Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Indianapolis Alley Cats Announce a Women's Team

Without explanation, the Indianapolis Alley Cats followed in the footsteps of Detroit and Nashville by announcing, presumably, of rostering a women's team.
No word on a start date, a playing schedule, or tryouts for the "Women" Alley Cats. 

The Indianapolis Alley Cats - an original AUDL team since the 2012 season - finished 4th in the Midwestern Division in 2017 with a (5-9) record; three (3) of their five (5) wins last season were against the Detroit Mechanix.


Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Nashville NightWatch Announce Their Women's Professional Team Nashville NightShade

The Nashville NightWatch announced their own women's "professional" team in a press release titled, "The Future is Women." The Nashville American Ultimate Disc League team indicates a tentative schedule and reveals the team name.

Press Release:
The Nashville NightWatch is proud to announce, with the support of NUM (Nashville Ultimate Machine), the inaugural season of our women's professional team, The Nashville NightShade!

After meaningful conversations with our female ultimate community about gender equity and discussions with other ultimate leaders around the country, we have decided to launch a women's team at the highest level. We do have a tentative schedule in place for our team and will be announcing that once it has been finalized. Tryouts will take place in Nashville at the Vanderbilt Fieldhouse on February 24th. We will have a link for registration very soon.

We want to commend the efforts of the AUDL with the announcement of the EuroStars Tour Partnership. It's a great step for the AUDL. We will take another step in offering a chance for women's ultimate to gain more exposure and a unique opportunity to play ultimate professionally. We will provide our women's team with similar benefits, which include venues, travel expenses, coaching, and live-streaming of all our women’s ultimate games.




The NightWatch went winless in the 2017 AUDL season in the South Division. The Detroit Mechanix recently made a similar announcement this week.


Tuesday, January 23, 2018

The Frisbee Joins AARP

It has been 61 years since the agreement for a plastic flying disc - the Pluto Platter model - became a Wham-O toy.  In 1958, the toy was renamed the Frisbee Pluto Platter Flying Saucer which makes 2018 the Frisbee's true 60th year...which brings the following: 

On This Day (1957) Toy Company Gains Contractual Rights to Plastic Flying Saucer Toy

While the Frisbee's Birthday is typically celebrated today, the historically accurate celebration should be the contract between the Morrisons and the toy manufacturer on January 23, 1957.

The "plastic flying saucer type toy" in the 1957 contract (above) and 1957 toy catalog was not called a Frisbee yet; it was called the Pluto Platter.


The plastic flying saucer type toy would later be renamed after the Frisbie Baking Company as "Frisbee" - a name the inventor Fred Morrison is quoted as saying: "I thought the name was a horror. Terrible."






Monday, January 22, 2018

Detroit Mechanix To Field a Women's Team for 2018 AUDL Season

The Detroit Mechanix just announced they will support a Detroit Mechanix women's team during the 2018 American Ultimate Disc League season. Tryouts are this Saturday, January 27.

designed bySLUDGE


From the announcement:
The current plan for this season is to give the women's team the same benefits we offer to our open (AUDL) team. This includes live streaming all of the games, and providing high-resolution video of the games for highlights and promotions. We hope that this influx of media from women's games will help move us forward into a more unified generation of players!

We have not yet solidified who the women's team will play yet, but we are hoping other AUDL teams in our division (or close, out-of-division teams) will join us in this adventure. Should other AUDL teams choose to follow us, the Detroit Mechanix are willing to host women's games on the same day as our home (AUDL) games.



Detroit Mechanix are an original AUDL team since the inaugural 2012 season. The Mecahnix have a mascot named Rusty and a dance team called the "Maximum Intensity Dancers." In the 2017 season Detroit finished in last place in the Midwest Division with a (1-13) record.


Thursday, January 18, 2018

Congratulations to USA National Teams at U24 Worlds

Congratulations to all U.S. National Ultimate Team players, coaches and staff involved with winning a combined 3 gold medals.

Recognition of the 72 athletes from the U.S. teams:



Monday, January 15, 2018

United Ultimate League Unveiled


United Ultimate League (UUL) was announced today by ultimate apparel company SAVAGE. The UUL strives to provide a USA Ultimate-sanctioned league with complete gender equity, showcasing both men and women on the playing field. UUL is being touted as "Ultimate Frisbee’s First Professional Mixed League" will be played as 3:3 gender ratio, making this the first 6v6 semi-pro ultimate league and the first to be completely gender equal.

UUL's inaugural season will be from April - June 2019 with eight (8) teams with two (2) divisions - the Northern division will include Boston Whalers, New York Kraken, Philadelphia Pride, and Washington Generals; the Southern Division will include Carolina Cutlass, Atlanta Hounds, Nashville Tristars, and Florida Gulls.


Teams are owned by the league and not independently - a similar setup as Major League Ultimate.
All four teams in each division will play at one host team's event -similar to the Professional Ultimate League concept.  Each UUL team will consist of 24 players - 12 females and 12 males. Other distinguishing features of this semi-pro mixed ultimate league are:
>The UUL field will be 35-yard wide, instead of 40 yards like in USAU and 53-1/3 yards in AUDL
>USAU Observers will be used in UUL in conjunction with the USA Ultimate rulebook
>UUL is a USA Ultimate Sanctioned League

"Having the support of the national governing body was a primary goal of mine when starting the league" Todd Curran founder of UUL stated. "If we could create the first pro league to be sanctioned by USA Ultimate, there'd be no stopping us!"


The UUL expects to launch a Kickstarter on February 1, 2018, with a $50,000 goal to gain community support.

SAVAGE also created the College Mixed Championships (as USA Flatball) in 2015.



USA Player Stats at 2018 World U24 Ultimate Championships

The U.S.A. Under-24 National Teams played a perfect performance in Perth at the WFDF World Under-24 World Championships. Below are the individual stats of these United States' gold-medal teams.

USA U24 Women's Team (12-0); gold medal winners.


USA U24 Mixed Team (9-0); gold medal winners.

USA U24 Men's Team (9-0); gold medal winners.

[DATA via WU24UC event site.]
NOTE: Per game averages not possible to not knowing # of games each player played.


Saturday, January 13, 2018

Results at WFDF U24 Worlds 2018

It's over Down Under at Under-24 Worlds!

USA National Teams swept the 3 divisions at the WFDF World U24 Ultimate Championships - just like in 2013.  Collectively, the USA teams were perfect at the international tournament with a (30-0) record [men (9-0) + mixed (9-0) + women (12-0)].

MEN's DIVISION
GOLD: USA
SILVER: Italy*
BRONZE: Australia

*Italy's first medal at a WFDF U23/U24 event

MIXED DIVISION
GOLD: USA
SILVER: Japan
BRONZE: Canada

WOMEN's DIVISION
GOLD: USA
SILVER: Canada
BRONZE: Australia


Friday, January 12, 2018

Recap: Semifinalists at 2018 World U24 Ultimate Championships

Of the 20 countries competing in Perth at the U24 Ultimate Championships, seven (7) different countries have advanced to the semi-finals of their divisions.


Of note, Italy (Men) is the only country to advance to the semifinals that did not have teams represented in other divisions.


Thursday, January 11, 2018

Country Representation at WFDF Under 24 Worlds 2018

There are 20 different countries - 41 total teams - represented at this year's WFDF World Under-24 Ultimate Championships across the 3 competitive divisions. The divisional breakdown is: sixteen (16) in men's; fourteen (14) in mixed and eleven (11) in women's division.

Nine (9) countries are represented in all 3 divisions; three (3) countries have 2 teams and eight (8) countries have 1 team. Of the countries with one team at U24 Worlds, four (4) are in the men's and4 are in the mixed division; there are no countries with represented by only a women's division team.




Friday, January 05, 2018

Chart: Medal History at WFDF U23 Ultimate Championships

Overall, seven (7) different countries have ever medaled at the three (3) WFDF's World Under-23 Ultimate Championships. 
[UPDATED 1.6.2018]
NOTE: USA did not compete at the 2010 event.
In the last two U-23 events, only four (4) different countries have medaled:
USA: 6 (5 gold, 1 silver)
Canada: 6 (3 silver, 3 bronze)
Japan: 4 (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
Australia: 2 (1 silver, 1 bronze)

Overall Medal Count at U23 Ultimate Championships
Canada: 7 (1 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze)
USA: 6 (5 gold, 1 silver)
Japan: 6 (1 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
Australia: 3 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze
Great Britain: 2 (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Germany: 2 (2 bronze)
Belgium: 1 (1 silver )



Thursday, January 04, 2018

Map: Locations of WFDF World Under-23, Under-24 Ultimate Championships

The next edition of the Under-24 (FKA Under-23) World Ultimate Championships starts on Sunday in Perth, Australia. Previous tournaments have been hosted in Florence, Italy (2010); Toronto, Canada (2013); and London, UK (2015).



2018 USA Ultimate Masters Championships to Be Played in Aurora (Not Colorado)

USA Ultimate announced the 2018 dates and a new location for the Masters Division Championships.


Coincidentally, the 2015-2017 Masters Championships was held in Aurora, COLORADO. In 2018, the Masters Championships will be held in Aurora, ILLINOIS.

Aurora is the second most populous city in the state of Illinois and its the nickname is the "City of Lights" because it was one of the first cities in the United States to implement an all-electric street lighting system in 1881.

Per USAU: The Masters Championships will be held at the Stuart Sports Complex in Aurora, Ill., 40 miles west of Chicago, July 20-22, 2018. Ultimate Chicago, the Aurora Area Sports Alliance and the Aurora Area Convention and Visitors Bureau will serve as the local organizing committee (LOC) for the event. Ultimate Chicago also served as the LOC for the National Championships held in Rockford in 2016.


Wednesday, January 03, 2018

Live Stream for WFDF Under-24 Ultimate Championships Scheduled at Under 24 Games

WFDF's World Under-24 Ultimate Championships start on Sunday, January 7th, in Perth, Australia.


The international ultimate tournament has scheduled nearly 200 games over January 7-13, 2018. Yet only a fraction of scheduled games are planned to be streamed by ulti.tv; of the 196 scheduled games only 22 (11.2%) are planned to be broadcast via WFDF YouTube Channel.


 U-24 Division Total Scheduled Games Broadcasted Games Broadcast %
Men 74 games 7 games 9.4%
Mixed 63 games 7 games 11.1%
Women 59 games 8 games 13.5%


The 'under 24' ultimate games of the Under-24 ultimate tournament are less than the "more than 30 games" to be live streamed as promoted in a recent tourney e-newsletter.  


We are looking forward to watching the live stream broadcasts but wish the other 174 u24 ultimate games not on the broadcast schedule could somehow be captured as well.