Tony Leonardo's Collection of Ultimate Frisbee Writing
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1999 U.S. Club Nationals
Preseason Scouting
Women
Open
Daily RSD Posts
Miscellaneous

1999 Tune-Up

1999 NE Club Regionals

Short Article written for ESPN Magazine

1999 Whitesmoke

1999 College Preseason Rankings
Women
Men

1999 College Nationals
Men
Women
Daily RSD Posts
Interview Transcripts
Team Bios: N.C. State Jinx and Stanford Superfly
Press Releases

2000 Stanford Invite
Saturday
Sunday
Post-Tournament
Press Releases

2000 College Nationals
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Post-Tournament Notes

2000 National Champions Brown University

2000 Ow My Knee

2000 Club Open Top Ten Post

Interview with TK (Tom Kennedy)

 

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BROWNIAN MOTION: 2000 COLLEGE ULTIMATE CHAMPIONS

There was one team this year that brought home a championship to College Hill. Brown's Men's Ultimate Frisbee team finished number one in the nation with a 34-4 record with a Player of the Year trophy for Justin Safdie '00 and a Championship Title for the 2000 season.

Over 200 collegiate Ultimate teams this Spring season fought for the glory that now belongs to Brownian Motion (eschewing Bears or Bruins and outside traditional avenues of athletics, Ultimate teams devise their own monikers). Last year, Brown's hard-working squad came up just short, losing in semifinals to eventual champion North Carolina State.

The disappointing loss only made B-Mo work harder. A good Ultimate team is in good shape while a great Ultimate team is in great shape. Team captains Jon LaRosa '00, Matt Kromer, '00 Olivier Humboldt, '00 and Moses Rifkin '02 scheduled practices four times a week, a track workout every Wednesday night and an endurance training technique called "spinning" once a week. The only weekends the team didn't have practice were reserved for competition at college Ultimate's toughest tournaments: The Yale Cup, Stanford Invite and College Easterns.

The team was led on the field by Fortunat Mueller, '00 and Safdie, two highly decorated veteran players now in their fifth season (the ruling Ultimate Player's Association allows students five years of collegiate eligibility in the annual Championship series). Last year, Mueller won the prestigious Callahan Trophy that goes to the nation's greatest player and this year that award went to Safdie.

"Winning the Callahan was the single biggest honor I have ever received," says Safdie, "Knowing that this was an award that was voted on exclusively by my peers makes it so much more meaningful."

With two Callahan winners on the squad it was no wonder that the team won the National Championship, but the road to the finals easy. Brown lost two tough matches early in the season to perennial powerhouses U.C. Santa Barbara and Colorado University, but regrouped to win College Easterns over Carleton College and Yale Cup over Cornell earning them a number one seed at Nationals, held this year in Boise, Idaho over Memorial Day weekend. There they sustained a potentially devastating upset loss to the University of Wisconsin 15-14 on the first day.

But first-year coach Nathan Wicks understood his team's uniquely Ivy league character and re-focused the squad on fundamentals. "We can be arrogant and glory-seeking. That's our Achilles heel," explained Wicks. After the loss, Wicks began preaching patience and prudence and Brown went on to avenge last year's Championship by dusting N.C. State in quarters 15-4. Brown then rolled 6-time champion U.C. Santa Barbara in semis 15-9 before facing a rejuvenated Carleton squad in the finals. With a strong showing from Mueller and Rifkin, Brown jumped ahead early and never lost the lead en route to a convincing 15-11 victory.

Certainly Ultimate is a unique sport and many are unaware of its required athleticism and dedication. It is played on distant fields with few fans but that doesn't make it any less exciting. Brownian Motion is one tough, athletic, and fun team and for a player such as Safdie, Ultimate has brought a lot of glory and good times.

"Ultimate combines the best parts of all the games that I have enjoyed before. I played Varsity soccer and volleyball in high school, and on the club volleyball team at Brown. There is something about diving and hitting the ground (like in volleyball) that is very satisfying. It's almost like I get the chance to fly if even for only a short second, he says.

Safdie admits that his perspective may be skewed, but nonetheless contends that Ultimate may just be the ultimate fit for a school like Brown. "I believe that Ultimate as a sport fits the traditional Brown philosophies very well. The whole idea of self-officiating is very appealing, and the general friendliness of the ultimate community seems like it reflects the atmosphere at Brown. In addition, I don't believe that there is any other sport at Brown where the women's and men's teams had such a good relationship."

Indeed, the women's team was also present in Boise, hoping to advance past last year's run into semifinals. Led by Kate Leslie '00 and Whitney Kakos '00 they almost made it again before losing a tough quarters match 12-10 to U.C. Davis.


Charles Kerr, in his tireless effort to promote College Ultimate, hooked me up with a contact at the Brown University Alumni Magazine to write a short piece about Brown's championship season. They liked the copy and published it with some editing changes in the magazine's Fall 2000 edition.

 

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