Halibut TD EOI

Straight from our glorious QUDA prez to you:


Ladies and gents,

Halibut will be back in 2013, fresh from its Tournament of the Year award, and it needs some help! Stefan Rappazzo has done a great job with it for a couple of years, but has stepped back in light of other commitments this year.

This is a call for Expressions of Interest for a Halibut Tournament Director (TD).

You're welcome to nominate as an individual, or as a group or club (with a key contact person).
The TD's job is to arrange the event from the ground up, and ensure it runs smoothly.
You will have support from the QUDA committee, whether this be in decision making, administration, budgeting, etc. There are plenty of people with considerable frisbee & TD experience that you'll be able to draw on.

This year's Halibut will serve as the AMUC (Mixed Nationals) qualifying tournament for Southern Queensland.
After considering the timing of various events that affect local players, the date is now August 24-25.
The location may be either Brisbane or the Gold Coast, to be decided once the TD is appointed.

Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for the Halibut TD role are due by midnight next Friday 12 April.
Your EOI does not need to be long, but should describe your Ultimate background, your experience in running tournaments/events, and the reasons why you want to do it/would be suited to it.

EOIs should be sent to quda-executive@yahoogroups.com
Questions can also be sent to the same address.

Cheers all.
John
(QUDA prez)

Ye Olde Order Changeth!

From the Desk of JdR

Long time readers of the Brisbane Ultimate Blog may remember this post.

And here we are some years later, and I've resigned the job. I flagged the change with the QUDA Executive just after the AGM at the State Championships, and have now emailed all and sundry.

Time for the break that I was originally planning to have when I was finishing up all the AFDA Board stuff way back then!

I should write a big long look at what worked and didn't, who to thank, and all that. But, its time for a break. Maybe it'll all come out in dribs and drabs on your favourite blog. Maybe something else will happen. I must've done a reasonable job, as nobody really called 'check feet' that I can recall!

Anyway, keep on bloggin'.

Queensland Open Championships Cleanup

We just thought we'd best pop our heads up from the Multi-Screen Operations Centre and Post-Nuclear Vault, where we've been crunching the results and numbers from the weekend's Queensland Open Ultimate Championships to give a quick report.

Administration
Several people haven't paid (we think). If you know this is you, please email JdR to arrange electronic payment. We may know who you are, and its never fair that everyone else gets around to paying and you don't. We're sorry we weren't more focused on this during the day, but we decided its better to run the tournament! ;)

Lost Property
Here's a photo of the lost property that made it back to the stately mansion (click to embiggen). Email JdR if you see something that's yours. If you've lost something else, take it to the comments or the email lists.

Photos
A few people saw WhattheTim taking some pix - he's stuck them up over here http://www.flickr.com/photos/75735894@N07/

Final Results
1. Firestorm (automatic qualification for Nationals)
2. Slamtown Flatball Club (99% certain to get Wildcard 1 to Nationals)
3. Firestorm Ignition (95% certain to get Wildcard 2 to Nationals)
4. Gympie G-Force
5, Griffith Heroes
6. Towns Villains

Spirit of the Game
1. Griffith Heroes 8.5
=2. Towns Villains 8
=2. Gympie G-Force 8
=4. Slamtown Flatball Club 7.6
=4. Firestorm Ignition 7.6
6. Firestorm 7.5

Most Valuable Player
7 points - Dan Cohen (Griffith)
6 points - Matt Finn (Villains)
4 points -Chris Brown (Ignition), Trevor Lovering (Firestorm), Sean Beveridge (Villains)
3 points - Dan Mammel (Firestorm), Jordan Stone (Slamtown)
44 of 84 players received MVP points - well done!

Queensland Open Championships and Women's Hat

Everything You Need to Know About the Big Tournament This Weekend

Dates: Open (Mens) Saturday 3 March and Sunday 4 March
Women Saturday 3 March (one dayer)
Where: Griffith Sports Fields, Kessels Rd, Nathan.
Across the road from QEII Hospital.
Time: Gates open 7.45am. Games start at 9am. Games finish around 4.30-5.15pm. Cost: Women’s Hat - $20
Open (Mens) - $60 two days, $30 one day
Payment: Open - please pay your fees to your Captain before the event.
If in doubt, please transfer to the QUDA Events Account (with some
identifying details) at BSB 034 000 Acc 515472
Women’s – You can pay via bank transfer to above, or cash on the day.
Includes: Fields, Insurance, Lunches both days, Fruit, Prizes, Party, Bar Tab,
Pizza plus some other stuff. There will be a canteen selling cold
cold sports drinks and a few other goodies.
Party Who: Is open to all QUDA Members (ie if you can’t play the weekend, you’re
still welcome to come along. We ask that you don’t use the bar tab though).
Party Where: Uni Bar, Building N71, Corner West Creek Road and Science Road,
Griffith Nathan
Party Times: Doors open from 6pm, Pizza from 6.30pm, Doors close and head
for the City (or home) at 10.30pm.
Party Theme: I SEE RED. You MUST be wearing red or have red hair to access the bar tab.

Please register so we can make sure there’s enough food:
- Open http://afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=1950
- Women http://afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=2021

QUDA Confirms Queensland Women's Fun Hat - Saturday 3 March

QUDA has announced the Queensland Women's Fun Hat will be held on Saturday 3 March, from 9am-5pm, at the Griffith University Sports Fields, off Kessels Rd , Nathan.

The cost of the day is $20, and this includes fields, insurance, lunch and prizes. The fee also includes joining the menfolk (who'll be playing on the field next door) at the party on Saturday night, as well as BBQ lunch if you want to watch the Open Final on Sunday afternoon.

The event is aimed at Queensland Women Ultimate players of all levels – from people having their first ever go, through to Australian representatives. QUDA’s objective is to ensure everyone attending has a great day, and over time to grow the Queensland Women’s Ultimate scene. The event replaces the Women's Division of Northern Regionals. We anticipate running the Fun Hat for a few years until demand for qualification to Women's Nationals grows beyond two teams.

There is no better way to get new women involved and to improve women’s skills in Ultimate (which is often played in the mixed format) than to play a women’s-only event.

QUDA’s investment in the event includes:
- subsidising the player fee down to $20, to make it attractive to as many players as possible;
- supporting several women from North Queensland flying down to play the event - yay, new ladies!
- preparing and distributing ‘women friendly’ promotional materials - http://quda.org/quda-promotional-material/

QUDA hopes that all experienced Brisbane Women players will join us in growing the scene, welcoming our female guests from Townsville, Cairns, the Gold Coast and Gympie, and having a great time!

Please register at http://afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=2021 so that QUDA can feed you properly and so that you are insured. If you are new to Ultimate, it is free to join the Australian Flying Disc Association, which then enables you to register for events like this one.

Other States are Doing It, Why Not Queensland?

So, UFNSW have announced that they are increasing their league and tournament fees, to help continue employing a Development Officer. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nsw-ultimate/message/5653

Which brings us to an important question.

Should QUDA increase the cost of Ultimate in Queensland to employ a Development Officer?

By our rough estimate, funding a part-time QUDA Development Officer would involve something like increasing the typical League fee by $10/season, and the typical tournament fee by $2.50 per day.

The QUDA Executive, being volunteers with limited time, asked that this discussion be focused here on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog, which has the capacity to host lots of comments (including anonymous ones, which of course are read but maybe not given the weight of those by real people), because they don't really want to read and reply to dozens of emails or have people in their face at game time. So please respect their time and stick to discussing the *idea* here (at least for a while!)

So, the QUDA Executive has been thinking about this for a while and has run some figures through the Atari2600 here at the stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion (see below). In the lead-up to QUDA’s Annual General Meeting on 3 March, its worth discussing, at the least to give some views for the 2011-2012 Executive to consider as they go into their 2011-2012 planning.

Development Officers in Other States

Ultimate Frisbee NSW have had a full-time Development Officer for about two years. The position has been very successful, a testament to getting the right person and that person working very hard! The annual cost to UFNSW is about @$46k. As it is roughly understood here at the mansion, UFNSW initially funded this position primarily through its deep savings over many years, generated through its main source of income – running the massive Sydney Northern Suburbs League (500+ players over three seasons annually, for many many years). The Development Officer also ‘makes’ money to support the position, in that coaching services are provided to schools for a fee. UFNSW were also able to gain a small grant that contributed to their capacity to fund the job. (UFNSW of course also makes money from other things (disc sales, interest) and spends money on other things, but this is roughly how they’re able to do it. Check out UFNSW’s finances for 2010-2011 at: http://ufnsw.com.au/admin/documents/20110630_ProfitLoss.pdf

Ultimate Victoria and WAFDA also have development officers. There is a bit of variation between the details of the roles from place to place (and we invite them to comment in), but generally their roles aim to a) generate income to help pay for their positions, either through grants or paid services (such as coaching) and b) grow the long term membership of the Ultimate organisation in their state, primarily by ‘getting Ultimate into schools’ and then getting those people into Ultimate Leagues and Tournaments (including helping them set up their own Leagues and Tournaments).

The QUDA Executive’s desire to investigate and see if we can avoid falling further behind the other states has also been stimulated by a detailed proposal from a prominent local Ultimate player to become QUDA’s Development Officer, who has a long history of growing the sport through schools and other work.

QUDA's Finances and Capacity to Employ

QUDA’s finances are unlike these other states. QUDA does not run major Leagues as all other States do. In Queensland, these are run by BUDA, GCU, JCU, UQ, etc. QUDA does run a few key tournaments - Halibut, Northerns, the Q-Hat, and Nationals when they come to Queensland. But generally these events are run to ‘break even’ rather than to turn a surplus (I don’t use “profit”, as that implies money is taken out of Ultimate. A particular event can make money, but this money is reinvested in Ultimate, including when future events accidentally make a loss).

QUDA has not had to seek income this way because we’ve been fortunate that the Queensland Government provides grants system for State Sporting Organisations.

It is however explicit in this grant that it cannot be used to employ someone. QUDA does at various times pay people casual hobbyist rates or honourariums (eg Coaches, Course Presenters, the Executive Officer, promotional workers) or via gifts to particular volunteers, but it usually tries to do this with money from outside the State Grant. But it is impossible to extend this approach to the proper employment of someone for a few days a week, who needs a contract in place so that they give up other work to take the job on, who will need sick and recreation leave, superannuation, and so forth.

So QUDA would need to generate alternative income if it wished to employ a proper Development Officer over the long term. It is very rare for government grants to pay for staff – this is every sport’s dream but it doesn’t happen, and it isn’t sustainable as the grant may disappear and then what happens.

The AFDA Fee and the QUDA Fee

In the past, QUDA charged an annual membership fee, paid in February and which included a new QUDA disc. While this generated some income for QUDA, it is arguable its primary goal was ensuring that we had a member list to ensure its legal continuity, and keep a steady flow of discs into the community. AFDA used to have an annual fee also, collected at Nationals each year.

As Ultimate in Queensland grew to be more than a single League at one venue, it became impractical to continue trying to collect this annual fee. In 2004 or so, AFDA moved to an event based fee system, which levied a small amount per League or Tournament, collected from the League or Tournament Director and factored into their budgeting for player fees (“the AFDA fee”). The AFDA fee generated enough income to support an Administrative Officer to oversaw the system (amongst many other useful duties). So QUDA saw and took an opportunity to use the same system, introducing a “QUDA fee” that would be collected using the AFDA’s system.

Initially, the QUDA fee was set at a QUDA AGM as 20% of the AFDA fee. At present, the AFDA collects fees from Leagues and Tournaments at a rate of around $1.32 a registered player a week for League fees, and $3.96 a registered player a day for Tournament fees. http://www.afda.com/showcontent.php?page=member_fees

QUDA set its fee at 20% largely to establish the system with a relatively tokenistic amount. There is a sense that QUDA has however been relatively haphazard in collecting QUDA fees, and some events and tournaments in Queensland haven’t been invoiced or chased for payment. Hence one of the primary jobs for a QUDA Development Officer would probably be working with the QUDA Treasurer to get this system working properly.

So, How Would It Add Up?

So, to the figures. By our rough estimates, based on a scan of the AFDA registration system, AFDA would have collected around $21,618 in Queensland in 2011 (not including Nationals).

If QUDA had collected its 20% QUDA fee on this, it would have earned $4,323. This is obviously not enough to employ a Development Officer. But certainly, Step One for QUDA is to start properly and seriously collecting the QUDA fee.

Many events in Queensland do not use the AFDA registration system, and so do not pay AFDA fees (and problematically for QUDA, many of these players are therefore not actually members of QUDA) – this includes Leagues on the Gold Coast, Townsville and UQ (plus Cairns being pretty rough, but then its new and learning). If those Leagues had have been included in the AFDA/QUDA fee system, then our guess is that AFDA fees for Queensland would have gone up to around $28.5k, and QUDA fees to $5.7k. So a second step for QUDA is to continue trying to get those Leagues to become proper members of QUDA (we should acknowledge of course that there is a debate to be had about whether or not a Brisbane-based Development Officer can deliver x% of their attention to regional areas. Our sense is that this is certainly feasible, particularly given QUDA’s long term goal of growing the sport throughout regional Queensland. Also, given these places currently don’t pay anything to AFDA or QUDA, there’s have to be some progressive increase of fees – ie not all at once).

Then to finally get to the point (and I thank you all for reading this far!), there is the option for QUDA to pull the % lever and increase QUDA fees. Here’s our estimates:

Increase the QUDA fee from 20% to 50% of AFDA fee (and collect it all) would generate $10.8k on current takings and $14.2k if the ‘lost leagues’ were gained. This would be a $5.50 increase on a current BPL or BUML fee (assuming 14 player team) (typical and largest leagues in Queensland) and $2.38 on the Halibut fee (typical two day tournament).

Increase the QUDA fee from 20% to 75% of AFDA fee - $16.2k on current Leagues, $21.3 on all Leagues. $10.16 increase on BPL/BUML and $4.36 on Halibut.

Increase to 100% and its $21.6k on current or $28.5k on all, for a $14.78 increase on BPL/BUML and $6.34 on Halibut.

Here's the spreadsheet - click to embiggen. It may not be completely right, but we think its good enough to support this discussion. Please don't point out minor errors to us!

So what’s this all mean?

Well, Assuming you employ someone for half-time and it costs about half of what it costs UFNSW, you need say $24k/annum, with coaching income on top of that to fill out another half to a full day. So the question is: Should QUDA then increase its fees to 75% of the AFDA fee from 1 July 2012 in Brisbane, and say in the regions first start collecting it at 25% and then increase it by 25% each six months until its 75%?

What do you think?

To pre-empt a response from some who may say “So its going to cost more for me to play Ultimate. I play BPL and BUML all year, plus Halibut and the Q-Hat and Northerns, and so it’ll be pouring $65 a year more into QUDA’s coffers. What’s in it for me?”

Aside from a brief “Do you want our sport taken more seriously in the future?” which of course would require a lot of unpacking in terms of benefits and so forth (and requiring Ultimate players to think beyond the next season is a challenge, to be sure), perhaps a simple “Growth = more playing opportunities for you in the future. Growth = more Leagues on different nights in different places, growth means more teams and divisions in existing Leagues and tournament (meaning more competition). Growth = a higher standard at the higher levels (including being more competitive on the national scene).

So, thanks for reading all this. Its a month until the AGM. This isn’t a decision for the AGM – its a decision for the QUDA Executive. But no doubt when they are elected at the AGM, they’d like to go away and start to plan their year of office with an idea of what people would think if they made a decision to increase the QUDA fee and employ a Development Officer.

White Man Can't Jump

A theory popularised in the early 90's will be tested again on Sunday. Rob, Carla, Tati and Nathan and potentially others are hosting a QUDA backed
Come 'n Try day in Moorooka, a suburb known for it's large Sudanese population. The scenario is predicted to play out as follows:

Sudanese community watches the tiny (mostly Caucasian) Australians show-off their athleticism. The Sudanese realise that although they can jump much higher than their fellow Australians, they probably won't have to, as the average height of a Sudanese man or woman is 7'.

Many new friendships are formed. We present our cultural offering of burnt snags and the celebrations continue at the local family run restaurants.



To be part of the exhibition game, you'll have to register http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=1657 Wear a black shirt if you think you're a rapper and want to join Nathan's Bloc Party. If you're the whitest guy alive, join the Hyzer Chiefs and don the appropriate jersey.

Next Week is the Last Week

Assuming the rain gods don't keep messing with us, there's three big events here in Brisbane that will wind up our year of Ultimate around the State. So get it together to get along to all of them.

Monday Night 22 November will feature the Grand Finals for Divisions 1 and 2 of the Brisbane Ultimate Mixed League aka BUML. Details to come, but there will be pizza to come and good fun clean mixed Ultimate to watch.

Thursday Night 25 November will feature the heckle-fest that is the Brisbane Premier League's Grand Final. This is top-shelf Ultimate featuring some of the best looking local lads you'll ever see charging around after a disc. Details to come, but there's usually food and drink involved too.

Finally, Sunday afternoon 28 November from 2-6pm is the end of year QUDA Bash and BBQ! The BBQ and other goodies are $10 and you need to RSVP arrange to pay beforehand so the catering can be done just right. Email 2010bash@quda.org or put yourself on the Google Document. If you can pay as a team that smooths things out - Account name: Qld Ultimate Disc Association Inc BSB: 034002 Account Number: 167889. Reference: Your full name or teamname (if paying for everyone).

Everything is on at the Annerley Recreation Club fields at Greenslopes, where BUML and BPL are played every week.

Wednesday pickup at looks like continuing over the Summer, as will various Club training, but otherwise that's mostly it until around Australia Day ... and then it all goes nuts again ...

Growth in Brisbane Leagues - 2006 to 2010

Click to embiggen.

[edit - hopefully we can't seem to cromulate the 'team numbers' embiggening problem, so will post it separately another day]

Data drawn quickly from the AFDA Registration Database, with all the limits that entails, but generally the longer a League has used the system, the better the quality as players and administrators become used to it. Up to the reader to judge the value, anyway.

We've left WUFL 2009 Season 3 off as the other Leagues didn't have a season 3 that year, and that data didn't buck the general trend. WUFL Season 2 2010 also had only 15 people registered, so we left that off too (although we know there were four teams).

UQ and Townsville Leagues don't use the registration system (which annoys QUDA and AFDA, as they can't report those player numbers when we seek funding etc - but equally, UQ and Townsville question the need for their players to pay AFDA fees when their Universities provide public liability insurance), and Gold Coast has only recently started, so no trend data there as yet.

Do these graphs tell a story? Maybe that BUML Div 2 is the engine for growth in Brisbane (the mid-table drop is presumably tied to the establishment of Div 1). Its also evident in BUML Div 2 that team size must be growing, as team numbers aren't growing at the rate player numbers are.

Of course, growth isn't everything - most obviously it's worth noting that BPL, in focusing on elite play, doesn't specifically aim for growth.

QUDA Seeks Web-Developer Types

If you have web-development skills, perhaps you can help QUDA renovate its website!? Call for help from Mat Ryan below:

QUDA wants to revamp its website (www.quda.org).

The existing website has been in place for a few years but it clearly needs a major overhaul. It doesn't serve the needs of the frisbee playing community and it doesn't provide a useful resource for external people who want to engage with frisbee in some way.

QUDA has committed to building a site that:

1. Provides an outward facing portal to allow external parties (ie: non-members) to engage with Qld Ultimate. (eg: People wanting to play, players from interstate and overseas, teachers, students, potential sponsors, media etc etc.)
2. Services the needs of existing Qld players by proving news updates and information about new events or activities.
3. Provides regular league & tournament competition results.
4. Supports Brisbane and Regional Qld administrations
5. Provides information to QUDA members on how QUDA manages Ultimate in Qld.
6. Provides links to other State, National and International sites, interesting blogs and useful stuff.

In order to do this, QUDA intends to re-develop the existing site (using Joomla).
A key requirement for the site is that it is easy to update content and that access rights for the various sections of the site can be easily managed.

This is a call to all you frisbee playing web developers to get on board and help QUDA develop an attractive and useful web presence. People/persons who assist in building the site will be PAID$$$ for their time and efforts.

If you have the technical expertise, experience and flair and if you're interested in helping develop Ultimate in Qld, then please reply to this email to let me know.
Please provide a brief summary of your skills and experience in your reply. We may ask for a formal resume if necessary.

Please respond by Friday 6th August.

We'll have a look at the responses, have a chat amongst ourselves, make some calls and then appoint someone (or a couple of someones) to re-build the site.
(Terms of the engagement will be discussed after we make a selection).

OK. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Future of Brisbane Ultimate - Upcoming BUDA AGM

So JdR posted the following email to the BUDA-yahoogroups list this morning. As the Brisbane Ultimate Blog loves discussion, have a read and post your comments below (click on the word "comments".

Hi everyone,

I am writing to you to invite you to take an interest in the future of Ultimate in Brisbane.

The QUDA/BUDA AGM will be held during the Northern Regionals tournament on Sat/Sun 13-14 March (exact date and time to be advertised).

For couple of years, the BUDA (Brisbane Ultimate Disc Association) has been relatively defunct (bar the sterling efforts of Adilia Murabito as BUDA Treasurer and the League Directors of BUML, WUFL and BPL).

While many people assume QUDA "runs" the Leagues in Brisbane, at present it is limited to providing general support to League Directors much in the same way it supports Townsville and Gold Coast Ultimate. QUDA does provide specific assistance to Leagues in terms of field provider liasion (that's been my job), but generally, League Directors have run their Leagues independently (and done a very good job, I might add - this email isn't about the way Leagues are run - this is about the future).

But it has been frustrating to me as a player and administrator that Brisbane Ultimate has lacked anyone taking a long-term and Brisbane-wide view to supporting the existing Leagues, and developing new Leagues and playing opportunities. Other cities are powering forward to bring new players in and improve the quality of play, but I feel Brisbane is lagging.

The coming AGM is a chance for the membership to discuss whether and how to correct this. The BUDA part of the AGM will involve electing a BUDA General Committee. The General Committee includes a BUDA President, BUDA Treasurer, BUDA Secretary and BUDA Vice President, as well as the Directors of BUML, BPL and WUFL (who are technically appointed by the Committee). There is also room for people to be elected as General Members of the BUDA Committee.

I hope there are people out there who will step up into these roles for 2010-2011.

If we are successful in electing a BUDA General Committee, then, to make the will of the membership clear to the new Committee, I will propose a motion that the BUDA General Committee:
- meet at least bi-monthly over the coming year;
- develop and implement policy and arrangements to provide support and oversight to the BUML, BPL and WUFL Leagues and Directors;
- agree an Memorandum of Understanding with QUDA to demarcate responsibilities for Ultimate in the Brisbane area; and,
- draft, consult on, and approve (by September 2010), a strategic plan, covering the growth and development of Leagues in Brisbane for the period 2011-2016.

If we are unsuccessful in electing a BUDA General Committee, then I will instead propose a motion to the membership that the QUDA Executive take on the role of the BUDA General Committee for 2010-11, and that the QUDA Executive provide support and oversight to the BUML, BPL and WUFL Leagues and Directors, and prepare the strategic plan outlined above.

I am not very keen for QUDA to take on this role, as it has a lot of other work to do. But I would rather make it clear that someone is taking responsibility on behalf of everyone in Brisbane, for the future of Brisbane Ultimate.

I should add that it is equally valid for people to vote against these motions, and leave us with the status quo. At the least, we will have had the debate and come to an agreement, rather than continued with the present ambiguity of people assuming that someone else being responsible.

Thanks for reading this. I would welcome further discussion, either via email direct to myself, email to everyone on this list (if you think your points are of interest to the hundreds of people on the list), or on the various internet discussion areas, including the Brisbane Ultimate Blog.

JdR

Sticker Up the QUDA Trailer

So the QUDA Trailer makes its first official outing this weekend.

Since the purchase was announced, the trailer now has a nice tool box on the front of it.

Which is just begging for your Ultimate Frisbee bumper stickers!

So if you've got any frisbee stickers sitting in the drawer at home, bring them down to the BCI and stick them onto the QUDA trailer.

February QUDA Newsletter

Just in case you aren't on the right email lists (and you should be if you want to keep up to the minute), here's the February 2010 QUDA Newsletter, cut and pasted from email (apologies for lack of full formatting transition).

Yes, you know you can rely on the Brisbane Ultimate Blog to keep you up to date!

Hi everyone, happy new year,

Here's a whole heap of info about what's coming up. Sit back, relax and read all about it!

1. Northern Regionals 2010 - 13-14 March, J.F. O'Grady Fields, Fairfield , Brisbane

QUDA is pleased to award hosting rights for Northern Regionals 2010 to the Black Betty team, who plan to host the tournament in Brisbane . The national association, AFDA, recently devolved responsibility for Regionals to the local state associations. QUDA has approved Black Betty using the event to raise funds to support its nationals campaign.

Northern Regionals has two divisions - Women's and Open - and is used by some teams to qualify to attend the corresponding National titles, which will be held in Adelaide at the end of April.

Northern Regionals has traditionally been a high participation event - everyone is welcome at whatever level of skill they choose to bring. For many mixed players, Northerns provides a great change of pace in just playing with the boys or the girls. We hope everyone can attend.

2. Brisbane Northside Pickup Starts this Sunday 7 February - Kalinga Park , Clayfield.

If in Brisbane and you're fangin' to play some Ultimate, Jangles has generously offered to take the lead in getting regular Sunday pickup games played. Pickup is a great way to bring new people down to have a go at Ultimate, while also stretching yourself and playing with different people. Its free, just bring a white shirt and a black shirt, a waterbottle and some sunscreen. Arrive about 3pm, and leave when people are to pooped to play on (or it gets dark).

Location: http://www.whereis.com/qld/clayfield/149-diggers-dr?id=2DC59F2FCC2873

3. $200 grants for under 18’s going to major tournaments this year

The Queensland State Government has a grant program that provides a $200 rebate to under 18’s who must travel more than 200km to compete in a State, National or International Championships. The grant can only be applied for after the event.

So if you are an under 18 who is travelling more than 200km to attend Northern Regionals, Nationals, Halibut, Mixed Nats, Youth Nats or World Juniors, please get in touch and we’ll help you out.

More info at: http://www.sportrec.qld.gov.au/Funding/Ourfundingprograms/YoungAthleteAssistanceProgram.aspx

4. Brisbane Canberra Invitational - 27-28 February, State Hockey Centre, Colmslie

Its Brisbane 's turn to host the Brisbane Canberra Invitational (aka the BCI) at the end of the month. Teams and players are already sorted, but this is probably the highest quality Ultimate you'll see in Brisbane this year. 16 of the best Open and Women's teams from Australia and New Zealand will be attending. The Firestorm team are leading the charge in running the event, but if you want to lend a hand, let them know. But otherwise, get your spectating gear on (including your Firestorm and Black Betty fan supporter's merchandise)and get along.

Full info is available at: http://firestorm.quda.org/?page_id=211

5. QUDA Gets a Trailer!

After many years of relying on the good nature and general roadworthiness of the McNaughton family trailer (thanks Bruce!), Ultimate in Queensland now has its own piece of registered on-road hardware - the QUDA Trailer - with which to cart its gear around in.

There's even a photo on line at: http://brisbaneultimatedisc.blogspot.com/2010/01/quda-gets-trailer.html

Did you know that QUDA also now stores most of its tournament gear (marquees, water containers, BBQ, etc) at JF O'Grady Field, in Fairfield ? If you need to borrow the gear, now including trailer, for your Ultimate event, get in touch. Oh yeah, and we need a volunteer Equipment Manager to handle this baby - see below.

6. Leagues Starting Up Around the State

For those in the know (and on the right emailing lists):

The Brisbane Women's League (WUFL), starts tonight, Tuesday 2 February, at Oakman Park , Toowong;

The Brisbane Mixed League (BUML), held on Monday nights has been delayed slightly while fields get finalised, but hoping to start in the next week or two - news soon on the BUDA and YUFL email lists;

The Brisbane Premier League (BPL) for A-Grade Open players, is programmed to start on 18 February, with some training nights beforehand, field availability pending;

The Townsville League for all comers, is getting going on Wednesday 24 February at the JCU AFL Oval - keep an eye on Townsville Ultimate at: http://townsvilleultimate.blogspot.com/

The Gold Coast League (GCL) is set to go on Wednesday 17 February at Pizzy Park . Email gcultimate@gmail.com or keep an eye on http://goldcoastultimate.blogspot.com/

7. North Queensland - Fee Free QUDA Events and Local Travel Grants

Two bits to this. First, QUDA has agreed that in 2010 and 2011, any players from North Queensland who travel to South-East Queensland to play the Northern Regionals or Halibut tournaments, will be able to play these QUDA-run tournaments for free. This is to support those players who must spend a lot on travel to get to these events, and folks in the south certainly benefit from having extra teams attend.

Second, Townsville City Council provides occasional travel funding of $150-200 to people from Townsville heading to the SEQ or interstate for a State or National titles (so Regionals, Nationals, Halibut, Mixed Nats, or Youth Nats). Ideally, people would apply for this as a group. http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/services/departments/cip/grants/sport-rec

Also Cairns Regional Council also provides travel funding of $100-$300 for under 18’s travelling to State and National titles. http://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/content/grants/files/Young%20People%20In%20Sport%20Application%20Form.pdf

8. Halibut 2010 and Regionals 2011 - Invitations to Regions to Bid

To support and reflect the growth of Ultimate on the Gold Coast, QUDA has invited Gold Coast Ultimate to prepare a bid to host Halibut 2010. It is hoped to announce the success of this bid by the end of March at the latest. Halibut had previously been held on the Gold Coast in 2004 and 2005.

In April 2011, Brisbane is due to host the National titles, so QUDA has invited Townsville Ultimate to prepare a bid to host Regionals 2011, along with a two year plan to further develop Ultimate in Townsville. This will be a big step for this event. It is hoped to confirm this arrangement by October 2010 at the latest, to allow for SEQ-based players to get organised.

9. QUDA Annual General Meeting

The QUDA Annual General Meeting will be held over the weekend of and at Northern Regionals (13-14 March). The meeting involves reports from the President and Treasurer on the state of the Association, as well as elections for positions on the Executive. Members are also welcome to propose items of general business - please get in touch if you think there's anything you'd like to see discussed. More to come.

10. Play in Cairns

Do you know any Ultimate players in Cairns ? There seem to be plenty around, and we're trying to link them up so they can start playing more officially. Spread the word, and send us your contacts.

11. Other Weekend Disc Fun to Mark on Your Calendar

There are a few more announcements to come, but here's a few to salivate over:

Disc Golf - every Sunday from 3pm, at the Yeronga Disc Golf Course! Enjoy a round of relaxed or competitive disc golf (whatever suits you, really).

Beach Ultimate - The Beach Ultimate Series (BUS) is still running, with play planned for the weekends of 20-21 February and 20-21 March (will probably be one day events). Keep your eye on the blog at: http://adbuc.blogspot.com/

Bashionals - 17-18 April 2010 "The Nationals you have when you don't qualify for Nationals!" Bashionals is a new tournament we're hosting in Brisbane , open to all the many teams who don't qualify to attend Nationals (which will be in Adelaide the following weekend). We're hoping a few local Queensland teams will line up against the best B teams from around the country, so lock it in, Eddie.

Fight the Phat - 9 May 2010 - The hat for cool cats, returns. Jangles wants you for a day of Ultimate fun.

11. Volunteer of the Month

QUDA's Volunteer of the Month is Ms Notty Nott! If you haven't heard otherwise, you'll be saddened to know that the long-standing Director of Brisbane's biggest League, BUML, is leaving our fair State, as her employer is sending her off to steely Woolongong.

Notty has been a fantastic and dedicated League Director for Monday nights, as well as being one fo the first to put her hand up whenever there's any Ultimate-related work to be done around Brisbane .

Hope we'll see you back here a lot for tournaments and stuff, and moving back here permanently in 12 months!

12. Yes, and You too Can Help!

As you may guess, there are lots of volunteer jobs currently looking for someone to take on - maybe you can make 2010 your year to lend a hand and give something back to the sport?

BUDA (the Brisbane Ultimate Disc Association) is looking for committee members (particularly a Secretary). Elections will be held at the QUDA AGM. Want to help develop the strategic direction of Ultimate in Brisbane ? This is your chance.

QUDA is looking for a new Equipment Manager, when Jangles retires at the AGM. Like to buy stuff and keep records of what we've got and who's borrowing it? Go to lots of tournaments? Get in touch.

QUDA is also on the lookout for a new Universities Coordinator, with the upcoming retirement of Nathan. Perhaps you're into the Uni scene but don't think your particular club needs all your attention. Maybe we want to help spread Ultimate to new University campuses. Maybe you like to party, hard.

Griffith Nathan O-Day - QUDA is putting on a stall at the Griffith Nathan O-Day on Wednesday 24 February. We're trying to encourage a club to form. Let us know if you can come and give us a hand!

Really, any time you feel like putting your hand up, there'll be something for you to do. Or we can work out what you might want to do, so that you can put your hand up! There's so much going on building our sport larger and better, and we rely on your help so get in touch with someone who's doing something, and offer them your time, hands and brains.


Well that's it - a big year coming for Ultimate in Queensland ! See you on the field.

QUDA Gets a Trailer

Forgive the rough photo - the usual camera is overseas at the moment.

But yes, after many years of borrowing the McNaughton family trailer, Ultimate TD's can now borrow this here tricked out QUDA Trailer, which will be kept with our gear at our JFOG storage facility.

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.

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!

Logo Corner

A few people have noticed the new AFDA logo starting to do the rounds.

I think it looks pretty good - should look sweet on Aussie team shirts, etc. Beats the old one, anyway.

Not quite as fine as the QUDA logo though.

Into the Valley of Ultimate, Rode the Six Hundred

We almost missed it, but following the Townsville Hat on the weekend, the number of QUDA members edged over 600 on the weekend.

There's currently 607 people with a Queensland postcode who have registered on the AFDA website (and paid) for a tournament or league that's been held in the last 6 months.

Groovy eh?

Around 472 are in the greater Brisbane area (postcodes 4000-4199 and 4300-4399), 67 on the Gold Coast (4200-4299), 16 'in between' (postcodes 4300-4799), 32 in Townsville (postcodes 4800-@4869) and 21 in Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands (4880+ - the latter are mostly temporary UQ international students who attended the Mission Beach tournament a few weeks ago).

242 are Women and 365 are Men.

The most common postcode was 4067 (St Lucia), followed by 4068 (Indooroopilly/Taringa). Only one Ultimate player is known to live in Kingaroy, but she's in love with another man.

The most popular ladies name to yell when you're throwing some random crap is "Catch it Emma", as eight Queenslanders will respond - or try the 8 Sarah/Saras.

For guys, aim for one of the 12 Matt/Matthews, 11 Ryans or 10 Dave/Davids. Calling "Catch it Dustin" will of course only return a single lazy grin.

There are 3 Stefans, 3 Stephens, 2 Steves and 1 Stephanie. Only two Jason's.

There is only one Tony Ross, but this is a well known fact.

Ignoring those birthdates that are obviously wrong (mostly people using 'todays date' rather than their birth date), the youngest current member is 14 year old Ollie (son of Tony). GO OLLIE!

To Do is To Be

So since the middle of last year, QUDA has been naming a Volunteer of the Month (most months, anyway).

Here’s the list of those great volunteers QUDA has recognised so far:

May 2009 – Matt Boevink
April 2009 – Rowena Eastburn
November 2008 – Sam Bird
October 2008 – Maylin Chuah, Peta McNaughton and Stephanie Levasseur
September 2008 – Jon Good
August 2008 – Bruce McNaughton
July 2008 – Blair Sheard

Good on 'em!

Marking Some Territory

So last night (since there was no BPL), a "commando-style" raid (ie we weren't wearing underpants) was undertaken to promote our long-standing occupation of the Annerley Juniors Soccer Club fields.