"One University of Washington psychiatry professor has identified a strange correlation -- schools with top-ranked ultimate Frisbee teams also have higher graduation rates. Michael J. Norden analyzed the Ultimate Players Association's performance ratings for men and women's teams and discovered both public and private schools with top-ranked ultimate teams have higher graduation rates than schools with lower-ranked teams." Read more

Hmmmm.... I don't know, but this sounds like questionable use of statistics...

It is a common claim made by Ultimate Frisbee players that ‘anyone’ could play the game. However Andrew Thornton, a long time Ultimate player, has published research that shows that Ultimate players struggle over their (athletic) embodiment and identity. His research shows that although Ultimate players reject and limit identifications with dominant sporting ideals they also continue to embrace some of their qualities. This process of identification suggests that maybe not ‘everyone’ will be able to become part of the Ultimate community...

Interested in reading more? Here is the published chapter (.pdf) of his PhD thesis. This chapter was originally published in 2004 by Belinda Wheaton (Ed.) in Understanding Lifestyle Sports: Consumption, Identity and Difference, London: Routledge, 175-196.

If you want to know more about Andrew, here is the link to Andrew's homepage

No, this is not advertising for the Beach Ultimate Lovers Association, but funny nevertheless:

Link to more on the story and some video

Each year BULA promotes a new tournament somewhere on the globe. These series are called the Beach Ultimate Traveling Tournaments (BUTT). We are still waiting for confirmation of the 2007 location, but the 2008 location has been determined and it will be a great one: New Zealand! Four weekends, four tournaments!

Starting 2 & 3 February 2008, at Otaki Beach (one hour north of Wellington) the "Wellington Wild Wind" mixed hat tournament will make its debut. After 2 days of playing and partying the tournament will move up the North Island. Three more beach tournaments will follow over successive weekends. Costs, maps, links, accommodation and other details to follow.

Below is a first picture showing a view of the beach, and an insert of the grass area with BBQ and seating area adjoining the beach. With a river a few hundred metres away, the weather brings different surfaces to the beach, such as the shells showing in this photo, or lots of driftwood (fires!). But no worries, it is very easy to groom :-)

For any (Beach) Ultimate player, that loves to travel and wants to visit one of the most beautiful countries in the world, this will be an experience that should not to be missed. Sign up for our Beach Ultimate News (left) to get more details when they come out, or subscribe to our Atom/RSS feed (top right)