships!

There are two events over the weekend:

Saturday 17 October sees the "Our Darling" tournament at the Yeronga Disc Gold Course. This is the one for new disc-golfers and those who think they're pretty good with the old Ultra-star (aka the disc used for Ultimate). 18 holes, with registration from 2.30pm and tee off at 3.30pm. Cost is $5 (to cover insurance and prizes). There'll be Open and Women's Divisions, to double your chances of becoming the champion!

Then Sunday 18 October is for your slightly more serious disc golfer (but all are very very welcome), with the "Chocolate to Die For" Cup. This one includes a morning and afternoon round (so two lots of 18 holes), with registration from 9.30am and tee-off for the first round from 10.15am (second round at 2.30pm). $10 for the full day.

BPL 2009-2 Round 6 Results

We're a bit late due to technical difficulties, but here they are none-the-less.

Blogging Is for the Neanderthals, But What the Heck

... at least as far as the Australian University Games goes this week.

Everyone's following twitter.

Best of luck to our three Queensland teams:

• The Queensland University of Technology QUTies. Roster. Go QUTies.

Simmo's comments: QUT are a bit far removed from the glory days of Mike Neild, Beth Rougier and some kids called Wetnose and Jangles, but they have a enthusiastic and energetic team that learned a lot at the 2008 event. With the addition of Firestorm's Reece Stewart, they should factor in the top few.

Our comments: Any team with Jangles as a dedicated non-playing manager is sure to be well juiced and fed. Expect them to win quite a few in Div 2.

• The Griffith University GUerillas. Roster. Boo yah sic boom schmoke that pancake GUerillas!

Simmo's comments: Moving north now, we come to locals Griffith Uni. After two years languishing around the bottom of the table, 2009 has seen the sport establish a strong foothold in the Gold Coast and the squad should have a lot more depth than before. Joining stalwarts Mike and Terri Morgan this year are Tatiana Maya and Tom "Cupcake" Tulett who will give them the handling experience they missed sorely last year when Stefan Rappazzo went back to the Land Of The Moose. Whether they have a structured set-up, or just let Cupcake run loose and keep out of his way, will remain to be seen.

Our comment: Home team, drinks hardest. If they take you home, know you're probably not having to share a room with some team-mates.

• The University of Queensland Ultimate Lovers. Here's the roster. Yeah Lovers.

Simmo's comments from his 23 team preview: And now to look at the team that science has proved cannot survive in temperatures below 22 degrees Celsius - UQ Lovers. Like 2007, they enter the tournament as an early favourite led by John McNaughton. It will be fairly predictable of them to, in crunch times, get the disc to John or Al Don who will jack it at Will Churchill or Julian Sacre. However Megan Barnes and Blair Sheard will provide good reason for them to stop looking off their girls. Provided everyone stays fit they should be playing off for some bling on Friday.

Our comment: Senior representatives from the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion have set aside their Friday to go down to the fields, and expect to see UQ playing ....

Here's a Tip

Link of the week, for those using them old Nalgene and Sigg water bottles (not too common on the sidelines these days).

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/09/08/sigg/

Letter from John

Ladies and gents,

Next week, the Australian University Games will be held on the Gold
Coast. This is a multi-sport event for uni athletes. Ultimate is one of
the sports at this event.

This is essentially the national university championships, with 23 unis
from around the country fighting it out for the crown. The tournament
runs from Monday to Friday, all day (roughly 9-5) with the exception of
Friday (which will finish mid afternoon). It's all happening at the
Runaway Bay Sports Complex, at the north end of the Coast, around 50 min
from Brisbane city.

UQ, QUT and Griffith will be sending teams to this event, and we'd love
to see some of the local Ulti community down to watch, support and
heckle. It will be a great time - watch some Ultimate, hang out with a
whole group of frisbee players, and enjoy a day at the Coast. If you've
got a chance, come on down and say g'day.

Cheers all.
And go UQ.

John
#10 UQ Ultimate Lovers

Caught in the Middle of a Railroad Track ...

Hope everyone's been checkin' out the new u19's Australian blokes website - http://thunderstruckultimate.com/

Lovefest 4 Wrapup

Thanks to super-Lindsay and Nathan for emailing their Lovefest Wrapup - makes it great while the Brisbane Ultimate Blog's "vaguely low content period" continues (sorry about that).

-------------------------------------

"Firstly thank you to everyone that played!! paid! and enjoyed themselves at Lovefest IV "Looking for Love" I was very sad to have to leave for work in the afternoon and not finish the day in a loving way.

Sorry for the delay in results but i heard everyone was so keen to go see fireworks and F1-11's that they didn't hang around for the announcements and results...
but here we go anyway.
With 4 wins from 4 games - winners of Lovefest IV 2009 are UQ ULTIMATE LOVERS

1. UQ Ultimate Lovers
2. Mind the Gap
3. Slamtown
4. Delirium
5. Trevor got lost at QUT then went to Lovefest
6. UQ Lovefestival
7. Valencia Orange

Spirit (SOTG) Results*^#:
1. Valencia Orange (0/4) - 101.4%
2. Trevor got lost at QUT then went to Lovefest(4/4) - 93.1%
3. UQ Ultimate Lovers (1/4) - 81.5%
4. Mind the Gap (4/4) - 80.6%
5. Slamtown (4/4) - 77.8%
6. UQ Lovefestival (3/4) - 75.0%
7. Delirium (4/4) - 72.2%

*The numbers in () are the number of score sheets returned out of 4 games. Some old hat Lovers should know better and the new kids on the block might want to try handing one in at the next tourney just to know that they are at the games ;-)

^plus 100% is due to 1 team giving them 25/18

# spirit prize will be shared by VO and TQUT at BUML (the Heroes club stomping ground) and at AUG (a night of prepartying) due to lack of score sheets and above 18 scores

And as for MVPs - 14 way tie for males - more score sheets would help.
Female - MISA USHIKUBO from VO

Finally please fill in our tourney survey - it will help us put on a better tourney for you guys in the future.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspxsm=_2fE2DjOu5Nn_2bIWmuNcyjkZA_3d_3d

Thanks,
Lindsay and Nathan"

BPL 2009-2 Round 6 Draw

Free Sessions for New Women Players

Here's the link to send your lady friends - http://www.ourbrisbane.com/lifestyle/health-sport-and-fitness/2701888.learn-to-play-ultimate-frisbee-women-only

Thoughts on Ultimate Line Officials

So if I can offer 2c on the debate currently underway on the aus-ultimate yahoogroup list (and no doubt in various other forums) on WFDF’s (via the hardworking Rubes and Pottsy monster), interest in introducing line assistants.

One point is that it helps spectators a lot, particularly at a really big and noisy event, and moreso when there are lots of people who aren’t familiar with the game, and/or don’t have a deep insight into a particular player's body language (“He's breathing, so he’s called a foul”). But as John Greenfield points out (amongst no doubt others), you don’t need an official to do that. A sideline commentator or boundary rider could do that. So file that away in your “list of things to do when we have a big game”, along with ice-cream and matching shorts and socks.

One concern is whether the Ultimate culture is strong enough to develop a completely unique view of what an on-field official is, and withstand the wider community understanding of what a sporting official does. An Ultimate line assistant is established as something completely different to the officials you see in other sports (referees, linesmen, umpires, etc). To someone who does nothing but play Ultimate, this might be workable. But to anyone who does anything else (such as coming from another sport where they do have referees, or being a spectator of a sport that has referees (ie practically the rest of the sporting universe), you’re going to import the concepts of what a sporting official does.

I think only the very elite of Ultimate, not in terms of the greatest athletes but in terms of people who have the most familiarity with the rules and the confidence and force of personality to apply them (as well as the respect of other members of the very elite), and possibly one who has an experience of playing very big games in front of big crowds and with the event being recorded etc etc, would be able to stick long term to the concept of just asking an Ultimate line official for an opinion. For the remaining 99.5% of the Ultimate community, it would be very very hard to overcome the cultural conditioning of having an official to appeal to.

By the way, if you’re going to turn around and ask an Ultimate line assistant if the disc landed in or out, why not ask the dozens of substitute players lining up and down the sidelines (at big games), or a nearby spectator? Has this approach been a real problem in the past (outside of say the World Games, where there are only a few subs and no knowledgeable spectators on the sideline)?

As an aside, I’m intrigued by the value of a single (or maybe 2 or 3) of trial games at Mixed Nats. Sure, you’ve got to start somewhere, but is this going to tell you anything? Presumably WFDF will need to trial it at least dozens of times before moving forward.

So leaving aside that this little black duck has very little say and even less likelihood of ever being involved in a game where an Ultimate line official was used, I really only see value in Ultimate line assistants if they are really only used in the biggest of games, and only if they completely don’t look like officials.

Maybe give them some other jobs to do like moving spectators a reasonable distance back, or clicking over the scoreboard, putting cones back into position, chasing discs that go out. Make them game helpers rather than officials.

Small aside: And to those who say that Ultimate line officials can help with the players not necessarily knowing the rules very well. There’s an absolute shitload that can be done to improve player’s knowledge of the rules, and really, the various managing bodies need to think about doing a whole lot more about this. At the least, despite the advantages at the top level of fixing the tiny problems that come up, I do wish WFDF would STOP releasing updated rules every year or two.

Monday Night - BUML Winter Season Wrapup

Mansauce asked for a bit of coverage of the recent Monday night Mixed League Final.

Alas, our efforts to find someone to blog on BUML has alas come to nought. Any new volunteers?

Fortunately the ongoingly-awesome Notty Nott has posted a season summary via email, which we reproduce here.

Season 2 wrap up:

Thanks to all the spectators that helped make our finals a success. The fund raising BBQ added to the festivities: thanks to the members of Delirium who ran it.

Thanks to all my helpers for the season:
All Captains
Chris Fox -player co-ordinator
Adilia - fields, payments, and reminder
JDR - fields and admin. Esp getting field maintenance sorted.
everyone who did anything to help

DIV1: Congrats to Dyspnoeics winning DIV1 final after a massive comeback in the last 10minutes. Backing up their DIV2 win of last season. Plastic Scourgery shook off their injury prone season to play solidly and should by congratulated for being in every DIV1 final so far.

DIV2: Congrats to Kevin Grove for dominating the final against Baby Chimis.

Final ladder:
DIV1:
Dyspnoeics
Plastic Scougery
Wushi Finger
Hold/Chimis
QUTies
Mellow Yellow

DIV2:
1st Kelvin Grove Cougars
2nd Baby Chimis
3rd ExQuisite and Mellow Yellow
5th Fresh fries
6th Dyspnoeics
7th Bermuda
8th QUTies
9/10th Poachers and Heros (Tied game)
11th Pandemic (The Grefs)
12th Agent Orange

Spirit:
Mellow Yellow took out both divisions, keeping up their tradition of winning spirit. But it was hotly contested by Wushi then Dyspnoeics in DIV1 and Poachers and Bermuda (if they had finished score sheets) in DIV2.

MVP: (still have your prize for most of you -so collect it off me)
DIV1:
Male MVP - Jangles aka Adam Beu from QUTies
Female MVP - Jess from Dyspnoeics
Almost took out MVP: Notty (Dyspnoeics) , Blair (Wushi), James larkin(Dysp) , Buzz (chimis).

DIV2:
Male MVP: Ben Hutchinson from QUTies
Female MVP: Sofie from Fresh Fries
Almost took out MVP: Sam Bird(QUTies) , Notty (poachers), Leticia(Dyspnoeics) , Clare P (ExQuisiTe), travis(dysp) , roger (poachers), Reece (fresh fries), Mike Nolan, Kev (ExQuisiTe), George Salisbury, alex(fresh fries).

See you next season

754

You may have noticed things are a bit quiet around the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion this week.

Its probably because on the weekend, Wetnose and I noted that we'd hit post number 750 for the Brisbane Ultimate Blog.

So yeah, we had ourselves a little virtual party.

Now, be quiet.

This is post 754.

Understanding Field Maintenance

Because of unanticipated field maintenance, tomorrow's LOVEFEST has been moved from JF O'Grady Fields at Fairfield to AJSC Soccer Fields off Baron St in Greenslopes (where BUML and BPL are played).

Which gives us an opportunity to illuminate ye readers on the adventures of field maintenance in Brisbane.

So each year for the past many years, Ultimate around this time of the year has been heavily disrupted by a mysterious thing called "field maintenance", which typically involves the seemingly sudden closure of fields. "Why is this so?" many Ulti-players have screamed. "Why am I missing out on many precious weeks of League play at this gorgeous time of year!?"

Most of the winter sports that we hire fields from are finishing at this time of year, and a few of the otherwise-exhausted volunteers who manage the soccer and footy fields tend to see their fields at the end of the season as very beaten up compared to the start of the season, so they start to think about doing a bit of field maintenance.

Field maintenance can involve driving a spiky tractor over the grass to let some air in, spreading topsoil or sand or fertiliser over the fields, watering them heavily, laying new turf on particularly damaged areas (such as goal-mouths) or just stopping anyone from using them at all and giving them a rest. Doing it around now gives the soccer and footy fields a break over summer, when soccer and footy players assume nobody else would be silly enough to go running around in the sun (obviously not many of them have met Ultimate players).

Many of the fields around Brisbane are owned by the Brisbane City Council, but are on long term lease to use to various sports clubs. Two that QUDA deals with regularly are the Annerley Junior Soccer Club (AJSC, and operators of the AJSC Fields), and the Brisbane Rugby League Referees Association (operators of the JF O'Grady Fields).

Brisbane City Council offers "free" topsoiling/topsanding to the field operators (for the Council, this just maintains the value of their (and its ratepayers') asset. The catch is the Council wants to do this cheaply, so Clubs essentially provide Council with the last date of their winter season, and Council does the work when it can after that (and this can be any time - say there's a big storm, then their workers will be busy for the week with the cleanup, so they won't do any field work that week).

This whole "any time" thing has caught Ultimate out a few times in the past, and its got us again this weekend with Lovefest. The JFOG folks took our booking months ago and figured we'd be fine, but they finished their season (the Refs use the fields for their training) two weeks ago, and last week the Council dumped a kilo-metric ass-load of sand on the fields (as those playing the Reckless day will attest). The Council should follow this up with water-trucks, but apparently they've had other things on.

So JFOG isn't in the best shape, and as part of QUDA's efforts to have excellent relationships with its field providers, we're arranged to move Lovefest to AJSC. The JFOG operators didn't really want us on the fields, but they were happy to keep their commitment to hire it to us, but its kept them happy that we've found somewhere else, and we're happy because we'll probably have a better day (and know that JFOG will be in good condition in the future).

Meanwhile, and fortunately for those who play BPL and BUML at the Annerley Junior Soccer Fields, this year things for Leagues won't be as disrupted as previous years, where there have been sudden stoppages of 3-4 weeks of League.

AJSC and the Annerley Recreation Club (who sit above the Juniors and Seniors), have decided to do their own maintenance this year, rather than rely on the Council. This is at least partly because the soccer clubs are starting to recognise Ultimate is an important partner (or at least, as an important customer) and they are more inclined these days to work with us on this (this is thanks to QUDA's and the League Directors efforts to improve the information flows between the organisations).

So this year AJSC are planning to close one of their soccer fields for a month, and let us keep playing on the other one, and then switch that over. Which means that BUML and BPL will be able to continue through the period (although with a little bit of less space for BUML).

So, there's some insight into what happens in the backrooms of this time of year, and perhaps why there's a few little changes happening to our year-around sport, as the other (lamer of course) sports try to deal with the change of season.

BPL 2009-2 Round 5 Results

Shocking round for tippers with only 25% of correct tips, significantly lowering the record set last week. Tipping table and some points on the tipping so far will be out in the coming days/week.

BPL 2009-2 Round 5 Draw

Looking for a Few Good Women (well, a lot, ideally)

Brisbane Ultimate Women's Month begins TONIGHT!

September is women's month in Brisbane. What does that mean? Women's month is a series of skill development sessions aiming to cater for women's of all levels of experience (never played before as well!).

Those of us in stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog manor totally love Women's Month. It's awesome.

Dates: 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th September
Location: Oakman Park, Crn Union St and Mogill Road, Toowong
Time: 7-9pm
Cost: $5 a session (to be paid on the night)
Bring: Water bottle, running shoes/soccer cleats
REGISTRATION:In order for us to plan the sessions adequately please register withyour AFDA number at:http://www.afda. com/rego/ showcompetition. php?competitioni d=708

Looking for Love in All the Right Places

So the fourth annual Lovefest, hosted by the ever fabulous UQ Lovers, is set to steam up the windows this Saturday!

When: Saturday 12 September. Game on at 9am, so aim to be there before that.
Where: JF O'Grady Field, near the corner of Fairfield Road and Victoria St, Fairfield. There have now been several Ulti-tournaments there this year, so it should be familiar to the regulars. Fairfield Railway station is a five minute walk away.
How Much: $25 gets you fields, lunch, BBQ dinner, party, insurance and love!

It really really helps with catering and all if you register. Registering also means you are covered by the injury insurance, and the organisers are covered by public liability insurance etc.

Most of the crew will be heading in on the train or bus to check out Riverfire.

Going on the rego site, there still seems to be room for players on both the University teams and the 'real world people' teams.

Email any questions to Nathan - natman82(at)gmail.com or Lindsay - l.olimer(at)hotmail.com

We'll be posting our team preview later in the week ...

Elite Development in Queensland

So John McNaughton has retired at the Elite Development Coordinator for QUDA.

Thanks for all the work John. Hope you enjoy sitting back and relaxing *shuckle*.

Nominations are now out there being invited for the new EDC.

The position description mentions the EDC should:
- Be the point of contact for of all QUDA related elite development activities.
- Develop an annual Elite Development calendar of events.
- Liaise with AFDA and interstate elite development coordinators.
- Facilitate the representation of Queensland teams at National and international events, including arrangement of qualification events, as required.
- Communicate interstate opportunities for event participation.
- Works with Clubs to foster their long term development.
- Liaise with groups to coordinate/foster training and development opportunities for experienced players.

We here in the Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion suspect that the best part of the role is not having to deal with "newbies" - ie you're not trying to teach anyone anything. On the other hand, the worst part of the role is probably having to deal with "oldies" - ie there's plenty of folks who feel doing it their way is the way to go.

Certainly, we here in the Mansion will be offering our 2c when the time arises!

Congrats MattA!

So mighty Matt Anscomb tied the knot on the weekend. Congratulations.

MattA is the best example we in the mansion have seen of "retirement from Ultimate due to impending nuptuals".

We hope the honeymoon lasts forever, Matt! But if you get the chance, we hope to see you on the field again some time!

BPL 2009-2 Round 4 Results

This week saw a big shake up in the tipping table with only 44% of tips being correct this week. This was mainly a result of the upset by Dojo (upset according to the tippers at least) and the indecision in tipping the other game, that resulted in only Pete (yes, Pete!) getting 100% correct tips, and also saw Jdr get on the board to now be 1 out of 8 for the season.

We will publish an interim table after next weeks games to show how things are going at the half way mark of the season. Prior to this week we had a number of people on 100%, but now there are only 2 left (neither of which tipped this week, or have tipped much at all). Remember the rules that state there are a minimal number of weeks need to be tipped.

BPL 2009-2 Round 4 Draw

Can Jdr get some tipping points on the board this round?