Hello Atlanta!

I'm that bearded buy from St. Johnsbury VT who is frequently seen on the sidelines of your games in Amherst and coaching random New England teams like Rush and Just BUDA. I made my first trip down to your city last April to coach at the PCup.... where I found that it can get cold in ATL

Anyway -- I've decided to run for an at large position on the UPA's Board of Directors. Voting is open now through the end of October and anyone who is a UPA member can vote. You don't have to be 18 to vote.

Over the next month I will be conversing with as many Ultimate communities as I can on the topic of what they want to see from a member of the UPA's Board of Directors. From Atlanta I am specifically interested in:

What is Atlanta looking for in a Board candidate?

How can the UPA better serve the Atlanta Ultimate community?

Would you like to hear my position on any issues in particular?

....anything and everything you'd like to say about the UPA.

I've put up a page detailing all of the information that's currently available on my candidacy right here: http://vyul.org/content/view/72/96/

I hope all is well down south!

seriously...you had us at 'Seamon'.

she said "seamon". hehe

Well, I'll interpret those two comments as interest in what it's like having Seamon as a last name

The best answer I can give is a speech I gave at the beginning of last year in front of the whole freshmen class (~250 students) at the school where I teach math.

Here it is:

_____________

Good morning everyone.

My name is Mr. Seamon and there are two things you should know about me.

First of all, yes, my name is Mr. Seamon and yes, parts of my junior high experience were rather traumatic. You think you have it bad? I was terrified of the public address system. We didn’t have a note system like we do here at the Academy – when you were needed in the office you were paged over the school-wide public address system. Let’s just say that I never missed class and became very, very good at getting paper work into the school on time.

Second, I am absolutely and utterly obsessed with Ultimate. I have over 175 Frisbees hanging on the walls of my apartment. Over the past 2 years I have traveled well over 21,000 miles to play and coach in various Ultimate tournaments and events. I find it fun to wake up at 4am to drive to an Ultimate tournament in another state that ends up being held in freezing rain. I once played in 17 games of Ultimate in 8 days – 10 of them in Seattle, Washington and 7 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. I’ve played a full game of Ultimate in an honest to god Hurricane. One of my life goals is to play in the Ultimate game that breaks the world record for longest game – the current record stands at 73 hours.

When people start finding out these things about me, I’m usually asked two questions. The first one is usually something along the lines of: “How do you survive having Seamon as a last name?” My immediate answer is that I survive quite well, and that having the last name that I do is actually a huge plus. For example: no one ever forgets my name. I never have to think very hard to come up with interesting ways to meet new people – all I have to do is introduce myself and BAM, the conversation has started. On my high school Ultimate team we called plays by shouting the play number and then the last name of the key person in the play – a frequent call was “93 SEAMON!!” which would usually give me a head start of about 3 seconds while the other team froze trying to process what they just heard. My name also lends itself to fantastic slogans – one that my sister’s friends came up with when she was running for senior class president was, “Vote for Katie Seamon, because a little Seamon goes a long way.” She ended up winning the election. And the nicknames are just endless – For example, I have an uncle who went to Top Gun and flew in the Blue Angles. His first call sign was Squirt. The Navy thought it would be a good idea if he thought up a new nick name – so he changed it to Sperm. Imagine that, the man was in Top Gun and his nickname wasn’t Iceman or Maverick or Viper or Jester, it was Sperm. How’s that for hardcore?

The second question I am usually asked is some form of: “Why are you so insane about Ultimate?” For the full answer to that question stop by my room (Severance 21) any time after school when you have a solid couple hours of free time. The short answer to why I love Ultimate so much lies in one sentence in the official rules of the game. This sentence is:

“In Ultimate players call their own fouls and are governed by “Spirit of the Game” which states that “highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of the bond of mutual respect between players, adherence to agreed upon rules of the game, or the basic joy of play.”

Everything I have learned, experienced, and gained from Ultimate is rooted in this statement. And what exactly has Ultimate given me? For the long answer, again, see me in person when you have a good several hours of free time. The summarized answer is that Ultimate has given me a game I will play for the rest of my life, something I can pour all of my energy into, and most importantly Ultimate has given me an enormous extended family.

I think all of you should play Ultimate. Why?

It will change your life.

What exactly does that mean? Play Ultimate and find out.

There are two great opportunities for you to play Ultimate at St. Johnsbury Academy. First, there is Intramural Ultimate which starts this Thursday. Games will be played on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the fall and anyone is welcome to participate. In the spring, the Academy will be ushering in its first ever Varsity Ultimate season. Both a girl’s team and a boy’s team will be traveling all across New England, playing as much Ultimate as there is time in the day for, and then some. New players absolutely have a chance to make the team – last year out of the 36 players that traveled on the spring team, 10 were freshmen.

If you’re interested in participating in Ultimate Intramurals, come out to Stowe Green this Thursday at 3:30 ready to play.

If you’re interested in playing on one of the Varsity teams this spring, my advice to you is to stay active. Play another sport, design your own fitness routine, play Intramurals, learn as much as you can about the game – all of these things will help you once March rolls around.

All of this being said I would like to leave you two things: First, in case you missed it, my name is Mr. Seamon. Second, a small warning. If you decide to play Ultimate…. You might end up liking it as much as I do.

Thank you.
_____________


Questions? Comments?

no she said seamon.

Oh, I saw that -- I just thought since you seemed amused at the last name (I sure am ) that you'd want more info on what it was like having the last name.

while this is funny and all, i'm not ashamed to say i know Josh well, a wanna encourage all of you out there to vote for him for the UPA Board of Directors. besides how much fun it will be for some of you to poke (i know, i said poke) fun at his name while he serves the community on a national level, he will rock!

Thanks baccdog!

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to remind ya'll that the voting deadline is coming up this Wednesday at midnight.

So, if you haven't voted yet..... login to you UPA.org account and vote!

I have been a UPA member since 2001 when I played in college, and now that I play at the club level I compete in the series. So what does UPA offer ATL if you are not playing for a club team? UPA does little to nothing for the AFDC that I am aware of.

There is no advantage of being a member if you compete in "non-sanctioned events". So this year for instance, if you pay to be a member you just bought yourself an expensive ass sticker and a rule book. I think people would like to get something out of their membership if they are not competing at the club level.

I know the UPA wants to beef up their numbers to show an overall participation of the sport, but the real signs of Ultimate participation are organizations like the AFDC. This is where anyone can play and compete and have fun. UPA only caters to the "club organizations" and that is why UPA membership is a misrepresentation of participation in Ultimate.

Just my two cents,

Wart

I disagree, Wart, that was something clever and I agree with your thoughts. I'm not an UPA member because it doesn't do anything for me to be one. I mean, I hope to get the KWoo card like anyone else if I register but there's no real reason for me to participate.

Wart: I think you bring up a valid point that the UPA has a bigger impact on some areas than others. To address some of your specific points:



1) You can attend a UPA Coaching Clinic: http://upa.org/coaches/clinics. Michael is running one in Atlanta on 2/2.
2) If insurance is ever an issue you can sanction a league or team through the UPA. As far as I know the Paideia Cup is going to be UPA sanctioned this year, a HUGE deal for those of us bringing club teams with no school backed insurance. Also, I think at least one of the Terminus tournaments is UPA sanctioned?
3) The UPA supports a competitive structure for youth players. There's a GA state tournament that has been run in Atlanta (as far as I know), and that feeds into Easterns.
4) The UPA runs the US Junior World team, which as far as I can remember is well populated with ATL youth. For the second year in a row the east coast tryout is in ATL. That's a pretty cool event to have in your backyard

I've been to Atlanta a couple times and know a little bit about your community, but I really only know a little so that's all I could come up with... and one of the reason I came to this forum... to find out more about what the UPA, and specifically the UPA's BOD, could do for the AFDC.




I disagree. I think a UPA membership has more value to some people than others, but I don't think you have to participate in sanctioned events to make your membership have meaning. The UPA exists solely to get more people to play Ultimate. It does a huge amount to get the word out, create great ways for people to play. So, let's say you joined the UPA and then did absolutely nothing for the whole year. You'd still be contributing some money towards an organization that does a pretty dang good job at getting the most bang for its buck. The UPA does more than any other organization in the world to legitimize the sport, which seems like a pretty cool reason for anyone to join.

That being said, no one is forcing people to join. Lots and lots of people play Ultimate, have fun, and aren't members. The UPA isn't out to assimilate all life forms that play Ultimate. The UPA is out there to keep being a sustainable organization that serves the players.




Hungh? Where'd you get the idea that the UPA bases it's Ultimate growth numbers solely on it's membership numbers? Sure, it's one indicator, but it's certainly not the only one. The UPA is well aware that a vast majority of Ultimate players aren't UPA members. That's why the UPA actively sought out the opinions of non-UPA-member Ultimate players in their data gathering for the Ultimate Revolution.





I agree. But I also think that organizations like the AFDC aren't the only signs of growth. There are lots of signs of growth. League growth is one. UPA members growth is another.





Got it. One question though -- You seem to be implying something about the UPA... that no everyone can play and have fun in the UPA? Or that the UPA doesn't support non-members? The UPA actively supports non-members. It goes to PE conferences and teaches tons of PE teachers about Ultimate. I've worked with the UPA on free-styling summer leagues. I've worked with the UPA at youth summer camps. I've worked with the UPA to come up with ways to get more women to play, regardless of if they're UPA members or not. I've worked with the UPA at Elite Events. From my perspective at least the UPA does a great job at being active in many, many levels of play.

I've been super active in youth Ultimate in the past 5 years and feel as though the UPA has done a fantastic job at catering to my needs.




Who says UPA membership numbers are the be-all end-all representation of participation in Ultimate? The UPA sure doesn't.


To reiterate a couple points:

1) The UPA isn't for everyone. If someone doesn't see a reason to join, that's totally and utterly fine.

2) As I said at the beginning of my post I do agree with your point that the UPA has a bigger impact in some areas than in others. That's always going to be the case no matter what the UPA does.... and that's why I'm here in this forum asking my original question. So, I'll ask it again:


Wart: What could the UPA's Board of Diretors do to better support Atlanta Ultimate and the AFDC?

Do some cities run their leagues through the UPA? I'm not sure how to phrase that question exactly- does it make sense?

-KQ

Yup, there are a bunch of leagues that are sanctioned. I don't know the exact number but I'm sure Melanie Byrd (the UPA's Outreach Director) would know.

J--I like the upa. I have nothing against it, really. But you basically just said to me "it'll help you if you coach a team, are trying to organize a club team, or are develping youth". My question is what benefit does it have to the recreational league player? Over 50% of our summer league doesn't coach, aren't developing youth players, and aren't on a club team. That's half of our sport, what is our governing body bringing to the table for the rest of them, is the question.

Does the UPA have any way to help the AFDC with it's primary problem: that is, increasing female participation in our leagues to balance it somewhat with the growth of the sport amongst males. Secondly, does the UPA have any way of helping with our other major problem: finding fieldspace. Those are the two most prevalent issues for our league. I'm not assuming that you aren't helping the Steering Committee with those, but I'd like to know if the UPA is doing anything there or has any resources to help there.