WFDF 2008 World Ultimate & Guts Championships

Presented by Russell Brewing

Scobel Wiggins Photography

Written by Jason Cox and published in the International Ultimate feature of www.the-huddle.org.

Ultimate in mainland China began over 10 years ago and back then there were very few, if any, local Chinese players. Fast forward to today, and the difference is obvious. Ultimate has begun taking root locally and the number of teams has grown exponentially. Small Chinese teams appear out of nowhere throughout China; but the powerhouses are still the expatriate teams, mainly Beijing, Hong Kong, and also Shanghai, who has made a name for itself in recent years on the Asian ultimate circuit.

Article reproduced courtesy of Associated Free Press and author Guy Newey.

FRISBEE TAKES OFF ACROSS ASIA

HONG KONG, Nov 27, 2007 (AFP) - Yuan Yuan and four of her teammates took a hard sleeper train 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometres) from the northern Chinese city of Tianjin to Hong Kong to spend a weekend chasing after a piece of plastic.

They joined more than 200 diplomats, bankers, students and accountants from across the Asia-Pacific region to play in the annual Hong Kong Pan-Asia Ultimate Tournament, a sport more commonly known as ultimate Frisbee.

Team Canada Women are looking forward to welcoming the world to their home turf. This year, we have been practicing as a team since the dark, rainy days of April. So far, we've had the opportunity to meet Team USA and Great Britain at Cal States in Santa Cruz, Flowerbowl in Vancouver, and Boston Invite in Devens. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our out-of-region teammates this week from across Canada and the US to help us defend Canada's title. Please check our site for updates: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=21612973796

Australia's open team got themselves on Fox News the other day during their US tour. Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RLKyIK3y94

submitted by Terhi Hänninen

Finnish ladies are ready for Vancouver! We had our last practice in Finland on Saturday, and the first ones hopped on the plane on Sunday. Everyone is more or less in one piece, prepared and eagerly waiting for the games. We might even have our uniforms ready from the printer before the last ones leave Finland. See our blog http://wugc08.wordpress.com/.

The Dominican Republic team is ready and very excited about competing in the WUGC! Under the distant tutelage of our team Capitan, who currently resides in NY, we have been training aggressively in a dirt pitch along-side the national track and field team, a group of 40-something rugby aficionados and a rag-tag flag football squad that drinks two cases of beer during practice. Training with the football and rugby guys is not really a problem, but let me tell you that training with javelin throwers really adds a whole new element to the vertical stack.

Recently, we had a very successful tournament that was highlighted by a dog grooming show, which reminds me that I did not see any sort of animal husbandry event on the WUGC calendar…quite strange indeed. It must be cultural.

GB Women are starting to take flight, heading to Vancouver with keen excitement!

from Jaimie Cross, GB mixed player

GB Mixed is looking forward to a great tournament in Vancouver. We are honoured to be playing at the opening ceremony against Canada and hope to provide an exciting spectacle worthy of the occasion. In preparation for Worlds, over 20 of our squad traveled to play in the Boston Invitational Tournament in June. Having lost our secret weapon in Boston harbour, in what we were told was a tragic boating accident, we hope the safe arrival of our tea supply in Vancouver will allow us to avenge the 15-12 loss against Canada at that event.

More recent preparations have involved our male players falling off bikes and our female players head-butting each other. Nevertheless we will arrive in Vancouver healthy, harmonious, and like all the GB teams, ready to emulate the 2004 medal-winning Masters team.

For those playing fantasy ultimate during the showcase game, here's a list of players "most likely to..."

… call a timeout: # 5 Joe Graves
… throw a scoober: # 37 JJ 'The Hammer' Howell
… make a layout catch: # 28 Ali Smith
… gratuitously layout: # 34 Francesca Scarampi
… score a Callahan: # 11 Giacomo 'The Beef' Maltman
… spike their visor: # 8 Bob "Alize" Clough

From the Aussie women's team blog.

Sweet Momes...
...folks.

The Aussie Firetails started their campaign in the windy, rolling slopes of San Francisco. Known for its orange bridge, its lung-saving trolleybuses up steep hills as well as a few quality women's ultimate teams, San Fran made the Ausssies welcome with mild weather and light breezes. With most of the team tucked safely into beds in one of the city's most notorious areas, Tederloin, the Tails caught up on sleep ready to start the battles on Saturday.

Results:

From the Australian Open team's blog. The team is currently touring California and competing with teams from the US west coast.

After swallowing the disappointment of the loss to JAM like a massive sea gherkin the Dingos got back on the wagon today with a convincing victory over another top quality US team - Revolver. This is the other strong Bay Area team, made up with some Stanford college kids and some wiley old hands. Dingos from the '04 Kaimana team will remember some of the guys who were on the Stanford team that beat us at that tournament. Revolver has beaten JAM on a number of occasions this year and are looking to try to break into the semis at UPA nationals this year.