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