Some Links on Wednesday

Sport Link
Tennis: a sport with many similarities to ultimate. Here are the BBC write-ups on the spectacular performances at Wimbldon last weekend. Fed is still my favourite.
Mens Final (Federer vs Nadal)
Womans Final (V Williams vs S Williams)

The Physics of Frisbee
Here's a link to a scientific paper on the physics of a frisbee in flight. http://web.mit.edu/womens-ult/www/smite/frisbee_physics.pdf
Fairly interesting stuff... if you're into that sort of thing.

Fitness
I'm embarrassingly out of shape at the mo.
Here are some inspiring conditioning tips on the huddle.

and finally

Comedy Genius
Frank Huguenard...?

The Ultimate All-star Line-up

Bored at work yesterday I started to contemplate my ultimate dream team. If given the choice of any sportsmen currently playing at the highest level, what 7 would you pick to play on your universe point line? (Ultimate players not included). Here is my line-up:

Manning, realising he chose the wrong sport

Handlers
Roger Federer (Tennis player) - Lost to Nadal this weekend but still, in my eyes anyway, the most technically accomplished racquet sport player of all time. I dream of the things he could do with a disc.

Peyton Manning (Quarterback, Indianapolis Colts) - Undoubtedly the best quarterback of his generation he has wonderful vision and a tonking throwing arm.

Dan Carter (Fly-half, USA Perpignan and New Zealand) - Probably the best distributor of the ball in the modern game, this man has vision, skill, pace and tremendous footwork to boot.

Cutters
Brian Habana (Winger, Bulls and South Africa) - The second rugby player in the line-up, Habana has jaw-dropping acceleration and great straight line pace. He does 100m in 10.4, has been known to race cheetahs and set the 2008 Rugby World Cup alight. He also has great awareness and can catch. I don't see him having problems getting free on an ultimate pitch.

Randy Moss (Wide Receiver, New England Patriots) - Lightning pace, sticky hands and an inbuilt ability to loose his man - just look at this record. He would make a pretty sick deep player on any ultimate side.

LeBron James (Forward, Cleveland Cavaliers) - My ignorance of basketball is considerable and that’s probably why I have picked only one basketball player for my 7. But if you had to pick on one is would be this chap - he is a truly awsome athlete.

Terrell Owens (Wide reliever, Dallas Cowboys) - Another dominating wide receiver, holds the NFL record for most reception in a single game (20). Won’t be winning any spirit prizes with this guy though.

Subs - Here are a few stars that didn’t quite make it into my top 7.

Edwin Van Der Sar (Goalkeeper, Manchester United and Holland) - Hands like glue, reactions of a cat, good height and the ability to jump and layout. He certainly has a host of qualities that could make him a great receiver, but then again I've never seen him run.

Andrea Pirlo (Midfielder, AC Milan and Italy) - Another footballer. Pirlo is the creative force behind a world cup winning Italy side and a Champions League winning AC Milan side. His vision is amazing and he strikes the ball with precision and subtlety. I'd like to think these qualities could be put to good use in ultimate.

Honorable Mention
Shane Warne (Spin Bowler Rajasthan Royals and Australia) - Probably the best leg spinner ever to grace planet earth, Shane Warne can do things with a cricket ball that you wouldn't believe are possible. He's also quite handy with a bat. If he can make a disc spin like he can make a ball spin I reckon he'd made a pretty useful static handler.

Who would be on your Ultimate All-star line?

Team in Profile: Chevron Action Flash

Each week from now on I will feature a team detailing achivements, history and trivia. I also hope to include interviews with players in the future. This weeks 'team in profile' is Chevron Action Flash, current holders of the UK Tour title. I've tried to be as accurate as possible but if you see any incorrect facts please let me know.

We are Chevron, we are Chevron, super Chevron, from Brazil, we are Chevron, super Chevron, we are Chevron and we're skill (The Chevron song, sung to the tune of 'Sailing' by Rod Stewart).

Manchester based Chevron Action Flash commonly known as Chevvy are one of the top British Ultimate clubs, with teams competing in both Open and Mixed divisions of the UK Tour and National events.
The team officially formed in 1995 as a graduate team for ex ‘Fingers 6’ (Manchester Met Uni) players.

Chevron Action Flash at Open Tour 3 in Mansfield (courtesy of Roland Tomlinson of BU: See http://snowspeeder.co.uk/ultimate/)

Since then Chevron have consistently finished as a top 5 team in the UK Tour, claiming five Tour event wins along the way, but never, until 2008 that is, winning the Tour outright. After chasing the title for over a decade Chevron finally managed to capture the elusive Ben Rainbow Trophy with three fine performances. Finishing as the loosing finalists to Clapham at Tour 1 in Bristol; Winning Tour 2 with a tight sudden death (universe point) victory against Fire in Cardiff; and securing their place in history with a dominant win over Clapham for the 3rd place at Tour 3 in Mansfield. Chevron have yet to show their true colours on the international club scene, their highest European finish, a somewhat disappointing 8th at EUCF in 2008.
Chevron have also had success in the mixed division winning mixed nationals in 2000 and finishing 2nd overall in Mixed Tour 2007. They are currently battling to win the 2008 Tour title, finishing 1st at Mixed tour 1 in Brighton and 2nd at Mixed tour 2 in Burton-on-Trent. The deciding Tour will be held next weekend in Birmingham.
The current Chevron Open side has a great mix of experience and youth with plenty of GB junior players drafted in for the 2008 season. Their squad is large in comparison with other top British teams and this certainly seemed to play to their advantage at times during Tour this year. Several Chevron players will be travelling with the GB Open team to Vancouver (WUGC) this summer. Stars include Matt Beavan, Dave Grayson and the dominant Stu Mitchell. After Vancouver Chevron will be looking to complete the season with high place finishes at Open and Mixed UK Nationals and EUCFs. Now stronger than ever before, I have no doubt that Chevron Action Flash will continue to feature at the very highest level of British and European Ultimate.

For more information on Chevron Action Flash see their website.

Mixed Tour 2, O & D lines?

This past weekend I enjoyed a fantastic couple of days playing for Flump at Mixed Tour 2 in Burton-on-Trent (results here). We had a great team – not only quality players but a really fun group of people. I think the rapport within the team really helped us achieve a good standard despite a severe lack of practice / preparation.

Flump on the line (courtesy of Dr Hird)

Props to Blockstack TV who put on an unexpected party on the Saturday night. It really added to the weekend for me and from lots of other people I’ve spoken to. I was less impressed by the Marston’s Pedigree (beer brewed next to the fields) – it still tasted a bit like eggs.
So, to the point of this blog. Something I noticed playing with Flump this weekend and also with Brighton at Open Tour 0. We had a lot of guys down to play (10) and none of them were ‘droppable’. Our captain had the smart idea to split them into O & D lines. On the surface this seems to be a good way to get people lots of people playing well together quickly, however I got the feeling that things were a little disjointed on the Saturday. Unfortunately we lost two of our best players to injury and I was a bit worried on the Saturday night. We went out on the Sunday morning a little hung-over but more ‘streamlined’ as a team. The decrease in numbers seemed to have benefited us as we played a more fluid, comfortable style. We won our cross-over well and continued to play similarly throughout the day.
I recall a similar thing happened whilst playing for Brighton at tour 0 playing. We scraped through the first day playing set O and D lines, mixed things up for day two and won the tournament.
Whilst I’m sure offensive and defensive lines can be invaluable when used for large teams who practice very regularly have a depth of quality I feel that they should be used with caution. At lower levels ie. UK university, or B-tour its probably more sensible to be flexible, calling lines in response to the situation at hand. Trying to force people onto O & D lines may end up keeping valuable players off the field when you need them most. Saying that I think flexibility within a squad can provide a great advantage at all levels; lines should never be set in stone.