HISTORY LESSON OF THE WEEK:
The College Division officially separated from the Club Division in 1984 as the UPA continued to promote and organize Ultimate more. The UPA currently has strict eligibility requirements to play on a college team, and although Ultimate is not recognized by the NCAA yet, some similar standards apply, even as Ultimate is basically only a club program at most colleges. Just like the Club Division, the first few college championships were led by east coast teams (most notably UMass and Penn, as Glassboro’s heyday was ending), although Stanford won the first official championship. UC Santa Barbara (remember the Condors?) dominated the College Division for several years, similar to their Club counterpart, winning College Nationals from 1988-1990 and 1996-1998, also making finals or semi-finals 8 other times between 1986 and 2001. Other major programs through the years included Cornell, who made six semi-finals appearances in the late 80s and early 90s, and a few teams from North Carolina, including UNC Wilmington (Champs in 93, making semi-finals or better five times in the 90s), East Carolina (94 and 95 Champs), and even NC State for a short time in the late 90s. From the Central Region (where Cornfed plays), Wisconsin (known as the Hodags) has become a dynasty of sorts, winning Natties in 2003, before winning again in 2007 and 2008. Carleton College out of Minnesota won Nationals in 2001 and maintains a very strong program to this day, winning the 2009 UPA College Nationals to hold the current crown.The other strongest programs of the past few years include Florida, and Colorado’s Mamabird, who are perennially among the National favorites.

Next week, I’ll talk about women’s Ultimate.

Bonus Trivia: I'm a huge fan of James Bond and was watching "Thunderball"  when I recalled something I read in the history books: When creating the very first rules of Ultimate, Joel Silver decided to call the opening kick-off a "Pull" because he saw the skeet-shooting scene in Thunderball and thought it sounded cool (and launching the disc to the other team looked similar to launching a clay pigeon).


LINKS OF THE WEEK:
http://vimeo.com/358109  

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/si_video/2008/05/22/full_final_fris.SportsIllustrated  

These videos, produced by ESPN and Sports Illustrated, respectively, are pretty much the extent of mainstream exposure that Ultimate gets* (College nationals is usually broadcast on an obscure sports channel several weeks after the fact, but the main sports leaders have ignored Ultimate so far, even though they air cup stacking, dog shows, and eating contests). Go ahead and watch these videos and laugh, because they are funny, but there are also things to be learned. A lot of people get pissed off that Ultimate is perceived and portrayed this way, as opposed to a legitimate sport, but that is where our culture has brought us, and efforts to change those perceptions have not gained as much traction as they could. That is something that a lot of us are working on, but until then, enjoy the videos. The short, loud-mouthed guy in the Cheap Seats video is Kenny Dobyns of NYNY, who you may recall being mentioned in last week’s history lesson.

Here are some things we can learn from these videos:
1. We have a long way to go toward making our sport look legitimate and respectful.
2. There is a fine line between being a competitive athlete and looking like a jerk.
3. We are playing a game and throwing a Frisbee, let’s remember to have fun!

*UPDATE: I originally wrote this entry before the Oregon scandal broke this Spring, which was subsequently picked up by the Associated Press and mentioned in almost every major and minor news outlet. If you don’t know what happened with Oregon Ultimate this year, you can probably ask around, and we’ll write about it in a future blog entry


RULE OF THE WEEK: Now that we've covered some of the most common calls (fouls, picks, travels, marking violations) you will hear on the field, let's go back to the beginning of the game. Rule VIII.B. covers all the nuances of the Pull, including where to take the disc when the Pull goes out of bounds, dropping the Pull (rookie mistake!), and the rarely called offsides call. Warning: this is surprisingly long.

Pull:

1. Play starts at the beginning of each half and after each goal with a pull.

2. After a goal, the teams switch their direction of attack and the scoring
team pulls.

3. The pull may be made only after the puller and a player on the receiving team both raise their hands to signal their team’s readiness to begin play. A team must have a minimum of two players and a maximum of seven players on the field in order to signal readiness. The pull occurs when the puller throws the disc after signaling readiness.

4. Positioning before the pull:
   a. After signaling readiness, players on the pulling team may move anywhere in their end zone, but their feet may not cross the vertical plane of the goal line until the disc is released.
   b. After signaling readiness, players on the receiving team must be in
contact with the goal line that they are defending without changing location relative to one another.
   c. After the disc is released, it is in play and any player may move in any direction.
   d. If either team fails to maintain proper positioning before the pull, the
other team may audibly announce off-sides and a re-pull ensues. The call must be made before any player on the receiving team touches the disc.
   e. In games where Observers are used, the Observers may monitor and call offsides as appropriate. The first instance of offsides for each team will result in a warning and a re-pull. After a team has received its warning, any further instances of offsides are treated as follows:
      1. receiving team offsides: receiving team starts with the disc at the midpoint of the end zone they are defending, after players set up and a check is performed.
      2. pulling team offsides: receiving team starts with the disc at
midfield, after players set up and a check is performed.

5. A player on the throwing team may not touch the pull in the air before a member of the receiving team touches it. If this violation occurs, the receiving team may request a re-pull immediately.

6. If the pull hits the ground or an out-of-bounds area untouched, it is put into play as follows:
   a. If the disc initially hits and remains in-bounds, it is put into play
where it comes to rest or is stopped (unless a rolling disc was kicked or hit
forward).
   b. If the disc initially hits in-bounds and then becomes out-of-bounds
before being touched by the receiving team, it is put into play at the spot on the playing field proper (i.e., excluding the end zones) nearest to where it first crossed the perimeter line to become out-of-bounds.
   c. If the disc initially hits in-bounds and then becomes out-of-bounds
after being touched by the receiving team, it is put into play at the spot on the playing field nearest to where it first crossed the perimeter line to become out-of-bounds.
   d. If the disc initially hits an out-of-bounds area, the receiving team may put the disc into play:
      1. at the spot determined by IX.H (where it went out of bounds,
essentially); or
      2. after signaling for a brick or middle by fully extending one hand
overhead and calling brick or middle before gaining possession of the disc,
either at
         a. the brick mark closest to the end zone that the receiving team is
defending if brick was called, or
         b. the spot on the long axis of the playing field proper nearest to
the spot (where it went out of bounds) if middle was called.

7. If the pull is caught, the disc is put into play at the spot on the playing
field nearest to where it was caught.

8. If a player on the receiving team touches the pull before it hits the ground and the disc then hits the ground, it is considered a dropped disc (the same as an incomplete pass) and results in a turnover.

9. After a pull, whichever player takes possession of the disc must put it into play. If a player drops the disc while carrying it to the spot where it is to be put into play and it contacts the ground before the thrower regains possession, the other team gains possession of the disc at the spot on the playing field proper nearest to the drop.

10. There is no stoppage of play when putting the pull into play. If the disc is to be put into play at a location other than where possession was gained, the thrower starts play by touching the disc to the ground after establishing a pivot at the spot on the playing field where the disc is to be put into play.

http://www.upa.org/ultimate/rules/11th 

HISTORY LESSON OF THE WEEK: As club teams continued to expand and evolve across the nation, and as the newly formed UPA began organizing an actual championship series for teams to look forward to, the attitude of the game began to change. Differences in styles between the west coast teams and east coast teams reflected the typical personalities of the local regions: California teams were more laid back (yet obviously competitive); New York and Boston had harder edges to them. At the club level, the Condors out of Santa Barbara were dominant in the late 70s and early 80s, while other teams, such as Glassboro State in New Jersey fielded great teams for the era (although Glassboro began to drop off when the college division was organized). Other great but short-lived teams included the aptly named Rude Boys out of Boston and the colorful personalities of the Flying Circus and Tsunami in the San Francisco area. Midwestern teams (Chicago’s Windy City and St. Louis’s Tuna) also had great runs. However, the most infamous team in Ultimate club history was simply known as New York, New York. These guys were crude and tough, and they defied the developing concept of “Spirit of the Game,” which the UPA began to promote in its early days. Legends from NYNY include Kenny Dobyns, Pat King, and Dan Weiss, as they won Club Nationals 6 out of 7 years between 1987 and 1993. Later on, their intensity was rivaled by Boston’s famed club team Death or Glory (whose core still plays at the Masters level). DoG, led by such names as Jim Parinella, Alex deFrondeville, and Eric Zaslow, won Nationals six straight times from ’94 to ’99. Since those legendary teams however, Club Open Nationals has been won by west coast teams, with a new breed of Condors in the early part of the 2000s until the dynasties (and rivalries) of Sockeye (Seattle) and Furious George (Vancouver) took over for most of the past seven years. In 2008, San Francisco’s Jam, who had evolved over the years from the earlier Tsunami teams and had been frequent runners-up in the past decade, won the most recent Club Championship.

LINKS OF THE WEEK:
http://uparules.blogspot.com/
http://groups.google.com/group/UPA_11th_edition_rules

Focusing on the rules a little bit more, the above links will take you to blogs and discussion about the 11th Edition of the rules, as discussed by the UPA Standing Rules Committee. The various topics and questions go over some of the nuances of the rules and how to deal with unique and hypothetical situations that may come up during a game. Remember, the team who knows the correct rules and the correct calls has a distinct advantage!

RULE OF THE WEEK: XIV.B. discusses Marking Violations. At Wednesday\'s practice, some of us briefly discussed some of these (such as the Disc Space rule) and Stall Count issues.

“Marker” is officially defined (in II.K) as: The defensive player within three meters of the thrower’s pivot or of the thrower if no pivot has been established. If the disc is not in play, a defensive player within three meters of a spot on the field where the disc is to be put into play is considered the marker. (There are also more specific rules regarding being the marker, which I encourage you to read about, and we can also discuss those later.)

Marking Violations:

1. Fast count:
1. If the marker does not say stalling to initiate or resume a stall count, counts at intervals of less than one second, or skips a number in the count, it is a fast count.
2. If a fast count occurs in such a manner that the thrower does not have a reasonable opportunity to call fast count before the first utterance of the word ten, the play is treated as a contested stall.
3. If this occurs in the same possession following a contested stall, the stall count resumes at six.

2. Double-team: If a defensive player other than the marker is within three meters of any pivot of the thrower without also being within three meters of and guarding another offensive player, it is a double team. However, merely running across this area is not a double team.

3. Disc-space: If a line between any two points on the marker touches the thrower or is less than one disc diameter away from the torso or pivot of the thrower, it is a disc space violation. However, if this situation is caused solely by movement of the thrower, it is not a violation.

4. Vision blocking: If the marker deliberately blocks the thrower\'s vision, it is a vision blocking violation.

5. Fast count, double team, disc space, and vision blocking are marking violations.

6. Only the thrower may call a marking violation, and to do so must call out the name of the specific marking violation.

7. When a marking violation is called, play does not stop. The violation must be corrected before the marker can resume the stall count with the number last uttered before the call minus one (e.g. stalling one…two... fast count ...one…two…). If the marker resumes the stall count before correcting a marking violation, it is another instance of the original marking violation, which may be called by the thrower.

8. If a marker commits a marking violation after being called for a marking violation during the same stall count but before the thrower is in the act of throwing, the thrower may choose to either call another marking violation or to treat the marking violation as a general defensive violation. To treat it as a general violation, the thrower must call violation.

By the way, rule XIV.A.5 says: \"If a stall count is interrupted by a call, the thrower and marker are responsible for agreeing on the correct count before the check. The count reached is the last number fully uttered by the marker before the call. The count is resumed with the word stalling followed by the number listed below:
1.General Rules:
1.Uncontested defensive foul or violation: 1
2.Uncontested offensive foul or violation: Count reached plus 1, or 9 if over 8
3.Contested foul or violation: Count reached plus 1, or 6 if over 5
4.Offsetting calls: Count reached plus 1, or 6 if over 5
5.Unresolved calls: Count reached plus 1, or 6 if over 5

(This rule tells you where to reset the stall count after a marking violation.)

Since we are sort of bouncing around the rule book, some of these terms and concepts may be confusing. If so, please bring up any questions or potential situations to discuss. Even veterans and nerds like us get confused by certain rules (frequently!).
http://www.upa.org/ultimate/rules/11th 

HISTORY LESSON OF THE WEEK: As Ultimate continued to spread, the concept of manifest destiny took hold in a big way when the sport reached Santa Barbara, California. UCSB began playing Ultimate in 1974, eventually coming to be known as the Condors. In 1977, the Condors won an early “National Championship” in one of the first tournaments to feature nationwide competition. To this day, the Condors are still a force and are one of Ultimate’s greatest dynasties, having won multiple Championships at the Club level, as recently as 2001, and are still making regular appearances at Club Nationals. When the Ultimate scene finally reorganized into Club and College divisions (around 1984), UCSB was and is still a force, winning College Nationals a number of times with both the Open and Women’s teams. One of the Condors’ founders was Tom Kennedy, who went on to found the Ultimate Player’s Association in 1979 in an effort to unite the growing Ultimate community under a standard ruling and organizing entity. Of course, the UPA remains as the national governing body of the sport. One of Kennedy’s and the UPA’s earliest accomplishments was to organize the various Ultimate teams into competitive regions and turn the championship series into a collection of regional champions.

LINK OF THE WEEK: This week, we're posting two links:

The Ultimate Handbook: http://www.ultimatehandbook.com/wordpress/     
This is an older website that is undergoing some recent updates. This is one of the first places I ever found to explain strategic concepts in Ultimate. They diagram plays, drills, and formations using Flash animation. Since parts of the site are apparently still going through changes, here is another site:

Zip's Tips:
http://www.brown.edu/Athletics/Mens_Ultimate/zipstips/index.html  
Josh Ziperstein won the Callahan Award his senior year at Brown University in 2005 as the top college player in the country that year, taking his team to the Finals of College Nationals. He now plays for Chain Lightning in Atlanta, a frequent Club Nationals participant. Earlier in his college career, he began posting daily tips for his Brown teammates so they could become better Ultimate players. The page became popular nationwide and is still up today, with some tidbits that are informative and sometimes funny.

RULE OF THE WEEK: Rule XVI.I. is the "Pick" rule. In addition to travels and fouls, the calls on the field that you are most likely to hear and call are picks. The rule exists mostly for safety reasons, with the intent of avoiding collisions. Basically, when you make you cut, you can't lead your defender into another player.

By the way, "Guarding" as used below, is defined in Ultimate (according to II.G) as: "A defender is guarding an offensive player when they are within three meters of that offensive player and are reacting to that offensive player."

Picks:

1. A pick occurs whenever an offensive player moves in a manner that causes a defensive player guarding an offensive player to be obstructed by another player. Obstruction may result from contact with, or the need to avoid, the obstructing player.

2. A pick can be called only by the obstructed player and must be announced by loudly calling pick immediately after it occurs.

3. If play stops according to XVI.C, players reposition according to XVI.C.4. In addition, the obstructed player is then allowed to move to recover the relative position lost because of the pick.

XVI.C and XVI.C.4 refer to the "Continuation Rule," which applies to just about any violation and basically says that if a call (such as a pick) is made when the disc is in the air (or if the thrower tosses it before realizing the call is made), then play continues until the disc stops. If you hear a travel or pick call, don't throw the disc, and if the disc is thrown, you better hope it's caught, or it's a turnover! Please read more about the continuation rule on the rules page, and we will be sure to discuss it in future weeks.

http://www.upa.org/ultimate/rules/11th

HISTORY LESSON OF THE WEEK: Ultimate began to spread when the group of Columbia High School students in New Jersey who had written the first set of rules went off to college. Ultimate games were soon seen in the early 70s at places such as Princeton, Yale, and Rutgers. At the same time, the next generation of CHS students, led by Irv Kalb (whose name is also listed in early editions of the rule book and later came to be known as the “Johnny Appleseed” of Ultimate) began sending copies of the rules to other high schools in New Jersey. The first interscholastic Ultimate game occurred when a rival high school played against CHS in their now legendary parking lot. The first inter-collegiate Ultimate game was played between Princeton and Rutgers on November 2, 1972, the 103rd anniversary of the very first intercollegiate football game (between the same schools on the same site). By the mid-70s, Ultimate had spread to dozens of colleges (still primarily in the northeast), and in 1975, Kalb organized the first major college tournament at Yale (which was won by Rutgers). Also in 1975, Dan “Stork” Roddick, one of Kalb’s college teammates, was hired as marketing director at Wham-O (the only source for discs at the time) and began using his position to promote the young sport. Kalb continued to oversee the development of the rules until the early 80s. 

LINK OF THE WEEK: http://www.the-huddle.org/issues/  
The Huddle came on the scene last year as probably the best collection of Ultimate journalism and information on playing the game that I have seen. Their collection of Issues covers various topics, written by a panel of experts, each giving their valuable perspectives on strategy, technique, and skills. This is good stuff! 

RULE OF THE WEEK: Section XVI.H discusses Fouls. Of course Ultimate is technically a non-contact sport, but in the same mold as basketball, where contact happens from time to time. 

Fouls are defined (according to II.E) as: “Non-incidental contact between opposing players. In general, the player initiating the contact has committed the foul.” Incidental Contact is defined (according to II.H) as: “Contact between opposing players that does not affect continued play.”

Fouls: It is the responsibility of all players to avoid contact in every way possible. 
1. A foul can be called only by the fouled player and must be announced by loudly calling foul immediately after it occurs. 
2. Contact resulting from adjacent opposing players simultaneously vying for the same unoccupied position, is not in itself a foul. 

There are several complicated nuances to when a foul can and should be called (XVI.3), and it is written with much length, so I won't post it all here, but if you would like to know more about this very important aspect of the game, read about it here: http://www.upa.org/ultimate/rules/11th#XVI 

As an added feature for the benefit of LUDA's members and fans, we will regularly be posting the following History Lessons, Links, and Rules of the week to further your knowledge about Ultimate.

Much of this has been sent to Fire At The Circus members in the past, but now it will be accessible to all (and FATC members, I'll continue to write new editions in the near future).

For you Ultimate nerds out there, I may be glossing over some of the details in these lessons, so feel free to add comments as appropriate if we miss anything or get something wrong.

Thanks - CB

******************************

HISTORY LESSON OF THE WEEK: Most sources trace the founding of Ultimate to Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey in 1968. A team-based Frisbee game was introduced to Joel Silver during a summer camp, and he took it to school with him that year (Wham-O had only patented Frisbees since the 50s). In Fall of 1968, Silver, as a joke, proposed to CHS’s student council that a committee be formed to explore adding Frisbee to the school curriculum. The motion passed, of course. Silver and his friends developed the game, initially playing in the school parking lot with unlimited endzones. Silver called it “the ultimate sports experience,” and the name Ultimate Frisbee stuck around. Silver, along with Jonny Hines and Buzzy Hellring, developed the first set of rules that we now call the First Edition of the official rules (we are now on the 11th Edition). CHS is still listed as the first copyright in 1970 in the rulebook, if you have a copy. The game spread when the kids from CHS went off to college, and so on. Joel Silver, by the way, is now one of biggest movie producers in Hollywood, having produced the Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, and Matrix franchises, among others.

LINK OF THE WEEK: http://upa.org  
The Ultimate Players Association is the national governing body for the sport and currently runs the championship series, which Fire at the Circus plans on participating in beginning this fall. Their website is not the slickest of all time, but is full of good info if you navigate the site for a while, including tournament schedules and results, rules, outreach programs, etc. Everyone who plays in the series (beginning with Sectionals) will have to become a UPA member this year, so it will be good to be familiar with what they have to offer.

Since the next section is rules, here’s a bonus link to the rules page: http://upa.org/ultimate/rules/11th  

RULE OF THE WEEK: Section XVI.J. of the rulebook deals with Traveling. Travel calls can be disruptive, so it pays to know how you need to be set and what to be able to look for. Plant your pivot foot!

Traveling: The thrower must establish a pivot at the appropriate spot on the field and keep all or part of the pivot in contact with that spot until the throw is released. Failure to do so is a travel and results in a stoppage of play and a check.
1. In addition, each of the following is a travel:
a. A player catches the disc and either speeds up, changes direction or does not stop as quickly as possible before establishing a pivot (XV.B).
b. A player receives a pass while running or jumping, and releases a pass after the third ground contact and before establishing a pivot (XV.C).
c. Purposeful bobbling (including tipping, delaying, guiding, brushing, or the like) to oneself in order to advance the disc in any direction from where it initially was contacted (XV.A).
d. The thrower fails to touch the disc to the ground when required (XIII.B).
2. Exceptions:
a. If a non-standing player loses contact with the pivot spot in order to stand up, it is not a travel, provided the new pivot is established at the same location.
b. It is not a travel if a player catches the disc and releases a pass before the third ground contact (XV.C).
c. If play stops, the thrower may reset the pivot.