Yes indeedy, a meeting tonight. 7:00 at the The House of Twits, all welcome. There's lots to discuss, and there'll be more detail fleshed out on the proposals to change the Spring to Autumn league block. If you want to put your two cents in, this is the right time.
Hot tip for this evening - we should see an appearance by the legendary Mad Dog Pete Hemphill. Of course, he'll probably have to leave at 7:30 to be home for bedtime.
OK, I'd better write my essays.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Sad News
Last night a mounful bunch gathered in Hackett to farewell Dario Poletti, a player who was known and loved by most during his year-long stint in Canberra. Dario came to us from Singapore although he started playing ultimate in his native Italy. Although he missed the university campaign last year he came good and was an invaluable part of the Fyshwick United push to the finals at nationals this year. His speed, great timing and ability to pull out ridiculous stuff when the circumstances demanded it will be greatly missed, as will his hilarious "If you name my name" routine, which deserves to be honoured in the AFDA hall of fame.
In honour of Dario, the ACT Ultimate Association will be lobbying the federal government to increase our immigration intake from both Italy and Singapore. The Dario bill, as it is known, is due to be debated in the upper house on the 12th of August, and anyone who knows how worthwhile Dario is will no doubt email their local member in an effort to push this bill through. If we can just get his fiancee (soon to be wife), supervisor and family to move here there will be no compelling reason for Dario to live anywhere else (except for the cold, but he was getting used to that). I'd like to imagine that Italy is a whole nation of Darios just looking for somewhere better to live, and Australian ultimate can only benefit from having more Darios around.
The team here at the CUB secret underground facility wish Dario all the best, congratulate him on his impending marriage and cordially invite him back to mixed nationals and nationals, provided he plays for us rather than coming along with his Singapore club Freakshow and getting stomped on.
In honour of Dario, the ACT Ultimate Association will be lobbying the federal government to increase our immigration intake from both Italy and Singapore. The Dario bill, as it is known, is due to be debated in the upper house on the 12th of August, and anyone who knows how worthwhile Dario is will no doubt email their local member in an effort to push this bill through. If we can just get his fiancee (soon to be wife), supervisor and family to move here there will be no compelling reason for Dario to live anywhere else (except for the cold, but he was getting used to that). I'd like to imagine that Italy is a whole nation of Darios just looking for somewhere better to live, and Australian ultimate can only benefit from having more Darios around.
The team here at the CUB secret underground facility wish Dario all the best, congratulate him on his impending marriage and cordially invite him back to mixed nationals and nationals, provided he plays for us rather than coming along with his Singapore club Freakshow and getting stomped on.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
One Week of WOL
Sunday brought the first week of the much blogged and emailed about Winter Outdoor League. Despite the late pullout of eight players from division three upstarts Dynoshite (a team trip to the football, no less) we managed to get 6 teams off the ground. It's never easy when roughly one third of your player base doesn't show up, and thanks to all the folk who made it easier by letting me know what weeks they'd miss in the comments section. For those few folks that just didn't turn up or for those that forsook the safety and security of signing up online in advance then made difficult demands, next time employ the wonder of the internets and make everyone's lives easier. We are, after all, volunteers. For those kind folk who turned up on the day and were helpful and accomodating thanks very much, you made everything run much more smoothly.
All six teams played two games, with the Pseudo-shite randoms pulling out two big wins over other strong teams in the league. The Mavericks and ANUDE also started strongly and had a great tussle in the second round, with the Mavs coming out on top. The Devolutionaires picked themselves up after a crushing loss to the Pseudo-shite kids to hand out a similar shellacking to the Bolivar Floaters, and the Dam Beavers went down in both games including a close loss to the ANU.
The teams are set for a shake up next week as Dynoshite lose most of their pickups to be replaced by their regular roster. Those pickups will be distributed across the other teams or, if things get really fruity, combined with some late-comers to form two new teams. As a word of advice to young players, next time a league starts and you want to enter a team, try to do so BEFORE the league starts rather than after.
Right now, the table stands at:
| Team | Wins | Losses | Draws | Points | Goal Diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dynoshite | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16 |
| Mavericks | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 |
| ANUDE | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -4 |
| Devolutionaries | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -4 |
| Dam Beavers | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -7 |
| Bolivar Floaters | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | -13 |
If I have managed to get this table to work I will be my own hero, at least for a little while.
Stay tuned for the possible arrival of division two stalwarts Schadenfreude and the High Flyers, it all depends on how many of them ever get around to signing up at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
ACTUA Meeting 2/6/08 minutes
Because John has been such a fattie, I have decided I will write these minutes up:
ACTUA Meeting 2/6/08
Attendees: Tom Watson, Tom Walcott, Mica Hartley, John Horan, Anthony Perry, Brett Ringland, Sonia
Absentees: Pete Hemphill, James Ley
Meeting opened at 7:18pm
Agenda:
-Admin issues: Signatories, email lists/communications
-Winter League
-General Business
-Our glorious future
Admin issues
*Current signatories are Anthony Perry, Karl Adamson, Adam Mortimer, the executive of several years ago. Move to change signatories to current executive, Anthony Perry, Thomas Watson and John Horan.
ACTION: Anthony to chase up forms for transfer
*Disc - ACTUAlly list requires updating, particularly with new commitee members Sonia, Pete, James and Mica
ACTION: John to forward details on to the four new members
*The new Canberra Ultimate blog (canberrautlimate.blogspot.com) wants to cover the leagues in more detail and get the league results asap in the future.
ACTION: John to arrange with Craig how to get the results to him and covered by the CUB
Winter League
*3 Courts available for most weeks on wednesday nights @ 7:30 from 18/6 to the 10/10. Not available on the 30/7 or 6/8. Should get six teams. The chance of more time slots if league population is too high
*Winter Outdoor League as suggested by John and Mica sounds good. John wishes to establish training for league teams and will talk to teams about this option.
General Business
*Suggestion to search for a Division Two team to buff up and go to Mixed Nationals. Also, qualification process for Mixed Nationals must be determined by the 31/7. Three spots are likely for the ACT region and we should ensure all are taken.
*Brett indicated that Adam will soon apply for a grant for the Mundis players in the ACT and were hoping for $150-$200
*With 9 Worlds players in the ACT and given the importance and cost of the tournament, the meeting generally were okay with around $200 per player that asked for it.
*Switching of the Mixed and Single sex seasons in the AFDA calender. After some discussion, the ACTUA commitee decided that we supported the move. Unfortunately such a decision was about 3 months too late and AFDA announced the day after that the seasons would not be changed.
The Glorious Future
These are some of the suggestions for future agenda items that will improve the development and growth of ultimate in Canberra.
Tom Watson
- Div 3 and 2 at different times of the night on tuesday. This allows both to grow.
-The development of a Canberran Mixed team for World Clubs in 2010
Mica
Development camps/clinics in OCT/NOV suitable for Div 2/3 players
Brett
Juniors Development
Ultimate in the inter-college sports program
Anthony
Options for division one
Find League organisers for Spring league (Huge priority)
DJ (via email)
rehab equipment for loan to ACTUA members
Bulk tape supplies for purchase at cost for ACTUA members
John
Clubs in Division 1
Money prize for winning league
Meeting closed at 8:45pm
Thats the long and the short of it. Remember, all ACT frisbee players are welcome to come along to the meetings and vote, suggest, talk or just listen. The next meeting will likely be on the 30th of June at the House of Twits.
-Twats
ACTUA Meeting 2/6/08
Attendees: Tom Watson, Tom Walcott, Mica Hartley, John Horan, Anthony Perry, Brett Ringland, Sonia
Absentees: Pete Hemphill, James Ley
Meeting opened at 7:18pm
Agenda:
-Admin issues: Signatories, email lists/communications
-Winter League
-General Business
-Our glorious future
Admin issues
*Current signatories are Anthony Perry, Karl Adamson, Adam Mortimer, the executive of several years ago. Move to change signatories to current executive, Anthony Perry, Thomas Watson and John Horan.
ACTION: Anthony to chase up forms for transfer
*Disc - ACTUAlly list requires updating, particularly with new commitee members Sonia, Pete, James and Mica
ACTION: John to forward details on to the four new members
*The new Canberra Ultimate blog (canberrautlimate.blogspot.com) wants to cover the leagues in more detail and get the league results asap in the future.
ACTION: John to arrange with Craig how to get the results to him and covered by the CUB
Winter League
*3 Courts available for most weeks on wednesday nights @ 7:30 from 18/6 to the 10/10. Not available on the 30/7 or 6/8. Should get six teams. The chance of more time slots if league population is too high
*Winter Outdoor League as suggested by John and Mica sounds good. John wishes to establish training for league teams and will talk to teams about this option.
General Business
*Suggestion to search for a Division Two team to buff up and go to Mixed Nationals. Also, qualification process for Mixed Nationals must be determined by the 31/7. Three spots are likely for the ACT region and we should ensure all are taken.
*Brett indicated that Adam will soon apply for a grant for the Mundis players in the ACT and were hoping for $150-$200
*With 9 Worlds players in the ACT and given the importance and cost of the tournament, the meeting generally were okay with around $200 per player that asked for it.
*Switching of the Mixed and Single sex seasons in the AFDA calender. After some discussion, the ACTUA commitee decided that we supported the move. Unfortunately such a decision was about 3 months too late and AFDA announced the day after that the seasons would not be changed.
The Glorious Future
These are some of the suggestions for future agenda items that will improve the development and growth of ultimate in Canberra.
Tom Watson
- Div 3 and 2 at different times of the night on tuesday. This allows both to grow.
-The development of a Canberran Mixed team for World Clubs in 2010
Mica
Development camps/clinics in OCT/NOV suitable for Div 2/3 players
Brett
Juniors Development
Ultimate in the inter-college sports program
Anthony
Options for division one
Find League organisers for Spring league (Huge priority)
DJ (via email)
rehab equipment for loan to ACTUA members
Bulk tape supplies for purchase at cost for ACTUA members
John
Clubs in Division 1
Money prize for winning league
Meeting closed at 8:45pm
Thats the long and the short of it. Remember, all ACT frisbee players are welcome to come along to the meetings and vote, suggest, talk or just listen. The next meeting will likely be on the 30th of June at the House of Twits.
-Twats
A new world order
Rules change time!
The latest rules revision has been released by the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). Its everyone's responsibility as a player to be aware of the rules, so you best read up. During the next 6 months the Australian Flying Disc Association will be slowly rolling the new rules into all Australian competitions, so your local league or next tournament could be using them straight away. These rules are the follow up to the rules changes that occurred last year.
For those that are wondering, the motif that is driving a lot of the changes in the rules in recent years has been the concept of reducing the amounts of stoppages within a game and allowing the natural flow of the game to be unhindered by too many calls. This is also because stoppages naturally get in the way of a team's offence, even if the violation has been suffered by that team. An older example of this was last years change to some of the marking fouls that meant that violations would result in a drop of the stall count instead of a stoppage, thus allowing the flow of the game to continue if desired by the thrower.
A summary of the rules can be downloaded from here:
http://www.wfdf.org/rules/Summary%20of%20changes%20for%20WFDF%20Ultimate%20Rules%202007%20to%202008.pdf
And the full rules set can be downloaded from here:
http://www.wfdf.org/rules/WFDF%20Ultimate%20Rules%202008%20-%20Official%20Version.pdf
Some of the biggest changes that should really be effecting games near you are:
-No 'middle' call off the pull. Teams now have the choice of starting the disc from the brick mark or playing the disc from where it when out of bounds on the sideline.
This rule means that teams won't be so seriously punished if they yank a pull out of the field and it will speed up play because there will no longer need to be a discussion as to where the 'middle 'of the field is, meaning the offence can play on as it pleases without having to wait for the defence.
-Pulling Violations result in a re-pull. The major effect will be against the team that is pulling. If they pull the disc with players over the line, then quite simply the disc goes back and the pull is retaken. Given the viewing perspective of the players on opposite ends of the field, I would say that this rule would have to largely be enforced by players not on the field.
-A redefined travel rule. Removed reference to third ground contact. A receiver must be slowing down quickly and in a straight line after they catch the disc, and may throw at any time while slowing down and in-bounds
This has to be the mac-daddy of all these changes and will have the most effect at the top level of the game. I strongly expect this rule to favour teams that use a lot of quick movement of the disc and will bring a lot more crazy running/throwing technique into ultimate. Of course, players are meant to slow down as soon as possible but this will be a grey area which might be exploited by some. Aside from that, this rule opens up some powerful give-go style plays in ultimate and I am curious to see how teams or players will take advantage of the new found ability to move the disc. John (Bags) is exceptionally concerned with this rule and fears that it will take the game closer to the territory of disc-hoops and schtick.
Its going to take some getting used too. Gone are the days were one had to fumble out a really quick release or slow right down to establish a pivot foot and then throw.
I am looking forward to testing out these new rules as soon as I can
-Twatson
The latest rules revision has been released by the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF). Its everyone's responsibility as a player to be aware of the rules, so you best read up. During the next 6 months the Australian Flying Disc Association will be slowly rolling the new rules into all Australian competitions, so your local league or next tournament could be using them straight away. These rules are the follow up to the rules changes that occurred last year.
For those that are wondering, the motif that is driving a lot of the changes in the rules in recent years has been the concept of reducing the amounts of stoppages within a game and allowing the natural flow of the game to be unhindered by too many calls. This is also because stoppages naturally get in the way of a team's offence, even if the violation has been suffered by that team. An older example of this was last years change to some of the marking fouls that meant that violations would result in a drop of the stall count instead of a stoppage, thus allowing the flow of the game to continue if desired by the thrower.
A summary of the rules can be downloaded from here:
http://www.wfdf.org/rules/Summary%20of%20changes%20for%20WFDF%20Ultimate%20Rules%202007%20to%202008.pdf
And the full rules set can be downloaded from here:
http://www.wfdf.
Some of the biggest changes that should really be effecting games near you are:
-No 'middle' call off the pull. Teams now have the choice of starting the disc from the brick mark or playing the disc from where it when out of bounds on the sideline.
This rule means that teams won't be so seriously punished if they yank a pull out of the field and it will speed up play because there will no longer need to be a discussion as to where the 'middle 'of the field is, meaning the offence can play on as it pleases without having to wait for the defence.
-Pulling Violations result in a re-pull. The major effect will be against the team that is pulling. If they pull the disc with players over the line, then quite simply the disc goes back and the pull is retaken. Given the viewing perspective of the players on opposite ends of the field, I would say that this rule would have to largely be enforced by players not on the field.
-A redefined travel rule. Removed reference to third ground contact. A receiver must be slowing down quickly and in a straight line after they catch the disc, and may throw at any time while slowing down and in-bounds
This has to be the mac-daddy of all these changes and will have the most effect at the top level of the game. I strongly expect this rule to favour teams that use a lot of quick movement of the disc and will bring a lot more crazy running/throwing technique into ultimate. Of course, players are meant to slow down as soon as possible but this will be a grey area which might be exploited by some. Aside from that, this rule opens up some powerful give-go style plays in ultimate and I am curious to see how teams or players will take advantage of the new found ability to move the disc. John (Bags) is exceptionally concerned with this rule and fears that it will take the game closer to the territory of disc-hoops and schtick.
Its going to take some getting used too. Gone are the days were one had to fumble out a really quick release or slow right down to establish a pivot foot and then throw.
I am looking forward to testing out these new rules as soon as I can
-Twatson
Friday, June 20, 2008
Look out for the little guys
Hey ya'll,
In a sad development, UFNSW, the NSW frisbee dudes, have decided to hold their mixed championships (which work as a qualifying round for NSW for Mixed Nationals later this year) on the same weekend as Shenanigans, Canberra's annual intevarsity and source of much juicy gossip (both on the 6th and 7th of September). Hopefully the organisers can sort something out, because it would be a shame to see a bunch of players miss out on qualifying for Mixed Nats because they're helping their university teams prepare for strong on and off field performances at Unigames in September.
For those of you out there who are unfamiliar with the world of tournaments, the first port of call is the AFDA tournament calendar, http://afda.com/tournamentcalendar.php. Tournament organisers quietly compete for the best weekends to maximise the attendence at their event. The steamrolling of smaller tournaments by bigger ones (as has just occured) is frowned upon but it's usually the case that bigger tourneys are much less flexible than their smaller cousins and I'm sure the NSW kids have a good reason. Anyway, with a bit of work this can no doubt be resolved without any tears (just stay the hell away from Sunday the 14th of September. That's WOL, no negotiations).
In other developments, the supercomputers here at the CUB secret underground facility are working overtime on a number of timetabling issues. If we're able to add team training to WOL, when should that be? The ANU has offered new fields to the ANU frisbee club and there's the possibility they might have some spare (FREE) space for WOL teams use. But should that be Wednesday or Monday? Is it too cold? Should we just use the free Sundays that WOL leaves? How should we fit all this into training for our elite teams in the lead-up to mixed nats? Is it finally time for ACTUA to book fields once a week for the whole year and then fill them as needed? Will the WOL teams even want to train?
Only time and the silent flashing lights of the CUB supercomputers will determine the answer.
By the way, since I forgot to put the rego website for WOL in the all-important WOL email, I'm not posting it compulsively whenever I write worlds on teh internets. http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=488
Oh, and in more exciting news, Evan of the Smooth and Creamy Bananas has pledged another 8 players to WOL and Katie of the Devolutionaries has pledged 10! I feel like one of those lame charities. Only I get players to a league rather than money. YES!!
In a sad development, UFNSW, the NSW frisbee dudes, have decided to hold their mixed championships (which work as a qualifying round for NSW for Mixed Nationals later this year) on the same weekend as Shenanigans, Canberra's annual intevarsity and source of much juicy gossip (both on the 6th and 7th of September). Hopefully the organisers can sort something out, because it would be a shame to see a bunch of players miss out on qualifying for Mixed Nats because they're helping their university teams prepare for strong on and off field performances at Unigames in September.
For those of you out there who are unfamiliar with the world of tournaments, the first port of call is the AFDA tournament calendar, http://afda.com/tournamentcalendar.php. Tournament organisers quietly compete for the best weekends to maximise the attendence at their event. The steamrolling of smaller tournaments by bigger ones (as has just occured) is frowned upon but it's usually the case that bigger tourneys are much less flexible than their smaller cousins and I'm sure the NSW kids have a good reason. Anyway, with a bit of work this can no doubt be resolved without any tears (just stay the hell away from Sunday the 14th of September. That's WOL, no negotiations).
In other developments, the supercomputers here at the CUB secret underground facility are working overtime on a number of timetabling issues. If we're able to add team training to WOL, when should that be? The ANU has offered new fields to the ANU frisbee club and there's the possibility they might have some spare (FREE) space for WOL teams use. But should that be Wednesday or Monday? Is it too cold? Should we just use the free Sundays that WOL leaves? How should we fit all this into training for our elite teams in the lead-up to mixed nats? Is it finally time for ACTUA to book fields once a week for the whole year and then fill them as needed? Will the WOL teams even want to train?
Only time and the silent flashing lights of the CUB supercomputers will determine the answer.
By the way, since I forgot to put the rego website for WOL in the all-important WOL email, I'm not posting it compulsively whenever I write worlds on teh internets. http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=488
Oh, and in more exciting news, Evan of the Smooth and Creamy Bananas has pledged another 8 players to WOL and Katie of the Devolutionaries has pledged 10! I feel like one of those lame charities. Only I get players to a league rather than money. YES!!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Winter Outdoor League 2008
This year the ACTUA is running our first ever Winter Outdoor League. This is your chance to play ultimate through the colder months without having to deal with your cleats filling with frozen mud or with having to wear gloves between points.
WHAT: A mixed league with two or three women on the field. Teams will play two games a day on Sunday afternoons.
WHEN: Sundays during the day. It starts on the 22nd of June and runs every fourth Sunday, which works out to be the 20th of July, the 17th of August and the 14th of September. Game on is at 1:00pm and 2:30pm
WHERE: Downer playing fields, on the corner of Melba and Bonython streets in Downer.
HOW MUCH: Rego costs $25 if you pay before the 20th of July and $30 on or after the that. You can pay on the day or online via:
Account Name: ACT Ultimate
BSB Number: 801009
Account Number: 309871
Reference: Players Name (so we know who it is from)
HOW DO I SIGN UP? Registration is online at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835. You'll need an AFDA number (which makes sure you have insurance etc. You'll thank them if you bust a knee) which can be obtained from www.afda.com (there's a big red button that says "Join").
Please direct any questions to the John, the league organiser at "who dot is dot the dot schmooze at gmail dot com".
WHAT: A mixed league with two or three women on the field. Teams will play two games a day on Sunday afternoons.
WHEN: Sundays during the day. It starts on the 22nd of June and runs every fourth Sunday, which works out to be the 20th of July, the 17th of August and the 14th of September. Game on is at 1:00pm and 2:30pm
WHERE: Downer playing fields, on the corner of Melba and Bonython streets in Downer.
HOW MUCH: Rego costs $25 if you pay before the 20th of July and $30 on or after the that. You can pay on the day or online via:
Account Name: ACT Ultimate
BSB Number: 801009
Account Number: 309871
Reference: Players Name (so we know who it is from)
HOW DO I SIGN UP? Registration is online at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835. You'll need an AFDA number (which makes sure you have insurance etc. You'll thank them if you bust a knee) which can be obtained from www.afda.com (there's a big red button that says "Join").
Please direct any questions to the John, the league organiser at "who dot is dot the dot schmooze at gmail dot com".
It's Alive!
Hey ya'll,
OK, OK, I haven't posted in a while. I've been pretending to do uni stuff. Anyway, now I have a new way of wasting time. I can stare at the rego page for Winter Outdoor League constantly hitting refresh and getting excited about new players. At this stage we're up to 49, with a bunch of pledges from James Ley and the UC kids as well as the Bretheren and the High Flyers, both of Div 2 fame, on top of that. It's exciting, we're pretty much sure to hit our target of 6 teams and, with a little luck, might even push through to 8 (although that's asking for a lot).
If you've missed the details, it's on Sundays the 22/6, 20/7, 27/8 and 14/9 at Downer playing fields (on the intersection of Melba and Bonython Streets in Downer) starting at 1:00pm. It'll cost a whopping $25. Rego this week opens at 12:30.
SO, if you haven't signed up do so right now at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835. I'll be watching...
This week's hot rumour regards the possible return of one of the ACT's legendary enforcers to the league field. I had the pleasure of working with this player in Perth in 06, and although she's rarely seen on local fields she can still find that button on the disc with "smash" written on it. Perhaps she's even a candidate for the title of "Sarah Conner". Stay tuned for more details on this mysterious and possibly pants-soilingly exciting development.
That website again: http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835.
OK, OK, I haven't posted in a while. I've been pretending to do uni stuff. Anyway, now I have a new way of wasting time. I can stare at the rego page for Winter Outdoor League constantly hitting refresh and getting excited about new players. At this stage we're up to 49, with a bunch of pledges from James Ley and the UC kids as well as the Bretheren and the High Flyers, both of Div 2 fame, on top of that. It's exciting, we're pretty much sure to hit our target of 6 teams and, with a little luck, might even push through to 8 (although that's asking for a lot).
If you've missed the details, it's on Sundays the 22/6, 20/7, 27/8 and 14/9 at Downer playing fields (on the intersection of Melba and Bonython Streets in Downer) starting at 1:00pm. It'll cost a whopping $25. Rego this week opens at 12:30.
SO, if you haven't signed up do so right now at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835. I'll be watching...
This week's hot rumour regards the possible return of one of the ACT's legendary enforcers to the league field. I had the pleasure of working with this player in Perth in 06, and although she's rarely seen on local fields she can still find that button on the disc with "smash" written on it. Perhaps she's even a candidate for the title of "Sarah Conner". Stay tuned for more details on this mysterious and possibly pants-soilingly exciting development.
That website again: http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
AOUC Stats (Note, it looks ugly ugly as html has beaten me for the night)
Some months ago (In December of 2007) several Canberrans and ex-Canberrans played for the Australian Rep Team that competed in the Asia Oceanic Ultimate Championships in Taiwan.
Out of sheer boredom and through lack of access to other material (like the final for this year) I went through and collected a series of stats for the game to see how it panned out. As I am a n00b, I don't have the ability to put this into a neat little table, so this might look a bit munted.
Some notes about the stats I have taken:
-Pull possessions are seperated from regular possessions as they are what I have deemed uncontested throws
-Incompletions are purely based on whether or not the throw completed, so the maxim of "it is always the receivers fault" still holds true. This stat covers the total number of turnovers for the whole team, so 28 turns. (Which means the Japanese team had 24? our TOs minus the goal difference?)
-Brokenmark is used to indicate when people got a force on but did not hold it. This contained a couple of judgement calls and I didn't bother counting standard dumps as a break. Note ppl were not penalised if they never got a force on as a result of a break, etc
-If a player throws it to someone and they drop it, a drop and a incompletion is recorded
-Genuine Ds are ones that were earnt by the player, not just the result of having the disc accidentally thrown at them
Name Points on field Pull possessions Possessions Incompletions Goals/Assists
Rueben B. 14 4 27 5 0/3
Waz S. 14 0 31 9 1/4
P.Liddy 15 3 13 2 1/0
Kwong L.L. 11 0 4 0 1/0
Chumpy W. 12 0 8 1 3/0
Twatson 9 0 7 1 0/1
Woodley 9 0 3 1 3/0
Sweetas 11 0 8 2 1/0
Rachel G. 11 1 18 2 0/2
Erin H. 7 0 1 0 0/0
Lu F. 12 3 5 1 0/0
Gange 11 1 4 2 0/0
Jo C. 9 0 3 0 0/0
Lucy S. 9 8 0 1 0/0
Megan M. 9 2 1 1 0/0
Name Brokenmark Drops Genuine Ds Party Fouls
Rueben B. 2 1 4 2
Waz S. 0 1 2 4
P.Liddy 2 0 0 3
Kwong L.L. 1 2 2 7 (But he has a hot gf, so I understand)
Chumpy W. 0 1 1 5 (Got drunk, swapped shirts with wrong guy)
Twatson 0 0 1 8 (Leading on old dancing lady, brought shame on team)
Woodley 0 0 0 3
Sweetas 1 0 1 3
Rachel G. 1 0 0 4
Erin H. 1 0 0 -2 (Carried the team on the last night)
Lu F. 2 0 0 2
Gange 0 0 0 5 (Running away from drinking games at key times!)
Jo C. 0 0 0 -3 (Also carried the team on the last night)
Lucy S. 3 0 2 -1 (Sucked it up in the drinking game)
Megan M. 0 0 0 3
Some observations:
-Possession was obviously dominated by our main handlers (P.Liddy and Rachel) and playmakers. (Ruebs and Waz) Also assists were heavily focused in this group, with only one coming from outside it.
-The field loving couple of P.liddy and Lu Fearnside got on the field the most for their respective genders.
-I should have got on the field more. And Woodley should not get injured, he missed five points because of that.
-The Party foul stat was the hardest to collect from the video of the final...
Some context:
Many of the breaks on the female markers came from the same high release flick of one particular female player. Many of the Japanese women were on the Japanese Women's team, so that made it hard for us to use our women.
I think the Japanese threw one hammer. It was a girl and it was a dump pass. We should have learnt from earlier games to not throw hammers to Kwong when he tells us that he doesn't want to receive them.
Ruebs' stats got punished in the last few points of the game, he was looking much solid until the last 4 points. He also got most of his blocks in the last four points.
The video cut out during one of our zone O points that we scored, so there is some data missing.
Thats all kids! One day the Finals DVD will come out and we can do that!
Out of sheer boredom and through lack of access to other material (like the final for this year) I went through and collected a series of stats for the game to see how it panned out. As I am a n00b, I don't have the ability to put this into a neat little table, so this might look a bit munted.
Some notes about the stats I have taken:
-Pull possessions are seperated from regular possessions as they are what I have deemed uncontested throws
-Incompletions are purely based on whether or not the throw completed, so the maxim of "it is always the receivers fault" still holds true. This stat covers the total number of turnovers for the whole team, so 28 turns. (Which means the Japanese team had 24? our TOs minus the goal difference?)
-Brokenmark is used to indicate when people got a force on but did not hold it. This contained a couple of judgement calls and I didn't bother counting standard dumps as a break. Note ppl were not penalised if they never got a force on as a result of a break, etc
-If a player throws it to someone and they drop it, a drop and a incompletion is recorded
-Genuine Ds are ones that were earnt by the player, not just the result of having the disc accidentally thrown at them
Name Points on field Pull possessions Possessions Incompletions Goals/Assists
Rueben B. 14 4 27 5 0/3
Waz S. 14 0 31 9 1/4
P.Liddy 15 3 13 2 1/0
Kwong L.L. 11 0 4 0 1/0
Chumpy W. 12 0 8 1 3/0
Twatson 9 0 7 1 0/1
Woodley 9 0 3 1 3/0
Sweetas 11 0 8 2 1/0
Rachel G. 11 1 18 2 0/2
Erin H. 7 0 1 0 0/0
Lu F. 12 3 5 1 0/0
Gange 11 1 4 2 0/0
Jo C. 9 0 3 0 0/0
Lucy S. 9 8 0 1 0/0
Megan M. 9 2 1 1 0/0
Name Brokenmark Drops Genuine Ds Party Fouls
Rueben B. 2 1 4 2
Waz S. 0 1 2 4
P.Liddy 2 0 0 3
Kwong L.L. 1 2 2 7 (But he has a hot gf, so I understand)
Chumpy W. 0 1 1 5 (Got drunk, swapped shirts with wrong guy)
Twatson 0 0 1 8 (Leading on old dancing lady, brought shame on team)
Woodley 0 0 0 3
Sweetas 1 0 1 3
Rachel G. 1 0 0 4
Erin H. 1 0 0 -2 (Carried the team on the last night)
Lu F. 2 0 0 2
Gange 0 0 0 5 (Running away from drinking games at key times!)
Jo C. 0 0 0 -3 (Also carried the team on the last night)
Lucy S. 3 0 2 -1 (Sucked it up in the drinking game)
Megan M. 0 0 0 3
Some observations:
-Possession was obviously dominated by our main handlers (P.Liddy and Rachel) and playmakers. (Ruebs and Waz) Also assists were heavily focused in this group, with only one coming from outside it.
-The field loving couple of P.liddy and Lu Fearnside got on the field the most for their respective genders.
-I should have got on the field more. And Woodley should not get injured, he missed five points because of that.
-The Party foul stat was the hardest to collect from the video of the final...
Some context:
Many of the breaks on the female markers came from the same high release flick of one particular female player. Many of the Japanese women were on the Japanese Women's team, so that made it hard for us to use our women.
I think the Japanese threw one hammer. It was a girl and it was a dump pass. We should have learnt from earlier games to not throw hammers to Kwong when he tells us that he doesn't want to receive them.
Ruebs' stats got punished in the last few points of the game, he was looking much solid until the last 4 points. He also got most of his blocks in the last four points.
The video cut out during one of our zone O points that we scored, so there is some data missing.
Thats all kids! One day the Finals DVD will come out and we can do that!
Thursday, June 12, 2008
WOL is ON!
As the only person in the house who is not currently enthralled with Starship Atlantis or some such, it falls upon me to annouce that Winter Outdoor League is up and running!
Details:
When: 4 Sundays in the following four months: June 22 (next Sunday!), July 20, August 17, September 14 (it's every fourth Sunday). The first game timeslot is at 1:00, rego opens at 12:30.
Format: 6 or 8 team mixed league depending on numbers. Teams will play 2 games a day.
Where: Downer Playing Fields, at the intersection of Melba and Bonython streets, Downer.
Cost: $25. You can pay on the first day or online at
Account Name: ACT Ultimate
BSB Number: 801009
Account Number: 309871
Reference: Players Name (so we know who it is from)
If you haven't paid by Sunday the 20th of July fees increase to $30.
Sign up at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835.
League will cost $25.
Sign up ASAP!
Details:
When: 4 Sundays in the following four months: June 22 (next Sunday!), July 20, August 17, September 14 (it's every fourth Sunday). The first game timeslot is at 1:00, rego opens at 12:30.
Format: 6 or 8 team mixed league depending on numbers. Teams will play 2 games a day.
Where: Downer Playing Fields, at the intersection of Melba and Bonython streets, Downer.
Cost: $25. You can pay on the first day or online at
Account Name: ACT Ultimate
BSB Number: 801009
Account Number: 309871
Reference: Players Name (so we know who it is from)
If you haven't paid by Sunday the 20th of July fees increase to $30.
Sign up at http://www.afda.com/rego/showdivision.php?divisionid=835.
League will cost $25.
Sign up ASAP!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Canberra Ultimate 101 and FAQ
This post details the basics of Ultimate in Canberra
This post is a set of information (as at June 2008) to help you find your way to the nearest frisbee game. Thanks go to JDR of the Brisbane Ultimate blog for the unrestrained scavenging of their material, http://brisbaneultimatedisc.blogspot.com/
What is Ultimate Frisbee?
Ultimate is a seven-a-side sport that uses a frisbee (or 'disc'). Its a fast, free-flowing game played world-wide, combining elements of netball, soccer, grid-iron and touch footy. The basic aim is for the team with the disc to pass it up the field to others on their team and catch it in the end zone. At the same time the defensive team is trying to intercept it or knock it to the ground. If they succeed, they get possession of the disc and attempt to score in their end zone. Distinct to Ultimate is its non-refereed rules set-up - known as Spirit of the Game - where players are responsible.
Why Play Ultimate?
Its a hard running and energetic team sport without the getting knocked around or dealing with grumpy referees, coaches or opponents of other sports. In Canberra it is an incredibly social and friendly sport, played by a range of people of differing ages and experience. It can be played single sex or mixed gender without any changes in the rules to accommodate the different body types of the players. It's cheap - all you need is some friends, some grass (or beach) and a disc.
How do I Find Out More?
General announcements, particularly regarding new seasons, upcoming events and pickup games are generally made via the Canberra Ultimate Blog and the mailing lists from past seasons of league. Keep an eye on here for the latest. You can also post a comment to this here blog to get help!
What's This Blog Then?
Mostly it exists to support the Canberra Ultimate community, and hence has a range of news, views and just plain silly stuff, depending on the whims of the posters. Yes, there's a few in jokes, and on occasion it ventures well beyond the limits of Canberra and/or Ultimate Frisbee. Don't take it too seriously.
Tell Me About Leagues
There's a few options for playing Ultimate throughout the year in Canberra. All of the leagues in Canberra are mixed gender, meaning that each team has to have a set minimum number of each gender on the field at anyone time.
The best time to start is in Spring. From mid October to late March we have two series of leagues that cover three divisions of play. Traditionally we run our leagues at Dickson Ovals, on Antill Street, on Tuesday nights. This year we are reformatting our league timing to ensure we have space for the leagues to grow, as field space has become our limiting factor in increasing the league size. You can enter these leagues as an individual player, a group of friends or a whole team. So if you are really keen to try frisbee out, get together a group of your mates and we can provide an experienced player to play with and guide your team through the league.
Just after April we start our Autumn leagues, which run on Wednesday nights and are again at Dickson Fields. These leagues run until early July.
Then we have the Winter league season. Traditionally this has only had an Indoor league but this year we are adding a different style of Outdoor league as well. Instead of playing outside in the cold every week for one night, we are going to put aside one Sunday a month to play three games during a day, where it will be notionally warmer. The indoor league this season will be played at the AIS and the Outdoor league will be over at the Downer playing fields.
Canberra Representative Clubs
The majority of elite ultimate in Australia is played by touring clubs, which periodically travel away for a weekend to play other touring clubs in tournaments. This is ultimate at its flashiest and the tournaments have evolved into very serious and exciting affairs. Australian Ultimate effectively has two different major seasons, the single sex season, from January to April and the Mixed sex season, from August to October. Both of these seasons end with their respective nationals tournaments, in late April and mid October.
In the single sex season, Canberra has Fyshwick United, the men's representative club and Factory Girls, the women's representative club. Both of these clubs improved on their past performances at Nationals this year, coming 2nd in the men's and 5th in the women's. This Wide World of Sports segment has footage of both teams, with the Factory Girls in the Royal Blue and the FU boys in the 'mango'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5A8tj7F5hc
Groups of Canberra players also routinely form for Mixed Nationals in October, and various other tournaments around Australia during the mixed season. Mixed Nationals 2008 will be held in Brisbane. The ACT will be represented by local mixed club Kaboom, which intends to build towards attending World Clubs in 2010.
Tournaments
A lot of Ultimate is built around weekend tournaments. These are usually accompanied by a big party, and are a great way to develop your on and off field game!
March sees the Eastern Regionals - the qualifier for Nationals in Open and Women's division.
April is dominated by Nationals, which rotates around the nation. Nationals 2009 is planned for Perth.
From June to September there are a selection of university and non-university mixed tournaments in the lead up to Australian University Games and Mixed Nationals. This includes one Canberra tournament, Shenanigans.
During the mid-semester holidays in September, the Australian University Games are held at a site rotated around Australia. In recent times, Ultimate has become the largest sport at the Games. In the past ANU have sent teams that typically place between 4th and 8th.
October is dominated by Mixed Nationals. Brisbane will be hosting Mixed Nationals in 2008.
The end of October marks something of the start of the social season, with the Melbourne Hat, Longest Day Beach tournament and Diskapital hat tournaments. Hat tournaments are tournaments where the teams are formed randomly from individual players but balanced for ability and gender, meaning you will be playing with people that have just started the sport to those that have represented Australia at World Championships. These social tournaments peter out as the single sex seasons starts and finishes with the Terrigal Towel, a beach hat tournament in March.
This post is a set of information (as at June 2008) to help you find your way to the nearest frisbee game. Thanks go to JDR of the Brisbane Ultimate blog for the unrestrained scavenging of their material, http://brisbaneultimatedisc.blogspot.com/
What is Ultimate Frisbee?
Ultimate is a seven-a-side sport that uses a frisbee (or 'disc'). Its a fast, free-flowing game played world-wide, combining elements of netball, soccer, grid-iron and touch footy. The basic aim is for the team with the disc to pass it up the field to others on their team and catch it in the end zone. At the same time the defensive team is trying to intercept it or knock it to the ground. If they succeed, they get possession of the disc and attempt to score in their end zone. Distinct to Ultimate is its non-refereed rules set-up - known as Spirit of the Game - where players are responsible.
Why Play Ultimate?
Its a hard running and energetic team sport without the getting knocked around or dealing with grumpy referees, coaches or opponents of other sports. In Canberra it is an incredibly social and friendly sport, played by a range of people of differing ages and experience. It can be played single sex or mixed gender without any changes in the rules to accommodate the different body types of the players. It's cheap - all you need is some friends, some grass (or beach) and a disc.
How do I Find Out More?
General announcements, particularly regarding new seasons, upcoming events and pickup games are generally made via the Canberra Ultimate Blog and the mailing lists from past seasons of league. Keep an eye on here for the latest. You can also post a comment to this here blog to get help!
What's This Blog Then?
Mostly it exists to support the Canberra Ultimate community, and hence has a range of news, views and just plain silly stuff, depending on the whims of the posters. Yes, there's a few in jokes, and on occasion it ventures well beyond the limits of Canberra and/or Ultimate Frisbee. Don't take it too seriously.
Tell Me About Leagues
There's a few options for playing Ultimate throughout the year in Canberra. All of the leagues in Canberra are mixed gender, meaning that each team has to have a set minimum number of each gender on the field at anyone time.
The best time to start is in Spring. From mid October to late March we have two series of leagues that cover three divisions of play. Traditionally we run our leagues at Dickson Ovals, on Antill Street, on Tuesday nights. This year we are reformatting our league timing to ensure we have space for the leagues to grow, as field space has become our limiting factor in increasing the league size. You can enter these leagues as an individual player, a group of friends or a whole team. So if you are really keen to try frisbee out, get together a group of your mates and we can provide an experienced player to play with and guide your team through the league.
Just after April we start our Autumn leagues, which run on Wednesday nights and are again at Dickson Fields. These leagues run until early July.
Then we have the Winter league season. Traditionally this has only had an Indoor league but this year we are adding a different style of Outdoor league as well. Instead of playing outside in the cold every week for one night, we are going to put aside one Sunday a month to play three games during a day, where it will be notionally warmer. The indoor league this season will be played at the AIS and the Outdoor league will be over at the Downer playing fields.
Canberra Representative Clubs
The majority of elite ultimate in Australia is played by touring clubs, which periodically travel away for a weekend to play other touring clubs in tournaments. This is ultimate at its flashiest and the tournaments have evolved into very serious and exciting affairs. Australian Ultimate effectively has two different major seasons, the single sex season, from January to April and the Mixed sex season, from August to October. Both of these seasons end with their respective nationals tournaments, in late April and mid October.
In the single sex season, Canberra has Fyshwick United, the men's representative club and Factory Girls, the women's representative club. Both of these clubs improved on their past performances at Nationals this year, coming 2nd in the men's and 5th in the women's. This Wide World of Sports segment has footage of both teams, with the Factory Girls in the Royal Blue and the FU boys in the 'mango'.
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Groups of Canberra players also routinely form for Mixed Nationals in October, and various other tournaments around Australia during the mixed season. Mixed Nationals 2008 will be held in Brisbane. The ACT will be represented by local mixed club Kaboom, which intends to build towards attending World Clubs in 2010.
Tournaments
A lot of Ultimate is built around weekend tournaments. These are usually accompanied by a big party, and are a great way to develop your on and off field game!
March sees the Eastern Regionals - the qualifier for Nationals in Open and Women's division.
April is dominated by Nationals, which rotates around the nation. Nationals 2009 is planned for Perth.
From June to September there are a selection of university and non-university mixed tournaments in the lead up to Australian University Games and Mixed Nationals. This includes one Canberra tournament, Shenanigans.
During the mid-semester holidays in September, the Australian University Games are held at a site rotated around Australia. In recent times, Ultimate has become the largest sport at the Games. In the past ANU have sent teams that typically place between 4th and 8th.
October is dominated by Mixed Nationals. Brisbane will be hosting Mixed Nationals in 2008.
The end of October marks something of the start of the social season, with the Melbourne Hat, Longest Day Beach tournament and Diskapital hat tournaments. Hat tournaments are tournaments where the teams are formed randomly from individual players but balanced for ability and gender, meaning you will be playing with people that have just started the sport to those that have represented Australia at World Championships. These social tournaments peter out as the single sex seasons starts and finishes with the Terrigal Towel, a beach hat tournament in March.
Friday, June 6, 2008
How many mathematicians does it take....
to do up a draw for outside winter league?
More than two apparently. Despite that fact that both mathematicians in fact have other work to do for which they get marked, they spent at least 6 hours yesterday trying to do up a draw.
Why? you ask. Why not just give the problem to an international relations housemate who, we are certain, will freakishly pull the only possible combination out thin air and leave us wondering what good maths if for anyway? In fact, what is the point of it all? Why do we live? Why do we die? And why do some of us spend so much the the intervening time solving Maths problems?
This is clearly an issue for another day, and one fortunately all Ultimate players know the answers to (Why do we live? To play Ultimate Why do we die? Because we can no longer play Ultimate. Why do some of us spend so much the intervening time solving Maths problems? Because you need something to fill the time in when you're not playing Ultimate)
However, rest assured all you Canberra Ultimate Players that the WILL be an outdoor winter league, it WILL be during daylight hours, and therefore the temperature WILL (with probability 1/2) be above freezing and it WILL (with probability 1) have the most beautiful (mathematically speaking) draw ever to have graced the Ultimate community.
Given:
More than two apparently. Despite that fact that both mathematicians in fact have other work to do for which they get marked, they spent at least 6 hours yesterday trying to do up a draw.
Why? you ask. Why not just give the problem to an international relations housemate who, we are certain, will freakishly pull the only possible combination out thin air and leave us wondering what good maths if for anyway? In fact, what is the point of it all? Why do we live? Why do we die? And why do some of us spend so much the the intervening time solving Maths problems?
This is clearly an issue for another day, and one fortunately all Ultimate players know the answers to (Why do we live? To play Ultimate Why do we die? Because we can no longer play Ultimate. Why do some of us spend so much the intervening time solving Maths problems? Because you need something to fill the time in when you're not playing Ultimate)
However, rest assured all you Canberra Ultimate Players that the WILL be an outdoor winter league, it WILL be during daylight hours, and therefore the temperature WILL (with probability 1/2) be above freezing and it WILL (with probability 1) have the most beautiful (mathematically speaking) draw ever to have graced the Ultimate community.
Given:
- Winter league will run for 4 days on the about the third Sundays of the months June, July, August, September. (tentative dates: June 22, July 20, August 17, September 21)
- Each team will play 3 70-minute games per day (subject to change depending on exhaustion levels after the first sunday)
- Lunch will be provided.
- Games will run from 9 am to 5 pm
- First three sundays will be round-robin type play, last sunday will be semis and finals, with a BBQ.
- Maximum of 10 teams.
- The draw will be beautiful
- We only need 3 fields.
- We can play at our favorite playing fields, Downer.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
WAAAA!!
Well, as Twats has pointed out, we finally got around to sorting out a formal response from ACTUA but it was way too late. That's a shame, because it would have really helped in the ACT to switch the timing of the single gender and mixed national events. We suffer from exactly the situation Matt Boevink diagnosed and it will be really hard for us to provide effective player pathways to the bulk of our players in summer without the change. Perhaps it's exacerbated by the weather, which ends up freeing up our keenest volunteers during the coldest months of the year when our player base drops because it's cold and because we move indoors. While it certainly would have affected our elite teams adversely in the short term, we can reasonably ask our elite teams to train through the winter, they already do it anyway to some extent (and my don't your cleats skid when the turf freezes solid - it's like playing ulty on concrete). Trying to convince new players to do it is much harder.
In any case, I'm sure Simon Talbot has crunched the numbers and arguments correctly, he seems like a pretty thorough and clued-in administrative type. And besides, we really should have made our position clear months ago.
That's all for today - yes, as Twats points out, I do have the minutes from last night's meeting but I'm not going to post them here until all the new committee members join the accursed Yahoogroup. James Ley, I'm looking at you. Speaking of which, I still need to write his player profile. Anyway, I wrote a guest blog entry for JdR's Brisbane Blog today so if you want something more interesting you'll have to track that down.
In any case, I'm sure Simon Talbot has crunched the numbers and arguments correctly, he seems like a pretty thorough and clued-in administrative type. And besides, we really should have made our position clear months ago.
That's all for today - yes, as Twats points out, I do have the minutes from last night's meeting but I'm not going to post them here until all the new committee members join the accursed Yahoogroup. James Ley, I'm looking at you. Speaking of which, I still need to write his player profile. Anyway, I wrote a guest blog entry for JdR's Brisbane Blog today so if you want something more interesting you'll have to track that down.
Updates from the wider frisbee world
Its finals night on Wednesday night in Canberra. If you are a Div 1 player, come early and check out the goods in Div 2 and if you play only Divs 2 & 3 then stay on a bit later to see the top tier of local competition, the Div 1 final, from 8:30pm.
The ACT Ultimate Association had a quick meeting last night and I will leave it to Bags to put up the minutes of the meetings to inform you all of the exact goings on. We managed to get the masses out of the house of twits by 9pm to watch one of the better episodes of Drawn Together, which on the best of nights is quite rank. Too bad about missing South Park....
'Worlds' training has been organised by Jonno Holmes and booked by John 'Bags' Horan for Tuesday nights, so anyone that wants a decent quality hit-out should get in touch with Jonno 'Darling' Holmes and confirm with him the timings and location.
A few months ago the AFDA (Australian Flying Disc Association) board began a consultation process to see if changing the timings of nationals and mixed nationals could be swapped to improve recruitment and expansion of ultimate in Australia. ACTUA, not meeting for the past 6 months, never got around to submitting an official stance on this. We discussed the matter last night at the meeting and Bags made a strong case to have mixed nats and single sex nats swapped and the rest of the commitee agreed that it would improve the lower and middle-tier of ultimate and in the long-term the elite level at the sacrifice at making it a little more uncomfortable to train for nationals for the men's and women's teams. We decided that ACTUA would prefer the switch and intended to indicate as such, despite it being many months past the date for submissions to AFDA. Of course, the day after we finally decided what we wanted, the results of the consultation process came out, thus making our chat last night moot. The AFDA board has gone with the safer, more conservative option of sticking to the current schedule. There are many pros and cons to the change and the decision is quite a tricky one but there is at least one point I will contest: To all those softies that do not want to train for nationals in the winter, I say phooey to you, move to Canberra and harden up.
The National Ultimate Frisbee League (NUFL as it is known) is on again this weekend. There are several Canberra players going along and playing with the 'Country' team, which has players from Canberra, Wollongong and Newcastle. This team has many of the players from the past triad team, Deathstar and this team seems to suffer from similar mysterious difficulties on the field. Hopefully the team can gel better for this weekend. There will also be a game between the Australian's mens team and 'rest of the Australia' pick up team, which should be a spirited battle. Hopefully I will have reports on the whole weekend ready by wednesday of next week.
Thats all for now
The ACT Ultimate Association had a quick meeting last night and I will leave it to Bags to put up the minutes of the meetings to inform you all of the exact goings on. We managed to get the masses out of the house of twits by 9pm to watch one of the better episodes of Drawn Together, which on the best of nights is quite rank. Too bad about missing South Park....
'Worlds' training has been organised by Jonno Holmes and booked by John 'Bags' Horan for Tuesday nights, so anyone that wants a decent quality hit-out should get in touch with Jonno 'Darling' Holmes and confirm with him the timings and location.
A few months ago the AFDA (Australian Flying Disc Association) board began a consultation process to see if changing the timings of nationals and mixed nationals could be swapped to improve recruitment and expansion of ultimate in Australia. ACTUA, not meeting for the past 6 months, never got around to submitting an official stance on this. We discussed the matter last night at the meeting and Bags made a strong case to have mixed nats and single sex nats swapped and the rest of the commitee agreed that it would improve the lower and middle-tier of ultimate and in the long-term the elite level at the sacrifice at making it a little more uncomfortable to train for nationals for the men's and women's teams. We decided that ACTUA would prefer the switch and intended to indicate as such, despite it being many months past the date for submissions to AFDA. Of course, the day after we finally decided what we wanted, the results of the consultation process came out, thus making our chat last night moot. The AFDA board has gone with the safer, more conservative option of sticking to the current schedule. There are many pros and cons to the change and the decision is quite a tricky one but there is at least one point I will contest: To all those softies that do not want to train for nationals in the winter, I say phooey to you, move to Canberra and harden up.
The National Ultimate Frisbee League (NUFL as it is known) is on again this weekend. There are several Canberra players going along and playing with the 'Country' team, which has players from Canberra, Wollongong and Newcastle. This team has many of the players from the past triad team, Deathstar and this team seems to suffer from similar mysterious difficulties on the field. Hopefully the team can gel better for this weekend. There will also be a game between the Australian's mens team and 'rest of the Australia' pick up team, which should be a spirited battle. Hopefully I will have reports on the whole weekend ready by wednesday of next week.
Thats all for now
Monday, June 2, 2008
Nothing Happens, Nobody Posts
In keeping with the great sage JdR's advice, I'm trying to post regularly even when nothing happens. This is one of those times.
We elected a new committee on Wednesday night at the AGM, but unfortunately I don't know all their names so I can't list them all here. In any case, the meeting featured what was probably the fastest nomination for President ever seen in ACT volunteer organisations, as Tom Watson volunteered for the post even before Anthony had finished asking for nominations. Anthony Perry was returned as Treasurer, which is good because he's competent and it's unlikely that anyone else would be. John Horan signed up as Secretary, but only because he looks good in a skirt. The committee members, however, are something of a blank to me. This is partly because some people signed up whom I've never meet before (which is absolutely GREAT, it means some fresh volunteering meat at the least) and partly because there was a huge rush of people falling over themselves to sign up. We've got 10 on the committee in all, including such luminaries as Pete "Mad Dog" Hemphil and James "The Saviour" Ley. The enthusiasm is very exciting and hopefully they can all get down to business quick smart.
Thanks must go to Sheryn for her extended term as ACTUA president last year, to Anthony for his continued work as treasurer to keep us financially sound and to all the other committee members for meeting at my house and buying cheap pizza.
The new committee meets tonight, to find out each others names and to work out what to do about the most pressing issue for the ACT, winter league. There's still no official word on court availability or fields for an outdoor league. Lots of schemes and pipe-dreams are sure to be bandied about tonight, so it will be interesting to see whether they all respect each other in the morning, what kind of pizza they order and whether I can get them all out of my living room in time for South Park and Drawn Together which are on SBS at 8:30.
More news tomorrow.
We elected a new committee on Wednesday night at the AGM, but unfortunately I don't know all their names so I can't list them all here. In any case, the meeting featured what was probably the fastest nomination for President ever seen in ACT volunteer organisations, as Tom Watson volunteered for the post even before Anthony had finished asking for nominations. Anthony Perry was returned as Treasurer, which is good because he's competent and it's unlikely that anyone else would be. John Horan signed up as Secretary, but only because he looks good in a skirt. The committee members, however, are something of a blank to me. This is partly because some people signed up whom I've never meet before (which is absolutely GREAT, it means some fresh volunteering meat at the least) and partly because there was a huge rush of people falling over themselves to sign up. We've got 10 on the committee in all, including such luminaries as Pete "Mad Dog" Hemphil and James "The Saviour" Ley. The enthusiasm is very exciting and hopefully they can all get down to business quick smart.
Thanks must go to Sheryn for her extended term as ACTUA president last year, to Anthony for his continued work as treasurer to keep us financially sound and to all the other committee members for meeting at my house and buying cheap pizza.
The new committee meets tonight, to find out each others names and to work out what to do about the most pressing issue for the ACT, winter league. There's still no official word on court availability or fields for an outdoor league. Lots of schemes and pipe-dreams are sure to be bandied about tonight, so it will be interesting to see whether they all respect each other in the morning, what kind of pizza they order and whether I can get them all out of my living room in time for South Park and Drawn Together which are on SBS at 8:30.
More news tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)