The Grapevine - 01/02

The Grapevine - let's be honest is anyone reading these headers anymore? 

Many of you will have voted for the Team USA World Games team and they have successfully won Team of Year 2013!! Amazing!

The UKU has employed two new people, Benji as the new Events Co-ordinator and a full time book keeper. Read here.

With trials in full swing for many WFDF/WUCC have released a rather confusing table to decide who will get extra spots for WUCC 2014. We think it means Showdown and Johnny Bravo (USA) both has spots for sure and will see what it might mean in the Mixed and Open division for the UK.

AirBadgers win another junior title after a shaky start, check out the full results!!

What would you do without this, eh? 

The Grapevine - 24/01

The Grapevine - a place where winos gossip? Or where we find this weeks links from the Ultimate world!?

Support the whole Ultimate community by voting for the USA World Games team for Team of the Year! Let's show the IOC we can mobilise our players once again!

One of our main contributors Brummie has cemented his place corresponding for us but also now with Ultiworld. Go read his piece on the Swedish national team.

Liam Grant of Ireland Mixed Beach fame has just started a trip around the US and SkyD allowed him to write a little piece. Fun read.

In some exciting news both Clapham and Iceni will be taking their squads to the US Open in July to prepare for WUCC!

Finally back in blighty the UKU are running a Level 1 Coaching course in Edinburgh, in the area? Go sign up and help the UKU get a coach in every club!

Watch this space for James Burbidge's look ahead in the Open division plus much more from the ShowGame!

The Grapevine - 17/01

This week's Grapevine brings the best from ultimate news around the globe

Keep voting for the World Games Team of the Year ... 'Flying Disc' is winning. . . 

This week we launched Discussion, kicking off with a provocative piece by Sophie Edmondson...

Ultiworld Editor Charlie Eisenhood did a Reddit based 'AMA' ...

Understanding Ultimate bring us the conclusion in a 3 part series looking at IO turnovers... 

Ultimate Interviews get to know the European Ultimate Celebrity that is 'Oddi'...

EMO ultimate bring the banter in their individual preseason self-promotion #pickme videos. Check out their Facebook for the links, including our favourite...

We've got plenty in store at TheShowGame in terms of preseason content - as always if you're interested in helping out then get in touch! tSG

The Grapevine - 10/01 tSG Special

The Grapevine this week looks forward to what we have in store and some cool announcements plus some other fun stuff from the week.

To herald in the new year we have a new About page, go see! Note that we still don't have a correspondent for the Mixed division and we want one. Do you play at mixed tour and want to report on the upcoming season? Contact us now! 

We have also recently got rid of the twitter to FB page link less annoying retweet posts and more personalised posts, please follow us on twitter and make sure to like the FB page for more tSG action. 

Next week sees the official announcement and opening of our new 'Discussion' section as mentioned in Ultimatum 2013.

With the season starting soon Charlie Blair looks back at 2013 and ahead to what looks to be a massive 2014. Watch out for James Burbidge's Open division 2013 review and 2014 preview.

Now for some news from the rest of the world:

We love Women's ultimate here at tSG and we really enjoyed this weeks viral piece on Ultiworld. From Brute Squad (Boston, USA) and recent Whitecaps triallist Emily Baecher writes about how we can't measure Women using the same points of reference as Men in ultimate and how Women's Ultimate IS a sport it it's own right! 

To further promote our sport please vote for the Team USA World Games team for World Games team of the 2013. Let's admit, they rocked and we want Ultimate to win this. Vote daily until your computer breaks! 

Post by World Flying Disc Federation.

Super exciting! Keep on commenting, sharing and reading!

DP @ tSG. 

World Games Review

Sophie Edmondson looks back at her amazing experience on our World Games team over in Cali, Colombia.

Arriving back in London from the World Games in Colombia has been a reality wake up. The tournament was the final part of what has been a nine-month journey made up of a seemingly endless trial followed by training weekends and relentless track sessions. It seems a long time to prepare for a tournament that was done and dusted in just two and a half days. Yet compared to other sports, say an Olympic weightlifter who spends four years working for just six lifts, that’s probably not a bad lead-in time. Regardless, after nine months of all-consuming commitment of time, energy, emotions and funds I was definitely ready to go to Cali and play.

As odd as it might sound the actual playing felt secondary to the experience of preparing for and being at the World Games. From the moment we landed in Colombia we were treated like celebrities (all-be-it z list). It seemed as though the whole of Colombia’s police force and army had descended on Cali; we had police outriders flanking our shiny new team bus and a designated police head honcho from Bogota to co-ordinate our every move. I could only presume the rest of Colombia was in turmoil because of it.

World Games Opening Ceremony Cali, Colombia. Courtesy of Isabella Burke.

The Grapevine - 15/08

This week's Grapevine has an international flavour, looking at some US perspectives on Ultimate in the UK and the world...

Clapham take on some of the best club teams in the US this weekend at the Chesapeake Invite. They are also playing in a fund raiser show game against Truck Stop. See Charlie Eisenhood's preview of the Open division.

Iamultimate presents an interesting view from above the recent World Under 23 Championships in Toronto.

Lou Burruss gives his two cents on the various nations' styles post World Under 23 and World Games - an interesting (if brief!) counterpoint to Dave Pichler's recent piece discussing international competition.

Benji provides us with two pieces this week looking at the sport from a wider perspective. The first is a piece on the unique element that Spirit of the Game brings to Ultimate, and the second approaches the increasingly relevant question of the need for observers.

UKU Nationals is approaching - keep an eye out for previews from tSG in the coming week!

Do you read an Ultimate blog that you think should be on here? Let us know! JCK @ tSG

The Grapevine - 02/08

This weeks the Grapevine covers almost exclusively UK Ultimate news.

Coming back from summer holidays with a bang Ultimate Interviews and our friend Mark Earley talks to Elliot Trotter of SkyD magazine fame and co-founder of the new Huddle, High Release.

Understanding Ultimate discusses weights and the brain.

This weekend sees the 6 UK regions competing for those 16 spots at Nationals, go read our previews and make your mind up on who will make it!

World Games came and went in a flash, all results and stats can be found on the WFDF Ultiorganizer; a notable mention to Justin Foord with overall 5th spot (9 assists and 13 goals). Well played GB, we are all proud!

Finally another interesting read from Matthew "Smatt" Hodgson for Ultiworld on whether broadcasting ultimate requires a change in the sport or not.

Go grab those Nationals spots, tweets with #ukuregionals and #result will auto retweet to the @UKU_scores feed. DP @ tSG. 

World Games Special: Roundup and Predictions

World Games Special

Hopefully you’ve followed the series and are up-to-date with all the teams competing in Cali, Colombia over the next week. If you missed any of them, you can find the pieces here.

The Opening Ceremony has already happened, and games start on Sunday. This should be a terrific tournament, and rumours are that there'll be large crowds for the Ultimate games.

Thanks to the amazing efforts of the Ultimate community and ulti.tv you will be able to watch all of the games: here! You can find the full schedule here. 
More live streaming links: 
http://core.enetres.net/CoreV1/Share/DEE56DFCB3E64BCC88376576A57D5481028?rnd=%27+Math.random%28%29

http://www.senalcolombia.tv/juegosmundiales2013/ 
(Click on senal en vivo ^^)

VOD at bottom of here.

GB’s games are:

vs Canada - Sunday, July 28th - 4pm,

vs Colombia - Sunday, July 28th - 10:10pm,

vs Japan - Monday, July 29th - 2:30pm,

vs Australia - Tuesday, July 30th - 1:10am,

vs USA - Tuesday, July 30th - 5:30pm,

3v4 – Tuesday, July 30th - 10pm,

1v2 - Wednesday, July 31st - 12am.

Amazing Score Reporting System for Ultimate at World Games 2013

We will have the opportunity to follow the games trough an incredible score reporting interface called WING.

It will give highly detailed stats of each player and team like: game time, time outs, goals, assists, D's, drops, pulls, touches during the game or during the tournament; also a fresh new tool which draws the disc trajectory. Plus player profiles, team roster and much more cool stuff. Here are some sneak peak screenshots:

and here is where you can find it: www.conceptoocho.com/wing

And finally – money where your mouth is time!

Finally, it feels like other countries are catching up to the traditional giants of ultimate, Canada and the USA. When only the top 13 players are selected from each nation, that effect is only magnified. For the first time, it feels like anyone can beat anyone – and that should make for a thoroughly exciting competition.

My predicted final standings for the tournament are

1. USA

2. Canada

3. Great Britain

4. Australia

5./6. Japan/Colombia (there is no placement game for these positions).

DP’s predictions (so hard to make these but here goes, prove me wrong please!) are

1. USA

2. Japan

3. Canada

4. Great Britain

5./6. Australia Columbia

What are yours? Comment below.

World Games Previews: Colombia

James Burbidge ends his fantastic World Games Previews with the hosts Colombia!

Colombia

The Lineup

Yina Cartagena

Maria Angelica Forero

Yina Mendoza

Elizabeth Mosquera

Laura Ospina

Eliana Rico

Antonio Barrera

Julio Duque

Alexander Ford

Julian Gaviria

Luis Miguel Ibargen

Mauricio Martinez

Santiago Montano

About the Team

Mixed is not a feature of Colombian ultimate, but combine the top players from each of the divisions and they form a fierce mixed team. Youth ultimate is exploding in Colombia, and that is reflected on the team too – several of the players have opted for World Games rather than the u23 competition in Toronto, and most have come through the juniors programme.

Colombia’s women’s teams have been particularly dominant in the last few years (2 golds for the junior team, 4^th at WUGC2012), and their women will be one of their strongest assets in Cali. Yina Cartagena in particular looks like that potent combination of a cutter with big throws. Meanwhile Elizabeth Mosquera has the height to match-up with any team’s deep cutters and Laura Ospina has a nose for the goal.

On the men’s side, Mauricio Martinez controls the Colombian’s offense as one of their more experienced handlers. Luis Miguel Ibargen made a name for himself at Junior Worlds last year and Santiago Montano won MVP of the mixed division at WUGC in Japan. Meanwhile Julio Duque has been playing with Colony in Australia where he made enough plays to merit his own highlight reel.

Coaches and Expected Playing Style

Like Japan the Colombian team is not particularly tall and relies on the speed to generate offense. Expect to see a pair of male handlers getting the disc into the hands of their dominating female cutters who are extremely comfortable breaking the force or hucking it deep. Colombia are an extremely passionate team, and on the defense this translates as an exciting – bid-heavy - man-to-man play. Whilst they have previously been known for having their own interpretations of the rules and spirit of the game, in recent years they won spirit medals at international tournaments.

The team is coached by Andres Polani, a fixture at club team Matanga, and Andres Angel, a player/coach for one of Colombia’s more successful international teams, Euforia.

 

Luis Miguel Ibargen lays out for the disc.

Expected Finishing Place

Whilst the home crowd and lack-of-travel advantage is not to be underestimated, it remains to be seen whether Colombia has what it takes to translate success on the junior level to that at the elite senior level. Whilst I don’t expect them to go necessarily go winless, I also don’t expect them to break into the top 4.

6^th

That's that done but now the playing begins! DP @ tSG.

The Grapevine - 26/07

The Grapevine this week covers every age group Juniors, U23, World Games and Masters!

We have had ECBU and still have players out in Toronto and Cali for U23 and World Games (helpful page coming soon) the Juniors have the European Youth Ultimate Championships coming up, schedule and pools is out!

As mentioned U23's is ongoing and our page is being updated daily with scores and facts, Open are in the 1v8 quarter today so keep up the support as we enter the last few days of this tournament...

...and the first days of World Games in Cali. The Opening ceremony was last night and Ultimate games start on Sunday. The TD's have arranged this amazing score reporter called WING, which will show game time, time outs, goals, assists, Ds, drops, pulls and touches during the game or during the tournament; also a fresh new tool which draws the disc trajectory. For more details check out the Grapevine WG special tomorrow.

Our coverage of ECBU is now done and Chrissy Birtwistle from the Womens team has written another piece for Forbes on failure leading to success.

After a small hiatus Ultimate Interviews returns with a chat to the Ultimate field marker Martin Rasp.

UTalkRaw is on holiday for a bit so contact Barry if you have any ideas for new shows but Understanding Ultimate is not and discusses hard work, talent and Ben Wiggins. 

xEUCF is not that far away and all the regional allocations have been decided and two Masters teams have already been accepted! Who will go from Open, Women's and Mixed teams? Regionals next weekend then Nationals over Bank Holiday to decide!

Busy times! Keep supporting the U23's with #u23wfdf and following their twitter accounts.

World Games Previews: Team Canada

James Burbidge covers Team Canada in the fifth instalment of his World Games Previews.

Team Canada

The Lineup

Candice Chan

Caroline Cadotte

Mira Donaldson

Danielle Fortin

Catherine Hui

Anne Mercier (captain)

Andy Collins (captain)

Cam Harris

Morgan Hibbert

Jeff Lindquist

Mark Lloyd

Nick Menzies

Adrian Yearwood

About the Team

For the first time Team Canada’s male component will be made up more of GOAT players than those from Furious George. Adrian Yearwood, Mark Lloyd, Jeff Lindquist and Cam Harris have all been standout players for the Toronto club team in the last few years. However, Morgan Hibbert from Furious George is probably the biggest name on the team, and is accompanied by teammate Nick Menzies and (ex) Furious player Andy Collins (who appears to have retired from Club). You can see most of these players in action here.

The ladies of the team come from three different teams: captain Anne Mercier and Danielle Fortin come from the Toronto-based Capitals; Candice Chan and Mira Donaldson and Catherine Hui from the Vancouver-based Traffic; whilst Caroline Cadotte is the sole representative of Montreal’s Odyssee.

Standout receivers on this team are Morgan Hibbert, Jeff Lindquist and Catherine Hui. Expect Anne Mercier, Danielle Fortin, Adrian Yearwood and Nick Menzies to anchor things at the back.

 

Jeff Lindquist makes an unconventional break throw.

Coaches and Expected Playing Style

Coached by another familiar name of Canadian ultimate – Jeff Cruikshank – expect this team to bring a fierce competitive spirit to the tournament. Whilst this has occasionally spilt over the top in past competitions, no-one can deny that Team Canada brings a gritty defense more than capable of making comeback runs.

Offensively I’d expect them to use their match-ups in one-on-one situations as much as possible, isolating cutters in as much space as possible. With a tall set of male cutters and a speedy set of female ones, they should have a strong deep game – great if it’s working, tough on a small roster if it’s not.

Expected Finishing Place

So far they’ve played the US team twice, and split the results – the first match can be watched here. Canada has a strong team, comprising players who have been consistently exposed to Ultimate at the highest level. That experience should tell in a competition like this, but I don’t see them overcoming the US.

2^nd

World Games starts this Sunday, watch out for viewing links soon and keep supporting our GB teams in Toronto! DP @ tSG.

World Games Preview: Japan

James Burbidge takes a look at Team Japan in the fourth instalment of his World Games series.

Team Japan 

The Lineup

Enzu Eri
Ito Madoka
Namikiri Kaori
Inomata Sanako
Fujikawa Akina
Otsu Keiko

Sameshima Satoru
Matsuno Masahiro
Takahashi Yasuo
Tanaka Mizuho
Kurono Masashi
Shiba Keiichiro
Furuzawa Takanori

About the Team

Matsuno Masahiro is the name that stands out here. Recognized around the world as the best player to have come out of Japan, he was picked 5^th in a mock draft in 2009* and invited to play with Furious George for the US club series in 2010. Against North American competition he is usually the defender to draw the toughest match-up (having guarded Beau in the 2009 World Games, will he do the same this year?), and is usually the spark on offense: he is very speedy and has very quick, big, accurate throws. However, he was mysteriously sidelined for much Japan’s campaign at WUGC 2012 – they (and spectators like myself) will be hoping that problem doesn’t occur again.

The other notable name on the men’s side of the team is Kurono Masashi – he is the only player not to come from the dominant Buzz Bullets team, instead playing the last few years with Sack [edit: apparently he has recently moved to Buzz Bullets]. He lead the Japanese Open team in combined stats at WUGC 2012. Standout handlers for that team, Tanaka Mizuho and Takahashi Yasuo also make the team, and it is worth noting that Tanaka is returning for his second World Games, alongside Sameshima Satoru.

On the women’s side of the team players are drawn from a wider pool, including UNO, MUD and Huck. Returners to the World Games team include. Fujikawa Akina lead the combined stats for the gold-medal winning Japanese team at WUGC 2012, closely followed by Enzu Eri  Both dominated in assists, so expect them to step up as handlers for the team. Inomata Sanako was second in goals at WUGC 2012, she and the and equally speedy Ito Madoka are likely to be key receivers for the team, streaking deep and getting free in the endzone.

 

Enzu Eri catches ahead of USA's Kaela Jorgensen. Picture courtesy of Neil Gardner at nzsnaps.com

Coaches and Expected Playing Style

The distinctive Japanese playing style took the world by storm back in Perth in 2006, and whilst the specifics of it have changed since then, in principal most Japanese teams play the same way. Lead by two Buzz Bullets and a MUD player (part of the 2009 team), I would expect typical Japanese Ultimate from this team.

On offense their small-ball skills are lethal as their handlers break the mark, throw precise lead passes and use give-and-go dumps extremely effectively to get around the defense. Their long game usually relies on putting quite a lot of edge on the throw and being extremely precise – they tend to go around defenders, rather than floating it out for a play to be made. Defensively, this team will probably be one of the few with some extremely well-drilled zones and junky sets in their arsenal. Unlike the cups and walls of yore, these zones will be poachy, floaty and include some man-marking, designed to confuse and frustrate the offense. Traditionally the single-sex Japanses teams have had great success with these zones, but it remains to be seen how effective they will be in an elite Mixed setting.

Expected Finishing Place

Again, a team that could finish anywhere, from 1^st to last. However, I expect the direct style of play other teams will be able to bring (i.e. put it high and jump for it), and the small rosters to play against the Japanese.

5th

*other notable names include Beau at 2^nd, Dylan Tunnell at 12^th and Tom Rogacki at 65^th.

WG coverage Update from ulti.tv: WFDF have just completed the contractual details and it is all looking good, no links to where the coverage will be yet but as soon as we get them we will post them everywhere. But here is the schedule for your timezone. Keep supporting our GB athletes in Toronto playing now and on their way to Cali! DP @ tSG.