REGIONAL INTEREST B.C.
Written by: Jordan Perrault VUPS first Junior
Experience
It was probably when we scored our first point at BCJUC that it all came together. Juan ran deep, the disc went up and we held our collective breath, he grabbed it and immediately everyone rushed the field. Several points into our first game and suddenly this consortium of young people - who had never all been on the same field until that morning - was a team. A year and a half into creating a youth ultimate program in Victoria and we’d arrived.
Storm, Victoria’s BCJUC team, was brought together with the idea that if we put some kids on a boat and send them to Vancouver to play in a tournament with 60 other Junior teams then they may just love Ultimate enough to convince their friends to play too. Our team was put together in three weeks and composed of 12 players from eight different high schools who had a total of three team practices and one ferry ride worth of team bonding. What was originally a hectic stress just getting enough people to go became a confirmation of how unique, empowering, and fun being on an Ultimate team can be.
For the last year and a half, the Victoria Ultimate Players Society, players from University of Victoria’s teams, and a handful of dedicated teachers and parents have come together with the goal of creating opportunities for young people to play and excel at Ultimate. The consequence has been around 1200 kids exposed to Ultimate through school PE clinics and other opportunities, as well as around 250 kids playing consistently on three elementary school teams, six middle school teams, and four high school teams. Storm, and our trip to BCJUC, was the first time that we managed to bring together youth to travel (it was the first game experience for seven of them and
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the first tournament for 10). What surprised me was how much they came together to create their own experience both playing and spending time together off the field: they truly made the team their own.
It is easiest to explain the experience in moments. That first point. Finding our team on the field of Thunderbird stadium practicing trick shots and flick hucks together during their bye. Watching a grade nine kid sky a guy a good foot and three grades above him. Laughing endlessly as Kai ran around thanking everyone, after every point, for everything. Eating breakfast with 12 kids who were glowing and laughing Sunday morning as if they’d known each other for years, not a day. Maybe the best moment for me, as a coach, was Monday when I woke up to an invitation to join a Facebook group they’d created where they were already organizing their next practice.
What BC, and particularly Vancouver, has done to create a community for youth ultimate is incredible and should be celebrated. Victoria, as a relatively small community, has many challenges ahead of us in bringing kids to the sport. However, what experiences like BCJUC demonstrate is just how much it really is worth it. Ultimately as an organizer, it shows how having young players be part of organizing themselves is so fundamental to getting them to play - when it’s their team they love it that much more.
Photo: Joanne Arnold Vedova
Ultimate Canada Magazine -
www.canadianultimate.com
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