In case you've been under a rock.
March 16, 2020 by in News with 0 comments
Welcome to Opening Pull, your weekly wrap-up of the previous week in ultimate. We’ve gathered the news you need to know and highlights you need to see, and we’ll let you know what’s coming up in the next week.
This week’s article is focused on the effects of COVID-19 on ultimate community and organizations. For more details, including a timeline, see The Latest on the Coronavirus Impact on Ultimate.
Ultimate Shut Down To Prevent Virus Spread
The world has come to something of a standstill in an effort to halt the rapid spread of COVID-19, or Coronavirus. Ultimate has proven no exception. USA Ultimate cancelled all of their own events and sanctioning of events through April 20th, including the rest of the college regular season. The Premier Ultimate League indefinitely halted their season. The AUDL has likewise postponed their season opening, with the potential to restructure league competition this season down the line. The Western Ultimate League postponed their league-opening competition for at least two weeks, with a tentative target of early April.
With the CDC now recommending that events of 50 people or larger be cancelled or postponed for the next eight weeks, ultimate is grounded for the foreseeable future. We have not yet heard about plans for the upcoming WFDF U20 or WUGC national tournaments.
USA Ultimate Announces WUGC Team Rosters
While we aren’t sure whether or not competition will happen as scheduled, we do now know who will represent the U.S. at the World Ultimate and Guts Championships should they happen. The men’s, mixed, and women’s rosters were revealed last week, with plenty of surprises along each.
“Ultimate Disc” App Comes to iOS and Android
A new app called “Ultimate Disc” launched in app stores, and popped up on lists of top new free games available. Currently, the app has about a four-star rating on both Google Play and Apple app stores. In the base version, players are tasked with throwing to a receiver past varying formations of stationary defenders. While there have been some complaints about the number of ads from Android users, the developer has indicated on Reddit that there will be a purchasable ad-free version, and further updates with moving receivers and other updated challenges.
Resources For Your Unexpected Offseason
USA Ultimate Board of Directors President and the Ultiworld 2019 Women’s Club Player of the Year, Robyn Fennig, created a shared Google Sheet crowdsourcing tools for players, coaches, and others to use during the downtime we are all sharing. With practices and out-of-home gyms serving as health risks, there’s plenty players can still do, from working out at home to watching film.