As the summer winds down, many Summer Leagues culminate with a league championship tournament to crown a winner. How does your local league structure its end of season tournament, and what unique things do they do to build community and recognize spirited play?
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Our summer league consists of the regular season where every team (10 teams) plays 1 time (9 games total). Then we have pool play where the top 4 form a pool and replay each other, meanwhile two more pools of 5, 8, 9 and 6, 7, 10 play each other and a crossover. The pool play confirms/adjusts the seeding and allows a few more games for the money. Then we go into a standard 8 team bracket with a consolation game for 9/10.
The summer league I am president of, Albany Summer League, has 6 teams in each league. We play each other team 3 or 4 times during the regular season depending on the league (social and competitive). The top 2 seeds after regular season play get byes and quarterfinals are played (next week). Then we have a 1 day tournament, which will be August 14th this year, in which both leagues play semis and finals.
For the second year in a row we are being sponsored by our local co-op Honest Weight . They are generously providing some off the field support at the finals tournament in the form of 2 sports massage therapists, a table with sports drinks, bananas, and other treats. We will also be serving BBQ including pulled pork, pulled chicken, pulled beef, and wings from a local smokehouse with all the required sides. All of this is paid for by the amazingly cheap league fee of $35 and guests are more than welcome to attend.
To build community I started some special events within the league. Competitive league is run as a standard multiple round robin regular season but social league is run a bit different. Instead of playing each team 4 times we have two "social events" which are essentially mini hat tournaments at the 1/3 and 2/3 points in the season. Teams are shuffled up based on something random like birthday or age and we play games against the other teams. The goal, which was very successful, was to allow players to meet and get to know people from other teams to make the league more of a community.
As for recognizing spirited play, last year I instituted individual awards and this year I took the voting online to increase voting and make tabulation easier. We have slightly different categories for each league. In competitive league we have awards for MVP, Most Spirited, and Best Defense with separate awards for men and women. In social league we have awards for MVP, Most Spirited, Rookie of the Year, and Best Teacher; again with separate awards for each gender.
Last edited by jeremy.mcnamara; 08-06-2010 at 10:07 AM.
For MUFA (Madison Ultimate Frisbee Association, the people who hosted 2010 college championships) there are 16-18 regular season games followed by bracket play this week with the Rec A finals followed by the Competitive finals on Friday night. Free food and beverage, lined and lighted fields. Plus plays like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4nkd...eature=related.
DiscNW in Seattle offers several playing opportunities in the summer for adults...
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Summer Coed Hat League
June through August, Fridays
Participants in the summer hat league represent a wide range of skills and age groups. The league is geared towards beginner and intermediate-level players, and is a great way to meet new people. There are 12 teams in the league in 2010. The top 8 teams play a standard championship bracket to determine the champion. Post-game cheers are still an important part of this league. Spirit of the Game prize discs are awarded to the team with the best SotG scores. SotG prize discs are also given to the most spirited players on each team as decided by team captains.
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Summer Corporate Team League
June through August, Wednesdays
The corporate league is for teams comprised of employees from a company who want to play other companies. Some companies sponsor their teams' league fees. The league has a wide range of skill levels but is primarily for beginners who want to have fun with their work colleagues. 12 teams are playing in the 2010 league. The top two teams meet at the end of the season to crown a champion. Post-game cheers are still an important part of this league. Spirit of the Game prize discs are awarded to the team with the best SotG scores.
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Summer Coed Team League
June through August, Tuesdays and Thursdays
Summer team league is for new or established teams and has something for every skill level. The league has 39 teams in four divisions. Teams are placed in each division based on their experience to ensure close competition. Playoff brackets are created for all divisions. Spirit of the Game prize discs are awarded to the team with the best SotG scores.
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Summer Men's Hat League
June through early August, Mondays
The men's league is a hat league that was started in 2003 to provide more opportunities for men's ultimate in the Seattle area. Historically, there are more men interested in playing summer hat league than spots available. The men's hat league is a way to provide another option for summer ultimate. The league represents a range of skills but is generally geared towards intermediate and advanced players and college players home for the summer. In 2010, there are 77 players on six teams. There is a playoff bracket to determine the champion. Spirit of the Game prize discs are awarded to the team with the best SotG scores.
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Summer Master's Hat League
June through early August, Mondays
The Master's Hat League was started in 2005 with 4 teams of men over 30. There are now 12 team pods with over 80 men and women participating. The league has a wide range of skill levels and is geared towards teaching old dogs new tricks.
PADA (Philadelphia) features a 56 team Draft league, and an 18 team beginner/hat league, as well as various satellite leagues hosted in Chester County, South Jersey and Delaware.
The draft league runs a live 4 round draft followed by a request list draft out to 10 rounds, and then coordinator assisted assignments to fill out the rosters. Each team then gets 3 pre-season games, 6 regular season games, 6 playoff games, and 2-4 finals games. Regular season pools seed into playoff pools, which seed into separate brackets (1-16, 17-32 and so on) for a weekend tournament to determine a champion and consolation champions. The vast majority of games are hosted in a single centralized location, where most teams hang out and grill after every game. Several nights feature PADA sponsored food and kegs and often live music or DJ.
The Boston Ultimate Disc Alliance runs two summer leagues:
Summer Club
Summer Hat
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