Lads, as you know, we're trying to get a CHASE beginners day organised. We're changing the date to Saturday 4th April (because it suits more beginners), and we're going to try and get booked into the big hall at Ards leisure centre for an hour or two to get a bit of old-style Comber rules Frisbee for our newcomers.

Evening: I think we may just go out into Belfast, if anybody's interested. Don't worry Linter, we'll get a Rock Band night sometime soon.

So, are you free on Saturday 4th April, around 1ish?

PS, if you can, keep the following Saturday (11th April) free for the Easter Tournament where we will defend our title.

PPS, if anyone wants any CHASE kit, can you let me know. I'm planning to put an order through to Spreadshirt for 'I love Comber' shirts and budget cotton navy CHASE shirts in time for Easter Tournament. Also, later in the year, I'm going to put an order through to Lookfly for some Lookfly shirts and some hoodies. Let me know if you're interested.

We're hoping to have a CHASE beginner day either Saturday 28th March or Saturday 4th April. It's looking like it will probably be on 4th. Can everybody ask around to see if they have any friends or relatives that would be interested in trying out Ultimate Frisbee. I'll keep you posted on details.

David.

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 (a