Which team has the best leadership in Canada?

Nation,

We are in somewhat of an off season for competitive ultimate (there is really no off season for players that dedicate themselves seriously to this game). That means there is much more time to talk about the game, in between people working at their real jobs and doing off season training.

Leadership is defined as:
'the lifting of people’s vision to a higher sight, the raising of their performance to a higher standard, the building of their personality beyond its normal limitations’ (Drucker, 1985).

What's the difference between being a leader and being a manager? In layman terms, it's this- A manager relies on power/status or coercion to accomplish tasks/goals, and a leader does not. These two terms are not mutually exclusive, but they definitely do not mean the same thing. You don't run through walls for a manager. You don't reach levels you couldn't fathom without true leadership.

Leadership is in short supply everywhere in the world. Lots of posers, few legitimate people that can stand the test of time and excel at all the major areas of being a leader (Credibility, Vision, Communication, Passion, and Charisma) . Canadian ultimate is not exempt from a leadership void, and needs leaders in the CUPA office, and in all of the major cities.

However, I have seen some examples of leadership with playing the last few years. The very fact that captains of our national level teams can get 20 plus guys to practice/travel so much and wreck their bodies for a game with no money and limited "glory" is incredible. Some players, like Andrew Lugsdin, lead by example and give excellent speeches to motivate their troops in key games.

So.... my poll question is

Which team/city has the best leadership in Canada? Who are the leaders? What do they do well? Does a team have to be a winner to validate great leadership (I find it definitely helps the untrained eye to label someone as a leader)?

Goosebowl 2007 Recap

Nation,

As requested here's a recap of the Goosebowl tournament in Kingston this past weekend.

The Weather

• Crap on day one. Wet with A LOT of wind
• Much better on day two. Sun, a little wind, typical fall day for this region.

The Teams

• A much smaller tournament this year, down to 16 teams from the regular 42-50 teams.
  
• It was really weird to play Goosebowl and see open fields.
  
• Costumes on the field were much less apparent then in past years.
• The quality of ultimate depended on the teams and the games. There were wind alerts for the region on The Weather Network, so as one can imagine handler heavy teams had an advantage on Saturday.

The Party

• Surprisingly awesome.
• Many great costumes
• John Haig and his brother rocking a Don Cherry/Ron Maclean look
• Many Richie Tenenbaum costumes, including yours truly
• J-Lo in a full on Cheerleader outfit... J Lo rocked the dance floor, enjoying his outfit far too much. :)
• Pope Benedict made an appearance
• Your usual plethora of guys dressing as girls, and women going in either the glamour or hooch avenues.
• Dance Floor Idol of the night was the Exotic Estonian, Ms Vail. Moves upon moves.. just give the woman space and watch out.

The Results

• Above the Law of Ottawa/Etc won the tournament with a 15-7 finals win, easily disposing of Bucketfish (Peterborough) and Slick Mittz (Barrie) in the quarters and semis respectively.
• Les Bouettes lost in the final. The won both their quarterfinal and semi final on universe point. This Montreal team was surprisingly intense and focused on the ultimate and not the party. The 80's all stars are mumbling somewhere.
• 3rd place was to be fought between Martha's Downstairs Kitchen (Toronto) and Slick Mittz of Barrie. Mittz were a summer junior team that made it to semis, showing some impressive skills from both their women and men. Curtis Kile and Pam Chadbourn should be commended for their work in Barrie with the juniors program.

• Other top 8 teams included MUPH, Tabasco, and Bucketfish
  
• MUPH had to be disappointed with their Sunday, after looking so impressive in their Saturday games and coming in as the #2 seed. This team, made mostly of former/current Guelph University players, were tripped up in the quarters. Those are the breaks.

UPA Finals Recap...

Nation,

Just like the Canadian Nationals, the West was best at UPA finals this past weekend. In both country's national tournaments, only the masters division saw an Eastern champion.

OPEN

Seattle's Sockeye won their second straight title, and 3rd in 4 years. They defeated Boulder's best (Johnny Bravo) 15-13 in the final.

GOAT from Toronto/Ottawa reached new heights and answered many critics with a fabulous tournament. They tied for 3rd with JAM. Both of these teams gave great challenges to their semi final opponents, but came up a little short this year.

Furious went undefeated on both Friday and Saturday, finishing 9th. It really says a lot of Furious and their leadership that they could rebound and refocus from an 0-3 day one to win out and finish as high as they possibly could. They should be commended for that, and there is no reason to think that they will be ready for Worlds 2008 and UPA glory next year.

Women's

Fury won the women's title again in convincing fashion, 15-5 over Riot of Seattle. The team's plus/minus in the goals for/goals against was +83. As the years go by, we will probably look back to this tournament as an example of a team that was truly dominant in their division.

Capitals from Ottawa/Toronto finished 5th. They lost in the quarters to runner up Riot by a score of 15-5, but then kept the intensity to finish strong. They beat Zeitgeist for the first time all season, taking their match 12-10. They then beat Backhoe 11-10 to claim the five spot.

Much like our Canadian men, our women should be proud of their results. Had they not had the misfortune of being kicked out of Friday power pools despite a 2-1 day one record, they most likely would have had a better quarterfinal spot and a chance to go higher than 5th.

Mixed

Shazam Returns capped off a nearly perfect season with a UPA crown. Suffering only two losses all season (One to Rival in this tourney), they won 15-8 over Boston's Slow White in the finals.

Of note, the number 1, 3, 4, and 5 pre tourney seeds made the semi finals. Every division director hopes for that kind of consistency!

Masters

Death or Glory. It's not just about the brand name and the sweet logo.

Death or Glory added another national crown to their trophy case, this time in the masters division with a win over Surly (Minnesota, pre ranked #7) in the finals.

Looking at the scores, DoG survived many tough games, winning many games by two points or less. I think it may be time to get a debrief from Jimmy P.

UPA Finals Update- Day 2 Recap

Nation,

Quick update before a little shut eye. Making the trip to Kingston for Goosebowl early tomorrow.

Bets of luck on day 3!

OPEN

Reason to celebrate and reason to be disappointed if your a Canadian ultimate fan today.

GOAT, whose great season has been largely discounted on many UPA finals hype threads, had another solid day Friday. They lose 15-7 to Johnny Bravo (of Boulder , Colorado), but then take care of the legendary Condors of Santa Barbara 15-10. With this win, Goat moves on to Quarters against Chain Lightning of Atlanta. Thus, the Toronto/Ottawa squad has a realistic shot of making semis, and going further in this tournament than they have every done.

3 time UPA and defending World Champion Furious George looked to rebound from a dismal 0-3 day one. They needed to win both of their games and hope for a bit of luck/fate to get a crossover opportunity for quarters. They did their part, beating Rhino 15-1o and Pike 15-11. Unfortunately, the carry over loss from day one left them in a three way 2-1 tie from Rhino and Truck Stop, and Truck Stop advanced on a tie breaker. Furious is now out of the running for the title and will compete for 9th.

Here is how the Open Quarters shape up

• Johnny Bravo versus Boston Ultimate
• Chain Lightning versus GOAT
• Sockeye versus Truck Stop
• JAM versus Sub Zero

Women's

Bounced out of the power pools, the Capitals of Ottawa/Toronto looked to bounce back and get into the quarters in back door fashion.

Starting the day 1-0, Capitals defeated MOJO 15-8 and then shot the Loose Cannon team 15-4 to finish 3-0 and have a shot at making quarters. Down early to San Diego's Safari, the Capitals came back to win 14-12.

Coming back from weak pool relegation, the Capitals find themselves in the quarter-finals against Riot. This will be a daunting task.

The quarters look like this:

• Fury versus Backhoe
• Lady Godiva versus Ozone
• Riot versus Ozone
• Brute Squad versus Zeitgeist

Given the scores, Fury and Riot look like the absolute class of the division, and anything less than a matchup between these two teams would be a surprise.

Random Thoughts on UPA Finals and the Fourm Posting

-I think picking who is going to win this year in most divisions (except Women's) is a crapshoot. It makes for entertaining ultimate.

-How can there be so many passionate predictions on Ultimate forums? We have zero stats in this sport except win/loss records. Maybe it's the Masters in Sports Management making me a jerk, but how are people writing these predictions/explanations. It's just recycled cliches and myths.

-I think there is way too much mean spirited slagging and coarse language on rec.sport.disc. It's taking over the forums. I love clever quips like the ones found in the CDN Nats preview.. those are gold and everyone can laugh at.

-I think a post after UPA finals should be a discussion on whether Ultimate at the highest level is won by team depth, or by a small group of dominate players.

-For a long time, I have wondered if Furious could win without one of the big guys (Cruickshank, Lugsdin, Grant) being healthy. I wonder if today's 0-3 performance is a signal of things to come, or if it's a blip on the radar.

-I think the Iowa teams have great names.

UPA Finals Update- Day One

Nation,

Just a quick update on the Canadian teams. You can see the complete Results for each division by clicking on the respective link.

Open

Goat has a great day (2-1), taking care of Ring of Fire and The Van Buren Boys. They lose badly to JAM, but ensure a spot in the power pools for Friday. D line player Colin Green reports that he and his GOAT teammates are looking forward to tomorrow's games.

Furious has a surprising 0-3 day, as the last seed in their pool goes 3-0 and takes first in the reseed. I have no idea what happened to our favorite monkeys. Some people are saying on rec.sport.disc that Mike Grant is injured. Others point out to a consistently inconsistent seasons as the foreshadowing of this kind of performance. Scobel Wiggins Photography

Women's

The Capitals of Toronto and Ottawa went 2-1 on day one. They beat Lady Godiva and Box, and lost to Zeitgeist. Good enough to hold seed and move into the power pools right?

Wrong.

Lady Godiva, the same team that offered virtually no competition to the Capitals (losing 15-5 to the Caps) at their own Boston Invite tournament this June, beats the top seed in the pool (Zeitgeist) 16-14 to steal a power pool spot from Capitals. Looks like the storied team from Boston is still a team to be respected.

So, the Capitals must now win at least two games on Friday to get a cross over opportunity. If they win the crossover, they will play the top team from Power Pool E. That means Fury in all likelihood stands between them and semis.

Best of luck to the ladies.

Goosebowl Ultimate Tourney Preview

Nation,

Before I give a Canadian update for UPAs, I wanted to give you information about another tournament in the East- Goosebowl.

Goosebowl is a long standing halloween/costume tournament hosted in Kingston, Ontario by Queens University. It serves as the last major outdoor tourney in this part of Canada. In the past, over 40 teams play some solid ultimate and party hard on the field and at the tournament bar.

This year, the tournament is contracting, reducing the entries to 20 teams. The defending champs that I played with last year will not be returning, but there are plenty of pick up teams full of club players from Ontario, Quebec and upstate New York.

Here are the links for the tournament
Tourney Website
UPA Reporter Link

Due to the nature of the pick up teams, it is hard to determine who is on what team and who will win. However, I will take some guesses and bet the following will be in the semis

• MUPH
• Martha's Downstairs Kitchen
• Above The Law
• Monster