Monday, August 25, 2008
Shenanigans is on!
Yes, another year brings another university season, and another university season brings another Shenanigans, the ACTs finest intervarsity tournament. Registrations have taken a hit this year as the calendar crowds up with bigger events that teams need to attend to qualify for even bigger events, and we lack the star recruiting power of Piers "Come to my Tournament" Truter, but Shenenigans lives on. Low turnout has forced the tourney into a one-day format (I think) but there may still be places on the local pickup team. Check the AFDA website for details. This tournament has always generated high scores in Fantasy Pickup so get your picks early to secure the best chance at glory.
Guest Coach this Thursday
If you're wondering what that whirring noise is, it's the local rumor mill. Yes, there's gossip aplenty floating around the frisbee scene, and the lastest publishable morsel regards the possibility of a guest star helping out at Kaboom training this Thursday. Pete Hemphill is away and his big shoes are set to be amply filled by Jonno "I once jumped over a guy who was jumping over another guy" Holmes.
Jonno has had a long and illustrious career in Australian ultimate. Reports abound about about his stellar performance in the garish yellow strips of Wanderlust, a mixed team that played at World Clubs in Perth in '02. He's been a stalwart of the Dingos for a few campaigns now, pioneered Deathstar's research into shopping trolley kinematics, invented the curvy bit at the bottom of the letter g and is the only player to have made an opponent weep and soil themself at the same time without crossing the fine line of incedental contact (Tao Brown has managed to simultaneously do the first and second, but never the third). So, if you're waiting for that spark to push you over the boundary from thinking about training to actually attending it, this could be your moment.
Jonno has had a long and illustrious career in Australian ultimate. Reports abound about about his stellar performance in the garish yellow strips of Wanderlust, a mixed team that played at World Clubs in Perth in '02. He's been a stalwart of the Dingos for a few campaigns now, pioneered Deathstar's research into shopping trolley kinematics, invented the curvy bit at the bottom of the letter g and is the only player to have made an opponent weep and soil themself at the same time without crossing the fine line of incedental contact (Tao Brown has managed to simultaneously do the first and second, but never the third). So, if you're waiting for that spark to push you over the boundary from thinking about training to actually attending it, this could be your moment.
Friday, August 22, 2008
A quick update
Hi Everyone,
OK, lots has been happening so it's a shame I haven't posted lately. I'll give a quick update of some stuff now and give a summary of the last round of WOL some other time.
First, some great news. The ACT has been allocated a third team slot for Mixed Nationals in Brisbane (from the 18th to the 20th of October). Unfortunately for them, WA couldn't find a second team to fill their allocation so we got their spare slot. This means that we'll be able to send a development team to Mixed Nats. We're hoping to get a bunch of Div 2 players to attend, so if you're interested post a comment. As the training numbers for Kaboom become clearer we'll know more about who's going to be running each team.
Kaboom training is off and running, with 27 non-gimps attending last night. We're still missing a bunch of old hands who can usually be counted on to turn up, plus there are a few rookies who should be attending over the next few weeks. It's really exciting to have so many people (especially new people) at training and it bodes well for all the teams we send to mixed nats later this year. If you're still planning on attending but haven't made it along yet training starts at 6:15 at O'Connor Playing fields (near the shops). Bring water, cleats and a light and a dark shirt.
The Development Clinics ended last Monday with a session on smack talk. Players were advised on the correct application and use of visors, sweatbands and a number of other ultimate essentials. The players attending the sessions have made a lot of improvement over the five weeks and ACTUA will definintely look to run clinics like this again. In the ideal world we should run separate clinics for beginner and intermediate players, so that's something to aim for in a year or so. As usual, we need more coaches and more time (and more fields). On the whole, the clinics were well attended, especially given the time of year (my whiteboard froze over last Monday). Hopefully we can build on these sessions by offering coaching for league players and teams during the spring and summer leagues.
The field allocation meeting for ACT Sportgrounds' Summer booking period is on this Monday. I'm rather excited about the possible outcomes of this meeting. We've asked for more fields than we ever have before, with an attempted two nights allocated for leagues and an extra allocation for training. We've never had an allocation for training, because the clubs have always tried to organise their own fields after the allocations have been made. If all goes well here it will ensure that we have decent training facilities available to us reliably over the summer period. Unfortunately, it'll still be a struggle getting fields over winter because of the higher demand for fields, but this approach might help us there as well. If we get what we've asked for it should be easy to provide training fields for league players and teams and for club level ultimate. It's great to see the club admin types co-ordinating with ACTUA to get themselves a better deal. I'll keep ya'll posted on how successful our fields bids are.
We still need league organisers. There are some murmuring within the ANU camp about someone helping with Spring League as a fund-raiser. We need volunteers for divisions 2 and 3 which will be run on the same night at the same place so it's easy to do both at once. League organisers get paid an honorarium by ACTUA and there are plenty of people to support and help anyone who's interested.
There's more stuff going on as well, but I'll have to post about it later. The sun is out so it's time for rehab.
OK, lots has been happening so it's a shame I haven't posted lately. I'll give a quick update of some stuff now and give a summary of the last round of WOL some other time.
First, some great news. The ACT has been allocated a third team slot for Mixed Nationals in Brisbane (from the 18th to the 20th of October). Unfortunately for them, WA couldn't find a second team to fill their allocation so we got their spare slot. This means that we'll be able to send a development team to Mixed Nats. We're hoping to get a bunch of Div 2 players to attend, so if you're interested post a comment. As the training numbers for Kaboom become clearer we'll know more about who's going to be running each team.
Kaboom training is off and running, with 27 non-gimps attending last night. We're still missing a bunch of old hands who can usually be counted on to turn up, plus there are a few rookies who should be attending over the next few weeks. It's really exciting to have so many people (especially new people) at training and it bodes well for all the teams we send to mixed nats later this year. If you're still planning on attending but haven't made it along yet training starts at 6:15 at O'Connor Playing fields (near the shops). Bring water, cleats and a light and a dark shirt.
The Development Clinics ended last Monday with a session on smack talk. Players were advised on the correct application and use of visors, sweatbands and a number of other ultimate essentials. The players attending the sessions have made a lot of improvement over the five weeks and ACTUA will definintely look to run clinics like this again. In the ideal world we should run separate clinics for beginner and intermediate players, so that's something to aim for in a year or so. As usual, we need more coaches and more time (and more fields). On the whole, the clinics were well attended, especially given the time of year (my whiteboard froze over last Monday). Hopefully we can build on these sessions by offering coaching for league players and teams during the spring and summer leagues.
The field allocation meeting for ACT Sportgrounds' Summer booking period is on this Monday. I'm rather excited about the possible outcomes of this meeting. We've asked for more fields than we ever have before, with an attempted two nights allocated for leagues and an extra allocation for training. We've never had an allocation for training, because the clubs have always tried to organise their own fields after the allocations have been made. If all goes well here it will ensure that we have decent training facilities available to us reliably over the summer period. Unfortunately, it'll still be a struggle getting fields over winter because of the higher demand for fields, but this approach might help us there as well. If we get what we've asked for it should be easy to provide training fields for league players and teams and for club level ultimate. It's great to see the club admin types co-ordinating with ACTUA to get themselves a better deal. I'll keep ya'll posted on how successful our fields bids are.
We still need league organisers. There are some murmuring within the ANU camp about someone helping with Spring League as a fund-raiser. We need volunteers for divisions 2 and 3 which will be run on the same night at the same place so it's easy to do both at once. League organisers get paid an honorarium by ACTUA and there are plenty of people to support and help anyone who's interested.
There's more stuff going on as well, but I'll have to post about it later. The sun is out so it's time for rehab.
Monday, August 11, 2008
WOL next week!
Friends, Romans, Countrymen,
WOL is on next week. 1:00 at Downer Fields as usual. That means that pickup WON'T be on unless a bunch of people email me who still want to play. If that's you (that is, you want pickup and you aren't playing WOL) email me at "who dot is dot the dot schmooze at gmail dot com".
This will be the last week of pool play so it's every team's last chance to set themselves up for the finals. I'll post about who's playing whom for what stakes later in the week.
WOL is on next week. 1:00 at Downer Fields as usual. That means that pickup WON'T be on unless a bunch of people email me who still want to play. If that's you (that is, you want pickup and you aren't playing WOL) email me at "who dot is dot the dot schmooze at gmail dot com".
This will be the last week of pool play so it's every team's last chance to set themselves up for the finals. I'll post about who's playing whom for what stakes later in the week.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Kaboom Training
Hi All,
Kaboom, the ACT's new mixed ultimate club, starts training on the 21st of August (that's next Thursday) at 6:15 at the O'Connor playing fields, at the field nearest the O'Connor shops near the Pedder street car park. Coaches will be available from 6:00 to assist players with any questions or goals they may have and players are expected to be cleated up and ready to run at 6:15. Training will end by 9:00 (some sessions may end earlier).
Training is expected to stay at O'Connor until mid September but may move after that because of changes in the ACT Sportsgrounds' field allocations between the winter and summer booking periods.
All ACT players are welcome to attend training, but the standard of play and the expectations of players at the club level are quite different to those in other levels of ACT ultimate. If you're unsure about whether training is what you're looking for, you're most welcome to attend the introductory bridging session of the 14th of August (this Thursday) at 6:15 at the O'Connor fields (the same location as training on the 21st). This session will give players the basic skills needed to get the most out of club level training and will outline some of the differences you can expect. As outlined in our introductory message (http://canberraultimate.blogspot.com/2008/07/kaboom-mixed-act-ultimate.html) we hope to send three teams to tournaments this year and this season should provide opportunities for players of all levels to attend tournaments.
If you have any questions about attending training or about tournaments during the mixed season please email me at "who dot is dot the dot schmooze at gmail dot com".
All players who hope to play Mixed Nationals should attend training, as should players who are unable to attend tournaments but are looking to take a more focused approached to their ultimate. Sessions will be run by Pete "Mad Dog" Hemphill with assistance from John "Bags" Horan. Players interested in playing in the upcoming mixed season should register at http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=509.
I hope to see you all this (or next) Thursday.
John, on behalf of the Kaboom stewards, Tom Watson, Mica Hartley and John Horan.
Kaboom, the ACT's new mixed ultimate club, starts training on the 21st of August (that's next Thursday) at 6:15 at the O'Connor playing fields, at the field nearest the O'Connor shops near the Pedder street car park. Coaches will be available from 6:00 to assist players with any questions or goals they may have and players are expected to be cleated up and ready to run at 6:15. Training will end by 9:00 (some sessions may end earlier).
Training is expected to stay at O'Connor until mid September but may move after that because of changes in the ACT Sportsgrounds' field allocations between the winter and summer booking periods.
All ACT players are welcome to attend training, but the standard of play and the expectations of players at the club level are quite different to those in other levels of ACT ultimate. If you're unsure about whether training is what you're looking for, you're most welcome to attend the introductory bridging session of the 14th of August (this Thursday) at 6:15 at the O'Connor fields (the same location as training on the 21st). This session will give players the basic skills needed to get the most out of club level training and will outline some of the differences you can expect. As outlined in our introductory message (http://canberraultimate.blogspot.com/2008/07/kaboom-mixed-act-ultimate.html) we hope to send three teams to tournaments this year and this season should provide opportunities for players of all levels to attend tournaments.
If you have any questions about attending training or about tournaments during the mixed season please email me at "who dot is dot the dot schmooze at gmail dot com".
All players who hope to play Mixed Nationals should attend training, as should players who are unable to attend tournaments but are looking to take a more focused approached to their ultimate. Sessions will be run by Pete "Mad Dog" Hemphill with assistance from John "Bags" Horan. Players interested in playing in the upcoming mixed season should register at http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=509.
I hope to see you all this (or next) Thursday.
John, on behalf of the Kaboom stewards, Tom Watson, Mica Hartley and John Horan.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Final World Championships results for Australia
Well the fields are still open for four more games but the dust has settled on the Australian campaign at Worlds. The results are in, with some pleasant surprises and a few unfortunate outcomes. Of course, all in all, a great effort from all the teams and it sounds like they played spirited and strongly across the board. I have been following the results from the distance of the interwubs, including the score reporter, webcasts and blogs of those that are there.
The highlight of the campaign has to be the outstanding performance of the Junior Girls, Terra Australis, coming in second after the Japanese. Their pool results were a mix of strong wins and tough losses. They were only beaten by the Japanese (That look set to take out the overall points score) and the Colombian team. They faced up against the Colombian girls team in the semi final in what must have been a daunting mental situation. This was a team that had already beat them twice in this tournament. However, each time the Terra girls got closer and closer to the Colombians and in the semi they managed to build on the lessons learnt from the previous games and bested the Colombians to earn themselves a spot in the final. It also seems that Terra is in line to take out the Spirit competition, contributing to a really strong double medal performance that should be the inspiration of any ultimate team. I can't wait to sit down with Fatty and some of the key players on the team and get a feel for the methods of success the team employed. (Aside from Ellie/Cath throwing it to Ellie/Crystal)
While the girls certainly achieved beyond expectation, unfortunately some of the other teams just did not. The Thunder boys team had some great results, including beating Canada and Great Britain at least once each but once again were bitterly beaten in their last game. The Taipans, our Masters team, also had a great start, cleaning up Japan and GB on the first day and stream rolled through the middle of the tournament but came unstuck at the end of the tournament, losing their last two games to take 4th place. Finally the Dingoes had a shocking loss to the British Mens team in the quarter finals. Report indicate that the Brits were firing and the Australian team lost grip of the game after the second half, as the 'all-star' line was called on to stem the flow of turn-overs and opposition goals. After a tough loss, the team did rally and won their last two games, to come in 5th in the Open division. All three teams looked reasonably strong in the early or middle of the tournament but just had a bad run in the final days. Again, I'm keen to hear all about the insider perspective from these teams and those that watched their game.
The other good news stories are the improvement in results for the Womens and Mixed teams. Both teams had good wins through the tournament, struggled with injuries and improved their results from last Worlds by one place, to 4th. Hopefully future teams will be able to build on the success of their campaigns this time round and come home with some bling.
In other Australian International sporting news, I watched some of the first soccer games at the Olympic games yesterday. Australia Vs Serbia was the first match in the double header and unfortunately it was a sloppy affair, particularly in the first half. Lack of touch on the ball, lazy long ball options, teamwork miscues and slow pace soccer was the order of the day. Obviously the heat was taking its toll on the players. The second half was better and the Australian's scored first, off a short cross into the goal box, which about 4 players from both sides had a bid at and missed. I think it was number 13 that slammed the ball in the net after its long and tense (.3 of a second) journey across the Serbian goal face. While our last quarter defence was quite strong, we alloed too many chances at goal, conceding 14 corners and 14 shots on goal. They were destined to break though eventually. The Serbian's answered not long after our own goal, mid way through the second half, with a great cross and header. The final score was one all.
In contrast, the second game of the Argies Vs Ivory Coast was a festival of amazing football. Fantastic touch, pace and control from both teams offenses made for an absolute joy of an experience. The Ivory Coast "scored' first but had the goal denied by the linesman. On the replay shown at the stadium, I thought it was clearly not off side and that the Ivory Coast boys were robbed. The first half ended nil all after a sweet bunch of football. The Ivory boys managed to punch the ball into the net first in the 2nd half, with a long cross from the right wing, finished by a high header which didn't give the goalie a chance to save. Messi, a highlight of the whole experience for 70% of the stadium, answered soon after, running down a sharp mid-range pass and besting the keeper one on one. Messi was also the architect of the game winning goal, after a sneaky quick play-on from a foul committed just outside the penalty box deep on the left flank of the Ivory Coast half. He slipped into the box and shot at a oblique angle, with the deflection being put away by a team mate whose name escapes me. Final result 2-1, great football.
Ok, food time!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
More worlds stuff
Hi again,
OK, so in response to popular demand (that is, a few people at the Dev Clinic last night) I've got more details on worlds stuff AND added a neat new labels bar on the side. Go ahead, try it out - you won't be disappointed (well actually you might, since there's nothing particularly new or exciting about the posts to which those labels refer).
Anyway, the World Ultimate and Guts Championships website www.wugc2008.com not only has a bunch of useless information for players, it also has nifty stuff for spectators too, follow the "scheduals" link to see when games will be played, live updates of scores (which is exciting, but all the action happens in the wee hours of the morning) and details about the standings in each division and individual player's goals and assists. I see that local heart-throb Max Wheeler not only looks good, but also has a whopping 8 assists (that's throwing a goal for the uninitiated). Go Max.
The other place to keep an eye on in the UltiVillage website. UltiVillage have been around for a few years now filming frisbee stuff. Their footage is usually OK, but it is sometimes a little close to the action for nerds like me. Anyway, they've got some clips up and apparently they'll be LIVE STREAMING the finals or something equally technological. I am not up to speed with any of this because I have dial-up. Yes, dear readers, I am one of those people who contribute to Australia's embarrassing broadband uptake statistics. Blame TransACT, and Pookie, who have combined to bring about this sorry state of affairs. Anyway, have a look at http://www.ultivillage.com/ for more details and don't even think about telling me all about the latest clip of Jonno Holmes leaping 92 feet in the air and catching the disc with his nostrils and throwing 6 thumb hammers for goals all on different fields before he even reaches the ground only to have them all called back for travels because he hasn't established a pivot foot which he doesn't need to do anyway.
Also, for those Dev Clinic faithfuls who want to see that Wide World of Sports footage it's up on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5A8tj7F5hc. Since some of the authors here are in that footage we set our internet connection aside for a whole day to watch it. Twatson is the dude in orange who headspikes the disc. A Plus!
OK, so in response to popular demand (that is, a few people at the Dev Clinic last night) I've got more details on worlds stuff AND added a neat new labels bar on the side. Go ahead, try it out - you won't be disappointed (well actually you might, since there's nothing particularly new or exciting about the posts to which those labels refer).
Anyway, the World Ultimate and Guts Championships website www.wugc2008.com not only has a bunch of useless information for players, it also has nifty stuff for spectators too, follow the "scheduals" link to see when games will be played, live updates of scores (which is exciting, but all the action happens in the wee hours of the morning) and details about the standings in each division and individual player's goals and assists. I see that local heart-throb Max Wheeler not only looks good, but also has a whopping 8 assists (that's throwing a goal for the uninitiated). Go Max.
The other place to keep an eye on in the UltiVillage website. UltiVillage have been around for a few years now filming frisbee stuff. Their footage is usually OK, but it is sometimes a little close to the action for nerds like me. Anyway, they've got some clips up and apparently they'll be LIVE STREAMING the finals or something equally technological. I am not up to speed with any of this because I have dial-up. Yes, dear readers, I am one of those people who contribute to Australia's embarrassing broadband uptake statistics. Blame TransACT, and Pookie, who have combined to bring about this sorry state of affairs. Anyway, have a look at http://www.ultivillage.com/ for more details and don't even think about telling me all about the latest clip of Jonno Holmes leaping 92 feet in the air and catching the disc with his nostrils and throwing 6 thumb hammers for goals all on different fields before he even reaches the ground only to have them all called back for travels because he hasn't established a pivot foot which he doesn't need to do anyway.
Also, for those Dev Clinic faithfuls who want to see that Wide World of Sports footage it's up on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5A8tj7F5hc. Since some of the authors here are in that footage we set our internet connection aside for a whole day to watch it. Twatson is the dude in orange who headspikes the disc. A Plus!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Pickup was good
Although I missed all of the action and only turned up in time to see people leaving, I'm assured by a number of reliable sources that pickup was good. Seeing that you may have missed it you'll all be excited to know that it'll be on EVERY WEEK (except perhaps when WOL is on). So, for those who like to see how others find something before committing for themselves, pickup is on Sundays at 3:00 at O'Connor (near the shops) and is good.
See ya'll there next week.
See ya'll there next week.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Worlds! Soon! Exciting!
The World Ultimate and Guts Championships starts in Vancouver tomorrow! The aussie teams at this tournament are pretty much the pinnacle of Australian Ultimate and are pretty competitive on the world stage. Last Worlds (in 2004) the Dingos (our open division team) picked up bronze with the other teams coming in around 5th and 6th. The teams have already done a quick tour of a bunch of strong west-coast frisbee towns in the states and have made waves with a number of impressive wins against quality opponents (I think the Dingos got on the news, which is pretty neat). For some of our teams this represents the first chance they've had to play against teams in their own division (the Firetails, our women's team played their first female opponents on foreign soil - just one of the difficulties aussie rep teams face).
You can keep an eye on the proceedings at the team's blog sites,
The Dingos (Open): http://dingos.blogspot.com/
The Firetails (Women's): http://firetails.blogspot.com/
The Barramundis (Mixed): http://barramundis2008.blogspot.com/
The Taipans (Masters): Well, it seems the masters' website is as old as their roster. Hopefully they'll just whack updates on www.AFDA.com.
There seem to be some decent regular updates on the progress of the open and women's juniors teams at www.afda.com
General tournament information with draws and results and stuff will be on www.wugc2008.com and there will no doubt be write ups of most of the interesting stuff on the AFDA website.
I'll be keeping an eye on the goings on. Good luck to all the competitors, especially the Canberra crew of Jonno, Keah, Max, Adam, Helen, Leon, DJ, Lucy, Charli, Laina and Vicki.
You can keep an eye on the proceedings at the team's blog sites,
The Dingos (Open): http://dingos.blogspot.com/
The Firetails (Women's): http://firetails.blogspot.com/
The Barramundis (Mixed): http://barramundis2008.blogspot.com/
The Taipans (Masters): Well, it seems the masters' website is as old as their roster. Hopefully they'll just whack updates on www.AFDA.com.
There seem to be some decent regular updates on the progress of the open and women's juniors teams at www.afda.com
General tournament information with draws and results and stuff will be on www.wugc2008.com and there will no doubt be write ups of most of the interesting stuff on the AFDA website.
I'll be keeping an eye on the goings on. Good luck to all the competitors, especially the Canberra crew of Jonno, Keah, Max, Adam, Helen, Leon, DJ, Lucy, Charli, Laina and Vicki.
Sunday Pickup
NOTE: Daylight savings and warm weather means pick-up now starts at 4:00 on Sundays. It's at Willows Oval, ANU.
Long, long ago, Sunday Pickup was something of an institution among the Canberra frisbee folk. I remember taking the half and hour bus trip to Willows Oval to play ultimate with a mix of players from the very-very-good to the even-worse-than-me. Over the years, however, the stalwarts that bulked out pickup numbers and ensured games would go ahead were siphoned off into club teams and didn't have time to play purely social ultimate on top of their training loads. I was first schooled by both Chris Warris and Owen Shepherd at Sunday pickup, Sunday pickup was where I first had my pulling license granted (and revoked), and I was skied possibly thousands of times by Dan Wilkins regardless of how well I thought I had read the disc.
Thankfully, the vast hordes of players in divisions two and three have finally started producing players motivated enough to revive these traditions. So, it is with great pleasure that I announce the resumption of Sunday Pickup, brought to you by my favorite division two team, the Devolutionaries.
You are all cordially invited to make your way down to Willows Oval, (corner of Barry Drive and Sulivan's Creek Road) at 4:00 on Sunday afternoons to enjoy a game of ultimate that can be as easy or as strenuous as you want to make it. Just bring one light and one dark coloured shirt so you can play for either team.
See ya'll there.
Long, long ago, Sunday Pickup was something of an institution among the Canberra frisbee folk. I remember taking the half and hour bus trip to Willows Oval to play ultimate with a mix of players from the very-very-good to the even-worse-than-me. Over the years, however, the stalwarts that bulked out pickup numbers and ensured games would go ahead were siphoned off into club teams and didn't have time to play purely social ultimate on top of their training loads. I was first schooled by both Chris Warris and Owen Shepherd at Sunday pickup, Sunday pickup was where I first had my pulling license granted (and revoked), and I was skied possibly thousands of times by Dan Wilkins regardless of how well I thought I had read the disc.
Thankfully, the vast hordes of players in divisions two and three have finally started producing players motivated enough to revive these traditions. So, it is with great pleasure that I announce the resumption of Sunday Pickup, brought to you by my favorite division two team, the Devolutionaries.
You are all cordially invited to make your way down to Willows Oval, (corner of Barry Drive and Sulivan's Creek Road) at 4:00 on Sunday afternoons to enjoy a game of ultimate that can be as easy or as strenuous as you want to make it. Just bring one light and one dark coloured shirt so you can play for either team.
See ya'll there.
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