Pack Your Mess Kit

The inaugural Queensland Hat is on tomorrow.

All the info is at the Queensland Hat page. Regos have hit 98 as we speak - so the event is a success before the first disc is hucked!

Hopefully by now everyone turns up to tournaments with their own mess kit. If you haven't made this as natural as grabbing your cleats and sunscreen ... well now is the time!

Will Corey Be Queensland Ultimate's Movember Champion?

Our our highlighted lads, it looks like Corey has an unassailable lead, raising $159 for men's health.

You could always donate to Mansauce of course.

Slamtown Wins BPL Final

... that is all.

BPL Final Tonight (Weather Permitting)

So tonight is the Grandal Fin of the Brisbane Premier League.

In one corner, current champions the Dojo Mojo. Sure, they're the current champions, but they've lost more BPL Grand Finals than most.

In the other, the Slamtown Flatball Club will be sweating the call from Special about whether or not the fields are open or shut before they get in the cars and head north. The ground in Brisbane has been pretty dry, so lets hope Annerley has soaked up the overnight stuff and we don't get too much today. We also hope the Slammers all recovered from Kevvie putting on the white Marilyn dress to breathlessly sing 'Happy Birthday Mr President' last weekend.

Heroes deserve a mention of course made the rookie mistake of planning their end of season dinner for last Sunday, ensuring that it was the end of their season.

Here's the original registered roster for Slamtown: Michael Bienstock Abra Garfield Adrian Gepp James Larkin Nandor Locher Greg Orlando Stefan Rappazzo(c) Kevin Stahlman Phil Stocks isaac stone Rob Wiens Troy Zernike

And here's how the Dojo may line up: Peter Allen adam baker Ryan Black Stephen Cameron(c) Salvatore Colangelo Matthew Eastburn Sean Flanagan Andrew Lankowski Leon McIntyre Darren Shi Dan Walls David Watson

Assuming the game is on tonight, tips including scores are welcome.

Using More of the Web

One of the aspects of the 'off-the-field' part of our sport that we've always been a bit slack on (in the view from the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion) is knowing what people do between Ultimate games.

There's other sports out there where players become business partners, professional contacts, old boys networks and so forth. This helps those individuals get ahead, but interestingly it also opens up opportunities to further the sport itself through mutual connections and love.

There's no magic bullet for this, but its interesting to notice more and more Australian Ultimate players turning up on professional online networks like LinkedIn. Maybe if you're building your career, or want to work out a way to use our collective non-Ultimate time for the benefit of Ultimate, then get yourself on there.

USA Ultimate's nation-wide (and remember, its a very very big nation) tournament scoring system was broad to the Mansion's attention over the weekend at the AFDA Administrators Conference (more on that to come). Go check it out if you're not familiar - its cool and fun.

And if you haven't, you should go and check this out: http://www.theaudl.com/

And while its Monday morning, thanks to the fine welcome provided to the Mansion by the Heroes Ultimate Club at its awards night last night, and congrats to the awards winners.

First Aid at Tournaments

Its a frequently asked question for a tournament organiser - what do I do about First Aid at tournaments? While First Aid provision is mandatory and a no-brainer at big and competitive events like Nationals and Halibut, for other events, here's some thoughts.

TDs need to think about First Aid at Ultimate tournaments in terms of providing a focus for players to act quickly when someone gets injured, particularly if hospitalisation is a possibility. As a sport without referees, coaches and played by amateurs and run by volunteers, we generally don't have someone else watching a game and having responsibility for acting when someone is injured.

So, much like interpreting the rules, acting on injuries is everyone's responsibility (not just teammates, subs or friends). Games should stop for as long as is required (there's often a temptation to urge someone off the field so that the game can continue - resist this).

TD's can help by providing a focus for treatment, particularly a physical one in terms of a First Aid Station that is visible/known to all and mentioned during pre-event briefing.

(Side note - TD's who play their tournament should ALWAYS rig the draw so that they play right next to frisbee central and the First Aid Station, and are therefore nearby and can notice problems even while playing in their own game).

TD's can also help by focusing on flexibility in hot weather - if your tournament weather is looking hot, be very careful about heat exhaustion. Check out the AFDA's Hot Weather policies or talk to JdR about the things he's seen.

Folks often think first about getting St John's Ambulance Volunteers or some other dedicated first aider. This is appropriate for large events, both in terms of risk, and in terms of ameliorating the cost. A general rule of thumb for Ultimate seems to be day-long events of more than 150-180 players should closely consider getting St John's. More than 200 people and you should probably do it. The cost is something like $200-250/a day, you need to book at least six weeks ahead.

For a smaller event, a highly visible First Aid kit, ice and a good Captain briefing seems adequate. By Captain briefing, I mean that at least one person from every team should know:
- who the TD and/or delegated person for First Aid is and where they will be;
- where to find the First Aid kit and ice;
- where the nearest emergency room is;
- what their option is if their team doesn't have a car to drive someone to hospital.

Make sure your First Aid kit is properly stocked.

Remember, the most common part of First Aid at Ultimate tournaments is helping the injured person with decision making and then acting on that - should this injured person go to hospital, or at least not play any further? You often don't need much fancy training for that.

Green Ultimate

... no, not the Heroes Club.

A fella is doing a small uni research project on sustainability and Ultimate.

Perhaps you can spare 10 minutes to complete the survey?

[Some Off-hand Comments] Semi-Final: Buggers vs Dojo

It's that old showdown again, ye olde rivalry, the battle of the silver-backs.

Matt Ryan has been bragging that they've got Dojo figured out since last season. Basically, fast handling, jam it through the fence, and trap side-line on D. In other words, he thinks that their usual style trumps Dojo's usual style (Huck it to Pete, controversially re-invented this season as Huck it and Play D).

He may be right. Bugs certainly have the wood on Dojo this season. Steve Cameron described this season methodically: "Bugs beat us 15-3, and Heroes beat Bugs by a point twice, so technically Heroes are 11 points better than Dojo, but we beat Heroes.. What a season!"

While every other team in the comp had their statisticians working out what certain results may mean, Dojo seemed content to coast into the finals, and get Pete back. At one stage, Fatty got worried "We will make the finals, right?" We assured him that it was set in stone.

Pete's in for Dojo, Stu's out for Bugs, and we know these teams will use the same strats as usual.

[In Lieu of Interviews] Semi-Final: Slamtown vs Heroes

Slamtown have been closely guarding their mothers in the lead-up to this weeks final, following a mid-season barrage of threats coming from the Heroes Blog. In response, Stefan has said "Everyone's talking about the Heroes, but we haven't played them since Round 1, and what was the score? 15 to... the usual. Underwhelming."

Heroes will be going into battle with out the artillery of Bevan and Myall tonight. We haven't heard of any Slamtown casualties, aside from their pre-season losses of Jody and Al. Heroes have some hype after training with Firestorm again, and no doubt SFC have been training too, if lack of power rankings is any indicator. Do either of these sides have what it takes to go all the way this season? While the stoic Bugs and Dojo grind it out again on field 1, these two teams will be looking for fast movement and mongrel D, changing the tempo throughout. Matchups look good.

What We Know About Men ...

... is that they appreciate your support when they get around to doing Movember.

Donate to Corey (Cairns Ultimate)

Donate to Chris (Heroes Ultimate)

Donate to Mystery Dan (Griffith Ultimate)

Donate to MikeRick (Heroes Ultimate)

We will try to get some photos out of them ... so that there can be some judging in the final week. Don't forget to check out the Movember tag to see some past triumphs.

What I know about Women

During a Heroes bye in the BPL season, I completed a recon mission to Oakman park to check out the talent over there (and to throw with Jmac and Carl). The Women's League (WUFL) seemed to be an environment where any woman could come and improve their game with the likes of Kailtin, Sandra, Suze, Jo, Soph, Gio etc.

Teams looked pretty evenly balanced. The four teams were lead by:

Jo Ashdown - Wonder Women (Green)
Kaitlin Richards - Supertramp (Yellow)
Moulin Rouge - Giordana Rock (Red)
Titanium Nachos - Gemma Sherridan (Grey)

In the previous season, Wonder Woman was a creation of Robyn Dowley's, representing the Heroes club with some handy pickups (Sandra). This team finished 4th. All the teams made the semi's and they won 2 games in a row to take the premiership.

This season, a different looking Wonder Women team secured their place in a 1-week final series (1vs2) with Supertramp.

Kaitlin made the following statement in the lead-up to the big night:


Wonder women are out to fluke a grand final win again this season. Although based on results during round robin games it might be a little less flukey.

Supertramp will outclass their opponents before they even step onto the field with their 70's inspired cheers and supre inspired kit.

A bias pick would be Supertramp and an unbiased would be Supertramp.

All in all there will be no fiddle playing just some good fricking frisbee.

From all reports, it was the casual attitude of Sandra and Suze, suppliers of fine cidar, and the cidar education of Lauren Hutton that helped Wonder Women toward a second victory, disposing of the Tramps in fashion, 15-6. Yes, many a brew was shared throughout the season, and Lauren has been misquoted to have said "I drank a whole beer on the way from the car to the field".

That's all I know about women.

Looking Ahead - Northern Regionals aka Queensland Ultimate Championships 2012

So earlier this week QUDA put out the call for hosts to bid for the Queensland Ultimate Open/Women's Championships (aka Northern Regionals) and the Queensland Ultimate Mixed Championships (aka Halibut).

This seems as good a time as any to start some speculation commenting everyone (and of course, with BUML over JdR needs something else to blog about on Fridays).

Here's some triggers for your wild or not so wild thoughts.

Who's going to host, and where?

After the trip to Townsville in 2011, QUDA is getting Regionals back to SEQ, but that's a big space. The Griffith Club submitted their bid to host Regionals at Nathan to QUDA this morning (oo-yeah - inside gossip - we have our fingers everywhere here at the stately mansion!). There were rumours about the event going to the Gold Coast too. Sound good? Is anyone else bidding? What's important to a good bid? QUDA aims to confirm the hosts in early December.

Who's going to play?

Open division first. At the 'top end of town', Firestorm have started their season. Hopefully we'll see FS A and B again, or is that depending on whether or not the key Heroes players feel ready to stand on their own?

Slamtown and Townsville will no doubt turn fully up, to make things interesting in terms of who else qualifies for Nationals. Will 2012 see some B teams for these venerable groups?

At the newbie end of the scale - can Cairns make it under their own name (presumably grabbing a few stray Townsvill-ites?) Griffith's bid says that if they host they'll probably be able to enter a team for the first time, assuming their best players aren't lured elsewhere. Will the event being at the end of Week 2 of lectures enable enough time for some ambitious non-Firestorm UQ players to get a mob together? MattB is crossing his fingers for embers at Gympie and Toowoomba to burn ... can they ignite with the prospect of being able to tell their mums that they're going to the State Championships?

Meanwhile, the form of the Women's division each year has really depended on the level of ambition of key players. Black Betty will no doubt be there to do what they have to to qualify for Nationals, and before then be looking to hoover up the best players they can and the numbers to make their training sessions as good as they can be. Griffith's bid mentions running a Women's Hat on Saturday and then whatever qualification games are required on Sunday - is this the way to go?

Northern Regionals vs Queensland Ultimate Championships?

What's in a name? Northern Regionals has long been the name of the event within the Ultimate community, highlighting its role as the stepping stone towards Nationals. But then any member of the Australian public - including field hirers, sponsors, and your mum - understands the concept of a sport's State Championships.


Ok, let the informed and uninformed speculation begin!

What it means

Bugs vs Slamtown

OMG, freakin' huge battle!! Classic last round clash to decide top of the table.

Heroes vs Cobras

A Heroes win puts them 2nd or 3rd, which means they get Myall and Bev for the semi, so it's a little important.

Bandidos vs Blitz

If it rains tonight, these teams will be pissed. The clash they've been waiting for.

bout time for some power rankings

amirite?

Co-Mingled, Discheads win BUML17 Finals

It was a surprisingly blowy night at Griffith last night where the Division 1 Final between the UQ Lovers and Co-Mingled; and the Division 2 Final between What the Huck? and Discheads took place.

The 'old gringos' of Co-Mingled took the gusts in their stride, putting extra spin on the disc and taking advantage of the downwind hucks that were on offer, defeating an unhungover UQ by something like 17-5.

Meanwhile, the battle between the Discheads and WTH seemed to get most of the crowd attention, with the teams trading downwind points. The grey nomads however managed to get the break late in the evening, and won 12-11.

Spirit for Division 1 was awarded to Heroes, and Division 2 to the Griffith Go-Go's.