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Blog California Hiking North America Ultimate Yosemite

The Frisbee Swing

Back in my younger days, I used to be crazy. Well, maybe I still am. I came across this video from which brings two of my outdoor passions together: Climbing and Frisbee

Yes, that is the famous Alcove Swing on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, with a Frisbee!

Now, before some of you ask, yes, we did hike down and recover the frisbee. #LeaveNoTrace!

El Capitรกn in Yosemite has been in the national spotlight this past year as two amazing documentaries have been released about climbers epic struggles to the top. While similar, the films show two very disctinct climbing styles.

First, The Dawn Wall came out. That film followed Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson up the hardest route on the face of El Cap. They fell thousands of times, slept on a portaledge for 19 nights, and, well, no spoilers. Their journey involved ropes, and sheer will and energy.

Maybe more famous, after taking home the Oscar for Best Documentary, is Free Solo. Free Solo follows Alex Honnold’s epic free solo climb of El Cap. Honnold goes up a different, easier, route up the granite monolith. Yes, easier is a relative term here. What he did is unthinkable. He went up without any ropes or protection, just his shoes, his chalk bag, and his body. Absolutely nuts.

Both feats are impressive in their own right, and it really is hard to say which one is more impressive. In the end, I’d have to go with what Honnold did. Caldwell’s life was relying on his equipment to work as expected. Sure, he still could have died, but that would have required an equipment malfunction, or human error when placing the pieces. One slip, one unexpected bird flying out of a crack, one hold breaking, or one little slip, and Honnold’s a gonner.


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Beach Ultimate Europe Spain Ultimate

XeQueBo 2018 – Valencia, Spain

Before Tourney:

Three day weekend, can’t wait to hit the sand and throw some plastic around! It’ll be the first high level tournament I’ve played since Worlds in July. I’m playing with Sabotage in the Men’s division.

During Tourney:

After Tourney:

We had an amazing time! It was my first time playing with many of these people, and we had a blast! 

Results in the second half of the tournament didn’t go as well as planned, but regardless we had an amazing time!

Full results here: https://ulti.info/40342

 

As an added bonus, I was asked to commentate the finals. You can watch those videos here:

Women’s Final Xequebo 2018
Men’s Final Xequebo 2018
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Beach Ultimate Blog Europe Spain Ultimate

Laredo Beach Cup

Last weekend in Laredo, Cantabria we played in the first annual (can you say first annual?) Laredo Beach Cup.

It took place on one of the longest beaches I’ve ever been to, which I was reminded of when we parked on the other end of it.

Unfortunately, my team, Corocotta, couldn’t make the trip. Instead, I played with Polbo, a team from Galicia. It was my first time playing with them, and a great experience! They’ve truly got a great group of people!

We came in second place, winning all our games up until the final. Full results can be found on ulti.info.

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Africa Blog Grass Ultimate Kenya North America Ultimate

WUCC 2018 Cincinnati – World Ultimate Club Championships

Kisumu Frisbee Club

Kenya nchi nzuri, Hakuna Matata.

21 players came together in Cincinnati, Ohio to represent Kisumu Frisbee club in the 2018 World Ultimate Club Championships!

We brought a team together of 9 players from Kenya, 1 player from Uguanda, 10 players from USA and 1 player from Spain. Six More Kenyan players tried unsuccessfully to make the trip, but they were denied visas ๐Ÿ˜ž.

Highlight video from our game vs UCT Flying Tigers from South Africa!

I’ll be honest, I was busy, you know, playing at the time, but here’s a timeline of how it went!

We made this happen!

View image on Twitter

Amazing catch from the women’s semi-final, by Laura Ospina from Revolution (Colombia)
SportsCenter #3 on the daily Top 10
I was sitting right there for the catch, amazing!

If you’re interested you can view our team page here: http://results.wucc2018.com/?view=teamcard&team=79

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Blog Corocotta Europe Grass Ultimate Spain Twitter Ultimate

2018 Men’s division Spanish grass Championships

The weekend of June 30th – July 1st was spend playing in the men’s division of the Spanish Grass championships in Santander, Espaรฑa. I know, there are a lot of Spanish Championships each year, too many, if you ask me, but, that just gives you that many more opportunities to win! The reason there are so many is beacuse we have a men’s / women’s tounrament, and a mixed tournament on both grass and beach๐Ÿ– = 4 a year.ย ย 

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Africa Blog Grass Ultimate Kenya Ultimate

Help Get My Kenyan Teammates to Worlds in Cincinnati

There is a group of people who could use your support. The World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) is taking place in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA / 14 - 21 of July 2018. I am honored and proud to be playing with KFC - Kisumu Frisbee Club, a team based out of Kisumu, Kenya in East Africa.

As you can imagine, the trip from Kenya to Cincinnati is long and expensive. The local players are reaching out to the ultimate frisbee community and the world for help. That is where you come in. Anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated. You can support the cause by purchasing Team Kenya gear from their website: https://www.kenyaultimate.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Alternatively, there is a GoFundMe page that has been started if you are willing to donate directly to the cause. Again, anything you can spare is appreciated and put to a good cause! More info below:

***100% of all donations go directly to funding the tournament costs of 12 low-income Kenyan-citizen players in WUCC 2018. ***

What we need:
Kisumu Frisbee Club, one of the best ultimate clubs in East Africa,ย has been awarded a bid to bring a Mixed team to the prestigious 2018 World Ultimate Club Championships (WUCC) in Cincinnati, Ohio. We have fully committed to going, but it is prohibitively expensive for Kenyans, whose average annual income is about $1,200. We need donations in the form of:

1. Money: $27,480 to field a team ($10,000 by March 31st and $17,480 more by May 31st, 2018)
2. Corporate sponsorship
3.ย Buy our jerseys!
4. Airline miles: Let us use those miles you've been sitting on! American, United, Delta, British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France, and Air Canada miles can all be used for Nairobi-Cincinnati flights, and we'll handle the flight searching. Send an email to KenyaFrisbee@gmail.com to let us know what kind of miles you can donate.
5. Visibility: Help us spread the word - share our story with your friends, family and team!

Why we need support:
Kenyans' average annual income is 1/25th of Americans': USD $1,200 compared to $31,000. WUCC 2018 is estimated to cost more than twice that, at $2,590 per person:

Player fee: $400
Team fee: $80
Airfare: $1,000 (or $100-300 with help of airline miles)
Visa+fees: $250
Lodging: $360 ($40/night for 9 nights)
Food/drink: $350 ($35/day for 10 days)
Ground transportation: $150
Jerseys+shorts: $0 (thanks @DoubleHappiness!)
Total: $2,590

Kisumu Frisbee Club has 12 low-income players (7 men and 5 women) who need sponsorship, and each sponsored player has pledged to pay $300 (i.e. 3 months' salary) out of her/his own pocket. Therefore we will need $2,290 in support per sponsored player, totaling $27,480.

Where your money goes:ย 
100% of donations will go directly to the tournament costs for low-income native Kenyan-citizen players. All of the non-Kenyan-citizen players will be covering all of our costs individually. The primary US-based volunteer organizer, Michael McGuirk, will be managing the payment of WUCC player fees, transportation and lodging. If the team is not able to attend WUCC for some reason, all of the campaign funds will go to the Kisumu Frisbee Club to support their future efforts to develop the sport of ultimate frisbee and its community in Kenya.

More about us:
We love Spirit of the Game

We are Kisumu Frisbee Club. Thank you for helping us get to WUCC 2018!

Esther Omuseni (C)
Erick Onyango (C)
Allan Lemtudo
Mercy Mbago
Clement Masakhwe
Terence Ogendo
Michael McGuirk
Catherine Alungwa
Jack Oyando
Winnie Omollo
Kimita Gathii
John Waitumbi
Josphat Nyataya
Benard Nyadida
Rachel Githii
Ronald Ottichilo
Kyle McPheron

ย 
ย 

Categories
Beach Ultimate Blog Corocotta Europe Spain Twitter Ultimate Valencia

Spanish Beach Championships in Valencia – Men’s/Women’s divisions

On Saturday, after work I hop in a car and drive six hours to Valencia, Spain, where the Spanish Championships of Beach Ultimate will be taking place. I will join my teammates who hopefully will already have won a few games :). You can follow all the action live at https://ulti.info/39264.

Largest Spanish Beach Nationals Ever!

Full story here: http://ebucc2018.org/2018/02/largest-spanish-beach-nationals-ever/

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Beach Ultimate Blog Corocotta Europe Santander Spain Twitter Ultimate

Liga Norte Santander, Playing Frisbee in the Rain