Cape Town Ultimate

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArqEE6VWLqVvdFI5Q0JINWtkemJycGdqQWwydGhRWFE

UCT Ultimate recently developed an 18 hole disc golf course with a par of 68. I don’t have pictures yet, but i can tell you that its an urban course that takes you around middle and upper campus. Because of the close proximity to cars and windows, only 175 gram ultrastars or similar ultimate discs are permitted.

A new initiative of the Cape Town Flying Disc Association is to release a newsletter covering the goings on of CT Ultimate throughout the year. We hope to release a newsletter for each season, which means 3 to 4 times a year.

You can download it here: CTU Newsletter Spring 2011

If you get any great photos or have a story about Ultimate then please let us know and we will include it in the next issue.

Cape Town Ultimate is taking a big step towards advancing the sport in the best city in the world.

We are splitting up the men from the ladies for 6 weeks from the 5th September and running a competitive Open League alongside the already successful Womens Training. The boys and girls will get to work on their top end skills in separate corners and match up again at the upcoming Spring League to see who has improved the most.

Next year we hope to have an Open and Womens league! Email us if you would like to get involved.

The Cape Town Flying Disc Association held its Annual General Meeting in June this year. The meeting gained interest from a healthy number of interested disc fanatics in Cape Town with 23 people listed as attending.

The 2011 committee was voted in with some new blood looking to spice up the year ahead. the committee is as follows:

Chairman: James Moolenschot
Vice chair: Mike Harber
Secretary: Steve Crawford
Treasurer: Nick Zaloumis
Officers:
Sam Fothergill (Development)
Brianna Mersey (Leagues)
Matt Lewis (UCT Rep)
Paul Vicars (Tournaments & Nationals 2012)

Thanks to these people for signing up to work on moving CT Ultimate forward over the next year. A huge thanks should go to the outgoing committee members (Leor Williams, Anthony Pascoe and Jon Luies) who put in effort over the last year or more. We look forward to seeing big things in CT this year…

Cape Town was represented by FIVE teams in Johannesburg for the 2011 edition of the South African nationals.   The tournament format maximized competitive games leading up to a fierce knock-out stage.    Well done to UCT New Boots (11th or 3rd of the bottom 8 teams), Zebru (7th ), UCT Ikeys Tigers (4th), Chilli (3rd), and new SA National champion Khayoba!  Khayoba defeated Long Donkeys in the finals with a great display of passing and finesse in what was a fantastic game of Ultimate.  If you missed any of the action of their dramatic run to the championship, you can see catch up by checking out their blog or the Cape Argus.   Congratulations Khayoba!

The Cape Town Summer League Finals took place last Monday on a cold and windy evening  at the UCT pitches.

The UCT A side faced up against the oldies in Salusa in the 3rd place playoff. This was a very tight and dramatic game with both teams taking the lead at various times in the match. UCT with an early lead and Salusa fighting back hard in the second half to take the game 15-13. These guys really put on a good show for the spectators who braved the cold to watch the final games.

The experience of Chilli took on the youth of Khayoba in the Final which was also a highly competitive game. Khayoba came out firing in spite of missing some of their top guns. The two teams traded downwind points for the first quarter before Chilli stuck a score in the upwind endzone. From there the Chilli offense settled down and held off the fiery attack of Khayoba. Showing slick movement of the disc and hard running on defence they managed to pull ahead for a comfortable win and their third Summer League trophy in four years.

Well done Chilli and good luck to all Cape Town teams competing at Nationals in Johannesburg at the end of this month.

Cape Town Summer League is back!   Summer League will start up next Monday, 31 January at Wynberg Sports Club.  Summer league is by team and is being organized by Brad Rawlings this year.  If you aren’t on the team and want to participate, please get in touch with the league organizer or a team captain.   If you are interesting in having your team join Summer League, please get in touch with the league organizer.  Schedule and more details will follow!

It’s often intimidating for new players to get involved in Ultimate –Cape Town in particular attracts a lot of high level players from overseas that come here for a semester abroad. This is especially true for women. While Ultimate is in theory a co-ed sport, in practice, many women find themselves being consistently looked off by their male teammates. This can be frustrating at best, and at worst, a reason to stop playing Ultimate altogether!

In an effort to bridge the skills-gap between male and female players, Cape Town has started running weekly women-only training sessions that focus on welcoming new faces and introducing them to the sport. Eager to capitalize on the excitement and success of the first ever Women’s Tournament at Rocktober, Cape Town ladies have shown up en masse for the trainings, held at Wynberg Sports Club on Mondays from 6pm to 7pm.

Combining over 20 years of playing experience in the competitive North American and European Ultimate leagues, Sam Fothergill, Colleen Haley and Anne Maftei have put together a comprehensive training schedule that will enable players of all levels to develop their skills and learn new techniques. The first four training sessions covered the basics: throwing, cutting, marking/forcing the thrower and defence on the cutter. Each session begins with 20 minutes of warm-up and dynamic stretching, followed by a short talk and demonstration of the topic of the week. The ladies then go through a few drills to practice what they have learned, and end with a 7-on-7 scrimmage. At each session, the women are also introduced to a “Rule of the Day”, in an effort to empower women to be more vocal on the field when a foul or violation occurs.

With the response being overwhelmingly positive so far (14+ ladies per training!), the coaches have started planning for future training sessions that will continue well into 2011. The focus will turn towards perfecting throwing skills, handler and cutter positioning, offensive and defensive strategies, endzone tactics and laying out. In order to keep things exciting, and to encourage transfer of knowledge and skills between veteran players and beginners, guest coaches from Chilli and Khayoba will be leading certain training sessions.

For more information about these training sessions, please contact Anne Maftei at anne.maftei@gmail.com or Sam Fothergill at samfstevec@hotmail.com. To sign up on the CT Women’s Ultimate mailing list, please contact Colleen Haley at colleen.e.haley@gmail.com.