Elliot Elmo Taylor Martin Chris White David Pichler Chevron Action Flash v Clapham © Dave Sanders 2011 ultimatephotos.org Mixed Winter League 2. © Simon Crisp 2011, photoboxgallery/ultimate [front cover] GB v Canada , World Championships Beach Ultimate. Photo © Alexandr Tikhomirov 2011 - atihomirov.ru 2 Editor’s Note So firstly – I’m not the Editor, but I direction. 2011 was a GB-year (as is am part of a team of people that have 2012). We won a hat-full of medals been struggling to gather articles – including World Beach gold in the and edit them all into some sort of mixed masters division. Will 2012 coherent shape for Ultimatum!2011. be the year when Open, Women or So in the absence of a single editor perhaps most likely Mixed, break that looked after this year’s edition, into the medals at WUGC? Finally, I said I would write something to the American Ultimate Disc League introduce this year’s magazine. started in April 2012 and our lateness allowed us the chance to include news I used to love Ultimatum! Of course, I of that initiative. No doubt many of us still do, but in the last couple of years will have mixed feelings about where it has assumed a more painful place that project may lead given that they in my life as we struggle with missed have included refs. deadlines and late delivery. And this year we’re later than ever! L We Looking beyond Ultimatum, I recently have a bigger editing team, and a new submitted our annual census plan to get Ultimatum!2012 out at the numbers to WFDF – and UKU just end of the right year. If you think you went over 3,500 members. We receive can help please email ultimatum@ emails every week from schools that ukultimate.com. play ultimate in PE lessons or after school but are completely outside I’d like to start by thanking everyone our “playing community”. So we are that has helped to get us here: Mara kicking off a new National Schools Alperin, Sean Colfer, Dan Berry, Chris championship. No doubt it will take Baker, and of course Jack Goolden. a few years to get going, but I’m Thanks also to everyone that wrote an convinced we’ve crossed a tipping article, or shared their photos. point where the growth in schools’ I hope you enjoy this year’s magazine. Ultimate is set to accelerate quickly I feel we have a great mix of reports, for several years. stories and ideas that give a good As a final point I thought I’d take this flavour of what Ultimate in the UK is chance to say that in 2012 we are doing all about right now, as well as some some planning for the period 2013-16. articles from further afield. I love the We wanted some simple ideas that contrast in the opening photos. World we could use to communicate the Beach was unbelievably hot. The main goals for our organisation in the London Winter League is generally coming years. This is still work-in- exceedingly cold. It’s great to hear progress at the moment, but I rather Ryan Keyfitz from Josh Wardle – an ex-Clapham like these two: “Ultimate in every teammate who has continued to play school” and “A coach in every club”. fanatically since moving to the US and who is a key member of the NexGen People often tell me that my full-time team. Ollie Gordon – who played in job in Ultimate means I’m living the the NexGen tour – also gives us his dream. With so many exciting things take on what that was like. There happening, I would have to say they are stories of the struggle to build are right! Women’s Ultimate. But if the biggest ever Uni Women’s Outdoor Nationals Si Hill in April 2012 (25 teams) is anything to go by there is good evidence that Canada , WCBU © Graham Bailey 2011 - grahambaileyphotography.com things are still going in the right 3 Fire starters years, and so we entered Tour 1 with calibre of player on a regular basis plenty of confidence. ensures that you continually work and push yourself. Every drill, every game, We started slowly, opening with losses every week at training was tough, but to Chevron and to EMO. However, we that’s why we were there. Plus, having managed to win our remaining games, an angry Stu on the sideline or Lewis recording impressive victories over in a time-out is not a fun experience! Tooting Tigers and LLLeeds, finishing 9th. It was a good result, but we felt We also had an abundance of we could achieve even more. experienced players to call upon if we were having difficulties with parts of As the Tour season progressed, our our game. Had we been a team in our results continued to improve, and we own right, the improvements wouldn’t took a number of first team scalps, have happened at such a rate. Drawing including EMO, Fusion, Brighton on the experiences and knowledge and the Irish national team. Perhaps of these players gave us confidence more impressive than our victories going into big games. Veterans like alone was our resolve to overturn late Ed Russell, Luke Hartley and Wayne deficits and close out tight games. We Retter were able to draw on their certainly played more sudden death combined 40(ish!) years of experience games than I care to remember. This and provide valuable knowledge and helped us to record an 8th place finish guidance to the younger players – at Tour 2 and 5th at Tour 3. Overall, we some of whom had not previously finished the Tour season in 6th place played in the A Tour. – not a bad performance for a second Ben Rolfe Rob Schumacher Matthew Ford team. However, there is an obvious downside to being a second team. Some of the benefits we experienced Everyone in the club would agree that this year were obvious. We were producing the best possible first team part of a larger squad, with around is the primary goal, which can thus Fire v Brighton Tour 3. © Andy Moss 2011 40 members, and so were able to have negative consequences on the guarantee good numbers at almost seconds. Unfortunately, there’s little There was only one second team in A event and Nationals, whilst the second every training session, something that you can do about it. Accepting this Tour in 2011 – Fire of London 2. We team were told they weren’t just single team squads often struggle fact is part and parcel of being on a produced some impressive displays aiming for top eight, they were aiming with. With initial teams not selected second team. this year, challenging and beating for Euros qualification. I’ll be the first until the week before Tour, intensity some of the UK’s strongest teams. to say that I thought at the beginning remained high as players fought for As our results improved, it wasn’t However, being a second team brings of the year it was unrealistic – but their spots. This intensity continued going to be long before the first with it a range of both positives and as the season went on, we started to throughout the season as players team promoted some of our players. negatives that other teams don’t genuinely believe that Euros was a moved up and down depending upon The likes of Harry Geller and Steve have to face, and it offers a very possibility. attendance and performance. The ‘Baldrick’ Walton put in strong different experience when compared continual reassessment helped performances to earn call-ups. Whilst to other top squads. A couple of pre-season European drive improvement and minimise fantastic for those guys – and much tournaments and a training weekend complacency. Dangling the carrot of deserved – it took some of the strength After a successful recruitment drive, on the south coast ensured a good first team – and thus a Euros – spots away from the seconds. Losing your Fire found itself with an abundance vibe was building both on and off can be a powerful incentive in driving best players, whether that’s through of talent. First team spots had to the pitch. This proved particularly players to bring out their A-game. their success or the loss of first team be fought for, which was reflected important for the second team; players, is tough. There is a constant throughout the season in the intensity with a large intake of players, it was As well as this, we had the opportunity need to adapt to the players you have of our training. With this in mind, the crucial to start building our plays and to match up against the likes of available. Whilst I’m sure many teams club set itself some ambitious targets. understanding how each other played Lewis Glover, Stu Greer and Rob face a similar problem, second teams early on. All of this helped us feel Schumacher on a weekly basis. Being suffer this more acutely. We often lost The first team wanted to win a Tour much better prepared than previous able to train and play against this 4 Harry Geller Callum Smith Fire v Brighton Tour 3. © Sapphira van Assema 2011 Top 16 compared to 2010 our most in-form players and as with first team. In retrospect, it improved time especially during the big games? Clapham Ultimate = the nature of second teams, when the people’s games massively, such as Or do you join a lower-level second Chevron Action Flash = firsts lost greater numbers, they took the second team players’ MVP and team and play a more important role Fire of London 1 = more players.