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

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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.

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Youth ultimate in Seattle

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The spring of 2014 is an exciting time to be involved with youth ultimate in Seattle.  The sport is rapidly growing here at many levels, providing kids with not only more opportunities to play, but also lots of inspiration from collegiate and adult tournaments.

At the K-5 level, the DiscNW spring elementary league has a record 37 teams competing in four divisions!  That will make for some great competition both at the regional Spring Reign tournament on April 26 and in the spring league playoffs on May 17.

At the middle school level (grades 6-8), the DiscNW spring middle school league has 68 coed/boys/girls/combined teams in A/A2, B, C, and D divisions.  It will be interesting to see how their rivalries evolve both in the league and at Spring Reign, especially after the 8th public middle school season last fall in which 3 teams tied with perfect spirit scores.

There’s more going on at the high school level and beyond that I haven’t fully mapped.  The Emerald City League has both girls and boys (6-12?) from local private school playing this season.  And then there’s Fryz and Small-Fryz…

As for inspiration, the most exciting thing I learned at the coaches clinic (from Mike) is that the Northwest Challenge is happening right here in Seattle in a week!  This is a tournament that will bring some of the best U.S. college women teams together for some amazing games on 3/24-25.   There is also an opener exhibition game on Friday night (3/23) in Ballard between the 2012 Champs UW Element and the 2013 Champs OregonFugue.  Stay up to speed with their Twitter feed: NWChallenge

Finally, young players may also be inspired by the major league and other National competition.  While the second season of the Rainmakers will be exciting to watch in the MLU, the American Ultimate Disc League  is reaching out to young players… but that’s the subject of a separate post!

Holler in the comments if you know of other youth ultimate activities or particularly inspiring play going on this spring.