Announcing: Vietnam Hat Tourney

An oldie but goodie (so I'm told)... this from the tourney directors:

The Saigon Ultimate Club proudly presents:

The 7th Annual
VIETNAM HAT
December 18-19, 2010

Dear ultimate lovers,

First, we would like to show our appreciation for your kind support in making the Vietnam HAT a great and fun event for the ultimate community.

We have been receiving a number of positive feedbacks from the players that you really enjoy the tournament and constructive feedbacks on how to improve it. Thanks for letting us know your thoughts and we will put our effort in giving you a great memory in Vietnam.

The confirmed dates for the Vietnam HAT 2010 are 18 and 19 December. This will give you three great weeks during the Christmas and New Year’s time with both your family and ultimate friends.

So, let's start looking for suitable flights from now and find the most reasonable one for an unforgettable and precious moment with friendly local hosts in a great field with stadium in Asia!

The registration page will be opened shortly at http://saigon-ultimate.com/. We will send you a short notification when it is ready.

If you need any further information, please feel free to contact us via this email address.

See you in Vietnam!

On behalf of Vietnam HAT 2010 organising team,

Aaron Toronto, Doanh Nguyen, and Vu Anh Vu

Announcing: 1st annual Wuhan Hat Tourney

Reprinted from Aitbek’s email, with slight edits in English by this editor.

大家好:

我是来自武汉的＂Air Woo＂的aitbek（别克）,很高兴宣布＂武汉首届极限飞盘公开赛＂将于2010年10月16日、１７日在美丽的南湖之滨的“中南财经政法大学”举行。届时将是一次与全国盘友进行交流切磋的绝好机会。

“有盘自远方来不亦乐乎”，我们诚挚地邀请大家在这个金秋的１０月，邀上你们的盘友，带着你们对飞盘运动的热爱，到美丽的江城来加入我们。

我们为你们准备了专业的草地，筹备了精彩的派队，热情期待着你们的到来，与我们一起释放激情与活力。

请大家根据团队报名或者个人报名的情况，认真填写附件1的报名信息。

祝大家的武汉之行一切顺利！

Hello everyone:

I am Aitbek（别克）from the Air Woo Ultimate Frisbee Association and I am glad to announce that the Inaugural Wuhan Ultimate Frisbee Hat Tournament will be held on the beautiful campus of the Zhongnan University of Ecomonics and Law, October 16 and 17, 2010. The university is alongside South Lake, which is the second largest lake in Wuhan and famous for its charming scenery. The Air Woo Ultimate Frisbee Association hopes that this tournament will provide a great chance to meet and exchange ideas with fun people from around the country.

How happy we are, to meet funs from afar! We sincerely invite everyone to join us with your friends. The attractive Jiangcheng will wait for you in the harvest October. [sic]

We will prepare a professional lawn and a wonderful party for you. We anticipate that we can show our passion and vitality together.

You may participate in the competition by team or individual. Please fill out the information carefully in the Annex 1.

I wish you all the best!

Annex 1: (just email 664701113@qq.com).

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Practice back at Happy Valley

It was a great practice. Everyone who was there on Saturday will say so. Suicides for drops and throw-aways is a good idea.

Pickup this Thursday at Zhicunlu fields.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Cats (it's been a slow week)

A quiet week of business as usual.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

Beijing Ultimate players got three new cats this past week. One of them is in the Google Groups post below. The other two are here:

More pictures later.

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:
Aurora Yao, 8/22:

Hi Beijing Ultimate,
I found a kitty right in front of my door this morning. I barely know anything about cats, but she or he looks healthy and absolutely adorable. I just fed her. She seemed pretty hungry. Unfortunately I can't adopt her since I have a dog at home... if anyone you know is interested please reply to me. Thank you!

Yao

RETROSPECTIVE: Let this be a warning

A warning to everyone: do not fall asleep when around Ultimate Frisbee players. (From the summer league party.)






(That's Drunk Bus passed out. There's a funny story about his name, but we're not going to get into it for the time being. On Facebook he is Nacho Jesus.)

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Happy birthday, cap'n

Well, I was sick this weekend and did nothing, but a bunch of folks went up to the Great Wall to celebrate Big Brother captain Gareth Marshall's birthday. That's something.

WEEK IN REVIEW: A gorges sight (with apologies to Ithaca)

Well, this isn't Ultimate related at all, but worth sharing nonetheless probably:

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

Name the river and get a prize!

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

From Doc, 8/15:

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100814/SPORTS0213/8140334/1057/SPOR...

RETROSPECTIVE: Chengdu Hat album

There are 180 pictures in this Chengdu Hat album from the Chengdu Hat tourney a couple months ago. Samples:

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Clinic success

About 30 people attended the clinic and most stayed for pickup afterwards. Thanks to Alicia for organizing and everyone else who helped. [UPDATE, 11/9: two pictures here.]

WEEK IN REVIEW: Clinic, pickup, practice...

First... happy birthday to me. I'm going on a cruise down the Yangtze toward Yichang from Chongqing to "celebrate."

Second, and more importantly, Alicia is holding a FREE clinic on Saturday at Happy Valley fields. (Why do we still call these fields Happy Valley? They're obviously Xiaowuji fields.) This will be followed by two hours of pickup (30 rmb). Please see the Google Groups Post of the Week, below, for more details.

And third -- love numbered lists, especially when the numbers are written out -- Big Brother is preparing for the Dalian tournament on September 11-12. It's going to be spectacular. Anyone in Beijing who's interested, please let us know -- and come out to practice!

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

Name this guy and win a prize!

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Alicia, 8/9:

Beijing Ultimate will be hosting a free frisbee clinic this coming Saturday. Details below - sign up with Alicia if you'd like to play! This session is followed up pick-up!

*Clinic Details*
*Venue: Fields at Xiao Wu Ji village (where Summer League took place)*
*Date: Saturday August 14*
*Time: 1 - 3pm*
*Cost: None*
*What to bring: light and dark shirt, water*

If you'd like to attend the clinic, send Alicia (alicia.sy....@gmail.com) an email with your name, contact info and playing experience so we can better plan the session.

*The clinic will be followed by pick-up from 3 - 5pm. Pick-up will be 30 kuai for two hours of playing*. Followed by dinner at Dongzhimen!

There will be one van leaving at 12pm and one leaving at 2pm to go over to the fields. Meet at the McDonalds outside Exit C of Dongzhimen subway station.

If you are planning to go on your own, the directions from Dawanglu (subway stop line 1):

Take East Fourth Ring Road going south and tell driver to get off at the Shi Ba Li Dian Qiao exit (十八里店桥), i.e. Exit No. 16. At the first bridge, i.e. Shi Ba Li Dian NORTH Qiao (or "qiao bei"), make a U-turn. You'll then want to make the 2nd right, i.e. turn into the neighborhood with a huge arch that says "Xiao Wu Ji Village Welcomes You" (小武技村欢迎你). Go down that street about 600 meters and make the first left (where there's a street). The fields will soon become visible on your left. (Map is attached.)

If you are coming from Wudaokou, contact Mike Shyu to get on the van together.

Any questions, email Alicia.

RETROSPECTIVE: Videos from Dalian beach tourney finals and party

The Chinese hecklers who you can hear during the middle of the video are especially hilarious.

Both the above videos are also on Youku: Party; Finals.

And Facebook albums are now available: Saturday; Sunday.

And a couple pictures from Yang Yang:

Breaking news: Dates set for Dalian Open and Manila Spirits

Dalian: September 11-12, the weekend before Singapore Open.
Manila Spirits: Nov. 26-28, with Nov. 26 being a one-day single-gender tournament.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP, pt. 2: BUSL finals -- pics and vids

UPDATE, 8/11: Facebook album.

The results are in from the 4th annual Beijing Ultimate Summer League.

In the semifinals on field 2, Huck took a 7-4 lead on Burn and looked to take half when a dropped pull and a first-throw turnover -- on successive points -- led to consecutive breaks for Burn and a 7-7 tie.

Huck did eventually take half, but Burn had seized the momentum and ran off with six straight points to take a 13-8 lead after intermission. Huck made a small run to make it 13-10 before Burn scored the next two to pull off the upset win.

On field 1, undefeated Pillage beat Bid 15-4. The game was relatively close at 9-4 before Pillage decided to redouble the pressure.

In the 3rd place game, Bid used a zone to slow down Huck's attack and won 12-9.

The finals started out close, but Burn threw away a couple of points and Pillage, doing what they do best, took full advantage of every mistake. They ended up winning 15-9, running their record to 8-0 with a +68 point differential. Pretty dominant indeed.

Videos of three of their points:




Pictures from the day of games:

Ethan and Wally of Huck

Brian vs. Patrick Marco of Burn

Joe vs. Jim

Kelly vs. Kelsey


Team Bid... started 0-5, ended 2-6. Not bad.

Alan of Team Pillage in the finals

Peter with disc

Joel Brand, Pillage male MVP, elevates for the score

Zach, Joe, Andy, Brian, Wes. The girl is 17-year-old Cheris from Tianjin.

Jim in middle of team huddle

Joel with co-captains Mike Shyu and Alicia


The awards ceremony:



Jordan consummating the Team Bid Spirit Award

Peach and Joe (Female MVP and Spirit)

And then, of course, the party in Wudaokou's Solutions. This is right after dinner:

Around the table from the left: Boehner, Michelle, Jeff, Steph, Ken Dry, Matt, Cheris, Jehan, Gareth

Kelsey, Andy, Wes, Ethan, Chirona, Chris Carlsen

Mandy, Andy, Kelsey, Wes, Ethan, Chirona in a picture that will surely make the 2010 Beijing Ultimate Slideshow...

And then, an hour or two later, this happened (all names withheld to spare potential embarrassment):































Until next year, Beijing Ultimate summer leaguers....

POSTSCRIPT: This was after a pretty good party on Friday at Solutions, which you can read about here.

POSTSCRIPT 2: City Weekend gave us a shout-out. Thanks Charlie!