COLLEGE WOMEN’S ULTIMATE RESOURCES MANUAL SECOND EDITION EDITED BY CHIP CHANG, MICHELLE NG, & KYRA CATABAY PUBLISHED 2018 FIRST PUBLISHED 2010 Home of the UltraStar OFFICIAL EVENT AND TEAM PHOTOGRAPHY [email protected] COLLEGE WOMEN’S ULTIMATE RESOURCES MANUAL SECOND EDITION FIRST EDITION PUBLISHED 2010 | MICHELLE NG 2018 PREFACE BY MICHELLE NG FOREWORD BY CHIP CHANG INTRODUCTION BY KYRA CATABAY SECOND EDITION EDITED BY CHIP CHANG, MICHELLE NG, & KYRA CATABAY BROUGHT TO YOU BY WITHOUT LIMITS Women’s Ultimate. Community. Competition. Empowerment. FIRST EDITION CONTENTS FIRST EDITION PUBLISHED 2010 | MICHELLE NG VISION / GOAL SETTING RECRUITING AND RETENTION THE BASICS PRACTICE PLANNING INJURY PREVENTION / FITNESS STRATEGY MENTAL TOUGHNESS YOUTH ULTIMATE STARTING AND BUILDING A B-TEAM MISCELLANEOUS TIPS Cover Photo: Cara Sieber (Ohio State Fever) & Michelle “Hydra” McGhee (Stanford Superfly) Photo by Brian Canniff IN LOVING MEMORY OF EYLEEN CHOU A DEAR FRIEND AND CONTRIBUTOR TO THE 1ST EDITION OF THE COLLEGE WOMEN’S ULTIMATE RESOURCES MANUAL AND THE OTHER FRIENDS & MEMBERS OF THE ULTIMATE COMMUNITY WE HAVE LOST YOUR LEGACIES LIVE ON IN THE WAY WE LOVE THOSE AROUND US TABLE OF CONTENTS 2018 PREFACE 12 MICHELLE NG FOREWORD 14 CHIP CHANG INTRODUCTION 16 KYRA CATABAY SECTION I: TEAM CULTURE CREATING TEAM CULTURE: IT’S A TEAM PROCESS! 19 ANRAYA PALMER BUILDING A CULTURE OF POSITIVITY 23 SAMANTHA SALVIA DEALING WITH DIFFICULT TEAMMATES 29 TIINA BOOTH HOW TO BRING UP EQUITY WITH YOUR TEAM 33 RENA KAWABATA HOW COLORADO KALI STARTED CONVERSATIONS 39 AROUND EQUITY MEGAN IVES USING INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE 43 JENNA WEINER IS SPIRIT OF THE GAME WORKING? 46 ALYSSA WEATHERFORD BUILDING A CULTURE OF POSITIVITY 51 TULSA DOUGLAS Without Limits SECTION II: LEADERSHIP FINDING DYNAMIC BALANCE AS A LEADER 55 RUSSELL WALLACK POPPING THE PUBLIC SPEAKING BUBBLE 59 ANNA NAZAROV CAPTAINING: STEP BACK TO STEP UP 62 CAROLYN NORMILE YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE THE BEST TO BE GREAT, 65 YOU JUST HAVE TO CARE THE MOST CHELSEA MURPHY PLANNING AN EFFECTIVE PRACTICE 69 HOLLY (GREUNKE) DENECOUR CAPTAINING: CREATING A HEALTHY FLEXIBLE 76 SPACES FOR SUCCESS LAUREN BOYLE THINGS I LEARNED FROM BEING BAD AT LEADERSHIP 79 FOR A LONG TIME ANGELA LIN SECTION III: DEVELOPING TEAMS, BUILDING PROGRAMS BELIEVE IN YOUR TEAMMATES: HOW TO BRING OUT 86 THE BEST IN EVERY PLAYER & BUILD A LONG-TERM PROGRAM BEN BANYAS FEVER DREAMS: HOW OHIO STATE BUILT & 92 SUSTAINS A SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM CASSIE SWAFFORD “WHY DO YOU LOVE ULTIMATE?”: RECRUITMENT & 99 RETENTION ALAINE “SHAKES” WETLI Without Limits B-TEAM OR BUST: THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF 103 ADDING A SECOND TEAM KAYLA EMRICK TEACHING ULTIMATE TO NEWCOMERS IN D-III 111 OR ANY NEW TEAM RACHEL “ROJO” JOHNSON MANAGING PERSONAL EXPECTATIONS ACROSS 114 DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ULTIMATE ERYNN SCHROEDER SECTION IV: MENTAL HEALTH, INJURIES, AND BURNOUT THRIVING THROUGH MULTIPLE COMPETITIVE SEASONS 119 BERT ABBOTT ROHRE’S TIPS FOR OVERCOMING A SEASON-ENDING 122 INJURY ROHRE TITCOMB MENTAL TOUGHNESS: AN ILLUSTRATED GUIDE 127 MELISSA GIBBS MENTAL HEALTH 130 LAURA BITTERMAN BURNOUT: GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK 134 COURTNEY KIESOW AVOIDING BURNOUT 140 GRANT LINDSLEY CONCUSSIONS 144 JUSTINE CROWLEY, DO SECTION V: COACHING TEAM SEEKS COACH: HIRING THE RIGHT PERSON 147 ALISHA STOUN Without Limits COACHING TO EMPOWER COLLEGE ATHLETES 152 SHEREEN RABIE TAKEAWAYS FROM COACHING WOMXN ATHLETES 157 IN THE CONTEXT OF PATRIARCHY ZARA CADOUX LINE CALLING 167 MANISHA “SLAP” DARYANI COMING AT YOU, COLLEGE PROGRAMS 170 MIRANDA ROTH KNOWLES SECTION VI: PLAYER DEVELOPMENT WHY EVERY TEAM NEEDS GLUE 174 SARAH “SURGE” GRIFFITH IT’S ABOUT THE PROCESS 177 LIEN HOFFMANN WHY PLAY ULTIMATE WHEN THE WORLD IS ON FIRE 181 HANA KAWAI SETTING YOUR SEASON LONG, INDIVIDUAL GOAL 185 KYLE “REX” MCBARD EMBRACING THE PROCESS 189 JENNY FEY PUSHING YOUR BEST TO BE BETTER 192 KATELYN TRAVAGLINI IMPOSTER SYNDROME AND THE CONFIDENCE GAP 194 GAIL REICH AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES 199 APPENDIX: DRILLS AVAILABLE ONLINE HERE Without Limits 2018 PREFACE | MICHELLE NG For the past decade, ultimate has been my life. I’m lucky enough to have been to College Nationals, Club Nationals, and Club Worlds, and I’ve captained nine different seasons across five different teams. I’ve also been on teams struggling just to complete passes and get people to practice. I started playing ultimate on a college B team and it was one of the most formative experiences I’ve had in this sport. A couple of years into my journey, I became very invested in creating playing and develop- ment opportunities for other players and teams. I remember using shoes for cones at College Sectionals (not Conferences!), and it being the norm for the women’s division to be relegated to the back fields at tournaments. I also remember organizing a meeting of the minds at Women’s College Centex in 2008 to try to ignite change and to get all of these brilliant lead- ers, my friends, on the same page. Equity wasn’t in our vocabularies; we just believed that we deserved the same opportunities we saw the men’s teams getting. I started Without Limits with the mission of fostering relationships within the women’s ultimate community and helping to grow the women’s division. Along the way, I began to realize the importance of these relationships and opportunities - not just on the field, but in life outside of ultimate. It’s been a privilege to see many players I’ve worked with become leaders on their teams and in their workplaces, and live lives as kind people making their communities better. In 2010, I organized and edited the first edition of the College Women’s Ultimate Resources Manual. It was a passion project, inspired by the many amazing leaders in our community and a desire to capture some of their knowledge in a how-to guide for new and/or aspiring leaders. We carried out the editing in Microsoft Word documents emailed back and forth. This was in the dark ages when I had a Nokia 5190 and printed MapQuest directions to navigate tournament weekends. Tournaments didn’t have round-by-round updates; you might not know who won a tournament across the country until days later. It was an entirely different time, one that not many current college players will be able to remember. 12 Hundreds of tournaments, clinics, and team and individual mentoring sessions later, I’m thrilled to be involved in the release of the 2nd Edition of the Manual. While many of the challenges facing young leaders remain the same, our sport has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade and our foundation of knowledge is constantly evolving. I’m in awe of how many people the original project reached, and I’m excited to bring even more content your way in this 2nd Edition. Read this Manual from cover to cover, or pick and choose the articles you want to read. More importantly, take the time to reflect on your own experiences, and thoughtfully engage your teammates and friends in conversations about these topics. A leader’s job is to empower and inspire each of their players to be the best version of themself, and we hope that these articles guide you to that end. The 1st Edition of the Manual was very focused on the “basics” of lead- ership and documented many hard skills and processes that could be shared and replicated across teams. While the 2nd Edition also covers some of these same topics, this edition also includes coverage of many soft skills that might not be obvious to a young captain. We also included articles on equity and mental health, two critical topics that have been brought to the forefront of many discussions since the 1st Edition was released. A huge thank you to Chip Chang for her work in making the 2nd Edition of the Manual happen. Thank you for raising the idea, circling back to raise it again, and for all of the work you put in along the way. This 2nd Edition truly would not have happened without you! I also want to say a big thank you to Adriana Withers from VC Ultimate for all of her guidance and support over the years, and to Kyra Catabay who has taken the lead on Without Limits. I’m proud of everything you do for our community, and I’m excited to work with you in the years ahead. And last but not least, a heartfelt thank you to my family for their lifelong support of my crazy dreams. Thank you for your advice and love, and for being alongside me every step of the way. 13 FOREWORD | CHIP CHANG I came across the first edition of this Resources Manual in the fall of 2010. I was a sophomore in college and had just come off my first season playing ultimate with the B-team. We had just graduated an enormous class, leaving seven returning members of the A-team, four of whom had the same years of ultimate experience as me - one. In fact, one of our elected captains was coming off her rookie season. Not only did this mean that a large contingent from the B- team was likely moving up to the A-team, but we also needed another large recruiting class to fill both teams and create a sustainable future. I went to UC San Diego (Psycho, you know!) and during that time, no one had played or even heard of ultimate prior to college. During my four-year tenure, we only had one rookie who had played before college - she stopped playing after a devastating ACL injury at our first fall tournament. The point is, we had to do a lot to recruit, retain, and teach rookies, especially on a college campus that was nicknamed UC Socially Dead.