Hey everybody, so this week I started my internship at USA Ultimate. Check out my first article for them!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Posted by Anne at 11:50 AM 0 comments
Labels: USA Ultimate
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
UPA turned USA Ultimate
The group wants to reassure people that the focus of the company has not changed it still promotes the core mission components and will continue to provide the highest level of customer service to its members.
According to the video from CEO Tom Crawford the main reason for the renaming of the company was because of the confusion that was being created. The company has a magazine and sponsors teams that are called USA Ultimate where as the company remained being called UPA.
Ultimate was recently named the fastest growing sport according to Sporting Goods Manufacturer Association, and it has a rich history of being a player-driven game. So the company has decided to redesign the Web site in hopes of drawing in more people. According to the e-mail the company sent out to all current members after the release the new site has a photo gallery, videos, a calendar, polls and message boards. All of these are working toward building an interactive environment with all of their members.
Recap: The UPA has changed their name to USA Ultimate. The change has been made to build an interactive environment with all of the members. They also hope that the new site will help raise the profile of National Governing Body for the sport of Ultimate.
Posted by Anne at 1:46 PM 0 comments
Labels: USA Ultimate
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Stacked Season
With final exams drawing near and summer creeping up on the student’s of Ohio University, the students of Stacked, the women’s ultimate team, wrap up another great season. Stacked is one of OU’s club sports 36 teams. The goals of club sports is to allow students to “participate in a wide variety of athletic events while gaining friendships and developing valuable leadership skills.”
According for Campus Grotto, studies have shown that joining sports teams in colleges can help students. Some examples are playing helps reduce stress, helps make new friends, exercise and helps build confidence. To do this, Stacked has set up practice four days a week, Monday-Thursday afternoons. The team also ditches the OU campus a couple weekends every quarter to put their skills to the test and playing in tournaments all over the region.
Fall
Ultimate is a year round sport, so the women got to fast start at the beginning of fall quarter. Recruiting was an important goal for the team. All teams have to have seven on the field at all times at the tournament, and having large amounts of numbers at a practice is a good thing. The team’s president, Mollie Vorel stated, “this season we gained several new freshmen that were very beneficial to our team. They have added to our dynamics and have picked up the game so quickly.” The addition of six freshmen and one sophomore really did add to the team’s dynamics.
Sarah Maj was one of those freshmen, “I have always enjoyed playing sports and being competitive. However, sometimes competition can lead to poor sportsmanship and this is something I never enjoyed. Ultimate is really competitive, yet light-hearted and fun.” Maj and the rest of the team got their first taste of the competition at Club Sectionals in Versailles, OH. The competition continued at North Coast in Cleveland, OH, and Denison Extravaganza Ultimate Tournament in Granville, OH. All of those tournaments had a rewarding finish to them, with the team placing second at each tournament. Stacked also co-hosted the annual OU Halloween tournament. This one-day tournament is hosted in Athens, and teams are encouraged to dress up in costumes for the games. The results of the team’s performance were not found at the time of the story.
Winter
During the winter break, the team captains encouraged the team to use the six weeks of breaks to work on endurance. When the team got back to campus, endurance was on everybody’s minds. Due to weather, the team was forced to find other places to practice, getting only one day outside. Running and throwing were the focus on the team during the winter season.
Luckily, the team was able to test their strength in three tournaments throughout the quarter. The first one had the team traveling up to Ann Arbor, MI, to compete in the Michigan Women’s Indoor Tournament. The team also traveled down to Cincinnati, OH, to battle with several teams and Mother Nature in Artic Vogue. Due to several inches of snow, the two-day tournament got turned into a one-day, but the team pushed through the cold and snow. The outcome was worth it, a victory and the ability to call themselves Artic Vogue Champions.
The winter quarter ended in sunny Statesboro, GA, where Stacked competed in College Southerns.
Spring
Spring quarter brought about several speed bumps for the team, including injuries and weather. The team began the season by traveling up to Columbus to play a two-game scrimmage against OSU’s Fever. Fever and Stacked are two of the three strongest teams in the East Plains Section. The scrimmage was to help the team gage how they would play in the College Sectionals.
The following weekend, the strong team of 20 headed up to Granville, OH, to compete in the East Plains sectionals. Stacked went up against the thirteen other teams in the section in the two-day tournament. The final outcome had Stacked losing only two games, both to Fever, and ending in third. This gave the team a bid to Great Lakes Regionals.
Heading off to Regionals was easier said than done, with Mother Nature stepping in again. This time unfortunately, the team could push through. After two rounds of play, the tournament was cancelled due to weather conditions.
The team is only losing one senior this year, Sarah Soled, who has played on Stacked for all four year. President Vorel stated, “it’s so sad that we’ll be losing our one senior next year, but I know that great things are in store for our team next season. We’ve had a year to really cover the fundamentals, and I believe that we have all the tools to be successful. Being cheated out of Regionals this year due to the rain, we all work that much harder to prove ourselves, playing the sport that we love, next year.”
And that is just what Stacked will do, play on. So looking towards next year, Stacked is working on saying goodbye to their senior and staying in shape for next year.
View Stacked Season in a larger map
Posted by Anne at 9:34 AM 0 comments
Labels: OU
Monday, May 10, 2010
Spring League has arrived
Congratulations to Ohio University’s men team that placed fifth at this year’s Great Lake Regional’s.
With the end of the road for both the men and women’s team’s here at Ohio University comes the start of spring league! The league commissioner Eric Converse gave me a short definition of the league in an e-mail, “basically, Spring League is played with four teams of 5-2 (5 boys, 2 girls) and anyone is welcome to join. It is a fun way to end the year and you are welcome to bring your friends (both as possible recruits and just for fun). There will be six regular season games (so you play everyone twice) and then two playoff games.” The results of last night’s draft was made public this morning.
Mark/Anne Mikey/ Fortin
N/A Fiendish Dr. Wu
Adam Wagner Adam Cellar
Alex Doksa Adam Krause
Brady Espey Connor Haley
Forrest Dan Ball
Grant Thompson Joey Phelps
Harry Lucas Neumeyer
Josh Kleymeyer Luke Eastman
Kent Butler Rob Tedford
Mike Dariano Ryan Tedford
Pete F THE Nick Wetzel
Robert Olson Corey (In Town)
Emily Carus Brenna McAuley
Lori Gromen Courtney Speziale
Jane Kopy Sarah Maj
Nat Kruse Stephany Herman
Sarah Soled Susi Karakke
Bruce/Mollie Mitch/ MH
N/A SwaggerBlacked
Andy Ball Andrew Baumgartner
Chris Page Brandon Thompson
Danny Olson Dan Silla
Fed Up Eric Converse
Kevin Hanzel Greg Martin
Kyle Hone Griffin Haywood
Max Prottengeier Jeff Cronin
Ryan Wade Matt Downie
Schuyler Redding Mike Ford
Toby Cromer Todd Grace
Eric Muhlberger
Amanda Liles Abbey Geib
Jessica Kardos Meg Mealy
Kerri McReynolds Kim Silla
McKenzie Marissa Evans
Meredith Mary Lambert
Rachel Thomas Sarabeth Morofsky
The games are being held every Monday and Thursday at 4:30 at Stimson. Trades are open until Friday May 21, and free agents are allowed. If you are interested feel free to contact the commissioner.
Posted by Anne at 1:31 PM 0 comments
Labels: OU, Regionals, spring league
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Eating right to play GREAT
But athletes need more than just carbohydrates in their bodies, they also need protein. According to the Sports Medicine section of About.com, athletes need protein to repair and rebuild the muscle that exercising brakes down. The amount of protein an athlete needs is dependent upon intensity, duration of exercise and the degree of training. It is recommended that endurance athletes take in about 1.2-1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.
Another important part of an Ultimate player’s diet is fluids! According to Colorado State University, “athletes should start any event hydrated and replace as much lost fluids as possible.” Even when the weather is less than perfect, snowy, cloudy, rainy, make sure you are drinking fluids on the sideline.
Recap: Nutrition is important to any Ultimate player, the objective is to provide you with foods and fluids to sustain hard training promote rapid recovery and promote adequate hydration. As Sarah told our team, it’s all about food quality, not quantity. So after that next practice or tournament, make the smart choice when you reach into that refrigerator.
Posted by Anne at 7:15 AM 2 comments
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tournament Director speaks out over postponement
After yesterday’s post it was brought to my attention by a fellow OU team mate, Josh Kleymeyer, that the Tournament Director (TD) made a statement about the postponement the Great Lakes Regionals.
On the site he states, “Today was not a fun situation. It turns out I was lied to Friday morning by the field director. Just 40 minutes into round one today the “field specialist” or whatever his title is decided that we needed to shut down ASAP. I could only convince him to let us play one additional round beyond the one that was currently happening. Had I known that an inch of water and no rain for hours would get the fields shut down, the tourney certainly would have been postponed before the weekend.”
With this knowledge, Josh stated that, “it wasn’t really the UPA that messed up, it was the owner of the fields who made the call to shut us down. It was just a shitty [sic] situation and having teams on semesters and quarters doesn’t make things easier.”
After further searching the site, I found that the TD had made another post last night stating that the tournament will be moved to South Bend, IN. No word on wither this will change OU women’s plan to not attend.
Posted by Anne at 8:52 AM 0 comments