As the Chairman of the WFDF Spirit of the Game Committee I am very pleased to announce the 2010 Spirit of the Game Scoring system. The Committee looked at all the feedback on the 2008 system and worked hard to make the system better and easier to use. I think we succeeded :-)

The reduction of the number of scoring criteria from 8 to 5 is one of the main changes. Each team is now scored on: 1) Rules knowledge and use, 2) Fouls and body contact, 3) Fair-mindedness, 4) Positive attitude and self-control, 5) Themselves (did the team play with worse, same, or better Spirit than the other team?)

The other major change in the 2010 Spirit of the Game scoring system is the rating. Each of the criteria are now rated "Excellent", "Very Good", "Good", "Not so Good", or "Poor", and teams awarded 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0 points respectively, yielding a score range of 0-20 points per team per game. I believe that this correctly reflects the overall Good Spirit seen in the (Beach) Ultimate community and allows us to maintain this level of Spiritedness worldwide. As of November 8, 2009 have translations of the SOTG scoring sheet in 27 languages(!) and we will continue to add new translations. (download translation template and send it to patrick@beachultimate.org by the end of the year)

We also created an official press release. If you have contact with local or national press people, forward the press release at http://beachultimate.org/New_Fair-Play_scoring_system_released_in_25_languages.pdf. Spirit of the Game is what makes our sport special.

Of course, spread the word in you local (Beach) Ultimate communities as well. Show people the new SOTG scoring sheets or send them to www.wfdf.org/index.php?page=rules/spirit.htm or www.beachultimate.org/blog/2009/10/spirit.html

In any case, here are the 27 languages available until now:

1. English
   
2. Catalan
   
3. Chinese
   
4. Danish
   
5. Dutch
   
6. Estonian
   
7. Finnish
   
8. French
   
9. German
   
10. Hungarian
    
11. Icelandic
    
12. Italian
    
13. Japanese
    
14. Latvian
    
15. Lithuanian
    
16. Norwegian
    
17. Polish
    
18. Portuguese - Brazilian
    
19. Portuguese - European
    
20. Russian
    
21. Serbian
    
22. Slovakian
    
23. Slovenian
    
24. Spanish
    
25. Swedish
    
26. Turkish
    
27. Ukrainian

Many thanks to Chris Schneider (CH), Christian Jennewein (FR), Dan Engstrom (SE), Daniel Bailey (VE), David Raflo (US), Ethan Milberg (CA), Jerry Rosenberg (US), Momme Butenschön (IT), Natalie Visser (CO), Paul Bernier (IT), and Rue Veitl (DE) for their work on making this happen, as well as all the volunteers that translated the document.

I love getting emails from people like Edgardo Martinez. Edgardo is a Beach Ultimate tournament director in Colombia. He wrote:

Hello Patrick, I am from Colombia, South America, and I am organizing a beach ultimate tournament in my city Barranquilla. The tournament is going to be next week (24-25 Oct). I just wanted to say that your web page have really help me a lot, specially the pictures. I would love someday to make an international beach tournamento here in colombia, specially that the sport is growing really fast down here. You can visit the tournament web page www.diskologia.com

Apart from the fact that it is great that our work at BULA is helping him, look at his Colombian website and you a great Google map of the beach but also two pictures from Paganello, one from Portugal, one from Boracay. Different pictures to make a complete feeling of the sport. Nice!

Keep up the great work Edgardo!

P.S. If you are in Colombia next week... first time tournaments are always special!

Claudius Kirsch from Germany just released a small application which brings the WFDF Ultimate Rules to your iPhone. It's just the right thing if you need a quick look at a certain passage between games. And of course a good chance to show your newest gadget to your teammates!

Here's the iTunes link which brings you to the free app: http://tr.im/BS5w (make sure you have iTunes installed on your PC before clicking the link)

The app is pretty easy to use and allows to view the rules in portrait or landscape mode. The text is zoomable and you can switch between translations in the app. Right now this includes English and German. More languages may follow.

This picture completely captures one of those great feelings playing Beach Ultimate. An amazing picture! Thanks Bommie!

(more great pictures at beachultimate.org/pictures.html)

Beach Ultimate in the US has mostly been in the form of annual tournaments. However that is changing. For many years Los Angeles was the only place with a Beach Ultimate league. This fall they are starting their 5th of Beach Ultimate league season with 16 teams (about 200 people) taking over a good chunk of Santa Monica Beach for 7 weeks. They even have an all-star game, where every team sends a male and a female player.(www.labeachultimate.com)

Chicago kicked off a 6-week Beach Ultimate league this year after their annual Sandblast tournament. The experience was very positive for new and experience players. Ultimate Chicago (a local social organization) ran the league and is going to host an even bigger one next summer in two different sessions.

There is even rumor of Beach Ultimate in Boston next year... but that is just a rumor...

Mojo Jojo - Lei-Out Beach League Winners 2008