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

For years I have been organizing pick games, practices, league days, etc… It is always the same: I send an email to the appropriate mailing list asking who is going. Within minutes I get lots of emails back. People comment on everything and suddenly a simple question becomes an email monster. And I only wanted to know who was coming!
And then I found HappyTC….
Nice! Simple! Effective! Players receive an email (this process can be automated) and they just have to click on a link in their email to say yes, no, maybe.I now I know who is coming.
Happy TC can use some improvements (e.g. specifying the time of sending the automated emails) but I love it already. It even lists Ultimate as a sport and you can see how the turn out is going to be based on gender and/or position. Sweet!

As of 16 March 2009 BULA tournaments should be played using the 2009 WFDF rules with the BULA addendum
Players will need to learn some significant changes before playing under the new rules:

1. Marking infractions don’t stop play. After a second infraction, the marker resets the count to 0 and continues
2. Play doesn’t stop for a travel where the thrower hasn’t thrown the disc, the stall halts and the thrower goes back to the correct pivot point as indicated by the defence
3. Calling a time-out when you don’t have any left is not a turnover. Add 2 to the stall count instead
4. Players may ask non-players for their perspective on a call
5. There is a new infraction called “Contact” for when the marker touches the thrower or the disc but not in the act of throwing – this should not be treated as a foul as it is not affecting possession, but treated as a marking violation.
6. If a call during or after the throwing motion did not affect possession, then it should be ignored. For example, if a thrower is fouled in the act of throwing, but the disc flies perfectly to the receiver who then drops it on their chest, the turnover should stand.
7. In order to throw after landing but before establishing a pivot, a thrower must maintain contact with the ground throughout the throwing motion.

Here are the links you need:

• Official BULA 5-0n-5 Rules
• Official BULA 4-0n-4 Rules
• Changes between the 2008 and 2009 WFDF rules

An integral part of any Frisbee tournament is its format and schedule. Teams are coming for the game (and maybe the party too), so you better give them what they want. This article is the first in a loose series on how to organise an Ultimate Frisbee tournament, trying to point out the most important aspects of a decent planning. There are quite some resources spread over the Web, most notably the UPA Manual of Championship Series Tournament Formats. More on Ffindr…

We have good news for tournament directors: as we in previous years we got a good Discraft disc deal for all BULA approved tournaments. Tournaments can receive a 20% discount on regular price discs, plus 10 free game discs per every 100 discs ordered, and some more free gifts.
In addition, Lookfly is giving away 15 Spirit of the Game sweatbands per tournament. These sweatbands are for the team that wins the SOTG using the new SOTG scoring system that BULA and the WFDF launch last year. In return TD’s have to send feedback about the system to us.
To apply, simply send us an email

BULA has always tried to help players organize Beach Ultimate pickup games, tournaments and leagues. It started off with a whole section with tips for organizers. Two years ago we started offering free pictures in high resolution to be used for posters, articles in newspapers, etc… Last week we published an extensive Sponsorship Guide to help organizers understand how sponsorship works and how to ask for it.
Today the BULA PR group released free flyers and posters that people can download and use to promote Beach Ultimate in the area where they live. Everything was released in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.
The posters were designed to allow people to easily add their own information on the right, while having a catchy design and some information on the left.
The flyers were made so people can print them on one piece of paper and fold it into a great handout for people watching the game. Again we left enough space so that you can add you own contact information and anything else you find useful. We hope you will make good use of them 🙂
Download the .pdf files below. The flyers are about 0.5 Mb and the posters are 0.25 Mb:
* Flyer in English | Poster in English
* Flyer in Portuguese | Poster in Portuguese
* Flyer in Spanish | Poster in Spanish
* Flyer in Italian | Poster in Italian
* Flyer in French | Poster in French
Many thanks to: Nadia Sillano, Marco Boldrini, Gemma Perez, Jose Pires, and Joana Rodrigues

Sponsorship is sometimes controversial in the world of Beach Ultimate. However sponsorship can enhance any tournament or league. Don’t immediately think TV, shirt advertising, etc… It can simply be the local council that promotes the event in the area in return for flyers near the fields. However, if you want, sponsorship can be a whole bunch of companies that can get you money, TV coverage, and free beers 🙂
If you are like many organizers… you have a passion about Beach Ultimate, you want to organize a tournament or a league but you don’t know much about sponsorship, then we have something for you: The BULA Sponsorship committee worked over a year to create a 22 page sponsorship guide that will answer the following questions:

• What can you expect?
• What does a sponsor want?
• What types of sponsorship are there?
• How can you best approach sponsors?
• Who should you contact?

Furthermore, we added real examples of other tournaments, a sponsorship invitation example letter, contract, and resources to help you get sponsorship and run a great tournament or city league!
Download the Sponsorship Guide
Many thanks to: Mike Palmer, Matt Kass, Brian Calle, Rahim Resad, Bruce Heslop, and Adam Levy
UPDATE 11 FEB: Dima translated the guide into Russian!