LUDA's second annual LollapaLUDA (free) hat tournament is just around the corner!

LollapaLUDA II will take place on Sunday, November 8th at Woods Park (33rd & O St.) in Lincoln, NE. We'll kick things off with the drawing of names to form teams around 10am or so and start competing shortly thereafter. Depending on the number of teams we end up with, we'll play until 4pm or so.

After a hearty day of ultimate, we'll declare a champion, eat huge burritos supplied free of charge by Chipotle, and adjourn to a local (all ages) establishment for further fellowship and the legendary awards ceremony.

The grand prize of course, presented to the tournament-winning team, is the coveted Bradford Franklin Award For Outstanding Achievement In The Field Of Excellence, but there will be other prizes and trophies given out, as well. These other honors may include but are not limited to the Spirit Award, Greatest Award, and any others the Minds of LUDA come up with.

Bananas, water, and bagels will be available at the fields. Come with a pair of cleats, sufficient clothing, and as many friends as possible.

Be sure to sign up online so we know you're coming! It'll just take a minute, we promise.

Feel free to visit the LollapaLUDA II page and/or the facebook event page.

A huge part of LUDA's long-term initiative for promoting ultimate Frisbee in Nebraska is supporting youth ultimate.

The time for Nebraska Youth Ultimate is now.

This is by no means a LUDA-exclusive endeavor; rather, making Nebraska Youth Ultimate the force that it can be requires the input and involvement of students, coaches, school sponsors, parents, and other volunteers.

In keeping with the Ultimate Players Association's (UPA) vision for youth ultimate nationwide, the following opportunities are available for our young ultimate players:

High School Teams & The State Championship (Nebraskionals)
Every high school is encouraged to form a team. A team requires players, obviously, but they also need a school sponsor and a coach. Parents are also strongly encouraged to get involved as assistant coaches and chaperones--even if they have no ultimate Frisbee experience. (They'll learn quickly.)

All high school teams will play a season of games against one another in the spring. Upon completion of the season in late May, the teams will compete in a tournament to determine the state champion. This tournament is called "Nebraskionals".

Nebraska Youth Ultimate Summer League
Following Nebraskionals, youth from 7th-12th grades will have the opportunity to play in the Nebraska Youth Ultimate Summer League from June to August.

Players do not need to have a high school team to participate in the summer league; in fact, instead of assigning teams based on school, all registered players will be drafted by captains and will play with the same team throughout the summer.

At the conclusion of the summer league, we will send a team of youth players from the league on to the UPA's Youth Club Championship series (YCC) in Blaine, MN. 

Resources
In the meantime, we need to hear from you. What's happening ultimate-wise at your high school? Do you want to coach or sponsor a team at your school? Are you interested in starting a team? Are you interested in volunteering in any way?

You can contact Seth Colaner, the LUDA Youth Coordinator, at ludaleague@yahoo.com with comments and questions.

Parting shot: Check out our newly-built Nebraska Youth Ultimate website, and please leave a comment or participate in a discussion on the forum!

If you see any of the Fatal Attraction (Lincoln/Omaha's mixed team) players this week, be sure to congratulate them on qualifying for regionals!

This weekend is a huge one for Nebraska ultimate, with Fatal representing our state at regionals while the rest of us duke it out at the Children of the Corn tournament (hosted by UNL's Cornfed) in Lincoln.

Even if you're not playing with a team at Children of the Corn, come by to watch the action and support Cornfed by purchasing t-shirts and discs at the fields.

And as far as regionals is concerned--we're pulling for you, Fatal!