Do you love ultimate? Are you interested in expanding your knowledge and introducing the game to others? Become a coach!
Ultimate Newfoundland and Labrador is hosting two free coaching courses in February.
Feb. 2: Community Coaching Course
This one-day course incorporates both classroom and practical learning for participants interested in coaching at a beginner level. For more information and to register, click here.
This two-day workshop is aimed at those interested in coaching competitive youth programs or adult development programs. For more information and to register, click here.
Both courses will be held at the College of the North Atlantic on Prince Philip Drive in St. John’s.
There is a $40 registration fee per course that will be refunded upon completion of the course.
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.
Ultimate Newfoundland and Labrador plans to send two teams to represent the province at C4UC. Players who wish to be considered for these teams must express their interest by Jan. 25 using the following form: https://goo.gl/forms/jM9s4qpuHJl7NfMh2.
Captains
Any player who would like to take on a role of team selector/captain should also fill out the selector/captain section of the form.
Team captains will be chosen by the Ultimate NL board with one female-identifying and one-male identifying captain selected per team (four captains in total). Successful team captain applicants will be notified on Feb. 1.
Selection Process
Once captains have been notified, they will be provided with a list of players who have expressed interest via the call for expressions of interest (above). However, captains are not limited to this list when selecting their rosters.
The top-seeded captains have two weeks to select their roster (Feb. 1-14). The second-seeded captains may begin to select their roster on Feb. 15. The deadline for rosters for both teams to be finalized is March 1 and payment is due to C4UC.
It is the full responsibility of team captains to select players and run the teams, including practices, if desired. Captains should be aware that there is no tryout or practice time booked. If teams wish to practice, it will be up to the players and captains to book space.
For more information about the team selection strategy, click here.
Timeline
Jan 7: Call for expressions of interest for players and captains begins
Jan 25: Deadline for expressions of interest for players and captains
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.
Nick House, president of Ultimate NL and MAUL (right), poses with Jody Williams, manager of Bridges to Hope, and donations from the annual MAUL/SWURL charity game.
The fourth annual MAUL/SWURL holiday charity game raised $800 and over 400 non-perishable food items for Bridges to Hope.
The St. John’s-based non-profit organization offers several programs aimed at providing food aid assistance to citizens in the Northeast Avalon region. These include a food pantry, community kitchen and community outreach and education.
“This game is a highlight for many players in our leagues,” says Melissa Wheeler, SWURL president. “It’s a great opportunity for our players, as well as players that have returned home for the holidays, to get together and play a game for fun with the intent of giving back to the community. SWURL and MAUL provide the field space free of charge for any players that want to play in our charity games with the caveat that players bring cash or non-perishable food items that we can then bring to Bridges to Hope.”
“Being able to provide such a substantial donation each year is something that our leagues are very proud of, and our players continually impress us with their festive spirit and their generosity for those in need,” she adds.
Participants in the annual MAUL/SWURL holiday charity game.
“It’s heartwarming to see generosity of our members at this time of year, just one more example of what makes our community special,” says Nick House, president of MAUL. “We are grateful for their contribution to an important cause.”
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.
Tempest recently finished fourth in its fifth appearance at Chick n’ Run.
The province’s travelling competitive team for women took part in the indoor four-on-four women’s tournament against teams from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador from Dec. 8-9.
In pool play on day one, Tempest finished 3-1 overall, winning against DKUT (Dalhousie) 42-6, Chicks with Flicks (Halifax) 25-19 and Sirens (Saint John) 43-9, and taking a loss to Hey Girl (Moncton) 23-16.
Advancing to the top six for day two, Tempest played against Death by Snu Snu (Fredericton) and pulled out a 21-14 win to secure a spot in the semis. There, they met the eventual champions, RC (Halifax), losing 27-14 but earning a spot in the bronze medal game.
Tempest played for third place against Chicks in the Yard in an exciting back-and-forth matchup. The end of regulation time saw the teams tied at 17 with Chicks in the Yard in possession of the disc, who went on to score and earn the victory on universe point.
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.
