IFDANewsletterVolume1Issue1

Issue 1 Volume 1 May 2008

Irish Flying Disc Association Newsletter


Introduction

Dear IFDA Members,

Welcome to the first ever IFDA Newsletter. How exciting! In this issue you will find reports

on recent events in Irish Ultimate, details of the progress of the committee on numerous

fronts, photos of players strutting their stuff, results from various tournaments and much

other disc-related news. Everything in this newsletter has been compiled by the current

committee, both photographs and articles!

It is the hope of the IFDA to develop channels of communication between the committee and

the paying members. Often there has been confusion as to what the committee does and as to

where the membership-generated funds go. These issues are clarified below in some detail

along with a summary of some of the tasks being worked on as of late.

Should this endeavour prove to be a popular one, the committee are looking to develop it

further. Current thought points towards having it as a quarterly publication. As this project is

in its infancy the committee would appreciate your understanding and support as we iron out

the small details. For any advice, comments, feedback or ideas please email

[email protected]

This newsletter is designed to be as informative as possible. If you feel some areas have been

neglected, please let us know. Although there was little interaction with the IFDA community

for this edition, that mantra is a one off. Whether it is an article you are interested in

submitting, photographs you want included, a topic you want to be covered or simply

offering to help out, we want to hear from you.

mailto:[email protected]


The Aims and Role of the IFDA

The question that inevitably (and rightly)

follows the request of IFDA Membership is

what these fees are used for. The following

is a list of the aims and objectives of the

IFDA as well as its financial commitments.

This document is designed to outline how

your governing body is currently run, show

where your money goes and show you why

your membership is important to us.

It is important to understand that all of the

money received by the IFDA goes back

into Irish Ultimate. Similarly, the

committee has, year on year, strived to

improve many aspects of the game. The

work they do is tedious and time consuming but they do it for the love of the sport. Without

their drive, ambition and dedication the future for Irish Ultimate would be uncertain.

These voluntary workers, along with the many Tournament Directors, Club Committees,

Photographers, and National Teams Fundraisers are doing an immense amount of work in

furthering the sport. The IFDA is committed to being open and transparent with all its

endeavours and is readily available for questions or comments at

[email protected]



Aims:

The aims of the IFDA committee are:

o To facilitate the growth of Ultimate Frisbee in Ireland

o To promote, encourage and further establish Ultimate at a schools level

o To increase participation in the sport at all levels

o To ensure all adults playing the game are registered

o To increase the profile of Irish Ultimate

o To work with South Dublin County Council, Dublin City Council and Fingal County

Council at 'Family Days', taster sessions, activity days and other such workshops,

further raising the profile of Ultimate.

o To bring about the coaching of PE teachers to further schools growth

o To offer its expert advice to any budding tournament directors

o To formulate tournament guidelines to help new tournament directors & to

standardise the way tournaments are run in Ireland

Finance:

Each year the committee uses the fees collected from players, clubs and universities for many

tasks. Examples of these are the following:

o The preparation and production of starters packs for new clubs

o The organisation of a number of tournaments throughout the year for IFDA members

to participate in including (but not limited to):

o several hat tournaments

o Indoor Regional’s (Open & Women)

o Outdoor Regional’s

o The inaugural Mixed All Ireland Championships

o The funding of Women’s Indoor Regional’s

o The promotion of the National teams through fundraising and sponsorship

o The insurance of its members with Alliance

o The payment of WFDF affiliation fees

o The buying of Discraft discs to sell on to individuals, clubs and schools

o The purchasing of EUC DVDs for resale


Further Work:

The committee endeavours to increase playing and learning opportunities for its players each

year through various initiatives including:

Irish Sports Council Recognition

The committee have been in contact

with Federation for Irish Sports with a

view to becoming members of this

organisation. The committee received a

positive response from them and will

contact them again in the summer as

they are currently reviewing their

constitution. Last year the committee

set in motion a 3 year plan in order to

fulfil ISC criteria on becoming an officially recognised sport on behalf of their members.

The plan is on track to fulfil requirements of ISC recognition in 3 years, with fee paying

members and a ratified constitution being two of the measures introduced to help with this

process. The plan also involves the auditing of the IFDA accounts, the gathering of accurate

censuses and the development of Ultimate across the country. Once recognised the IFDA will

be able to work with the Sports Council, apply for grants, register with the National Coaching

Training College amongst many other benefits.

The criteria for ISC recognition can be made available on request by emailing

[email protected]

Discs

More discs were purchased to keep a supply for our members. Many of these discs will be

sold as part of a Schools Kit in an attempt to facilitate the growth of the Schools sector of the

IFDA. There are plans to make further orders of discs to ensure that we have a constant

supply which is readily available at a competitive rate.



University Affiliations

University fees were collected at the

start of the year and were spent

primarily on WFDF Affiliation fees

and Insurance fees. Individual

membership fees have been collected,

and will continue to be collected

throughout the year. These fees are

necessary to help fund a lot of the

committee projects currently in place

for the Irish Ultimate community. They are also a prerequisite for Irish Sports Council

funding as well as a way of ensuring accuracy in the annual census of Irish Ultimate.

For any further queries about Finances contact Séamas Kinsella at

[email protected]

IFDA Kit Bag

The committee sent out a request to its members to donate their old discs back to the IFDA.

These discs were gathered together in order for them to be used as a kit bag which could be

used by coaches going out to do sessions in schools or coaching clinics elsewhere.

First Aid Kit

The committee are in the process of sourcing a First Aid Kit which can be used specifically

for its events, and those member events that request it. It will be as comprehensive as possible

and it is hoped that it will be maintained by concurrent committees on a regular basis.

Coaching Course

The committee attempted to facilitate the running of another Level 1 UKUA Coaching

Course in Ireland. When it became apparent that this course would not be happening, the

committee decided to develop its own coaching course for its members. This course is

currently a work in progress and it is hoped that it will be rolled out before the next

University season.



Schools

A schools clinic took place on April 19th in which 11 PE teachers attended. Schools from

Dublin, Limerick, Meath and Kildare were represented. The IFDA subsidised coaching packs

consisting of a coaching manual, 8 discs and a DVD for each school. A forum has also been

set up for schools around Ireland to encourage and promote the development of Ultimate in

schools in the future.

This clinic will now take place annually if not twice each year. This is the first step towards

Ultimate being played throughout schools in Ireland.

Further, the first Schools Tournament will take place on Wednesday 14th May. This event

will be hosted by UCD and the IFDA and will bring together new and existing schools

ultimate players for an afternoon of open, women’s and mixed games.


New Pick-Up Coordinator appointed

Eoghan Barry recently stepped down as Pick

Up Coordinator. The committee would like to

thank him for his continued efforts. In a bid to

revitalise Pick Up, a new coordinator was

appointed. Keith Coleman (pictured) is the new

coordinator and the committee would like to

wish him all the best in developing pick up, and

offer him any assistance he may require in his

efforts.

Tournaments

The IFDA committee organised the following tournaments for its members:

Indoor Regional’s

Beer Bowl

Rose Bowl

Mixed All Ireland Championships

The running of Outdoor Intervarsities

was tendered out and ran by an

independent group on behalf of the

IFDA. A document outlining Eligibility

Guidelines for University events was developed by the committee so as to clarify any

questions or problems that its members may have on the matter.

The committee also set up a TD mailing list. A selection of experienced TDs were

approached to be members. It is hoped that this will provide a forum for new TDs to ask for

help or advice on how to run a tournament. If you wish to avail of this service email

[email protected]



Beer Bowl & Rose Bowl

Both these events ran quite successfully. The committee organised these events on behalf of

the IFDA. Although the Beer Bowl was cut short by one game per team due to weather

issues, everyone had a good time at both events and the tournaments both more than covered

costs.

Spring league

There was a Spring League planned until UCD Winter League was announced. As the UCD

league fulfilled many of the goals of Spring League it was decided to abandon the idea of an

IFDA Spring League.

Regional leagues

Due to the introduction, and success, of the

UCD Winter League a new approach was

sought to cater for regional teams. In the past

Cork had travelled to Dublin to play in Winter

League but this was no longer feasible under the

new format.

As such, a regional league idea was developed

in conjunction with the teams involved. This

proved to be quite successful, especially with

the Coaching Clinics which accompanied them.

It is hoped that these leagues will be further

developed in the next few years with increased participation and frequency.


Mixed All Ireland Championships

Saturday 26th April saw Frisbee players from

all over the country descend upon St. Anne's

Park in Raheny, Irish Ultimate's newest

venue, to compete in the first Mixed All

Ireland Championships. After a week of

speculation from an anonymous e-mailer, it

was time for the six teams entered to let the

ultimate do the talking.

Pool A saw number one seeds Mixed Veg taking on Last Minute Dropout and Jabba the

Huck. Veg started with an 8 - 2 win over LMD, whose next game was against a well-

organised Jabba team. This proved to be one of the many great games of the day, with Jabba

scoring the last two points to earn an 8 - 8 draw. This meant that Jabba knew what they had to

do against Veg to progress as second seeds in the pool. A strong performance by the

vegetables was countered by some great long scores from Jabba and, although they lost, they

had done enough to finish ahead of LMD in the pool table.

Pool B started with a comfortable win for Throwing

Shapes over Galway. Galway fought hard in the second

game against Captain Drinking Binge, but it wasn't

enough, as the Binge clinched a tight game in the end. The

pool decider came next, with Shapes putting in a strong

performance to beat the Binge. Lunch was eaten.

The crossovers followed, and served up a fantastic game

between Jabba and Galway. Galway powered into a 10 - 6

lead going into the cap, thanks to some spectacular grabs.

Jabba, with their never-say-die attitude, rallied to bring it to 10 - 10. In a tense final point,

Jabba got the D and converted to complete a fantastic comeback. In the other crossover, The

Binge beat LMD to set up a semi-final with Veg.


In the semi-finals then, we were treated to a youth against age match in Shapes v Jabba (the

TS youth policy has recently seen them recruiting Rickard, enough said...). Age triumphed.

On the other pitch, 'fun' was up

against 'success', with Binge trying

to prove a point to Mixed Veg.

Both teams cracked out a zone, and

Veg got a crucial score to make it 9

- 7 after time had been called.

Binge responded with the next two

points to make it 9 - 9. As the other

semi-final had finished, the sideline

for the sudden-death point was

packed, and the heckling was most impressive. Binge snatched the sudden death point to

complete the second remarkable comeback of the day and reach the final.

In the placement games, Last Minute Dropout

defeated Galway to take 5th and Mixed Veg

completed their second win over Jabba to take

third. So, into the final, where Shapes were

hoping that their experience would tell, while

Binge used some more experimental tactics such

as an impressive Iso play that had reaped

rewards against Veg. After trading points early

on, Shapes pulled away and kept on sticking in

the points against a dogged Binge defence to

take the final 12 - 5.


The final standings were as follows:

1. Throwing Shapes

2. Captain Drinking Binge

3. Mixed Veg

4. Jabba the Huck

5. Last Minute Dropout

6. Galway

Spirit winners were Jabba, while Robert Kane was voted MVP of the final.

Hopefully this tournament will

give club teams the impetus to

follow Jabba's lead and start

training more often. Ultimate in

Ireland has been dominated by

universities thus far, but we are

now entering a stage where

more and more players are

graduating and looking for an

outlet. A thriving club scene

will accommodate these people as well as anyone else whose only chance of a game is

Sunday pickup.


Miscellaneous

Some other developments which the

committee have been involved with were

the creation of Deadly Buzz, the

facilitation of a Mixed Murphy team for

Tour and the coordination of friendly

matches during the Mohawks visit for the

IFDA.

A series of pre-pick up clinics were run over the late winter and early spring. These were

geared towards providing skills coaching to everybody who wanted to participate. Following

their success in Dublin, an amalgamated version was run prior to the South West league days

in Galway and Cork. In addition, only a late cancellation prevented a similar session being

run in Letterkenny at the Northern league.

These clinics will resume, along with further IFDA training sessions, in the autumn in

preparation for the new university season.

The committee also purchased a batch of DVDs of the European Ultimate Championships

2007 for resale. These can be purchased for €10 by contacting any member of the committee

or emailing [email protected] The IFDA website is currently being updated and

it is hoped that the new version of the site to augment the facilities available currently


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