Without Limits

Midwest Throwdown:: Year 5

2012-03-02T07:03:00.002-08:00

It's hard to believe that this is the 5th year of what started out as a small event to build the South Region. Over the years, the tournament has grown tremendously. This year, we'll host 52 teams, a 400% increase in tournament size.

The planning team is one of the best I work with-- the organizers have a huge vision for their sport, understand the privilege (and responsibility) of being an elite college team, and pay attention to the small things (a detailed timeline of Thurs / Fri / Sat / Sun responsibilities is always included in our tournament planning).

I just finished "The Tipping Point" yesterday, a book whose subtitle is "How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference." While I definitely don't think we've started an epidemic, it is interesting how I can point back to one weekend that has been the lynchpin for this event.

South Regionals 2007

Two very important things happened that weekend.

1. Texas didn't qualify for Nationals for the first time in half a dozen years.
2. After we knocked Wash U out in Semis, I saw one of their captains sitting on the sideline of the Finals taking notes on the game and planning how to take it back to her team for the following year.

So how did those two things lead to the development of one of the biggest tournaments in college ultimate?

1. Not qualifying for Nationals was a humbling experience for the Texas. The team recognized that in order to be relevant on the national scene, we needed to build the teams around us. We went to the other top teams in the region and established a collaborative relationship with them.
2. Abby's display of crazy commitment and desire to improve stayed burned in my mind until I had the opportunity to meet her 6 months later at Harvest Moon. And so began a 4-year partnership with Wash U.

How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference.

QCTU Qualifier Preview

2012-02-02T22:08:00.001-08:00

Queen City Tune-Up Qualifier in Chapel Hill this weekend is the first Without Limits tournament of 2012! The highest finisher (besides UNC A) will advance to Queen City Tune-Up in Charlotte next weekend. The Qualifier features ten teams from the Atlantic Coast region, and is a quality local playing opportunity for a number of teams.

The Pleiades are the clear favorite going into the weekend, but the team knows that they need to remain focused, not only to do well at the tournament, but to prepare themselves for tougher competition at next weekend's event. The team's most notable loss is 2011 Callahan winner Leila Tunnell, and in order to make another strong run this year, the team will have to adjust to the loss of their best thrower and all-around player. Other notable losses include 2nd Team All-Region players Janna Coulter, Britta Jones, and Kaitlin Baden.

Captains Lindsay Lang and Shellie Cohen will shoulder much of the burden for the Pleiades this season. Lang received All-Region honors last year and Cohen was voted FOTY, and both have spent time playing with North Carolina Phoenix (Lang in 2010 and Cohen in 2011). Their leadership and skills will be key to the Pleiades' success this year. The Pleiades also return coaches Lindsey Hack and Raj Prasad, who will do a great job molding young talent to play their best in April and May.

Elon takes the 2 seed into the weekend, coming off a strong showing at Wolfpack Invitational, with their only losses coming against 2011 Nationals Qualifiers UNCW and Virginia. Elon will be looking to qualify for next weekend's event and will be led by captain Lauren Krizay. UNC-Greensboro and Duke round out the top four, with Elizabeth Longmire and Meredith Chase leading their teams respectively.

Liberty is a second year team with a ton of athletic potential. Last year, they pulled off impressive wins against UMass and SUNY-Buffalo at Easterns, and also competed at Conference Championships for the first time. They will be looking to build on last year's successes and despite some personnel changes, have a dedicated coach and advocate in Jason Barett.

Wake Forest is one of the most interesting teams competing at the Qualifier. The team qualified for D-I Nationals in 2008, but has been rebuilding since. Gone are studs like Lucia Derks, Kennedy Wolfe, and Claire O'Brien. Coach Tammy Moose has departed as well. But this year, Wake Forest will be renewing their focus and competing in D-III. They will be a dangerous team in the Atlantic Coast and should easily contend for a bid to Nationals. This is the first step in their journey.

Davidson, UNC-B, JMU-B, and Virginia-B round out the field of teams. Of note, Kate Leslie of Bay Area Zeitgeist is now coaching UNC-B. Mary Schone will be a player to watch for Davidson, and JMU-B and Virginia-B represent some of the tremendous growth and development that is happening in the Atlantic Coast women's region.

In addition to tournament play, Triangle Area club players will be hosting a skills clinic on Saturday afternoon. The clinic is open to all QCTU Qualifier and TYUL participants.

Registration info is here:

http://withoutlimitsultimate.com/projects/queen-city-tune-up-qualifier

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day!

2012-02-01T10:14:00.001-08:00

Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day! I'm writing this post from somewhere (in the middle of nowhere) between St. Louis and Nashville. Today is a huge day for Without Limits, and it seems fitting that this day coincides with a holiday that celebrates the big things happening in girls' and women's sports. :)

Yesterday, I had the privilege of spending some time with the Wash U women's team-- I spent a day in St. Louis, caught some of their practice, and watched them destroy the varsity soccer team in IM basketball. I also got to spend some time with former and current captains, as well as a former and current coaches. There are few teams, besides those I have played on myself, that I have invested so much time and energy into. Watching their ridiculous numbers and energy at practice last night was a bit of a surreal experience. While I take no credit for how far they've come over the past few years, I can't help but feel incredibly proud of them, and to feel incredibly lucky that they are one of my most trusted partner teams. You all have taught me so much. Thank you.

Today, I am headed to Nashville to stay with an old college friend who now coaches the USN girls' team. We'll be running a tournament together next month, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with someone who shaped my early college ultimate career and to bring some of the best women's ultimate in the country to the backyard of the girls she coaches. It's a bit of a reminder that as uncertain as the future is, friends are the one constant.

So, why is today such a big day? Well, aside from being halfway through my cross-country drive (YAY!), we reached a huge milestone for Layouts today.

The tournament is now completely full and we have all of the guest coaches we need.

28 teams, 28 coaches.

Over the past couple of years, I have felt a growing need to help the "next tier" of women's teams-- the teams who do not have the opportunities or resources that many of us are fortunate enough to have. Their passion for the game and their love for their teams are no different than what is found at the elite level-- but there is a gap in skill level and competitiveness because they have few ways to improve their game. The idea for Layouts was born out of wanting to do something to change this, and out of the desire to help a friend's team fundraise money for their season.

We launched what we thought was an awesome idea... and were met by what can best be described as the most underwhelming response I have ever received to any of my ideas to date. (And that says a lot, because I have had some truly crazy / terrible ideas.) Our emails recruiting teams went largely unanswered, the few teams we did get on board started to get cold feet, and we weren't even sure we could the guest coaches we needed. At the end of November, the organizers met to discuss the situation-- pulling the plug on an idea we were so passionate about was never an option, but we talked about scaling the event down, moving the tournament to a smaller field site, and adjusting expectations. We were discouraged to say the least.

With the end of November came a lot of life changes. A new job, no place to live, and a need for attention to other family and life matters...

What came next can only be described as a miracle. In two months, we have added 23 teams to the tournament. Our friends have stepped up HUGE as guest coaches. We now have the pieces for an event that has the potential to be a game-changer in college women's ultimate.

I could go on and on about every single coach who has committed to coming to this event, and about the dozens of friends around the world who have donated to make this project happen. I could tell you a million reasons why you should support what we are doing. And if you feel compelled to support this project, please do.

But Nashville awaits, and I ramble enough as it is.

So just a few important shoutouts to close this:
- Amber Sinicrope and Smith College LunaDisc for making me believe in this project even when I was ready to give up
- Lindsey Hack for recruiting MANY of the guest coaches, and for giving me a place to call home for a couple of months
- Adriana Withers, Steve Meyers, and the team at VC Ultimate for supporting this, and every other Without Limits project
- All of the phenomenal guest coaches- teammates, rivals, and above all, dear friends. Thank you.

Thank you for following our journey, and for supporting us however you can. Here's to many more years of working for the growth and development of the sport we all love.

Michelle
Without Limits Founder

Midwest Captaining 101 Clinic Recap

2012-01-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

What a weekend. 12 hours of clinic time split between the fieldhouse, auxiliary gym, and classroom. 6 coaches. 65 players representing over a dozen teams in attendance.

For an outline of the weekend, check out:
http://www.rsdnospam.com/index.php?t=msg&th=37072&goto=109761&#msg_109761

At the beginning of the weekend, I encouraged players to come to the clinic with an open mind and to be willing to listen to and learn from players with backgrounds different than their own. The coaches did a great job at covering an incredible breadth and depth of information. Seeing players furiously taking notes on the knowledge being dropped by the coaches was awesome. The players were SO engaged, and asked lots of really thoughtful questions. It was really inspiring to see such a desire to learn from these players.

Robyn teaching a session on "Team Structure and Developing a Team Identity"

The majority of the players in attendance at the clinic play for teams that are uncoached. The captains and team leaders shoulder a tremendous amount of responsibility developing a vision for the season, planning practices, taking on administrative tasks, etc. While some knowledge is passed on from year to year, many of these players struggle to figure out how to get their team to the next level. Our goal with this clinic was to equip these players with more tools to lead their teams, covering topics such as basic O / D fundamentals (and how to teach them), practice planning, matchups and game-time adjustments, how to get the most out of the players you have, among many other things.

Our coaches have played at the highest levels of the sport, and have wide range of backgrounds, from helping grow young college women's teams to coaching and captaining elite college teams to captaining elite club teams. While none of us claim to be an expert, our experiences over the years have helped shape us into the players and leaders we are today, and our hope was to share that with these younger players.

Over the course of the weekend, we also had the opportunity to meet on a more individual basis with the leaders of several teams including Oberlin and Grinnell. What a joy and privilege to interact with players with such vision for their teams and such passion for our sport. THIS is why we do what we do!

Paige Hill, one of the captains of the Grinnell women's team, was the driving force behind the clinic, organizing all of the on-the-ground logistics. The Grinnell men and women were also gracious enough to offer free housing for everyone who needed it. A huge thank you to them for their hard work, as well as to all of the coaches and players who made this weekend such an awesome, rewarding experience. The future of ultimate in the Midwest is bright thanks to so many invested players and leaders, and we look forward to watching all of these players lead their teams to glory this season!

Pre-Midwest Captaining Clinic Thoughts

2012-01-20T00:13:00.000-08:00

I was thinking back to the first time I met the Grinnell girls at Midwest Warmup in Fall 2009. I had gathered a bunch of team leaders in an ice cream shop on Saturday night to talk about how to grow women's ultimate in the South and Midwest. Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas, Kansas, and Illinois were all represented-- these were all teams I knew well and had worked with in the past. On a bit of a whim, I extended an invite to the other teams at the tournament, and the Grinnell girls showed up.

At first, there was a lot of talk about how to develop events in the region like Midwest Throwdown and Women's College Centex into more competitive events. Most of the talk was about the elite teams and how we needed to work together to get on a more level playing field with the West Coast teams. At some point, the conversation shifted and one of the Grinnell girls talked a bit about her team's perspective. It was eye-opening to listen to her talk about the need for us to invest in teams like hers, how they wanted to learn from us, and how they didn't have club players or many resources to help them. She said that when she wished playing elite teams was more of a learning experience and that it would be cool if we would give them tips on how to improve. I remember being half-incredulous and asking, "So you wouldn't be insulted by that?!" And her response was, "How else are we going to learn?" I left that meeting challenged and humbled, realizing that it wasn't enough to create a few well-run events. There are countless teams on the fringe of those events, who want to improve, but who have relatively few resources to do so... that's how the first Roundup Division was born.

1.5 years after that ice cream shop meeting, Grinnell made Quarterfinals at D-III Nationals, which is quite an accomplishment. Their hard work and determination to build a program have brought them a long way. They have created opportunities, and have done a phenomenal job of turning those opportunities into success.

Largely thanks to the efforts of Grinnell captain, Paige Hill, I am sitting on a couch in Iowa, getting ready to run a Captaining Clinic for 64 college captains and team leaders in the Midwest this weekend. This spring, Grinnell will also be participating in Roundup Division v. 2.0, this time in Virginia. This time, we'll be more than tripling the number of teams and guest coaches-- it's overwhelming to plan and fundraise for, but if even a small number of teams get something out of it, it'll be well worth it.

This weekend should be fun. I'm prepping the coaches' notes for printing, and wow, there is some good stuff. It should be a great kickoff for a crazy spring. Stay tuned to Facebook and Twitter for updates, and I'll try to get a recap posted after the event as well.

Texas Captaining 101 Clinic:: Recap

2011-11-13T21:57:00.000-08:00

For some background on how this clinic came about, read this blog post.

After nearly missing my flight thanks to a combination of traffic, the Pike's Peak parking lot being full, and an incredibly slow shuttle bus, I hopped on a plane to DFW for Without Limits' first Captaining 101 Clinic. Upon my arrival, Laura Weinman (clinic organizer and Hot Mess captain) picked me up curbside and helped me load my bags of clinic supplies into her car. It was the first time we had ever met in person, and we both laughed about the fact that we had organized a clinic for 40+ players through email and text messages.

The weekend was an incredible experience, and no recap can do it justice. We had players from over half a dozen different schools, including schools all over Texas, as well as a player from Yale and two players from Loyola. To have players flying in for this was both thrilling and terrifying, as we certainly felt the pressure of trying to create an amazing weekend for them. It turns out that one of the girls from Chicago plays on the club team I started four years ago in the Bay Area, so that was a pretty cool reminder of how small and tight-knit the ultimate community is, no matter where we are. We also had two open players in attendance- both of them are trying to help grow women's ultimate at their respective schools. I was very impressed with both young men, and it was a privilege to have them at our clinic.

Laura was the undoubtedly the driving force behind this clinic, but we were also fortunate to have the help and support of a number of other people. Traci Popejoy (UT-Dallas captain) helped us secure fields and assisted Laura with a number of other behind-the-scenes logistics. Local players helped us house many of the out-of-town players, and three players from Showdown, Holly Greunke, Shelby Kuni, and Rachel Massey, served as coaches for the weekend. Showdown also donated a number of jerseys to the clinic, Flashflight donated some discs, and VC Ultimate donated a hat for each participant. Jimmy John's gave us a discount on lunch for Saturday, and we had plenty of Emergen-C to pass out. Our local organizers, sponsors, and coaches made this clinic possible, and helped to create an awesome weekend for our participants.

Holly and Shelby lead the players through an active warmup

A bullet point summary of our weekend:
- Fundamental Skills Stations (Offense and Defense)
-- Broke down essential ultimate skills into their fundamental components
-- Taught leaders how to teach these skills

-- Equipped leaders with new drills to take back to their teams

- Power Stations

-- Fitness- track, agility, and strength with an emphasis on how to do this with younger / smaller team

-- Throwing and catching- drills to improve these two crucial skills

-- Drills and games to improve players' level of comfort with the disc

-- 3 v. 3- how to get everyone involved on the field

- Focused Scrimmaging- how to play with a purpose

- Team Defense Concepts- how to run a variety of zone Ds for maximum effectiveness

- Building A Program

-- Recruiting and retention

-- How to shape a season

-- Practice planning

-- Going from team to program

Afternoon zone D chalk talk

I was floored by the overall ability and athleticism of the group, as well as how engaged players were over the course of the weekend. We did over 12 hours of teaching, and the focus from the group was outstanding. I was amazed, inspired, and humbled by all of the players and coaches this weekend. The South Region has come a long way over the past five years, and I know that with leaders and players like those who attended our clinic this weekend, the best is yet to come.

A few quotes from the evaluations we did at the end of the clinic:
"Thank you so much! Best weekend of ultimate in a long time. I'm super pumped to take this back to my team and help us grow together."
"Thank you guys so much. I can't tell you how much this helps me as a captain. I needed this."
"Sweet clinic! Love it! Do it again!"
"Great job! Loved y'all and think you are doing a great thing for the ultimate community."
"Thank you! I rarely have the opportunity to learn about ultimate from such experienced players and when you have to teach a lot, you sometimes lose focus on your own improvement. This clinic gave me new ideas about how to improve my game, so it was inspiring!!"

And the icing on the cake? All of the profits from this clinic are being donated to Smith College to help bring in guest coaches for their spring tournament, Virginia is for Layouts. Not only did we have a blast in Dallas this weekend, but we raised money to make another incredible weekend of development happen this spring!

Silver Level Sponsor #1: University of North Carolina-Wilmington Seaweed

2011-11-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

Full disclaimer: I worked with University of North Carolina-Wilmington Seaweed this past spring to run Women's College Easterns and am friends with a number of their players.

Seaweed is the first college team to step up and sponsor a coach for Virginia is for Layouts. My relationship with the Wilmington girls started about a year and a half ago during some tenuous spring tournament interactions. When captain Claire Chastain emailed me last fall to ask for some advice about Easterns, their home tournament, I wasn't sure if I should take her seriously. She emailed me a few times and I kind of shrugged things off as my plate was already more than full for the spring. At Club Nationals, 5th year Kelly Tidwell sought me out and introduced herself to me, asking me to at least have a conversation with her team about their tournament. Being a softie, and impressed by their persistence, I agreed. I laid out many of my doubts in a video conference call with some of their team leaders (none of whom I had ever met in person), and found them to be more than receptive to what I had to say.

Claire summarized last year's experience working on Easterns and how that impacted Seaweed's decision to sponsor a coach:

Last year we reached out to zziNG (Editor's note: funny, Claire...) about Women's Easterns, which at the time, was a 10-12 team regional tournament. She knew about our reputation among the women's ultimate community but decided to work with us despite it and together we made Easterns a competitive tournament that drew teams west of the Mississippi for the first time in years. Not only did it provide another competitive tournament for us to play in but it helped raise funds that helped towards Nationals expenses. After Easterns, Michelle talked to us about paying it forward because she wouldn't take money or fortune cookies (Editor's note: Not all Asians like fortune cookies.) as payment and when this opportunity to give back arose, we jumped on board.

The past year has been a year of learning and growing, both for Seaweed and for myself. I've pushed them hard on their relationships with other teams, and despite my initial skepticism, I've found them to be loyal and loving bunch. They're hard on me, but in working on Easterns, I feel like I gained a handful of little sisters who love to give me a headache, but who also make me incredibly proud. Though they've been quiet recently, their Twitter feed is quite entertaining (@SeaweedUltimate) and if you get a chance to catch the Claire, Kelly, Sara Casey trio playing with Phoenix this fall, you should do so. One of the more rewarding moments of last spring was a Melee-Seaweed dinner at Flaming Amy's Burrito Barn at Easterns. Lots of socializing, good food, and plenty of making fun of me from both sides-- not something I ever could have even dreamed would happen.

This week, I put out a call to all of the 2010 Club Nationals teams, 2011 D-I College Nationals teams, and 2011 College Centex teams to step up and sponsor a coach for Layouts. I feel like these are the teams who either 1) have the most to give and/or 2) have benefited the most from Without Limits' work. Playing elite level ultimate is a huge investment of time and money, and I know most teams struggle to get people to practices and pay for their own uniforms and travel. Any investment in Roundup will certainly be above and beyond the call of duty for these teams.

I'll admit to being slightly surprised at Seaweed being the first team to step up. They're not a team rolling around in money and I've known most of them for less than a year. Claire had this to say about working with Without Limits and why Seaweed believes in what we're doing:

Without Limits sponsored our home tournament last year and every other Spring tournament we attended (Centex/Queen City Tune-Up). These were by far the most competitive tournaments of the regular season, every tournament played made us a more nationally competitive team helping us finish the regular season ranked 3rd and reaching Quarters at College Nationals. We believe in Without Limits' mission to advance women's ultimate because we've seen firsthand the impact they've made in women's college programs like our own. The coverage of women's college ultimate in the past has been almost non-existent, but WL has put a spotlight on teams and players outside of the typical powerhouses, up and coming teams/players who would've previously been unheard of and given them the opportunity to play at competitive tournaments or developmental tournaments with skills clinics to give them resources to take back to their teams and build their program.

So, what is Seaweed's vision for the future of women's ultimate?

Women's ultimate is on the rise and the more competition at tournaments as well as overall advances in skill among women playing will close the competitive gap. Right now, there's a more than a handful of teams that can compete on a national level, but by building teams in the developmental division/regionally competitive teams via skills clinics and tournaments focused on building teams/programs. The tournaments that WL sponsors that bring in coaches who play on a national scale who will coach and teach skills clinics will increase the quantity and quality of women playing ultimate and grow the division altogether.

Thank you, Seaweed, for everything you've taught me, and for investing in the future of college women's ultimate. FTB.

Behind the Scenes:: Without Limits Skills Clinics

2011-09-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

We've been slacking a bit with posting stories from our partners, but for good reasons. Our last Without Limits tournament of the year, Virginia Fusion, is this weekend, and we just launched registration for our last clinic of the year, the Texas Captaining 101 Clinic. Fusion marks the big 2-5 in tournament running for me, and I'm happy to celebrate this with my teammates and with my friends from around the country. I feel like Beth's story kind of describes what the past six years have been like for me-- a blur of events and a lot of lost sleep, but with some valuable friendships with incredible people I never would have met otherwise.

On Saturday, we will run our largest skills clinic to-date. 50+ coaches are preparing for the afternoon, and several hundred college players are registered. It's going to be fun. And up in New York City, in between trying to open a restaurant, training for her own club season, and food adventuring, Beth is processing registration and making sure we have everything we need going into the weekend. Thanks Beth, for all that you do for Without Limits, and for women's ultimate.

Friends, join us. We promise it's worth it. :)

--

To be honest, I’ve put off this “assignment” because I fear it’s going to end up as this long-winded stream-of-consciousness piece that makes sense to no one except Michelle and me. : ) Unfortunately, the only way to know if I’m right is to actually write, so I welcome you to Behind the Scenes: Without Limits Skills Clinics.

My friendship with Michelle and relationship with Without Limits began with its first project, Philly Fusion (see WL’s “About Us”). At that time, Brute Squad (my team at the time) and Showdown were in the initial planning stages for the tournament. Of course, with a project this big, Michelle and Sara needed every one to pitch in. Philly Fusion would host a huge skills clinic, and it was imperative to secure a low-cost or free program to manage registration (For those of you who participated in clinics prior to Philly Fusion, you should know that Michelle and Sara sat at their computers for hours manually closing skills clinic registrations. I’m not kidding.). And, because I thrive on streamlining behind-the-scenes processes and making things look good, I volunteered to take on this component of Philly Fusion. Little did I know that this very small task would lead to more than I could have imagined....

Before I go on, you should know the following: a) Michelle and I have never been teammates; b) we have never lived in the same city; c) we played against each other many times when she was on Showdown and I on Brute Squad; BUT d) we did not meet until the 2010 College Championships when we both ended up on the sideline of the Texas/Harvard women’s consolation game -- Michelle was writing for USA Ultimate and cheering on Melee, and I was participating in the College Alumni All-Star game (Team “The World”), and watching my teammates, Blake and Jess, coach Harvard (For the record, Melee won).

And, a shout-out: Eventbrite has made Without Limits Skills Clinic registration a zillion times easier. Yes, a zillion. The important components are automated, and the only thing I have to do is input the date, time, location, and sessions. And, it’s FREE! It also has a report function that allows me to send each coach a list of his/her attendees prior to the clinic! Thank you, Eventbrite!

Now, back to the story: To keep it (relatively) short, the Philly Fusion tournament and skills clinic was a HUGE success, and I became the Eventbrite Master for all things Without Limits. Michelle and I became friends through our appreciation of this wonderful interface (yes, we’re nerds), and I told her that I would be happy to help with future Without Limits projects. Since then, I’ve helped with skills clinic registrations for Showdown, Houston Antifreeze, Midwest Throwdown, Queen City Tune-Up, Keystone Classic and Virginia Fusion.

When Michelle joined USA Ultimate last December to work with the College Division, they were simultaneously expanding its volunteer coordinator core to include a women’s college director. Until that time, the amazing Jeff Kula, served as the ONLY National College Director (I don’t know how he did it - I’m convinced he has superpowers). Anywho, it was, literally, a few days after Michelle started work in Boulder did her gchat status say, “Anyone interested in serving as NWCD?” A completely harmless status message to all of her gchat friends except me....

You see, I’ve been a volunteer with the UPA and USA Ultimate (USAU) since 2004. I served as the Metro-Boston Women’s College SC from 2004-06, and as the UPA/USA Ultimate Northeast Women’s Club RC since 2006. I initially volunteered out of necessity, and I continue to serve because I enjoy it. It’s my small way of giving back to community that took me in when I joined them 10 years ago (wow, I can’t believe it’s been that long!). Despite the other things going on in my life (work, grad school, and an internship), the thought of returning to serve the College Division and working with Michelle felt right. Ultimately, my experience with Without Limits was the tipping point in my decision to return to the USAU College Division as the National Women’s College Director, and I’m really happy that I did.

The growth of women’s ultimate over the last 10 years is impressive. I’m psyched to help Without Limits because its network of players, coaches, and supporters provides opportunities for college teams that weren’t available when I started playing ultimate. It also empowers and supports women to realize and reach their potential not only in ultimate, but also in life. Relationships created through Without Limits are invaluable, and I believe they are the catalysts for the continued growth of women’s ultimate. It’s not easy, but if everyone gives a little, it will go a long way.

Platinum Level Sponsor #2:: Showdown and Hot Mess

2011-08-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Full disclaimer: Showdown, an elite women's team comprised of players from all over Texas, is my former team, and I have known several players from Hot Mess, a new women's team from Dallas, for over five years.

At the end of last spring, Laura Weinman, one of the captains of Hot Mess, contacted me about a clinic she wanted to run in the Dallas area. I was overwhelmed with work and Without Limits projects, and not in a good place to be taking on more, so I sent her a quick email with some ideas and didn't give it a second thought. Laura followed up with me in July, and her email resonated with me in a number of different ways. Her passion for growing women's ultimate in Texas, the challenges she was facing in getting a new team off the ground, and her desire to do something were incredibly inspiring, and it was really exciting for me to see a young player in the Region excited to make a difference. I did a lot of thinking and soul searching when I read Laura's email and after some joint brainstorming, some cool ideas began to develop. The Texas Captaining 101 Clinic was born.

Around the same time, I was trying to figure out how to get Roundup off the ground at Smith College's spring tournament, Virginia is for Layouts. Laura had previously attended the Roundup Division at Midwest Throwdown, so when I asked her to consider donating any profits from the Captaining Clinic to make Roundup v. 2.0 happen, Laura jumped on board. Laura had this to say about her experience at Roundup:

My last year captaining at UNT, I was fortunate enough to take the girls to Midwest Throwdown to compete in the Roundup Division, where we had guest coach Dominique Fontenette teach us how to be badass all weekend... we all came back so much closer and confident as a team. For me, it really made me feel more confident as a captain because up until that weekend, I hadn't. I was still learning how to play ultimate but had to step up to the captain role because all of the older girls had graduated. That is why I think the Texas Captaining 101 Clinic will be such a great opportunity for so many girls who will be stepping up into those leadership roles this upcoming year. To have those kind of resources early on can take off so much stress and really let you focus on yourself and your team without all of the pressure of "Am I doing a good job?" and "What if I'm teaching them something wrong?". And going back to our experience at Midwest Throwdown, knowing that all of the money made from this clinic will go to helping make Virginia is for Layouts happen for other teams to experience is pretty awesome in and of itself.

So who is Hot Mess?

A recent graduate of UNT looking for the opportunity to play women's ultimate competitively, Laura and two other like-minded individuals, Amanda North and Sheena Connell, decided to form Hot Mess, a developmental team geared toward high school and college players who want to develop their skills on the field, as well as learn how to becoming stronger and more confident leaders for their respective school teams. The team is comprised of women from all over the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, UT-Arlington, UNT, UT-Dallas, Texas Women's University, and Marcus High School. They even have a player who will be attending LSU in the fall, and many of their players will be captaining their respective teams this upcoming college season. Laura said:

Looking at the bigger picture, we were hoping that by working with these girls and getting them ready for the upcoming school year, it would help high school and college programs have some foundation to work off instead of having to start from scratch, which in turn would hopefully strengthen North Texas' women's teams and help grow ultimate in Texas / the South Region. Locally, we have a weekly Wednesday practice for Hot Mess, but it is open to any girls who would like to come out and play... Because the Dallas area has had so few resources / outlets for women's ultimate, we have had to rely a lot on each other for ideas for drills, plays, conditioning, recruiting ideas, even transportation just to get girls to practices... It's been awesome because not only are all of the girls learning from each other, those teaching the drills have become more confident speaking up and helping out.

Their vision for the growth of the women's division is directly in line with Without Limits' vision, and we are extremely grateful to have their support for both the Texas Captaining 101 Clinic as well as with joint sponsorship of a coach for Virginia is for Layouts.

Where does Showdown come in?

Two of the most influential people in my ultimate career have been Cara Crouch and Tina Woodings. Their abilities as leaders, their desire to build women's ultimate in Texas, and their love for the sport have been incredibly inspiring, and both Cara and Tina were formative in my development as a player and leader, as well as a huge part of the amazing time I had living in Austin. Those years were defined by hours at the IM Fields with those two, as well as countless meetings at Whole Foods and Austin Java talking strategy and building our team.

As a rookie on Melee in 2007, I was inspired by Cara and Tina to keep building upon the strong foundation they had built for the Texas Ultimate program. I was fortunate to spend my last year on Texas under Cara's tutelage as a coach and then played my rookie year on Showdown under the leadership of both Cara and Tina. Last year, I had the privilege of leading the team with both of them, and can say with certainty that I have never encountered players as passionate and invested as they are.

Cara served as a coach at the Roundup Division in 2010 and is one of the current captains of Showdown. Tina serves as the President of the Ultimate Players League of Austin (UPLA), has been an integral part of Women's College Centex for the past three years, and remains on the core for Showdown. Both of them have been key to the clinics that the team has run over the past few years. Tina had this to say about Showdown's involvement in the community and with Without Limits' projects:

The South Region has always had lower participation relative to other regions in the women's division. Showdown recognizes that many college teams do not necessarily have the luxury of experienced coaches or organizations to lean on for support and training. By participating in Without Limits events, Showdown is able to pass along skills and inspire players to take it to the next level. Showdown has already seen a huge benefit to assisting with Without Limits events; we have had over 25 college women attend tryouts- more than a 50% increase from last year, and this new talent accounts for more than a third of our team.

Over the years, Showdown has been involved in running Women's College Centex, mentoring local college players, and leading clinics all around Texas. Last year, they teamed up with Brute Squad to run the inaugural Fusion tournament. So, as I worked to get two new projects, the Captaining Clinic and Layouts, off the ground, it made sense to go to them to ask for help. I asked Showdown to help me run the Texas Captaining 101 Clinic and to use the proceeds to sponsor a coach for Virginia is for Layouts, and I got a resounding YES.

All three Showdown captains (Cara, as well as Holly Greunke and Shelby Kuni) will be instructors at the clinic, and numerous other Showdown players and alumni will teach sessions over the course of the weekend. While I no longer live in Texas, and will be lining up across the field from Showdown in a few short weeks, I am incredibly thankful for all of their support.

Showdown and Hot Mess are raising the bar for women's ultimate in Texas and beyond. Do you want to get involved in what we're doing?

Sponsor a coach. Coach. Be coached.

More information here:
http://virginiaisforlayouts.wordpress.com/roundup

Platinum Level Sponsor #1:: Molly Brown

2011-08-04T19:40:00.000-07:00

Full disclaimer: Molly Brown is my new team. While I spend the majority of my time with them in total silence, shying away from their hugs and judging them for their weirdness, I am learning to love them, and I am incredibly grateful for their support.

Earlier this spring, I began making plans for Fusion v. 2.0 and was looking for a way to bring in the experience of a club team, while also finding a way to raise money for a college team. I had recently moved to Colorado, and the college team I wanted to work with was thousands of miles away. So, I went to my new captains and asked them to get our team involved. Virginia Fusion was born. Not only is Molly Brown partnering with Smith College to run Fusion this fall, but the team has also stepped up as the first club team to sponsor a coach for Roundup at Smith College's spring tournament, Virginia is for Layouts. Asking your friends and teammates for support can be awkward, but two minutes after I asked, I received an email saying "Holla! Do it up." I think that means "We're in!" around these parts.

First, a little bit of background about our team. Captain Anna Schott describes how the team was formed, and some of the team's philosophy:

Molly Brown was formed in 2010 to bring together the most competitive team possible in Colorado. That didn't necessarily mean all the best players- it meant the best players who were willing and able to commit to being a team and putting in the work needed to be able to perform at the highest level. One of our main tenets is that we draw on the skills of all of our teammates and we are constantly pushing each other to grow as players. Molly Brown is an incredible group of female athletes and being a part of this team means that you are continually developing as a player and learning from your teammates at every practice, tournament, throwing session, and workout.

Schott, who also doubles as my tennis hitting partner (we're awful) and coffee break buddy, had this to say about Molly Brown's commitment to the growth of our sport:

There is a lot of positive energy around what our team is about and it has been great to see that energy impact our local community. Several Molly Brown players help coach high school teams and help run youth skills clinics (in conjunction with Johnny Bravo players) which has been an incredibly rewarding experience because you get to see young players fall in love with the game.

Molly Brown players understand the importance of investing in the next generation of ultimate players. Current University of Colorado Kali captain and Molly Brown rookie Whitney Fose, had this to say about Molly Brown's involvement on the local level:

I think the connection between club and college ultimate is so important. College athletes look up to club players. After watching and playing with a higher level of ultimate, I feel inspired to come back to my college team and challenge them in the same way I was challenged. The club-college relationship continually raises the bar for college players and renews their competitive drive. Molly Brown women have come out to Kali's practices and spent one-on-one time with individuals. Kali's leadership has also tried to exemplify aspects of Molly Brown by bringing drills, work ethic, and team attitudes back to practice.

Kath Ratcliff, my former college teammate, and current teammate on Molly Brown, is a prime example of a club player who has invested significant efforts in the development of the next generation of players. As a former coach of the UC Berkeley Pie Queens and one of the current coaches of Kali, she is an accomplished player and experienced role model who has taught many young players the game... including myself. Kath describes the importance of the involvement of club players, and some of what she has gotten out of giving back, saying:

Most women's teams in my college playing days were forced to lead only through captains with a couple years of experience, and those who were fortunate enough to have dedicated coaches were always the better teams in the nation. Aside from the obvious benefits of refined strategic knowledge that a club player can bring to a college team, I think with women specifically it's important to have a strong, confident, positive role model - someone who the younger players can look to as an example of spirit of the game and fair play. My favorite thing about college women's ultimate is how self-officiating forces young women to confidently approach conflict and helps them to learn to stand up for themselves. This is something that an experienced club player can help to build in younger players. Personally, I coach for the moments where you can see someone understand or do something for the very first time. I also really enjoy being able to take a part in younger players realizing their potential as athletes and watching them increase in confidence as they recognize their own abilities.

Molly Brown players are heavily involved in the local ultimate community, serving as coaches, running tournaments, acting as mentors, and even working for USA Ultimate.

So, isn't that enough?

No. As an elite women's club team, we recognize our responsibility to give back to the community as a whole, and we know that there are teams around the country who don't have the opportunities we have. We want to do more.

Anna sums up the reasons Molly Brown has decided to sponsor a coach, saying:

In a sport where community has always been very important to those that play, the positive effect on the women's Ultimate that can be directly attributed to Without Limits is simply unparalleled. Without Limits has helped create positive relationships between college and club teams (as well between club teams and between college teams) that have already had a huge impact they way that women's Ultimate is played. It has helped foster a community where there is not only a high value on competition but also on respect between teams and giving back to the community. The women's game is going to continue to develop at a rapid pace because of these relationships and the support that is available for young players and programs.

Thanks to the generosity of Molly Brown, we have enough money to get Roundup off the ground. In the weeks leading up to Fusion, we'll be sharing some more stories with you, as well as giving you an opportunity to get involved. Want to sponsor a coach? Come coach at the event? Be coached? We're actively looking for sponsors, and we'll be releasing more information about how to apply for and fundraise to either be a coach or be coached at Virginia is for Layouts this spring.

Stay tuned to the blog and to the Roundup info page:
http://virginiaisforlayouts.wordpress.com/roundup

Revisiting Roundup

2011-08-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

I have been friends with Anna "Maddog" Nazarov for half a dozen years now. I was terrified of her for a good year after we met, and it wasn't until the end of our college playing days that I really had the chance to get to know her. While I am still unsure as to whether she has ties to the Russian mafia, I am positive that she is one of the kindest and most genuine people I know. In 2010, I had the privilege of working with her to organize the Roundup Division at Midwest Throwdown. The Roundup Division was our attempt to bring some resources to developing teams in the South and Midwest. We flew coaches from around North America to St. Louis to guest coach and mentor teams for the weekend, and to lead skills clinics for a few hundred players. All of this was done in conjunction with a regular college tournament. In this post, Maddy recaps her experience running the Roundup Division. We'll be looking to replicate the Roundup opportunity at Virginia is for Layouts in the spring. So if you are a club player interested in coaching, or a college team interested in submitting a bid, check out all of the information on our website at http://virginiaisforlayouts.wordpress.com.

The idea for the Roundup Division sprang up from a seemingly mindless gchat conversation where Michelle and I were lamenting our inability to fit coaching into our work schedules. Because Michelle has the uncanny ability to take on more than any reasonable human being can handle, I took charge of organizing the Roundup part of Midwest Throwdown that year. First step: recruit coaches. My feeler email to the potential coaches took the form of a long-winded ramble about the idea and the vision. I made it clear that since it was only July (the tournament was in March the following spring) we weren’t sure what sort of funding mechanism we’d have in place (if any) so it would probably be a volunteer endeavor and that I wasn’t looking for a commitment just yet. I don’t think either Michelle or I were expecting the positive response we received right away. We completely underestimated how much people care!

Within 24 hours we got two commitments. Within 48 hours we had another one. Over the next few weeks we finalized the six remaining, absolutely incredible club players who rounded out our coaching corps and made the weekend such a huge success. Here are some excerpts from the enthusiastic responses we got way back in July:

“Heya Anna. So is it going to be warm and sunny there :) ? Sign me up.”

“I’m in. Absolutely!”

“What an amazing opportunity. I would love to! … That sounds incredible – what an honor that you would think of me. … Thanks for making my day.”

“Holy cow, I am totally honored to be included among such a group of studs. This is an incredible idea and I think it would be really fun.”

“Thanks for the invite. This sounds like a really interesting and exciting development for women’s ultimate.”

“Checked it out, dates look clear, I’m stoked to be involved!”

“By March my schedule will be back to normal so count me in!!!!”

“I think this is an amazing idea. I'm all about empowering players and teams. If you need help, let me know. I think this could be a model to use consistently to promote women's teams, even club teams. Teams/players need to be taught good leaderships skills as well as skills, drills and strategy. I'm all about it.”

The lesson learned there was that all across the country (and Canada! Hi, Canada.) there are women at the highest level of club ultimate who care about developing teams having opportunities to play and learn. A little bit of caring goes a long a way. Each email response we got had an average of five exclamation points. Cara was so into it she emailed us from wherever in the world she was traveling after winning her gold with Team USA to tell us she was in. Those few we asked who had scheduling conflicts were clearly bummed they couldn’t participate. Every single person expressed some sort of gratitude that we had thought of them. And that was just the first iteration of Roundup. With this much enthusiasm, the possibilities and ideas are truly endless.

Texas Captaining Clinic 101

2011-07-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

We're still waiting on a few more posts from friends, but we've also been hard at work making some new projects happen.

In case you missed the announcement, we'll be running a clinic in Dallas in November:
http://withoutlimitsultimate.com/projects/texas-captaining-101-clinic

Laura Weinman, former UNT captain and current Hot Mess captain, approached us a couple of months ago about helping with some kind of clinic in the Dallas area, and after reconnecting last week, we decided to move forward with this project. The past few days have been a flurry of looking for fields and getting the word out. If you know a player or team that might be interested in this opportunity, please point them to us! By my count, there are over a dozen schools within reasonable driving distance who could benefit from this, and we've already heard from quite a few of them. This location allows us to reach women in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Louisiana, and we've also reached out to our friends from further away.

I'm very excited about this project for a number of reasons:
1. I believe this type of leadership development opportunity is much-needed in the South.
2. The camaraderie among college women's ultimate players in Texas has increased a ton over the past few years, and I hope that we can continue to encourage the growth of that community.
3. It's an excellent opportunity for club players to give back and invest in the next generation of ballers.
4. It's exciting to see some of the younger teams in the state taking a leadership role in the growth of women's ultimate.
5. Being a new college captain is daunting, and we can reach a ton of teams with this clinic.
6. Profits from this event will benefit other clinics and guest coaching programs.

Laura has been awesome about figuring out logistics and getting the word out to the Dallas community, and her enthusiasm for women's ultimate and for the growth of our sport is inspiring. Laura was an attendee at the Roundup Division at Midwest Throwdown in 2010 and she didn't even hesitate when I asked her to pay that opportunity forward by helping to make something similar happen at Virginia is for Layouts.

In case you can't tell, we're PUMPED about this clinic. if you're a player looking for more information about attending, or someone from afar looking for a way to support our work, please check out the clinic page and get in touch!

Women's College Centex:: A Melee Perespective

2011-07-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

Rachel "Creepy" Hokanson is the kind of teammate and player every captain dreams about. She is smart, works hard, is selfless, and is a workhorse on both sides of the disc. I first met Creepy when we were both rookies on Texas. I nicknamed her one day at practice, and for better or for worse, the name stuck. The next year, I captained Creepy, and her work ethic and consistency on the field were a driving force in our return to Nationals. She took over as President of the Texas Women's Ultimate program two years later, and we had the privilege of working on Centex together. It has been such a privilege to watch her grow as a player and person over the past five years, and I feel fortunate to have gotten to spend Thanksgiving with her family, to have taught her how to throw (only to watch her surpass me as a handler), and to watch her develop from being a quiet freshman to running the biggest college women's tournament in the country. In this feature, Creepy shares her perspective on Women's College Centex, and it's importance both to her and to the Texas program.

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The first thing I learned about Centex was the dance-off. Not even kidding. I was a clueless freshman who was still getting to know the whole frisbee thing. If someone had told me that three years later, I would be hosting the tournament under the direction of Michelle, I would have called them crazy. But more on that later.

So there I was, a naïve little first year player, and I was told I have to learn a crazy dance that included taking off my shirt in front of a hundred people I didn’t know. At this point I could still hardly even talk in front of some of my teammates because I was so shy (this is part of the reason I earned my nickname; ask Michelle Ng for full details). Well, I did it, and I was one step closer to understanding the frisbee community and one step closer to being addicted to the game.

My first season with the University of Texas Melee was 2006-2007. At that time, Centex was still run by Cultimate. It had a strong reputation as one of the best tournaments in the nation, and it was great having teams come to Texas so we could play with some of the big dogs on our own turf. However, one cannot deny that Centex at that point was a tournament for dudes, by dudes. Whatever personal opinion you have of Cultimate aside, this was something that was not going overlooked by women’s teams. In a post-Title IX era, this was unacceptable. We can vote! We can go to college! We can be CEOs! We can… run our own tournaments?!

In some ways, the split of the open and women’s divisions of Centex signifies the natural progression of the sport. For the same reason we now have observers at our games, we also have separate open and women’s tournaments: the sport is growing, and it is becoming more competitive. There are more female players and more women’s teams, and we need places to play!

Taking the initiative to break away from Cultimate in favor of a women’s only Centex tournament was one of the first steps in what has grown into a nation-wide women’s ultimate movement. I don’t think any of us thought our single tournament would lead to the inception of Without Limits and a year-round series of exemplary women’s tournaments (except maybe Michelle, whose meticulous planning and endless efforts pretty much allow her success in whatever area she chooses to pursue).

Melee first acted as the sole host of Centex in March 2009. It wasn’t an easy transition, but months of planning, the dedication of club officers and Michelle, and community support from groups like UPLA (Ultimate Player’s League of Austin) and Showdown (Texas’ elite women’s club team) made it possible for the tournament to maintain its competitive status. The following year, a second division was added to the tournament and social events were added to the agenda. I had the opportunity to contribute to the planning of the tournament in 2010, and it was an amazing learning experience to see the work that goes into every minute detail of a tournament. A foundation celebrating the values of community, spirit, and female solidarity was slowly shaping; these values went on to form the mission of Without Limits.

I have great memories from my four years playing Centex. It was so exciting to have teams from around the nation come to our fields to play; I always felt this hum of energy, even at 7am when first arriving at the fields! I love the simultaneous feelings of competition and spirit; being able to joke with your opponents while also trying your hardest not to let them touch the disc. I truly appreciated the chance to extend the tournament to more teams, giving new or up-and-coming teams the opportunity to play in a well-organized, established tournament. I was blessed this past year to coach the Texas-B team, Mayhem, and participate in another year of Centex with yet another, different role.

Women’s Centex 2011 featured the best set-up yet: four divisions of competitive women’s ultimate, an astounding 52 teams, a coach’s clinic, and social events both Friday and Saturday nights. The past three years of hard work have paid off; Centex has retained its reputation and its growth has exceeded everyone’s expectations. Community involvement continues, and college teams consider the tournament a staple to their spring schedule. Centex is a testimonial to the rewards of hard work and dedication and an invaluable resource to women’s ultimate in the future.

Women's College Centex:: Ultimate Mecca

2011-07-13T09:15:00.000-07:00

I have organized a couple dozen tournaments over the years, and people frequently ask me which one is my favorite. Each tournament has been memorable in some way (for better or for worse), and nearly every tournament has resulted in the opportunity to form new friendships with amazing people. For me, the relationship-building is the most rewarding part about running tournaments. Some of my dearest friends are people I have run tournaments with or met at the tournaments I've run.

My favorite tournament as an organizer is undoubtedly Women’s College Centex. I first attended the tournament in 2005 as a player, and have attended each year since. In 2008, my last year playing college, I took on a small organizing role as one of the captains of Texas. In late 2008, Melee decided to begin running the tournament without the help of an outside organization. The foundation for the success of a Melee-run Women’s College Centex was formed at this meeting the year before.

We expanded the tournament from 20 teams to 32 teams in 2009, striking a careful balance between choosing the top teams from the year before, up-and-coming teams, and teams from our Region. Everyone realized that all three components were vital to the success of the tournament, as well as integral to our commitment to building ultimate in the South. The tournament grew to 52 teams split into four divisions this past year.

I believe the following things have contributed to the success of Centex:
1. Commitment | The Texas women are committed to building this tournament. It is more than a fundraising opportunity to them; it is their chance to build something incredible and to give back to the college women’s ultimate community. Rachel "Creepy" Hokanson and Suede Kam are the two Texas players who have made Centex into what it is today.
2. Local ultimate community | Each year, there are a core of Austinites who do tons of behind-the-scenes work to make the tournament a success. Tina has been the single most important person in ensuring the success of Centex, J helps us get travel deals, Punk organizes an observer crew, TUFF helps with weekend-of labor. The list could go on and on.
3. Friends | Every year, interest in the tournament exceeds capacity. This is only possible because our friends bring their teams to our tournament. We are also fortunate to have friends serve as “scouts” for us; we are able to get the best up-and-coming teams to come based on the leads we get from these people.

What sets Centex apart?
1. Competition | At Centex this year, we had 19/20 teams from 2010 Nationals and 18/20 teams from 2011 Nationals. This level of competition is umatched by any other tournament.
2. Community | You simply cannot rival or replicate the Centex Dance-off. It is both ridiculous and amazing, and teams love it. Pair that with some good Texas BBQ and you have teams staying at the fields Saturday night until the lights get turned off on us. Check out this footage from 2010, courtesy of Penn State Isis.
3. Big picture thinking | Every year, the organizers look for ways to improve the tournament and make it even better. In 2010, it was the addition of a Division III and a Women’s Leadership Forum. In 2011, it was the addition of B-Team Division and a Guest Coaching Program. The Texas girls set the bar high with their vision for the future of our sport.

If you haven’t been to Centex, I highly recommend putting it on your team’s radar. Many people have told me that Centex changed their team’s perspective on ultimate, and every year, new friendships are formed both on and off the field. Without Limits' role for 2012 is yet-to-be-determined, but if you are interested in attending, email us at contactus (at) withoutlimitsultimate dot com and we’ll pass your email along to the Texas leadership.

Iowa State University:: More from the Midwest

2011-07-11T12:33:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, we bring another Midwest success story to you. In this post, Lindsey Gapstur of Iowa State Woman Scorned shares about her team's development and the role that Without Limits has played in providing her team with more opportunities. Woman Scorned has gone from a middle-of-the-pack team at Regionals just a few short years ago to finishing 10th at the College Championships this year. Read Gapstur's take on how this happend.

Want to share your story? We'd love to hear it. Reach out to us at contactus (at) withoutlimitsultimate dot com.

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My sophomore year of college I joined the ultimate frisbee team. The women’s team at Iowa State was far from new, and their intense workouts and dedication to having a good time were more than enough to get me hooked. I definitely didn’t take the entire thing very seriously at first, and I can actually remember thinking “this is a great workout to get me in shape, but there is no way I will stick with this for very long.” Needless to say, I was very wrong.

My story with Woman Scorned started in 2008, but it was by no means the beginning. The team was founded in 2002 and had 6 years of insanely talented ladies who pooled resources together and built a program that I was lucky enough to walk on to and reap the benefits of their hard work and dedication. In 2009, Woman Scorned installed our first 100% attendance policy and our season resulted with our first showing at the College National tournament. Woman Scorned placed 15th with only one win in the tournament, but we were given the opportunity to play teams from all over the nation (and Canada) who we had never before had the chance to compete against.

The following season was definitely eye opening for the team. After becoming a “nationals team” all sorts of doors started to open. Invitations to tournaments we had not previously attended like Centex and Philly Invite were extended to us, allowing us the option to play elite college teams like we had only seen at Nationals. Knowing our biggest hurdle the previous season was our lack of exposure to these teams, we took advantage and attended five non-series tournaments in the spring (three of which were run by Without Limits). Iowa State also hosted a winter scrimmage to gain more exposure to our regional competition and build relationships between teams. Unfortunately we were unable to pull together to perform to potential in this season. At Regionals, injuries and underperformance resulted in a 5th place finish for Woman Scorned, and powerhouse programs Wisconsin and Carleton again took the two Nationals bids for the North Central Region.

Although our 2010 season’s ending was far from ideal, we used it to fuel our 2011 season. One of our biggest focuses for the new season was team cohesiveness. It was important to us that everyone from our rookies all the way to our veterans we were working toward the same goals and accomplishing them together. We built depth by playing fall tournaments with open lines, and we continued attending highly competitive Without Limits tournaments in the spring. Through strong leadership, intense dedication, and hard work from everyone on our team, Woman Scorned peaked at a prime time this past season, winning sectionals, placing 3rd at regionals, and taking 10th place at Nationals.

Although Woman Scorned has grown to become a more competitive program, we still maintain the same personality as a team. We have set our goals higher with each season but our core team values have not changed since we began:

1: Having fun is the most important thing. Winning does not dictate fun. If you play the game right and give all you have, ultimate is fun whether you win or lose.
2: We want to be the team that every team wants to play. Compete your hardest against every opponent but never at the sacrifice of spirit.

Woman Scorned does not make cuts and we are only just reaching the point where we can attempt to field a B team. We focus on developing every player to be well rounded, and we value dedication and spirit above playing ability. Most importantly, we hold each other accountable to ensure that every player is dedicated to the team and working towards the same goals. Beyond the game, we are all friends and that is truly what brings us together as a successful team. The sacrifices we make are not just for ourselves, but each of our teammates. This team mentality has truly accelerated our success as an ultimate program.

Success did not come to us over night or even in one season. It takes time and dedication, and often the ones who give the most don’t even get to experience it. In my opinion, however, the best way to become a better team and create a program is to give all of yourself and not hold back. Make the commitment and challenge your teammates to do the same. One person can’t make a team successful alone, but you can be the first one to step up and bring your teammates up with you. Every single person on a team has the potential to make an impact on that program; big or small, good or bad. It is when you truly make this commitment that you will realize how many resources are actually available to you.

For Woman Scorned, Michelle Ng and Without Limits have been one big resource in our success. One great benefit that WL provides is the guarantee of a quality run tournament. Don’t get me wrong, we are good at setting up our own fields, remembering to bring water because it may not be provided, and figuring out our own brackets because the tournament director is worried about the men’s division and tournament central is a couple miles away on the main fields. However, it is really nice to just have someone do all of this for you so the team’s focus can remain on playing the games. When Michelle is running a tournament, every detail is thought about and no issue is left unresolved.

Additionally, the opportunities WL provides reach far beyond playing competitive tournaments. Without Limits supports our core team values in many ways. Midwest Throwdown is a competitive tournament that works to spread the love of ultimate in the Central regions. This tournament has also offered skills clinics to share knowledge of the game from elite club players to college teams of every shape and size. The Centex dance-off and pool play spirit discs at Midwest Throwdown are just two examples of fun ways spirit of the game and networking between teams are incorporated into these tournaments. Woman Scorned is just one of the numerous teams who continue to benefit from the generosity and devotion of everyone involved in Without Limits.

The story of Woman Scorned isn’t extra glamorous, and it doesn’t include any national or even regional titles. However, I am very proud to say I am a part of it. It is the story of a small team who, through hard work and dedication, has built our program up to reach the goals we have set. By pushing ourselves as well as each other and reaching out to utilize the resources we can access, Woman Scorned has become one of the top college teams in the nation. Thankfully, our story is far from over. Who knows where our future will take us, but my hope is that with the expansion of resources like Without Limits, Woman Scorned and other dedicated teams will also continue to prosper.

University of Kansas:: A Midwest Perspective

2011-07-10T20:44:00.000-07:00

I still remember the first time I met Tasha. It was February 2008. Tasha was captaining Kansas and I was captaining Texas and TDing the tournament we were playing at in Missouri. Snow resulted in us losing both our primary field site and backup field site during the day on Saturday, and after spending all of Saturday night trying to find a way to pull Sunday's games off, I walked out of a coffee shop with a revised schedule, only for it to start snowing again. The next morning, my team capped off a rough weekend by losing to an in-region team we had never lost to before, and a coach, upset with his team's schedule ripped into me, reducing me to tears. A few minutes later, I walked over to Kansas and tearfully told Tasha that her team would have to have a double bye because the coach was taking his girls home. Tasha smiled, told me it wasn't a problem, and offered me a hug. We've been friends and collaborators since.

There is a small, but growing, circle of women's ultimate leaders in the South Central Regionwho have worked hard over the past few seasons to build both their respective teams as well as the overall state of women's ultimate in this part of the country. We have a listserve, we've held meetings at tournaments, and these leaders and teams form the backbone of every new tournament and endeavor Without Limits has undertaken in the South and Midwest over the past few years. Tasha is an integral part of this network and group of friends. She was one of the best players in the South Central before coaching Betty last year, and she is a co-captain and co-founder of St. Louis RevoLOUtion, a second year women's club team. In this post, Tasha shares her perspective on the state of women's ultimate in the Midwest, as well as how she feels Without Limits has contributed to her team's development.

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You’re probably heard it before—the interior of the U.S. is often behind the coasts. I’ve heard it with a number of things, including ultimate. We started playing later, we don’t have as many players, we adapt to new styles of playing later, etc. I’ve also heard many players say the talent in the middle of the country isn’t that of the coasts. In my short ultimate career, I’d have to say—I think those comments are fairly accurate. I’ve been playing since 2005 and the teams from the coasts are so impressive to me. I wondered all too often, “How do they do it? How do we get the opportunities that they have?” I’m slowly learning that it takes dedication, creativity, organization, and collaboration. I think Without Limits is all of those things, and more.

In the last few years, I’ve observed a number of teams the Ozark Conference and the South Region grow tremendously. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this growth occurred at the same time as competitive playing opportunities like D-II and D-III Centex and Midwest Throwdown started catering to the lesser known teams. The reason our game is improving is because of these opportunities! In my opinion though, it’s so much more than just the games at each tournament. Yes… those are awesome because our teams get to see what high-level Women’s Ultimate looks like. But it’s the socials, the skills clinic, the guest coaches, and all of the incredible tournament amenities that put WL tourneys on the map. It’s the empowerment of other teams to start running their own successful tournaments. It’s paying it forward, and it’s inspirational. These are the things that are connecting female ultimate players on a deeper level.

I’ve been involved with ultimate at the University of Kansas for almost 6 years now (whoa!). We’ve been so fortunate to get the chance to compete at a number of Without Limits tournaments. After each tournament, I could sense the excitement in my team. It was bittersweet, but I had to miss Centex this year because I was on a rotation in Montana. When I talked to our players and captains after Centex, I heard so much about what they learned from their guest coach, Cara Crouch. The girls couldn’t stop talking about her! Throughout the reason of the season, the lessons (both on and off of the field) she taught my team persisted in our huddles. Same with Midwest Throwdown in previous years—my teammates were really excited to share what they learned at their own skills clinics. I believe the Bettys are still trying to find their identity—there has been a lot of transformation since my first season, and they are still trying to figure out how to achieve the goals they set for themselves. I think the exposure to ultimate via projects like WL has very much benefited us on our journey. Us aside though, WL has clearly made a huge impact in our Conference and Region. Each year, teams are becoming better. Each game is harder, and at the same time, each game is more fun. It’s been incredible to watch, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Grinnell College:: Turning Opportunities Into Success

2011-07-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

Paige Hill is one of the co-captains of the Grinnell College Sticky Tongue Frogs, and we asked her to share about her experiences attending our tournaments. Paige wrote an extremely compelling pos t for us in May, shared her thoughts in our D-III podcast, and continues to be an advocate for D-III teams and for college women's ultimate in general. It has been our privilege to get to know Paige and her team over the past few seasons. Grinnell is, quite simply, one of those teams that makes us say, "THIS is why we do what we do." The Sticky Tongue Frogs have developed from a small, nearly unheard of team in the Midwest to a Quarterfinalist at the 2011 D-III College Championships in just a few short years. Their love for our sport, and their commitment to its development, are inspiring, and we encourage you to follow them in the coming years if you want to watch a team that's going to make a difference.

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In the weeks leading up to the Roundup Division of Midwest Throwdown in 2010, the Grinnell women's team was buzzing with excitement and planning. We were researching and debating who we wanted our guest coach to be, we were talking over which skills clinics would be best for each player and promising to remember everything to tell our teammates later, and we were pouring over the schedule and Score Reporter trying to decide which inter-region team would be our toughest matchup. The Sticky Tongue Frogs talk ultimate a lot, but in those weeks, we talked about it more than ever. The most exciting part was that it wasn't just the veterans gossiping about who was going to win an elite tournament, or if a well-known senior was going to take a fifth year in a last-dish effort to win nationals. Every single player was talking because instead of watching elite teams play in elite tournaments, we were thrust center stage of what promised to be a well-run, well-coached, interregional tournament where we got to be part of the action.

Once we got there, we were not disappointed. Every tangible element of an elite tournament was there: good fields, sweet swag, dedicated trainers, and great score reporting. The most important things at that tournament, and the things that keep us coming back to Without Limits tournaments, however, were the intangibles.

That weekend I was coached by multiple Callahan nominees and world champions. Cara Crouch coached all of our games and ran drills with us in between them. We still use the warmup routine she taught us, every single drill she ran, and hope that teams throw zone-D against us because of the zone-O she helped us create. Chelsea Putnam taught me a defensive drill I still use in the practices I plan. And Gwen Ambler taught me how to get vertical, a skill that my teammates used to make fun of me for but now compliment my steady improvements. Those experiences were incredibly powerful, and their impact has stretched far beyond the scope of that weekend. From my perspective as a member and captain of a small team in the Midwest where resources for the ultimate community are underdeveloped and spread out, it was an invaluable chance to bring those resources to us, and to give us the opportunity to capitalize on them. WL understands that there are hundreds and thousands of players out there who will devour any kind of ultimate you can dish out, and stand to grow tremendously from that, and it is just a matter of providing the opportunity for us to do so.

The idea of a tournament focused on DIII and on-the-cusp teams is inspiring, and in my opinion stands to be even better than the (already amazing) WL tournaments Grinnell has attended. The notion that up-and-coming programs will be playing in the championship bracket of the only division at a tournament is a huge step for the development of DIII ultimate and means that these teams will get exposure to high level, high stakes games during the regular season, something that I think is invaluable for DIII teams looking to perform in the post season. It also means that I will be surrounded by hundreds of players that are just like me and my teammates-- invested, passionate, and committed despite having the odds stacked against us. During whatever development opportunity that will be provided on Saturday night, I'm sure there will be a lot of individual informal conversations between players, and I bet a lot of relationships between teams will come out of this tournament. The networking and camaraderie that develops is going to go a long way in helping cultivate a community that is not only accessible to smaller programs, but focused on them. By just bringing us together and allowing us to believe in ourselves and each other, I think Virginia is for Layouts is going to have a huge impact on on all of the schools that get a chance to attend.

My co-captain and I have decided we are going to submit a bid to Virginia is for Layouts. This means a lot to me: I can tell rookies that their spring break will start with learning more about ultimate than any other tournament will teach them, and I'm excited for returning players to buzz with anticipation for skills clinics, awesome fields, and a VIP pass to a tournament that makes us feel as talented, skilled, and legitimate as we are passionate and scrappy. Mostly, I'm excited to cleat up for a tournament run by an organization that recognizes that growing programs not only have a tremendous capacity to learn and adapt, but also have a lot to offer the ultimate community in terms of competition, spirit, and love of the game... And I'm excited to prove that they are right.

The Melee Years:: Dream Bigger

2011-07-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Since I am headed to Austin today, it seemed appropriate to share the story of my time on Melee. My two years in the Texas Ultimate program allowed me to develop as a leader and advocate of women's ultimate more than any other period of my career. I am grateful for the time I spent in Austin, and for friends and teammates who shaped my experience.

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My senior year at Cal, I applied to a handful of grad schools. I had two requirements: a good Planning program and a good ultimate team. A series of unlikely events unfolded between Summer 2005 and Spring 2006, and when it came time to make a decision, Austin became the obvious choice. Moving to Austin was probably the best decision I have ever made.

I moved two months after losing two games-to-go at Northwest College Regionals. It was difficult to leave teammates and friends after such a disappointing end to our season, but my new teammates welcomed me with open arms and made me feel right at home. My first season on Melee, we had a fantastic regular season and cruised through Regionals until the Finals game where we lost a heartbreaker to Truman State. The game itself was devastating, but even more difficult for me to swallow were the ticky-tack calls, and the fact that every single person watching that game, except TUFF, was cheering against us. I was crushed.

I had previously made plans to study abroad in Montreal in the fall to do research for my thesis. A few days after we lost at Regionals, I retracted my paperwork and decided to stay in Austin. I was voted captain for the following season and spent the summer in California, starting and captaining Slackjaw in an effort to get as much experience as possible before going back and playing my last season of college ultimate. My co-captain, Becca Shelton, played for Showdown that season, and we spent hours upon hours exchanging ideas, planning for the season, and challenging each other to become better players. When I got back to Austin, Becca and I spent just about every day at the IM Fields throwing, working out, and talking.

One of the areas that I pushed hardest in was that I wanted our team to take a leadership role in developing women's ultimate in the South. I had two reasons that I wanted to get more involved:

1) I wanted Melee to be one of the best college women's teams in the country, not just the best team in the South. Helping to raise the overall level of play around us seemed like a good investment.
2) I saw a distinct difference in the quantity and quality of resources and opportunities available in the South compared to what I was used to in the Northwest. I felt like I had a responsibility, as someone who had been handed tons of resources and opportunities, to spread the wealth.

I took drastic measures to invest in other teams, and I am incredibly grateful that I had a co-captain, coaches, and teammates who supported those decisions. Cara Crouch, one of my frisbee mentors, was one of our coaches that year, and she both fueled my aspirations, as well as gently reminded me that change takes time. It was important for me to have that kind of support as Cara understood the ultimate scene in the South much better than I did, and also had a very similar vision for what ultimate in Texas could be. I am lucky to have had her as my coach, captain, and teammate, and to continue to be able to call her my friend.

A few examples of the general "dream bigger" mentality our team developed:
1) Our team ran five events that year, including two out-of-state tournaments, AND hosted Sectionals. I often look back with regret at how much I pushed my teammates, but I am also very proud of them for how much they changed the landscape of the South that year. Tournaments like Midwest Warmup and Midwest Throwdown exist because of Melee '08.
2) We focused on relationships. We refunded teams' bid fees when tournaments weren't executed to perfection. We made a conscious effort to model Spirit of the Game both on and off the field. Teams we had fought with in the past became allies. At Regionals, teams cheered FOR us and at Nationals, the team we had beaten in the game-to-go at Regionals was on our sidelines cheering for us.
3) We served as a connector. In addition to developing OUR relationships with other teams, we tried to develop relationships between other teams as well. We got people talking and we tried to build a network of people who care about our sport.

To tie those things together, I am confident that the only reason Without Limits has had any success is because of the investment of our friends. In the early years, people like Heather Waugh, Courtney Kiesow, and Sarah Griffith dragged their teams to our tournaments. We hosted out-of-state events because it was a way to make those tournaments more convenient and accessible, and our friends responded incredibly positively to that. Our friends trusted us to run good events, and we hope that over the years, we've rewarded that trust and earned their continued love and support. Today, our friends do more than just attend our tournaments; they have become our collaborators- Lindsey Hack, Leila Tunnell, and Lindsay Lang from UNC-Chapel Hill; Abby Stephens, Sam Huo, and Sarah Ebstein from Wash U; Melissa May, Carly Maconaghy, and Katie Erikson from Penn State. The list goes on and on. My time on Melee taught me a lot about thinking outside of the box, and about the importance of my friends in bringing those ideas to life. So, thanks Melee, and thanks friends, for believing in what we do and for shaping what we're all about.

Keystone Classic: A Parent's Perspective

2011-07-07T21:02:00.000-07:00

Keystone Classic has been all about our friends coming through for us. In 2010, Carly Maconaghy and Melissa May saved the tournament from the brink of disaster before they had even met Michelle in person, and this year, Katie Erikson joined our team, helping us pull the tournament off in spite of some difficulties with the weather. In many ways, running a highly competitive tournament in the Northeast has been one of the more challenging things that we've done. It's a part of the country that we've never played in so our contacts are limited, the weather is terrible, and it's just plain hard to organize a tournament from thousands of miles away. We might also have really bad luck. Carly, Melissa, and Katie have been rockstar allies for us, and we hope that Keystone Classic continues to grow as a valuable playing and development opportunity for that part of the country. We're grateful for these ladies, as well as for friends on teams like Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Northeastern, and Cornell who have faithfully supported this tournament.

In this post, Corey Ayala-Fagundez shares her experiences as a parent and fan at Keystone Classic this past season. She has two daughters who play for Rutgers University Nightshade and Columbia High School Sparkle Motion, and is a huge advocate for both youth ultimate and women's ultimate. A huge thank you to Corey for sharing about how Without Limits has positively impacted her daughters' teams, as well as for being a champion of our work. As our sport and our organization continue to grow, we hope that the people we hold near and dear to our hearts, especially our family and friends, stay central to all of the work we do.

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As I sit enjoying the easy relaxed months of summer, thoughts of the coming school year are starting to surface for me. When the school year starts, my mind goes directly to Ultimate Frisbee! I am a very active parent for Sparkle Motion, a high school level girls Ultimate team from Maplewood, New Jersey and have been so for five years now. I support the team fully and will volunteer in any capacity in order to try and pave the way for our girls so that they can concentrate on planning for tournaments and the game itself. I've named myself the chaperone, the driver, the sideliner, the fundraiser, the Gatorader, the first aider, the lugger and one of their biggest advocates! I have had the pleasure of traveling with our girls to many tournaments on the East Coast, Buffalo, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New York, Atlanta, Vermont and Ohio. These tournaments are necessary in order for the girls to stay competitive. One tournament however sticks out in my mind... Keystone Classic which was organized by Without Limits. The girls played many other very talented high school teams and had the opportunity watch very elite college women's teams . Watching these teams play gave them the incentive and drive to continue in the sport that they had come to love, they knew that they wanted to be like these women who played amazingly.

On the first day, during some down time, Sparkle Motion was fortunate enough to be led by Michelle Ng in a Skills Clinic to help them improve their game strategy and learn new drills. In addition to the Skills Clinic, all of the participating high school girls teams were paired with a college team for the weekend in a program called Sister Teams. This was a very special program since it gave the high school girls the opportunity to hang out with, ask questions of, and get on a personal level with older players who wanted to promote college Ultimate and be sure that the girls had a great experience. Sparkle Motion was paired up with Ottawa Lady Gee-Gees! Those ladies took the time to root on our girls during one of Sparkle Motion's games, and our girls did the same for the Gee-Gees during our bye. Near the end of the day, both teams got together for a game of Ninja, some chit-chat and a photo op. The Lady Gee-Gees also brought along some Lady Gee-Gees gear, team jerseys and t-shirts, for girls they felt did a great job playing while they were watching earlier on! Sparkle could have talked and played for hours but Lady Gee-Gees needed to go after a while because they had made the finals and were the eventual first place winners much to our team's delight! It was a wonderful experience for all, and everyone agreed it was great that Without Limits decided to include high school teams in the tournament.

I cannot say enough about the experience and would encourage as many college tournament organizers to include a high school division if it is possible and for the high school teams to respond and attend. The experience is priceless for the girls. In addition we got to know more about Without Limits and rely on them for guidance and information in regard to other college tournaments coming up that they may be interested in participating in if given the opportunity. ;)

The blogs are informative and it has enabled me to learn more about other teams and programs that are inevitably in my future and the future of my two daughters. One is a rising sophmore and plays at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey for the ladies' team Nightshade, and the other is a rising sophmore at Columbia High School and plays for the girls' team Sparkle Motion. My advice to other teams and parents of those players would be to go out of your way to find or try to promote programs such as Keystone Classic because the experience for the high school player is priceless. Thank you to Without Limits for having the foresight to expose the younger girls to a whole new world of Ultimate by integrating them into college level tournaments.

Corey Ayala-Fagundez
Team parent for
CHS Spark-Mo-G-Frizz
Columbia High School Sparkle Motion Girls Ultimate Frisbee
Maplewood,New Jersey

Bay Area Mixer:: The Beginning

2011-07-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

When I think about what has motivated me as a leader and organizer, 2005 Nationals stands out as a formative weekend for me. I have some vivid memories from the tournament, such as Stanford cheering for us during our crazy Pre-Quarters win against MIT, our impromptu dance-off with Colorado, and a blossoming love affair with Texas. I feel like this tournament was where I first realized how awesome the ultimate community is. My sports background up to that point was baseball. I captained the boys' team in high school, and the community had a very, very different feel to it. It is interesting for me to look back and to realize how many Stanford, Texas, and Colorado players I have been (or am currently) teammates with. I feel incredibly lucky.

Following my rookie year on the UC Berkeley Pie Queens and an awesome time at Nationals, I was voted one of the captains for the 2005-2006 season. To put it bluntly, I had no idea what I was doing. Upon being voted captain, I panicked and immediately did three things: registered for SFUL summer league, found a local club team to play with, and bought Ultimate Techniques and Tactics. I spent every waking hour of that summer either in Architecture studio (getting ahead so I wouldn't have to take a studio class in the spring) or doing something frisbee-related. I felt like I had some extremely big shoes to fill as I had been a very quiet rookie who could barely throw a forehand. My love for the sport continued to grow and at the end of my summer studio session, my professor pulled me aside to tell me that "this frisbee thing" was just a game and that I could be an incredible designer if I put my heart into it. A few months later, he would write me a letter of recommendation that gave me some fantastic options for where to spend my last two years of eligibility. ;)

Late that summer, I was thinking about ways to build the Bay Area women's ultimate community based on all of the things I had witnessed as a rookie. I pitched the idea of a mixer to the Stanford, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis captains. The idea was warmly received, and the first mixer, held on the Stanford campus, was a success! The rookies had a ton of fun, the vets played a hilarious very non-PC themed showcase game... and most importantly, for the first time ever, we saw Stanford's fun side! (Just kidding, you know I love you guys.) The mixer helped to cultivate some awesome relationships among the college women's teams in the Bay Area-- they formed the base for a successful California B-team tournament in Spring 2006 and led to an end-of-the-season beach bash, shared graduation parties, and a year later, the formation of Slackjaw, a women's club team. I am very thankful for my Bay Area ultimate friends, and for everything that they taught me.

Little did I know that the Bay Area Mixer would become an annual event, and that over the course of the next 5.5 years, I would run two dozen tournaments...

Tomorrow: The Melee Years:: Dream Bigger

Without Limits:: The Stories Behind Our Work

2011-07-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

As you may have seen on RSD, Facebook, and/or Twitter, we're rolling out two tournaments in Virginia. You can read up on all of the tournament details on the Projects page of our website: http://withoutlimitsultimate.com/projects

Our spring tournament, Virginia is for Layouts, is aimed at a group of teams that we haven't invested a lot of time and energy into (yet)-- D-III teams and on-the-cusp teams. Most of our tournaments have been designed for the "elite" teams- the teams that consistently compete for spots at the D-I College Championships. There have been a few exceptions over the years, and we always try to include the up-and-coming teams in our work, but the bulk of our work has been focused on elite competition. We've incorporated some development-related stuff into our work over the past year or so, but we decided that it's high time that we did something completely focused on this next tier of teams (more on how this came about in a later post).

In thinking about how our tournaments have evolved over time, we recognize that any success we've had is only because of supportive friends who have backed our work at every opportunity. We are lucky to have the backing of many of the top teams in the country, and we hope that with each event they attend, we can continue to earn their trust. Knowing we have that love and support makes the work of building tournaments and recruiting teams infinitely easier. Virginia is for Layouts is uncharted territory for us as most of the teams we are trying to reach are probably saying, "Without Limits? What's that and why should I attend their events?"

And so... in the next week or so, we'll be rolling out a mini-series with some stories, both from us, as well as from some of our friends and collaborators, explaining to you how Without Limits has made a difference. Our goal here is two-fold:
1) The obvious goal is that we want you to check one of our tournaments out. We'll do our best to make it a rewarding experience.
2) But even more importantly, we want to share our passion with you. For us, tournaments are more than a way for us to help college teams make money. They're a way for us to serve our friends, and to help build something that we can all be proud to be a part of.

Here's how you can help:
1) Read our stories. Then figure out the reasons you should care and do something in your local ultimate community.
2) Share our stories with the teams we are trying to reach. Who are the teams in your conference or region who could benefit from Virginia is for Layouts? Tell them about our work.
3) Share your story with us. Help us improve our work. Drop us a line at contactus (at) withoutlimitsultimate dot com.

Thanks for reading, and we look forward to telling you some of the stories behind our work.

2011 College Championships: What it Meant to Me

2011-06-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

(Author Note: You'll also find this post on my Without Limits Blog www.robynplaysultimate.blogspot.com)

The 2011 College Championships have come and gone. I'm back in Madison, working my internship. Heck, I've even started playing Summer League already. I've been doing nothing but reflecting about what my journey through college ultimate has meant, particularly the 2010-2011 season with Iowa.

SOL takes 3rd in the Central in 2010. There were 2 bids.

I started playing in spring 2007. Looking for something to fill the void that college softball left when my numbered days as a catcher ended, I chose ultimate after experiencing an indoor 6 am practice with 8 players at Wisconsin-Eau Claire. At Eau Claire, I have experienced, with my teammates, the heartbreak of 4 consecutive losses in the backdoor bracket: once in backdoor semis in 2007, and three times in backdoor finals in 2008, 2009, 2010. We were SO close every single year. Literally, as close as you can be without ever going.

There are countless talented players and talented teams that fall short of their goal to qualify every season. I relate to the experience of continuing to fall short year-in and year-out. I was certain that I'd never get the shot to compete with top teams at the College Championships. Robyn, face the reality: It's just not in the cards for a vast majority of the over 12,000 college ultimate players who compete in our sport. It's just not in the cards for me.

When I decided which graduate school I would attend in Fall 2010, I chose the University of Iowa, not for its strong tradition in ultimate like many of the grad students I see in the game, but for the Urban and Regional Planning program and educational/professional opportunities the school offered. The fact that there was a women's team was a plus and the fact that they finished in the top 4 of Regionals in 2010 was an even bigger plus. What I did not know was that I was walking onto the most talented college ultimate team I was given the opportunity to play in the brief 4.5 years of my "ultimate career."

This team worked harder than any ultimate team I had ever been part of, club or college. Every single player lifted, ran sprints, and pushed themselves harder than they ever had. Some of us overcame the physical and psychological challenges posed by knee surgeries, broken bones, stress fractures, months of extreme back pain, pulled quads, knee injuries, and severe ankle injuries to contribute to the team's success. More players made immense progress in their skill sets and physical abilities than I have ever seen before in just one short year. We had gone throughout the regular season kicking butt throughout the country. Winning Midwest Throwdown. Winning Easterns. Taking 4th at Centex.

Saucy busting off the line on D at the 2011 College Championships

Throughout the season, I felt the weight of the challenge to make it to nationals fall heavily on my shoulders. I'm not entirely sure why. The group of girls was extremely talented and hungry for improvement and success. My big fear is failure. I did not want to see my teammates fail. It wasn't really a problem until we got to the post season and the challenges increased with difficulty and consequences were harsher for failing.

The pressure mounted. Up until this point, our team had lived the Cinderella season. We hit a road bump at the West North Central Conference Championships. After playing extremely well in the 45+mph winds at Northern Iowa (imagine the Open Finals in Boulder, but it was 30 degrees and wet outside), our field chemistry was lost on Sunday without the wind. We struggled to play man-to-man offense. We looked gassed and nothing was working. We dropped a game to a talented Iowa State team. All of a sudden, everyone was questioning our legitimacy as a team. I felt like it was my fault. I felt the need to defend my teammates and our team.

We didn't defend it with our words (well, sometimes we did). We stepped up with our play: our actions on and off the field. We bounced back, winning decisively in the 2nd place game and headed into Regionals with the attitude that we controlled our destiny. We would not let anyone take our goal of getting Saucy Nancy back to the big show for the first time since 2005. Not a team could stand in our way. We overcame so many obstacles. We won the "pool of death" featuring both Wisconsin and Carleton (the teams with the most appearances at Nationals in our region). Breaking for a win in Regional Semis despite the elements and talented players in our way, sealing a bid to the College Championships was a dream come true. Looking around me seeing my teammates crying out of pure happiness. We had accomplished our goal. We had qualified for Nationals. We captured the 5th seed out of a talented pool of teams represented in the field of competition.

Saucy Nancy huddle at the 2011 College Championships

I'll be honest. Up until this point, I had been slightly disappointed. In my mind, I was absolutely convinced that our team was a semis team. Not reaching semis was devastatingly bittersweet to say the least. Writing this has been extremely cathartic. It has helped me to understand just how immense of an accomplishment the Saucy Nancy season has been. We proved that it doesn't matter how low your team or program goes, you can get the greatness back with some good old fashioned hard work and drive. I feel a sense of pride in myself and in my teammates for getting to Nationals and performing well. We accomplished the goal we set. It paid off.

Mikey Lun, my coach and friend, once told me that I'm a player who plays the odds, and that the dice just seem to fall in my favor. I'm not entirely sure what he meant by that statement, but I have my interpretation. I played this season like I do Blackjack (I like Blackjack because it's a simple game that I can understand...and when I play it in a casino, I feel like I have a chance to win). I sit down at the table, make my minimum bet and win a few hands before I start betting more. On the field, I choose my battles when the odds were with me, and I played them right most of the time. I tend to be a high risk/high reward player when the stakes are high and the rewards even higher. Sometimes, I don't even know how I come out with the disc when I'm out of position or complete a huck that should never have worked. Sometimes, I think "how in the world did we score that?!" But here's the secret to playing the odds in ultimate: believing in your teammates to beat the odds with you.

Saucy practicing in Boulder. Mountain backdrop. Sick.

This season, my teammates did beat the odds. Hucking upwind with a 20 mph wind to a receiver in double coverage sounds crazy. But when that receiver is Katie Johnson, the 5% decision, becomes an 80% decision if I can get the disc flat. Taking away an around on D on a team's best handler, giving her the huck down field becomes harder to complete when Audrey Erickson is on the downfield cutter and about to sky her. Placing the disc right on the line is okay, because I know Liza Minor is going to toe the line and make the play anyways. Putting a huck way in front of speedy little Jojo Peterson will probably get completed, even if she's covered by a team's best defender expecting to "pwn" on our noob (news flash: our rookies ARE good).

You have to trust your teammates to beat the odds too. You can't beat the odds by yourself (unless you're really good at throwing to yourself...and in that case, you should probably be playing disc hoops anyways). This team showed me how to believe in everyone the same way I believe in myself. This team beat the odds by working hard to give every advantage possible. A percentage or two or ten in our favor allowed us to play and beat the odds all season long.

Me with my sisters at 2011 Nationals.

So, what did the 2011 College Championships mean to me? Spending hours spray painting neon colored shirts for my teammates at my garage in Muskego and getting a little dizzy in the process. Freaking out about how I'm going to get 20 t-shirts and like 40 long sleeve jerseys to my teammates in Boulder (those TSA workers better not TOUCH them).

Me and my mom at the College Championships.

Sending a lone Saucy on her Geology Field Camp trip in Montana her Nationals Jersey and a spray paint t-shirt, trying to tell her how much I would miss her smile and wonderful attitude in Boulder while she was hundreds of miles away. Being re-united with my teammates after their brutally long car-trip to Boulder with hugs and smiles (driving through Nebraska is the worst). Spray painting about 60 Saucy tats on my 21 teammates.

Dave takes home the silver in '11.

Playing a showcase game vs. Stanford...while two of my best friends announced the game (sorry I only sported the Jeadband for a few points). Watching ultimate and learning more strategy and things to bring back with me. Seeing people that I love and respect cheer on me and my teammates on the sidelines. Making it to quarter finals, and putting up the final fight in a game that the other team thought they had already won. Throwing a forehand huck with the mountains serving as the backdrop. Celebrating one last time with my teammates. Not having a voice 5 days after the tournament is done. Cheering my boyfriend and his team onto a 2nd place finish in the Open Division. Hugging my teammates and not wanting to let go.

Most important: sharing the game that I love with my closest friends and family, one last time as a college ultimate player. This experience is unmatched by any that I have had in the college women's game.

I recently filled out a tryout form for a women's club team. It asked me to include my "ultimate resume." Yeah. I can say "I was part of a top team in the Central Region for 5 consecutive College seasons." or "I made all-region in x,y,z years." or "Team finished 5th at 2011 College Championship" or even "helped to build a new successful college women's program at a small school." Who cares about that stuff. I already know it. Chances are my potential employer (or in this case, potential captains/coaches) already know it too.

I was always told that my resume was supposed to be short, to the point, using active voice to describe my strengths and experiences I bring to my potential employer. My cover letter is supposed to highlight the specifics that the resume can't speak to. The intangibles, if you will.

The most important intangible that allows me to keep beating the odds: the fact that I know my teammates like I know myself. Being a good teammate, working with them in and out of practice, helping them improve, supporting them at Dance Marathon, making them dinner, bringing them coffee before an exam when they are so tired. Holding yourself accountable to the same standards you hold your teammates. That huge list of things I listed, specifically about my experience at nationals this year, and taking the time to appreciate them.

After 2011, I know what my "ultimate cover letter" will detail: all the intangibles that help me beat the odds. After all, it's these intangibles that I finally realize only after the 2011 season and the College Championships that define me as a player and my college ultimate experience.

Indefinite free time. No more college ultimate. But I'll always remember these girls.

Carleton College Eclipse: FIND YOUR SWAGGER

2011-05-26T21:37:00.000-07:00

In this feature, I ask my friend BG Green to talk a little bit about Carleton's phenomenal season that culminated with a National Championship at least week's USA Ultimate D-III College Championships. Last season, I had the privilege of guest coaching Eclipse for a few games at Midwest Throwdown, and since then, I have been a huge fan and have followed them closely. BG shares the story of Eclipse's season and their path to the top.

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“The whole season rests on this: FIND YOUR SWAGGER.”

These were the prolific words of an esteemed CUT captain given to Eclipse early on in the 2010-2011 season. Our team goal of making it to DIII Nationals seemed to fit nicely within this adage and we adopted it as we embarked upon our regular season. Eclipse was going to be different this year; we were practicing harder, training for fitness, and throwing outside of practice. We focused on developing relationships within the lines and strengthening the connections between handlers and cutters. During winter term several GOP boys began coming regularly to practice, helping us workout the kinks in our offense and perfecting our defensive game. While we may not be the most experienced Frisbee team, we have speed and athleticism, assets that Eric Manley and Sam Tucker helped us capitalize on.

As we began tournament play, Leigh-Anne and I understood that we were leading a new team. We knew we had fostered a more intense environment and a greater dedication to ultimate but we had yet to test it. As it turned out every tournament proved our success and the success of Eclipse. We were undefeated against DIII teams and challenged strong DI school with our zone-defense and huge hucks. Placing 2^nd at regionals, we had to reevaluate: we could do more than just attend DIII Nationals.

We arrived at Buffalo seeded first, the first National appearance in Eclipse history and the ultimate quest for swagger. In typical Eclipse fashion we started five of our six games down at least a break. Our first big test came in the semi-finals against Valparaiso’s tight zone. After trading points we began to work our way through their zone for a close-win and a bid to the finals. Williams had played well all weekend and we were excited to start the game. To our horror we went down 0-5. It was in this moment, thirty minutes into the finals game of DIII Nationals, that we found our swagger. Not a single person gave up, every Eclipser wanted that victory and we battled our way onto the board. The strength and grit shown on the field was a testament to the hard work of the regular season. Counting on the adaptability of the team, Sam Tucker explained a new “junk” defense that focused on poaching the lane and Eclipse was able to execute it within minutes of learning it to pull ahead. I have never seen, let alone been a part of, a team who played so relentlessly. The trust we have in each other was apparent. To win in such an incredible fashion defined our season. We had challenged each other to become more competitive and we had succeeded.

Leaguevine Mobile at Nationals

2011-05-26T21:34:00.001-07:00

I asked my friend Mark "Spike" Liu to share some of what Leaguevine will be doing at Nationals. Please check out the information below and get involved!

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This year at Nationals we are hoping to broadcast the best real time updates to Ultimate fans ever. To do this, we must rely on the efforts from players and spectators at the fields. If you are at the fields and have a smart phone, you can contribute by using Leaguevine Mobile. Just open your phone's browser and go to m.leaguevine.com.

If you already have a Twitter account, Leaguevine Mobile will help you tweet scores by automatically constructing the tweet for you. You can quickly select the score and then it will create a tweet that looks like "Pittsburgh 2 - Colorado College 1" plus any comment you add as
well as a link that takes you to a page with all of the previous updates for that game. Your friends can follow along at home at http://leaguevine.com.

Please help contribute to this community by providing your own real time updates!

Virginia Hydra

2011-05-26T21:15:00.001-07:00

Virginia's womens team, Hydra, has been one to watch the past few years. The team returns to the College Championships for the first time since 2004. Building the team back to this level has been the outcome of much hard work, and this team has been doing it every season since I've been playing. To see how far this team has come is remarkable. Co-captains Devon Ericksen and Shannon McVey give some insight to the team that is making the return to the big show, and about the process that took them there.

You guys have had to rebuild your program. Tell us a little about that process and the role you've played.
Our program has seen tremendous growth in the last two years. In 2008, we had a huge rookie class that has grown into a strong and talented core of vets. Coupled with taking on Dan Perry as a coach, the team began the building process. Dan coached Hydra for two years, and working with captains Brittany Taylor, Alex Weinberg, and Hannah Green, he set us up to do big things. In 2010, James "Shoes" Burke and David Allison took over as coaches, working with captains Shannon McVey and Devon Ericksen to continue the tremendous growth of the previous two years. This growth is due to the dedication of the captains and coaches, as well as the team's enthusiasm and hard work.

What are some of your favorite moments from the 2011 season?
Centex was a whirlwind of excitement for our team this year. It was a testament to how much we have grown not only in terms of skill, but in terms of mental strength. In our first year attending in 2010, our nerves held us back and we finished the weekend with only one win. A year later, we channeled any nerves we had left into positive energy, and that really shined through in every game, as we played competitively with some of the top teams in the country. Finishing in 12th place after coming in seeded 21st, we proved that we could compete on the national level.

How does it feel to go to Nationals for the first time since '04?
It feels like all of our hard work is finally paying off. Earning that third bid for the AC region was a tremendous feeling, and following through to make it to Nationals feels even better. Hydra had set its sights on Nationals ever since watching the UVA men's team, Night Train, compete in Columbus in 2009. Sitting on the fields in Columbus, Hydra decided to make Nationals a goal. Two years later, we've reached that goal, and couldn't be more excited.

How did Regionals go? Anything special or noteworthy?
Regionals was exciting, nerve wracking, and satisfying. We knew what was at stake, but took the weekend game by game, never mentally getting ahead of ourselves. An exciting part of the weekend was playing UNCW in the semis. Seaweed is fast and athletic, but we played with a level of heart that was not reflected in the final score. Especially exciting to watch was rookie Mary Kelly dominate in the air against some of UNCW's most talented players. Sunday's biggest challenge, however, was playing Maryland to take us to the game to go. Maryland is a talented team who tested us mentally and physically. After a rough first half of trading points, we slowed the game down in the second half and found our flow, taking the game 15-8. The game to go against NC State was fun to watch and fun to play in. Abby Clement set the tone with a layout D in the first point of the game, and our offensive flow led by Maggie John's skilled throws as a beautiful sight to see.

Any injuries sustained at Regionals? Any personnel losses or gains?
Hydra had the misfortune of losing captain Shannon McVey to a knee injury after Regionals. Shannon is a talented and versatile cutter whose presence will be sorely missed on the field.

Taking any precautions or special preparations for nationals?
We are taking extra care to get acclimated to the altitude by holding practices in Boulder on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ohio State Fever

2011-05-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I was able to pick up with a Cornell B team at College Southerns, along with several players from Ohio State Fever. I got to know some of the players that helped lay the foundation on this team, and learned about their team. I could not be happier for the 2011 Fever team for qualifying for the big show. This team is young but talented. No one expected them to qualify, but they took out the top teams in their region who have been perennial qualifiers in recent years such as Penn State, Pitt, and UPenn. Leaders Cassie and Deanna detail their season and how it feels to be the "underdogs" at the tournament.

How did the team approach this season? Was this one different than in years past?
Deanna: Dedicated to conditioning (training camp, workouts outside of practice), developing new recruits/rookies, focusing on key strategies to carry the team at tournaments, learning proper throwing skills across the board, and building a "fraternity" of players. Teams in the past relied on a small-ish core of players; this year the squad goes deep.

Cassie: We definitely approached this season with a more competitive mindset than in years past. We adopted this mindset before the season even started, picking up two assistant coaches with TONS of experience, Brent Reeb and Rodger Oakes, to join our returning head coach, Deanna Ball (who also has TONS of experience). Before the season began, we had a returner-only week of conditioning and a weekend training camp to get everyone on the same page before we started to bring in new players. By the end of the week, the word “Nationals” was floating around amongst everyone on the team. It was evident that this was what we would be working toward all season. During a team meeting about halfway through the fall season, we asked everyone, “Do you really want to make it to Nationals, or do you just think it would be cool to make it to Nationals?” I’ve only been around for two years, so I can only truly speak for last year. But I think in the past, the general feeling on Fever was that it would be cool to qualify for Nationals, but we never really expected to make it. This year, we definitely had expectations. We cracked down on attendance, added another mandatory practice, and went to more competitive tournaments. After the kind of work that we put in this year, I knew that a loss at Regionals would be heartbreaking. So I’m glad we didn’t have to experience it!

Was nationals the goal all along? Or was there another primary goal (i.e. player/team development)?

Deanna: Both; the development needed to come first. The goal might not have been nationals THIS year, but as a great by-product of the more global goal of developing a more well-rounded, deeper team, the nationals thing came to be.

Describe your journey this season. Tournaments, highs, lows, development, etc.

Cassie: There’s no question that this has been a long journey. On a personal note, I remember trying to fill the role of captain with Janine (also a first-year captain) for the first time at our pre-season conditioning camp and thinking, “Oh, no. This is totally wrong. Fever has made a huge mistake electing me…what were they thinking?!?!” And then we went to our first tournament, and lost some games we shouldn’t have. And then we got beat pretty badly by Michigan, Pitt, and Case Western at our home tournament. Before the year ended, we lost to Case yet another time. Janine and I knew we had a shot at Nationals if we were to get two bids from our Region, but if you had told us then that we would only get one bid, we would have said that bid was going to Pitt, or maybe Penn.

So we took a break from practice during the holiday season, and instead focused on staying in shape. Our first tournament back after break was Queen City Tune-Up in the middle of February. Our last tournament had been the first weekend in November, so needless to say, we were hungry to play again. We had decent tournaments there and at Midwest “Mudfest” Throwdown, and then we went on Spring Break. It was on Spring Break that our season really turned around. We placed second at Southerns, beating Cornell and Central Florida on Sunday to make it to the final game against Florida. Up until that tournament, we hadn’t beaten many teams that were at or above our level. This was the first tournament that we realized we were actually good enough to make some noise in our region.

We had a mediocre showing at Keystone Classic, but bounced back at Sectionals. I don’t think Fever had beaten Case Western since the 2008-2009 season, but we knew we’d have to do it at Sectionals (twice). In pool play, we came out strong, finishing with a 13-7 victory, and then took the Conference title in a 15-1 victory over Case. At Regionals, our goal was obviously to make Nationals. But instead of stressing about it (too much), we just told ourselves that we'd have to go and play as hard as each of us could for every single point. We also said that we just had to go and have fun playing the sport that we had grown to love with the people that had grown to become family. We came out strong in our first game against Pitt, and from then on out we played with heart, confidence, and had a blast.

How did Regionals go? Anything special or noteworthy?

Deanna: (recap)

Wind was calm on Saturday but increased as the day went on.

Playing Pitt in the first game was pivotal for Fever--it set the tone for the weekend. Getting the first up-wind score (to make it 6-4 OSU) was huge.

Edinboro was a skilled team that seemed to never let up.

OU was a conference opponent in Fever's pool so Fever had playing experience against them.

Penn St losing to Case put Case in the bracket against Fever on Sunday (conference opponent again).

Playing the 5 seed in the pool after a bye in the last round on Saturday allowed key starters to get a lot of rest.

Swarthmore gave Fever a Sunday morning, first half battle, but once Fever broke serve (6-4 OSU) they never looked back.

Fever was never down more than 1 the entire tournament; Fever took every half.

Margin of victory for Fever was never less than 5 (finals 15-10; other closest was Pitt at 15-8).

In the finals, Penn St was gased but fought throughout. Fever turned to their man defense as Penn St's throws in the non-factor wind were too good for zone defense. Fever went on a 8-2 run when the score was tied at 6's to take half and move to a 14-8 (game point) lead.

Specifics on Fever:

Long throws from Lauren Doyle, Janine Walker, Cassie Swafford, and Ivana Rosenblatt gave Fever a tough-to-stop long game.

Key receivers: Kristen Smiach, Daniela Bova, Karen Hines, and Cassie Swafford

Zone defense (Fever) on Saturday (in the wind) was virtually unbeatable.

What can we expect at nationals? Making any adjustments?
Deanna: We're trying to add some new things so as to not be predictable; but also focused on doing the things we do really well.

How are practices going with it being the semester wrapping/wrapped up?

Cassie: It has definitely been tough. Unfortunately, we're on quarters, so we have a week of classes after Nationals and then a week of finals. This is always the busiest time of the quarter without Nationals, and with Nationals it is considerably more challenging. But we've all been trying to work ahead and take care of things before we leave, so hopefully the last two weeks of the quarter won't be miserable once we get back!

Any injuries sustained at Regionals? Any personnel losses or gains?Deanna: We've had 1 player down with a broken finger, but that came before Sectionals. Fever's conditioning seems to be paying off--the team has not sustained any injuries that have required reduced playing time.

Taking any precautions or special preparations for nationals? How are you prepping physically/mentally?

Deanna: Trying to do the same practice schedule; scrimmaging the local women.

How does it feel to be going to nationals?
Deanna: Like it's time; I would have said "surprised," but in reflecting on Fever's season, it's beginning to make a lot of sense. :)

Do you guys see yourselves as an “underdog” going into the College Championships?

Deanna: Sure; as a new team to the big show, it's hard for other teams to see Fever as a contender. But the play of Fever has only improved/increased all season, and hopefully that trend will continue through nationals. If Fever plays Fever Ultimate, some teams will be upset.

What strengths do you have that you use to your advantage?
Deanna: Many players will give and go, and many players are willing to strike long. There is good chemistry with this team. Fever also has an incredible ability to step up the defense--both in zone and man. Fever has strong rookies that can help give starters needed rest.

Tufts EWO

2011-05-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Tufts EWO has had a strong program since its inception, far longer than I've been playing. They have been a nationals contender nearly every season. This season is no exception. The team features young, talented players, who are athletic and can play a fast paced game. Anna Chute and Laura "Juice" Glassman detail the season and the journey the team has taken to get there.

Some people are saying your team has “come out of nowhere” this season. How does that feel to surprise teams at tourneys like Centex?

Anna: I would like to think we have not come completely out of nowhere, as Tufts has a strong history and program. The Ewo made nationals in 2006 and 2007, finishing tied for 11th both years. After graduating 8 seniors in both 2008 and 2009, then Ewo underwent a couple rebuilding years before beginning to dominate once again. Last year had a disappointing finish to our season when we lost on universe point at regionals to Middlebury in the finals. We felt we deserved to go to Nationals last year, and set the standard very high for the season this year. We are used to New England getting overlooked by the rest of the country, so it felt great to beat teams at Centex that had no idea what hit them. The lesson here is to go into every game without expectations and play honestly. Our goal for Nationals is obviously to finish as high as we can, but also to gain respect for the New England region and show that we deserve to be in Boulder.

How has your team gone about recruiting talented players and developing their skills?

Anna: In the past years, Tufts has had a lot of frisbee players from Amherst. We were lucky to get talented player Claudia Tajima (Amherst, Junior Worlds, Quiet Coyote), partially as a result of having a history of other Amherst players such as Shira Stothoff, Maya Jackson, Caroline Chow, and Andrew Hollingworth. When we hear high school frisbee players are interested in Tufts, we try our best to get them out to a practice, hang out with the team, and make sure they feel welcome. Honestly, most of our incoming freshmen with frisbee experience choose Tufts because it's a great school with a lot to offer, and frisbee is a secondary consideration. This laid-back strategy seems to be working, though, as we've hooked multiple Paideia alums, junior worlds tryouts, and some outstanding players who come from different high school sports. We use the fall to develop basic skills and to get people excited about frisbee, and then hone those skills and focus more on individual skills and team strategies as it gets further into the winter and spring.

How does EWO feel going into the series, even though you haven't had as many regular season games as many of the other teams there. Do you use that to your advantage?

Anna: We would love to have gotten more games in during the regular season, but weather constraints and changes in Club Sports policy prevented us from doing all the travel we would have liked. Because we knew we would be starting later and getting fewer games in, we focused on the quality of tournaments over quantity. In the past we have gone to Vegas, Southerns, Terminus, and Yale Cup. This year we attended CCC in the Fall, considered Stanford Invite, attended Centex, and Keystone Classic. These tournaments offered great organization and competition, and allowed us to see strong teams outside our region. It definitely is tough playing indoors through the winter and facing unpredictable New England weather throughout the Spring, but you have to work with what you've got. We love playing together and know we can be very effective on the field; we hope to continue that trend at Boulder and not dwell on any differences between ours and other teams' seasons.

How you're using your awesome performance at Centex to give you momentum?

Anna: Centex was awesome, and we learned that we can beat top tier teams with focus during every point and by playing our game. However, Centex was just the beginning on the season. We have had a lot of games since then and have gotten to know ourselves better as a team. Although we hope to have just as strong a showing at Nationals as we did at Centex, we recognize that early season results don't really mean anything in terms of play at this point. Centex put Tufts on the radar, and now we want to prove we belong there. And expectations, anxiety, nerves, cockiness are not the way to do so.

Nationals Outlook
How did Regionals go? Anything special or noteworthy?

Anna: Here's the recap I wrote from regionals: http://www.usaultimate.org/news/recap-2011-college-womens-regionals-new-england/

What can we expect at nationals? Making any adjustments?

Juice: We aren't expecting to make too many adjustments at nationals from our regular season playing. You can expect us to make big plays, work hard on every single point and have a lot of fun playing together against the best competition in the country.

How are practices going with it being the semester wrapping/wrapped up?

Juice: We were low on numbers at the end of the year due to finals, injuries and other conflicts (graduation! eeek). Despite these setbacks, we still had high intensity practices and track workouts and used our time between regionals and nationals to improve our game.

Any injuries sustained at Regionals? Any personnel losses or gains?

Anna: We had some injuries at Keystone, Sectionals, and Regionals. All of those players should be back and ready for action, come time for Nationals, which means that you can expect strong lines.

Taking any precautions or special preparations for nationals?

Juice: Eating our Wheaties and drinking plenty of water! We will be getting to Boulder on Wednesday to acclimate and motivate ourselves before Friday!

Stanford Superfly

2011-05-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

The next post is about Stanford Superfly. This ultimate dynasty, was one that captivated me early on in my ultimate playing days. I remember watching online footage of this team playing when I was trying to pick up the game. This team has been able to stay dominant for so long, and keep developing a championship team year after year. Thanks to Elaine and Jen (Superfly Captains 2011) for taking the time to answer these questions to give everyone some insight to the 2011 Superfly team and its history.

How has the strong tradition of ultimate for Superfly help to develop a strong team in the fall?

Elaine: It definitely helps for recruiting in the fall. Not only do we pick up strong grad students for their fifth year and freshmen who have been playing longer than most of our vets in strong high school programs around the country, but it also helps us bring new athletes into the sport. Most people don't know that ultimate is played on the national stage, so telling freshmen that it is, that we've been there, and that they can too - it gets them excited about the sport.

Do you guys use any special recruiting tips to build your team?

Jen: Nothing that out of the ordinary, I imagine; it helps that we have a strong history to boast on flyers and in recruiting emails. Since most undergrads live on campus but switch dorms every year, we often encourage girls (not just freshmen) who are already coming out to drag their newfound friends along. Also, Superfly has a tradition of going to the Kaimana Klassik in February. Saying we have a winter tournament in Hawaii has got to be a pretty huge draw, right?

How has the years with superstars like Gwen, Enessa, and Casey, contributed to the growth of your team? How does it feel to be on a team that is truly a "faceless army"?

Elaine: Superfly has had its fair share of standout ultimate players over the years and we definitely take advantage of their experience when we can. Both Gwen and Casey have helped coach in recent years and stories from their time with Superfly never fail to fire up the team. I think over the last few years we've transitioned from a team that has consistently boasted the big name players to a deeper team that really relies on everyone. This has been our biggest strength this season. All season our coach has been able to call "new seven!" without losing any momentum. It's given our rookies (who are already

awesome) invaluable experience in big games and it gives our more experienced players some time to hydrate and help out on the sideline. The confidence that everyone has in each other this season is just

incredible and it's made playing for this team a really special experience.

You guys also have access to the best club teams in the world...how does this contribute to success for your team?

Jen: It's no surprise that having a lot of high-level club teams around here helps individual players grow from year to year; those who choose to stick around and play club invariably gain a lot of useful experience that they share with Superfly. More than that, though, I think it endows our team with a certain sense of pride. With a lot of our alumni on local club teams, it feels like we have a huge support base. It is also a privilege to represent Bay Area ultimate, and that's something we work hard for - whether consciously or not. Finally, of course, it doesn't hurt that our youngest players' introduction to the sport comes with the help of some of the biggest role models in women's ultimate. We're spoiled. :)

You guys have great coaching, how has this impacted your team this season?

Elaine: We would be lost without Robin. Beyond her knowledge of the game, she injects this team with both a competitive spirit and a deep respect for fair play. I'm not sure how she does it, but she just makes you want to be a better ultimate player - to run harder, play better D, improve your mental game , whatever you need to do to help the team. This year we've also benefited from having Jamie Nuwer as a coach. She's kicked our asses at sprint practice all Spring and she's been invaluable in preventing or helping us take care of all those little injuries that crop up over the course of a season.

How does having a B-team affect the development of your program?

Jen: One of the greatest advantages of having a B team is that it allows girls to discover ultimate whenever they want. Rather than having to wait for the next fall to start playing, a newcomer can start practicing with the B team in the winter or spring. Girls from the B team do often try out for Superfly and make the team - Elaine and I both did this, actually. Others choose to be B-teamers for life, and they are just as essential to our program as Superfly's captains: it's so hard to strike a balance between being competitive and being relaxed (especially when you're alongside another team that tries to be competitive all the time), and all the B team leaders I know have handled it admirably. We are also a tight-knit program, and this keeps people playing year after year.

Nationals Outlook

How did Regionals go? Anything special or noteworthy?

Jen: Regionals felt remarkably like smooth sailing to us. I don't mean that the teams we faced weren't strong, because that's obviously not true; I mean that we made a plan and stuck to it with confidence. We came off of a strong Saturday to face a very fired-up USC on Sunday morning in quarters. They played a very smart game and used their great throwers to their advantage, but we made some adjustments and moved on to semis. Our longstanding goal had been to qualify for Nationals through the "front door," and we are all proud of what we accomplished.

How are practices going with it being the semester wrapping/wrapped up?

Jen: While many of our competitors are done with school, we still have three weeks, and finals, left! This both gives us an advantage and puts us at a disadvantage: we are all in the same place and nothing about our practice schedule has changed, but - no surprise - our schoolwork distracts us and deprives us of sleep. There are great things to be said for both the semester and the quarter systems with respect to the timing of college nationals, but I tend to think the ups and downs mostly even out.

D-I Podcast

2011-05-26T05:25:00.000-07:00

In this podcast, I talk with Lindsey Hack (North Carolina) and Robyn Fennig (Iowa) about the upcoming USA Ultimate D-I College Championships. We talk about preparing for Nationals, the field of teams at the tournament, and some of the specific things that their teams are looking forward to. Michelle also questions Robyn's views on coed and skirts, and we give a brief D-III shoutout at the end.

Give it a listen here.

UBC Thunderbirds

2011-05-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

The Northwest is a hotbed for college ultimate in both the United States AND Canada. Vancouver’s thriving ultimate scene helps to fuel the fire under the University of British Columbia Lady Thunderbirds team. According to co-captains Crystal Koo and Katie Berezan, the perennial qualifiers for the College Championships have used this season to build yet another national qualifying team.

Vancouver has a strong youth scene, which helps to infuse young talent into the Lady Thunderbird roster year-in and year-out. The Lady T-bird captains note that, “We are very lucky that we have an amazing junior program in Vancouver. Many of us have represented Team Canada either in U19's or U23's. The rest of us have played on competitive junior club teams that compete at Canadian Junior Nationals. It really helps to have many players that have played years in juniors prior to college. Only 4 of 21 players have not went to Canadian Nationals as a junior.” This junior world team experience helps to provide the team’s rookies with more elite ultimate experience than the veterans on most other teams, ensuring that their team always grows in strength from one year to the next.

The team, also reaps the benefits of having a ridiculous coaching staff. “We are very lucky to have some amazing coaches for our program,” explain Crystal and Katie. “Steph Chow has coached us for many years, Kira Frew and Jon Hayduk last year. This year we have another Traffic player, Tasia Balding and assistant coach Ashley Welsh, a T-Bird Alumni.” Even though the coaches may change from one season to the next, the experience and knowledge of the game they bring is immense. “We definitely won't have the same level of success without them. It really blows my mind how much time they spent to coach our team and how lucky we are to have them!” they share.

Unlike the other Canadian team heading to the 2011 College Championships, UBC does not typically compete in the Canadian University Ultimate Championships (CUUC), and has not since 2009. This is largely due to the location of the tournament which is on the East Coast of Canada, making travel very expensive. This changes the fall significantly. UBC opts to travel throughout the Northwest and along the West Coast to put their financial resources towards competing against the best to prepare for the College Series every post season.

Overcoming financial constraints is a huge obstacle for the Lady T-Birds. “We face other difficulties such as lack of support from our university and geographically farther than most teams. Flying from Vancouver is almost twice as expensive from Seattle despite that they're about 200 miles away,” detail Crystal and Katie. This typically puts some constraints on the attendance at farther away tournaments.

UBC’s farthest tournament the team traveled to was Centex. “Due to financial reasons, it is a struggle to get players to go to Centex every year, even though it’s one of our favorite tournaments to attend! So one of our major lows this season was our injuries at Centex to our vets on top of the already small squad we came down with,” note Katie and Crystal. But as a result, the team used that experience to foster growth for their team. “We definitely didn't get the results or perform how we wanted at Centex but some of younger players got more playing time which made them learn to take imitative on the field. This experience made them better players and it definitely showed at Sectionals/Regionals when we had additional injuries.”

The Lady T-birds were able to use this experience to go deep into their roster at Sectionals and Regionals. Katie and Crystal detail, “At regionals in pool play against Oregon, we were down 3-8 and we were struggling defensively. Our team refocused and we started to play our game. All it took was one player on the field to make a big play to pump us up and everyone believed in themselves afterward. This shows that as long as we are determined, we are a great team!”

British Columbia Lady Thunderbirds, 2011 National Qualifiers

Nationals Outlook:

As a result of recent restructuring, the Northwest’s composition changed drastically. The Northwest Regional Championships only had 7 teams competing, notably missing Cal and Stanford from the teams represented, as they moved to the Southwest. As such, the Northwest is very evenly matched, with one point separating the top three teams: Washington, Oregon, and UBC. Because of point differential, UBC ended up in the 3^rd place game to go.

UBC secured the 10-seed, placing them in Pool C. The Lady T-birds start out against Virginia and Colorado College on Friday, and match up against North Carolina-Wilmington and California on Saturday. There is definitely some potential for some upsets if the Lady T-birds bring the same game they brought at the end of the season.

The team is not making any special adjustments to prepare for game time, but look for the team to go deep into their roster, using their legs to win games and those long points.

The final preparations for nationals are taking place with a full-squad who is done with school for the academic year. The captains add, “It helps that Vancouver has finally stopped raining constantly, and the weather has been sunny for the most part. Believe it or not, it only snows once or twice a year in Vancouver. We practice all year long outdoors.”

Any injuries that remain among players should be healed by Thursday. “Our girls have been very focused at practice in the past couple of weeks and it shows them how excited they are to compete at Boulder!” say Katie and Crystal.

Among their players, look for standout Hannah Epperson. The team’s Callahan Award nominee is not like many of the nominees, and has not been playing for a ridiculously long time. The captains highlight, “She has started playing ultimate in college and has only played in 3 seasons. Her first season was in 2008 when UBC won nationals. She missed out 2009 to travelling, returned in 2010 and this is her last year. I am very amazed at how well she plays despite this is only her third season.”

The Lady T-birds are coming off of a great season, and are looking forward to turn some heads at the 2011 College Championships.

Iowa State University Woman Scorned

2011-05-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

Hey All,

We are attempting to get as much coverage posted as possible, but Robyn is getting focused on playing this weekend, and I have my hands full with trying to help run this event. We will still be posting stories as we receive them, but there will be significantly less commentary from us, and for that we apologize. We also have a D-I podcast coming your way and we have high hopes for getting that posted tomorrow. Thank you for understanding, and we hope you are enjoying our coverage!

Michelle

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Our next feature is about the Iowa State University (of Science and Technology!) Woman Scorned. This team has been a great team to watch develop over the years. Their depth is phenomenal, and the foundation for a great program has truly been laid. Getting the opportunity to play against/alongside these players over the years has been fantastic--a true reward. Grad Student handler, Lindsey Gapstur, answered some questions about the team and her experiences with Scorned. For a more detailed look at the team, PLEASE check out their awesome blog. Gapstur, is a pivotal contributor to the blog and to the Twitter role. Woman Scorned Blog

What are 3 unique things that make WS special?

1. Scorned’s field personality- If you have ever played us or played on a field near us, I think you can attest to the field personality of Scorned. Whether it is our unique cheers and our sideline dance parties or our team-wide involvement in the game (on the field or sidelines), Scorned has fun in every aspect of the game.

2. Individuality and diversity- Let’s just say you don’t have to fit a mold to play on this team. We have every sort of person on Woman Scorned. We embrace all people no matter if they are skirt wearers or short wears, fast or slow, partier or not… every one of us has our place in this family. Usually this shows through our field uniforms, so the national’s uniform rules are definitely going to force us to conform a bit more than usual out in Boulder.

3. Team unity- Obviously this is usually present with any successful team, but the unity of Scorned is like nothing I have ever experienced before. This unity is evident on the field by our style of play involving all 7 players and the sidelines, rather than just a few big players, but this togetherness goes so much further than games with Scorned. From library study parties during the week, to just hanging out every single day with each other, Scorned has a bond that is stronger than anything I can describe. Our unity comes from a devotion to each other, to hold ourselves as well as our teammates accountable for their attendance, decisions, and hard work. We push each other to reach our individual and team goals, and throughout this season we have truly grown to be a remarkable team of friends.

How does WS approach development of new players?

Although we hope to have one soon, we have never had a B team in this program. We also don’t make cuts because we believe ultimate is a sport that everyone should have the opportunity to play. This means that we usually have a fairly high number of inexperienced players in the fall, but in reality new players can start at any point in the year. This past fall we attended 4 tournaments and played very open lines in each of them. This allowed everyone to get a lot of playing experience and built some serious depth to our roster for spring.

Describe the relationship WS has with the ultimate community.

The local ultimate community around Iowa isn’t huge but it is very close. Woman Scorned is heavily involved in the summer league, pickup, and club scene in the area. In Ames especially, the community is very much like a family, integrating everyone from the founders of The Chad Larson Experience (a world champion mixed club team from Ames) to the rookies of the college teams into almost any ultimate activity that goes on. It really makes everyone feel at home and helps with the growth of the game in the area.

In reference to the bigger college ultimate community, Woman Scorned is relatively young team. While the North Central is a very competitive region, the unity between teams is very strong. The rivalries always bring intense competition on the field, but off the field there are many friendships between teams. Woman Scorned is a big fan of getting to know other teams, and we will never turn down a chance to boat race another team or have a dance off at tournaments.

Explain the role that social media (fbook, twitter, and the blog) has played in fostering your relationship with other teams/players.

Honestly, I started the blog because Wisconsin-Eau Claire told us that we should, and I had the easiest class load possible my senior year of undergrad. I had no idea people would actually end up reading it. The blog is a great tool to get our name out there for people to read about us. Most people outside of Central Region probably don’t know much about Woman Scorned, but with the blog, we get a chance to highlight our team a little bit and in the way we would like to be portrayed. Probably the best part of having a blog/facebook/twitter is the way we can use it as a tool for recruiting. When incoming freshmen or transfer students are interested in the ultimate team at Iowa State, they have a source of accurate information. Twitter and Facebook are fun ones that have interestingly enough built up some relationships with other teams in the nation. After Michelle Ng forced me to FB friend a few of the girls on UNC-W, Woman Scorned actually ended up hanging out with them after Easterns and then later cheered each other on during games at Centex. (Editor's Note: Bringing people together has earned me the nickname "Tool" but I love seeing my friends become friends.)

How did Regionals go? Anything special or noteworthy?

Well, we made nationals… that was pretty noteworthy. It was a really good tournament for us as a team. We had a rough go of it in the semi’s game versus Carleton, but Scorned pulled it back together and started working as a unit again to take the next two wins and grab the last bid to nationals. This will be our second appearance at the College National Championships, and we are hoping to make a bigger impact than in 2009.

What can we expect at nationals? Making any adjustments? (no need to describe specific x’s and o’s)

Look for us to perform as a team. We don’t have the biggest roster, but we are deep. There are definitely some names that people will be looking at on the field, but Scorned plays a team game and that is when we really do damage. You can also expect us to have a janky yellow flag and a boom box on our sideline.

How are practices going with it being the semester wrapping/wrapped up?

Practices are going great. Most of the girls have been in town the entire time (we had finals the week following regionals). The intensity level has definitely picked up, but we are really focusing on working out the kinks. It is also extremely helpful that all of us have the opportunity to play pickup with CLX on our non-practice days.

Any injuries sustained at Regionals? Any personnel losses or gains?

We had a couple injuries at Regionals, but nothing that we weren’t able to tape the crap out of or smother in Icy Hot. We lost people for a few points or a game or two, but we were sitting at full squad (mostly healthy) in the last game. We are much healthier this year than last, and you can count on us being in shape in Colorado!

Taking any precautions or special preparations for nationals?

We have a very carefully planned schedule that involves some working out, a significant amount of ultimate, lots of group activities, and then just a TON of other time spent together with each other. Many of us don’t have jobs but are in Ames until Nationals, so that leaves us with a lot of bonding time. In fact, we even had to appoint a new team position-Activities Director. Basically we are all hanging out and enjoying our last couple of weeks together as a team. It is absolutely amazing!

Anything else?

We are looking forward to have Warhead contests out in Boulder with anyone who is willing to challenge us.

Also, check out their sick Easterns Highlight Video! http://vimeo.com/21588144

USC: The Road to the Top

2011-05-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

One of the most inspiring stories in college women's ultimate over the past few years is that of USC. Brit "Mash" Belsheim, my former Showdown teammate Jess "Venus" Huynh, my current Molly Brown teammate Lindsey Cross, as well as Frankie Rho and his coaching staff, have been keys to the Hellions' success in recent years. In this feature, former captain, Callahan nomineee, and standout player Mary Kate "Uzi" Hogan, shares her perspective on the development of the USC program, and what it was like to go from being on a middle-tier team at Regionals to being one of the best teams in the nation. As the team continues to build upon the foundation laid by an amazing group players and leaders, they will continue to be a force in college women's ultimate. Hard work + heart took the Hellions a long way. What can your college ultimate team learn from the USC story?

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When I joined the USC Women’s Frisbee Team, the Hellions of Troy, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I joined the team in the fall of 2007 with the encouragement of a few amazing veterans who put a lot of effort into recruiting young athletes in order to really build the team. There weren’t even enough returners to field a whole line and at Regionals the previous season, the Hellions had finished out the tournament with only 6 players. Determined to make the women’s team a permanent and successful program, the captains recruited a coach, Frankie Rho, and a bevy of assistants. Together, they started from square one, training a large group of rookies and a few returners in a new system that would eventually lead to a 5^th place finish at Nationals. I am proud to have captained the Hellions for 3 years and to be able to look back on those years and appreciate all of the laughs, frustrations, wins, losses, lessons, and friends that are wrapped up in the journey.

Although credit can and should be given to many people including the captains, players, alumni, donors, assistant coaches, and guest coaches, the single most important part of the Hellions’ rise was our head coach, Frankie Rho. When he came in to coach during my freshman year, he recruited a talented group of assistant coaches to focus on different aspects of the team and the game. Frankie’s ability to create a strategy that would transition with the team was a key to our success. He started with the basics, teaching fundamentals and strategies that would serve us well no matter what offense or defense we were running. He set reasonable goals and focused on personal improvement, always focusing on the process and not the results. Successes and failures were never measured in wins and losses. My sophomore year, I became a captain and became a part of determining the goals for the following years. The team’s strategy and players evolved with our highly-set sights, and we changed our focus to winning games, proving ourselves in our region, and becoming mentally tough enough to compete within the elite sector of women’s ultimate.

Playing in the Southwest Region was a huge challenge. Attending local tournaments meant meeting up with some of the best teams in the country on Saturday morning in pool play. I remember playing against UCLA as a freshman and just being blown away by the skills of players like Taz, Kix, and Gizmo (to name just a few!). We often felt like those games were more like practices in which women at the top of the college game demonstrated how the game should be played. Frankie always reminded us that we could achieve the same things that they did, and that the way to do it was by making sure we kept dump-swinging, running hard, working on our throws, staying on our toes, and other fundamentals. Looking back on those games, it was a huge encouragement to put up numerous points against those teams because it really did show us that if we were good enough to compete with National-caliber teams, we could be an elite team ourselves. Mentally, we always had a leg up because we were forced to play against the best of the best. We never thought that we didn’t deserve to be on the same field as them.

I was a captain through most of the transition from being a middle-tier team at Regionals to Regional Champions. One of the most important parts of this transition was learning from mistakes, both as a team and on a personal level. My freshman year, we were lucky enough to try new things without any repercussions. We didn’t have anything to lose so we were able to huck whenever we wanted, try new positions and strategies, and learn through failures without getting down on ourselves. As we improved, we had to reign in our decision-making and build our mental game. We all still made mistakes, but we made fewer of them and the ones we did make stung a lot more. For me, the most difficult aspect of the transition was trying to become a better player as well as a better captain. I often found myself being so worried about warm-up drills, sprints, defensive strategies, rookie throwing form, practice plans, paperwork, questions and e-mails that I forgot to step out on my hucks or work on my backhands. As a team, the hardest part was constantly accepting all of the changes that were being made. Each semester brought greater demands with more of everything: commitment, practices, sprints, responsibility, tournaments, dues, e-mails, fundraisers, workouts, plane tickets, expectations, defenses, offenses, and even coaches.

The shape of the season evolved from year to year as our expectations grew, but the general structure by my last 2 years was set. In the fall, there were two main goals: recruitment and personal growth. We ran an IM league to teach basic skills and recruit athletic freshmen. We created social events to pull girls in, show them how much fun ultimate is, and make them feel like part of the community. We did “dorm storming” to put up flyers and talk to freshmen who might be looking for a new sport to play. Each veteran was given a “buddy” to Facebook, e-mail, invite to lunch, throw with, and specifically keep up with in order to make sure that no rookie slipped between the cracks. On top of putting a special emphasis on recruitment and retaining rookies, returners were all encouraged to focus on specific skills that needed work as well as to branch out and try new things. Cutters were required to handle at practice and handlers had to run deep. Defensive players had to learn how to be chilly and work the disc on O while O-line players started running in the cup. November was tryout time and we made hard decisions regarding who would make the A team and who would be on the B team. We then set the expectations for each team, sent everyone home for break with workouts and personal things to work on, and prepared for the season. In the spring, we set goals for each tournament and set roles for each individual player. Roles were a huge part of our strategy and really helped each Hellion feel like a part of the team. Each player was 1/21 of the team and without her, the team could not succeed. There was an emphasis on mental toughness, execution, and results. By the time Conferences (or Sectionals back then!) rolled around, we knew we could no longer make any big changes to our strategy. Therefore, we focused on tweaking what we already knew and really perfecting all of the little things. We already knew everything we needed to, we just had to execute, execute, execute in order to perform well at Regionals and Nationals.

College Nationals is unlike any other experience. There are a lot of things I could say about my experiences regarding how much fun I had, the feeling of walking on to those fields, and how amazing it feels to win games at such a high level. Yet, the things that I think really get down to the nitty gritty of it are the things that I hadn’t expected. For instance, playing only 2 games a day is WAY more difficult than playing 4 in a row. Often, we’d play a game at 9:00 AM, and then another at 4:00 PM. Staying mentally prepared, fed, out of the sun, hydrated, and keeping your muscles warm is trying on both your body and your mind. Instead of always feeling rested, it was difficult to get really pumped up, and then bring it back down, eat, nap, and then get ready to get pumped up again. Secondly, the first year I played at College Nationals, we didn’t win a game. There was nothing more disappointing than finally making it to the big show and then feeling like you didn’t deserve to be there. Intellectually, we knew we did deserve it – we worked hard, we beat good teams at Regionals in order to qualify and of course, someone has to end up at the bottom of the pack. But still, it was a terrible feeling. Part of the difference between that year and the next when we finished 5^th was our mental game going into the tournament. The first year, we felt like getting to Nationals was the big accomplishment. The second year, we expected to be there and our actual goal was to win games and place at the top and that made all the difference when we were facing teams that we had lost to the year before. We were mentally and emotionally prepared for the wins and losses and we didn’t let them affect all of our other games.

I could write and write about my experiences at USC for thousands of words and still never be able to communicate exactly how I feel about such an amazing 4 years. I learned a lot about the game, people, and myself through these experiences and I would never exchange them for anything. Since I cannot explain all of these experiences and lessons, I will share one of my favorite memories to give you a glimpse at why the Hellions are so amazing to me. We had a policy at USC in which if you were late to practice without informing the captains in advance with an approved excuse, the entire team would run sprints for your lateness. Many teams, I assume, have a very similar policy. It was a way to encourage accountability and make sure that teammates held each other responsible for their actions because those actions affected the entire team as well. I was always happy to see the girls heckle each other when they had to run sprints for each other because someone was too tired from staying up late at a party the night before to make it to Saturday practice on time or someone repeatedly couldn’t leave enough time to make it to practice and cleat up on time. The heckling was part of the accountability and sometimes some of the Hellions would be noticeably annoyed that they were running sprints for someone else’s mess-up. But one of my favorite days was when one of the Hellions showed up REALLY late for practice, but the reason wasn’t because she just couldn’t get her act together. The reason was something personally upsetting – I think that her long-time boyfriend had just broken up with her and everyone knew it. I have never seen a happier group of people line up on a line to do sprints. They were doing sprints to be supportive of their teammate. There was no heckling, no animosity, no blame, no disappointment. It was just team. That was one of the days I will never forget – and one of the reasons that I am proudest to say that I am a Hellion.

If I could leave college leaders with just a few pieces of advice for their own seasons, I would say just a few simple things. First, set difficult, but achievable goals and then create a strategy to reach those goals. Secondly, listen. Listen to what your players need, listen to what your coach has to say; listen to other coaches, other schools’ leaders, your club team’s captain, NBA coaches on ESPN, etc. Take in all of that information and try to use it to create a system that is unique to you and your team. Third, try to create a network or become involved in a network that already exists. The main reason why USC was able to build itself up as a program so quickly was because of all of the support that we received from coaches, other schools, articles, and the ultimate community on the West Coast and across the country. We never would have made it as far as we did without all of the people who were willing to help us, encourage us, and donate their time and money to us.

10 Reasons Why Lindsey Cross is Awesome

2011-05-24T23:48:00.001-07:00

As a prelude to a piece about USC written by Lindsey's bff, I thought I would do a quick post on reasons why Lindsey Cross is awesome.

10. She is a fellow minority.
9. She played college ultimate in California.
8. Girl can jump.
7. She has an iPhone.
6. I wrote her an email encouraging her to play Molly Brown last season and then she dominated my team in an important pool play game at Club Nationals.
5. She has been called "Screamer" instead of her actual nickname "Screech."
4. She took time out of her busy schedule to hang out with me when I visited Boulder for a job interview.
3. She helped me get my bed and desk from American Furniture Warehouse to my house in her brother's truck when I moved here.
2. She called my fall tournament "Virginal Fusion" in an email to the team. Close... but not quite right.
1. Ok, in all seriousness, she had a tremendous impact on USC's rise to the top of the college women's division. Check out the feature I will be posting shortly for more about this team!

** I may or not be posting this list in an attempt to meet stringent requirements laid out for me to earn the possibility of wearing jersey #10 (Lindsey's number) this season.

Callahan Profile: Carolyn Finney (UCSB)

2011-05-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have known Carolyn Finney since her rookie year and it has been a privilege to watch her develop into one of the best players in the college women's division. Finney is an incredible player and leader, and has led UCSB back to the top of the division yet again this season. She has played and led alongside top players such as Andrea Romano, Katie Barry, and Kaela Jorgenson, and this year, she has taken the team's destiny into her own hands. In this feature, we ask Finney some questions, and then ask her former teammate and co-captain Kaela to answer some questions as well.

First, some questions for Finney...

1. How long have you been playing ultimate?

This is my fifth year, I had never seen it played before my freshman year at UCSB.

2. Offense or defense?
D for sure! I think the focus of D on the Skirts is what has made our program successful over the past few years and the part of the game I think is most fun. Man D, zone D, junk D whatev.

3. Describe your game in 5 words.

Intense, Heart, Perseverance, Skirts Love

4. Favorite memory with the Skirts
The Skirts has really consumed most of my life over the past 4.5 years there are so many great times, but I would have to say winning the Collage Championship title in 2009 with my closest friends, and having so much support from everyone in Santa Barbara and Alumni around the country was awesome.

And now some questions for Kaela...
1. What is Finney's strongest asset as a player? As a leader?

Finney does an amazing job of leading by example. She would never ask anyone to do something that she does not do herself. She expects her teammates to put in their best effort and helps them to become the best players that they can be. Anyone who has seen her play or had the privilege of playing with her knows she leaves it all on the field.

2. Describe your time with Finney on the Skirts. How has Finney changed UCSB ultimate?

Finney and I were rookies on the Skirts together and ended up captaining together and living together for two years. I love playing with Finney because she always seems to know exactly what I want her to do and does it. Finney has been a driving force on the team since her freshman year and I attribute a good amount of the Skirts' 5 consecutive years at nationals and 4 consecutive appearances in the finals to her dedication and hard work.

3. What sets Finney apart from the other people you've played with?

Finney is an incredibly skilled player but what sets her apart is not only her heart but her dedication to her teammates and to the game. I always know I can count on her on and off the field.

4. What memory of Finney defines her in your mind?

When she caught the winning goal for us in the 2009 college finals.

5. Give us 3 adjectives to describe Finney.

Bad-ass. loyal. honest.

6. Tell us one thing about Finney we likely don't know. Feel free to embarrass her. ;)

She is a black belt...and a drunk hitter. great combination :)

Florida FUEL: Tradition of Excellence

2011-05-24T13:30:00.000-07:00

Pav skies the pack at Regionals 2011.

Part of the re-structuring of the USA Ultimate College Series was the creation of two new regions, one of which was the Southeast. Capturing the bid from Southeast sends a team that is not new to the College Championships: Florida. FUEL is captained this year by standout player Pav Birk and returning to the big show for the 3rd time in its team’s history.

Pav, a 3-year veteran to the sport, has led FUEL back to its first trip to the College Championships since 2007. “I started my sophomore year of college with no clue what ultimate frisbee was and I was AWFUL at throwing a disc,” she says. But she stuck with it until her first tournament: Classic City Classic in 2007. “I didn’t know what to expect at an ultimate tournament, but I was blown away. First of all, playing that many games over a weekend was insane to me, but besides that, the intensity of game time situations got me hooked! I had no idea what I was getting myself in to, but the FUEL girls did whatever they could to help me with whatever questions I had and I really owe it to them for making me stay around and fall in love with ultimate.

The team, represents the newly created Southeast Region, which is comprised of teams from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Along with restructuring, the team has developed into a program, fielding a B team for the past two season. Pav details, “The program has developed a lot in the past few years. Last year we recruited enough ladies to start a B team and this year we’ve been able to see the benefits of having a second team.”

Jackie Fane laying out for a score

The addition of a second team has helped FUEL to change its identity on the field as well. “I feel as though our team has also started to develop our own style of playing that is catered to the types of players on our team, which has really helped our flow and team chemistry,” explains Pav.

Florida’s open team has been receiving much attention, but the thriving Gainesville scene has helped to foster development of the women’s team tremendously as well, starting at the lowest levels of competition to introduce players to the sport, all the way through competitive club women’s. Pav describes, “There’s a lot [of ultimate] going on in Gainesville. Outside of college, there is lots of pickup at differing levels. A step up from that would be mens and co-ed intramural ultimate at UF, and then after that we have regular league seasons. Within the last year or two, past and current college/club players have organized regular goaltimate games throughout the week. Every year we usually have an open (Vicious Cycle) and womens (LaYuma) club team that offers great experience in between college seasons and give us an opportunity to improve our game by playing with some amazing club players.” FUEL has reaped these benefits fully, building the program’s strength back up.

FUEL has the opportunity to play year-round, with Gainesville’s great weather. “Weather isn’t too much of a problem, except that when it comes to the series it gets really hot and humid around here and the rain storms prevent practices every now and then (but that can happen anywhere),” says Pav. “So rather than being hindered but extreme cold weather in the fall, we have to deal with extremely hot practices.”

Katelyn Cobelens gets horizontal.

The temperate climate helped to prepare FUEL’s trip to San Diego to attend Pres Day, early on in the 2011 College Regular Season. “As a captain, I was extremely proud of how we did. Before heading to San Diego, we had no clue what to expect,” she starts. “We were seeded fourth in our pool and ended day one 2nd in our pool, which was an amazing feeling.”

FUEL out-performed Sonoma State, Arizona, and USC in Pool A, which meant that they moved up into the power pools. “Day 2 meant we had to push even harder. With the exception of our Carleton College game, every one of the games that we played [on the second day] were battles. Even though we didn’t end up winners, I had never seen FUEL play and fight so hard and I couldn’t be happier.”

Of the tournament, Pav says, “We were seeded 16th and broke seed to end up eleventh.” Seeing great out-of-region competition early on helped to shape their focus going into the rest of the regular season and the Series. FUEL used this as an opportunity to work on new strategies and implement these tactics into their game plan. “More than anything, this tournament proved to ourselves that we are able play a higher level of ultimate and gave us more confidence to take with us throughout our season and on into Natties.”

Something else unique about FUEL, is its strong emphasis on tradition. FUEL is an accomplished program, and the 2010-2011 team approached the season with the goal to restore qualifying for nationals back into its culture. “All of us on the team has had a goal to make it back to Natties and be the team it was back in the day,” explains Pav. There to guide the team is its rich alumni support network in Gainesville to help prepare the team for the strong competition at the College Championships. “We are lucky enough to have many of the previous national qualifiers in Gainesville to help pump us up and even kick our asses in scrimmages.”

Furthermore, the alumni help keep traditions alive by passing on stories and other symbolic relics to the current members of FUEL. “[The alumni] share stories about the history of FUEL and we do our best to maintain it. For example, we have an MVP necklace that was started a few years ago that we award to a specific player every tournament. Things like this carry on a team and makes previous player feel as if they are just as much a part of the team today as us players do, and I love all the support!”

Jenna Dahl throwing through the mark

Nationals Outlook

Florida comes with the sole bid out of the Southeast Region. Pav highlights, “We ended up first at regionals with pretty dominant games.” Florida won its games handily, with the exception of a Pool Play match up vs. the Georgia Hodawgs. She notes, “I think the most noteworthy part of the weekend was game one on Saturday. FUEL was down against GA 10-5. GA was on their game and FUEL came out flat, but after some serious pep-talking and focus we had a seven point streak to win 12-10. It was a wake-up call to say the least, but an impressive comeback at the same time.”

One of the challenges at regionals the team had to overcome was the numerous player absences during graduation weekend. “With many seniors on our team, we had some players missing, but we weren’t worried because the depth of our team meant that we could afford to miss a few key plays and still hold on to the title,” Pav explains.

Florida is in Pool B, seeded 18^th overall, with Oregon, North Carolina, Ottawa and Carleton. The pool allows Florida to re-match Carleton and Oregon, who FUEL lost to at Pres Day.

As far as the focus going into nationals, the team is working on maintaining their chemistry. “I don’t think there will be any major adjustments other than regular adjustments as the games go along, but overall we are going to play our game.” Now that graduation and finals are over, the team has been focusing on maintaining team chemistry.

Florida is a team that fights tooth-and-nail until the end. “Nationals has been a goal for a majority of our team for a number of years now, and now that we have earned a spot there, we are going to leave it all on the field and give it all we have.”

FUEL: South East Regional Champs 2011.

The Defending Champs: Oregon Fugue

2011-05-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

There are talented teams. And then there are talented teams who have Lou Burruss as their coach. Thankfully, there is only one competing at college nationals. An already stacked Fugue team has a ton of athleticism and skill, and they also happen to have one of the best coaches in the game.

Fugue, the defending champs of the Women's Division College Championships, has had a history of strong season performances. The team finished 3rd in 2009 and 2nd 1998, qualifying ten times in 1988, 1989, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The last four seasons have been with Burruss as their coach.

Lou Burruss, who has been playing and coaching ultimate since 1990, has been coaching in the college women’s nationals scene since 1997. He has led eight teams to nationals in eight seasons of coaching, and has been with Fugue since 2008. It’s safe to say he knows how to help a team realize its strengths and weaknesses, and put the plan into action.

Part of this is the knowledge of approaching each season as a different one than the last. “The challenge of coaching college is that every team is brand new, unlike club ultimate where there is a lot more continuity. A big part of what you are doing is to try to develop individual players into a successful and valued role on the team and develop the team identity to a point where things click,” explains Burruss.

When it comes to applying this concept in the college women’s game, no one understands this better than Fugue. Defending the title from the 2010 College Championships, the team has set out to create a different identity from last year’s team. “We set out to distinguish ourselves from last year's team in our own minds, so we don't think about it [the title] much. I don't think other teams are [thinking about it] either. If we were 35-2 or so, it might be different, but we're 28-7,” says Burruss. The approach to the season must be different each and every season, to deal with the difference in team strengths and weaknesses.

Fugue has been preparing for nationals all season long. Burruss gives an insight to what Fugue’s players do all season long. “We do the traditional 3 practices and a track/agility. Additionally, I push the players to get in the weight room and I think about 75% of them are taking a weights class that puts them in the weight room three days a week. I also give throwing assignments to particular players to work on outside of practice.” Though the team works hard, Lou tries to encourage individuals to work hard because they WANT to. “We are a varsity sport and we don’t have those expectations or identity of coach-player relationship, so I always try to set things up to say - if you want to get better you need to do 'this' or 'that.' Then the player can decide for herself how much she wants to put in,” he explains.

Using this system, Fugue has run into very few personnel problems with conflicting individual and team goals. “We run on a philosophy of individual integrity and individual weirdness, so we have fewer conflicts than a team that uses a more my-way-or-highway approach. I also try to find roles for players that are compatible with their individual styles/personalities/goals so that there is less likely to be a conflict. When it does happen (which is very rare) it means a long conversation or series of conversations to get myself, the player and the team all on the same page,” describes Burruss.

Nationals Outlook
Fugue has locked down the 2nd seed behind UC-Santa Barbara. Fugue also returns 2010 Callahan finalist, Julia Sherwood, standout Bailey Zahniser, 2011 Callahan Nominee Katy Craley and speedster Christina Wickman, as well as adding talented freshman Sophie Darch to the lineup.

When Fugue is healthy, they are one of the toughest, most athletic teams in the game; however, this has not been the case in 2011. Fugue has been plagued by a ridiculous number of injuries in the regular season this year. “It's been rough. In the 20+ seasons I've played and coached, this has been far and away the worst. In ‘08 we lost three women to knees, but two were at regionals and that was the total injury situation. Usually, I figure you'll lose 1 for the season and 2 or 3 little injuries at a time, but we haven't had less than 4 at any point during the season,” describes Burruss. This culminated at Women’s Centex in the end of March where Fugue had as many players in the game as they did restricted to the sidelines due to injuries.

This has caused Fugue to make some adjustments to get the team running as a championship contending team. “The mental adjustment has been to take a 'dirt road' mentality which is one of nose-down struggle and emotion. Hard work over beauty. Everything twice as hard as it needs to be, because it is,” says Burruss.

Fugue has had a roller-coaster of a season. Winning Pres Day. Finishing and taking 2nd at Stanford Invite. Finishing 8th at Women’s College Centex. Taking 2nd at Northwest D1 Conference Championship. Finishing off with a huge win in the Northwest Regional Championship over talented Washington and UBC squads.

Though the team is around Eugene and in school into June, the team is tapering into nationals. Going into Boulder, the team will have a smaller roster than they did in ’10, but will have about eighteen or so healthy players, according to Lou.

When it comes to X’s and O’s, expect Fugue to run quick transitions on O and D, challenging teams deep in every offensive possession (especially on turnovers) and coming up with big defensive plays: typical Fugue ultimate. The team also does a particularly good job of taking advantage of mis-matches on the turn.

Will Fugue walk away from the 2011 College Championships with a back-to-back title? We’ll see in a couple of weeks in Boulder.

Callahan Profile: Leila Tunnell (North Carolina)

2011-05-24T04:08:00.000-07:00

Everyone who knows Leila Tunnell knows how special she is- skilled ultimate player, gifted leader, incredibly talented person, and amazing friend. I could go on for days about how much Leila has inspired me during the time that I have known her, but in this feature, I ask Leila some questions, then turn things over to her co-captain Lindsay Lang to tell us more about North Carolina's Callahan nominee.

1. Describe your role on Pleiades this season. My role on Pleiades has been a little different this year than in the previous seasons. It has definitely been a different experience playing college ultimate and doing grad school at the same time and I have found that for the first time in a while my primary focus has not been Frisbee (I’m sure that statement would seem completely ludicrous to any non-ultimate players). The team has still been extremely important to me this year, but I’ve found that I have been more of an on-field leader and done significantly less of the administrative and organizational aspects of the captain job this year. Also, as a result of having three very qualified coaches that I really respect and trust for Pleiades this season I have been able to just play and not worry at all about strategy or team management. It has been really wonderful to feel like just a player this year. I just do what my coaches tell me and fill the role I need to fill offensively or defensively and have complete confidence that it will work out. It has been so wonderful knowing that I can trust my coaches and teammates so much to always get the job done and do what is best. 2. O or D?
Because my throws are one of my primary strengths I have always thought of myself as an offensive player, but this past season has been the first time that I have really tried to switch my focus to defense. I have worked really hard this past year to get in good shape so that I can be a more active and aggressive player outside of just my throws and it has had a big effect on the way I play O and D. I guess it is pretty logical, but I find that the better shape I get in the more I enjoy and look forward to playing defense and it has been really fun for me to explore a different aspect of my game this year. I imagine that I will always primarily be an offensive player, but it is nice to discover that I am not only an offensive player.

3. What is one of your favorite ultimate memories?
A lot of my favorite ultimate memories have taken place since I have played for Pleiades. Pleiades is such a fantastic and supportive community of friends and that environment makes most tournaments and practices really memorable. However, probably my favorite memory was making Nationals for the first time with Pleiades my junior year when I transferred to UNC. I loved my teammates at Connecticut College, but it was so exciting to play for a nationally competitive program of such talented and motivated players.

4. If you had to pick an animal to describe yourself, what would it be and why?
This is a tough question. I really want to pick some badass, awesome animal like a leopard or a dragon but neither of those are at all appropriate. What is an animal that is really sleepy all the time and looks kind of scary but is really pretty harmless? Maybe a non-aggressive bear? Yes. I think a bear because I would be so happy if there was an entire season of the year that I could sleep in a cave with no sunlight. 5. What does the Callahan award mean to you? I think the Callahan award is a fantastic system for valuing and honoring sportsmanship in ultimate. It is so great that the greatest honor a college athlete in our sport can receive is for their positive contribution to the development of our sport rather than recognition for their athleticism or skill alone. Fortunately, there are so many positively contributing members of our sport that it is very hard to narrow the award down to one deserving candidate.

And now some questions for Lang...

1. How has Leila changed UNC women's ultimate during her time on the team? Leila came onto the team 2008, the same year as I did- she as a junior transfer and I as a freshman. We have gone to nationals every year since, and I think a large part of our team’s success is due to Leila’s leadership. Her presence, from her incredible experience to her innovative ideas for practice, has certainly bolstered our program’s burgeoning strength.
2. Give us a few fun facts about Leila: Things you probably know about Leila: #18 has a full-field backhand, she throws like her mark doesn’t exist, and she skies everyone in her vicinity
Things you probably don’t know about Leila: She has a beautiful voice (listen for her singing the national anthem with Kaitlin), she often falls down on the field (with unintentionally hilarious results), and her high school team adores her so much that their favorite cheer involves some combination of the words “Leila” and “love.”
3. How has Leila impacted your ultimate experience? Ever since I began playing for Pleiades, Leila has been a tremendous role model, teammate, and friend. On the field, she garners respect from her opponents with her determined defense, unparalleled field vision, and offensive mastery. Off the field, she inspires me with her contributions to the sport of ultimate: she has not only been a beloved counselor at NUTC for many years, but also a dedicated coach to Jordan high school and the North Carolina YCC Girls’ team, Queen Anne’s Revenge. Leila also co-founded and captained the nationally competitive club women’s team Phoenix in its first year in 2010.
4. Give us 5 words describing Leila. encouraging, calm, visionary, positive, smart. bonus: sleepy bear

In the eyes of my team, I know Leila will always be Pleiades’ Callahan winner. Her talent and spirit are obvious on the field, and her love for the game is obvious in her life.

Callahan Profile: An-Chi Tsou (California)

2011-05-24T00:37:00.000-07:00

My first love in college ultimate was the Pie Queens and though I am now years removed from the team, they will always have a special place in my heart. I have had the misfortune of missing playing with this year's Callahan nominee An-Chi Tsou on both the Pie Queens and Slackjaw by one year, but have had the privilege of both watching An-Chi play and getting to know her over the past few seasons. An-Chi is a passionate player and someone who leaves everything she has on the field. Her on-field abilities are undeniable and she is also the heart and soul of a Cal team that plays some very inspired ultimate. In this player profile, we ask An-Chi to answer some questions and then we go to her co-captain Palak Shah to give us some more insight. The Queens will be a fun team to watch in Boulder, and An-Chi will be at the center of it all. Look for her to put on a show. PQ4L.

First, we ask An-Chi some questions...

1. Describe your playing history.
I started playing ultimate in pickup games back with the locals around my undergrad (Smith College) and overseas in China and England. I’m now in my fifth season with the Berkeley Pie Queens, which has been a fantastic experience. In between college seasons I played with Brass Monkey during their last year together and then had a season with Slackjaw. In my most recent club season I was one of the captains of the Polar Bears who ended up winning the mixed club championships in Sarasota last season.

2. What is your role on the Queens this year?
I’ve played both the handler and cutter positions this year, depending on our opponent and where our coaches have thought I would have the most impact. Off the field, I’ve been working hard to help make sure that our team stays focused, takes care of themselves, and continue to have the Pie Queen spirit with fun and flair.

3. Describe your game in 5 words.
Heart, aggressive, passion, defense, rawr.

4. What is your biggest strength on the field? As a leader?
I think my biggest strength on the field is the ability to get open and put up big throws that my teammates can run down. As a leader I try to get people psyched up to play in the huddle with inspirational speeches, but where I think I excel is leading by example. I try to inspire my team to play and work hard by working my hardest on and off the field. I put 100% effort into making the plays and doing the training that can help us reach our goals.

5. What has your impact on college women's ultimate been? Don't be modest!
Some would say that I have started a fashion trend by wearing my headgear and mouthguard! If so, I hope it’s been helping people understand that it is really important to take care of one’s body, especially one’s brain. We’ll all need them long after our bodies give up on us from beating them up over the years on the field.

6. What's it like to be a National Champion?
Last year’s championship is something that I will always be proud of. It is an amazing feeling to know that the work that we put in last club season really paid off. It has been a great example in my life of how hard work, dedication, loyalty and sacrifice can lead to team success. It’s given me more confidence in our approach to the game, but it’s also important to remember that each season everyone starts with a 0-0 record.

And now some questions for Palak...
1. Describe An-Chi as a teammate. How has An-Chi shaped the Berkeley women's ultimate program over the past few years?
An-Chi is a born leader and has captained the Queens for the past three spring seasons. She brings an intensity and fire that is seldom matched. I think most people would agree that playing against An-Chi is truly intimidating. The rest of us work so hard on the field because An-Chi shows us how. She leads by example. She is very receptive to what does and does not work for the Queens, and establishes clear, concise goals for us to work on during practices and games. Don't be fooled by the headgear though - An-Chi is a true inspiration because she's able to couple her sassy no-nonsense attitude with appropriate silliness and fun, a crucial aspect of Pie Queen ultimate, and a huge contributor to our success.

2. Describe a memory from this season that defines An-Chi in your mind.
At the Stanford Invite this year, we played Stanford in a showcase game in their football stadium. Partially through the game, An-Chi runs onto the field into our huddle, fresh (well... "fresh") off a plane and a harried car ride from the airport to join us. She was physically and mentally exhausted, but found a way to give us a big smile and tell us that we were going to tear it up. An-Chi has a way of pumping the Queens up with her presence, and we were able to come back from a 6-9 deficit to win the game 14-12.

3. You've been playing ultimate for a long time. What makes An-Chi stand out as a teammate, player, and leader?
An-Chi is able to do something that all captains and coaches aspire to do: light a fire in our bellies. From my own experience, I know how difficult it is to motivate a team that's down, to help a group regain focus and battle, even when it feels like we've already lost. But An-Chi is able to do that; she helps our team play with confidence and swagger.

4. Anything else you want to say about An-Chi?
B***** is fierce. Don't mess.

What do others have to say about An-Chi?

Leaders I respect the most are ones that lead by example. An-Chi is a match-up nightmare for any team we played, she cut open with ease and was a terror on defense. One of my favorite receivers to throw to, cause she has speed that very few women can match and also once she got the disc she was just as dangerous. These few reasons are what make it so easy and inspiring to play on a team for An-Chi, and also honored and excited to line up along side of her.
- Lucas Dallmann, Polar Bears #35

An-chi Tsou. She is an inspirational leader. She is a fierce competitor. She is a tireless teammate. She is one of the most passionate slices of pie on the UC Berkeley Pie Queens. I have had the amazing privilege of sharing a jersey and a field with this woman for the past three years and I truly believe she deserves Callahan recognition. As a captain she leads by example - playing with a sort of graceful ferocity. On both defense and offense, she is a force to be reckoned with, in her bright blue headgear she continually runs the show. Not only does An-chi dominate on the field, she has also dedicated countless hours to the UCB ultimate program. Her enthusiasm for the sport is contagious (she certainly has me hooked) and her impact on the program and its players is undoubtedly far-reaching. An-chi Tsou is an amazing athlete. She is a generous and caring friend. She is, most definitely, a Pie Queen for life.
- Claire Desmond, California #51

North Carolina-Wilmington Seaweed: Athletic Team from the AC

2011-05-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Kelly Tidwell on the mark.

As I sit and go over the responses that the Seaweed have given to me, they are concise, to the point, without a lot of extra wordiness. I find it quite similar to their to their play. They don’t use fancy play calls or have elaborate, crazy set-ups. They don’t win with trickery and propaganda. They let their play do the talking. Co-captains Jessica Patrick and Claire Chastain explain exactly what the Seaweed focused on going into the 2011 season.

This team has taken the ultimate scene by storm with their roster that is chalk-full of athletic talent. The Seaweed are able to fill personnel losses in their roster every year by taking advantage of their successful recruiting tactics. “Our main method of recruitment is word of mouth and the UNCW involvement fair at the beginning of each year. We set up a table and basically harass athletic looking girls until they come over and sign up,” they explain.

Taking these athletic recruits, the team wastes no time, and throws them into the ring right away. “Our method for developing rookie talent is to basically toss them right into the middle of everything,” say Chastain and Patrick. “Danny, our coach, always says that ‘in order to learn, you gotta play.’ We put them into scrimmages their first couple practices, and as they begin to understand the game more, there's a lot more focus on throwing and other fundamental skills.”

The focus then becomes working hard until they can’t work any harder; and then they work some more. “Returners realize the hard work needed to have a successful season, and we show that from day 1 at practice,” they emphasize. “We also realize that having fun outside of practice is really important too.....so it's inevitable that from the beginning of the season we get into the habit of working really hard at practice, and then hanging out a lot outside of practice. It starts out as crashing on someone's couch or getting lunch together, and turns into living with each other by your 2nd or 3rd year. The commitment we have to the sport and to each other seems to be a main driving factor in attracting new players.”

The captains of Seaweed find 2011 to be similar to last year, however the roster is much different. “This season is similar to last in terms of our win/loss record and the types of tournaments we attended, but it is different in terms of our rotation and type of players. Last year we had a rotation full of experienced players. This year we have a core group of vets and have worked to incorporate more players into the rotation who don't have as much experience. Our 1st and 2nd year players have worked so hard this year. Without them, we wouldn't be where we are today. A lot of them have stepped up in a huge way,” they highlight.

Nationals Outlook:
UNC-Wilmington comes into Nationals after winning a tough Atlantic Coast Region over North Carolina (AC 2) and Virginia (AC 3).

The captains note that the team sustained no major injuries at Regionals, but had “few girls who were not at 100% and were still coping with some injuries sustained at Sectionals.” Of those “Logan Shapiro, Mikayla Chiarello, Michelle Guadagno, and Ali Carson coincidently and unluckily sustained ankle and tendon injuries. They worked hard to get back to playing shape and were major contributors to Seaweed's success at Regionals.”

On the other hand, “Jessica "Patti" Patrick is currently working hard to recover from a torn hamstring that she re-injured at Sectionals, she was unable to play at Regionals.” Even with the injuries, Seaweed was able to go undefeated at Regionals with decisive point margins, beating Virginia in semi-finals 15-6 and North Carolina 15-3.

The team has taken this momentum in their post-season preparation for the College Championships by increasing the number of practices the team has, and playing a great deal of ultimate. The focus is on getting and staying healthy.

Wilmington goes into the College Championships seeded 3rd overall, earning the top-seed in Pool C. In order to advance straight into quarter-finals, the team will have to knock off TEAMS IN POOL C! Look for speedster Kelly Tidwell to team up with Claire Chastain for big throws, and Sara Casey and Jessica Patrick to pull down goals.

Sidenote: The Seaweed also wanted to give a shout out to their coaches Danny Wrenn and Nikki Zeldin. “They are two of the most dedicated and knowledgeable coaches in the sport of ultimate. They are a major part of our success as a team. They are also HILARIOUS!”

Michigan Flywheel: Great Plays, Great Lakes

2011-05-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Becky "B-Mu" Malinowski with the D

Throughout the season, Flywheel has been showing why their team is one to contend with. The team is able to successfully overcome the weather constraints of being in the snowy, cold state of Michigan, to put together a nationals-qualifying squad year-in and year-out. Co-captain AnnaMaria Paruk, or “AMP” as she goes by, details the way that Flywheel has carried the momentum from the team’s 9th place finish in 2010 to push to improve upon it in the 2011 season.

In the 2010 College Championships in Madison, WI, you may have took notice to Flywheel’s extremely small roster. “Last year, unfortunately, we only had 13 players at Nationals. Due to mid-season quitting and injuries, our roster was quite small for almost the entire season,” begins AMP. But this just served as extra motivation for those who showed commitment to the team. “[It] did, however, force the 13 of us to be in extremely good shape because we rarely had time to take breaks in tournaments; there was no 'resting'.”

Going into the 2011 season, Flywheel has been able to add to its athletic veteran group returning from 2010. “This year we got lucky with a great incoming class of athletes and grad students. We now have a roster of 19 with 8 handlers as opposed to 4, 3 grad students as opposed to 1, and 5 huckers as opposed to 3. However, everyone is still in really good shape because we still depend on the entire team to get the job done,” explains AMP.

Flywheel can make even the toughest plays look easy.

One added challenge was thrown at Flywheel in the 2010-2011 season: Uncertainty of coaching staff. Unsure of whether or not the team would be able to secure a new coach, the captains had to take a different approach. AMP says, “This season we transitioned into a more player run team. In the past we have had amazing coaches who took us on and made us into a great team. This year, we were unsure of our coaching situation so the players had to step up big time. However, we did end up with two amazing coaches again but the characteristic of a player-run team stayed."

A huge way that the team has added depth in 2011 is the focus on recruiting athletic rookies and maintain their interest. “Our recruiting practice is to get as many athletic girls and train them into Ultimate players. We have sign ups throughout campus in the beginning of the school year to attract players but we also post signs throughout dorms and gyms,” explains AMP. Though the emphasis is getting new players at the start of a new academic year, the team continues this push throughout the entire season, and it has paid off. “Recruiting cannot be just done in the fall. If you want a good incoming class, you need to promote your team throughout the year to get people interested in joining your team. We do this by throwing in public places and advertising our achievements."

AMP might be short, but she can sky the pack.

Another struggle the team faces is loss of personnel in the middle of the season or between semesters. “We try to discourage it by creating a friendship vibe so people do not want to leave their friends. A lot of people complain about the time needed for Ultimate and both school; to combat this problem we have Flywheel study sessions at the library so people are making sure to get both done while still having fun.”

This season showcases an extremely fit, athletic team, perhaps the most athletic top-to-bottom in the college women’s game in 2011. AMP explains the team approaches workouts. "This season we continued with Cross Fit workouts. We started this last year and I can say that is definitely the reason we were able to play with 13 players at each tournament, including Nationals. We go to a gym that is unaffiliated with the University so we are trained by professionals making sure we get all of the movements and workouts correct. Additionally, the workouts are tailored to Ultimate so our workouts are very productive and effective. In April we stop these gym workouts and move towards speed and agility to make sure we are still explosive and fast. These skills build on form the base that the Cross Fit workouts give us."

Undoubtedly, the team has reaped the benefits of this training approach. See that the team is explosive and able to play a fast-paced game. For teams looking to improve athletic performance, “I would really look into going to a Cross Fit gym. While you can do Cross Fit workouts on your own, it is a lot easier to go to a gym where a trained professional is coming up with the workouts and perfecting your form,” suggests AMP. But understanding cost and facility constraint, she also recommends that teams “focus on gaining strength in the beginning part of the season (Jan, Feb, Mar) then move towards speed workouts (April, May) so the skills are balanced.”

For teams looking to increase commitment to workouts, Flywheel has found incredible success with team accountability. “We create a document listing everyone's workouts per day during school breaks. This encourages the rest of the team to workout when they see one player doing sprint workouts and weight lifting after eating Thanksgiving dinner or thousands of Christmas cookies. Keeping a competitive vibe (not too competitive though) encourages everyone to get in/stay in great shape throughout the season,” highlights AMP.

To develop skills to match the team’s athleticism, AMP notes, “We encourage throwing a LOT. Throwing outside of practice really helps with your throws (obviously) but also your catching. In practice we will do punishments (like sprints, pushups, or burpees) for drops in certain drills to hone in on our catching principles and concentration. We will also do drills where crazy, swilly throws are put up so everyone has a chance of reading the disc and coming down with interesting things.”

Flywheel is explosive with their under cuts.

This focus on offensive skills has helped the team to develop an explosive, quick-paced offensive strategy. “I would describe our team as an athletic team with defensive perseverance and quick offensive movement. However, I think the offense has gotten better throughout my years here while the defense intensity has picked up. Teams across the nation are getting more competitive so it is forcing our team to get better at certain skills.”

Nationals Outlook:
Flywheel is coming off of a dominant Great Lakes Regional performance; however, the conditions were not necessarily ideal. “Regionals went quite well for Flywheel. The wind was really strong but we were able to score in both upwind/downwind scenarios as well as crosswind. I was extremely pleased at our showing despite certain elements. We knew the finals was going to be tough against Northwestern,” highlights AMP.

Since Regionals, practices have been going well for Flywheel. The team is taking advantage of its early end of the academic calendar (about 2 weeks earlier than most schools on the semester system), and focusing on ultimate.

Kim Culpan gets up for the score.

The team carries it’s injury-free season into the College Championships, with no personnel losses. As such, the team is prepping for Boulder with “many hill workouts and sprint workouts. Other than that, we are just making sure we don't overdo our training so our legs aren't too heavy come Nationals,” notes AMP.

“I think everyone can expect Flywheel to come out with intensity,” says AMP. “This year the women's division is so close it is really anyone's game. Flywheel greatly believes in this principal so we are going to come out with intensity for each game. However, I can expect that out of every team. For it is, after all, Nationals.”

Going into nationals, Flywheel finds itself in Pool A behind UC-Santa Barbara as the 8th Overall Seed. The UCSB/Michigan match up at nationals will be a good game to watch, and this author highly recommends you try to catch that game if you have the chance. The match up between the Burning Skirts and Flywheel will be one not to miss.

Northwestern GungHo: Working Together with Heart and Spirit

2011-05-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

Lexy Roy in the air for the Hos.

One of the common themes of the teams in the Women’s Division this year is the way that these teams rebuilt to restore their powerhouse status. I think that it cannot be overstressed the amount of commitment that women’s division teams have to building strength for the longevity of their programs. This story, illustrates how Northwestern’s women’s team, GungHo, restored their team’s nationally recognized reputation.

When co-captain (and 2011 Callahan Nominee) Sara Miller joined the team in fall 2007, she walked onto a team that was just beginning the process. “Northwestern had just finished 5^th at Nationals the season before, and graduated a ton of very talented players,” begins Miller. “I remember flying to play in Trouble in Vegas with a team where the number of rookies outnumbered the vets. Needless to say, our rookie class received a lot of playing time that season, which most likely helped set up a strong foundation for the next few years.”

Shortly after during fall 2008, co-captain Lien Hoffmann (2010 Callahan Nominee) joined the team. Hoffmann says, “[I was] entirely clueless to the world of college ultimate, but I kept playing for GungHo because my new teammates were too cool.” It wasn’t the competitive level that drew her to the team, but the new friends she found. “When the series came around, nationals was a goal, yes, but we didn’t have the necessary drive and skill to make it. We didn’t deserve it yet.”

However, over the past few seasons, the college ultimate scene has been able to watch Gung Ho develop and mature into a force, without losing the unique attitude and character of the team. “GungHo has exploded both in terms of numbers and skill level, while maintaining our goofy and fun loving personality,” highlights Miller.

One of the many ways that the team facilitated this process was by adding a talented, experienced coach into the mix. Miller notes, “Two years ago we added Ron Kubalanza to our coaching staff, who had previously coached Washington Element and Western Washington. Last year, he stripped the team down, and taught us the fundamentals of the game from scratch. We became a much more polished team, but still lacked big game experience against national-caliber teams.”

GungHo off the line at Centex 2011.

The team truly demonstrated their commitment to their team name, which means “working together with heart and spirit,” explains Miller. “It describes our close-knit team and our love for this sport.” The result was channeling this drive and newfound knowledge of the game into a national-qualifying team for the first time since 2007, and 5^th time in the team’s history.

This momentum carried into the 2010-2011 season. “We were able to pick up were we left off the previous spring with an already strong set of fundamental skills. With a big returning class, and added club experience from the summer, we’ve been able to dive into competitive tournaments and gain that big game experience we lacked last year,” notes Miller.

GungHo has taken its strong returning core and helped to get the new players up to speed with the game early on in the season. Miller highlights, “In the fall, we focus on teaching the rookies the game, and getting back in the groove on the field. Once winter hits, we increase the intensity and go to work indoors, with added workouts outside of practice. We learn new concepts and strategies, and fine tune technical skills. In the spring, we scrimmage a ton, often inviting other college and club teams and friends in the area to practice. We use our performances at tournaments throughout the year to pinpoint our weaknesses, and improve upon them.”

Katie "K-Ray" Raynolds with the layout snag.

Hoffmann echoes the sentiment, and notes that the added experience has allowed for them to be challenged even further in practices. “This year, and most prominently, this spring, our coaches have been taking it upon themselves to get physically involved with practice. This means playing against us and applying different types of pressure we would not regularly see by only scrimmaging ourselves,” Hoffmann says.

Nationals Outlook

The post season posed some challenges to GungHo, and the team dropped a few games they were expected to win. “I think we were humbled a bit after dropping two games at the Conference Championships in ugly weather, but we weren’t going to lose our bid to nationals. GungHo worked hard during the regular season, and pushed through in tight games in order to earn a second bid for the Great Lakes Region,” details Miller. The team took these losses as a challenge to step up their game. She continues, “Although we saw windy conditions again at Regionals, we were able to work the disc upwind just fine.”

Hoffmann adds, “Our game against Michigan is the most intense level of playing we’ve seen in awhile. It will be exciting to rematch them in pool play in a few weeks.”

Their performance throughout the season and post-season has earned Northwestern the 13^th seed in a very talented field of teams. GungHo will be playing UC-Santa Barbara, Michigan, Tufts, and Iowa State in Pool A, in the team’s sixth trip to the College Championships.

According to Hoffmann, when it comes to the game plan, look for GungHo to be “shaking some things up and creating upsets.” They plan to use their academic schedule to their advantage. While many schools are done for the semester, Northwestern is still in the middle of a quarter. As a result, “Our whole team is around to keep practicing right up until Nationals. We’ve just been polishing, polishing, polishing. Ironing out the last few wrinkles so to speak.”

GungHo also has been fortunate enough to return personnel to their roster coming into the College Championships. Miller says, “We had no injuries at Regionals, in fact the opposite—many of our teammates that have been benched due to injuries have returned to the field recently. It’s great to have them back!” This will be especially important as the squad can use their large roster to their advantage to combat the altitude in Boulder. “We know the altitude and thin air will likely be a factor in Colorado. All we can do is maintain our fitness and take care of our bodies until then!”

GungHo gets goofy.

Callahan Profile: Samantha Huo (Washington University)

2011-05-21T22:26:00.000-07:00

I have worked with Sam Huo extensively over the past few years and can say with confidence that no other college player in the country has pushed her team to be as selfless as Sam has. Sam has poured hours into bettering women's ultimate in the Midwest and sets the bar incredibly high for her team as well. During Sam's two years as a captain, Wash U has spent thousands of dollars flying in guest coaches for other teams in their section and region, has invested time and money into running clinics at the multiple tournaments they've run, and has even donated money to programs in other regions to help them get new tournaments off the ground. Sam's vision for and dedication to the college division is exemplary. Sam has been the catalyst of much of this. Sam's skills on the field speak for themselves (and are incredibly impressive), but her impact on college women's ultimate cannot be overstated. In this feature, we talk with Sam and then as ask her frisbee mentor and coach Abby Stephens some questions.

First, some questions for Sam...

1. When did you start playing ultimate?
I started playing my freshman year after signing up for club ultimate at the activities fair. I’d been a competitive tennis player before college but wasn’t interested in playing varsity or club, so I was looking for a new sport to try. For awhile I wasn’t particularly interested in ultimate and just enjoyed running around a few times a week, but after going to my first tournament I was hooked and haven’t missed one since.

2. Describe your game in 5 words.
Efficient, risky, versatile, aggressive, strategic.

3. What is your biggest strength as a leader? On the field?
I think my greatest strength as a leader for WUWU is my ability to motivate my teammates through my playing. Motivational speeches and cheering aren’t really my thing, so I try to approach leadership in a different way. I work to have an extensive knowledge of the game and put a lot of energy into strategy and teaching, but I believe true leaders inspire through action. I’m personally always driven to play harder for my team when I see one of my teammates absolutely exhausted, but somehow still able to find that extra fire within themselves to keep cutting hard on O and fighting for that critical D. I aspire to do the same as a player and captain on WUWU.

4. You've brought the Wash U program a long way. Describe your vision for your team and for women's ultimate.
College ultimate has been one of the most gratifying experiences I’ve ever had. I have grown immensely as a person through the sport and now have the privilege of being friends with some of the most upstanding and truly selfless people I have ever met. The women’s division is still young though, and many schools and teams around the country are still in the formative stages. Through my experience with WUWU, I’ve become truly convinced that change starts with the efforts of individuals, who together, can make the sport more competitive and promote its spread and growth. This was one of the key visions behind Midwest Throwdown and the Roundup Division - we attempted to bring knowledge from the coasts to the underdeveloped Midwest, to teams who could then implement that knowledge back at home. I really have to
credit Michelle Ng with the ingenuity of it all. This was a larger, more organized effort, but we can all increase the legitimacy and competitiveness of our sport through smaller actions: by playing hard on the field, acting with integrity on and off of it, recruiting new players, teaching rookies, and so on. I believe vast strides have already been made in only the past few years, and I know there are teams out there benefiting already - my own being a prime example.

5. Talk about the people who have shaped your ultimate career and the way you think about the game.
After my first year of ultimate, I was still totally clueless. I reminisce with some of the alums now and talk about the countless times I would turn over the dump after running down a huck just outside of the endzone. Fortunately Abby, my captain at the time, saw hope in me and we spent a ridiculous amount of time that summer playing ultimate, throwing, and talking strategy - at one point we attempted to calculate just how many hours we’d spent on ultimate in one week...we totaled 26. Abby has really fueled my ultimate obsession ever since then, and more importantly, shaped the way I think about the game and my own leadership. When problems arise, her passion and infectious energy for this program and sport remind me of why it’s all worth the hard work in the end. What really inspires me about Abby though, in ultimate and in life, is how selfless she is. Both she and Chung Lee, our coach my sophomore year, never cease to amaze me in how much they think about how to improve WUWU and sacrifice for our team (even though Chung no longer coaches us). I strive to give back to the
team and this sport as much as they have.

And now some questions for Abby...

1. As someone who's done a ton for women's ultimate in the Midwest, what makes Sam stand out in your mind as a leader and advocate for women's ultimate?

Coming from an athletic but non-Ultimate background, as Sam fell in love with Ultimate she quickly realized the potential for growth of the sport and the college women's division. When Michelle Ng approached WUWU in 2009 about running Midwest Throwdown, Sam quickly volunteered to help make the tournament run smoothly and provide much-needed playing opportunities in the Midwest. Since then under Sam's leadership, WUWU has hosted three more tournaments, two skills clinics, and a round-up division. The fall tournament Midwest Warm-Up was run purely as a fundraiser to fly in elite-level guest coaches for the upcoming round-up division, and some of the profit from other tournaments was donated to help other developing teams get off the ground. Instead of just saying she cares, Sam shows it with her time and resources and how she leads her team.

She is also applying her developing interest in sports medicine to work for better injury prevention in college Ultimate. Working with Jamie Nuwer, she has been collecting injury data from college teams nation-wide this spring, and next year they plan to implement a training program designed to decrease the number of players who have to be sidelined due to injuries.

Although Sam has been playing for less than four years, she's already given so much back to women's Ultimate, both to her teammates and her opponents. All she wants in return is to get to play the game she loves. To me, there's no better way to be an advocate of our sport.

2. Describe Sam's development as a player over the past four years.

A tennis player in high school, Sam came to Wash U wanting to try something new. She found Ultimate in the fall but didn't really get hooked until the spring. That summer the two of us played on St. Louis' mixed team One Trick Pony. It was probably the best summer of my life, as we played club, summer league, hat draws, 500, and threw in our front yards upwards of 20 hours per week, purely for the love of the game.

When she returned to college Ultimate as a sophomore, she was a dominant force and would have been an obvious all-region pick, had she not sustained an ACL tear. She spent the next two years enduring multiple surgeries and rehab, all the while coming to every practice and developing every throw she could, including a hammer, full-field pull, high release backhand huck, and game-ready push pass. As a captain from the sidelines for most of her junior year, she's now in peak playing form as a senior, determined to finish her college career memorably.

3. Talk a little bit about Sam's involvement in helping start a competitive women's club team in St. Louis.

After breaking into the club scene in the mixed division as a D-line deep cutter and then taking a season off because of her knee, Sam kept musing how fun it would be to unite all our past and present regional rivals and finally get the experience of playing an integral role on a cohesive competitive club women's team. With her insistence and with the help of several like-minded women in the area, Midwest Revoloution was formed in 2010, claiming 14th at Nationals in its inaugural year. She'll be moving to Boston in the fall and so isn't captaining this year, but the groundwork for elite women's Ultimate in St. Louis has been laid, and Revoloution is expected to shatter more expectations this coming season.

4. What has Sam's impact on WUWU been?

Sam is responsible for transforming WUWU from a team into a program. She had the vision and ambition to use WUWU's unexpected 2009 Nationals birth as motivation to the team to train in such a way as to expect repeat appearances -- which she also made a reality in 2010 and 2011. She's also worked hard the last two years to establish a B team, ensuring the future success of WUWU even after she graduates. WUWU has been a defining part of Sam's college experience, and she's been a highlight of our team's history.

5. Describe Sam as a teammate.

I've gotten to be Sam's coach, captain, co-captain, and player. As a player, she challenges herself to work harder than everyone else in every game, every practice, every sprint. She also seeks out advice, accepts it respectfully, and truly wants to improve however she can. As a leader, she is obviously the go-to person on the field, but she also quietly takes responsibility for the hours of thankless grunt work.

6. Give us 5 words to describe Sam.

Excited. Ambitious. Resilient. Oddly clumsy. Friend.

What do others have to say about Sam?
I've had the pleasure of seeing Sam grow from a decent rookie to an incredible captain (despite two ACL surgeries) and the even greater pleasure of being her teammate during the Club season. Her dedication to her own improvements, her team's successes, and the sport in general are inspiring, and I know competitive womens ultimate in this region has grown greatly in part due to her combined efforts with other leaders in the sport. She's a great athlete, she's smart and she has some of the sickest throws around--deadly combination.
- Tasha Parman, Midwest Revoloution #10

I could talk about Sam's sick lay-out D's, her unstoppable push pass, her uncanny field vision, the beauty of her backhand hucks, or the way she rips the disc from the air. But remarking on Sam's ultimate skills has gotten old-- I suppose I've just grown too accustomed to her dominance on the field. But what sets Sam apart, and why I admire her more than any other ultimate player, is the fact that she pours her entire being into her work... and loves doing so. Even when Sam was sidelined with an ACL injury, she was always present, and when she couldn't use her legs, she used her voice and her mind to encourage, to strategize, and most of all, to teach. Sam is the kind of leader that you want to follow: her competitive spirit, her endless sacrifice, her self-reflective passion, made me stick with the game that I eventually came to love. I am the player I am today because of Sam, WUWU is the team it is today because of Sam, and women's ultimate is the sport it is today because of leaders like Sam Huo.

- Kami Groom, Washington University #7

University of Iowa Saucy Nancy: Climb Back Up to the Top

2011-05-21T20:24:00.000-07:00

Bekah's not afraid to get dirty

The next team feature is one that is near and dear to my heart. It is a story that I have learned from my teammates this year, and it highlights the importance of perseverance and refusing to give into failure, even when all the odds are against you. The story of the University of Iowa’s team Saucy Nancy: the team who once competed with the top-level competition on the college nationals scene in the early 2000s, and fell far and a hard from the top of the Central Region. For most teams, this fall would have broken many programs, injuring the love of the game for its players. In three short years, the team went from barely existing to a title-contender.

Junior co-captain Alyx Averkamp recalls what the team was like in Fall 2008 when she began playing with the team. “ The team had about 18 people on it in the fall with three captains and no coach, with anywhere from 8-15 people showing up on any given day,” she says. Though most teams would be more than happy with that sort of attendance, the quality of those practices lacked significantly. “Our practices weren't very structured, especially because half the time the captains wouldn't show up and the girls who showed up most regularly only had at most, one year of experience.”

Senior co-captain Kristen Appelson echoes this lack of structure. “Saucy was a very fun team, but had little commitment from the players. I had the impression that it was more about drinking than playing ultimate sometimes. We often wouldn't even play out the tournament on Sunday after we lost. Despite this, my first year did get me hooked on the sport, especially because of the people who play it.” This ultimate community was the main tie that held Appelson to the game.

Timko with the sick pull

Though community is one of the most important aspect of the game, personal growth is equally as important. Many of us can relate to the growth we experience with our teammates on and off the field. But this growth was lacking on the Saucy team at this time. Averkamp elaborates on the frustration of many of the incoming players, “The work ethic of the team as a whole was very low - we didn't have workouts and many people would go to practice only occasionally. It was difficult being a rookie on a team with little discipline or direction, I went to practice much more regularly than many of the rookies but others followed the example set by the older girls and just went when they felt like it. I also didn't have the guidance to improve my skills nearly as fast as I've seen rookies improve theirs in the past two years, since the vets didn't have much experience for themselves. ”

Both players note that this happened until the team hit rock-bottom in Fall 2008. No Wisconsequences marked the lowest point in the team’s history. Appelson notes, “We fielded a team of maybe 12 girls, probably half of who never came to practice. The weekend was filled with frustrations, arguing amongst team members, and of course lots of losing. We had absolutely no team morale.” 2008 ended with the resignation of three captains, mid-season, and the near collapse of the team. One player stepped up to the challenge at hand: Megan Greenwood. Despite her lack of experience and knowledge of the game, she worked hard throughout her years at Iowa to resurrect the Saucy Nancy of years past.

Megan Greenwood.

Averkamp details, “Megan Greenwood really started rebuilding our team in the Fall of 2009. She was the main captain, along with Kristen (Appelson) and Andrea (Uhl), who also contributed a lot. Megan worked hard to learn as much about ultimate as she could in the short period of time she'd been playing. She also spent time planning practices beforehand and tried to convey to the team how important attendance was. We also took the time to hold team meetings where we'd discuss team goals so everybody would feel motivated to commit the time and effort that the majority of us felt passionate about putting in.” Greenwood worked hard to reach out to new players, develop their skills, and teach the game she was so eager to share with her teammates.

Appelson agrees. “Megan had a lot of things working against her: a very inexperienced team, lack of commitment, differing views on the direction of the team. She had to make a lot of difficult decisions, and in doing so made a lot of people unhappy. But in the end she definitely began the transition of Saucy Nancy to becoming a very serious competitor in women's ultimate.”

Though Greenwood played a large role, she did not do it alone, as Averkamp explains. “Kristen (Appelson) was also a big contributor by planning workouts; we hadn't worked out the year before, and 2009-2010 we really started to push ourselves to be athletes rather than just students on a club team.” Co-captain Andrea Uhl’s contributions should not be overlooked, as well. She played a huge role in building and maintaining positive relationships with the ultimate community in the Midwest, as well as a huge role in recruiting young, athletic talent. She has worked hard to build team morale, and played an active role in keeping the team afloat. Bringing the whole rebuilding process full-circle.

The team was able to bounce back to place 4th in the Central Region during the 2010 College Series, finishing behind Wisconsin, Carleton, and Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Katie Johnson skys the competition.

At the beginning of the 2010-2011 season, the captains recruited talented, and knowledgable coach, Mikey Lun. With his guidance, the team was able to take their play to the next level. Averkamp says, “He played the biggest role in pushing us over the edge from being a good team who can make 4th at regionals to being a great, national contender team. The knowledge and experience he's brought to our team has helped the vets learn new, better strategies - playing a larger variety of offenses/defenses and working better together as a team and has helped rookies improve their basic skills much faster. He's also brought a new workout regime that has seemed to be more effective and sport-specific.” Mikey was able to take on the responsibility of calling lines and in-game team adjustments, taking a significant amount of pressure off of the captains. New talented players were able to experience the type of personal growth that the captains could have only dreamed about during their rookie season.

Appelson adds, “The addition of Robyn Fennig has not only helped bring our team to the next level of competition on the field, but brought an incredible wealth of knowledge about the game and the world of ultimate." (Robyn's Blog is Here for more reading)

SaucyLove at Easterns.

This change in personnel and leadership reflected an attitude shift in the team. Averkamp explains that, “I think the biggest difference that isn't as clear up front is how much love there is in this team. There isn't drama over what we want our goals to be or how much work people are going to put in because we all set a big goal at the beginning. Our vets led by example by showing up to practice and working hard, and the rookies just knew from the beginning what they needed to put into the team. I personally, and I think all of my teammates, have been much more emotionally invested in the team and therefore have felt motivated over the year to commit myself as much as I possible can.” Averkamp has demonstrated this commitment stronger than anyone else on the team, working back from a broken leg, to playing in the Series 5 months later.

SaucyLove at Fools Fest.

Success does not come without sacrifice. The team has had to increase the personal and financial commitment to the team. The captains describe the increase in time commitment to include 3 practices per week, with required workouts (lifting, sprints, and agility) to supplement practice time. Two often overlooked challenges, Appelson says, “We no longer drink at tournaments as well. While our team was transitioning, we had to sacrifice losing those girls who could not be as committed as we need them to be.”

The hard work and effort has resulted in a team with more confidence in their abilities than ever before. “The past two years nationals was some far off dream, and scoring one point on Wisconsin was a huge accomplishment. I remember last year we went into our game against them at No Wisco with one of the older girls saying ‘this game probably isn't going to go well... just take it as a learning experience’ and this year we've gone into every single game believing that we could win,” details Averkamp.

Michelle Cartier with a D.

Nationals Outlook Saucy Nancy comes into the College Championships with a North Central Conference title. The game of the weekend was their first match-up vs. Wisconsin in pool play on Saturday. The team battled a strong opponent in addition to 40+ mph winds. “We had to overcome a lot by scoring the first upwind goal of the game on hey also note that the team is concentrating on making adjustments both offensively and defensively, to peak at the ideal time: in Boulder.

Appelson adds, “It was probably one of the longest, hardest fought points I have ever seen Saucy play, and in the end, we scored the first upwind point of the game on a huck by Robyn to Audrey Erickson. Everyone rushed the field, girls were crying, jumping up and down. It was the most emotional moment I have ever been apart of in ultimate.” The emotional investment has reaped the rewards the Saucys have been pushing for all season long.

Twohig returns.

Saucy Nancy heads into the weekend seeded 5th, in Pool D. Iowa will have to knock of Stanford, Washington University, and Ohio State, and has the opportunity to avenge the team’s first regular season loss against Washington.

Noteworthy, is the return of Grad Student Chelsea Twohig, who sustained a severe back injury during Centex. She has not played in a game with the team since then and looks to add some power to the Saucy offense.

Though practices have been short on numbers due to players leaving Iowa City for internships and other opportunities, the captains detail that practices have been very focused, featuring top-notch play by veterans and rookies alike. They also note that the team is concentrating on making adjustments both offensively and defensively, to peak at the ideal time: in Boulder.

Saucy Nancy 2011: North Central Region Champs

*Special thanks to Chris and Gordon Sedgwick for taping the season, documenting the climb back to the top :-)

Callahan Profile: Shannon Waugh (Colorado)

2011-05-21T19:19:00.000-07:00

Shannon Waugh is one of the most well-loved players in college ultimate. She is an extremely talented all-around player, but more than that, Shannon is loved and respected by both teammates and opponents alike. I have had the privilege of knowing Shannon since her rookie year (and her older sister for several years before that). Shannon is truly a special person, and someone who inspires everyone around her to be better. She has built Kali into an amazing team, and program, during her five year tenure, and ultimate in Boulder is certainly better because of her. In this profile, we ask Shannon some questions, and then go to her club and college teammate Amanda Good for her perspective.

Shannon, first some questions for you...

1. Describe your playing history.

I played in high school at Monarch. I did that for two years and I played on the Colorado YCC team in 2006. Then, I went to the University of Colorado where I played for Kali for five years from 2007-2011, captaining my last 3 years. I played my first year of club with Rare Air in 2009. And this past fall I played on Molly Brown.

2. What was your role on Kali this year?

-Captain

-Primary cutter

-Starting dance parties

-Lefty breaks

-Ending the dance parties

-Leading by example

-Bringing the funny

-Leading the cheers

-Owning the heat stroke and broken shoulders

-Always having tissues in her pants

-Throwing up on command

-Receiver

-Consistently open

-Costume bag carrier

-Dressing up the old ladies

-Part of pep squad

-Musical soundtrack maker

-Heart, fire, funny

3. Describe your game in 5 words.

Relentless, consistent, aggressive, positive, and spirited.

4. Favorite memory with Kali over the years

My favorite memory was College Nationals last year. The weekend was full of comebacks and upsets. I’ll never forget that tournament and making it to semis, having heat stroke, and fighting our way through every game. And of course, every dance off at Centex.

5. Offense or defense?

Defense because you can channel all of your aggression and energy into shutting down a player. I like offense for the same reason, dictating and just burning by people. But if I had to choose, it would be defense.

6. You are an extremely talented person. Describe some of what you do off the field.

I am really passionate about musical theater, singing, and dancing. My other “social circle” is the weird theater kids. Most of my itunes library is all musicals. I am also passionate about social justice, feminist issues and researching gender studies. At the end of this summer, I am moving to New York to pursue my dreams. In my spare time, I like to tell jokes for pretty much anyone who wants to listen. I spend an unbelievable about of time with kids and can speak 3 year old fluently. Also, I’ve been sick with Bieber fever since ’08.

Now we ask Amanda some questions...

1. Describe Shannon as a teammate and captain.

Shannon is the eternal optimist, always positive, always putting energy in whether from the sideline or on the field.

You couldn’t find a better teammate than Shannon. Her heart, dedication, and commitment Kali and ultimate are unmatched.

I’ve had the privilege of playing three seasons with Shannon and she’s taught me more than I can wrap my arms around. She has led Kali as a fun, loving, optimistic, positive, energetic, dedicated, and fearless player. Most of Kali would agree that Shannon has defined what it means to play with “heart”. Season after season, she put it all out on the field and never gave up. Her faith and confidence in the team has always been a guiding light. Shannon makes people believe in themselves with her infectious passion and dedication. She has challenged us to be better players and better women.

She has been a great supporter and contributor to the growth of women’s ultimate. She has good friends on many of the college and club teams, which has built respect for Kali around the states.

It is impossible to encompass Shannon in a few words. The amount of time, love, and commitment she has given to Kali is infinite. This fearless role model has set high standards for herself and for the team. We are sad to see her go but we will fight to continue Kali’s legacy. After all, it’s players like Shannon that make it all worth fighting for.

2. What is Shannon's biggest strength on the field? As a leader?

On the field, Shannon is an all-around good player, but her cutting stands out. You can always depend on Shannon to get open when you need her to. She never slows down or stops on O or D.

3. What is a memory from this season that defines Shannon in your mind?

The zombie face paint at Regionals this year.

4. Everyone knows Shannon Waugh. Tell us one thing people probably don't know.

Family history. Shannon’s dad started the team at Stanford. Both parents played club in California, Boston, and in Florida. They both played in the first worlds tournament and both of their teams won for USA. Shannon and her sister Heather started the Monarch team in high school. Heather played for Kali for five years and captained for two. She has also played on club teams like Rare Air and Ozone. Her brother, Cam, plays in high school and just went to Westerns.

5. What makes Shannon stand out from other players you've played with / coached?
Regardless of what is happening Shannon is always positive, always putting out 100% on the field. You never see a change in the way she moves or plays if she or anyone else has made a mistake; she just keeps on putting herself out there.

What do others have to say about Shannon?

Shannon Waugh consistently demonstrates exceptional athleticism, skill, sportsmanship, and camaraderie every single time she steps on the ultimate field. She has an uncanny ability to be inspirational to new and experienced players alike. It is a true pleasure to be her teammate and friend.
- Leslie Schein, Molly Brown #9

I feel lucky to have had Shannon as a teammate on both Rare Air and Molly Brown. In the club game, Shannon is constantly working- cutting tirelessly all over the field and throwing her fabulous lefty breaks. Then she turns around and uses her club experience to be one of the most positive, supportive, and inspirational leaders any college team has had. The best part about Shannon is that whether she is teaching a rookie how to throw, receiving feedback about her game, or about to puke from heat exhaustion, she will have a smile on her face.
- Anna Schott, Molly Brown #17

Washington University Tilt: The Covenant

2011-05-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

Sam Huo with a low-release throw.

There were haters in the 2010 college ultimate scene when it came to discussing the strength of the former South Region. WashU has taken this on as a challenge, setting up the vision necessary for a successful performance at Nationals this season. (Click the link to find out more about their covenant)

In the winter, Tilt co-captains Sam Huo and Emily Luck approached a newcomer to the St. Louis ultimate scene, Melissa Gibbs, about enacting their vision for the upcoming season. Huo and Luck wanted to challenge Tilt to not make similar mistakes the team has in the past. One of the huge goals: overcoming tournament fatigue. “The team knew what they wanted and took some time to really lay down how they thought they would get there,” Gibbs describes. Part of this process was the visualization of what this covenant meant to each player individually.

In Gibbs’ first season coaching with Abby Stephens, a standout WashU alum, the duo has helped to challenge Tilt in ways they never thought they would be. Gibbs outlines her role as “Pushing them physically and reminding them of their goals when necessary.” Physically, the team has come a long way from where they used to be, even since fall. “In the end, they responded really well to it and appreciate it for all the leg power they had at the end of Sunday regionals and a little difference in their game mentality for the goals we employed that method for,” she says.

Theresa Chan for the score.

The first season coaching on a new team during the spring season can be difficult. For Gibbs, an Iowa State alum and former CLX standout, this was no different. “You don't come into the program with the respect you would get coaching players that had already at one point been your teammates,” says Gibbs. But the gap was quickly bridged, and Tilt took to their new coaching staff. The respect was mutual. “The fundamentals were there and I'd never before really coached players into the higher strategy and playing skills as much as I knew I was going to be. I was nervous about this but I'm so much the stronger for it and eventually felt I helped the team. It takes a long time to figure out players, their motivations, how you can or cannot push them and this is a quiet thinking group of ladies. We've reached the point where I get them and they get me and I think we're a good match finding strengths in each other we don't necessarily have in ourselves,” explains Gibbs.

Ellen Miller with a layout grab.

Gibbs also adds some extra depth in strategy to the team. “A large part of my responsibility was taking over line calling and playing time. It was a good position to be in, because I was a neutral, outside source judging on skills and work alone, and eventually found elements of players that worked well together and pieced them all together nicely for subbing,” she describes. Her ability to see the field has helped to develop a greater amount of depth than many of the college women’s teams in the game today. When it comes to contributors, the WashU roster is filled with them. “I eventually came up with familiar and new methods of plays that fed into the already existing strengths of the ladies, but that helped include our bench depth instead of over utilizing dominant players. It helped our cohesiveness on the field improve when we felt our natural chemistry was breaking down.”

When it comes to giving advice players making the jump from captaining or playing into coaching, Gibbs has a lot of great words to offer. “Positivity should always be one of your key words,” she starts. “The attitude you choose will always trickle down to each and every team member. Be honest and forgiving and always, always encourage communication. Make yourselves open to apologizing for mistakes and the team will get that you are humble and will reward you with their trust naturally”

Kami Groom rules the Centex skys.

Her approach to coaching also differs than many others that we sometimes see. She helps to provide an emotional synergy to the team, and often forces herself to stop talking. “When I need to, I say to myself ‘this is their team, they decide where they want to go.’ They give me the destination and my job is to create their roadmap,” she describes.

On the subject of her first season coaching, she says “I always feel like people of the ultimate community are really gems in terms of personalities. I feel blessed to meet more people on such an intimate level where as I would normally be closed to new faces I find in ultimate I can open up better because of our shared love for the game.”

Of all the great players I respect in the game, Melissa Gibbs really understands the need for talented players to lend their talents to coaching. “Somewhere in me I knew that it was about that time I started working on giving back a little to ultimate what it had given to me and coaching is one of the best ways.”

Nationals Outlook

Danielle Blatt with a sick grab at Centex 2011.

Tilt is working on maintaining their focus and conditioning that they have built up this season and sticking to their game plan. This season, WashU has developed many more set-plays to fall back on. This means that their offense has options even if their natural flow breaks down. Offensively, this team has the throws to create many options on the field.

WashU is coming off of a second place finish in South Central Regionals. All through the post season, Rice surprised all sorts of opponents in the region, and ended up surprising Tilt, and beating them on Saturday of Regionals in pool play. “We had a heartbreak of a close loss to Rice on day one because we were all so focused on taking down a Colorado team we hadn't defeated in the three times we met them over the season,” recaps Gibbs. The team, however, bounced back from this loss, and secured the second bid from the South Central. She explains,

“We knew what we needed to do for Sunday and made sure everyone on the team was clear about what that was in sense of our game progression. After using our bottom half of the team well in the first couple of games, we went to O and D lines which we hadn't done all year and it payed off big when we controlled the whole of both semis and the back door game. The women took the game plan and executed it to a "T" and I was so very very proud of how every individual played and came together as a team. True competitors.”

Going into nationals, Sam Huo, Danielle Blatt and Julie Habbert, three of WashU’s big play-makers have nagging muscles injuries; however, Gibbs notes that they will be ready by Nationals.

Tilt has been practicing with all but a couple of their players, who are in Boston until Nationals, but the team plans to get to Colorado early in the week to adjust to the altitude.

WashU will be in Pool D along with Stanford, Iowa, Washington, and Ohio State. This pool will most definitely be an exciting one to watch unfold over the weekend.

Also in the scouting report: don’t overlook this team. Gibbs reveals,“We are about the most rag-tag looking team. Skinny women who will jump right over you, really tall women getting handblocks, and really small women layout d-ing you. They are constantly studying and have pasty white skin, glasses and were non-high school athletes but they are never to be underestimated. You can never judge a book by its cover ‘cuz these books have busted their asses off to be the best players they can be. These women sincerely have true grit when it comes to game time.”

Tilt and their coaches, Abby and Gibbs (center).