In this episode I talk to Andrew Shen in Beijing, Zahlen Titcomb in Seattle, and Edward Wang in Tian Jin about the Chinese Ultimate community. We talk about the history of the sport in China, why it’s gaining popularity, the Chinese style of play, and their thoughts on the future of the sport.

 

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A short note about two upcoming elections:

If you’re an American citizen aged 18 or over, make sure you get out and vote in the presidential election. In most states you can vote right now. The polls close on Tuesday night, November 4th. Don’t miss your chance. Vote now.

If you’re a UPA member or any age or nationality, make sure you vote in the Board of Directors elections. You can vote right now by logging into your upa.org account. The UPA polls close at 3pm US mountain time on Monday, November 3. Again, don’t miss your chance. Go vote now.

Of all the people running for the UPA Board, two candidates stand out for me: Henry Thorne and Catherine Greenwald. Both candidates have a brilliant track record inside the world of Ultimate and they know how to get things done. They are fantastic leaders and like everyone else running for the board, are passionate about the sport. What sets them apart for me is their deep connection to youth Ultimate. They both have children who play the sport and they have proven time and again their commitment to the advancement of youth Ultimate. In my time working with Henry on the Board, and with Catherine inside the Boston Ultimate Disc Alliance, I have come to respect them as two of the most professional Ultimate leaders I have ever met. They are the kind of people you want representing you on the UPA’s Board of Directors.

Upcoming Interview: Ultimate in Tibet

While tracking down people to talk to about Ultimate in China, I connected with someone who is working with Ultimate teams inside Tibet. I wasn’t able to patch him into this most recent interview, but hope to be able to catch up with him soon. In the mean time, if you’re interested in sponsoring an Ultimate team in Tibet, contact Happyrat at fly335cm at hotmail dot com.

In this episode I talk to Leila Tunnel, Amber Sinicrope, and Shannon O’Malley. We talk about what it’s like to play on a high level HS Ultimate team, their opinions on what makes a team successful, their favorite Ultimate moments, and tough marks.

 

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In this episode I talk to 4 members of the South African Ultimate community. We talk about the status of Ultimate in their country, their work to promote healthy lifestyles, and their vision for the future of the sport on the African continent.

 

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In this episode I talk to Michael Baccarini and Tiina Booth about their just published book Essential Ultimate. We talk about how they first met, the genesis of their book, and how Ultimate has changed over the years.

If you’d like to pick up your own copy of the book, email either Michael (baccarini dot michael at paideiaschool dot org) or Tiina (tiinabooth at hotmail dot com)

 

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In this episode I talk to George Stubbs, Casey Ikeda, and Darden Pitts. We talk about topics such as what it’s like to play on high level high school Ultimate teams, their opinions on what makes a team successful, and their most intense games.

 

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In this episode I talk to Joe Bisignano and Jim Pistrang about what it’s like to run large Middle School Ultimate programs. We talk about their history with the sport, what they’ve done to build their programs, and what kinds of obstacles they’ve overcome.

 

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In this episode I talk to the five that make up Five Ultimate. We talk about how they got started, where they’re headed, and what it’s like living life as a Titcomb.

 

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Five siblings: we are Zahlen, Xtehn, Vehro, Rohre, and Qxhna. Though originally from Seattle, we’ve recently also been based in Chicago, Beijing, and New England. We’ve played Ultimate for over 35 years combined, and with ages of 25, 24, 22, 20, and 14, we’re not stopping anytime soon. —Look for us on and off the field at tournaments around the world… who knows where we’ll next pop up! 

Zahlen, age 25, is the head of production and R&D at Five Ultimate. He graduated from University of Chicago in International Studies, Economics, and Italian Literature. Before Five Ultimate, he worked in finance and healthcare consulting in Beijing. On the field, he plays mixed in Seattle, and captains the Beijing ultimate team, where he has been instrumental in growing ultimate as a common sport in China. 

Xtehn, 24, is in charge of marketing and accounting for Five. He worked for the Italian Trade Commission in Chicago before starting Five Ultimate. Though he’s on the road travelling to ten tournaments around the country this winter, his base is in Seattle where he co-captained the Seattle #2 club team, Voodoo, and coaches the Roosevelt High School Ultimate team. 

Vehro, 22, is in charge of sales and customer service for Five. He interned at the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network while attending the University of Chicago, but jumped head first into the company after moving to Seattle in April 2007. On the field, he was a co-captain of Seattle Voodoo in 2007. 

Rohre, 20, is a junior at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, where she’s majoring in Chinese and Arabic, minoring in environmental studies, and is finally playing Ultimate again after years healing and rebuilding an injured right shoulder. Though currently away from Dartmouth researching the environmental sustainability of bamboo textile manufacturing, Rohre is continuing to be an on-call consultant for Five and is integrally involved with many of Five’s projects.

Qxhna, 14, is a freshman at The Hotchkiss School, where Z, X, V, and R also went to high school. Following up on her 8 years of schooling in French, Italian, and Chinese public schools, she’s concentrating in language studies and is the clear master of languages amongst the five kids. Because of the less developed youth Ultimate scenes outside of the US, she’s played almost exclusively at the club level in Asia, Europe, and the US. Before attending Hotchkiss, she trained as an acrobatic freestyle skier and was the French national champion in 2007 in the under-15 girls division. 

In this episode I talk to Frank Huguenard and Todd Leber (Ulticritic). We talk about who they are, why they do what they do, and their views on many different topics.

 

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Todd Leber: I started playing in 79’ in high school in Fairfax va. Moved to wilm in 81’ as a freshman joined local team, cape fear gale force. After 5 years splintered off with a nc combo team called nobody and whored around for a few years then hooked up with the local college kids for a couple years on the college circuit (hosted 89’college nationals, founded college easterns tourney, td’ed dozens others along the way) coached uncweed, started wilm summer league, captained club team to its first nationals appearance in 92 and pretty much fizzled after that competitively. In 95 planed out formation of NUA. Hosted and reffed in 96 club allstar showcase (first official game of ultimate ever to be officiated by a 6 man crew) then hosted a 7 team elite nua tourney (dog won) then nua fizzles out…..only to be reborn and die in 2005 then morph into MLU in 06 which again dissolved. At that point I took off my promoter hat and put on my critic hat and became ulticritic.

Frank Huguenard began playing Frisbee in the late 1960’s and being from a large chaotic family in Indiana, grew up fiercely competitive. By the late seventies, Frank had become fairly proficient with a disc and being athletically inclined, when he heard that there was a Frisbee-centric team sport on the Purdue campus, he immediately took to it and became involved with the sport called Ultimate. Being a square peg stuffed into a round hole (a competitive jock amongst a culture designed specifically to  accommodate neither), Frank has spent decades ostensibly miserable in a environment (ironically created to emphasize fun and inclusion) that he consistently experienced as hostile and unaccepting towards him, his out of the box thinking and his unconventional throws & moves.

Late in 2003, after watching the movie Dog Town and Z-Boys (a documentary highlighting the birth of modern skateboarding), Frank set out to understand why Ultimate Frisbee never realized the same evolutionary growth and explosiveness that the Skateboard community experienced.

In this ground breaking interview, we’ll hear from Frank in his own words just how he’s come to the conclusion that Ultimate Frisbee was developed intentionally to thwart innovation and evolution and how, from a historical point of view, the game was simply never meant to be competitive. In response to his own conclusions regarding Ultimate Frisbee, Frank has developed an alternative new sport called Dischoops that he feels is everything Ultimate should have been but is not.

More information on Frank at www.z-boyz.org.

While out in Boulder at my first UPA Board meeting I managed to snag Meredith Tosta and Kyle Weisbrod for a quick interview. Kyle was the UPA’s Director of Youth Development from ‘02 to ‘06, and Meredith took over his position in 2006. During the interview we cover what’s it’s like to head up US youth Ultimate as well as how they found themselves working at the UPA.

 

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In this episode I talk with DeAnna Ball and Chase Sparling-Beckley, this year’s UPA Spirit Award winners. We talk about what it’s like for them to have won the award as well as cover their thoughts on tough marks, the best tournaments they have ever been to, and how they got started in the world of Ultimate.

 

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DeAnna: I was born in Gary, Indiana and grew up in Northwest Indiana (otherwise known as “The Region”). I did my undergrad at Purdue, where I first started playing Ultimate with a group of engineering grad students (1991). I attended Ohio State for my graduate work, and earned my PhD in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology in 2001. For the last five years, I have worked as an editor for science textbooks at Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. I also teach at Columbus State Community College.

In the time that I’ve lived in Columbus, Ohio, I have played Ultimate with the local men’s team, women’s teams from Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Ann Arbor, and Columbus, as well as a year of mixed with Cocoa (out of Columbus). I have played in the local summer league and have been minorly involved in the Columbus Ultimate Disc Association (CUDA). In 2006 I stepped in as the coach for the Ohio State Women’s Ultimate team–Fever.

I have volunteered for the UPA as a Women’s Regional Coordinator (Central Region. 1999-2002) and am the current National Women’s Director (2002-current). I have attended about 150 tournaments in the 16 years that I have been playing Ultimate, including participating in 5 UPA Championships (San Diego in 1999, and in Sarasota 2004-2007). Currently I am stepping out of competitive Ultimate but hope to play locally and continue attending tournaments.

I live with my partner Beth, 4 cats (Jake, Casey, Matilda, and Angus) and 3 dogs (Cody, Sidney, and Marty).

Chase: You can learn all about Chase here, here, and here (PDF).

I started playing ultimate in high school in Seattle, Washington, with a team named MoHo. From Seattle I attended college in Northfield, Minnesota at Carleton and played with the Carleton Ultimate Team for four years. During school in Minnesota I also started playing Club ultimate with the Minneapolis Men’s team, Sub Zero. After graduation I moved back to Seattle and began playing with Seattle Sockeye, where I have been for the last four years. Since moving home I have also been coaching ultimate at local high schools, and at the youth club level.