Below are the final classifications with regards to the Spirit of the Game at the World Championships.
We would like to remind everyone that a normal game is considered to have good spirit and that would result in 10 points (2 points per category).
We recognize that there is still a need for more education on how to use the system, but we looked at individual scores per game we can say that there were only a few games that had low scores and that the overall Spirit at the WCBU was exemplary.
The World Championships are over. What an amazing event! We could write a long blog post of all the things that happened but we could never report as eloquently as some others, so here is a list of some links you should check out:
A big thanks goes out to all players, organizers, volunteers, sponsors, and anyone that has made the 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate such an amazing success.
The 2011 World Championships of Beach Ultimate are ready to go!
There will be 14 games(!) broadcasts live, including the exciting opening game between the Italian Open team and the defending silver medalist from the Philippines on Sunday @ 17:00h CEST. Check out the coverage at live.iamultimate.com.
We will also have twitter feeds where you can get up-to-date game results from all 500 games.
Naturally there is a special WCBU2011 Facebook page, a special WCBU YouTube Channel where people can post their own videos, blog entries, as well as the popular online scoring system Ultiorganizer, to keep you even closer to the games and the players.
Just a quick update on the WCBU: It is going fast... :-)
Lots of countries already signed up. Fifteen Mixed, twelve countries in Open, eight in Women, and nine in Masters. Plus still potential to get the Grandmasters and Mixed masters filled up with 6 countries per division.
Many more countries are getting close to signing up too. Most of the power houses have signed up. We are still missing countries such as France, Brazil, Japan, Italy, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Hungary, Denmark, South Africa, Latvia, Mexico, Colombia, and Venezuela but they are all working on it.
Furthermore some new countries such as Uganda and United Arab Emirates are trying to get enough players and might really be present. That would be sweet!
We are working with Ultimate Peace to get some players from the Middle east: Arab Israelis, Palestinians from the West Bank, and Jewish Israelis.
In the meantime on the sponsorship side things are moving forward well. Discraft and Flashflight were the first two to sign up. Plus we have lots of other good conversations, broadcast interest, and much more.
On the ground things the local organizing committee is doing a great job getting the city of Lignano involved and getting the best deals for the players.
It is lots of work but we feel the excitement building and that makes us all very excited!
Ffindr registration
The last tests are being performed but all registrations for the World Championships of Beach Ultimate (WCBU) will go through Ffindr. Ffindr is an online event manager application for all disc related events. It is superb! Tones of useful features and really easy to use for administrators and players.
Website
We are just a week or so away from unveiling the new WCBU2011 website. Stay tuned...
Overwhelming interest
43 Countries have shown interest in participating at the World Championships in Italy next year. Statistics show that we currently have 83 team divided over 6 divisions with the Mixed Division leading with 24 countries!!
Grand Masters
There is a real strong possibility that this will be the first World Championships for Grand Masters (40+). It might include a ride on the Magic Bus (a tradition that started at the WCBU 2004 in Portugal)
Etc...
The lack of public communication is not an indicator of progress. Lots of things happening 'behind the scenes'. I have no doubt the World Championships will be a huge success!
Remember it was almost official? Now it is 100% official! The World Flying Disc Federation member poll closed and there were 62 votes in favor, 0 against, and 0 abstained! Beach Ultimate is now an officially recognized disc sport!
This also means that the WFDF and BULA will jointly host the World Championships of Beach Ultimate in Italy 22-28 August 2011. This will be 5-on-5 Beach Ultimate for national teams and countries can compete in 6 divisions:
1. Open
2. Women
3. Mixed
4. Masters ('78 or earlier)
5. Mixed Masters ('78 or earlier)
6. Grandmasters ('71 or earlier)
The location is perfect! It is at a sports complex that has its own beach and can house 2,500 players. Prices are low (40 euros per person per night for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a room with 3 others). All the basic information is at www.wcbu2011.com
Juniors ('92 or later) will have their own World Championships at the same place, a week before: 17-20 August and will compete in:
We have been approached by many federations already asking for information about the next World Championships of Beach Ultimate. Today we launched a preliminary website with the most important information that players and teams will need. In the next few weeks we will turn this website into the site it needs to be with player registration, links to online scoring and videos, etc... Stay tuned.
At the recently concluded Dream Cup tournament in Fuji-shi, Shizuoka-ken, Japan (March 20-22, 2010), Matt Kass of BULA Japan was seen promoting Beach Ultimate and trying to get the Japanese interest in participating at the next World Championships.
"It doesn't often happen that you manage to find what you really need. Usually, when you try to build an event, you spend months making contacts, talking to people, knocking on doors to get green lights, adequate facilities, the right deal. Usually, if you work hard enough, and for long enough, you eventually pull together a package that works. But sometimes, just sometimes, something else can happen: you come across an Opportunity. A Golden Opportunity. Something else that is even better than the thing you were looking for. Something you know you can't ignore."
He was right! We couldn't ignore his bid. It was perfect.
The location is the GeTur "Sports Village" in Lignano Sabbiadoro (close to Venice in Italy). This is a state-of-the-art resort center for sport, health and fitness, set in 60 ha. of natural pine woods. The accommodation and sports facilities are right next to each other, right by a private beach, over 1 km long, which can easily accommodate 15 regulation-size Ultimate playing fields. Players make the short (50 mt) walk from their hotel room to the beach along paths between the trees, with no road traffic.
Accommodation + all meals (breakfast, packed lunch, dinner) is only € 35!The food is very good, and comes in embarrassingly large quantities! It's also very varied, always offering a range of superb dishes catering to all tastes. Of course Team and Player fees come on top of that but those will all be within normal parameters (think about € 100 per player and € 250 per team).
Not only is the place perfect, the dates are perfect too: 22-28 August 2011.
With Max as a TD (he is also organizing the Under 23 World Championships this year), all of us at BULA are extremely happy with the winning bid and we can't wait for the next World Championships of Beach Ultimate to take place.
Keep an eye out on this blog for more info that will be coming to you.
Yesterday was the deadline to submit bids for the World Championships in 2011. We received bids from Italy, France, Turkey, and Mexico. The WCBU Committee will examine the bids and announce the winner at the end of this month. All look like good places to play at :-)
Yes! BULA is ready to accept bids to host the 2011 World Championships Beach Ultimate.
If you, or your local disc organization is interested in hosting the 2011 BULA World Championships Beach Ultimate, send an email to wcbu2011@beachultimate.org and put "Bid Request" in the subject line.
You will receive a Word document that has to be filled in as complete as possible and send back by March 10. The winning bid will be awarded by March 31 2010.
Submission and questions to wcbu2011@beachultimate.org