Category Archives: Womxns Ultimate

WUD 4.0 Recap

We are so grateful to all the coaches and athletes who came out to our 4th Womxn’s Ultimate Day. Coaches from Brute Squad, Slow White, Wild Card, and our local grand masters’ team spent the day running skills, mental-resilience, and body mechanics workshops for athletes whose experienced ranged from brand new to ultimate to having veteran club experience.

Athletes split into groups by skill level and rotated through clinic stations on throwing and breaking the mark, cutting, marking, and defensive positioning. Advanced groups learned about throwing windows and footwork for defensive dictating, and beginner groups learned the rules, set their first marks, and threw their first forehands (!!).

After applying new skills in a scrimmage, athletes split into two groups and rotated between mental-resilience and body mechanics workshops. The mental resilience workshop was led by Leila Tunnell and covered goal-setting and tools for refocusing that are key to reaching your potential as an athlete. In the body mechanics workshop, player learned techniques for improving straight-line acceleration and changing directions quickly and safely.

We are already looking forward to Womxn’s Ultimate Day 2021! Although it didn’t work out this year, we’re hoping that in the future, we can add another event with a longer series of workshops on equity in ultimate, leadership, and planning seasons and practices.

The clinic was led and organized by Hannah Baranes and Leila Tunnel. 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. And as always, thanks to Indoor Action Sports in Greenfield for hosting our event!

Our coaches included:

  • Hannah Baranes (Slow White)
  • Leila Tunnell (Brute Squad, Happy Valley)
  • Alex Ode (Brute Squad)
  • Olivia Hampton (Slow White)
  • Laura “Buzz” Davis (Valley Grandmasters)
  • Erin Rea (Brute Squad)
  • Sarah Judd (Wild Card)
  • Caroline Pellegrini (Happy Valley)
  • Tess Johnson (Slow White)
  • Caitlin Fitzgerald (Slow White)

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

-Leila Tunnell + Hannah Baranes

WUD 4.0!

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

Join us for a weekend of clinics and workshops run by championship-level womxn athletes from Brute Squad, Slow White, and more. We’re expanding this year’s event to TWO days, and you’re welcome to register for both days or just one of the days!

Day 1: Saturday, February 1st, 1 to 5pm at Northfield Mount Hermon School located at One Lamplighter Way, Gill, MA 01354. Join us for a day of workshops, discussions, and building connections with other womxn in your ultimate community. Topics are listed below. This day costs $20 to $30 and has NO cap on # of participants. [The day is free if you are student at NMH.]

Day 2: Sunday, February 2nd, 9am to 2pm at Indoor Action Sports located at 1385 Bernardston Rd., Greenfield, MA 01370. The clinic is open to players of ALL abilities and experience levels, and we will split into groups to provide differentiated instruction based on your experience. You will rotate through clinic stations that are each focused on a different skill (for example, defensive positioning, downfield offensive spacing and timing, throwing instruction, or breaking the mark). At the end of the clinic, we will apply your new skills in small-sided scrimmages. This day costs $33 to $40 and is capped at 70 participants.

Visit the event page for more information and to register!

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

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.

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!