What you didn't know about JdR

It's time to shine the spotlight on the champion of this blog over the last few years. Even since his retirement to the pool room, JdR has managed to permeate this new-look blog, just as he remains busy busy busy in all Ultimate affairs.

Recently, Jason was received one of the greatest honours for contribution to our spot. At Nationals, he was presented with the Rob Hancock Award. Rob Hancock was a man who made massive contributions to Western Australian and National Ultimate from the period of 1979 until his untimely death in 1984. He pulled together AFDA in the Great Unification of The Autonomous States in the early 1980's and was a legend on the field.

Apparently there is a write up on AFDA about Rob, but BEWARE!! If you go searching for it, you may never return!!

Here's the nomination justification for JdR:

Jason came late into the sport of Ultimate at the age of 30. He started playing two days after moving to Canberra in February 2001 and has played ever since. He had originally been introduced to the sport in the mid-90’s by Stu McGlashan at UQ, but stupidly decided to stick with soccer.

By mid 2001 he was directing the local ACTUA League and in 2003 became President, remaining in the position until he went overseas in 2004. During the period 2002 to 2004, Jason ran several leagues and tournaments, and was a member of the 2003 Australian Ultimate Championships TOC. For a good part of this period, Jason was ‘Mr Frisbee’ in Canberra.

In late 2002, Jason became involved in national administration of Ultimate when he became editor of the AFDA Newsletter, delivering 17 quarterly issues over the period to late 2006 – including while he was living in the UK in 2004/2005. The newsletters were a massive amount of work, providing a balanced combination of news from national teams and local leagues, as well as the less serious side of the sport (will we ever know who Secret Squirrel is?). It is a tribute to JdR’s efforts that the quarterly newsletters have now been replaced by an annual magazine.

Upon return to Australia and Brisbane in mid 2005, Jason joined the AFDA Board through a casual vacancy, before formal election in 2006. 2006 also saw World Clubs in Australia, with Jason forming and leading the ’74 Flood Queensland Masters team to Nationals 2006 and then onto World Clubs. Jason has competed at Australian Championships on five occasions and was also a member of the first ever Australian Masters team that competed at Worlds in Finland in 2004;.

In 2007, Jason assumed the role of secretary which he remained in until his resignation at the 2010 AGM as one of the AFDA’s longest serving directors. During his period on the board, Jason was one of the most active board members, contributing to many key decision on the national level. Jason was the key driver behind the creation and revision of the AFDA’s safe play policies – as well as many of the AFDA’s promotional activities (such as Wide World of Sports at Nationals in 2008). Jason ensured the smooth running of many prominent AFDA functions, including the AFDA and RHA awards for 2005-2009, and the Annual Reports for five years running (2005 to 2009). Jason’s period of five years on the Board.

Jason’s departure from the national scene was prompted in part by his causal paid role as CEO of QUDA, staring mid 2008. In addition to this role, Jason continued to make important contributions as a volunteer to the sport of Ultimate, from forming local and regional teams for tournaments, and in February 2010, helping to establish the Griffith Nathan Ultimate Frisbee Club which boasts near to 40 members after twelve months. D

uring this period, Jason has also been among the most prolific Australian bloggers of Ultimate, with his Brisbane Ultimate Blog possibly the most notable blog for our sport in Australia. Jason has made over 1000 posts over the period 2007-2010, with a further 50 or posts on afda.com

Over the past decade, Jason has been one of the most active and dedicated volunteers in the sport of Ultimate. While he’s in no way short of initiative himself, if you needed something done – Jason would find time to do it and then give you a dozen extra ideas while doing it. He is a deserving recipient of the award and I strongly recommend his nomination to the Board.