UPDATE, 9/21: tourney postponed.
From tourney organizers:
Introducing The Inaugural Qingdao Beach Hat
2009年10月17日-18日
Qingdao famous for its temperate coastal climate, wealth of European architecture, superb city centre beaches, nearby LaoShan mountain range: China’s highest coastal mountains and the source of water for our world famous beer. With all of these things going for the city it was only a matter of time till China’s first ever Beach Tourney arrived on our fair shores! Following official support from the city government and Qingdao Tourism office, FUNQ (Qingdao’s Ultimate Frisbee team) is proud to announce that the inaugural Qingdao Beach Tournament will be held over the 17-18th of October on Number 1 Beach. Number 1 Beach is Qingdao’s largest city centre beach. The beach is directly in front of the tournament hotel and party venue, so players can enjoy a little more of a lie in after partying hard Saturday night. So expect 2 days of Beach Ultimate action, copious amounts of beer fresh from the Tsingtao Beer Factory and one crazy party Saturday night. If you’ve noticed FUNQ at tournaments around China you will have hopefully seen how the team has and ingrained fun and fair play philosophy, whilst also enjoying a good party, this attitude will be very evident in our tournament.
In short our tournament should be the most fun, affordable and convenient China has ever seen and it’s ON THE BEACH!
Number 1 Beach:
The building directly behind the beach with the large rectangular glass frontage is the Beach House.
Teams:
The inaugural tournament will be a Hat Tournament. Chinese and foreign players from all over China and hopefully also some others from around Asia will be placed in mixed ability teams. The focus will be on spirit, cooperation and getting to know new friends. Ultimately having a lot of fun whilst enjoying the competition.
Beach Ultimate is slightly different to regular Ultimate. A game is competed 5 on 5 with the ratio being 3:2 or 4:1. The pitches are also slightly smaller having a total length of 75 metres (2x15m endzones/45m playing area) and a width of 25 metres.
Accommodation:
The main accommodation will be in ‘The Beach House’, a newly refurbished beach front hotel over looking Number 1 Beach. There are several room rate options to suit every budget: Cheapest room rates are 30 RMB per person-8 bed dorm room, 35 RMB per person-6 bed dorm room (both have a private bathroom, and there are additional bathroom facilities on every floor). Twin Bed room 140 RMB (extra beds are available if you wish to lower the cost further on this option again the room has a private bathroom). For those looking for more luxury other more expensive options will be available, they will also be as conveniently located to the action.
Transportation:
Arriving and Departing by Air: The airport is a 40 minute taxi ride from the city (55 RMB) or an Airport bus is available which takes 1 hour (20 RMB). The bus stops at Zhanqiao Pier featured on the Tsingtao Beer label, so you should recognize it when you arrive. From there it’s a 5 minute taxi ride to the accommodation or a 10 minute bus.
Arriving and Departing by Rail: The railway station is conveniently located in the Old Town just behind Zhanqiao Pier, so again its only a 5 minute taxi ride 10 minute bus to the accommodation. There is a direct bullet train from Beijing going through Tianjin, which takes 5 hours 45 mins from Beijing.
There are also several Long-Distance Bus stations located in the city.
Services on the beach:
Plenty of food, water, beer and beer by the bag (a Qingdao speciality) will be available on the beach. Should you be too lazy to cross the beach to your room there are additional showering and changing facilities on the beach. Medical assistance will also be readily available.
THE PARTY:
Just to give everyone a very early heads up, the party theme will be SeaLife (quite literally life in the sea and on it) so let your imagination go wild, we expect to see lots of Pirates, Sea creatures, Sailors, etc., think you get the idea! For the party we also plan to take over the bar and rooftop of the Beach House which overlooks Beach Number 1, where most of you will be housed. There will also be an after-party at a club on Qingdao’s bar street.
Registration Fee:
We are keeping the tourney as affordable as possible so the fee is going to be between 100 RMB for Chinese students and between 200 RMB for foreigners/working Chinese. Obviously this fee will cover the costs of your meals over the weekend and vast quantities of beer. Once sponsorship is secured for the tournament we may be able to offer some travel grants etc to help those really in need of the extra help.
REGISTRATION begins now and the sooner we get ideas on numbers the better. We look forward to hearing from you.
Please reply to qingdaobeachhat@gmail.com
青岛以其温和的海洋性气候,众多的欧式建筑, 临近城市中心的迷人沙滩以及附近的崂山,这座中国最高的临海山和以其源头的泉水制成的享誉世界的啤酒而著称.这座城市集众多优势于一身，中国首届沙滩公开赛来到这片沙滩上只是一个时间问题! 在青岛市政府和青岛旅游局的大力支持下, FUNQ (青岛极限飞盘队)骄傲的宣布青岛沙滩公开赛将于 十月17日至18日期间在第一海水浴场举行.一浴是青岛位于市中心的最大的海水浴场. 沙滩正位于公开赛指定旅馆和派对地点的前方, 这样大家便可以在周六晚上卖力狂欢之余在床上多懒一会.就让我们期待着这两日的沙滩极限飞盘赛, 从青岛啤酒厂源源不断运来的新鲜的啤酒以及周六的狂欢之夜吧！ 如果你在中国各地的公开赛上注意过我们 FUNQ ,希望你会注意到这支团队是如何本着公平竞争的理念比赛并且如何在竞赛中取得乐趣，同时也在派对上尽情娱乐。这种态度也会在此次的公开赛中继续体现出来.
总之我们的公开赛将会是你所见过的中国最有趣的,价格容易接受且方便的公开赛， 而且这次是在沙滩上！
第一海水浴场:
直接位于沙滩后面、带有巨大长方形落地玻璃门面的建筑就是大海驿客栈。
队伍:
首次公开赛为 Hat Tournament. 来自全中国的中国和外国玩家,希望还会有来自亚洲其它地方的玩家会被分配成能力混合小组. 比赛的重点在于合作精神和认识新的朋友. 最终在竞争的同时享受乐趣.
沙滩飞盘与通常的飞盘稍有不同. 一场比赛为5对5,队伍中男女比例可以为3:2或者4:1. 赛场也稍小一些,其总长度为 75米 (2x15m 得分区/45m 竞赛区), 宽25米.
住宿:
主要住宿地点为 ‘The Beach House大海驿客栈’, 一个重新装修过的海滨饭店，可以看到第一海水浴场。这儿有几个不同的房间报价以满足不同的住宿需求: 最便宜的房间为 30 元/人,8人间；还有35 元/人-6人间(两种房间均有独立卫生间, 每层有公共浴室). 标准间140 元 (如果你在这个价位上想节省开支,可根据需求加床,房间有独立卫生间). 对于那些想住得更豪华一些的,还有更高价位的选择, 酒店位置也同样方便，靠近比赛场地.
交通路线:
乘坐飞机往返: 如乘坐出租车,机场到城市的距离为大约40分钟的车程(55 元) 或者可以乘坐机场巴士,大约1小时车程(20 元). 公交车站位于栈桥。栈桥是青岛啤酒商标上的一个特色标志。因而当你到的时候你应当能够认出它来. 从那儿打车只需5分钟，乘坐公交车只需10分钟即可到达旅馆.
乘坐火车往返: 火车站位于老城区,正好座落于栈桥的后面,非常方便.所以还是同样的,打出租车只需5分钟,乘坐公交车只需10分钟即可到达旅馆. 有一趟从北京来的直达动车,途径天津, 从北京到达青岛只需5小时45分钟.
城市里也分布着多个长途汽车站.具体乘车路线可询问。
沙滩服务:
在沙滩上，我们将供应大家足够的食物,水和袋装扎啤(青岛特色). 如果你太懒,不想穿过沙滩回到你的房间,你也可以使用沙滩上的公共淋浴和更衣设施.医疗援助也会届时准备就绪.
派对:
给每个人一个提示, 派对主题将为海洋生活 (正如字面意思, 生活在大海中和大海上) 那就尽情的展开你的想象力吧！ 我们期待会看到许多的海盗,海洋生物, 航海家..等等等等,.你是不是一定有了主意?! 派对计划在大多数人入住的The Beach House（大海驿客栈） 的一楼酒吧和和其屋顶平台上举行,在平台上可以俯瞰第一海水浴场. 派对后会转而去往青岛酒吧一条街。
参赛费:
我们将参赛的费用控制到最低,因此费用大约为:中国学生100 元 , 外国人和就业的中国人为200 元。当然费用将包含你周末的餐费和足量的啤酒. 一旦公开赛得到赞助，我们将有可能会提供一些旅费资助以帮助那些真正需要额外资助的朋友前来参赛。
报名现在就开始.我们越早的得知参赛人数越有利于各项安排.我们在此期待着你的答复!
qingdaobeachhat@gmail.com
From Red Sports:
Japan-Taiwan Ultimate team Mo’chi came from behind to beat Philipinas from Philippines 12-11 on the final day of the 11th Singapore Ultimate Open 2009 to emerge champions.CUUP (China) beat Vudoo (Indonesia) 12-8 to become Pool B Champions while it was an all Singaporean final in Pool C, where Lagi Shiok beat SMU 12-7 to claim the position of Pool C Champions.
Ultimate players from countries such as Thailand and India came together for this 2-day event, each bringing their passion for the sport.“Ultimate is good spirit and fun, but at the same time challenging…A lifetime of fun!” exclaimed India’s captain Mark Scott, 33. Alec Hutson, 29 from China United Ultimate Party, also known as CUUP, shared, “Ultimate is based on fairplay, fun and love for your opponents…One of the best things in my life.”
Also see: Disk Knights Orange come in 3rd in Singapore Open 2009.
Much, much more to come next week, when this correspondent returns from Borneo.
Serious congratulations to Mo'chi, the Japan-Taiwan team led by all-around good guy Yoshio, who beat Pilipinas in a riveting final, 11-10.
Pilipinas appeared to pull away halfway through the game and led 9-6 when cap was called, making it a game to 11. They also led 10-7 before Mo'chi, through three or so layout D's, fought its way to four straight points. The final score was a swirly backhand huck caught in the far corner of the end zone.
A message from Lance DuBos:
I hope everyone is safe and sound back home. Thanks so much for coming; we loved having you. So many great games, and great spirit throughout. Thank heaven (or secret Singapore government policies) for great weather.
Results are attached [ed's note: we'll post later]. Not all placement games were played, hence the ties for various ranks.
Pools C & D played out exactly to seed, Pool A had two flips between 2 & 3, 5 & 6. Pool B was the only wacky one. China were supposed to be good, right? Sorry, Alec, had to drop one good heckle since you weren't within mic range.
The video will be edited and we hope to have a DVD to show at Manila if possible. Both finalists will also get a copy.
From tournament directors:
Girls & Boys,
Please disseminate this to your players. Look forward to seeing most of you at Registration Night!!
Captains' meeting at 10pm.
Our website is updated (mostly). Attached are PDFs which participants may find useful:
(i) Sing Open 2009 info sheet; and
(ii) game schedule
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A local High-Definition channel, SLING HD, is sending a crew to film proceedings. To help them get you screen-time, please would you complete two questionnaires (attached) for the TV crew:
(i) Team Questionnaire -- background info about the team. Captains, please complete.
(ii) Player Questionnaire -- Captains, please choose 2/3 key players and players with interesting stories to tell.
Please return the questionnaires to me:
- by email to
- hardcopy printout to me in person at registration or at the fields
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Lastly, here's a tourney preview from the office of Cramer & Cramer:
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Discheads,
Just a couple of days to the madness that will be the Singapore Open 2009. We've got 24 teams from 13 countries descending on our little island for a weekend of Ultimate action. 10 fields on Saturday, 6 fields on Sunday. Good times and a little bit of Singapore patriotism thrown in for good measure (it's National Day on Sunday!). All the logistical details will come to you via the usual channels: water, check, disc, check, slightly bumpy (but at least mimosa-free) fields, check. The list goes on. Blah blah blah. The real question, of course, is who we're going to be getting uncomfortably close to while playing post-game stripper/cowboy/skydiver.
There are rosters floating around somewhere, but we've decided to studiously ignore them. What's the fun in getting it right anyways? So, here you are, a quick rundown of the teams you'll see on the fields come Saturday morning. We take no responsibility for correctness (factual, political or otherwise).
Angelina's Orphans (Cambodia): Straight outta the PP (that sounds a bit sketchy, but it's Phnom Pehn, folks), with some reinforcement from Siem Reap, this is the first time everyone's favourite former French colony has put in a showing at an overseas tournament. Watch for Jared "J-rad" Cahners, back from a 7-year exile in Wisconsin, showing off his svelte beer-and-cheese physique and silky smoove moves all weekend. Word is Greg Bloom is unavailable this time around. Dark horse quotient: 10.7.
CUUP (China): How is this possibly going to work? Beijing and Shanghai playing on the same team? Doc and Alec? Nads and everyone else? A recipe for disaster if ever there was one. We predict travel calls during their warm-up drills, a failed coup for the captaincy by Jim after game two on Saturday, and a top-20 finish.
Discindo (Indonesia): The seksiest team in Southeast Asia is going to make some waves in 2009. We're not sure, how, why or where, but waves there will be. Word has it Brad "Xiao Mu" Smallwood has been recruited to bolster the D line (or was that sideline?). And those of you waiting for the Dan Murphy comeback tour are going home disappointed. The crusty vet index balances nicely at 8.2.
El Ninos (Malaysia): For those of you too young to remember Chris Farley, a quick lesson: their team name means "the Ninos". You can look it up. Lack of knowledge leaves us stretching a bit here, but we think it's safe to say you're in for a good run if you have to match up against these guys. Oh, and watch out for #42.
Flying Naan (Malaysia): For those of you with the right connections on Facebook, you'll already be in a psychedelic trance. Groovy headbands, short shorts and tie-dye jerseys coming your way. Carroll "duuuude" Moreton leads the way here. Over/Under: 54.8.
Junk (Hong Kong): Junk sails into town as the defending China Nationals champions. If they can take down a nation of 1.5 billion, what's to stop them in diminutive Singapore? We've thrown a few dollars at the organisers to make sure Junk gets the worst possible schedule, but we leave it up to you, good citizens, to slow this team down on the field. And did they sign up a lady ringer recently? Only time (or more specifically, Saturday morning) will tell. Latest Hsu Hammer Index reading: 38.9.
Kidlat (Philippines): Kidlat means lightning in Tagalog (or "lightening" for some). Anyways, they walked away with some sort of award at last year's Sing Open (B-Div champs?). Watch out for more where that came from this time around.
Pilipinas (Philippines): The Philippines national team. What combination of young, fast, athletic kids with ridiculous skills will they bring this time around? It's like there's an endless supply of them, and we've had just about enough of it. Give the people what they want: more Erik Waldie!
Mo'chi (Japan/Taiwan): With only two returning players, does this count as the 2009 version of Py-ro, the defending Sing Open champs? Probably not, but still looks like the start of a solid lineup with Yoshio, Kerry, Uli and Shu. Word has it Josh Hon may make a rare appearance, and that Brian Sheehan, one half of the Asian Ulti founding Bryan/Brian team, may also hit the fields. We realise these names mean nothing to 84% of you reading this, but that's not stopping us (or them as they kick your young butts this weekend).
RMIT (Vietnam): More young, fast, increasingly skilled and drilled players making your life difficult on the field. Where are all the old, slow and over-the-hill teams? We hear that Singapore Ultimate is thinking of putting a lower age limit on participation at this tournament next year. Let's hope it's true. Dark horse quotient: 13.2.
Sizzle (Australia): JD and his merry men and women. We never know what to expect from down undah, but rumours have surfaced of a team that could do some serious damage. Might this be the first time an Australian team gets past quarters at Sing Open? Be sure to tune in on Sunday to find out.
Soidawgz (Bangkok): Here come the Dawgz. We've been told it's not quite the team you're used to seeing, but nonetheless, we're going out on a limb and predicting a 14.6 party score on the modified Murphy scale. Adjusted for the hoppiness of the latest batch of Brewerkz's Golden Ale, we're going to bump that up to 15.2 for Sunday afternoon.
Team India (you guessed it, India): This one took a few years to get off the ground, but it looks like there will finally be an Indian team at the Sing Open (side note, there was a team from India out to a beach tourney here in Singapore last year). Led by Mark Scott and no doubt with some spiritual guidance from afar from house-bound brand new father and Asian Ulti founder, Bryan Plymale, we're excited to see what they've got.
UP Sunken Pleasure (Philippines): Someone forgot to tell these guys that we're not playing the 36-a-side, gravel-parking-lot-in-New Jersey version of Ultimate this weekend. They roll into town with a roster of 28 players. They plan to run you very very very deep into the ground. And in case you missed it, they are the defending HK tourney champs. Watch out.
Vudoo (Vietnam): Vietnam Ultimate Defence Offence Organisation! And here we thought it was all about some shamanistic doll-poking ritual thing. Dave Jensen is back with what will no doubt be a team of fast, skilled and hungry players. We hear Dave has slowed down a bit and his hops are on the decline, and that's just fine with us. Have a beer and a couple of donuts, David. No, please, we insist.
And your Singapore teams:
Chuckies: Excuse me, were you looking for a boat race? Chances are you'll see Chuckies throwing down a couple of times this weekend in between hard-fought games. The Chuckies/Soidawgz rivalry will be renewed. We've called in the expert panel for some insights on this one, and they've come up with the following prediction: beer.
Disc Knights Orange: Most recently finalists in KL, DK Orange sees the Knights fully loaded and ready to lay the hurt on some teams this weekend with big hucks, pinpoint breakmarks and huge Ds. You have been warned.
Disc Knights White: More DK, just a different colour. Unclear whether this is the Old Knights, the Young Knights or a combination of the two. Either way, they've probably been whipped into some serious shape, so be ready to run.
Freakshow Green: "Freak-show, Freak-show, Freak-show!" Yawn ... anyone bored of that cheer yet? Well, it looks like we'll have to put up with plenty of it this weekend. The good people at FS have managed to put together not one, not two, but three teams this time around. Defending Bali and KL champs and most recently finalists in Shanghai, we'll see what they're capable of on home turf.
Freakshow White: Captains Chua and Cramer are set to guide FS White to the promised land this weekend. Where that is, and what it's like remains to be seen, but the promised land it will be.
Freakshow Camouflage: A smooth blend of old and new, this full-bodied, well-balanced ... wait, we're talking about an Ultimate team here. A mix of Freakshow's newest players, one or two vets, and a few more than capable additions--watch for FS Camouflage (if you can find them).
Lagi Shiok!: More trouble coming your way from your favourite team with a punctuation! mark! in! its! name! We don't know too much about them, but it's fair to say they'll be! exciting! to! watch!
Shiok!: Hungry and hard working, our guess is that no team has run as many sprints as Shiok has in the last two months. We also bet no team has eaten more cheeseburgers and fries (or maybe that's just Enrique on his own). Do they cancel each other out? Watch for Shiok to push hard to better last year's quarterfinal exit.
SMU: They may all be accountants and spend their free time reconciling general ledgers, but the SMUrfs have skills to spare. In truly inspirational form, Captain Bernard "Balance Sheet" Huang dropped this little gem on us during an interview: "It's going to be a fun weekend.". Good work, Bernard. Try to contain yourself, you're on international email distribution here.
And what's all this without a little bit of prognostication:
Four pools on Saturday. What will the top 8 look like going into Sunday? Here's our very uneducated guess, in no particular order:
Sizzle
Shiok
CUUP
Freakshow Green
Pilipinas
Sunken Pleasure
Mo'Chi
DK Orange
As always, thanks to our sponsors, affiliates & partners:
* Brewerkz
* Pocari
* Soyjoy
* OrthoSports
* 1Physiotherapy
* Zone
* Zsofi Tapas Bar
* The Toucan Irish Pub
* Sengkang West Citizens' Consultative Committee
* LiveStudios
* Official Broadcaster: SlingHD
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See y'all real soon!!
keeks
In case you've forgotten, it's happening this weekend. Here's an email from one of the organizers, Lance DuBos:
Howdy
Your schedule attached. I didn't actually get a lot of info from people, so had to work with a few hunches. Also had to separate the teams from the same country. Can't see any possibility the top three teams are all in one pool, the only cardinal sin of seeding. I see the 2nd-4th rows of each pool as pretty tight, so some good games for placement into the playoffs.
4 pools of 6 teams each. Everyone plays five (5!) games on Saturday. By UPA format rules, we will play to 11. Sunday's three games a bit longer. Our schedule has some constraints Sunday from the neighbouring National Day activities. We only have 6 fields, and a gap at 9:30am for the national anthem and birthday celebration. We should be up again by 10:10. Your cooperation will be appreciated.
Top 2 go into A quarters sunday morning, 3 & 4 go into B, 5 & 6 to C. Awards for all three divisions. All brackets are pre-set to avoid rematches. Some re-seeding to avoid any that occur will be discussed, but very few likely. Captains can agree to alternate competitions for last round placement games on Sunday.
A few random pre-heckle comments:
FS Green, CUUP, Mo'chi and Pilipinas are all solid, and deserve no. 1's.
The second row ain't too bad. Two tourney champs from 2008, and a strong Ozzie squad. Oh, and Kidlat, who rolled through the Sing Open B division last year. Time to move up.
Soi Dawgz outside the top 8? Well, no Emma, no Lee Beller. Hell, they tried to recruit Mark Newton.
DK Orange led FS 5-1 in the Malaysia final. They don't like to remember what happened next. Vudoo? Who knew? How many points will Dave play?
All of which means DiscIndo and Junk drop outside the top half. Ryan gets punished for starting the bash the Sing Open on false information thread. HK has 14 people. I don't think they will like Saturday afternoon very much.
Wild-card Alert: Angelina's Orphans may not have mothers, but some of them are mother....... decent players. Our other newbie, India, owe Keeks lots of beer and other favors for filling their roster.
Looking forward to having you all here again, or for the first time.
The Hong Kong Pan-Asian Ultimate Frisbee Tournament will happen Oct. 24-25 in Aberdeen, Hong Kong. Will Sunken Pleasure defend its title? Will Beijing Big Brother be robbed of another party title? Will Freakshow continue its run of success? Mark your calendars...
For the first time in recent memory, China will (try to) send an open team to a tournament in Asia. In November, Manila will host a regional qualifying for Worlds 2010 in Prague, coinciding with Manila Spirits during the weekend of Nov. 7-8.
Interested parties should contact me (email in left sidebar) or join China Open Ultimate on Google Groups.
Here's the most recent announcement from Hong Kong's Rob Adams, who's spearheading this campaign:
China Open Players,
There is enough interest in the 'Open division' to try to create a Greater China Club team for Manila Spirits/AOUCC tournament.
The team structure is starting to take shape:
Treasurer and Coordinator - Grant Franke
He will be representing the team in liaising with WFDF, HKUPA, PUA, and other organisations to make this team a reality. Most further announcements will come from Grant.
The Roster Selection Committee - Nads, Balance, Jake, Tao
They will be attempting to put together a first cut for the Manila roster for August 21st.
If you haven't filled the form out yet, please do so - it it important information for the selection comittee.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey= ..dERWbHFfeFFPQnNPTFU5TEgtRE9vbU E6MA
Please share the form's link with anyone you think would be interested in trying out for this team.
Announcements on Captains and other roles to follow soon.
Cheers,
Rob
