Lots of talk about Japan lately.
The World Ultimate and Guts Championships (WUGC) took place there recently and (social) media was widely present.
While the WUGC was taking place, I met Matt Kass from BULA Japan in San Francisco. Matt was so kind to offer me this disc from the the Ebashi Beach Ultimate Cup:

I like 🙂
Domo Arigato
どうもありがとう

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!!

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 [email protected] 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 [email protected]. 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: 3×3 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 3×3 hat tournament in Portugal. I will be there and will let you know how it went.

Twice this week I was informed about Beach Ultimate’s rise in Finland. First I was asked for an interview for www.ultimate.fi. Annariikka Marttinen, the charming editor-in-chief told me that this summer there is more Beach Ultimate in Finland than there is grass Ultimate… Nice 🙂
Then, through Facebook, I received footage of a Beach Ultimate field being created in the heart of Helsinki:

Nice! 🙂

Most players in the (grass) Ultimate community know that the World Games are a fairly big thing. A prestigious, high profile event where Ultimate was featured in 2005 in Duisburg (Germany) and in 2009 in Kaohsiung (Taiwan).
Well, Beach Ultimate is getting closer to its own high profile event… The 2012 World Beach Games. We are on the waiting list but if the location that they will chose can accommodate the fields, we have a good shot of getting in…

Here is another way to survive the long, cold winter: indoor Beach Ultimate in St.Petersburg (the Oasis tournament)

For many years BULA has be represented in Japan by Matt Kass. Of course when the quake struck on Saturday we were all worried. Fortunately we received word from Matt saying that he and his family are okay. He wrote:

Despite the grim news, Japan and Japanese people can be remarkably industrious and resilient. I maintain faith Japan can and will bounce back. The assistance from abroad has been amazing, inspiring and truly brings humans together. Thank you and praises to all!

We continue to wish Matt and all people and players in Japan all the best.
Matt at the Dream Cup 2010. This tournament was scheduled for this weekend.