Storm at the opening ceremony for the 2018 Canadian Ultimate Championships.
Youth players are invited to try out for Storm, the province’s junior competitive club teams, next month.
Ultimate Newfoundland and Labrador offers junior open and female teams in its competitive Storm program. Male- and female-matching players who are between the ages of 14 and 18 as of Dec. 31, 2019 are eligible to try out.
All tryouts will take place at the Techniplex in St. John’s.
Athletes outside the Avalon who cannot make the tryouts and are interested in the team, as well as all other inquiries, may be directed to Luke Dyer, Youth Development and Competition Director, at youth@ultimatenl.ca.
There is space for 30 teams in the league, which will run on Mondays from Feb. 25-May 6 at the Techniplex.
This league will also use WFDF’s Ratio Rule A, which offers equal playing time to male- and female-identifying players, meaning teams must have a minimum of five players of each gender.
Team captains are asked to complete the expressions of interest form by Friday, Feb. 15. A lottery to select which teams may participate, if needed, will be held on Feb. 16.
Individual players or groups who are looking for a team, or captains who are looking for players, can use this matchmaking form to find teams.
Ultimate Newfoundland and Labrador is offering a youth competition development camp for teens ages 13-18 this winter.
Participants will enjoy drills, skills development and game situations while also receiving one-on-one mentorship and guidance from experienced ultimate players and coaches. It’s the the first time that Ultimate NL has offered a camp specifically targeted at developing potential competitive athletes.
“The purpose of this camp is to help young players take their skills to the next level,” says Luke Dyer, Ultimate NL’s youth performance and development co-ordinator. “We will work with them to identify their strengths and weakness as well as show them what’s necessary and expected for players on a provincial-level team. Through individual feedback, we hope they can gain a greater understanding of what they need to work on to improve as ultimate players.”
“The purpose of this camp is to help young players take their skills to the next level.” – Luke Dyer
One of Ultimate NL’s priorities is to grow its junior competitive program. There are currently two competitive club teams in the junior open and women’s divisions, both named Storm. The competition development camp is intended to build player skills and capacity that will eventually help increase the competitiveness of the Storm teams.
In 2018, Ultimate NL sent its first junior women’s team to the Canadian Ultimate Championships where they finished 20th overall and second in the spirit rankings. The open team broke seed to finish 20th (up from a 24th-place ranking) and 11th overall in spirit.
“We’re offering them the opportunity to demonstrate and improve their skills, which they can then bring to competitive teams like Storm now and in the future,” said Dyer. “While you don’t have to be a Storm player to take part in the camp, we hope many participants will discover the fun and camaraderie that comes with playing on high-level teams and come out to tryouts later this winter.”
Storm tryouts will be held in February and March. Details will be announced in the coming months.
The competition development camp will be held on Thursdays from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at the Techniplex in St. John’s from Feb. 7-March 14. The cost is $60.
Naughty List (in red) faced Holly Jolly’s in the final of Huckfest.
Ultimate NL’s annual holiday tournament, Huckfest, was a resounding success with 60 players taking part on Dec. 27.
The turnout made it was one of the largest Huckfests to date. The annual, fun holiday tournament saw participants don their finest green and red apparel to celebrate the holiday season in ultimate style.
The final saw Naughty List defeat Holly Jolly’s to take the 2018 Huckfest title.
Thank you to everyone who took part! If you have feedback on the tournament, please contact events director Erin Daly at tournaments@ultimatenl.ca.
St. Bonaventure’s College recently won the Mount Pearl Senior High invitational tournament.
Six teams recently took to the court at the third annual Mount Pearl Senior High invitational tournament.
Mount Pearl Senior High, Holy Heart High School, Holy Spirit High School, Gonzaga High School and St. Bonaventure’s College participated in the one-day tournament held Dec. 8.
This year, the tournament format was changed to four-on-four to reflect the version of ultimate recently adopted as a Foundation Sport by School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador (SSNL). This version of ultimate is fast-paced and provides equal playing time for male and female players with a 2:2 ratio.
“Players really seemed to enjoy this change!” said Aaron Power, tournament organizer and coach of the Mount Pearl Senior High squad. “Play was very competitive and quick-paced with all games in the round robin being close and exciting games.”
The gold medal game saw St. Bon’s take on Holy Heart in a competitive and highly-spirited match. St. Bon’s won the game 14-9.
Spirit of the game is an integral and essential aspect of ultimate, and on Monday, Dec. 3 it’s being celebrated worldwide with International Spirit of the Game Day!
As International Spirit of the Game Day falls on Mile Zero Ultimate (MZU)’s regularly scheduled league play, we’re pleased to partner with MZU to help mark the occasion. We are:
– encouraging spirited play in all games (and leagues!);
– inviting all teams to play a spirit game following their spirit circle;
– celebrating the Most Spirited Players with swag and photo ops; and
– encouraging players to have discussions about spirit both on and off the field.
This year, the theme for iSOTG Day is “youth,” so we’ll also be giving Spirit of the Game extra emphasis in our youth leagues on Dec. 2. We’ll talk about the importance of spirit in ultimate as well as play some spirit games so the next generation of players is able to carry forward the respect, passion and fair-mindedness that spirit of the game represents.
Huckfest is a co-ed 5-on-5 tournament that will take place on Dec. 27 from 5-10 p.m. at the Techniplex. The cost is $40 for five hours of turkey-burning, cookie-cleansing fun!
This year, we’re aiming for equal numbers of male and female players to alternate gender ratios each half (i.e. the first half will be 3:2 of one gender and the second half will be 3:2 for the other gender). This will depend on the number of registrants for each gender and we’ll notify participants of changes prior to the tournament in the Facebook event.
Curious about who exactly comprises the Ultimate NL board of directors? Check out this Facebook album to learn about your board, why they love the sport of ultimate frisbee and what they hope to achieve over the next year!
