Thursday, May 31, 2007

To Do List

Here's the List
- Final preparation for Underworld (check courts, check regos, draft draw, find a whiteboard and clock, get rest of the prizes)
- Work out why yahoogroups isn't sending my final Underworld reminder after 36 hours
- Recruit for the Red Peppers Winter YUFL title bid
- Keep getting to Tuesday training
- Ensure Tony Ross is bringing an esky of joy for Rawhide tonight
- Get my Halibut party themes to the organising committee (currently, I like "Huge" as a party theme)
- Get my last issue of Australian Ultimate newsletter finished and out
- Find a new Australian Ultimate newsletter editor
- AFDA Board teleconference this Sunday night
- put the AFDA Annual Report together
- finish v2 of the 2008 Calendar paper
- draft AFDA Board Comms plan for the upcoming Board F2F
- Keep blogging

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Seven Things to Do After Halibut

Good news everybody!

The Brisbane Ultimate Blog is now your completely unofficial Halibut Blog (or Hali-blog), because I said so.

So lets get things around the wrong way to start of with.

Seven things for you to do after Halibut 2007:

1. Sleep.

2. Go cold turkey for a few days. Nothing heightens the memory-solidifying-process of a Halibut like going without disc/exercise/alcohol/Dusty/Peta/whatever you over-subscribed to.

3. Try to explain what you did all weekend to your slightly confused co-workers.

4. Write about Halibut. Its genuinely fascinating to me to read how the tournament was different for different people, so put it into email, blogs, message boards and the like.

5. Unpack all your stuff. If something's gone missing, email the TD. Do your laundry before it gets really festy.

6. Get back to work, you Ulti-bum.

7. Make your booking for Halibut 2008.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

There are two fella's grabbing out there, but only one's playing Ultimate

Well, not quite, but I wanted to play off the famous Bill Woodfull quote.

Check out this photo under discussion at rsd.



I guess its a way to request that someone respect your vertical space?

I'm sure you'll forgive a diversion from Brisbane Ultimate.

From http://www.eastultimate.org/Photos/2007/May07/7-States2/pages/070520121815.jpg.htm

Friday, May 25, 2007

On a More Sombre Note

News filtered through at BPL last night, and Mat Ryan was kind enough to post to the e-lists today.

Dear Queensland Ultimate Players,

Many
of you would be aware that Matt Boevink was involved in a serious car accident hile travelling in Egypt 2 weeks ago. Matt suffered damage to his T9 and T12 vertibrae and was evacuated to Frankfurt for surgery. Matt's girlfriend Christina was tragically killed in the accident.

Matt has had 2 rounds of surgery to correct the damage to his vertebrae, performed by specialists in Frankfurt. The surgery was very successful and Matt is expected to return home within a month. Thankfully Matt's family is with him in Germany to support him during this difficult time.

If any of Matt's friends want to send him any messages of support, please send them to me and I will forward them on.

On behalf of the Queensland and Australian Ultimate community, for whom Matt has worked tirelessly and selflessly, I offer our sincerest condolences to Christina's family and friends, and our best wishes to Matt for a speedy recovery.

Regards,
Mat Ryan.

I think we can only echo this. I understand the AFDA Board is also arranging flowers.

I'm sure Matt B knows our thoughts are with him and his grief, and we hope his recovery is swift.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

What's with the Photos?


Thanks for the comment, drynose (?). If you want to see the Shawn picture, check out the archives down the left there, or click on the loldisc label to see just the pictures.
The pictures are of course, fodder for the lazy blogger, but inspired by the lolcats over at i can has cheezburger (just google it).
So here's one from the Mukluk party.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

You Can Always Learn Something New

So last night I went along to Men's Training at Toowong (which is running Tuesday nights for the next several weeks).

I went because Ms N. was going to Women's at the same time and place and I wanted a run around after a busy day at work. But I guess most importantly for me was the realisation that despite being 'old', there's still a heap of improvement I can get into my game and that an improved me will make a big difference the teams I play with.

And I can report that I really enjoyed it and got a lot of out it. There was some comedy value for the other 9 guys from discovering that I've never thrown a push-pass - but I started to learn how to throw one. I'm not terribly fit thanks to current workloads, but the exercise involved was about right - I went home tired but not wrecked. And it was good to be with people that I don't normally play with - Andres, Jangles, Liam, Chris, Mica and so forth.

A real find for me was having Pottsy lead the session and Buzz and others offering suggestions. I've never really played much with Pottsy, and I started to realise that the pointers you get from people during games are usually pretty limited. I think Dusty mentioned to me recently how when playing Mixed Nats last year with Pottsy in Crikey he got a lot of value over JP's ability to coach people, and I saw it last night. Where other leader-types explain and run drills or plays, Jonathan seems to be able to always offer an extra explanation of how an individual can do their bit of the drill, and to do that bit better.

Anyway, enough praise. But I'll be back next week.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Lucky 14

I'm now including the picture source information in the pictures.
14th post this month - not quite daily, but reasonably close?
Only two comments though - lift your game people (or maybe I need to advertise more) *insert smiley*

Monday, May 21, 2007

Spirit Scores - Winners, Losers and Everyone Else

There's been a bit of discussion over at http://groups.google.ca/group/aus.sport.frisbee/topics?lnk=rgh&hl=en about the 'spirit guide' that was given to everyone at Nationals.

The idea of the guide was to give people, if not an objective base, a common basis for giving spirit scores. The view goes that, as we don't play everyone at a tournament, we can't rely on our own subjective standard, so we need something that's reasonably common to ease out the vagarities (for example, of a team in one pool giving spirit scores in the 8-10/10 range, while a team in another pool gives scores in the 4-6/10 range).

Using a spirit guide is a good idea, but I hope people don't forget you don't really need it at smaller events where each team plays against a majority of other teams - I reckon for those events the old 'give the first team you play against 7, and then rate every other game against that' approach works best (particularly if you have a range of players in your team - you all have the same first game to rank against).

The discussion back at aus.ultimate was prompted by the release of the overall spirit scores for Nationals.

Its pleasing on the one hand that this causes some angst. Spirit scores remain a useful tool for reminding people that their spirit is on display, and for most of us it can always be improved upon (at least in terms of the teams we play with).

But on the other hand, I tend to think that the overall rankings only really tell you about the top few teams (who had to have kept everyone happy) and the bottom few teams (who, if the distance between them and the top teams is large, had to have made at least a few opponents unhappy.

Everything in between doesn't say much in my mind - spiritwise I don't think the difference between 4th and 12th is much (compared to on-field placings).

Friday, May 18, 2007

BPL Winter 2007 Kicks Off

Well, the Thursday Night / Men's / A-Grade League (aka Brisbane Premier League) kicked off last night . . . and I for one was pretty impressed.

Looking around the fields, there were *five* *full* teams. Many new faces. Many many players were there around 7pm (games start at 7.30). People were waving their $50 around, desperately trying to find someone to pay fees too. The team that came down to train actually seemed to train the whole time. There was even an esky of beer ready to go for after the game.

Maybe its the excitement of a new season, getting everyone keen. But certainly kudos has to be laid at the feet of those people who got together a month or so ago and planned out the re-energising of BPL. Good work guys - your fruit is there.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Halibut 2007 Is On

Shawn and Peta have announced the immanent arrival of Halibut 2007.

Good stuff kids, say I.

Here's the details:
What: Halibut '07 - One of the Best Mixed Tourneys inthe Country!
When: Sat 28th & Sun 29th July, 2007
Where: Brisbane
Who: Mixed teams from around Australia
Format: 3/4 mixed
How much: approx $65 pp
What you get for your money: Lunches and BBQ, AwesomePlayer Pack, Legendary Party, Beautiful Queensland Weather, Women and Men.

REGISTER NOW at http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=312 so you don't miss out.


Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Why they call him 'Chumpcott'?


Photo circulating on Canberra e-list, editorial from Brisbane

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Saturday, May 12, 2007

Happy Juiz 4 Evrywun

click on picture for larger view
just learning of course
photo pinched from Roger
Ph

Thursday, May 10, 2007

The Dodgy Future of Australian Ultimate

Did you know the "Victorian" (note the inverted commas) "Juniors" (ditto) team had a website?

Check out http://www.headsofstateultimate.com/profiles.htm, particularly for a few familiar Queenslander not-Junior faces.

Friday, May 04, 2007

Bugger Blog

Did you know the Buggers have a Blog?

Click on http://moretonbaybuggers.blogspot.com/ to enjoy the wisdom of the Invisible Pogo Stick, and others.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Fail

Photo taken from Roger's fab pics from Nationals 2007 - check out http://digitalarts.mindsocket.com.au/gallery2/v/events/nationals2007/ and spend a few $.
Enjoy

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Sprint into Summer HAT

CHECK OUT SOME PHOTOS!! http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjm_22/sets/

The SPRING INTO SUMMER ONE DAY HAT tournament was held at Yeronga Australian Football Club on Sunday October 29th. It was a partly overcast, partly sunny day, with a little bit of wind, luckily not quite as hot as the previous day! 45 people signed up, divided into 4 teams and played 4 x 1 hour games. There were many stunning grabs, windy hucks, butt-blocks and plain hard running. All teams improved as they learned eachother's names and star signs and how they like to play together throughout the day.
After the final game where Teams 1 and 2 faced off, local team Bootius Maximus put on a 'showcase' game which was observed by some and heckled by more. The day wrapped up with a few ales at the club house with some greasy finger food and $2 felt hats to finish off a spring day, and preparing everyone for summer.

I'll put a summary of the results from the day here.

HAT WINNERS - Team 1
Maylin Chuah
Heather Mailander
Maria Isosaari
Russell Johnson
Stephen Hjelm
Dustin Czok
Rodney Weatherhead
Robert Lowe
Andrew Reiland
Brett Matzuka
Claire Tunningley

SPIRIT WINNERS - Team 2 & 4
Team 2 - Tegan Don, Elisa Miller, Peta McNaugton, Lucy Barkley, Rueben Berg, Leon McIntyre, Matthew Morrison, Hamish Millard, Daniel Blacklock, Jacob Randall, Jon Good.
Team 4 - Jenny Beard, Kirstin Millard, Stephanie Levasseur, Janet Nutley, Alistair Don, Daniel Lipin, Scott Massey, Luke Allen-Ankins, Chirs Finney, Andrew Badman.

MVPs
Tegan Don
Matthew Morrison

The team that didn't win anything but did well in their own right, team 3 consisted of.. Rena, Molly, Bree, Lauren (hot hot hot grabs and blocks girls!), two mcnaughtons, James Larkin, Nate Peterson, Huddy, Nat Litzow and Dan Packman.

Despite the stolen bag incident, personally I had a fabulous day!!!!!! and hope that all those who participated enjoyed themselves as well.

HAT TOURNIES ARE AWESOME!!!!!!! LET'S HAVE THEM MORE OFTEN BRISBANE!!!!!!!!!

Monday, October 23, 2006

YUFL Intermediate Season 2 awards

The second season of YUFL Intermediate league was long and cold and sparse in parts but it wrapped up nicely with an awesome final and end of season party on September 1st where awards were given out to the following teams and individuals.

League Winners : QUTIES (reigning champs!)
Runners Up : Disponics

Spirit Winners : Red Pepper

Most Improved Players as selected by each team
UQ1 - Bart Edgar
Bermuda Triangle - Kelly Foran
UQ2 - Kerri Mackenroth
Mellow Yellow - David Campbell
Red Pepper - Belinda Phillips

Most Valuable Players as selected by each team
F.T.Jollies - Kate Bayne
QUTIES - Alex Chadwick
Disponics - Adam Pretorius

And special thanks to all the captains
Jill Q, Brett Matzuka, Dan Blacklock, SaraCargill, Jon Good, AdiliaMurabito/DustinCzok, Tim Marchbank, and Karen Roche.

Well done everybody!!

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Halibut 2006

Last weekend saw the return of Halibut, Queensland’s Premier Mixed Tournament, to Brisbane, after a few years down at the Gold Coast.

The weather was perfect all weekend, though a little windy on the first morning. Twelve teams made it to this year’s tournament, with teams from Perth, Adelaide, New South Wales and Canberra, making the trip north. In attendance were 3 teams who will be representing Australia at the World Ultimate Club Championships in Perth in the Mixed Division: Blokes & Sheila’s (ACT), Sublime (WA) and tournament hosts Bootius Maximus (QLD).

Games between those three teams were very close, with Sublime and Booty deadlocked in a draw, but the real powerhouse team for the weekend were the undefeated Bender, whose line up comprised 7 current/ex Australian representatives! (Tom & Anna Rogacki, Jonathon Potts, Chris Burwell, Piers Truter, Sandra Poon, Mat Ryan)

Bender led throughout the final versus Booty, and despite a late charge by Booty, were able to comfortably take it out 15-11. A highlight from the final was Jonathon Potts bringing down a huge grab amongst a big pack - having caught the disc with his broken arm (which was in a cast and wrapped in bubble wrap)!!

The return of the tournament to Brisbane also saw the return of State of Origin, although this year it was QLD versus The Universe! QLD, lead by Mike Neild, had a few first time players (James Larkin, Russell Johnson, Chris Cunliffe, Andy Lankowski and Brett Matzuka) as well as the old faithful crew. Unfortunately The Universe was without Tom Rogacki, but still boasted a strong line-up (JD, Piers, Adam Mortimer), and were able to take the early lead 6-3. A time-out was called and QLD clawed back to take the half 8-6. Some extra fresh legs made the difference for QLD as they continued their good work after half time to take it out 15-8.

Final Placings:
1 Bender (15-11 in Final)
2 Booty
3 B&S
4 Sublime
5 Shoot to Kill
6 Da Frizz
7 Lizards (Plate Winner)
8 Bond
9 Lovers
10 Gumby Magic
11 weaty Yeti's
12 Freeze

Spirit: Shoot to Kill

Female MVP: Lauren O'Conner (Armidale Freeze)
Male MVP: Jon Good (Lizards)

State of Origin: QLD (15 - 8)

Active Sportz was pleased to be in attendance at the Halibut tournament and congratulate the winners, Bender.

Please note that Active Sportz is the distributor for the GAIA in Australia and New Zealand so if you need any GAIA apparel for WWUCC06 or you local team please contact www.activesportz.com.au or sales@activesportz.com.au

Big thanks go to the Tournament Directors; Tegan Don and Ren Kuwahata, for another well run and fun QLD tournament!

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Let the Halibut Tomfoolery, I Mean Trashtalk, Begin

Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, bruthahs 'n' sistahs.

J-Dog here, His Stone Cold Baadness, The Original Gangsta, The Mack Daddy, The Freaky Gangbanga. Firin' up the ride for the Fish and gettin' large.

And I got somethin' to say to all y'all baeioutches out there: Keep yo' uncle***in' **** offa my Halibut Trophyea, or I'll **** your sorry *** up wit' a quickness. And I don't want to see y'all comin' around, puttin' your feet on it, neither. Or puttin' your ********* disc golf disc on it and leaving them ****ed-up rings all upside the wood and shit.

'Cause I got my fly bro Dustin on my squad. Check it - he the dope handler and my stoopid-fresh f'teen-goal scorin' machine.

I swear, if I see any of y'all within three feet of our endzone, our gal Karen Jay-Z'll put a Lee Van Cleef on your baeioutch ****. Gettit?

We'll just be trying to keep it real, know what I'm sayin'? I wanna stop the baggelling before it starts, specially wi't dem Townsville-side punks. I could say nothin' and wait in the shadows like some uncle****in' ninja, and when some punk-ass Truter come along and start readin' my "Attitude Is A Little Thing That Makes A Big Difference" Successories shirt, I could jump out and knock the sucka's teeth the **** out. 'Cause that would be my right. A man's gotta protect what's his, right?

You wanna know what I's and my team's is like? Take what happened just last week at tho BPL. Phat Matty Boev, this li'l ****-*** ho from de Lovers posse, be runnin' his *** around the pitch, layin' out wit' a goddamn smiley face. I'm like, "Whus this smiley-face **** y'all be puttin' on my pitch?" And he's like, "Man I love spirit of the game yup!"

Now, de friends of Buzz and Flan (the Cripps) don't take ***** from nobody, and I sure as hell don't take none from some university student, so I picks up my disc and do some crazy kung-fu ***** on his. "Flag yo' ******-**-***** outta ******* * ** here."

And that's what you'll be gettin' at the Halibut. An' big props to our main ladies Tegan and Rena for sortin' all the TD ****.

J-Dog out. And to all my homies in the Can and the bruthahs kickin' it down and comin' up from Syd (I thinkin' of yo, Nadine-honey), keep ya heads up. Peace.

*yes, I'm being silly

Thursday, June 29, 2006

AU is Out Once Again

Hi readers,

The latest issue of Australian Ultimate went in the mail last week, and hopefully it will be up on the afda.com website asap (go to news, then newsletters to find it). Or you can email me and I'll send you a .pdf

Comments as always are welcome, either here or via email, or even in person. I think the Mythbusting article came off pretty well, and the Nats reports weren't bad. We gave a fair bit of space over to World Clubs volunteer recruitment because its pretty important to the success of the event (and the AFDA's future).

It seemed a little odd but I didn't have time at the moment, but it surprised me how few issues were sent out to Queenslanders. Possibly someone in QUDA isn't keeping the AFDA database up to date with fees paid etc (if you haven't had a fee payment noted against your afda number in the last six months then you drop off the postal list). It could also be that lots of Queenslanders have opted not to get a mailed copy. Anyway, remind me to ask someone.

Anyway, enjoy.

jdr

Friday, June 16, 2006

Bugs Rise To The Surface

Last night saw the end of Ultimate Lovers 4 game winning streak - with the Buggers coming away with a 2 point win in the Brisbane Premier League (BPL).

Last time the two teams met the Lovers came out on top, but it seems that more game time has been of great benefit to the newer up and coming members of the Bugs team. Plus they were bolstered by the return of one Mr Jason Ray - who unfortunately didn't complete the game after injuring his ankle in the process of pulling the disc at the start of the final point!

The Bugs got ahead early and Lovers were always struggling to get back into the game. But Lovers fought back hard and scores came back to level late in the game - only for a goal saving block from Scott Massey to allow the Bugs to get back enough of a lead before the final siren.

It was great to see such a high quality game in the Brisbane Domestic scene - let's keep it coming!

The win for Bugs should be a warning to all other teams that while they may not have the most experienced list, the young guns are coming along and the Bugs are a force to be reckoned with.

Don't discount the Lovers yet though - the team will be bolstered next week with the return of aL Don - and their youth and exuberance will see them bounce back with gusto!

Friday, June 02, 2006

YUFL Intermediate awards

It's about a month late but I figured it would be nice to have it up here anyway... for the record.
In wrapping up the first installment of Intermediate league this year, on April 29th, awards were given out to the following people at the end of season party.

League Winners : QUTIES
Runners Up : Bermuda Triangle

Spirit Winners : UQ

Most Improved Players as selected by each team
UQ - Carla Ziser
QUTIES - Liam Wetnose
Bermuda Triangle - Karen Roche
Disponics - Bruce Webster
TeamB - Cam Tarbottom/Rodney Weatherhead
Sultry special award of Most Incredible Player - Jenny Beard

And special thanks to all the captains
Jill Q, Sandra Poon, Dan Blacklock, SaraCargill/MikeNield, GeoffSpurling/JohnMc/Leon, Tim Marchbank

Well done everybody!!