Eli Block Capstone

Summary:

Over the course of my senior year I worked diligently to host an Ultimate Frisbee tournament as my capstone. I began my process with interviewing experienced tournament directors and finding out all of the necessary information needed to put together a good event. Once I was able to create my list of steps that I would need to take, I moved forward with scheduling. Planning the event required, finding field space, finding a certified medical professional, ordering porta potties for the event, reaching out to ultimate teams and budgeting. Along the way I learned many things about how to act in a professional environment. In early April my tournament took place. Ten teams from the greater Philadelphia area attended the tournament and ultimately it was a great success. The tournament taught me a lot and raised over one thousand dollars for the Science Leadership Academy Ultimate team.

Eli Block

Annotated Bibliography  

Bradley Palmer (Abington High School)

Palmer Bradley. Email,  January 2018

Bradley Palmer is the assistant principal of Abington Senior High School. Mr.Lehmann put me in contact with him because he potentially had field space that we could use to host the tournament. I learned how to properly write formal emails and what it takes to keep in contact with someone on a more professional level. Unfortunately there was no available field space for the right time and date for the tournament but I learned a lot while in communication with him. The planning required to secure event space requires more insight than I initially thought and in the future I will know how much background information I should have before contacting someone.

Disc Store

"Home." Disc Store. Accessed January 26, 2018. https://www.discstore.com/custom-apparel.

Discstore is one of the most popular Ultimate apparel brands in the country. They sponsor events and provide merchandise. I was told about their sponsorship policies from Jereme Mason. They will sponsor an event for free and after the event you send them 70-80% of the money made from merchandise. This is a great way to get some cool memorabilia from the tournament and I will learn how to design clothing and discs. I intend to call them to discuss the percent of the money made that we send back. Disc Store has sponsored thousands of tournaments and events and is a very reliable source.

Graham, Seth.. Personal Interview 7 October 2017

Seth Graham is the coach of the Methacton High School Ultimate team, he also is one of the organizes of PHUEL (Philadelphia High School Ultimate Education League). He was my first contact for the research part of my capstone. I learned about what goes into creating and organizing an Ultimate tournament and what options would  be best for our tournament. He provided me with the names of people who would be helpful in continuing to learn about how to put on an Ultimate tournament and led me in a direction where I could make progress with my capstone. As the capstone progresses I will keep in contact with him because he is a reliable resource and very helpful.

Ultiworld

"Home." Philadelphia High School Ultimate Education League. Accessed January 26, 2018. http://phuel.ultimatecentral.com/.

Phuel ultimate is the Philadelphia High School Ultimate Educational League, it provides information for teams in the area and other things youth ultimate in Philadelphia. Before every season there is a meeting that I will be attending and it will provide dates and locations for tournaments. The website has is like a hub of information that has provided me with things about Philadelphia ultimate that I had not known before. It provides names of people that can be helpful in making my tournament be a success. Moving forward I will continue to check the website to gain an insight into what's going on in the Philadelphia youth ultimate scene.

Mason, Jereme. Personal Interview. 23 January 2018

Jereme Mason is the found of Ulti Planning, a company that creates and organizes Ultimate Frisbee tournaments.  They are partnered with a variety of Ultimate services who offer Ultimate related gear. Jereme is also the youth director for the Philadelphia Area Disc Alliance and a full time employ of Pada.. He was a very helpful contact that provided me with information about securing field space, and other logistical aspects of a Frisbee tournament. He explained the constraints that each field space has and what space would be the best match for our tournament. He provided me with the contact information of people who I could talk to about the necessities of a tournament.

Minneci Christina (Lower Merion High School)

Christina is the coach of Lower Merion High School ultimate team, she has had a lot of success as coach and has organized tournaments before.  She has been a prominent member of the Philadelphia Ultimate community, and sits on the board of PHUEL. I contacted her about the reality of having our tournament be USAU certified. She provided me with the pros and cons of a USAU certification. After several emails chains it was decided that the tournament would not be USAU certified.. She was a helpful source of information in the early stages of the research part of the project.  

Pollock, Simon. "Tuesday Tips: 7 Tournament Director Basics, Presented By Spin Ultimate." Ultiworld. July 19, 2016. Accessed January 26, 2018. https://ultiworld.com/2016/07/19/tuesday-tips-7-tournament-director-basics-presented-spin-ultimate/.

This article explains in depth what goes into a general ultimate tournament. It is a reliable source because ultiworld is a know rebuttable ultimate online magazine. The tournament covered aspects of the tournament I had not yet think about like what happens if there is too much rain or some part of it fails. When creating brackets and the physical layout of the field scheduling I now know what to do and how to organize it. Moving forward the tournament will be more organized and have a more professional feel to it. I feel like I have now found everything that has gone into a tournament and now need to organize it.

"Pennsbury's Fall Brawl." Pennsbury Ultimate Frisbee. Accessed January 26, 2018. http://www.phsultimate.com/fb.php.

Every year Pennsbury hosts a tournament in the fall and spring for youth ultimate. It has been one of the longest running tournaments in the country. The SLA team has attended for several years. The website provides score updates, scheduling and other useful things that are necessary for the tournament. Having a website like this seems like a great idea and very useful to teams looking to come to the tournament but are unsure about its legitimacy.  The website is incredibly helpful and organized and I am now considering creating a website for the tournament. The websites reliability is good. Because SLA has gone to the tournament the websites authenticity has been checked.

Prushan Joel

Joel is an active member of the Philadelphia Ultimate community. He works with Pada and helps connect coaches with teams in need. I am interviewing him because he has reliable information regarding tournament organizing and running. Joel coaches a Philadelphia club team and has a lot of knowledge about ultimate. He has a lot of helpful contacts and potentially can help with securing sponsors for the tournament and other small things I might need. I contacted Joel in late 2017 and have talked to him a couple times about the event. His reach in the community is very helpful in organizing this tournament.

USAU tournament sanctioning

"USA Ultimate." Tournament Sanctioning. Accessed January 26, 2018.

https://www.usaultimate.org/tournaments/.

Initially the tournament was supposed to be USAU certified, so we could put the tournament date on their event calendar and entice teams into coming to our tournament. The goal was to make this as official as possible and attract the highest caliber teams. However after researching what it takes to get an event certified it was decided that the tournament would not be certified. There were to many constraints such as age, price and tournament rostering. I learned what it takes to have an Ultimate be official and how I could make it that way. Also how to deviate from your initial plan when something is not working out or when you know it will not go smoothly.