July 18, 2014 by in Livewire, News with 3 comments
If you’ve played competitive Ultimate, you’re no stranger to the financial strain a season can put on a player. The discussion of the costs of club play have become more prominent with the launch of the Triple Crown Tour, AUDL, and MLU. As teams ascend to higher levels of play, travel costs often balloon and players are put in awkward positions.
Most of us can relate to the story Shira Stern, a second year player on Seattle Riot, shared with the community earlier this week of being priced out of the chance to compete in the World Ultimate Club Championships in Lecco, Italy next month. Stern’s teammates stepped up to help her out, and after talking her out of her feelings of guilt, Stern agreed to return the favor somewhere down the road.
Unfortunately, the roster deadline for the tournament had already passed, meaning Stern would still be unable to play.
I’ll let Stern tell the next part in her own words:
This Monday, a teammate came up with the brilliant idea to contact each of the captains from the WUCC women’s teams asking for approval to join Riot’s roster in hopes that if all of the teams agreed to having me on Riot’s WUCC roster, I might be allowed to play. I followed her advice, digging hard to find the email contacts with the help of my dedicated teammates.
I received email responses within a half hour of sending out my requests. I am still waiting to hear from several teams, but in just forty-eight hours, I heard from MuD, Huck, Uno, Atletico, Qub, Iceni, The Copenhagen Hucks, Woodchicas, Cusb Shout, Brilliance, E6, Catarinas, LMS Ultimate, Cosmic Girls, Sin City, Showdown, Scandal, and U de Cologne; all have sent enthusiastic approvals of the late roster addition. Cat Phillips of Team Box (Australia) and my former 2012 Bigfoot teammate, Sophia Wagner of Brilliance (Russia) tracked down the contacts for several WUCC women’s team captains on my behalf, while Yuki Mori, one of Japan’s 2013 World Games team coaches, helped me contact and communicate with the three WUCC teams representing Japan
Representatives from women’s teams all over the world who are headed to Lecco sent word to WFDF that they would approve Stern’s addition to Riot’s WUCC roster, along with encouraging words to Stern herself.
WFDF contacted Stern Thursday night to inform her that her request was approved and she would be able to play with Riot in Lecco. Stern tweeted out her initial thanks:
WOWZA. Thanks ultimate community, Lecco, here I come.
— Shira Stern (@shistern) July 18, 2014
Congratulations to Stern and props to the international women’s community for coming together on short notice to lend a hand to a stranger. If you’d like to support Stern and her Seattle Riot teammates, they’re looking for financial support.