Did you know that according to the Appendix of the WFDF rules of Ultimate you can call a Spirit of the Game Time-out?
Appendix A7 states that a SOTG time-out can be taken:

• If a team’s captain believes that either or both teams are failing to follow the Spirit of the Game (SOTG), they may call a “Spirit of the Game Time-out.
• This can only be called after the start of a point and prior to the ensuing pull.
• During this time-out, neither team may engage in tactical discussions.
• All team members of both teams will form a “spirit circle” in the middle of the field.
• The two opposing team captains shall separately discuss all current issues with adherence to SOTG, determine ways to rectify those issues, and then convey the agreement to the spirit circle.
• SOTG time-outs do not affect, nor are they affected by, the number of time-outs available.

This rule is added to the Championship rules, but TD’s can select to add this to their own rules too.
I think this is very good to stop things from getting out of hand.

I just finished emailing a 36-page motion to the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) to have Beach Ultimate officially recognized as a Flying Disc Sport and for the WFDF to co-host the upcoming World Championships.This motion will be voted on by WFDF members at the next World Ultimate Club Championships in Prague in July.
Why is it a good thing for Beach Ultimate to be independent from (grass) Ultimate and why should the WFDF support the next World Championships? Read the motion. Don’t be put off by the number of pages. Pages 3-8 are the real proposal. The rest of the pages are supporting material.
Let us know what you think!
www.beachultimate.org/Beach-Ultimate-Motion.pdf

Leave it up to the Belgians to come up with an innovative Beach Ultimate hat tournament idea…
At hat tournament players always have to rate themselves so the organizers can do their best to make balanced teams. This can be as straight forward as asking for a single number to represent your level (1-10), or as complex as asking for preferred position, height, physical condition, years of playing, etc…
At JetSet Goes Beach (June 5-6 in Belgium), there is a new system: players give themselves a level upon registration and then the public can vote on their a level too. So far it seems that people were good in rating themselves. Have a look.
I think it is a great idea! Go Jetset!
P.S. The rules say that the player who most overrated themselves has to give a lap-dance to an ugly stranger! 🙂

Laying out is probably one of the best feelings in (Beach) Ultimate. I don’t do it enough, but when I do I feel great! (even if the layout is not always successful)
On the beach laying out is easier, but it still requires some guts and instinct. London’s women’s ultimate team Iceni put together a great video on the techniques of laying out and how to practice it. I highly recommend the video to anyone who has not perfected their defensive and offensive layouts:
http://tr.im/FTdc

I just received an email from Judith Laforest, former team Canada player (Maceio, Brazil) and player for Tondeuses Volantes in Paganello. Judith is trying to bring a positive change in her community of Edmundston, New Brunswick. She submitted an idea to the Aviva Community Fund to create a Beach Ultimate pitch in the city, much like the one we had at the World Championships in Maceio.
It is like a very big sandbox that can be used for Beach Ultimate or other sports.If her idea receives enough votes, it will have a chance at sharing in $500,000 to bring the idea to life.
I voted yes! I had to register with my email and a password, but I unchecked all the ‘newsletter’ options and I should not receive any spam. If you want to help out Judith, and grow Beach Ultimate I would really appreciate your help in pushing her idea to the finals. Please vote for her idea at http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf2698. The voting closes Sunday Nov 15, so do it now 🙂
Thanks in advance

I love getting emails from people like Edgardo Martinez. Edgardo is a Beach Ultimate tournament director in Colombia. He wrote:

Hello Patrick, I am from Colombia, South America, and I am organizing a beach ultimate tournament in my city Barranquilla. The tournament is going to be next week (24-25 Oct). I just wanted to say that your web page have really help me a lot, specially the pictures. I would love someday to make an international beach tournamento here in colombia, specially that the sport is growing really fast down here. You can visit the tournament web page www.diskologia.com

Apart from the fact that it is great that our work at BULA is helping him, look at his Colombian website and you a great Google map of the beach but also two pictures from Paganello, one from Portugal, one from Boracay. Different pictures to make a complete feeling of the sport. Nice!
Keep up the great work Edgardo!
P.S. If you are in Colombia next week… first time tournaments are always special!

This picture completely captures one of those great feelings playing Beach Ultimate. An amazing picture! Thanks Bommie!

(more great pictures at beachultimate.org/pictures.html)

I was approached by the tournament director of the Chennai Heat Beach Ultimate tournament in India. He wanted to know if his tournament could be BULA approved? He likes the Discraft discount and he also values the legitimacy BULA approval brings. It allows him to get more international teams to participate.
He told me that the tournament would adhere to all the BULA criteria except…they play 7-on-7 Beach Ultimate..
As far as I know this is the only 7-on-7 tournament in existence and since time was of the issue (the tournament is 2-4 October) we allowed them to be BULA approved this year. It will help the growth of the sport in India.
However it brings up an interesting question: should BULA accept 7-on-7 Beach Ultimate as another version of the sport?

Asia is waking up to Beach Ultimate. Here is an article from Nina-Noelle Hall in Singapore:

Hurtling through the air, the red plastic disc escapes the desperate grasps of clasping hands and instead plunges, untouched, into the warm sands of Siloso Beach. Mere inches away lie the defeated: two panting players, now face-planted, who both missed the whizzing disc. ‘Hey guys, how ’bout catching it?!’ jokes a shirtless and sinewy defenceman toward his two sprawled teammates. A middle finger and a smirking face caked with sand is all he gets back. Trash talking is just part of the game in this popular twist on Ultimate Frisbee where, like volleyball, the adrenalin-pumping game has found its way to Sentosa’s sands. This is Beach Ultimate. More…

I love good Beach Ultimate pictures! Images that bring back feelings you had on the field. The catch, the defense, the layout…! Especially the layout is a great beach feeling. No worries about hitting the ground. Let it go and go ho!
There are some very talented Beach Ultimate photographers out there. Rene Westenberg, an old teammate from WAF (Holland), was probably one of the first top Beach Ultimate photographers. Just have a look at the pictures in Hargen he recently took.
Stephen Chiang on the other side of the Atlantic is another great photographer. His pictures of LeiOut last January were amazing!
And then there are photographers like Marco Luz that hardly know the game and just do well. Just look at the picture of David Pimenta that is now used for the BULA Monster BUTT, happening this weekend.
For more great pictures, check out our royalty free pictures page. Lots of great shots that you can download and use for tournaments, posters, articles, etc…

And then there are the mere mortals – people like you and me that just want to take good shots to remember the event. From Mozambique Beach Ultimate, to hurricane recovering Galveston. With our digital camera in hand we snap away. Lots a great times to remember!