Category Archives: All seasons

The Northwest Challenge: free inspiration from the best of college players

Tomorrow night (Friday 3/24/2017) the exhibition games for the Northwest Challenge will begin at 6:30 pm with the women of the University of Washington’s Element facing off against Syzygy from Carleton College.  The men’s game immediately afterwards (8:30 pm start) will showcase the UW Sundodgers vs BYU CHI. These free games in Seattle’s Memorial Stadium will be a great chance for local youth players to get inspired.  More information on the Northwest Challenge Facebook page

If you’re busy Friday night, there are also a bunch of games happening at the UW’s IMA fields in Seattle on Friday, and then up in Burlington at Skagit River Park on Saturday and Sunday.  All these games are free, so you should consider volunteering for a couple hours (they’re still looking for help over the weekend).  Here are schedules and game locations for the women and men (Tier 1 | Tier 2).

According to Ultiworld’s “Power Rankings” for college teams, UW Element is ranked 20th and will play rank 16 Carleton Syzygy.  For youth spectators in Seattle, here are the other women’s games that will be played tomorrow (Friday):

Fri 3/24 10:00 AM IMA 1 – # 2 Dartmouth (1) Washington (19)
Fri 3/24 12:00 PM IMA 1 – # 2 Dartmouth (1) Pittsburgh (9)
Fri 3/24 2:00 PM IMA 1 – # 2 Carleton College (12) Michigan (14)
Fri 3/24 4:00 PM IMA 1 – # 2 Pittsburgh (9) Michigan (14)

Similarly, the men’s exhibition game has Power Rankings of 16th for UW Sundodgers and 12th for BYU CHI.

2017 spring youth tournaments hosted by the Bay Area Disc Association

Please spread the word about two great youth tournaments that will be hosted in 2017, this winter (February) and spring (May) by the Bay Area Disc Association (BADA).

Playing on the beach in California is really fun and requires only a small roster.  Spaghetti Western this year is in May and so doesn’t conflict with Spring Reign.  In addition, BADA offers financial aid for teams or players in need.

King of Bongo

2/18/17
SATURDAY 10:00am-4:00pm
Ocean Beach, San Francisco
U19, U19M, U14

Spaghetti Western

5/20 – 5/21/17
SAT – SUN 9:00am-6:00pm
Grogan Sports Complex, Modesto
U19, U14 (only Sunday)

Youth ultimate summertime opportunities near Seattle

There are LOTS of summer playing opportunities in and near Seattle in 2016!  In addition to the normal summer camps and clinics, we are seeing a blossoming of new youth ultimate opportunities this summer.  It’s complicated to sort out all the dates, times, age-levels, and program details, and some are just opening this week for registration, so we’ve compiled a Google spreadsheet of seasonal youth ultimate playing opportunities to help you sort out your options.

Note that in addition to the start and end dates, there are columns that list the format, age range, grade range, etc., as well as links to more information and/or registration pages.  Feel free to sort the columns (e.g. chronologically by start date, or by the school group columns (ES=Elementary, MS=Middle school, HS=high school).  We’ll add playing opportunities for other seasons, including any that you suggest in the comments, to both the Google spreadsheet and this Google calendar (though the latter is a work in progress — and help is welcome).

 

Elementary school options

Here is a synopsis of the options for current 3rd-4th graders —

6/12/2016 6/12/2016 Riot summer clinic
6/20/2016 6/24/2016 DiscNW summer camp – June
6/24/2016 7/29/2016 TUC summer league
6/27/2016 7/1/2016 DiscNW summer camp – July
7/11/2016 7/15/2016 Nike option (Vancouver, Canada?)
8/8/2016 8/12/2016 TUC U12 camp
8/15/2016 8/19/2016 DiscNW summer camp – August

 

— and in addition to the above listings, here are extra options for current fifth graders (many middle school summer programs incorporate incoming 6th graders) —

6/4/2016 6/4/2016 UpDawg MS Tournament
7/5/2016 7/8/2016 TUC summer camp – Jane Addams
7/18/2016 7/22/2016 TUC summer camp – Eckstein

 

There are also other TUC camps in the spreadsheet aimed at kids heading to other middle schools around the city…

Middle and high school options

There are really too many middle and high school options to summarize! Take a look at the spreadsheet and sort accordingly… but here are two quick cut/pasted lists of middle school and high school ops.

Middle school:
6/3/2016 6/3/2016 Seattle Jam
6/4/2016 6/4/2016 UpDawg MS Tournament
6/12/2016 6/12/2016 Riot summer clinic
6/20/2016 8/1/2016 DiscNW U19/U16 Hat League
6/20/2016 8/1/2016 DiscNW U19/U16 Performance League
6/20/2016 6/24/2016 DiscNW summer camp – June
6/27/2016 7/1/2016 DiscNW summer camp – July
7/5/2016 7/8/2016 TUC summer camp – Jane Addams
7/11/2016 7/15/2016 Nike option (Vancouver, Canada?)
7/11/2016 7/15/2016 TUC summer camp – Hamilton
7/11/2016 7/15/2016 Rise Up leadership camps
7/18/2016 7/22/2016 TUC summer camp – Eckstein
8/1/2016 8/5/2016 TUC summer camp – Washington MS
8/1/2016 8/5/2016 TUC summer camp – Salmon Bay, Whitman, & Broadview
8/8/2016 8/12/2016 TUC summer camp – Southwest Seattle Camp
8/15/2016 8/19/2016 DiscNW summer camp – August
High school:
6/12/2016 6/12/2016 Riot summer clinic
6/20/2016 8/1/2016 DiscNW U19/U16 Hat League
6/20/2016 8/1/2016 DiscNW U19/U16 Performance League
6/20/2016 6/24/2016 DiscNW summer camp – June
6/27/2016 7/1/2016 DiscNW summer camp – July
7/11/2016 7/15/2016 Nike option (Vancouver, Canada?)
7/30/2016 8/4/2016 VC leadership camp – session 1
8/6/2016 8/11/2016 VC leadership camp – session 2
8/15/2016 8/19/2016 DiscNW summer camp – August

 

Again — please comment if you have other suggestions, or just request to edit the Google spreadsheet directly.  Any help is mapping out the increasingly, wonderfully complex ultimate landscape of the Pacific Northwest is welcome!

Seattle DiscNW spring elementary league coach meeting

Notes from the mandatory pre-season meeting run by Jude Larene, Youth Coordinator for Disc Northwest, on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 from 6-7:30.  Impressively the number of teams has increased by ~20% this year (including 5 new teams within Seattle) — the fastest growth of all the youth spring leagues run by DiscNW.  The meeting was attended by ~40 coaches, as well as Jude and the DiscNW Account Manager, Kate Speck.  A highlight was receiving 5 free J-star 140-gram discs with an entrancing rainbow print of the DiscNW logo!

140-g J-star youth ultimate disc with RAINBOW DiscNW logo!
140-g J-star youth ultimate disc with RAINBOW DiscNW logo!  You can buy more for $7/each!

Here is a (low quality) audio recording of the meeting…

Jude on spring season orientation

  • Private Facebook group: DiscNW youth coaching forum
  • 11th edition rules
  • Gender ratio
    • Always at least 3 girls on the team in 7v7
    • In 5v5 teams, offense chooses 3:2.
    • Goal is to ensure equal playing time for girls and boys
    • Jude’s team has an all-girl line
  • Non-contact sport
  • Encourage egalitarian subbing (no “kill lines”)
  • Kids make the calls (coaches need to educate parents about this)
  • Coaching Code of Conduct (Archived PDF of 2015-2016 DiscNW Coaching Code of Conduct)
    • Revised last year after a lot of work
    • Please read it before you sign it!  (Feedback is very welcome)
    • Consider the role you play as a coach in the lives of your players
    • Set the coaching bar very high!
  • You may also need to sign a coach’s liability waiver
  • Spirit scores
    • Average will be visible after 3rd week of play
    • Please enter after each game, along with point score
    • Get your team together at end of game and ask their opinion
    • Provide feedback to the opposing coach via on-line form
    • Score of 2 or 1 will require a comment this year; please provide a detailed explanation; Jude will contact the other team and help educate.
  • If you can’t field a team for a Saturday game, please notify other team and Jude by Thursday
  • Games to 11; 75 minutes; hard cap at 60 minutes.
  • Only one field marshall hired for whole league!
    • So, don’t expect timing horns (except at Magnuson); bring cones & keep time; know field dimensions (It’s OK with Jude if agree with other coach on smaller field, e.g. in high winds!!)
    • Send responsible high school seniors to Jude to be additional marshalls!
    • Please manage your own lost and found items (use Facebook group if necessary, not Jude!)
  • Weather hotline

Kate on rosters & waivers

  • Hard copy hand-out
  • Minimum roster requirement is 3 girls and 4 boys (by Saturday deadline)
  • There is sometime a ~1-2 hour delay between roster additions and waiver availability
  • Advice if you are still placing kids (e.g. by skill) onto teams: put them all on one roster so they can sign waivers, then re-organize later.
  • Paper waivers can be scanned and emailed, or snail mailed; be sure to use current version of waiver!
  • Encouraged but not required: Have medical authorizations on hand; there is a template on the DiscNW web site
  • Report incidents to Jude so he can check in and utilize DiscNW insurance coverage (can help improve access for future emergencies)

7pm

Jude on other topics

  • J-star discs (one for free to each coach tonight!)
    • Can get thumb further on top to help stabilize forehand
    • New throwers have a lot of success with them
    • May be less stable in high winds
    • Kids may develop better form and throwing mechanics using smaller discs
    • Buy more (rainbow!) for ~$7 through Disc NW
    • Vision is for all 3rd and 4th grade teams to use
    • If you like them want more, there are some emerging options for buying J-star discs in bulk (but they’re much less pretty than the DiscNW ones)
  • Issues with our growing youth population
    • Field access
    • Coach shortage
      • If one coach of multiple teams needs sequenced games in one location, it increases scheduling challenges
      • Working on Coach Development Program (but may be ~5 years behind)
    • May need to make league changes
      • E.g. go to 5v5 in elementary
        • fixes field problem by allowing
        • but requires even more coaches
      • E.g. go to 4v4 to for gender equality
      • As one of biggest youth program in world/U.S. we have a chance to influence

7:30 end

  • More growth and teams will require more financial aid to maintain access for all
  • Save the date and start planning bid items — 2016 Fall Bid is Saturday Nov 12 is Fall Bid

Questions:

  • Are there AEDs available at major fields like Magnuson?
  • Phillips deal through Michael Lapin on AEDs for kids (cardiac risk is relatively low for elementary students; risk increases dramatically around grade 9)
  • John Leahy: is going to 5v5 a sacrifice or not?
    • Jude personally thinks it works better for elementary kids
    • Scores are higher; more touches per game; more success
    • Jenn
      • voluntarily signed up new 4th graders
      • expectation is that girls will have a more equal experience
    • Shannon’s 5v5 fall league packed a lot of kids onto the Roosevelt field

Ideas:

  • What about playing on other days of week, e.g. after school?
  • Could elementary teams play in other seasons?  (Conflict with soccer?)
  • Field advocacy group (in 80s?) used to go to city council meetings and wave discs around (John Beal is still at Seattle City Parks)
  • Jude: City wants to put turf only where lights already exist (due to NIMBY light pollution concerns)
  • Sometimes less is more
    • Maybe 3 game tournament once a month is as good as weekly Saturday games
    • Do playoffs make sense for elementary school?
    • Maybe play 2 weeks out of 3?  Weekend conflicts are tough, e.g. jazz
    • Fridays?  Some elementary soccer teams like a Friday evening practice
  • Could fields along I-5 corridor expand capacity (e.g. Shoreline)?

 

Seattle Waldorf is Spring Reign 2015 Spirit Champion

This last weekend, Waldorf United not only were the spirit champions at Spring Reign 2015, but also placed 2nd in the playoffs!  The team of Seattle Waldorf 5th graders is coached by David Steiner and Jan Harris.

First word came via the @SpringReign Twitter feed —

Tweet announcing Spirit Champions
Tweet announcing Spirit Champions

An earlier Tweet announced that Hazel Wolf’s team were the skill champions (maintaining their Champion status from Spring Reign 2014), beating Seattle Waldorf in a very close game (7-6).  They had previously beaten SCDS (11-7) and Evergreen (13-6).  The elementary team from Hazel Wolf (K-8) is coached by Jamshid Khajavi and  Lori Frey Butler.

Here is a screenshot of the final standings —

2015 ES bracket w/scores