WINTER LEAGUE 2000-2001 SPIRIT AWARD WINNERS
The following people were given the Spirit Disc by their team, as they showed the ability to balance their enthusiasm, competitiveness, and respect for the game and each other in a way that represents the best of Winter League. Please take the time to read what each captain had to say about the winners of the spirit award from their team. Hopefully, you will find their contributions to their teams inspiring.
White Kim Bryant Slate Maren Olsen Sand Zemo Trevethan & Steve Hall Stonewash Blue Allie Goerss Stonewash Green Sarah Wilson Royal Tammy Lauvray Navy Mimi Phan Denim Bobby Veit and Lee Hutchison Sun Sri Nagasubramanian Forest Green Carl Erikson Purple ? Cardinal Roger Moore Gold Jennie Hillman Light Steel Baker Pratt Ash Jane Marie Marshall Cinnamon Victor Maneilly & Heidi Henderson Sage Ian Pratt Charcoal Dan Olstein Red Jodie Pait Natural Ed Miga Black Tara Childs, Will McDow, and Sue Watts Maroon Betsy Brown Orange Katie Richter Metro Blue Mary Frazer In No Particular Order....
Sage: Our Spirit Award went to Ian Pratt. Ian was dedicated to learning the game and to getting his team motivated and playing with confidence. His emails to the team were an important part of Sage's successful season, as was his constant effort on the field. Ian simply cared a lot about the team, and that caring rubbed off on the rest of us.
Team red wagons...OF DEATH Spirit Award goes to Jodie Pait -who inspired her teammates with her specialty stealth recieving skills and exemplified the savage spirit of team red by playing most every point of every game. congratulations to Jodie and beware to any who may match up against her.
Our Spirit award, Navy, went to Mimi Phan. We had many great choices including some people you would not perhaps expect, but we gave it to Mimi for some great reasons. She came to almost every game and played with a great attitude and tremendous determination. She played defense on many of the top women in the league and played savage against Frannie in a heart breaking loss when we played 6's. If Winter League is about spirited competition and striving to improve; her actions and attitude proved that all of us can compete within these guidelines and enjoy the spirit of the game.
Stonewashed Green's spirit award winner was Sarah Wilson. She had great attendence and didn't mind playing savage when neccessary. This was her first year of playing ultimate, and she learned a lot very quickly. Sarah also caught a ton of big goals throughout the tournament, including at least 3 in the finals.
Maroon's was Betsy Brown. Julia and I had a hard time deciding on who to go with, everyone on the team contributed and improved during the course of the season. (We agonized for hours at halftime of Saturday's fifth game) We had an up and down season and Betsy was consistently there, through both the ups and the downs. She also rebuked me for running drills before a game (which is a terrible idea for winter league) Her play was terrific and her sense of humor (and perspective) was invaluable.
Baker Pratt gets the spirit award for Light Steel because of his combination of good-spirited sportsmanship and very high-spirited play on the field. he got light steel fired up to play well with upbeat and inspiring pre-game e-speeches, and with his all-out hustle on every point he played. he is a good player in his own right-layout blocks, long cuts to keep our offense spread out, and great efforts to defend long passes to the tall folks that opposing teams sometimes sent deep against him--and he always tried to contribute whatever his team needed at any given time. baker was consistent in his play throughout the season, but two games deserve special mention. The first was his performance in steel's regular-season game against sage,during which baker made several great leaping catches for scores and several highlight defensive blocks. the second was our last game of the tournament, during which baker made another series of great plays to help steel win the "next-point-wins" game that ended our season. baker did steel proud, and did his parents proud as well; his mom and dad were regular winter league fans with baker on steel and his younger brother on sage. baker is a freshman at UNC and a member of their collegiate ultimate team, darkside--watch for him in the current college series and in college seasons to come.
Cardinal: our spirit winner was Roger Moore as he pour his heart and soul in to every point he played and inspired others to do the same.
Cinnamon, we gave out 2 discs, one was for team shaman, to Victor Maneilly for channeling some cro magnon warrior energy to get us into the quarters, (and almost into the semis. ). The other , traditional spirit disc went to Heidi Henderson, a rookie who played solid all year, attended almost every game , went savage 3 or 4 games. and got better and better each week. Always asking questions, never miffed....
for Ash, Jane Marie Marshall won the spirit disc; she was a newbie, having only played ultimate for about three weeks before the season started, but she was so damn positive all season long, kept asking questions, kept trying new things, and she kept improving, ending the season with (at least) three huge scores in the tourney, two of those in heavy traffic;all that, and she had about the best attendance of anyone on the team, me included...
Team Slate Our spirit disc goes to Ed Miga, who not only showed up to games, but read written material that we sent out! His play could define for us just what is intended with ultimate's "spirit-of-the-game", playing hard, getting open when the count was high and we needed him, and always playing fair and with a upbeat attitude. Kudos!
Metro Blue - Mary Frazer - Steady attendance. I would say steady play, except it kept getting better as the year went on, so I guess she won it because of unsteady play. Also superior play in the tourney. Oh yeah, great attitude & team spirit too.
Gold's Spirit Disc went to Jennie Hillman. This was her first experience playing Ultimate. She played hard all season, asked lots of questions, supported the team, and gave "110%". She especially showed her mettle on Saturday of the tournament, playing point in the cup nearly every point she was in, including trying to mark a guy who was about 6' 6", when she's about 5' 4".
Orange (aka Clockwork Orange) Katie Richter won the spirit award on our team because of her always smiling attitude and great improvement throughout the year. She was one of the team who consistently showed up one hour early for each game in order to practice. Katie asked lots of questions about how the game is played as well as what she should do to contribute. Then in the tourney Katie was a great zone busting long against the Sandy menace! A close second for the spirit award was the entire Orange team. Great Spirit, Great Fun! Like Clockwork!!
Sand gave out 2 spirit awards: 1 to Zemo Trevethan and 1 to Steve Hall. zemo got his because of his endless spirit and cheerfulness. He was always rallying the troops with his whoops and hollers as we were running down the field after the pull. his positivity and on and off the field were instrumental in our team unity. steve hall got a spirit award because of his composure under pressure and his sense of fairness. During the season, due to no fault of his own, he was involved in many situations (fouls, picks and other calls) which resulted in discussion. steve always kept his head and proceeded in the discussion in a calm and collected manner, even if his opponent didn't. but most of all, in these situations he was always fair, often giving the opponent the benefit of the doubt. this, to me, is a one of the most admired qualities an ultimate player can have.
Forest Green's winner was Carl Erikson. He was voted by the team for his ability, spirit, and for being there week-in and week-out.
The winner for Sun was Sri Nagasubramanian. He won it for his solid, intense, and spirited play throughout the entire season. He played hard, but fair and within himself the whole season.
The spirit award for Charcoal went to Dan Olstein. A lot of times the spirit disc is given to someone who, over the course of the season, takes to WL and improves their play substantially. Dan didn't fit that mold as he's played a good bit of ultimate already, but he deserved the award because he improved the team and helped others enjoy ultimate. When someone would make a mistake, instantly Dan would tell them to forget about it, that we'll get it back. He also pushed the experienced players to play a conservative, value-the-disc game that is common to higher level, tournament ultimate. The team had great heart from all of its players, and Dan showed it the most.
Denim - Bobby Veit and Lee Hutchison We were very lucky in that we had a team full of spirited players. We had so many deserving of the spirit disc it was difficult to choose. In the end I chose Lee Hutchison and her fiancé Bobby Veit. These two were a captain's dream. During tough stretches in the season when we struggled to field a team I knew Bobby and Lee would be there for every game. On the field they enthusiastically played any position or guarded any opposing player. They always showed respect for the game by peaceably resolving any disputed play they were involved in - never letting their tempers flare. Bobby Veit and Lee Hutchison held Spirit of the Game in highest regards.
Stonewash Blue: Our spirit award winner was Allie Goerss. She always played with tremendous spirit, had a great positive attitude, was an excellent player despite being a relatively new player (about 1 1/2 years), made it to almost every game, and always had a smile on her face. Everything and more that a winter league team could hope for!
Slate selected Maren Olsen aka "Mo" to win the Spirit Disk. This was Mo's first year, she showed up on time for every game, played savage, and managed to get open a lot. We were severely short of women at the beginning of the season and at times Mo was the only Slate female present. Slate had an excellent roster of spirited players. Even when forced into conflict with other teams, our blows were above the belt (primarily head nougies) and our heckles and insults were tasteful and creative. Thanks everyone for a fun season.
Bobby Croom selected three players for the spirit award on team Black: Tara Childs, Will McDow, and Sue Watts. Tara learned the game quickly and became a formidable presence on the field, both on defense and offense. Sue's hands were solid gold, always pulling down passes to her (and frequently cleaning up where others missed the catch). She was also unflagging in her dedication to the winning spirit (despite our record at the tourney!). Will was totally inspiring, stepping up a level in his commitment to great play, even when our team was stumbling. It was a privilege to play and learn with all three.
White picked Kim Bryant - Always upbeat, even when we were gettin' beat. Played hard but > never took the game too seriously. A great teammate and a super cool chick!
Royal selected Tammy Lauvray for her enthusiasm, great attitude and dedication to the team. She always played hard, gave 100% and got others pumped up at the games! This was Tammy's 1st WL, she played Savage several times once for another team after our game! As a beginner she learned very quickly and became one of our top scorers usually out scoring her opponents! She was always willing to layout for the disc and give 100% to the team. I'm sure we'll see a lot of her in future Winter League's!