International Women’s Ultimate Weekend

Mara Alperin tells us how International Women’s Ultimate Weekend went down in London.

June 27th-28th was International Women’s Ultimate Weekend. Founded by Sophia Wagner of the German National Team, the goal of this weekend was to “bring local communities of female players together, and ultimately, to highlight the global reach and scale of the community of women ultimate players.”

Iceni hosted a skills clinic on Saturday at Clapham Common. Several players ran various skills stations, assisted by our coach, Paul “Voodoo” Waite. Shout-outs go to Mara Alperin, Sonia Komenda, Eleanor Nicholson, Lasma Putrina, Vanessa Lowe, Natasha Doff and Rowan Pearson for their help. We were also incredibly fortunate to have Ultimate legend Anne Mercier (of Team Canada World Games) as a guest coach!

Nearly 50 players attended, and we split into three groups based on experience. Each group rotated through various drills, and we worked on throwing leading passes, attacking the disc as a receiver, and maintaining good form while cutting.

Afterwards, we had a small hat-tournament (congratulations, Team Purple!) and played some mini, so everyone could get lots of disc touches.

In the games, Katie Allen scored the final point with an amazing layout grab. Katie, who plays for Reading and GB Under 20s, said, “It was great to see so many women playing, and the games were super intense despite the heat! I got more confident at attacking the disc and not slowing down until it was in my hands!”

Overall, we were very impressed with all the players, who worked really hard throughout the session.

“The atmosphere was competitive, constructive and encouraging, the ideal event to celebrate female participation in Ultimate across the world!” said Claire Baker. Claire plays for Punt, and has been playing for just under two years. “It was really fantastic both to see some of Europe’s best female Ultimate players sharing their skill, experience and passion for the sport and so many women out wanting to push themselves to improve.”

On the website for International Women’s Ultimate Weekend, the organisers explain how they wanted to create “one weekend around the world [where] women of all ages, ethnicities, races, and backgrounds will come together to play one sport: Ultimate.” We were so pleased by the turnout, which included players of all levels, from students who have been playing for just a few months, to international superstars.

Grainne McCarthy is a veteran player who plays for the Irish Mixed Team. Grainne summed up the afternoon fantastically: “With such a diversity amongst women’s Ultimate in London, it was fantastic to see everyone from so many teams united to work together for women’s Ultimate.”

Thank you to everyone who attended! Thank you as well to Five Ultimate, for providing the fun prizes!

Iceni will be hosting another women’s skills session on Saturday, 25th July. To stay informed, follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IceniUltimate.