Canada Ultimate en Espanol

Nation,

Through some site tracking I found my first Talking with Trainor link and translation. It appears as though Jimmy P is big in Columbia.

Who stole the Logo? Discraft versus Gaia

Nation,

Starting to play the game in Ottawa in late 2001, I soon became aware of GAIA Ultimate and their apparel. Their clothes were never hotter, as sales of cleats, clothes and ultimate paraphernalia wasn't just available at local tournaments, it was the thing to do (purchase). The fact that GAIA lost much of its moment due to various reasons (high price, poor service, slow shipping, logistics and distribution, etc) is a different story for a different article soon to come.

Our sport knows the Discraft disc company as well. It's the disc of choice for almost all competitive players in North America. Enough said.

I was looking through an Ottawa based ultimate picture site (www.ultypics.com) and viewed some pictures of the world beach ultimate championships in Brazil. Among the many great pictures taken by Greg Lays, here is one that left me wondering:

• Does anyone notice the Discraft signage in the background?
• Doesn't that logo look disturbingly similar to the Gaia logo?
• Who is copying who?
• Has there been some kind of merger that hasn't been discussed in Ultimate and hasn't been posted on either company's site?
  

Evaluating Leadership In Ultimate: Learning from JFJ's woe

Nation,

By now, I am sure everyone in Canada knows about the current woes of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the chaotic job status of their General Manager. John Ferguson Jr has fallen on hard times and seems to be a dead man walking as seen here . Let me state the obvious:

• The situation (replacing their GM) is being handled poorly
• There are far too many people involved in the leadership structure at Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment (MLSE) with regards to hockey matters
  
• People that hate the leafs enjoy this way too much
• The media has an uncanny ability to press issues
  
• I'd like to discuss it a little today and relate it to ultimate.
  

I have a bit different perspective of the situation than most. Thanks to my excellent advisor at Western, I've met MLSE President and CEO Richard Peddie on multiple occasions. Meeting him one on one and in group situations, it is very apparent that he is an excellent CEO. He makes MLSE A LOT of money. He's confident, he's charismatic (which he has failed to show on camera lately), and he's diligent. I'm met a lot of Canadian sport executives in the past 2 years, and I would venture to say that he is the best read in terms of executive leadership. We're not talking paperback books by Trump, legitimate authors that academics love and respect. Despite all this, he's suffering a lot of bad PR. Blame the media, blame some poorly executed comments, blame
the on ice fate of the team.

Above Peddie comes a Board of Directors representing the many owners of the team. The have varied interests and egos. World domination and return to the shareholder is a common link. Most prominent is Chairman Larry Tanenbaum.

Below both of these titans is John Ferguson Jr. He's been in power for roughly five years. His main job is to ensure the club's on ice performance, and he's failed. He hasn't traded well. He hasn't signed great contracts. His scouting staff is large but he hasn't drafted well. Overall, his biggest failing (in my opinion) has been the ability to develop a vision and stick to it (Youth, Win Now, Team strategy, etc). For most of his tenure, JFJ got the benefit of the doubt. Despite not being a big name, he has NHL pedigree in his family, a law degree and an extensive NHL record working in player development.

The good times are over. Both Peddie and Tanenbaum seem ready to replace him with an older and more experienced men. Why the team in Toronto needs a president over 70 (Cliff Fletcher, Scotty Bowman) boggles my mind.

My questions are this:

• Why is the same media calling for the head of a GM that they personally lobbied for a contract extension in the summer. Does the media have any long term memory?
• Why do fans jump to conclusions on their teams in the midst of slumps and streaks?
• Why would a team with such great leadership be so swayed by a media backlash?
  

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How does this relate to Ultimate?

Ultimate teams and players don't have a lot of media to deal with in tough times. I am thankful I didn't have to face the media after nationals last year (my team had its "wheels fall off"). However, there is a throng of people in the community with their own agendas and their own ideas of leadership and organization evaluation.

This year, I saw a man lose his paid ultimate job ("resigned", as it seems everyone does in the association) because of persistent pressure (and some propaganda) from league members and a board that has very little private sector/sport leadership experience to draw from. Captains of the field yes, captains of industry definitely not.

This man was not perfect. He had failings in his management style. However, he had held his position for over 7 years and was a huge source of tacit knowledge with regards to fields, local politics, youth programs, comp programs and the league itself and oversaw huge growth. However, various groups (some very good people among them) personally came to dislike the man and he went from popular to out of the picture very fast. Didn't like his personality, resented his being paid, and the list went on.

We're not the media and we shouldn't eat our own without valid reason. Taking someone's source of income away from them is a very serious manner, and I resent the mob mentality in ultimate as much as I do when sports media attacks a team on a 5 game losing streak. If someone is doing a poor job by the evaluation goals set out, sack them by all means.

It seems very easy for volunteers and league members to slag online and attack petition online with the previous mentioned mob mentality. However, we should make sure we elect/appoint boards and staffs that do the right thing. True leadership looks at the big picture. It sticks to the vision. It can be counted on in times of crisis. If your association or team doesn't understand that, you're lose valuable people and ultimate loses.
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I predict JFJ will be fired and the coach (Paul Maurice) will need a miracle. Peddie will relinquish his President duties and remain the CEO. A more media friendly face will represent the team. The team will still suck. Leaf Nation will still scream for Dougie Gilmour and look at grainy black and white victory parades from 1967.

I love the salary cap!!

Trainor Teaches... What I learned from the Stanley Cup Champs

I just want to give a shout-out to the Americans who have been loyally coming to the site. Please fire me off an e-mail (if you like) to tell me a little about yourself, your teams, and so on.

Nation,

One of my new year's resolutions regarding this site is to post more think pieces borrowing on the strength of my master's degree and teaching awards. I will enjoy it, the game needs it, and it might make for a great read. This one will be very bubble gum, but I've got to use these pictures somehow. :)

This Christmas, I spent the holiday season with the Praha Princess and her family in Vancouver, Canada. One of the many activities we did during our stay was to mentally beat down scalpers and score some great seats to a Vancouver Canucks/Anaheim Ducks NHL hockey game. For a guy who loves the NHL so much, I don't really enjoy going to the games that much.

However, being so close to the ice allowed me to watch the defending Stanley Cup Champions during their warm-ups. Here were some of my observations

• There was almost zero mistakes in the 20 minutes I watched. Not a mix up in the drills, nor a mistaken pass. I've watched Finals warm-ups in ultimate and they don't have the same level of efficiency. (Maybe legendary DoG has gotten to this point)
• Given how crowded less than 100 feet of ice is with 20 players (average height over 6'2 and weight over 210 I would guess), the awareness shown by players was refreshing. They've done this thing over and over, but they are always making space and adjustments at a fast speed.
• Different players do different drills outside of the basics. This makes sense, and it is something Canadian ultimate teams should look into.
• There wasn't anyone wearing an ipod with headphones or engaging in activities that ignore the team concept. It always bothers me when players do this during warm ups.
  Equal effort was given by multi million dollar players (Pronger, Scotty Neidermayer).
• Some players are entertainers and know how to play to the crowd while carrying on their business. I have a whole new opinion of Doug Weight, Todd Marchant, Ryan Getzlaf, Mathieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi. I don't think Ultimate players are lacking in showmanship skills, but finding a balance is no easy act.

All photos: courtesy Jitka Licenik

Performance Enhancing Drugs in Ultimate... Final Results

-17 votes
-1 Saying we do have a problem
-16 saying we don't

My comments
-Get your heads out of the sand!! :)
-Have you seen the WADA list?
-Should game day enhancers like Sudafed be allowed?

Attention Youth Coordinators.. Mainstream Development

Nation,

It seems that some of the successful ultimate leagues in this country and our neighbors of the south are implementing more structured youth programs.

This is generally a very good idea.

One of the things we notice about the makeup of boards and staffs with ultimate groups is they are usually volunteers from all walks of life. Usually none of them have any sports management background. This is both good and bad. Non sport ultimate leaders can bring fiscal responsibility, innovation and are free of some of the conventional wisdoms of sport management. I won't bore you with the things National Sport Organizations face.

One of the major drawbacks of the non professional in ultimate leadership is a lack of technical direction. Specifically to youth, we're not taking advantage of the research and information available to us on athlete development.

Take a look at this site. There are a lot of things to peruse and discuss regarding the document. I think it's very important to have a system for basic development of athletes within a sport system. Being cognizant of this system and implementing the valuable parts will help attract more credibility to the sport.

It's reassuring to parents and sport administrators that ultimate has a plan that is inline with Sport Canada, and that makes the game easier to sell. Let's not fall into the "It's cheap to play" and "It's fun" sales pitches.
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Off of the youth point, I want to look at the suggested levels of training for serious athletes.

One key thing that I discussed with a close associate (Hell, let's call him a friend :))

• According to the hard copy document of this program, it is suggested that athletes located in the training to train and training to win stages of LTAD should be doing sport specific technical, tactical, and fitness training anywhere between 9-12 (training to train) to 9-15 times per week.
  

I think this gives you an idea at the level of effort our Olympians and national representatives in sport give. I think it also sets a new bar for me in terms of training for the summer. Sadly, we're not carded athletes with time to train, but it gives a new perspective on where the dedication/effort to ultimate is headed as the quality of the sport improves.

So, they poll question today seeks to get a sense of who trains (play, practice, train) more- college players, open players, or recreational players.

Talking with Trainor- Derek "Franchise" Alexander

Nation,

The name Derek Alexander has elicited a buzz in Canadian Ultimate since he appeared at the UPA championships at the tender age of 19. Before that, he dominated in sports such as baseball, football, and basketball.

By the time the 2005 summer season ended, Derek had done things many in ultimate chase into their late thirties. 2 UPA championships with Furious George, a world juniors championship, a world championship, and an appearance at the world games. A starter on a UPA champions located on the other side of his country, Derek also was doing double duty as the captain and leader of local open club Phoenix.

Suffering a serious accident in the fall/winter of 2005, Ottawa's most talented has been out of action for the past two summers. He has spent the time coaching and rehabbing.

Poised for a possible return, it was natural to interview him for this site.

Who was the first to nickname you Franchise?

Wow. That was a long time ago, but I think the first to call me Franchise would have to be Ling Lee (a teammate on WaX). Actually, at the same time I was playing on the high school basketball team and a newspaper article written at the time wrote that yours truly and one other player were our teams "franchise players" so that helped to make sure the nickname stuck.

Who brought you into ultimate?

One of my older brothers, (Billy Alexander) a teammate on Phoenix, introduced the game to me when I was 14 years old. He started playing Ultimate through our high school. Our teacher was Michelle Gauthier, and at the time she played for the competitive womens team in Ottawa (Stella). Looking back and seeing all the great things that I have received from ultimate, I guess it would be an understatement to say I owe a huge thanks to the two of them.

What's your favorite moment from ultimate?

That is a tough question to answer. I have been very fortunate to have a lot of great memories on the ultimate field. I would say my best moment would be my first UPA championship in 2002. I was picked up by Furious George to play for the tournament and it was my first real look at the highest level of ultimate played in the world. I was able to make my way onto the O line as a starting handler and in the semi - finals we played against DOG from Boston. It was a great game played by both teams with only 5 turnovers being made all game and on Universe point we received the disk and worked it down field where I caught the disc on the sideline and was being defended by Fortunate Mueller. I was about 20 yards out of the end zone (early in the stall count) when I saw that Oscar Pottinger had a step on his defender Josh Zipperstein. I placed the disc in the corner of the front end zone and Oscar laid out to catch the game point to send us to the finals, which we ended up winning. I think completing that one play helped me to realize that I could play at that level with those teams. I have to give a lot of credit to the line caller Andrew Lugsdin. To have myself and Oscar (two 19 year olds) on the field on universe point must not have been an easy decision to make. I would not have liked to be in his position on that day.

What's easier- Coaching or Playing?

Without a doubt, Playing is way easier for me. When I am playing, I am able to focus on myself and the situation at hand. I felt that when I was coaching, I had to be everywhere at once. I think that coaching would be something that I would like to do when I can't play the game at a high level anymore and I have learned enough to be able to teach it properly. I am not at this point yet, and probably won't be for a while.


You've always been touted as a player with nerves of steel. Has this always been the case?

I can't remember a time that I was ever nervous for an ultimate game. Not when I played for Phoenix, UPA finals, or World finals for Furious. I guess I have always been like this on the ultimate field, but it is not the same in all the other sports that I have played.

What's your current injury situation? Is a return next year possible?

I have been playing for the past month here in Ottawa and it is very encouraging. My injuries are going to make me a different player in some ways. However, if I can continue as planned I should be back playing fully by tryouts. My elbow and wrist limit my throwing, but in time I am confident that I will be able to work these things out and be back playing a high level of ultimate soon enough.

What was your thoughts on the Worlds 2004 experience?

It was a great experience. I was pleased to be a part of the team and had a great time on and off the field. We had a very strong team and we played well as a team for most of the tournament. I wish the final game could have been a much better game for both the teams and the fans but it was what it was, and we were able to grind it out for the victory. It is great to be a part of a Canadian team at Worlds because we seem to do very well in every division. I personally enjoy finishing ones game and then to going to cheer on another Canadian team. I hope that I am able to make it back to that level and those tournaments again.


What meant more to you- UPAs and having won 2 titles with Furious? or Worlds Gold?

The 2 upa titles mean more to me because I feel that the overall competition at UPA's is much higher then at Worlds. At worlds we are able to beat a few teams by more then 10 points and then win a few tough games to win the tournament.

I felt that every game we played in at UPA's was a battle and either team could have won the game. In order to win UPA's, your team has to play it's best ultimate 4 full days in a row. I know that when we won those two titles, I along with my teammates felt it was a great team accomplishment.

I specifically remember Jeff Cruikshank saying something to me after we won the second one. Jeff said to me and Oscar " You lucky *******! We worked our asses off for this moment for many years and you 2 guys just walk on to the team and win your first 2 UPA tournaments in a row. You guys don't even know what this means". He did not say it in a mean way at all, but I did understand his fustration behind the comment. I knew he was right at the time but now I think I better understand how he felt.

Do you think Canada repeats at Worlds 2008?

I think they have it in them to repeat at worlds. However, I would say that they are not the favorites and a lot of work needs to be done as always. I think this worlds tourney will be much more competitive then in the past. I won't guarantee that Canada will win, but I would not be surprised to see them take the title in Vancouver. For some of those guys it would be a great way to end there careers. If I had to guess I would say Canada, USA, Japan in that order but I might be biased.

Who was your favorite teammate in high level competition? Who was you most respected opponent?

Choosing a favorite teammate is tough because I have had so many great teammates over the years. However, if I had to choose, I would say Oscar and Cruikshank from Furious. I have a lot of respect for Jeff a as a player and as a leader. He is a great motivator and a great talent to play with and he is on the field for no reason but to WIN. I have been lucky to be on a number of teams with Oscar. We won Worlds together in Juniors, Mens, 2 UPA titles together and we were both selected for the past World Games team that went to Germany. He is a blast to be around off the field and he helped my transition to Furious easier. He has a great mind for the game and the athleticism to go with it. I am glad to see that he is involved in the leadership on Furious now and I am sure he will do a great job.


Who is the best player you played with and against?

I would have to say the best players I have played with are Mike Grant, Jeff Cruikshank, and Al Bob (Roberts). The offensive abilities of Mike and Jeff speak for themselves. They are tops in the world. Al's defense can and has won many games at the highest level. From what I am told, I was not even playing ultimate when Al bob played his best defence. Despite this, he is still one of the best in the game. There are so many great players that I have played against. I think it is tough for me to say who the best opponent I have ever played against. Many come to mind. Josh Zipperstein, Alex Nord, Chase, and many players from other countries (I am not even sure of their names). I have not played against or even seen him play yet but there has been a lot of talk about Beau (Kittredge) from Johnny Bravo lately as one of the best in the game.

In your opinion, what does GOAT and other contenders need to do in order to beat Furious? Is it a case of players, mindset, or strategy?

I think they (GOAT) are talented enough to play with most teams in the world and they showed that at this year's UPAs. I think they might need to work a bit on their strategy in order to stop the Furious Offense. I think the biggest thing stopping them is the team mindset. They have lost many games to Furious in the past and I think they just need to get that one big win against them and then the mental advantage that Furious has had in the past will be gone. I think that after the UPA tournament that Goat just had, I think it would be fair to say that future match ups could go either way.

What is your take on Ottawa ultimate and how can it be improved? Are things going in the right direction?

I think that Ottawa has a lot of work to do in the mens/open division. I think we are headed in the right direction by having a coach for the top team, but we need to focus more on the basics of Ultimate as a program. We need to work on our throwing, bailing, cutting, defending. We don't have 50 great athletes to work with, so we need to have a much better skill set and ultimate IQ then we do now. Our players seem to be putting in great effort in terms of working out but the same amount of effort needs to go into the understanding and breaking the game down. I think if we are able to do this, we will have a better chance of keeping good ultimate players in Ottawa (winning games for us) and not in Toronto (winning games for Goat).


What is your current assessment on Phoenix? Is Dave Brook's leadership of both Open teams good for the program or bad?

I think having a coach is great for any team, and a passionate coach like Dave is something Phoenix can really benefit from. I think Dave would be the first one to tell you that he does not know everything about ultimate and that he doesn't always have the answer to your question. He is learning along with us and doing a great job along the way. Last season was his first year with PHX and it was a tough year for him as the team had only 5 returning players. He had to start all over with the team and had decent results for his first year. From what I understand, he demands that his players play hard and practice even harder. I think that with the system and attitude he wants to install Dave as our coach is best for the program. I think year 2 will bring better results then last year and if the players continue to put the time in he will get positive results.