![Photo credit: Louise Dyring Nielsen [www.photoz.dk]](/images/masthead_layout.jpg)
Easter weekend is always a holy weekend for Beach Ultimate Lovers with its mecca in Rimini for Paganello. Again it was a great weekend that was topped off by great finals. The Open final was won by the Scandal from Chicago, edging out the equally flamboyant international pickup team SeXXXpensive 10-9.
Luca Miglioretto from SeXXXpensive making a sick layout!
In the meantime, an African Easter tradition is also growing: FEAST (Frisbee East Africa Sand Tournament). This tournament in Mombasa, feeling the heat from the Indian Ocean, was won by Team Uganda who had to travel 27 hours in a bumpy bus to beat South Sudan 13-9.
The Sudan and Uganda teams after the finals.
Beach Ultimate is getting support in Australia... The first ever Australian Beach Nationals are going to happen May 19-20 on the lovely southern beaches of the Gold Coast.
There will be Open, Women and Mixed divisions.
More info at australianbeachnats.blogspot.com.au
In two days the Ocean Beach Ultimate Hat tournament will be held, 2012 in Whangarei Heads, New Zealand. It promised to be two days of amazing beach Ultimate, with welcome beers/bag of wine, free gifts, buffet style dinner, beach-side camping, swimming (possibly with dolphins), sun, and smiles.
Mind you, Whangarei Heads is some 30 minutes from the nearest town. As such, it is an isolated community with a limited fresh water supply. Toilet facilities are long-drop toilets and the only shower is cold water supplied by a roof collected supply which may not be available. So players are roughing it :-)
But who needs toilets and showers when, according to the organizers, there is possible Tsunami watching? Clean in a jiffy! ;-)
A week later, crazy Aussie players are celebrating 2012 as the final year of civilization, so they consider playing the last-ever, best-ever Terrigal Towel a must. (BTW, its pure rumor that they already booked for next year, and besides, who's going to bill them the cancellation fee?)
So there you have it: Beach Ultimate fun down-under: Tsunamies and the end of the world :-)
Watch out... Hammer!!
Earlier this week we blogged about the LA law that might get disc players a $1,000 fine. Today we can say that the Beach Ultimate community successfully requested a rewrite of the Frisbee- and ball-playing section of the new ordinance.
The new language will clearly state that "such activities by small groups and individuals are allowed at all times on the County beach" unless lifeguards direct otherwise for public safety reasons.
USA Ultimate is currently conducting a search for candidates to serve on its Beach Ultimate Committee.
If you have a passion for beach ultimate and a desire to help develop and grow the sport USAU would love to hear from you. Committee members will help develop short and long range goals for the division within the USA Ultimate framework. If you are interested in applying please fill out the online application today. The application period will close on February 29th.
www.usaultimate.org/news/usa-ultimate-beach-/
The African disc scene is not very big but there are clear signs things are changing. The granddaddy of African beach tournaments is just around the corner and FEAST IV promises to be the biggest and best ever. This year's tournament will again be on Tiwi Beach near Mombasa, Kenya. They will be playing Easter weekend (April 6-9) with games on Saturday and Sunday (April 7-8).
So far they have interest from teams in:
- Kenya (Kisumu and U. of Nairobi)
- Ethiopia
- Rwanda
- South Sudan (the newest country in the world)
- Tanzania (Mwanza and Arusha)
- Uganda
- Zambia
For more information, contact Aaron Sundsmo at asundsmo@gmail.com
Just after posting that Beach Ultimate in LA is going well, up comes this piece of news:
The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to raise fines to up to $1,000 for anyone who throws a football or a disc on any beach in Los Angeles County between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
Fortunately there are exceptions when a person obtains a permit, but still....
Los Angeles remains pushing the boundaries of Beach Ultimate. They are the first group that has a women's only Beach Ultimate League. Excellent! Check it out at:
www.laout.org/womens-league-2012/
In Turkey there is a 2-day long beach tournament called "34HAT". In September 2010, 34HAT was organized for the first time in "Kilyos BURC Beach, Istanbul" with 68 players.
Last year, in September 2011, 34HAT was organized for the second time and 93 players attended, among these players, 23 players from other countries.
It is always fun to play at new and upcoming tournaments. Have a look what you can expect this year (probably September):
For more than 5 years tournament directors and players in 30+ countries have been using the BULA/WFDF Spirit of the Game Scoring sheet. The last version came out in 2010 and a lot of feedback has been generated.
One of the most consistent comments we received was that teams did not score the same way. To remedy this, the WFDF SOTG Committee developed a document with the objective of the Scoring Sheet and how it should be used.
This is an important document that should be read by all players and tournament directors!
The document is currently available in English and Spanish but, like the scoring sheet itself, we want it in as many languages possible. If you can help with translation, please contact us at info@beachultimate.org and I will send you the original Word document.
We have been approached by a new local tour operator in Madagascar that specializes in active tourism. They are preparing a three month's holiday package that will take place in a seaside village in the eastern part of Madagascar. This package is especially aimed at domestic tourism; people living in the capital Antananarivo.
They found Beach Ultimate to be a great fit and are looking for an instructor that is available from July to September 2012. No salary but food and accommodations will be paid for during the stay. They are also looking into the possibility of reimbursing the flight to Madagascar.
Doesn't that sound idyllic? :-)
If you are interested, send a 1-page application letter with your Beach Ultimate experience and why you would be the right person to do this to patrick@beachultimate.org. Please include the price of the return flight as well as the languages you speak.
It is not uncommon that beginning players get frustrated because they don't get the disc very often during a game. Of course there are reasons for that:
- Beginning players do not know where to run
- Advanced players don't feel comfortable throwing anything but a perfect pass
The problem persists because it is possible to play a reasonably good game using only 3 players of the 5 players. As long as the 'beginners' are not in the way, they don't need to touch the disc too much.
Practice is one way to resolve this problem, but in Portugal another solution has been found: 3x3 Beach Ultimate.
The endzone of a regular Beach Ultimate field is 25 x15m. This is a perfect area for 3-on-3 Beach Ultimate with two 2-meter deep endzones.
In 3-on-3 Beach Ultimate it is almost impossible to not play one of the players. It also forces the beginner to become involved in the game and not always hide in the stack .At the same time, the game teaches the more advanced players to be more accurate on their throws since the field is so short and a 2 meter deep enzone is really small!
This, and the fact that it is great for conditioning, makes 3-on-3 Beach Ultimate an interesting game.
In January there will be the first 3x3 hat tournament in Portugal. I will be there and will let you know how it went.
A big thank to Alexandr Tikhomirov, who posted 3,000 pictures of the World Championships on Google Plus
Members of the Edmundston Ultimate Frisbee club in New Brunswick (Canada) have accomplished something unique: include Beach Ultimate as a demonstration sport in the Jeux de l'Acadie games. As a result they now have a Beach Ultimate field in the city :-)
The Jeux de l'Acadie games were held from 29 June to 3 July 2011 with participation of 1,000+ French-speaking athletes aged between 11 and 16 from New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Beach Ultimate was successfully introduced as a new sport with the objective to spread the game in the region.
Here is the TV report: the Beach Ultimate report begin at 23m48h
http://www.radio-canada.ca/util/postier/suggerer-go.asp?nID=938722
After the World Championships there have been many requests by players to have European Championship of Beach Ultimate (ECBU).
To look into the possibilities, Pedro Vargas from Portugal has been asked to lead BULA Europe for the next two years and assist, educate, and promote the Spirit and the Game of Beach Ultimate in Europe.
Pedro is a player for the Portuguese Mixed Beach Ultimate team that secured the 4th place at the World Championships in Lignano (Italy) this summer. Pedro is also the VP of Development of the recently established Portuguese Flying Disc Federation.
Pedro will talk to potential TD's about hosting the ECBU in 2013 and lead it from BULA's perspective. This is another big step for the future of Beach Ultimate and I am excited about it :-)
Here is a blast from the past: the legendary Pasticciotto Beach Ultimate tournament in Italy:
Somewhere along California's famous Highway 1, between Santa Cruz and San Francisco, is Gazos Gambit. A Beach Ultimate tournament run by the always hoppin' Edmundo, this is one of those tournaments that is just different (in a very positive way). High level and earthy might be good descriptor.
Check it out at http://discspace.com/tournament/gazosgambit/
The joy of Beach Ultimate can be found everywhere! Check out the cool video from the Kiev Hat tournament with some funky overhead filming :-)
I love firsts...
Here is a first: the 1st Dominican Beach Ultimate National Championships.
THIS IS A MUST SEE VIDEO FOR ALL BEACH ULTIMATE LOVERS :-)
Thanks Pepito!
On Sunday Oct 16 the 7th season of the LA Beach Ultimate league starts with 12 teams participating. There will be 6 weeks of league games (no games the Sunday after Thanksgiving) and a one day tournament the first Sunday of December, the 4th. All Games are on Sunday mornings at 10am.
For more information, check out laout.org/beach-league-2011/
Tournament Directors are the driving force behind the sport of (Beach) Ultimate. It is incredible that so many people are willing to give up their nights and weekends to put on amazing events without earning a dime.
The LeagueVine blog is doing a great job starting up a series of articles geared towards Tournament Directors. The articles will start next week with the hope that these articles will lessen the burden and help TDs feel like they are not alone out there.
For more information and to sign up to have the articles delivered to your email box, visit their website:
leaguevine.com/blog/35/introducing-tournament-director-tuesdays
On Oct 29th, the 3rd Phuket Hat will take place in Thailand.. But this time on Nai Thon beach, Phuket's finest stretch of sand.
There is everything you need...beach bar, snorkling, massage. It's basically the last undeveloped beach on the island, and so the experience is that much better.
Registration is simply by sending an email to jforsythe08@gmail.com and let James know that you are interested. More info can be found on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=249008471804829
Doesn't this look like Beach Ultimate paradise?
Although 5-on-5 Beach Ultimate is still the preferred sport for most players, 4-on-4 Beach Ultimate is still alive and kicking.
It was invented by Florida player Tim Finan in an effort to speed up the game and make it even more spectator friendly. The field is somewhat shorter and a slightly wider than 5-on-5 Beach Ultimate. The stall count is only 6 seconds and an endzone-to-endzone score is worth 2 points (beachultimate.org/4on4rules_short.html).
Wildwood in New Jersey is by far the largest Beach Ultimate tournament in the world, irrespective of the format, and they have 400+ team playing 4-on-4. In Boracay (Philippines), the 4-on-4 game has resulted in them playing the finals at the recent 5-on-5 World Championships of Beach Ultimate (WCBU2011).
In France the 4-on-4 league will go to its 4th season next year and this league keep on growing. Check out the 2011 French cup:
Below are the final classifications with regards to the Spirit of the Game at the World Championships.
We would like to remind everyone that a normal game is considered to have good spirit and that would result in 10 points (2 points per category).
We recognize that there is still a need for more education on how to use the system, but we looked at individual scores per game we can say that there were only a few games that had low scores and that the overall Spirit at the WCBU was exemplary.
Last weekend saw a group of 12 adventurous Ultimate players travel to Sandwood Bay for what we believe is the most remote/north-western game of Beach Ultimate ever played on the British mainland. Sandwood Bay is 6 miles south of Cape Wrath (The most NW point on mainland GB) and requires a 4 mile hike from the nearest road to access it.
They camped out for 2 nights and played 3 full games over the weekend. The Saturday night 'party' featured dinner at the beach watching the sun setting, a few fireworks and then a large amount of whisky and stargazing. Luck was definitely on their side with the weather for the weekend, however this also seemed to suit the local population of ravenous midges!
Look at this amazing picture:
The World Championships are over. What an amazing event! We could write a long blog post of all the things that happened but we could never report as eloquently as some others, so here is a list of some links you should check out:
Tony Leonardo's articles:
- Mixed Finals
- Women's Finals
- Open Finals
- Masters Finals
- Mixed Masters Finals
- Women and Mixed Masters
- Masters, MixMastas, GrandMasters Semis and Beyond....
- Thursday recap of the week
- Beach Ultimate: The Place Where the Surf Meets the Sky
- Mixed Preview
- Women's Preview
- Competition Preview
Blockstack.TV coverage:
- Daily roundups
- Bit-sized clips on Blockstack's YouTube Channel
- Archive of live broadcasts - coming soon
Luke Johnson's video's of the finals:
Final standings:
- Open Division
- Mixed Division
- Women's Division
- Master's Division
- Mixed Master's Division
- Grand Masters's Division
A big thanks goes out to all players, organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and anyone that has made the 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate such an amazing success.
The 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate are ready to go!
There will be 14 games(!) broadcasts live, including the exciting opening game between the Italian Open team and the defending silver medalist from the Philippines on Sunday @ 17:00h CEST. Check out the coverage at live.iamultimate.com.
We will also have twitter feeds where you can get up-to-date game results from all 500 games.
Naturally there is a special WCBU2011 Facebook page, a special WCBU YouTube Channel where people can post their own videos, blog entries, as well as the popular online scoring system Ultiorganizer, to keep you even closer to the games and the players.
All links are available at www.wcbu2011.org. Enjoy :-)
UPDATE: WFDF Press release
The playing schedule for the 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate is now available for download
Kampala, Uganda is known as the city of Seven Hills. Like many cosmopolitan cities it supports a vibrant ultimate scene on the upswing. This August the Kampala-based Team Uganda will come to WCBU11 as the second African team to compete in international beach competition outside of the continent.
"It has always been my dream to see Uganda ultimate succeed," Team Uganda captain and founder Alex "Queenie" Matovu, aka Papa, told me via Skype. "In 1995 we only had one disc so when the person with the disc didn't show up we couldn't play. But later on my sister brought back some discs from California and in 1999 Jordan from Rwanda moved to Kampala and joined me, Henry and James as locals playing with mostly Brits and Americans. But we wanted to get organized and get more local players so we did."
