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CHASE <chaseultimate>

"Comber Has Awesome Spud Energy"

	CHASE President’s Address 2009	312 jours il y a
	First of all, thank you to my friends and team-mates for electing me as President of CHASE. It gives me great pride as one of the founders of CHASE to see how far we have come in terms of growth, our influence in Belfast Ultimate, and our many successes to date. I would also like to congratulate our re-elected captain Marco, and also Greamer, who was elected into our newly formed position of Deputy Captain. Between them, their experience, skill, determination and enthusiasm will keep CHASE improving throughout 2009. We also have our re-elected Social Co-ordinator, who will keep our social calendars busy, and ensure that we as a team have an active social life together off the pitch. Congratulations are in order; we voted for our own player of the year, Marco, who throughout last year led us by example, and gave us a quality of play to aspire to. We also voted on our most improved player, which went to Greamer, who now plays Ultimate like a seasoned pro, but treats team-mates of all abilities as equals. Congratulations should go to all who played for CHASE last year. Everyone without exception far exceeded any expectations regarding their quality of play. Every single CHASE player can lay claim to a portion of our success, and should take pride in that fact. We should take note of why we were able to achieve so much in our debut year: By and large, we were fitter, and better practised than our opposition. This comes down to our dedication in attending practises in Belfast, and at Park Way. Sunday practises undeniably gave us a distinct edge over the competition. We were also well organised, partly due to myself, but largely due to Greamer in organising lifts to practices, and organising the squad on match days. We also have the rare quality that we know each other so well. We can know how each team-mate is likely to act, and read each other with such understanding that make even the ropiest improvised plays look and seem like we practised it for years. It is the dedication to stay fit and well practised, organisation, and knowledge of each other that will stand us in our stead. This year, we are no longer beginners, but we still have much scope for improvement. If we are to continue to be the best wee team in BU, we need to maintain our edge over the competition, and continue to improve and grow as a team. Regular training in Belfast and in Comber is where we will build our victories. In our second year, we must also address our team’s finite nature, and continue to recruit to our ranks. We managed to recruit a handful of very worthwhile additions to CHASE over the Christmas holidays, but our recruitment has to remain on-going. In fact, an ideal time to recruit would be around the same time that the universities start, which is roughly the definition of a beginner for the Christmas Special. The university beginners have had a distinct advantage over our first-time beginners for too long, so we need to engineer the situation back in our favour come next beginner tournament. Also, as with BU, recruitment needs to start looking further than our circle of friends and relatives. Recruitment has to become one of our team’s priorities, and we need to take new, more adventurous approaches to recruitment. With all the pressure to succeed however, we need to ensure that we never lose sight of the importance that everyone enjoys the sport of Ultimate. It is this sense of enjoyment that keeps Ultimate players coming back for more. I’ve compiled a list of competitions that you should expect CHASE to participate in this year, and roughly what time of the year it falls on: Competitions In 2009 Love Easter Tournament (Belfast) Easter Saturday 11th April If you are able to, please keep this date free. In this one-day outdoor 5-a-side tournament, CHASE are hoping to be able to field 2 teams. Since it is only a relatively small time commitment (one day, as opposed to the league), it is hoped that all CHASE players (and any newcomers) can play on this day. We aim to divide the teams evenly, with the priority less on retaining the title we won last year, and more on making sure everybody gets plenty of time on the pitch, and ultimately that they enjoy themselves. It would also be a great display of our growth as a team, and what other wee teams should aspire to if we manage to field two teams. Belfast Ultimate Summer League (Belfast) Starting June CHASE’s main goal is to retain the league title. We succeeded last year due to regular training, and arriving to matches with a large squad. The competition is expected to be tougher this year. Swerve showed us in January that they still play very high quality Ultimate, and how their beginners from last year have improved. We must continue to improve as a team as they have, rather than rest on our laurels. Train when possible, and continue to invite newcomers to join our team. Copa Cobanna (Nottingham) Weekend, end of August This is a new competition that CHASE hope to enter in 2009. It is a fun party tournament, and will make a great farewell to Steve who will be moving to the Nottingham area for his new job after graduating this year. Tune-Up! (Stirling) Weekend, start of October CHASE’s main overseas competition in Marco’s old stomping ground. Last year CHASE finished 4th in Stirling. This year, we hope to win the competition. Hopefully we can bring a slightly bigger squad this year, and be well prepared for all that the Scottish teams can throw at us. All BUG Tournaments All CHASE players are eligible to play as part of BUG, and should consider playing as part of this bigger team, at higher-end competitions. Much can be learned playing at this level. Belfast City Marathon Relay, and Ards Half-Marathon This is something that I personally would like to do, and I would like to invite any CHASE players to join me if you are interested. I thought it would be cool to have some of us running the relay at Belfast in May, and work up to the half marathon in July. Other Items Of Note CHASE Kit CHASE has both a light kit (white “I love Comber” T-shirt) and a dark kit (navy, white and orange Lookfly T-shirt). Also, with a view to make our kit more uniform, a consensus was arrived at early this year that black shorts look best with all CHASE kit. While not mandatory by any means, it is preferable that all CHASE players try to ensure that they have these items of kit for match days. White “I love Comber” shirt: readily available at http://nuncle.spreadshirt.net/ (Talk to me if you would like to arrange for a bulk order to split postage.) It is hoped that we can all have a white ‘ILC’ in time for the Easter Tournament. Navy Lookfly Top A highly attractive garment that has to be custom made by Lookfly. It is hoped that there will be enough interest to cover the minimum order of 12 garments. Talk to me if you would like one of these shirts. I aim to place an order for these shirts in time for the summer league, and overseas competitions. Black Shorts These are readily available at all sports shops. CHASE Beginners Day When the weather gets significantly better, and preferably before the Easter Tournament, we should aim to have our own beginners day to introduce all the beginners that were unable to make it to the Christmas special, as well as anyone else who we can get interested. What I personally envision is a day out to Crawfordsburn, playing Ultimate, and having a barbecue at the side, some drinks and general good times. This is only my idea – any alternative suggestions are most welcome. If we can ensure a good day out is had by all, all the better for retaining future CHASE players. CHASE Hoodies Interest has been expressed in having CHASE hoodies made. We need to finalise the design we’re going for, and find out who would like one, then go ahead and order. This would be great for travelling as a team for Copa Cobanna and Tune Up. Photography This year, we should make more of an effort to take plenty of photos and videos for posterity. Plus if we manage to get match footage, it gives us a great excuse to have a video night at someone’s house. There is nothing better than looking back at old photos of tournaments and competitions. Plus they make great additions to our website which is currently under construction. Well, that’s all from me for now. Looking forward to the forthcoming season. The CHASE is on gentlemen. David.
	posté par CHASE