Category Archives: All levels

Jane Addams K-8 wins Spring Reign 2014 elementary division

April 27, 2014 Scott Veirs 1 Comment

2013 Spirit Champions, Jane Addams K-8 won the 2014 elementary championship at the Spring Reign tournament yesterday. In a sunlit, moderately-windy game against Evergreen, they connected over and over — mostly with long passes between talented huckers and tall receivers, ultimately winning 13-1.

Here are the standings for the elementary division

The 8 teams placed in this order:

Jane Addams K-8
Evergreen
John Stanford
Thurgood Marshall
Three Cedars
Whittier
UCDS
University Coop

However, the real winners — the Spirit Champions — have yet to be announced…

And here are some highlight photos from the championship game —

Jamshid Khajavi, who coaches JAK8 along with Stephanie Reed.

— all taken by Liam Reese of Bryant Elementary, who was spectating since his team’s bid wasn’t accepted this year.

Fun and games, Drills, All levels

Brodie Smith’s accuracy challenge

April 25, 2014 Scott Veirs Leave a comment

Accuracy of throws is a tough skill to tackle with beginning players during practice. I think Brodie is right to suggest that the best way to improve throw accuracy is lots of repetition outside of practice. Fine-tune fundamental throwing skills during practice, and then head home with links to videos that reinforce forehand and backhand throws, along with motivational, fun drills and games like Brodie’s accuracy challenge —

Does anyone else have favorite ways of improving throw accuracy? Frisbee golf? Aiming hucks at targets in the endzones of local football fields? Leave your ideas in the comments and we’ll add them to the post.

Spirit of the Game, Fun and games, All levels

Thai soccer inspiration for Northwest youth ultimate

April 10, 2014 Scott Veirs Leave a comment

This video sponsored by a Thai bank may resonate with youth ultimate players in Seattle and other parts of the (rainy) Northwest. It features the joys and challenges of starting a new team and places a worthy emphasis on doing your best, trying new strategies, and feeling proud even if you don’t always win or get first place. It’s got something for coaches and Disc NW staff who sometimes struggle to find a place to play in the soggy, crowded parks of wintertime Seattle. And it shows kids playing hard in some serious rain.

elementary, spring, middle school, summer

Spring/summer 2014 youth ultimate events and camps

March 31, 2014 Scott Veirs 1 Comment

Registration has recently opened for some ultimate opportunities — from fun weekends to summer camps. Here they are in chronological order:

1) Saturday, April 5, 2014, from 9-4 in Issaquah (ages 8-101)
Fly for Life — ultimate fun day to raise awareness about and benefit organ transplant in WA
http://www.issaquah360.com/frisbee-event/

2) Saturday, May 31, 2014, 12-8 p.m.
Spring Jam tournament for elementary school players

3) Saturday, June 7, 2014, 9-12 ($10, on-site registration)
Fryz Elementary/MS clinic
http://fryzultimate.weebly.com/3/post/2014/02/elementarymiddle-school-fryz-clinic.html

The HS Fryz team is hosting a clinic for elementary and middle schoolers. All of the coaches are on either girls Fryz, ranked first in the nation for HS ultimate, or boys Fryz, also in the top 3 in the nation.

Cost: $10 (all players)
Please be there early
Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.
Location: Magnuson Park (Turf Field #7)
Bring: dark and light jerseys, lunch, and plenty of water.

4) UpDawg tournament by UW Element

Up Dawg is a coed youth hat tournament put on by the University of Washington women’s ultimate frisbee team, Element. Middle school players of all skill and experience levels register as individuals. Each is placed on a team with other middle schoolers. Teams are coached by Element players and play 3 or 4 games in the tournament. At the end of the day, everyone comes together to celebrate spirited play.

Here are the details:

Who can play: middle school players (school year grades 5-8) of all skill and experience levels.
When: June 7, 2014, 1-5 pm; registration form due by May 20, 2014
Where: Magnuson Park
Cost: $40 (sliding scale upon request)

This tournament is a both a fundraiser for UW Element and a chance for their players to share their love of ultimate with our community.

5) Summer camps
http://www.discnw.org/events/SeattleUltimateCamps/
3 camp sessions available to 8-9 year olds, 10-11 year olds, 12-13 year olds, and high schoolers.
2014 dates:

Session 1: Monday June 16- Friday June 20 (Seattle Public School still in session)
Session 2: Monday June 23- Friday June 27
Session 3: Monday August 18- Friday August 22

collegiate, national, Women-girls

The Northwest Challenge as inpiration for youth players

March 27, 2014 Scott Veirs 1 Comment

This week/end (March 28-30, Fri-Sun) the best collegiate womens’ teams in the Nation will gather in Washington State for the Northwest Challenge. Since it’s remarkably hard to figure out what’s going on (between Twitter feeds, Facebook events, and the rarely-updated DiscNW page). Since it’s so important that parents and coaches know how to use this opportunity to inspire young players, here is a super-simple distillation of your choices…

1) Go to the showcase game in Ballard!

Friday night 7:45-9:45pm
Loyal Heights Playfield, 2101 NW 77th St (map)
UW Element (National champs 2012) vs Oregon Fugue National champs 2013)!
Raffle at half-time

2) Go see a game in-person in Seattle or Puyallup

Friday 9am-5pm at UW fields across Sand Point Way from U Village (just east of golf range)
Sat 8:30am-6pm in Puyallup (map)
Sun 8:30-2pm in Puyallup

3) Watch live or later via Ultiworld video streams

4) Read about the tournament

12 teams
6 Northwest teams
6 teams from other regions
6 top-half teams; 6 bottom-half teams; 3 NW teams in each group
each team will play 4 teams from their strength group (3 outside) and 3 teams from their region group (and 4 outside)

5) Attend the discussion of college ultimate Sat pm

Not sure about location!
Consideration of ultimate become an NCAA sport

Youth Ultimate