The UPA is now "USA Ultimate"!!

The UPA is now "USA Ultimate"!!
The UPA has changed its name from the UPA(the Ultimate Players Association) to USA Ultimate

Thursday, January 22, 2015

It's 2015, people

Hello

It's 2015 now.  Since it's a new year I figured I'd get my annual blog post out of the way early this year.  Welp. Here it goes.

January 12th marked the beginning of the spring semester for us students. It also marked the return of all Members of the Ghetto Force to the the epicenter of Dayton's premier college ultimate team AKA the University of Dayton.  As such, classes resumed which basically made everyone question their purpose in life.  Or at least why they put themselves through such torture. Idk maybe some of you like class, in which case you're kind of a weirdo.  To remedy the pain of having multiple syllabi shoved down our collective throats we decided to start winter* practices.

The asterisk is present in the previous sentence because our first two winter practice sessions actually took place outside in beaming sunlight on Stuart field.  We were able to scrimmage and do some other stuff that we can't normally do indoors (like huck drills).  It was an amazing way to start off the year.  Most of us actually played pretty well.  Very encouraging performances from the rookies.

How most of winter feels vs. How Monday and Tuesday felt


One of the things that has changed for this season is that winter conditioning no longer takes place at 6:30am twice a week.  We've noticed over the past few years that those times have done a very good job of discouraging people from coming to practice and subsequently be out of shape once tournaments started. So the solution to this problem was to offer more practice days at more appealing times.  We have two sessions that happen around 6pm on Mondays and Tuesdays and two morning sessions from 7:30am to 9am on Wednesday and Thursday.  It seems to help since we've had good numbers at those sessions so far.

What would all this practice mean if there weren't tournaments to go to? Well, we would probably be in shape and be really good at throwing a frisbee for no reason. (I think that's the mission statement on USAUltimate's website)  So we have a splendid assemblage of tournaments for the 2015 spring season.  The tournament schedule is as follows:

2.14.15
Dayton Sectionals of the Indoor Ultimate Championship
Dayton, Ohio
4 teams

2.21.15 - 2.22.15
Beard of Zeus Tune Up
Berea, Kentucky
10 teams

3.14.15 - 3.15.15
Boogie Nights
Oxford, Ohio
16 teams

3.28.15 - 3.29.15
Music City 2015
Nashville, Tennessee
16 teams

Date TBA
Ohio Conference Sectionals
Location TBA
16 teams

Date TBA
Ohio Valley Regionals
Location TBA
16 teams

5.22.15 - 5.25.15
Nationals
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
20 teams

We are very optimistic at our chances to win all 3 regular season tournaments that we plan to attend.  We plan on winning the Dayton Sectional indoor tournament as well, but we are still unsure whether or not that will come to fruition.  The indoor tournament won't be the traditional tournament format, but will be a great way for us to shake off the rust and play competitive games against other teams in the area.

I'll also mention how the fall season ended.  We attended a tournament hosted by Indiana Wesleyan University in early November.  We were once again, and for the last time this year, split into X and Y squads.  Both squads faired well by making it to the championship bracket on Day 2.  We ended up forming a mega team to play the host IWU A-squad, which by the way consisted of the D-III Defensive Player of the Year, in a 3rd place game and came out victorious.  It was a nice way to cap the season off.  Here are some pics from that tournament

Teammates lol

Doug

Brandon pumps everyone up at half

Ian's layout score

Yung Scotty

Pat McAdams killed a guy


Additionally we had to say goodbye to a few beloved members of Ghetto Force at the end of the fall semester.  Mark Federenko, Ted Lannert, Michael "RapSheet" Mills, and nearly Dylan "Jump Manual" Corwin.  These people made all of us youngsters into the men we are today.  Maybe not that dramatic, but they're still awesome people that we've grown to know and love. We will miss them as they join the "Real World" and play for other Club teams.  We wish them the best.  <3
<3 U Mark
That's pretty much it for now.  I (actually will do this) keep you posted as new stuff happens.  In the mean time enjoy this before and after picture of Peaches from the time he was a member of Ghetto Force to the time after graduation.

Before

After

Til Next Time 
-C

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