Because You're Worth It

For those that prefer not to subscribe to any of the many, many frisbee yahoogroups we have for our sport, here's a copy of an email that went out this morning about some upcoming off-season BPL events:

Men of the Brisbane Premier League and beyond,

The BPL is about to become harder, faster and better. How? Read on.

Starting this Thursday night July 2nd, and then on July 16th and 30th, three off-season BPL player development sessions will be held at our usual Annerley Junior FC location and everyone is invited, including guys who aren't yet playing BPL but would like to.

Now, some might find it surprising that the Sensei of the notoriously non-training Dojo is here promoting training nights, but I can't wait to get stuck into these sessions and I'm pretty sure you will feel the same. Why? Because the organising group of Al Don, John McNaughton, Stu Austin and myself have put together a series of themed training events with a list of local legends (no, really) running the show. Here's what we've got lined up:
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July 2 - Playing better Man on Man Ultimate

Offence coach: Piers Truter
Defence coach: Al Don

What's involved? Better cuts, better options, better dumps, better marking, better teamwork, more mongrel
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July 16 - Throwing better and Marking better

Coach: John McNaughton

What's involved? Better breaks, better hucks, better swings, better force marking, better dump marking
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July 30 - Playing better Zone Ultimate

Offence coach: Chris Burwell
Defence coach: Mike Neild

What's involved? Better disc movement, better cup breakers, better above & around options, better long hucks (oh yeah), better cup setting, better zone teamwork, better deep D, better setups & strategies
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Did I use the word "better" enough? Well, that's because the whole idea of these sessions is making the standard of BPL competition BETTER by offering every player the opportunity (thanks to some help with the funds from QUDA) to improve their skillset and knowledge base. And by every player I mean YOU! This is improvement-focussed training that we should ALL be taking advantage of.

So - be there starting 7pm this Thursday night at the AJFC fields for some kick*ss training that I personally guarantee will improve your game more than Loreal skin cream will reduce visible wrinkles.

Looking forward to seeing everybody there.

Spazzo Goes Above and Beyond

We interrupt our usual off-the-air mode between seasons to bring you two pieces of news featuring the Dojo's GC liaison Stefan "Spazzo" Rappazzo.

A quick scroll down the sidebar to the right will show you that the Above&Beyond standings for the season have been finalised after last week's Grand Final showdown, and as predicted it turned out to be very tight at the top! So tight that both Stefan Rappazzo and Andy McLean shared the #1 spot for overall votes gained. Sadly for Andy, he earned his votes playing in all ten games, whereas Stefan played nine for the same vote tally, leaving him with the title of DojoMojo Above & Beyond Winner for Season 1 2009, based on his higher votes-per-game stat. Stefan's name is now engraved for perpetuity on our Honour Board in recognition of his efforts in consistently pushing his game further and harder week after week.

The traffic jam continued in the minor placings as well, with Dan Walls, Stefan Schmidt and Sensei C all on 21 votes, Wallsy racking up the votes at the rate of 3.5 per game - the highest of anyone, trumping Spazzo's 3 per game. Perhaps we could change the ranking system next season to prioritise this stat over total votes? Comment below.

And of course, the beauty of the A&B system is that it reflects the regularity with which individuals perform above their own usual standard, rather than comparing players against each other. So it's intended as an incentive to constant improvement, and a means of gauging how people are progressing their own game. Who will earn their place on the Honour Board next season???

Oh yes, and the second BIG news item regarding Mr Rappazzo in his capacity as Gold Coast Ultimate Liaison (interpret that any way you like) is that he's just launched a brand new and very cool-looking website to promote the game in the town where even the parking meters are gold... Check it out.

Deja Boo Hoo Hoo

Haven't we heard this story before? A short-staffed Dojo team turns up to face a Neild-led Buggers squad that has been warming up for the game apparently since just after a carbo-loaded breakfast, the Bugs stretch out a big lead, Dojo stages a comeback, some Bug rookie crashes a kenshi or two out of the game, the lack of fitness from the we-never-train Dojo starts to show, and it all finishes with a flourish of hammers & hucks to Bug #1...

But don't think we're bitter, it was a great game with plenty for everyone (well, most people anyway - more on that shortly), and really the final difference between the teams was the number of offensive errors the Dojo made. The first five or six points of our video footage make for particularly unpleasant viewing if you're of a Dojo inclination, as do the last few.

There's no doubt that the Dojo missed Matt, Piers, Coopers and Goldie particularly as the legs started to get heavy in the second half, and that some extra numbers might have made the difference. But really, if the kenshi hadn't worn themselves out trying to get the disc back after all those first-half mistakes then the job still could have been done without the full complement. That wasn't the case though, and on the night the Messy team were convincing winners.

Here's something we found interesting, though. In putting all the footage together, we noticed something that, whilst not surprising, was something we'd always thought was only an impression rather than reality. So here's an amusing game to play while watching the video - keep a count of the number of JRay throwaways, and also keep a count of the number of times anyone other than Jason, Mike, Leon, Stu or Jangles touches the disc. We can't say for sure, but we reckon the JRay throwaway stat will be at least the same if not more. Now, no-one will be surprised to see Jason throwing some pretty wild stuff (or to see that he also throws nearly all the goals), but I think even Mike would be surprised to see how little disc the Bug rookies get during a game, especially when the pressure is high. There must be at least a couple of guys on that team who only touched the disc once or twice in the whole game!

But enough about that - what we've all come to see is plenty of sweet Ultimate action, so here it is, courtesy of the brilliant Marijke Walls and surprise cameraman Will Churchill (how he got hold of the camera we're not really sure):









"Thanks ladies" indeed. It was a real treat to have the 97.3fm ladies with their marquee, esky, fruit & drinks, and each Dojo player is now sporting brand-new cleat bags, water bottles, cold bags and cookies. Yes, cookies.

There's now a huge break of a couple of months between seasons, but the BPL will be back (will there be a new monkey at the helm???) with what will surely be a serious shakeup in the teams and perhaps administration. It can only get better (and hopefully bigger), so stay tuned.

And lastly, it's the final Above&Beyond poll for the season on the right. It's all up for grabs - will Dan Walls be able to get enough votes for his awesome efforts against one of the world's premier players to push him past current frontrunner Stefan Rappazzo? Will our German BPL MVP runner-up Stefan Schmidt sneak past them both? A place on the honour board is at stake!!!

ps Below the poll can also be found our latest blog addition - DojoMojo TV! Oh yeah.

Fifteen Seconds of Fame

If you happened to be listening to 97.3FM on the radio this morning at around 7.50am (and if you're female between the ages of 25 and 40 then the research indicates that you probably were!) you would have heard a little soundbite from the Sensei talking up tonight's big game at the AJFC fields. Yes - the Brisbane Premier League has really hit the big time, and some nice people from 97.3FM are going to be joining the huge crowd at the field tonight, bringing along plenty of freebies and giveaways with them.

And that's not all - even though our best efforts to make the audio of this morning's interview available here have failed, we should be on air again tomorrow morning giving a quick recap of what is sure to be a stupendous game of Ultimate tonight. The grandstand will be open from 7pm and the on-field action gets underway bang on 7.30. Our tip - Dojo to win 15-11.