Season Recap

Hey all,

Here is the long over due season recap!

Emerald City Ultimate came together over several months. We had a very unique focus: Play Ultimate, Teach Youth.

In some ways it was simple, in others, it was exceptionally challenging. However, ECU players/coaches bought into this system and program and while we, as a team of competitive players, did not play to the level we would have loved, we feel as though we did what we had set out to do.

ECU helped run 17 clinics this season under the pilot program Ultimate Change. Coaches volunteered their time, in many cases the team exchanged practices for clinics in order to truly make our season 60% about coaching and 40% about playing. It was important to us to maintain this ratio; it was what made us different as a team and we wanted to be aware of our decision at all times.

In the end, once we were bested by Bay Area Wolf 13-15 at USAU Regionals, the playing portion of our year ended, but we were able to keep our heads high realizing we had done something new and different.

We want to thank everyone who followed us, rooted for us, or just liked us more than most teams! You will not find a more grateful team. You all helped make both ECU and Ultimate Change a reality and all of us are grateful for every second of this season.

Respectfully,

ECU Captains

 

Quick Saturday Regionals Recap

Have a few minutes after a sweet ice bath…

ECU cruised through their game with LPC forcing them under and putting pressure on their more experienced college players. With some sweet layout D’s from Chase Sparling-Beckley and Pat Baylis, ECU was able to stay on defense for most of the game.

ECU wins 15-4

Santa Cruz Club was another story. They came out fired up, ready to make us pay for some lazy D and unfocused O. Daryl Nounnan and Idris Nolan still got it, with Daryl even taking ECU deep for goals. Devon ‘Sky Captain’ Anderson and Travis Ladd ran some of our defenders ragged, but finally with some intense D points, ECU gets back some breaks at the end of the game to end it.

ECU wins 15-13

Yet another battle with Sockeye and once again going their way. ECU’s offense has trouble pushing through to their cutters and the D lines O get the disc up to the endzone but good Fish pressure saves them two breaks. Thomas Sebby makes an enormous grab to save a pick called huck before half. The second half saw three huge skying plays by Sockeye’s Matt Rehder and some rough miscommunications by ECU handlers.

ECU loses 8-15

Tomorrow is a new day and as many of you will know, Sunday of NW Regionals is when things get serious. Big game against Rhino at 830am starts the Sunday fun off. Stay tuned to our Twitter as we will work to update. http://www.twitter.com/ecultimate

NW Regionals Preview

Tomorrow marks the start of the USAU NW Regionals tournament held in Ripon, CA.

13 teams ( a topic of how the NW Region lost teams across all divisions is another story) will vie for 3 spots to Nationals. If you remember, the NW used to receive 4 bids through its dominance, however in 2007, Furious George finished 9th and Rhino finished 13th, thus giving the bid away. The pressure has been on even more for the usual 5 strong teams going into regionals (Jam now being replaced by ECU).

The seeding– 1) Revolver 2) Sockeye 3)Furious George 4) Rhino 5) ECU 6) Wolf, leaves us with pools of

A- Revolver, Wolf

B- Sockeye, ECU

C- FG, Rhino

ECU’s big pool battle will be its last game of the day against their co-city competitors. Sockeye took the WA/BC Section two weekends ago with a 15-12 win as Andrew Fleming, Mike ‘MC’ Caldwell, Nate Castine and the rest of the ‘fresh fish’ played a huge game. The Seattle title is firmly in their grasp and ECU will once again be the underdog in a great civil (war?) matchup!

Sundays system puts the top 8 finishers into a double elimination bracket with the two teams reaching finals getting an automatic bid to Nationals. The rest of the teams will fight through the back door for the last spot and the chance to sit on the white sands of Sarasota, FL.

Follow us on Twitter as we will try our best to update throughout the weekend– http://www.twitter.com/ecultimate

Check out the ScoreReporter page for info and to see how your favorite NW teams are doing– http://scores.usaultimate.org/scores/#open/tournament/7489

WA/BC Sectionals Recap

This year’s WA/BC Sectionals marked possibly the most intense sectional battles, but also one of the most difficult WA/BC weekends in many years with three teams all vying for the top spot.
After lacking any type of real warm up before our CHC games, ECU made a concentrated effort to get to the fields early to warm up. Led by the unbelievably plyo/warm up abilities of Devo and Kosednar, the team was sweating and ready to roll out of the gates.
Saturday- Game 1- Furious George
The Monkey were missing Oscar Pottinger, Alex Hughes and Mauro Ortiz for this game and it became apparent that the handling load these guys brought was sorely missed. ECU gets several breaks to start the game off of bad throws, miscues, and D’d floaty passes. Ryan Winkelmann came down with two huge D’s including a come from behind endzone D off of a huck from Andrew Lugsdin to Aaron Loach. Great handler defense from Henry Schneider forced another turn from Furious and ECU storms to a 7-2 lead before trading out to take half 8-3. Our huddle talked about continuing to apply pressure to the handler sets with Kirk Savage and Adam Silverstein were playing quarterback for FG for most of the game. The second half included a big D from FG player Alex Chan and Furious was able to get back some of its breaks with strong work from Matt Doyle. In addition, their O line settled down and Andrew Brown helped calm the offense with good decision-making and strong break-mark throws. However, their first half whole was too big and ECU brings in the win with some big plays from Chris Rupp, Vehro Titcomb and Alex Evangelides.
ECU wins 15-12
After a second round bye, ECU got back to the fields to play HAM, a Western Washington University filled team.
Saturday- Game 2- HAM
After intense heckling from the HAM sideline, specifically directed towards WWU Alumns Sean Sears and Wes Simons, ECU was able to get several breaks off of good pressure defense..and some good ol’ fashion college-ball throws from HAM that we were able to come down with. Notable moments in the game included 6’5 Dean (last name?) bringing home the bacon over several ECU players and Devan Larson making all the break throws. Of course we must mention Sean Sears trying to toe in a huck from Danny Karlinsky that was about 10 yrds out the back; HAM erupts in laughter after Sears realizes he is 8 yrds away from the line..dragging nothing but grass.

ECU wins 15-8
Saturday- Game 3- Enemy
Enemy, a collective of UPS, US, PLU and other Seattle/Tacoma based players came fired up to the game. We had never seen this team before and were ready for a fight. ‘Pumba’ made several athletic plays including a HUGE D over several ECU players to save a huck goal. Xtehn Titcomb and David ‘Doc’ Morgenroth played excellent in this game for ECU, providing much needed defensive intensity. Nick ‘Opie’ Hollon continued to make people pay for forcing him flick and dropped two enormous hucks to put Enemy in trouble.
ECU wins 15-4
Saturday- Game 4- UBC A
Many of the ECU players can remember playing Morgan Hibbert, Oscar Pottinger, Nick Menzies, Alex Hughes, Jon Hayduk and Russell Street in college during their stints with UBC. This group of kids seemed to have some of the same hunger, starting their season early with some club level games. Though they didn’t seem to have any huge standouts from their past college season, the Thunderbirds still pushed the game with some big hucks and big bids.
ECU wins 15-5
Saturday night ended with a fantastic BBQ at the Schneider estate. Including hot tubbing, quad-chess games, ping-pong, a cornicopia of food and of course the child-phenom, Sebastian Schneider hanging around (sometimes signing autographs). Big thanks to the Schneider house for some great hospitality and delicious home cooked food!
Sunday’s weather took a different turn. Wind, bursts of rain and wet conditions forced a drastically different semifinals.
Sunday- Semifinals- Outlaw

Chicago was a wake up call for ECU as Outlaw showed that they can compete and do damage against anyone. This time we specifically worked on respecting their players with tighter man defense and trying to force the disc to the trap side. ECU got two breaks, one upwind and then the following downwinder off of some fantastic handler movement from Mike Jaeger and Chris Kosednar. However, ECU couldn’t push the gap any farther and Ben Whipple once again took over in the sky, getting huge D’s and making disgusting grabs in the wind. Mark ‘Hero’ Burton scored goal after goal and Outlaw’s pressure forced ECU to turn the disc over by their upwind goal. Two breaks brought the game close again with the pressure on for either team to score up wind. Watson Sallay and Mike ‘Sultan’ Kiyoi put the team on their shoulders for an unbelievable upwind break point after touching the disc almost every other time. Jaeger collects another break with a goal line grab from Karlinsky for another point and the game ends shortly after.
Outlaw looks poised to make some big plays at Regionals and to cause some serious headaches throughout the tournament.
ECU wins 11-8
On the other side of the bracket, Sockeye’s D is able to take the game with some hard fought upwind battles and take the game 12-8. Check out www.seattlesockeye.org  for their write up.
Sunday- Finals- Sockeye
Sockeye and ECU have had some interesting battles this season, including Flowerbowl during tryouts for ECU and a warm up for Sockeye’s Worlds roster, a showcase game two months later before ECC, and a showcase game after an ECU clinic. Meeting for the first time in a ‘real’ game was exciting for both teams as several players have good friends on each team..some even have housemates on opposing teams. Of course, the battle was going to be hard fought.
Both team’s offenses clicked right away. Kosednar was unstoppable in the lanes, taking over for Chase Sparling-Beckley, getting the disc at will and making any play with the disc. Sockeye’s Andrew ‘Highlight’ Fleming made deep cut after deep cut for goals, while Mike ‘MC’ Caldwell was working relentlessly in the lanes. Though ECU was able to force two turns with their D team, an overthrown Jimmy Chu flick to Jaeger just wouldn’t stay down and Sockeye took the first shot with a break at 6’s. Following a big block from Charlie Ellis on a low huck, Sockeye was able to convert for another break to take half 8-6. The second half included breaks for both teams and Fleming once again taking over. Tyler Kinley made a huge grab off a mac’d D attempt by Karlinsky and Sockeye pulls the game open at 14-9. However, ECU proves it still has some work to do, scoring on O and then reeling off two D breaks with a beautiful huck from Schneider to Doc and another clinic on lane cutting from Sultan and Chu. However, Fleming seemed to have enough and took off deep downwind for the score, the win and the sectionals title.
Sockeye wins 15-12
Sunday- 2/3 Game- Furious
ECU’s reserves were spent, with several players sitting out during the game for long stretches. Furious came back with intensity and anger from the previous day. Having Pottinger, Ortiz and Hughes back didn’t hurt either. A bad first stretch hurt the the City and we went down into an early hole. Furious takes half 8-4 and roles from there. Notable plays include a crazy grab from Oscar over traffic and then a huge huck, a powerful in-cut layout D by ECU’s Schneider on Ryan Knowles of Furious.
Furious wins 15-7
After a fun, draining and confidence boosting Sectionals, ECU focuses their sights on Regionals. A preview should be up tomorrow or Thursday.

Chicago Heavyweights Day 2

Well rested and ready to amend Saturday’s weak start, ECU was at the fields early warming up and preparing for the first game.

Game 1 vs. CornBallers
In another matchup with little pregame scouting, ECU matched up against a less experienced but still hungry CornBallers team. ECU stumbled early, giving the CornBallers two breaks to start the game. The offense finally punched in a score to D-Vo, and the defense stepped onto the field looking hungry. Several breaks later, ECU took half 8-5. Despite the early surge by the CornBallers, they weren’t able to build momentum in the second half and ECU closed out the game.
15-7 ECU

Game 2 vs. Climax
Cimax came into the game looking…loud. Their tie-dye psychedelic jerseys are eye-catching to say the least. Still rolling from their previous win, ECU opened the game with four consecutive breaks before taking half 8-4. Strong defensive pressure and a few mistakes from Climax ended the game quickly. This was the first great defensive effort from the ECU game, and one of the first times the team was able to continue applying pressure for an entire round. Sideline help from Chase and other players kept the defense rolling.
15-4 ECU

Semi-Final vs. Machine
The wind was gusting steadily as ECU took the field against Machine, historically a strong team from the Central Region. Machine’s offense looked effective and it was hard to imagine ECU getting many stops early in the game without the wind. The game was on serve until 3 all when Machine broke twice to take the lead 5-3. The wind continued and several marathon points ensued, with ESU able to catch a contested goal and score on a huge backhand break from Cram to tie the score at 7’s. Machine took half 8-7 and both teams scored before ECU was able to break to go up by one. Most of the points consisted of several turnovers with both teams looking extremely winded. Danny, Chris K and Chris Rupp continued to move the disc efficiently, taking over for the tired cutters several times. ECU’s defense rallied when it counted, winning by hard cap.
Finals vs. Madison Club
With a loss to Madison on Saturday, ECU was set up for a rematch against Madison in the finals. Despite the wind, ECU continued to rely on short passes between the handlers and was able to remain on serve. The first break came with ECU up 4 to 3 on a huge huck from Henry to Alex. The very next point Madison scored on a layout catch that was millimeters off the ground. Both teams showed signs of fatigue, with several hucks going up early a point with the hope of getting off the field quickly. Madison began to roll with ECU up one break at 6 to 5. Two quick breaks put Madison ahead 7 to 5 and with gave them enough momentum to take half 8 to 6.
The second half saw several points with multiple turnovers as both teams battled the wind. Madison was able to maintain their lead mostly due to their ability to connect on deep shots going both directions. ECU was able to get several turns, including goal saving layout blocks by Henry and D-vo, but was unable to convert the turns into points. On the last point of the game, with the cap on at 13 to 10 Madison, Alex was able to get two d’s in the endzone on the same throw, giving ECU a chance to score the game’s final point.
13-11 Madison

Afterwards
Several players had flights to catch, so the post tournament huddle was brief. After battling through gritty games on Saturday and closing easy games on Sunday, ECU was finally showing the ability to maintain a competitive edge and win games. The Midwest teams, while not necessarily as loaded with star power as the teams on the coasts, were hungry to win and played with more tenacity than many of the other teams that ECU has seen so far in the season. Next week is sectionals, with ECU coming in as the third seat in an effort to upset Furious and Sockeye.

Chicago Heavyweights Day 1

Chicago Heavyweights was the last chance the ECU boys had to play together before Sectionals, so everyone was hoping to work all of the kinks out of the offense and defense. Most of the players arrived late Friday night or very early Saturday morning, making for a tired team come Saturday. For whatever reason, we decided to skimp on the warm-ups and instead jumped right into our first game.

Game 1 vs. LouEVIL
ECU was expecting an easier game to start the day but LouEVIL surprised us by coming out strong and refusing to be pushed around. LouEVIL wasn’t afraid to put the disc deep, and their receivers grabbed several big catches before ECU could get up to full speed. Many of the Midwest teams have a few very tall players, and they aren’t afraid to huck to a height advantage. ECU was able to remain composed and eventually won on double game point.
13-12 ECU

Game 2 vs. Outlaw
We were yet again surprised by a team that we expected to beat handedly as Outlaw played like they had nothing to lose, going for risky throws that we weren’t planning on stopping and capitalizing on ECU mistakes. The defense suffered the most from the lack of morning preparation, as plays that may have been converted to turnovers were instead ending in Outlaw’s favor. Experience prevailed and ECU was able to pull out their second double game point win of the day.
14-13 ECU

Game 3 vs. Mad Cow
Mad Cow had played a close game against Madison Club, and with no scouting report we were going into the game blind. Several ECU players were already out with nagging injuries, and the depleted numbers didn’t help our already tired team. Finally looking warmed up, ECU took half 8-5 and was able to hold the lead for the rest of the game. Patient play by the offense and hard work from the handler set carried the team through most of Saturday, as the cutters were unable to get in sync for more than a point or two. The wind had been increasing in speed all day, and ECU’s experienced throwers seemed to have an advantage in the adverse weather.
11-9 ECU

Game 4 vs. Madison Club
Madison finished 10th at Nationals last year, and like the other Central region teams they seemed to rely heavily on hucking the disc deep to tall receivers. ECU had game planned to take away under cuts all weekend, and Madison was able to pull ahead by winning several 50-50 throws. Despite the wind, they were able to nestle several of their deep shots where only the receiver could get to them, further frustrating a tired ECU defense. ECU went down early and was never able to recover.
12-8 Madison Club

ECU finished Day 1 with a 3-1 record, the best so far this year, and was happy to be playing for a chance to win the tournament. Most of the team stayed with Alex Evangelides, whose parents were gracious enough to provide much needed food and a warm place to sleep. A big shout out to them for the excellent accommodation.

Labor Day Day 2

No early start for ECU on Sunday. We arrived at the fields around 8am to find the most ridiculous fog covering everything. If you stood on one end zone line you could just barely make out the players standing on the other side, and we quickly got into the habit of calling which direction the pull was coming from so whoever was catching it could find it. Warm-ups were fun and luckily no one got plastered by a disc emerging from the fog.

Game 1 vs. Johnny Bravo
Having not seen Johnny Bravo play yet this year, I was unsure of what to expect, other than they had beaten Revolver the day before. Most of the faces that I associated with Johnny Bravo were gone, but they do have plenty of player’s that have stepped up and will probably be making a bigger name for themselves soon. The game was tight the whole way with points and breaks traded back and forth. No team took a clear lead and play seemed well balanced between steady offensive flow and deep shots. Neither defense was able to create many turnovers early, and many of the breaks came off of poor offensive decisions. With the game tied at 14’s and the cap on, both teams lined up with Bravo pulling to ECU. Several turns ensued, and both teams threw away hucks or had narrow misses on layout catches. Bravo seemed to be on the brink of winning, but wasn’t able to convert in the red zone. After multiple layout d’s including a layout hand block on the goal line by Danny Karlinsky, ECU was finally able to get the disc to Jimmy Chu in the endzone for the win.

Game 2 vs. Southpaw
Another unfamiliar team aside from core reporter results, Southpaw had struggled for most of the weekend but still had plenty of fight left in them. ECU shunned their usual plan of going down early and fighting back and instead broke Southpaw several times to take half 8-6. ECU continued to roll with good defensive pressure that forced Southpaw into throwing errant hucks. ECU score at 13-9 with the game capped, but the captains agreed to continue playing because of a late start. Southpaw came out of the break fired up, and quickly broke the ECU offense several times, closing in with the score almost even at 14-13. ECU received and scored to finish the game. Southpaw has only upside, and they have the potential to be a strong team. Their defensive intensity surprised us, especially late in the game, and if they can maintain that level of play they should finish the season on a high note.

Game 3 vs. Rhino
Looking to avenge our loss in the finals of Solstice and at ECC, ECU broke Rhino early and played patient offense to take half 8-7. Rhino seems to have expanded their offense to include the cutters much more than in the previous meetings, where they relied almost solely on quick handler movment. Several mistakes by the ECU offense late in the game led to Rhino pulling away and closing out the game with two breaks. Rhino 11, ECU 9. Rhino continues to improve, and a few notables including Eli Janin were not playing during our game. The battle for the three National bids in the NW is going to be epic, as the NW only seems to get better with each successive tournament.

Afterwards
A big thanks to everyone that hosted the ECU players, and to Santa Cruz University and The Slugs for running a great tournament. Several people told me that Labor Day is one of their favorite tournaments, and I’m now a believer. ECU is travelling to Chicago this weekend for the Chicago Heavyweights Tournament. Look for a preview this week.

Labor Day Day 1

The weather was beautiful and the view was equally nice from atop the Santa Cruz campus. The whole team got a great night’s sleep, that happens when you don’t start until 1pm, and were in high spirits, playing as a team for the first time since ECC.

Game 1 vs. Wolf
Deciding not to slack off in the first half, ECU came out firing and quickly pulled ahead. The first half was dominated by smooth offensive play and big throws from Danny and Jeremy. Wolf looks and plays like a young team, and they haven’t come together as a pack yet (see what I did there?). They show flashes of brilliance, a few great throws and some good offensive movements, but they weren’t able to put enough points together to go on a run. The end of the game saw both teams getting a little huck happy and playing longer points.
15 – 7, ECU over Wolf

Game 2 vs. Revolver
This was a big game, as Revolver is a Regional rival and will be one of the teams standing between ECU and a bid to nationals. There were few breaks in the first half, and ECU was able to stay tight, staying on serve until 5s. Revolver was able to pull out three quick breaks and took half 8-5. ECU fell apart in the second half, giving up several costly turnovers and struggling to put the disc in the endzone. Revolver looked strong, although their offense didn’t seem to consist of much more than jacking the disc to their big receivers. They were able to move the disc, but their handlers and the cutters seemed disjointed.
7-15, ECU falls to Revolver

Game 3 vs. Furious
Furious played a tight game against Wolf early in the day, but they came out strong against us, trading points and breaking to take half 8-7. Furious connect on almost every huck they threw, showing that they still have the ability to effectively place the disc almost anywhere on the field. Their defense seems to have suffered most over the last few years with the departure of several veterans as ECU was able to continually march the disc down the field. Furious pulled away in the second half by capitalizing on errant hucks from ECU. The defense was able to get several breaks, playing the best they had all weekend, and the game came down to universe point with ECU pulling. A underthrown disc by Oscar Pottinger was caught by Chris Kosednar, giving ECU a chance for the win. Good pressure from Furious forced the D line to turn the disc, and Furious punched it in for the score.

Afterwards
The team looks much more cohesive than at ECC, and the offense cutters are starting to click with the handlers. The D line is still struggling to generate turns in big games, but more emphasis on playing physical defense and continuing to work together has produced improvement.

Good games today and more good games tomorrow for the men in papaya.

Labor Day Preview

Most of the ECU team will be flying down to sunny Santa Cruz tomorrow in preparation for the Labor Day frisbee extravaganza. A few members of the team will be flying out Saturday morning, we’re talking 11am and rolling straight up to the fields. Genius? Foolish? Only time will tell.

Saturday
1:15p.m. vs. Wolf
ECU met Wolf previously this season at Solstice, although it’s unlikely that either team was at full strength. The game went down to the wire with Wolf breaking to win on DGP after a turfed throw by ECU. Recently, Wolf has had a similarly disappointing, if you’re disappointed with losses, ECC.

They’re a young team though and young teams have the element of surprise on their side. Get ready for a close game between regionals opponents.

3:00p.m. vs. Revolver
This will be a big test for ECU, as Revolver is poised to take the top bid out of the Northwest region with a win at Worlds and second place at ECC, losing to Ironside for the second time during the tournament. Revolver is a stacked team, with one of the most recognizable rosters in Ultimate. In addition, coming off a WUCC 2010 Championship has probably given them even more confidence in their game.

The Bay Area is stacked, but we’ll be looking to provide a good test.

4:45p.m. vs. Furious George
As a team that’s been around for a long time and that normally has a roster packed with wily vets, Furious has been a staple at nationals until very recently. They stumbled at ECC, but played well previously at Colorado Cup. This game will depend heavily on the numbers and talent that fly down Santa Cruz from Vancouver. Oscar Pottinger was injured at ECC, but the cast of Canadian’s run deep. Expect surprising things all weekend long from the Monkey.

Sunday
9:00a.m. vs. Johnny Bravo
Why oh why couldn’t we sleep in Sunday as well? The day begins with Johnny Bravo, a powerhouse team for the last few years that has lost its fair share of big names to teams on the coasts. Bravo did well at Colorado Cup, but many of their wins came against similarly unproven teams. One point losses to Goat and Truckstop, both of whom have looked solid this far, proves that the Rocket isn’t finished yet. Core players like Richter and Parker Krug remain on the team, and Mamabird is always happy to funnel talent to the club division. Moreover, bringing back Timmy Paymaster is always a good thing.

11:00a.m. vs. Southpaw
A new team hailing from Philadelphia, Southpaw has played in several tournaments already and appears to have spotty results so far. The team is rumored to be coached by an Army instructor and is putting his boys through an aggressive regiment. The new program has wins over PoNY and Bodhi that help cement this team as a threat, but a large number of close losses signifies they have trouble pulling out wins. Southpaw has wins over two teams that beat ECU, but several losses later in the season seems to signal that Southpaw still has work to do. Every tournament is a new day and everyone will be excited to see what the Philly boys can bring.

We’ll be tweeting scores and highlights all weekend, so be sure to follow along at twitter.com/ecultimate. We’ll also have a write-up posted on Saturday night after the first day of the tournament. Go papaya!

Player Profile: Danny Karlinsky

As a founding father of Ultimate Change, Danny Karlinsky has become the face of the organization. You decide if that was a good move or not. Regardless of the status of his mug, Danny has been instrumental in bringing the clinics to fruition and running the team. Thanks Danny.

Where did you start playing Ultimate?
I played Ultimate for the first time in 1993 at the Santa Barbara Classic tournament. I ran around with my brother’s team, The Heat Bags, and ‘scored’ a goal. The team lifted me onto their shoulders and carted me around for everyone to see. My mom still proudly displays that photo in my parent’s bedroom. Outside of that, I really started 10 years later at UC Santa Cruz during tryouts for the Slugs.

What inspired you to start Ultimate Change?
Obviously a lot of emotions/ideas started it, but the biggest one was being part of Ultimate Peace. I made some really different decisions about my life on that trip and I realized that if I’m going to play at a high-level and had the opportunity to give back, why not make it something serious. I wanted to invest my season into others. That sounds pretty high-and-mighty, but it’s not, I just like helping people and working with youth.

What are some of the positive effects that you’ve seen from programs like Ultimate Change and Ultimate Peace?
I’ve seen kids who wouldn’t even dare to look at each other throw a disc to one another for a goal, start celebrating and end up hugging and laughing. I watched kids cry as they had to leave camp in the Middle East because they were only going to be able to keep in touch with some of their friends through Facebook; they wanted to be play Ultimate all day long with these new friends who are divided by so many hardships. Just those two moments make me grateful for all the time I’ve spent within/for these projects

Why did you move to Seattle from sunny California?
My brother Dennis had a baby-boy named Dashel with his wife Jen three years ago now. In Israel last year for Ultimate Peace, I sat in this enormous cistern up on Masada (find out if you don’t know!) and made the decision to be a better Uncle. I got home, put in my two-weeks, and was on the road soon after. Plus, Doc promised to bake me a chicken-cheesecake if I moved up, so I had to say yes.

What other Ultimate players have you tried to model your playing style after?
Shoot. The truth comes out. Four people really..I wanted to huck big after seeing one of my coaches and fellow teammates, Daryl Nounnan, blast these backhands during our practices. I wanted to have a big arsenal of throws (still working on it..I know) after seeing Idris Nolan destroy people. I patterned a lot of my handler cuts after Matty Rodkey, who I’m still trying to follow with the idea of never turning it over. Lastly, I focused on incorporating a lot of Robbie Cahill’s throwing styles that I think helped my own; using two hands on my backhand for an extended time and doing a quick squat when looking to break with my flick. I don’t think I pulled any of that off though.

What’s one thing you would tell new players to get them excited about playing?
If you can’t dunk, throwing 70yrd bombs can be just as satisfying.

Describe Ultimate in five words or less.
Not played with dogs, jerk.

What’s it like captaining a team of a bunch of young kids who don’t want to listen to what you say and a bunch of old geezers who don’t want to listen/probably can’t hear you?
To be honest, challenging. It’s like I have to be a parent and interview for a job at the same job. Nah, it’s not that bad. The younger guys want to learn and I do it with them, while the older guys give us great pointers and can lead when there needs to be another focused voice. It’s the best of both worlds.

How is ECU different than other club level teams?
Well, there is the whole Ultimate Change program that we are facilitating. We’ve now worked 15 clinics, and have at least 9 more scheduled. Our players have actually coached much more than we expected and somehow have always kept a smile on their faces. Outside of the program, we are a team that thrives on playing together and not worrying about expectations. Some people might think that sounds like we don’t care about winning, but really we care about getting better as a solidified, ‘I got your back’ kinda team so that we can be our best at the series.

What does the Ultimate, and the people who play, need to do in order to continue growing?
Getting serious here. Well, I don’t know to be honest. It personally think it starts at the youth level and people like Sam Terry, Rex Gaoaen, Shannon O’Malley, discNW and Frank Nam in Seattle have been doing an unreal job promoting, building AND sustaining (the hardest part) incredible programs. In order to continue growing, people who play now need to really just buy-in to making the sport better and using their experience, at any level, to guide those who haven’t played before. Go out and coach a team, or a clinic. It IS worth your time, so do it and don’t miss out!

Most awful place you slept while at a tournament?
Easy. Kaimana ’05. Unbelievable torrential rain floods the entire campsite in 2 hours and I end up sleeping in a van with 8 guys. The heat was oppressive and I woke up every 5 minutes either because someone was snoring or changing position or a cop was knocking on our door telling us to be careful because somehow a van had caught on fire in this crazy downpour. Ya, go to Kaimana, best tournament ever. Not kidding.

Favorite tournament food?
In college, I would always stop at In-N-Out the Friday before a series tournament and eat a 5-by-5. Not healthy, but it gave me the energy I needed and the cholesterol too. Nowadays, I go the healthy route, bananas and oranges. Poke at Kaimana is also up there.

Are you superstitious? I only gave you 13 questions and everyone else got 14.
13 is my favorite number actually because it’s the number of years separating my brother and I. Thanks Wes, you are just the bestest.