1998 CLUB NATIONALS – PRESS RELEASES
OCTOBER 21–24, SARASOTA, FLORIDA

MEDIA ALERT ON ULTIMATE NATIONALS

What: 18th Annual Ultimate Frisbee Nationals.
Where: Sarasota, Florida. Sarasota Polo Grounds.
When: Thursday, October 22 through Sunday, October 25, 1998.
Finals for Masters and Coed are 10/24/98.
Finals for Open and Women are 10/25/98.

Who: Approximately 800 ultimate frisbee players from around the U.S. and Canada. Competing are the nations top teams: 14 mens, 14 women's, 12 coed, and 7 mens masters. Teams are traveling from the stretches of San Francisco Bay, California; Vancouver, British Columbia; Portland, Maine; Boston, Massachusetts and other cities.

Sponsors:
Hyatt
Budweiser
Balance Bar
Patagonia
Sarasota Polo Grounds
Bullfrog
Discraft
Antz Ultimate Wear

Background: Ultimate Frisbee was first played in 1968 at Columbia High School in New Jersey. Now, 30 years later the sport is played competitively around the world. The Ultimate Players Association (UPA) is the governing body for ultimate in the US. The UPA has 10,200 members competing in sectional, regional, national, and world competitions.

Visit the UPA website to learn more about Ultimate Nationals or the sport of ultimate: http://www.upa.org/~upa.

1998 Ultimate Discsport Nationals
SARASOTA–FL
Oct. 24, 1998

Boston Avoids Premature Burial

Boston's Death or Glory, winner of four straight championships, escaped a tough battle with arch-rival New York's All-Stars in semifinals today. They will face the Santa Barbara Condors in the finals tomorrow in their quest to win five straight and tie the Nationals' record. Santa Barbara upended Raleigh-Durham's Ring of Fire in semifinals, 17—13.

In the women's division, three-time defending champion Lady Godiva, also from Boston, advanced to the finals with a decisive win over San Francisco's Home Brood. Seattle's Verge also advanced with a nail-biting victory over Atlanta's Ozone, 16—14. The teams will meet for the championship for the second time in five years.

48 teams competed at the 18th Annual Nationals in four divisions; Men, Women, Masters and Co-Ed. Nationals is the premier tournament for Ultimate and serves to crown the Club Champion.

1998 marks the first year that Co-Ed was officially recognized at Nationals. Veteran San Francisco team Red Fish Blue Fish swept the division with gusto, defeating Colorado Springs' Pira Haku 17-9 in the final.

The Co-Ed division is one of the first of its kind in discsports and Ultimate is proud to recognize equal athleticism on the field of play.

There are over 600 Ultimate teams in the United States. Ultimate is run by the Ultimate Player's Association, a non-profit organization that supports 11,000 members across the country.

For more information, contact....

1998 Ultimate Discsport Nationals
SARASOTA–FL
Oct. 24, 1998

San Francisco Wins First-Ever Co—Ed Ultimate Nationals

Red Fish Blue Fish, the veteran Co-Ed discsport team from San Francisco, California, beat Colorado Springs' Pira Haku in the finals today, 17—9, to complete a storybook ending to an undefeated season. Playing primarily along the Western coast, the team (whose name comes from a Dr. Suess book) played strong co-ed Ultimate all season. They completed the year with the Nationals victory here in Sarasota.

"It feels great. It's good for the sport. People can have fun playing Co-Ed instead of the often intense nature of the Club divisions," commented team leader Tom Kenny.

Kenny credited the women on the team for Red Fish's victory. Kelly Badio, Alyce Pearce, Devo Goldman, Cece Fairley and Joanne Adamkewicz provided Red Fish's strength all season.

This is the first year Co-Ed has been played at Nationals. It has met with great success as 120 teams from around the country competed for a chance to play for the Championship. Ultimate Discsport continues to grow and expand and adding a strong new division is proof.

The Co-Ed division is one of the first of its kind in discsports and Ultimate is proud to recognize equal athleticism on the field of play.

There are over 600 Ultimate teams in the United States. Ultimate is run by the Ultimate Player's Association, a non-profit organization that supports 11,000 members across the country.

For more information, contact....

1998 Ultimate Discsport Nationals
SARASOTA, FL
Oct 25, 1998

Boston Sweeps

There's a new dynasty in town.

Veteran Boston Ultimate teams Death or Glory in the Men's division and Lady Godiva in the women's, fulfilled destiny today by winning their fifth and fourth consecutive National titles, respectively.

It has a hard-fought title for both teams. Death or Glory, who have now tied New York, New York's record of five straight Championships, faced a young and talented Santa Barbara Condors squad in the finals. Santa Barbara has lost only one game this season, a one-point loss to Boston in pool play on Friday. Death or Glory, whose average age is 34, managed to defeat the hard runners of Santa Barbara again today, 17—15.

Boston's women's team Lady Godiva faced a similar challenge against Seattle's Verge. Verge had lost only two games all season and breezed through pool play en route to facing defending Champion Godiva in the finals.

Verge held a 10—5 lead at half-time and appeared to be in charge. But Godiva regrouped in the second half and turned the game around by scoring several difficult up-wind goals. They came back to take a late 15-14 lead and won going downwind in overtime, 17-16.

It was a hard-fought, dedicated win by both teams, considered legends in the sport. Godiva has been to 12 of the last 15 finals and Death or Glory has been to 6 of the last ten. This may have been the toughest of them all.

"We controlled the flow of the game. It was all about us," credited Godiva's Christine Dunlap after the tooth-and-nail victory.

"Boston is Number One!" exclaimed exuberant team leader Steve Mooney after Glory's win.

48 teams competed at the 18th Annual Nationals in four divisions; Men, Women, Masters and Co-Ed. Nationals is the premier tournament for Ultimate and serves to crown the Club Champion

There are over 600 Ultimate Discsport teams in the United States. Ultimate is run by the Ultimate Player's Association, a non-profit organization that supports 11,000 members across the country.

These Press Releases were coordinated by Michael Guuitz, the then-UPA Vice President. I wrote them quickly in the hotel room and Michael faxed them from his laptop to a dozen or so newspapers. I think we got a mention in USA Today from this. We made sure to get a name at the Sports department of the Boston Globe and faxed over the "Boston Sweeps" but I never found out if anything came of it. The "Media Alert" Press Release at the top was not written by me.

Pretty funny that we tried to disassociate ourselves from the trademarked "Frisbee" by using "Discsport" which sounds just as corny to me as calling competitive ballroom dancing "Dancesport" (which is what they do). Personally, I prefer "Field Disc" but hey...

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