Bio: Jimmy Roney


BY BRETT PRAIRIE It’s been a while since I’ve had the plea-


sure of playing against James Roney. We’re in the midst of a Indoor Ultimate Tourna- ment in Victoria, BC and already some fatigue has set in. I’m marked up against a man who has the ability to spring into a full cut in a split second. Do I give him the easy under or risk a potential sky battle where, frankly, he doesn’t get beaten often? Coming to Ultimate as a Basketball player, James Roney naturally found a fit with Ultimate. He possesses a keen sense of spatial awareness which has him in the right place at the right time. The combination of his quickness on the field and his huge vertical in the air, has allowed “Jimmy X” to dominate as a cutter.


JIMMY X


If you hadn’t realized who I am writing about at this point, it might be because you’ve never met James by the name he’s known by in Ultimate circles. When asked how “Jimmy X” got his name, he recalls: “The nickname Jimmy X came from my first year of summer league in 2005, I called up Wendy Brown to register and was kinda quick on the phone and neglected to tell her my last name. I just said ‘Hi this is Jimmy, and I would like to sign up for summer league.’ When I arrived at Lansdowne for the first game, the teams were posted on a sheet of paper stuck to the soccer goals. I began my search for my name to find my team with no luck but found there was only one Jimmy with an ‘X’ in place of the last name, and so it was, going forward.”


A BLUE-COLLAR WORKER If you ask Jimmy what he thinks of his


role as part of the defensive line in Ultimate, he’ll tell you that he views himself as a blue- collar worker. A relentlessly hard working individual who finds satisfaction from a job well done. With less ego involved. “The ‘D- Line’ is the backbone of the team”. His play on the field has been noticed out- side of Victoria. Jimmy was surprised to be a last minute recruit for Vancouver’s Masters team, Gauntlet, at the World Ultimate Club Championships, in Prague, Czech Re- public. During the playoffs, Gauntlet found themselves down at the half, 8-6 versus fellow Canadians, Glum. Both teams were in the hunt for 9th and Jimmy stepped up and became the difference maker. In the second half, Jimmy recorded four points, includ- ing goals on three consecutive breaks (two of which were “double happiness” points) to close off the game; a 14-10


victory for Gauntlet. All told in the playoffs, Jimmy recorded 14 points in three games, all while playing on the “D-line”. It was this demonstration of desire that earned him recognition as Gauntlet’s Most Valuable Player for the tournament.


HUMBLE A few days later, at Victoria’s Split Disc


tournament - a fun, two day hat tourna- ment consisting of Ultimate and Disc Golf - Jimmy was his usual self. You wouldn’t have known from talking to him that he domi- nated at the world stage. As for his perfor- mance against Glum:


Ultimate Canada Magazine — www.canadianultimate.com


“I just wanted to say how there was a


really strong focus on staying positive with the Gauntlet Captains Sandy Lane and Den- nis Hummerston. Without that I probably would have had a restricted feeling and not had the results that I did.” Jimmy’s conversations about his experi- ence at the World Championships centered on how fun it was to hang out with his teammates, meet amazing people from across the globe and experience game play from his opponents unlike he has ever seen before. He described the whole experience as humbling.


SPIRITED IN HIS PLAY The compete level back at Split Disc,


although lower, didn’t detract from his enjoyment of the day. The permanent smile on his face (one of his trademarks) as he marked up against less experienced players, watching (perhaps letting) them make the big catch on the “World’s MVP” showed that regardless of the game, location, or level, Jimmy X just loves being out on the field, running around, chasing plastic.


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