Building an Ultimate Network

Hello Ultimate Frisbee Players,

Today we mourn the loss of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, one of the founding fathers of Singapore. I may not have seen or spoken to him before, however I could see and feel what he has contributed to make Singapore what she is today. Our deepest condolences to him and he would be deeply missed by everyone in Singapore.

On a side note, our Singapore team is back from WCBU 2015! The team delivered a spirited performance during the 3 days, and managed to raise their standings to 13th! Not a bad result for their first outing! Congratulation for their overall improvement in the official standings and I am sure that they would come back stronger for the next WCBU!

Credits: Don Laczi Photography

In Ultimate tournaments, especially overseas and regional ones, you often have the oppportunity to mingle and interact with people from various countries. You would exchange jerseys, numbers and tactics as you play with them. This applies to local tournaments as well! As you join a team, you will meet people from various walks of life, ranging from professional in various industries to seasoned veterans who have played in the ultimate community. There is a wealth of benefits and opportunities that you can achieve from interacting with them! Here are some of these benefits!

1) Job Opportunities

Working professionals from the team will know when there are new job openings for their respective companies. Furthermore, they would be able to refer you to their companies, providing a higher probability of you being hired! I was once called for an interview because the HR was a previous ultimate player!

2) Playing Techniques & Tactics

Seasoned veterans have a plethora of ultimate techniques and tactics in their disposal! Learning from them would allow you to bring your game to the next level. On the other hand, they would be able to detect and correct certain weaknesses that you may encounter in your ultimate game.

3) Avenues to play Ultimate

Some of the team mates you play with could be coaches of other teams. This can provide another avenue to play ultimate to improve your game if you want a new perspective to ultimate or to practise your ultimate game!

4) Mentoring Opportunities

Alumni from school teams would be able to come down and mentor the new batches of ultimate players. A single coach usually may not be able to observe all the players' playing strengths and weaknesses. With the alumni around as mentors, they would be able to observe things that the coach may not have observe due to the large number of players that he or she has to cater to. Alumni could also impart invaluable ultimate skills to these fresh players. In addition, the fresh players could be recruited into clubs that the alumni might be playing!

It could be seen that there are many opportunities available when you are in a team. Interact with them more often, and you would see the benefits coming to you in no time. As for school teams, do cater opportunities for the alumni such as combined training sessions or even networking sessions for freshmen who might be eager to enter the working force. That being said, you should join a team not because of the benefits and opportunities, but for the ultimate purpose of playing ultimate frisbee!

Thats it from me for today. Stay tuned for the next few posts to come! Including an interview with another up and coming club in Singapore! Here's a preview!