UPA US National Juniors Camp and Tryouts

March, 2010 - Chapel Hill, NC

On Mar 13 & 14, the UPA (Ultimate Players Association) held a weekend camp and tryouts for the national teams that will represent the US at the 2010 World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) World Junior Ultimate Championships in Heilbronn, Germany (this tournament features the world's top Ultimate players under the age of 20). 

Well, Tasha is under 20, and she loves Ultimate, so she thought she'd give it a shot and sent in her application to attend the camp and tryouts.  Lo and behold, she earned an invite to try out for the girls juniors team, so off we went (daddy and Tash) to Chapel Hill, NC for a weekend of flying discs.  Tasha worked her butt off for two days and had an absolute blast - as of Sunday night, she was a little sore, but still wearing a huge grin :-).  

In addition to observing the determination I have come to expect from Ultimate competitors, what really impressed me this weekend was the camaraderie that these girls had: they were a team first and tryout competitors second.  Even though they were regularly competing fiercely (one-on-one or in teams) they always would high-five/hug a teammate or opponent to recognize a good play and effort.  I think that contributed to the overall fun of the weekend, and I commend the UPA for encouraging and reinforcing this kind of sportsmanship.

I didn't know if I would be allowed to hang out at the tryouts, so I went off to photograph some wildlife (bottom of this page) before realizing that it was ok to photograph at the camp.  Although I missed the morning action, I found that there was still a lot going on.   And while I went out specifically focusing on Tasha (pun intended), as always, I couldn't ignore taking a few extra shots of scenes and plays that caught my eye. 

I hope you enjoy the summary of our weekend of flying discs (feel free to share unmodified versions of the photos for non-commercial purposes).