Auckland Ultimate November 2011 Newsletter
Hot off the press, read the latest edition of the Auckland Ultimate newsletter, featuring tournament reports including Taupo Hat!, photos!, upcoming events!, a player profile!, and news!
WHAT’S ON:
Local –
| Date | Event | Venue | Contact |
| Every Sunday – 2.30pm | Pick-Up (so there’s no guarantee that people will be there) | Cox’s Bay Reserve | aucklandultimate@gmail.com |
| Mondays at 6.30pm to 19 December | Men’s 5-aside League | Cornwall Park | aucklandultimate@gmail.com |
| Mondays at 6.30pm to 19 December | Women’s 5-aside League | Cornwall Park | aucklandultimate@gmail.com |
| Thursdays at 6.30pm to 15 December | Mixed Social 5-aside League | Cornwall Park | aucklandultimate@gmail.com |
| Thursdays at 7.20pm to 15 December | Mixed Competitive 5-aside League | Cornwall Park | aucklandultimate@gmail.com |
| Saturday 17 December | Under 19 Regional Development Day | TBC | Rebecca Stewart – Auckland Regional Youth Coordinatornzyouthultimate@gmail.com |
National –
| Date | Event | Venue | Contact |
| 26 – 27 November | New Zealand Mixed Nationals | Awa Kairangi Park in Upper Hutt | |
| 3 – 4 December | Flat Out 2011 | Nelson | td@nelsonbeach.com |
| 25-26 February, 2012 (TBC) | Ocean Beach 2012 | Ocean Beach, near Whangarei | Jordan Walker |
| 24-25 March, 2012 | New Zealand Open and Womens Nationals | Auckland |
NEWS
Meet the new Auckland Ultimate Executive
The Auckland Ultimate AGM was held on 17 August 2011 and the following members were elected to the Executive. To contact the Exec, you can email aucklandultimate@gmail.com.
President – Tim Germann
Treasurer/Schools Representative – Rebecca Stewart
Secretary – Ben McEwan
Webmaster – Dan Ballard
Student Representative – Ian Cooke
Members at Large – Sherif Ibrahim, Davey Jones, Ajay Morris
Auckland Ultimate Summer Leagues
Auckland Ultimate Summer Leagues will be starting up in the second week of January, and running through to the end of February. Once again, there will be Men’s, Women’s, and Social and Competitive Mixed Leagues. Keep an eye on www.aucklandultimate.org.nz for details regarding venue, times and exact dates.
Under 19 Regional Development and Selection Day
On Saturday 17 December, New Zealand Ultimate will be holding an Under 19s open day in Auckland. One of the day’s aims will be to select a regional boys’ team and a regional girls’ team to compete in a national juniors tournament early next year. This will be the first step towards selecting a New Zealand team to compete at the World Ultimate Junior Championships. The day will be open to anyone aged 19 or under that would like to come along, regardless of whether or not they wish to be considered for the regional team.
REPORTS
Auckland Ultimate Secondary School Indoor League
The 2011 Indoor Schools League was the largest Auckland secondary school league to date, with over 100 students, in fourteen teams from five schools, participating. Green Bay High School made their first appearance in an ultimate league and quickly won themselves title of ‘crowd favourite.’ There were many closely contested games over the 12 week league, but Pakuranga College once again showed that they are a strong force, taking out first and second place, with Takapuna Grammar coming third. The Male MVP prize went to Patrick Dockery from Green Bay High School, the female MVP was Veronica (Ronnie) Eades from Avondale College, and Takapuna 3 won Spirit.
Many thanks to League Coordinators Rebecca and Iain Stewart.
Auckland Ultimate Winter League
Auckland Ultimate ran a 6 week mixed winter league from 18 August to 22 September at Bill McKinley Park in Mt Wellington. This was very competitive and gave people the rare opportunity to play organised 7-aside ultimate in winter. There were four teams involved – ‘Who Dis,’ ‘Who Dat,’ ‘Unruly,’ and ‘Giant Squids’. ‘Who Dis’ sneaked the overall win over ’Unruly’ on points differential, with Jeremy Slezak of ‘Who Dis’ taking home the MVP prize.
Many thanks to Iain Stewart for his organisational efforts.
New Zealand Under 19 Trans-Tasman Test Series
Held in Auckland
The weekend of 1-2 October 2011 should go down in the ultimate history books as two of the most successful days of youth ultimate that New Zealand has seen. It was the culmination of New Zealand’s first ever Under 19s programme, and witnessed our Under 19 boys team (‘Katipo’) and Under 19 girls team (‘Kahu’) face off against their Australian counterparts in what was to be an exciting three match series.
The teams had trained over a six month period and their hard work paid off – both ‘Kahu’ and ‘Katipo’ put on an impressive show, coping admirably with the wet and windy conditions to take out their respective series 3–0, despite several of the games going to universe point.
The Auckland region had significant representation in both teams, with 15 of the 23 strong girls squad coming from Auckland, and 9 of the 18 boys. The programme was also well supported by coaches and personnel from the Auckland region including head coach of ‘Katipo’ – Shane Vuletich, head coach ‘Kahu’ – Iain Stewart, and assistant coaches Meg Nicoll, Ken Diekema and Peter Sisam.
Well done to all involved and special congratulations to all of the Auckland under 19’s!
– Rebecca Stewart
Taupo Hat 2011
On 5-6 November over 80 ultimate players from around the country descended on the central North Island for the annual Taupo Hat. The fields were once again in immaculate condition, the bus was pumping out sweet tunes all weekend, and the rain mainly stayed away. The Kiwiana theme provided some fantastic team t-shirts, and some interesting costumes at the party.
All photos, courtesy: Ethan Taylor
With seven teams, the draw featured a round robin, with the top two teams to proceed to the final. Conditions on the Saturday were testing with gusty winds, but teams adjusted well to the challenge, some even pulling out zone defense. ‘Tu Meke’ (aka ‘the red machine’) established themselves as the team to beat early on with a couple of comfortable wins before pulling off a sudden death victory over the green team, to end on the day with 4 wins out of 4, though the ‘Fantails,’ in blue, were looking dangerous too, also ending the day unbeaten.
Saturday afternoon was spent enjoying a bbq and various frisbee related activities – ‘Sticks and Cups’ proving to be the crowd favourite. Base Backpackers once again provided the venue for the Saturday night party and the evening did not disappoint, though recollections remain hazy. Singlets and stubbies were a popular choice of attire, but special mentions must go to Coops for her tasteful David Bain outfit, James for his impression of Captain Cook, Danny for his pavlova costume, and Duncan for spending the entire night between a giant pair of jandals.
The Sunday started traditionally late – the official start time of 9am quickly falling by the wayside, but with glory beckoning the intensity of the games stepped up. ‘Handle the Jandal’ pulled of a spectacular win in sudden death over the ‘Fantails’ in the first Sunday round to set up an opportunity to make the final, Zev pulling down a ‘hail mary’ speculator from one I. Stewart. But in the last round the ‘Fantails’ defeated the previously unbeaten ‘Tu Meke’ to ensure that both those teams would be in the final. The drizzle cleared and the crowd gathered on the sideline, to be treated to a final of quality ultimate, particularly from The Cannon. The ‘Fantails’ took an early lead, extending it out to 5-1 with some smooth offence. But just as the crowd was getting restless, some spectacular layouts on D, particularly from G. Taylor, inspired the red machine to lift their game, and they managed to beat the buzzer to tie the scores at 6-6, taking the game into sudden death. What followed was five minutes of intense frisbee, with multiple layouts and several turns, before Troy casually put up the final huck to Craig for the victory.
After a concerted cleaning up operation it was time for the prize-giving, Jeremy ‘mad hops’ Slezak of the green team took out the overall MVP prize and is now in possession of the coveted trophy. Duncan from ‘Handle the Jandal’ received the inaugural ‘Most Improved’ award and together with Coops (‘best costume’) was the recipient of a tandem bridge swing at Taupo Bungy. ‘Purp-a-Durp,’ valiant in defeat over the weekend, took home the spirit prize.
Once again, a big thank you to Nate and Fish for putting on another fantastic Taupo Hat.
Vixenz Hat Tournament
With summer fast approaching, ‘Vixenz’ decided that it was time to get the ladies out of their winter caves of snotty tissues and ‘Sex in the City’ reruns. A women’s one day hat tournament was conceived with the goals of: introducing new players to women’s ultimate, rousing interest in the upcoming season for veterans and tasting the hair of the dog after Taupo. The tourney was called ‘FASCINATOR’ (It’s a ladies hat!) and themed as ‘A day at the Races.’
In total there were four teams, each comprising a mixture of seasoned world’s players, women new to the sport, and those in between. All games were fiercely competed, but ‘Macybe Diva’ managed to remain undefeated throughout the day and deservedly won first prize. All teams demonstrated fantastic spirit,with ‘Jezabeel’ narrowly pulling ahead of the pack. Simone Balle from ‘Hammertron’ picked up the MVP prize.
Thanks to Nikki Watson for organising and everyone who came down to make it a great day.
– Grace Meyer
PLAYER FEATURE
Riah Mildenhall – what can you achieve in 18 months of ultimate?
Riah started her ultimate ‘career’ at the 2010 Indoor School League playing with some friends on an Auckland Grammar School team. Despite the fact that she pivoted off the wrong foot for 12 weeks, her talent was spotted, her enthusiasm was captured and she has since been trapped into the ‘ultimate lifestyle.’
Riah progressed from the schools league to the Auckland women’s league, then joined the Auckland women’s club ‘Vixenz’ and played at Open and Women’s Nationals early in 2011. Riah was then selected for the New Zealand Under 19 girls squad, ‘Kahu,’ and was part of a leadership group of three that captained the team to a 3-0 victory against Australia. On top of this achievement she has recently received an Auckland University Blues award that recognises an athlete’s commitment and excellence in their sport as well as their studies.
Since her international debut, Riah has participated in pretty much every regional league and tournament under the sun (or rain, as is so often the case in Auckland) – women’s spring league, competitive mixed spring league, Taupo Hat and ‘Vixenz’ Hat. Next on the calendar is Mixed Nationals where Riah will no doubt be seen legging it to the end zone in her red ‘Who’s Who’ top.
Even though ultimate has clearly taken over Riah’s life, she still has time to study and more importantly (to her team mates) – bake!
It’s amazing to see how much a new player can accomplish and the progress that can be made in just 18 months. It is a credit to Riah that she’s taken every opportunity that has come her way to learn and develop and is already a serious force to be reckoned with on the ultimate field.
– Rebecca Stewart
To keep up with all Auckland Ultimate happenings, visit our website
www.aucklandultimate.org.nz
Or join the Facebook group, Auckland Ultimate Frisbee