Ningbo to hold second ultimate tournament in April
Tuesday, 9th March 2010 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (5)
by Dan Siekman
The second annual Ningbo Hat ultimate tournament will be held on the weekend of April 3-4 at the University of Nottingham Ningbo.
Ultimate, aka ultimate Frisbee, is a fast-paced and limited-contact sport that came out of the US in the 1970s and is growing in popularity worldwide. Only requiring a flying disc and an open field, the sport is beginning to take a hold in new parts of China.
Ningbo is one of three Chinese cities with two year old tournaments, the others being Kunming and Shenzhen. In China's more international cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing and Tianjin, some ultimate clubs have been in existence since the late 1990s.
"Frisbee" is the original brand name of the plastic flying disc that is thrown between players in the sport. Most players now use discs that are manufactured by its competitor Discraft and in an attempt to cleanse their sport's name of the trademarked Frisbee name, they have taken to calling their sport "ultimate" and saying "disc" instead of Frisbee.
The object of the sport is to move the disc downfield by passing from teammate to teammate. The player in possession of the disc must pass within a ten-count. While in possession of the disc, the player cannot walk but is allowed to pivot on one foot. A point is scored when a player catches a pass in his/her opponent's end zone.
The word "hat" refers to a style of tournament in which players enter as individuals rather than teams and rank their own ability levels. Organizers then attempt to create a set of equally matched mixed gender teams that vie for the championship.
The term derives from formulating teams by choosing players' names at random out of a hat.
As is traditional for ultimate tournaments, the Ningbo tournament will have a themed party on Saturday night, with plenty of complimentary beer included in the tournament registration fee: the theme this year is "Star Wars." Players of both sexes and all ability levels are welcome to join.
For more information email: liyanguan (dot) forrest ( a t ) gmail (dot) com.
Image: Ningbo Ultimate
Tags: Beijing, Hong Kong, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, ultimate, ultimate frisbee
Ultimate frisbee tournament to return to Kunming
Wednesday, 27th January 2010 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
By Dan Siekman at GoKunming
The second annual Kunming Hat ultimate frisbee tournament will be held on the weekend of March 6 and 7. Last year's tournament drew more than 80 players from around Kunming, China, and the world for a weekend of playing disc and having fun.
This year the Kunming Ultimate Frisbee Club will host a bigger and better event at new fields near Huangtupo (黄土坡).
In ultimate frisbee parlance, a hat tournament means that competitors enter as individuals rather than teams. When competitors sign up, they rank their abilities according to a number of criteria, helping organizers to create several mixed gender teams of similar ability for two days of tournament competition.
The organizers encourage any ultimate players or anybody who would like to learn the sport to come to Kunming for the tournament and for the Friday and Saturday night parties that are the usual accompaniment of ultimate tournaments.
More information about schedule, registration fee, accommodation, and parties can be found at the Kunming Ultimate website.
More information about the sport of ultimate frisbee can be found at whatisultimate.com or the Ultimate Players Association
Tags: Kunming, Kunming Hat, ultimate frisbee
Kunming to host ultimate frisbee tournament
Wednesday, 21st January 2009 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (1)
For the last several months, a small but dedicated group of individuals has been meeting on Sunday and Wednesday afternoon on the football pitch behind Yunnan Minorities University to play ultimate Frisbee, a relatively unknown sport in this part of China.
On February 7 and 8, Kunming will host its first ultimate Frisbee tournament featuring men and women from Kunming, elsewhere in China and around the world in a 'hat tournament' in which individuals enter rather than teams.
Tournament co-organizer Jono Berry sent the following invitation to China Sports Today readers:
Greetings from Kunming Ultimate! What is Ultimate, you ask? Check out this link for info.
Here's the short version: it's a seven on seven team sport played on a 120m x 40m field with 25m endzones included in that length. You can't run with the disc and you advance down the field by completing passes to your teammates. If you catch it in the other endzone, you score. Most games are played to 13 or so but also have a time limit.
The reason we're bringing this all up is that we're having an Ultimate tournament right here in Kunming in just a couple of weeks! On the weekend of February 7-8, people from all over China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Ningbo, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, will be traveling to Kunming to participate, but all ability levels are welcome. Don't have a team? Don't worry, this is a hat tournament, so you'll rank yourself in several categories and be placed on a team based on your ranks. All the teams will be about even so it'll be good competition the whole way through!
The tournament fee is around 250 kuai, but before you stop reading, look at what that includes: tourney food (fruit, bread, peanut butter, etc) at the fields both days, dinner on Saturday night, two free drinks at both parties (that's right, there are tournament parties on Friday AND Saturday night), free beer and liquor at the fields, and a tournament t-shirt! Let us stress that this is an entire weekend-long experience with lots of good times for all.
If you're still not willing to shell out money to play a sport you've never played, come play! We'll be having a free Ultimate clinic on Sunday, February 1st at 3pm at the Minzu soccer field. Come see what we're all about before you make a decision.
If you're looking for a way to get some exercise, meet and party with some cool people, and learn a new sport, then this is the thing for you!
Check out the tournament on facebook here or send an email to kunminghat at gmail.com for more information.
Here's the short version: it's a seven on seven team sport played on a 120m x 40m field with 25m endzones included in that length. You can't run with the disc and you advance down the field by completing passes to your teammates. If you catch it in the other endzone, you score. Most games are played to 13 or so but also have a time limit.
The reason we're bringing this all up is that we're having an Ultimate tournament right here in Kunming in just a couple of weeks! On the weekend of February 7-8, people from all over China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Ningbo, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, will be traveling to Kunming to participate, but all ability levels are welcome. Don't have a team? Don't worry, this is a hat tournament, so you'll rank yourself in several categories and be placed on a team based on your ranks. All the teams will be about even so it'll be good competition the whole way through!
The tournament fee is around 250 kuai, but before you stop reading, look at what that includes: tourney food (fruit, bread, peanut butter, etc) at the fields both days, dinner on Saturday night, two free drinks at both parties (that's right, there are tournament parties on Friday AND Saturday night), free beer and liquor at the fields, and a tournament t-shirt! Let us stress that this is an entire weekend-long experience with lots of good times for all.
If you're still not willing to shell out money to play a sport you've never played, come play! We'll be having a free Ultimate clinic on Sunday, February 1st at 3pm at the Minzu soccer field. Come see what we're all about before you make a decision.
If you're looking for a way to get some exercise, meet and party with some cool people, and learn a new sport, then this is the thing for you!
Check out the tournament on facebook here or send an email to kunminghat at gmail.com for more information.
Image: Beijing Ultimate
Tags: Kunming, Ultimate Frisbee, Yunnan