Bumper Special Report

This week's Report really covers what's been going on for the past two weeks. There's been a lot! Unfortunately, some dastardly end of term work has prevented me writing till now. So, here it is, all in one very long email.

Remember, if you've got anything you'd like featured in the Weekly Report, give me a shout on secretary@irishultimate.com.

Cheers,

-David

IFDA Committee's Third Meeting:

On Thursday 4th December, the IFDA Committee once again ransacked McTurkil's, turning it into its temporary base of operations from where to plot out its intentions for the future of Irish Ultimate.

Numerous items were on the agenda. Here are some brief highlights from the rather lengthy meeting:

- The Committee discussed the work each member was doing in helping out the many new college clubs which have been recently founded. Each member has been assigned to a club to offer advice, encouragement and any assistance needed. This has included providing equipment and coaches to the new clubs. Amongst those helped in this way are NUIM, NCI, RCSI, Queen's and LSAD, along with many others.

- Plans were made for further developing juniors' Ultimate. The Committee now intends to arrange for a youth team to enter the European Youth Championships, to be held next August in Poland. Over the next few weeks, experienced adult players will be appointed in a supervisory role as coaches and administrators before advertising the team and holding trials for players. Applications for the supervisor roles will be invited in the near future and decided upon by a specially-appointed selection committee with experience in junior's Ultimate.

- Additionally, there was a decision to arrange a domestic outdoor youth Ultimate tournament: Outdoor All-Irelands, tentatively scheduled for late Spring, 2009.

- Preliminary observations were made on the idea of an emergency fund: a pool of money contributed to by IFDA membership fees which can be used by a player injured during an IFDA event to contribute towards medical expenses incurred.

- The Committee also discussed the positive steps being made towards achieving recognition by the Irish Sports Council as a National Governing Body.

- Easily the most time-consuming issue addressed was Uni League. A number of college clubs, including Trinity and UCD, were unable to field teams for the first Uni League weekend in Galway a short time ago. A decision needed to be made as to whether such clubs could go on to play in the second weekend (scheduled for February) and whether they should be considered to have forfeited all their games from the first weekend or should be allowed to make them up at a later stage.

Submissions from club captains on the issue were considered and various Committee members proposed a full spectrum of possible decisions. After some very lengthy discussion, the Committee decided that all teams who had been unable to go to the first weekend should be allowed to play at the second weekend and would be permitted to make up the games they missed from the first weekend in the interim period. Those games need to be organised for a reasonable time and location suiting the participants from the first weekend. Failure by the clubs who did not attend the first weekend to organise and play those matches will result in a forfeit for each one not played. Equally, any club who cannot partake in the second weekend may make up their games in a similar manner during the interim period.

The decision was not easily reached and was very thoroughly considered. It was felt that a penalty should be imposed on non-attending clubs; however, as this is the first year the League has ran, there was substantial confusion as to its functioning and the Committee thought that this should be seen as a mitigating factor. The decision incorporates both elements: it allows non-attending teams to make up their games, but involves them in considerable travel, inconvenience and expense.

It is the hope of the Committee that this will satisfactorily deal with the issue and address every viewpoint expressed in the fairest manner possible in the circumstances.

Full minutes on the meeting will be up within the next few days. To access them, head over to the Irish Ultimate site (www.irishultimate.com), log into your account and click on the IFDA section. You should be able to access minutes from the menu appearing on the left.

Also, the next meeting is scheduled for January 8th, 2009. If you have any questions or issues that you want the Committee to discuss, please email them either to myself (secretary@irishultimate.com) or Dominick Smyth (president@irishultimate.com).

Cage Rage:

On the frosty morning of Saturday 6th December, players received a warm welcome at Cage Rage, a brand new beginners' tournament hosted by recently revived college club Tallaght Titans.

Ten teams played over a weekend packed with 5-a-side, thirty minute games, each taking place on outdoor astroturf pitches entirely contained within their own cages. The matches provided beginners with the comfortable trappings of a small pitch and some shelter, but gave them the valuable experience of dealing in some way with the elements.

A large range of teams took part, from college staples like Trinity, DCU and DIT to school teams such as St. Mary's and St. Kevin's and even other clubs, like Circular Spectacular. Two particular standout teams were those from new college clubs, NCI and NUIM, who made their debut at the tournament. Despite the clubs having only been set up an extremely short time ago, each team showed an instinctive grasp of the game and performed admirably against some far more experienced sides. The enthusiasm, spirit and competitiveness on display by the two bode very well for their futures.

However, the school teams truly dominated the tournament. St. Mary's and St. Kevin's both fielded some very impressive sides who seemed just about unstoppable. Both ended up in the final, providing a fittingly epic close to the weekend. Some fluid cutting, intelligent dumping and intense defence were abundantly on display throughout. The score consistently remained close throughout the game, with both sides clearly giving up every last ounce of energy they had. But in the end, Mary's gained the upper hand through some tight marking, and secured their win.

DCU earned the Spirit prize. The team consisted entirely of beginners who only occasionally managed to pick up an experienced player. Despite this obvious setback, they played with skill, intelligence and a huge amount of competitiveness. The team functioned very well, with each intuitively grasping their chosen roles. They showed a good knowledge of the rules and fair-mindedness throughout their games, and very much deserved the prize.

Thanks to Tallaght Titans and Paul Cronin for all the work in making this tournament happen. It was a great success and a lot of fun. Here's hoping it becomes an annual fixture.

Ultimate Players Get Bowled Away*:

(*I'm so sorry)

Saturday 13th December saw an annual staple event in Irish Ultimate take place: the Bowls, two hat tournaments aimed at providing some relaxed fun and a chance to get one last bit of Ultimate in before the run up to Christmas.

The guys braved the elements and ventured outdoors for the Beer Bowl in Grangegorman. There was no shortage of unease in the preceding days, with many fearing the weather would turn out to be just as catastrophic as it was last year. The outlook was pretty dire on Friday evening when the heavens opened and a small flood popped out to thoroughly soak just about every inch of Dublin. But miraculously, in some sort of Ultimate-related Christmas miracle, the pitches were (fairly) playable the next day and, although some dark clouds reared their rather annoying faces, there wasn't a drop of rain during any of the matches.

What happened then can mostly be summed up in fours: there were four teams, with decent turnouts for each; the four teams played four games (round robins followed by the final / 3rd and 4th playoff); the four teams had four crates of four types of exotic Aldi beers to consume as they saw fit; the pitches got really, really muddy, meaning that on average it took about four seconds to fake; as a result, four-ce middle worked particularly well; and the average enjoyment rating given by select individuals (ok, me) was four out of four.

All in all, the day was a lot of fun, with the well-balanced teams leading to some very close, competitive and captivating games. Unsurprisingly, the last matches were especially hard-fought. Blue managed to secure a win over White in the 3rd/4th playoff. Meanwhile, Red and Green were matching point for point in the final until Green's use of zone and force middle paid off and they took the lead. They managed to keep in front as time ticked down and, all told, came out with a victory. One Rory "Pixie" Kavanagh is reliably reported to have cried real tears at retaining his record of never having lost a hat tournament.

Green team's prize: a bottle of Buck's Fizz. Its location: mostly all over people's clothing. That Gaz and his antics.

Meanwhile, the ladies were in Trinity's Sports Hall for a day of indoor games. With four teams of five, the day mostly followed the same format used at the Beer Bowl, but interestingly, teams were marked out using facepaint.

Attendance was particularly good, with nearly all who signed up coming along to play on the day. The fact that this included quite a number of beginners bodes very well for women's Ultimate for the coming year. However, perhaps the most impressive thing was the sheer quality of play right throughout the day, best shown by the fact that on two teams everyone got one MVP vote.

The final winners were the Red team, who also picked up Spirit.

And then both genders decided they simply couldn't be divided any longer and converged on Doyle's for a night of drinking, dancing and fighting through some unpleasantly large crowds. There were rumours of a bet between Heather and Dominick as to who would outparty who: the guys or the girls. I'm reliably informed that, as there seems to have been no clear answer on the night, the two have decided to resolve the issue with a massive dance-off of unprecedented ferocity at some point in the very near future. Heckling is wholeheartedly encouraged.

Results:

Beer Bowl winners:

Green team: Killian Blake, Clive Curley, Pat Hayden, Garry Hughes, Rory Kavanagh, Mark Loy, Matthieu Mayran, David Perry, Eoin Savage, Seamus.

Rose Bowl winners:

Red team: Heather Barry, Sparky Booker (MVP of the final), Sinead Byrne, Zara McIntyre, Louise McKeown and DCU's Mandy (or Man D, more accurately).

Defence Training Clinic:

IFDA Coaching Co-ordinator Roger Beatty organised another training clinic to take place an hour before pick-up, on Sunday 14th December.

The topic was defence, with Brian MacDevitt providing some very useful pointers on how to be in control when on D rather than just reacting to your mark's moves. Key topics included knowing the cutter and the thrower, appreciating the pitch positioning of players and understanding how disc dynamics should influence your defensive actions.

Development Meetings:

The weekend of the 13th/14th December saw two development meetings take place, each addressing how best to assist the growth of particular aspects of Irish Ultimate. Each meeting was open to players of any experience level and aimed to obtain their input.

The Saturday meeting was held after the Rose Bowl, with the intention of discussing the best means for developing women's Ultimate in Ireland. The next day, an elite player development meeting was held after pick-up to determine ideas for developing players to a very high skill level and further improving the standard of national-level players, with the focus on creating a highly-trained playerbase for EUC 2011 and WUGC 2012.

Minutes from the women's development meeting can be obtained by emailing Heather Barry (hbarry@tcd.ie) , while Dominick Smyth has already emailed the minutes from the elite player development meeting around to Pookas.

The plan is to hold more of these meetings in future and develop a huge range of ideas that can be put into practice to develop the sport.

Secretary