Author Archives: Josh

Womxn’s Fall Ultimate League

Valley Ultimate is interested in facilitating a league for eligible W division players in the Pioneer Valley and we want to hear from you!

Please take a moment to fill out this short form and let us know if this playing opportunity may be of interest to you — feel free to distribute this widely.

A few tentative details:

  • Games would likely take place once per week at the Oxbow Marina in Northampton.
  • The league would be USAU sanctioned and the estimated cost would be around $20 – $30.
  • The league would be open to people eligible for the womxn’s division.

Feel free to email questions/comments to: kelseyjwentling@gmail.com

Youth Club Champs 2019 Launch!

U20 girls coach Leila Tunnel

Valley Ultimate will again be sending a U20 girls team and a U20 boys team to the USAU Youth Club Championships!

Coaches Leila Tunnel and Joe Costello are returning for another round of awesome!

You can learn all about, and apply to join, the 2019 program right here.

Valley Ultimate is also looking for a YCC coordinator. Want to get paid to help run the VUYCC program? Here’s your chance to join the fun! Applications are due by May 1st.

Thanks for coming to the 3rd annual Womxn’s Ultimate Day!

This just in from Leila and Hannah:

We had a fantastic turnout for the 3rd annual Valley Ultimate Womxn’s Ultimate Day. Over 70 athletes joined us in Greenfield for skills workshops, mental-toughness training, and competitive game play.

After warming up, athletes split into four groups of varying skill levels and rotated through clinic stations on throwing and breaking the mark, cutting, marking, and defensive positioning. Athletes developed new skills such as adjusting marks to stop specific throws, using on-field communication to improve spacing and timing of downfield cuts, and repositioning on defense as a cutter’s angle of attack changes.

We ended the evening with players rotating between mental toughness training and 6v6 scrimmages where they could apply their new skills in competitive game play. During the mental toughness training, athletes learned how to build a toolbox for staying in their hind-brain, “in the zone” flow state where they can perform best.

WE’RE ALREADY LOOKING FORWARD TO WOMXN’S ULTIMATE DAY 2020! In 2020, we hope to expand it to a 2-day event with a longer Friday-night clinic and a series of workshops on Saturday. We want to add focused work on body mechanics and injury prevention to the Friday clinics, and our Saturday workshops will be on topics such as team culture, equity in ultimate, and leadership.

The clinic was led and organized by Hannah Baranes and Leila Tunnell. We had a stellar support team of all-star coaches and administrators who helped bring this day to fruition, including Valley Ultimate board members Josh Seamon and Joe Costello.

A big “thank-you” also goes out to Indoor Action Sports in Greenfield for hosting our event!

Our amazing coaching line-up included:

  • Hannah Baranes (Boston Slow White)
  • Leila Tunnell (Boston Brutesquad)
  • Claire Chastain (Denver Molly Brown)
  • Tulsa Douglas (Boston Brutesquad)
  • Blake Spitz (Boston Brutesquad)
  • Shelly Peyton (Boston Brutesquad)
  • Caitlin Fitzgerald (Boston Slow White)
  • Alex Ode (Boston Brutesquad)
  • Erin Rea (Boston Brutesquad)
  • Ari Nelson (Boston Slow White)
  • Annika Chan (Boston Wild Card)
  • Tess Johnson (Boston Slow White)

Thank you to all who participated, and we’re looking forward to seeing you out on the field again soon!

-Leila Tunnell + Hannah Baranes

WUD 3.0!

Announcing VU’s Third Annual Womxn’s Ultimate Day!

Leila Tunnell

The event will be held on Friday February 22nd from 8pm to 11pm at Indoor Action Sports located at 1385 Bernardston Rd., Greenfield, MA 01370.

Registration is open to all women and non-binary athletes 13 years old and above. Younger players wishing to apply will first need to contact Leila or Hannah for permission to sign up.

The event costs $20 or $24 per participant.

For complete information and to register, please visit the event page.

February 2019 Board Meeting

The next VU board meeting will take place on Thursday, February 21st from 6 to 7pm at Johnny’s Roadside Diner in Hadley, MA. Anyone with any interest in growing ultimate in the Valley is encouraged to attend! At the meeting we will be discussing:

  • Outreach
  • Our 3rd annual Womens Ultimate Day!
  • Spring planning
  • Volunteer recruitment
  • Much more

Spread the word! The Facebook event is online here.

Spring 2019 Scheduling Meeting & Annual Meeting!

The VU YCC girls team meets Manuela Cardenas, International all-star!

Come get your local team (college, high school, middle school) schedule set for the spring!

The meeting will take place on Sunday, January 27th from 11:30am to 1:30pm at Amherst Regional HS.

The meeting will start with Valley Ultimate’s Annual Meeting (11:30 to Noon) where we’ll:

  • Outline of the upcoming year of Valley Ultimate activity
  • Take input on what to work on
  • Breakout into groups to discuss specific topics like leagues, hat tournaments, governance, youth development, and communication
  • Lots more!

We’ll then move on to the scheduling fun! (Noon to 1:30pm)

Please note: No scheduling will be done from 11:30 to Noon.

If you plan on scheduling games at the meeting, please make sure you bring accurate information regarding when you can host games and when you can travel to games.

We are running the annual meeting first and shortening it to make it possible for more people to attend. That being said, if you’re only interested in scheduling, please just show up at Noon.

The entire event is open to all – Hope to see you there! Invite people through the Facebook event.

January 2019 Board Meeting

The next VU board meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 15th from 6 to 7pm at the Bluebonnet Diner in Northampton, MA. Anyone with any interest in growing ultimate in the Valley is encouraged to attend! At the meeting we will be discussing:

  • Outreach
  • Our 3rd annual Womens Ultimate Day!
  • Spring planning
  • Volunteer recruitment
  • Much more

Spread the word! The Facebook event for the meeting is online here.

NMH Girls Clinic a Success!

This just in from Dan Hartsoe @ NMH:

Thanks to all coaches and participants for making the U-20 Girls Ultimate Clinic at NMH a success! 

You can read more about the clinic right here. It’s looking like it’ll be a yearly event!