On Friday, Chris and I were privileged to attend the San Mateo Youth Ultimate camp. The Bay Area Disc Associate hosts five such camps for youth aged 8-14 throughout the summer. Each camp runs for a full week from 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon.

Youth Director Valerio Iani explained that he designed the curriculum to teach kids the basics of the game while mixing in other activities to keep them interested. The kids run drills and scrimmage frequently, but they also play games like disc golf and frisbee tag. We even got to join in ln a few of the activities since there were only 15-20 kids this weeks. Other camps in the area have drawn as many as 45 participants.

Whatever the curriculum entails, its clear that it is working for a number of kids. Maggie Ruden, the San Mateo Head Counselor, says that the kids improve a lot throughout the week and they really enjoy the camp. In her third year as a counselor, she has seen a number of kids return for a second or third year. This year, she even has a former camp participant on her counseling staff.

Val, Maggie, and the Bay Area Disc Association have done a great job in creating an outlet for young children to learn to play Ultimate. We wish them the best of luck in continuing to inspire kids to pick up this sport. As you can see, some of this kids are going to become really good, spirited Ultimate players.

For more information on these youth camps, visit bayareadisc.org.

About a year ago, I was introduced to a game called Spikeball by my good friend, Dan Kaler. Spikeball is similar to volleyball except that it is played 2-on-2 and the objective is to hit a ball off a bouncy net so that your opponents are unable to return it. It quickly became the go-to game to play during byes in an Ultimate tournament and after awhile, I bought my own set. I’ve taught a lot of people how to play and fancied myself as one of the better players among my group of friends.

A few weeks into our trip, we found out that there was a Spikeball tournament happening in Santa Barbara when we had planned on being in LA. For the modest price of $10, I signed The Break Side up for the Amateur Division of the All American Spikeball Tournament.

Chris and I arrived just in time for pool play and soon realized that there was no such thing as an Amateur Division. In fact, counting the two of us, there were a total of three people at the tournament that I would consider amateurs. The long and the short of it is that we lost all six games of pool play, most by large margins, and were ousted in the first game of bracket play. You know that kid who shows up to his first Ultimate tournament and thinks he’s hot stuff because he can throw a backhand AND forehand better than all his friends? I have a new-found level of respect and sympathy for that kid.

In any case, here’s some footage of some GOOD Spikeball players. If you think you can keep up with these guys, you’re a better man than I…

The music for this video is by Joe Weber – a man whose house we are currently crashing at. This song is titled “Hammer.” You can check out this and other amazing tracks at https://soundcloud.com/bzukajoe

“You picked the worst possible time to come to Phoenix.” -Literally everyone we met.

With record-breaking high temperatures the past week, Phoenix residents spent most of their time indoors. However, the area seemed to have no lack of brave Ultimate players as we attended four pick-up games while in Phoenix. The games are scheduled either early in the morning or late at night to avoid the hottest part of the day, but the temperature was still always recorded in triple figures. Despite the heat, every game we attended had at least enough participants for 7 on 7 and Sunday and Wednesday night even drew a crowd big enough for two games.

We met some interesting characters at these games. On Tuesday night, John Barber was nice enough to show off some of his athletic skills for the camera. I actually met John about a year and a half ago in Georgia, and it was cool to see a familiar face all the way out in Phoenix. Watch closely, and I think you’ll see a move that up until last night, was only ever completed by my grandpa “Big” Jim Wagner in his younger days.

Phoenix boasts quite a few players with a lot of talent off the field too. Take Ashley Stahl for instance, who invited us over to showcase her flute “beat-boxing” abilities. Speaking of my grandparents, I think the only way this performance could have been better is if Ashley had been accompanied by Kay Wagner ticklin’ the ivory.

My grandparents are pretty awesome, so I wanted to throw a shout out to them. And as you can see, the folks here in Phoenix are pretty awesome too. I hope you enjoyed watching them as much as we did, and I hope LA is as much fun as Phoenix was!

Sunday gave us the opportunity to be especially touristy. We drove to Mesa Verde National Park where James was excited to finally get some use out of his recently purchased National Parks pass. The ranger at the entrance knew we were virgins and asked James to sign the back of the pass. She also told him to be prepared to show his ID at all future entrances.  When asked if she needed his ID now, the ranger responded, “No, I’m assuming you’re going to sign you own name.”

Pleased with the humor of the Park’s employees, the fellas drove the winding road until they got to Spruce Tree House, home of Mesa Verde’s most well preserved Anasazi cliff dwellings. After hiking around for 2-3 miles, we finally stumbled  on the cliff dwellings that were very clearly marked. We snappped a few pictures, Wags explained what a kiva is to Schasse four times,  and we called it a day at the Park.

After Mesa Verde, we made the short journey southwest to the Four Corners “Monument.” For three dollars a person you can stand on the only spot in the country where four states come together at one point. After waiting our turn in line, we decided to do more than just stand:

The thrill of being able to jump between four different states eventually wore off  (hard to believe, I know) but we weren’t ready to leave such an exciting place just yet. We grabbed a disc and the video camera and hiked up and around some rock formations to get some footage of the surrounding area. We were most unsuccessful in that endeavor. However, what did ensure was a little trickery by Schasse and a good workout for Wags: