First South African Womens Ultimate Tournament

Check out the summary of the first ever South African Ultimate tournament that was held alongside Rocktober in Jo’burg in.. well.. October…

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Women-only training sessions take off in Cape Town

It’s often intimidating for new players to get involved in Ultimate –Cape Town in particular attracts a lot of high level players from overseas that come here for a semester abroad. This is especially true for women. While Ultimate is in theory a co-ed sport, in practice, many women find themselves being consistently looked off by their male teammates. This can be frustrating at best, and at worst, a reason to stop playing Ultimate altogether!

In an effort to bridge the skills-gap between male and female players, Cape Town has started running weekly women-only training sessions that focus on welcoming new faces and introducing them to the sport. Eager to capitalize on the excitement and success of the first ever Women’s Tournament at Rocktober, Cape Town ladies have shown up en masse for the trainings, held at Wynberg Sports Club on Mondays from 6pm to 7pm.

Combining over 20 years of playing experience in the competitive North American and European Ultimate leagues, Sam Fothergill, Colleen Haley and Anne Maftei have put together a comprehensive training schedule that will enable players of all levels to develop their skills and learn new techniques. The first four training sessions covered the basics: throwing, cutting, marking/forcing the thrower and defence on the cutter. Each session begins with 20 minutes of warm-up and dynamic stretching, followed by a short talk and demonstration of the topic of the week. The ladies then go through a few drills to practice what they have learned, and end with a 7-on-7 scrimmage. At each session, the women are also introduced to a “Rule of the Day”, in an effort to empower women to be more vocal on the field when a foul or violation occurs.

With the response being overwhelmingly positive so far (14+ ladies per training!), the coaches have started planning for future training sessions that will continue well into 2011. The focus will turn towards perfecting throwing skills, handler and cutter positioning, offensive and defensive strategies, endzone tactics and laying out. In order to keep things exciting, and to encourage transfer of knowledge and skills between veteran players and beginners, guest coaches from Chilli and Khayoba will be leading certain training sessions.

For more information about these training sessions, please contact Anne Maftei at anne.maftei@gmail.com or Sam Fothergill at samfstevec@hotmail.com. To sign up on the CT Women’s Ultimate mailing list, please contact Colleen Haley at colleen.e.haley@gmail.com.