For years I have been organizing pick games, practices, league days, etc... It is always the same: I send an email to the appropriate mailing list asking who is going. Within minutes I get lots of emails back. People comment on everything and suddenly a simple question becomes an email monster. And I only wanted to know who was coming!

And then I found HappyTC....

Nice! Simple! Effective! Players receive an email (this process can be automated) and they just have to click on a link in their email to say yes, no, maybe.I now I know who is coming.

Happy TC can use some improvements (e.g. specifying the time of sending the automated emails) but I love it already. It even lists Ultimate as a sport and you can see how the turn out is going to be based on gender and/or position. Sweet!

As of 16 March 2009 BULA tournaments should be played using the 2009 WFDF rules with the BULA addendum

Players will need to learn some significant changes before playing under the new rules:

1. Marking infractions don’t stop play. After a second infraction, the marker resets the count to 0 and continues
2. Play doesn’t stop for a travel where the thrower hasn’t thrown the disc, the stall halts and the thrower goes back to the correct pivot point as indicated by the defence
3. Calling a time-out when you don’t have any left is not a turnover. Add 2 to the stall count instead
4. Players may ask non-players for their perspective on a call
5. There is a new infraction called “Contact” for when the marker touches the thrower or the disc but not in the act of throwing – this should not be treated as a foul as it is not affecting possession, but treated as a marking violation.
6. If a call during or after the throwing motion did not affect possession, then it should be ignored. For example, if a thrower is fouled in the act of throwing, but the disc flies perfectly to the receiver who then drops it on their chest, the turnover should stand.
7. In order to throw after landing but before establishing a pivot, a thrower must maintain contact with the ground throughout the throwing motion.

Here are the links you need:

• Official BULA 5-0n-5 Rules
• Official BULA 4-0n-4 Rules
• Changes between the 2008 and 2009 WFDF rules

Another good blog posting from Ffindr.com. This time they featured the Boracay Open Beach Ultimate tournament and the still undefeated (on home turf) Boracay Dragons. Read more...

An integral part of any Frisbee tournament is its format and schedule. Teams are coming for the game (and maybe the party too), so you better give them what they want. This article is the first in a loose series on how to organise an Ultimate Frisbee tournament, trying to point out the most important aspects of a decent planning. There are quite some resources spread over the Web, most notably the UPA Manual of Championship Series Tournament Formats. More on Ffindr...