2005 President's Report

2005 has seen continued growth in ultimate in Hobart, especially
in Spring and Summer outdoor leagues. Following on from the
dramatic increase in league players seen in Spring 2004, the 2005
Summer league featured six teams and 60 registered players and due
to limited field availability, saw us try some new fields at
Cornelian Bay. The 2005 Spring league saw the first seven team
league in Hobart, back in the more sheltered fields at Sandown
Park, with over 80 players registered for this league, including
20 women. The TUA tried an outdoor Autumn League in 2005 played
under lights at the University Oval which featured remarkably good
weather (for May and June) and a successful four team league. A
four team Winter League was run indoors at Hobart College again,
and with a last minute change of day forced upon us, this was an
intimate league!

Thanks also to some key recruiters for bringing along some new
players, especially to Mike Schmidt, who brought along a whole new
team (Menzies) to the Spring leagues in 2005, complete with
corporate uniforms, and to Warwick Reed for recruiting for Summer
League 2005. Thanks to league organisers Stew Wilde, Joe Boyer and
Tim Phillips for running TUA leagues in 2005, with support from
Jeff Dunn and Matt Smith. Free Come and Try sessions were run
prior to the start of outdoor and indoor leagues (thanks to Mike
Baker, Tim Phillips, Shavawn Donoghue, Ash Martens and Joe Boyer
for running these).

Two tournaments were run by the TUA in 2005. The Tournament that
Almost was Not (TD Shavawn Donoghue) was held in April 2005 with 4
teams. Two-Hat VII was held in October, with near record numbers
(47 players), 5 teams a fantastic new venue (North Hobart oval)
and once again good support from interstate players. The Two-Hat
attracted excellent media publicity yet again with the Mercury,
ABC TV news, ABC radio news, Southern Cross TV News and WIN TV
News all providing coverage. Thanks to Tim Phillips for
negotiating use of North Hobart Oval with the Hobart City Council,
for lining up a media event featuring the Lord Mayor of Hobart,
Rob Valentine, and for general support with the Two-Hat. Thanks
also to two non-playing helpers on the day, Asher Gentle and Naomi
Petrie. Shavawn Donoghue's record in being a member of the spirit
winning team 4 times is particularly notable - especially given
that the spirit prize has only been awarded for the last 5
Two-Hats!

With an early start, the Tasmanian Ultimate Championships (TUC)
was played between two teams over 15 rounds in 2005 with
White Trash being declared Tasmanian Ultimate Champions for 2005,
by winning 9 games to 6. This was the highest level ultimate
competition played within Tasmania. Thanks to Jeff Dunn, Shavawn
Donoghue and Aaron Pinkus for all helping to run TUC at various
times in 2005.

Only one Tasmanian team ventured across Bass Strait in 2005, but
they did it twice! 2005 marked the first year when the Tassie
Tiggers needed to qualify for the Australian Ultimate
Championships by finishing in 4th place (or higher) at the
Southern Australian Ultimate Championships, held in Melbourne in
March 2005. The team had 16 players, including 7 first time
Tiggers. Despite lacking some match practice, the Tiggers achieved
their target finishing in 4th place, and had 10-7 losses to the
teams ranked 2nd and 3rd, Chilly B from Melbourne and Adelaide
Karma.

At Nationals, the Tassie Tiggers, who were once again captained,
coached and organised by Mike Baker, finished in 8th place in the
Open Division, out of 14 teams. This was three places above their
seeding and ahead of two teams that had beaten them at the
qualifying tournament, Adelaide Karma and Chilly B. This was a
sensational result for the Tiggers, especially given the small
team size of 13 players (which included 7 players who hadn't
played Nationals for a Tasmanian team previously). Ashley Button
also received a special TUA youth development grant which provided
financial assistance for him to play for the Tiggers in Perth, and
to give him some exposure to elite level ultimate early in his
ultimate playing career.

Despite the low player numbers and a couple of early injuries, the
Tiggers improved their seedings by 3 places to finish 8th overall
- the highest place ever for a Tasmanian team at Nationals.
Congratulations also to captain Mike Baker for winning the
prestigious Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award at Nationals. Joe
Boyer's record now stands as the only player having played for 6
Tasmanian teams at Nationals (Mixed and Open) since 2002. The
Tiggers strong showing also helped to ensure that the Southern
region earned 5 spots at Nationals for 2006.

Shavawn Donoghue once again played in the Women's Division at
Nationals in the Women's division playing for Southside, a strong
Sydney based team. Shavawn was joined on this team by Ash Martens
in 2005, and, as in 2004, Southside won the Women's division.

Shavawn and Ashleigh also played for Southside in the National
Ultimate Frisbee League (NUFL), which Southside also won. Also
featuring in NUFL were Kate Godber (playing for a Brisbane based
team, Sultry), Mike Baker and Matt Petrie (playing for Adelaide
Karma) and Stan Robert who played one round with the open division
Southside team (from Sydney). While these competitions provided
excellent opportunities for some of Tasmania's elite players, it
did result in something of a drain on local energy, perhaps
reflected by a dip in player numbers in Autumn League, immediately
after NUFL and Nationals were completed.

Unfortunately Tasmania was not able to field a team at Mixed
Nationals this year, because several key players were unavailable
due to other clashes - but we hope to form a Tasmanian team in
2006.

The University of Tasmania Ultimate Frisbee Club continues to
provide great support to the Hobart Ultimate community by
providing: twice weekly lunchtime pickup games; support in running
the Two-Hat; hosting the CSIRO/Uni challenge and selling discs.
The University of Tasmania Ultimate Frisbee Club also administered
a Tasmanian Office of Sport and Recreation Grant for over $3000
in 2005. Using funds from this grant, Mike Baker became the first
Level 1 ultimate coach in Tasmania (accredited by the Australian
Sports Commission). Shavawn Donoghue, Ashleigh Martens and Tim
Phillips just need to complete their hands on coaching hours to
achieve this accreditation as well.

On a National administrative level, Shavawn Donoghue completed her
term as a director of Human Resources on the AFDA Board in 2005,
stepping down after two years on the board. It was great to have a
Tasmanian representative on the AFDA board during this period.

Congratulations also to Shavawn Donoghue for winning the 2005 AFDA
award as AFDA ``Administrator of the Year''. Shavawn's work behind
the ultimate scenes at several different levels has been very
significant. She has served nationally on the AFDA board, at a
state level as Treasurer of the TUA (a position she still holds
and has occupied since incorporation of the TUA) and at the
University level, serving initially as President and currently as
Treasurer of the University of Tasmania Ultimate Frisbee Club. She
has also led (and inspired and driven) Tasmanian teams at National
championships, run Women's development, obtained the first ever
funding from the Tasmanian Office of Sport and Recreation for
ultimate frisbee, run coaching sessions, tournaments and provided
general background support to keep ultimate healthy in Hobart. On
top of this she has performed at the highest level, winning NUFL
and two national Championships with Southside, and attending
training camps and only narrowly missing selection to the
Australian team for Worlds in 2004.

Financially the TUA is in a sound position, with all events in
2005 running at a small profit. The discs printed in 2004 have all
been sold, and a second print run was ordered (through the
University of Tasmania Club). This puts the TUA in a strong
position to continue development of the sport, by supporting
junior players, women's development, elite development and
increasing the ultimate playing opportunities in Hobart, ranging
from social to competitive.

2006 and beyond will present the usual challenges and
opportunities for the TUA and the Ultimate Frisbee community.
There is no doubt we will see continued growth in our funny little
sport, which is what we want, but we should also keep one eye on
diversity and ensure we get good representation in the Ultimate
community in terms of age, gender and playing levels. While it has
been very pleasing to see the development of some key women and
youth in Tasmania at the elite level, it would also be good to
work on youth and women's development at a more grass roots level.
I expect that in the near future we will see a youth team playing
in the TUA social league. Furthermore, as more women enter and
develop in the sport this will hopefully translate into women only
games and events, a boost for our mixed State team and, in the not
so distant future, a Tasmanian team playing in the Women's
division at Nationals.

To enable this to be achieved, the TUA committee will need to
continue working strategically and working together. Future
challenges for the TUA committee include issues related to
governance, management of volunteers, successional planning for
key volunteers and office bearing positions, and improving both
the financial and administrative management of current leagues. It
would be great if we could update and complete our Strategic Plan
and investigate further funding opportunities to put these bold
plans into action.

Finally, I would like to thank all the members of the TUA
committee, and others who attended TUA committee meetings, for
helping to make things happen and anyone who helped run a TUA
event in 2005. Without people volunteering their time and energy,
there would be no ultimate in Hobart! I look forward to seing more
people stepping up to help run ultimate in Tasmania in 2006.


Jemery Day.
TUA President