Competitive Ultimate

As part of my commitment to fill in some gaps, I thought I'd write a bit about the competitive ultimate scene in Canada's capital. Since I'm far from an expert on the subject, this promises to be a much shorter entry.

For us players who are a little too old be called junoirs (18 as at December 31st), and still youthful enough to avoid the masters title (32 or 33+...can't remember), there's six competitive teams that are based out of Ottawa. The "Open" (aka men's) squads are Phoenix (top 10 in Canada) and Firebird (top 20ish). Having been to a couple of open clinics, tournaments, and pre-tryouts, you get a feel for how amazing these players are. The speed and intensity of play is mindblowing. Honestly, there's no way I could keep up to these guys, or match their skill levels, and their fitness is borderline scary.

On the women's side, the two teams based out of Ottawa are Scarlett and Stella. I think Stella just came back this year...which is great. There's also a "Capitals" squad, which combines the best women out of Ottawa and Toronto. A little like the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time?) squad on the open side; although I hear that's mainly Toronto guys.

Then there's mixed. I've read a couple blogs now that totally bash the mixed ultimate concept. I'll try to defend it to the best of my ability down the road, but for now, I'll just stick to the competitive teams out of Ottawa. Bytown Flatball Club finished second in Canada last year, and BigFish is the development squad (as are Stella and Firebird). Since I'm going to be attending the mixed tryouts this year, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, I'll be able to talk more about those programs down the road.

Last but not least, there's a new "Intermediate Development" team that I'll be trying out for as a Plan B this year. This would be fun since it's geared toward players who want to improve, and make one of the competitive squads in the future. By practicing once a week with an experienced coached, playing in OCUA league one night a week, and attending local tournaments, you can see how improvement would be inevitable.

If memory serves, tryouts for all the teams, including the new intermediate team, start this week. Maybe the next post I'll talk about how I'm prepping for tryouts. Until then, happy hucking!