A critical moment in the Asia club season

With China Nationals in our rear-view mirror, the Ultimate players of Beijing now set their sets on Shanghai Open on June 11-12, the most important tournament in the club season. As we try to stay uninjured, this blog will be taking a two-week break. Honestly, there won't be much going on between now and Shanghai, as most of us will be in the midst of self-imposed drinking bans (or at least scale-backs), and our focus will be squarely on the upcoming tournament.

The retrospectives will be posted every Wednesday at noon per usual, but as for other content, see you next month.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Media coverage for China Nationals

The front page of China Daily's Metro Beijing section.

A half-page spread in Beijing Today.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:


GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

The newsletter by Alicia, 5/23:

***Pick-Up**
*
The usual: Wednesday 8-10pm on outdoor astro turf fields at ZhiChunLu. Directions: Take subway line 10 / 13 to ZhiChunLu, exit from G1 and the fields will be about 100 meters to the right past the chuanr stands.
每周三晚上8-10点在室外知春路玩pick-up. 知春路地铁站出口G1然后走路大概100米

For May, our pick-up fees are:
Single session: RMB35
Four sessions: RMB120 (upfront payment, cannot carry over to June)
5月的收费:
单次:35元
四次: 120元(不能在六月用)

For details, visit www.beijingultimate.com.

***Events and Happenings**
*
This week:
- China Nationals 2011 was a huge success (largest tournament by number of participants)! Thanks to everyone who participated and everyone who helped out! There'll be a post tournament word from Tournament Director Tao soon.
- Come out to Jim and Tao's quiz on Thursday night, 8pm at Kro's Nest. 35 Xiao Yun Lu.

***Tournaments**
*
China:
1) Next up on the China Tournament Calendar: Shanghai Open: June 11 - 12. Email Mike Shyu at michaelms...@gmail.com if interested to play with Big Brother.

***Farewell and Welcome***

Welcome to Alex Burch.

RETROSPECTIVE: China Nationals 2011 pictures

Finals (picture by Michelle Tang)

Picture by Neal Jones

C Bracket winners (picture by Neal Jones)

Hong Kong-Tianjin post-finals spirit circle

Michael Hsu, Hong Kong captain

More can be found at www.zhongguofeipan.com.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: China Nationals wrap-up

Congratulations to Hong Kong, winners of China Nationals 2011!

Tianjin Speed, the defending champs, lost 12-7 in the finals.

The biggest China Nationals ever saw 16 Chinese teams and five foreign teams compete. We'll have pictures, etc., posted on the official China Nationals website in the coming days.

The complete results:

CHINESE BRACKET
Pool-play games:

POOL A
TJ Big def. Hangtime 11-2
CUG def. Shenzhen 11-4

TJ Big def. Shenzhen 8-1
CUG def. Hangtime 9-2

TJ Big def. CUG 10-6
Hangtime def. Shenzhen 6-3

POOL B
Hong Kong def. Bang 8-2
Changsha def. Dalian 5-4

Hong Kong def. Dalian 11-4
Bang def. Changsha 11-3

Changsha def. Hong Kong 6-4
Bang def. Dalian 9-4

POOL C
Air Kazak def. Tangshan 10-6
Bazinga def. Tianjin Little 7-5

Air Kazak def. Bazinga 11-4
TJ Little def. Tangshan 9-4

Air Kazak def. TJ Little 11-5
Bazinga def. Tangshan 11-5

POOL D
Air Woo def. Xinjiang 11-4
Tongzhou def. TEDA 7-3

Air Woo def. TEDA 11-2
Xinjiang def. Tongzhou 11-2

Air Woo def. Tongzhou 11-2
Xinjiang def. TEDA 10-2

EXHIBITION
Big Brother def. Tianjin Big 7-2
Shanghai vs. Changsha
Guangzhou def. CUG 5-2
Henan def. Hong Kong 6-5
Big Brother B tied Dalian 3-3

CROSSOVERS
TJ Big def. Bang 10-3
Hong Kong def. CUG 11-3

Air Kazak def. Shenzhen 10-5
Air Woo def. Dalian 10-9

Changsha def. Bazinga 11-2
Hangtime def. Xinjiang (by DQ) (8-9)

Tianjin Little def. TEDA 4-1
Tongzhou def. Tangshan 11-6

Sunday seedings:
1. Tianjin Big
2. Hong Kong
3. CUG
4. Bang
5. Changsha
6. Hangtime
7. Air Kazak
8. Air Woo

C Bracket:
1. Dalian
2. Shenzhen
3. Xinjiang
4. Bazinga
5. Tianjin Little
6. Tongzhou
7. Tangshan
8. TEDA

QUARTERFINALS
Tianjin Big def. Air Woo 11-1
Changsha def. Bang 6-3
CUG def. Hangtime 8-4
Hong Kong def. Air Kazak 11-1

Dalian def. TEDA 10-0
Tianjin Little def. Bazinga 8-4
Xinjiang def. Tongzhou 8-3
Shenzhen def. Tangshan 11-5

SEMIFINALS
Tianjin Big def. Changsha 11-1
Hong Kong def. CUG 12-7

Tianjin Little def. Dalian 8-7
Shenzhen def. Xinjiang 10-6

CHINESE FINALS: Hong Kong def. Tianjin Big 12-7
C BRACKET FINALS: Tianjin Little def. Shenzhen ???

Consolation games:
Bang def. Air Woo 7-5
Air Kazak def. Hangtime 10-5

Air Kazak def. Bang 11-3

Bazinga def. Tongzhou 11-2
Tangshan def. TEDA 9-8

FOREIGN BRACKET
Pool-play games:

Big Brother def. Guangzhou 9-2
Big Brother def. Big Brother B (B3) 11-5
Big Brother def. Shanghai 8-4
Big Brother def. Henan 11-1
Guangzhou def. B3 8-6
Guangzhou def. Henan 8-7
Shanghai def. Guangzhou 6-5
Shanghai def. B3 9-8
Henan def. Shanghai 11-4
B3 def. Henan 8-6

SEMIFINALS
Big Brother def. Henan 11-1
B3 def. Shanghai 9-8

FINALS: Big Brother def. B3 13-5

Consolation games:
Shanghai def. Henan 8-6

Guangzhou def. Air Woo 9-8
Guangzhou def. Hangtime 7-5

FINAL RANKINGS:
1. Hong Kong
2. Tianjin Big
3t. CUG
3t. Changsha
5. Air Woo (in place of Air Kazak)
6. Beijing Bang
7t. Air Kazak (swapped with Air Woo)
7t. Hangtime
9. Tianjin Little
10. Shenzhen
11t. Dalian
11t. Xinjiang
13. Bazinga
14. Tongzhou
15. Tangshan
16. TEDA

WEEK IN REVIEW: China Nationals preview

Who will go home with this championship disc?


The 2011 China Nationals field:

Power Pool A	Power Pool B
A1: Tianjin Big	B1: Hong Kong
A2: CUG	B2: Changsha
A3: Hangtime	B3: Bang
A4: Shenzhen	B4: Dalian

Pool C	Pool D
C1: Air Kazak	D1: Air Woo
C2: Tianjin Little	D2: Tongzhou
C3: Tangshan	D3: Xinjiang
C4: Bazinga	D4: TEDA

Foreign Pool

F1: Big Brother

F2: Shanghai

F3: Guangzhou

F4: Henan

F5: Big Brother B

Registration party starts at 7:30 at Dreams Travel. All information about this weekend's tournament is here. Need I say more?

PICTURE OF THE WEEK: EMAIL OF THE WEEK:

Tao to Big Brother listserv, 5/18:

Just to reiterate what Gareth mentioned at practice on Saturday: as hosts, we have the responsibility to be as warm, welcoming and supportive of our fellow Frisbee friends as possible. We'll be so humble that our humility will be as a boast. Please do what you can to make everyone -- especially those vassals from Hong Kong -- understand that Beijing is the greatest city in the world and we its greatest denizens.

RETROSPECTIVE: China Nationals 2009 spirit champs

Dalian at CN 2009

You might not recognize him (or you might, since he hasn't changed all that much), but the guy holding the trophy here is none other than Micah Jarnot, now of Beijing.

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: China Nationals is less than a week away

In fact, it's THIS WEEKEND. What are you doing to get ready?

The schedule is up.

WEEK IN REVIEW: The countdown to China Nationals 2011 is on

Jim came back! From Paganello/Europe with Nina. I can't believe I neglected to mention this earlier, but they played at the world-famous Paganello beach tournament in Italy a few weeks back with Doc and HHH. I'm sure it was fun. Will post pictures when I get them.

PICTURE OF THE WEEK:

Yesterday was International Nurse Day, and at Kro's Nest trivia the servers dressed up as sluts nurses.

Oh, nurses.

A shout-out to Joe, by the way, for guest-hosting trivia last Thursday while Jim was gone.

EMAIL OF THE WEEK:

Jeff Orcutt makes an appearance on the Big Brother listserv, 5/10. Judging by this email, there's no way anyone can tell he's been working on a political campaign.

Hey y'all,

I have not talked to the TDs about sending this email but wanted to make a personal appeal from afar.

As most of you know, China Nationals is a wonderful tournament that helps BB get ready for Shanghai. But at the same time, it represents the largest gathering of ultimate folks in China. This includes many students and Chinese professionals that are visiting their first tournament. It also represents the only tournament that many of them can attend.

As Tao already said the budget is very tight. After the sponsorships that make it possible for many of these students to attend are factored into the budget, the situation starts to affect Tao and Alicia's sleep.

If any of you can give donations to the tournament, in any amount, I know that they would be not only be greatly appreciated, but they would also give a chance for another Chinese student to have help with tourney fees, or transportation, or lodging.

Together, i hope we can all continue to show the Chinese Ultimate community how we roll and how we support this great group of folks.

Thanks!

Jeff

P.S. Tell your friends!

RETROSPECTIVE: China Nationals 2008

Bieke with Happy Rat

Bet you didn't know Bieke was around back then, did you? He's now at Wuhan and doing a great job with Air Woo. Happy Rat's spirit lives on (who knows where he is these days).

WEEKEND ROUNDUP: Edward Wang's Tianjin wedding

Joe, Baby Girl, Kevin, Alicia, Lauren and I went to Tianjin this morning -- very early -- to attend Edward Wang's wedding. Kevin Reitz has a very full recap of the day here, in which he comments on my awesome suits, with some really nice pictures.

We went expecting a traditional Chinese wedding but instead got a bilingual American wedding. So it goes sometimes.

Below is a PICTURE BLOG, or whatever it is the kids call em these days.

Dashing people (clockwise from top left: Richie, Alicia, Baby Girl, Joe, Lauren, Kevin):



I hate weddings because of shit like this. These little twerps can barely walk, and they're throwing flower petals on the ground? WHAT IF THE BRIDE TRIPS? HAS ANYONE THOUGHT OF THESE CONTINGENCIES?


Nice suit, Mr. Groom. And the bride's looking good too.

The seesaw pics are winners:



There's more...








Then we went to the train station (Tanggu, that is).



Lauren: staying awake.



Lauren: fetal position.


And there you have it.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Cuandixia

Picture by Kevin Reitz

Kevin wrote about it here, and I wrote about it here. Cuandixia: where everyone's a Han. A lovely hamlet. Yes indeed.

By the way, YJ drives. In Beijing. I know.

PICTURES OF THE WEEK:


Picture by Kevin Reitz

GOOGLE GROUPS POST OF THE WEEK:

Alicia, with the newsletter:

***Pick-Up***

The usual: Wednesday 8-10pm on outdoor astro turf fields at ZhiChunLu. Directions: Take subway line 10 / 13 to ZhiChunLu, exit from G1 and the fields will be about 100 meters to the right past the chuanr stands.
每周三晚上8-10点在室外知春路玩pick-up. 知春路地铁站出口G1.

For May, our pick-up fees are:
Single session: RMB35
Four sessions: RMB120 (upfront payment, cannot carry over to June)
四月的收费:
单次:35元
四次: 120元(不能在六月用)

For details, visit www.beijingultimate.com.

***Events and Happenings***

This week:
- Vote for Jim and Tao's Quiz Night at Kro's Nest for The Beijinger Bar and Club Awards! http://www.thebeijinger.com/2011BarAndClubAwards/. Quiz night is every Thursday from 8pm onwards, Kro's Nest, 35 XiaoYunLu. There are prizes after every round!

Others:
- We are looking for sponsors for China Nationals. If you have any leads or hookups, email Alicia at aliciasy...@gmail.com

***Tournaments***

China:
1) China Nationals 2011: May 21 - 22 in Beijing. This is the largest annual gathering of Chinese disc players in one tournament. Early registration is due Friday May 6. RMB300 per Foreigner person for early registration fee. Contact Mike Shyu at michaelms...@gmail.com if you're looking to play with Big Brother. Details at www.zhongguofeipan.com
2) Shanghai Open: June 11 - 12. Save the date. Email Mike Shyu if interested to play with Big Brother. Of the tournaments in China, this tournament attracts the most international teams.

International:
1) Malaysia Open 2011 will be held on May 21, 22 in Kuala Lumpur.

***Farewell and Welcome***
**
- Welcome to Justin Sides!
**
**
**For more about happenings around China, check
http://chinaultimate.wordpress.com.**

RETROSPECTIVE: Wrestlers in Jeju

Left to right, back row: Kirk, Tao, Will Munkara-Kerr, Joel Brand, Catherine, Alicia, Donna, Asha, Nicole Alpert; bottom row: Bay Leung, Lincoln, Kevin

From this tournament.