Hello!

We're back and we can't wait for summer 2016! Dates are posted on our website under "2016 Camp" or at http://www.youthultimateprogram.org/2016-camp.html.

See you this summer!

Aly, Tyler, Robin, and Jamie

Welcome to the newest member of our YUP team, Junior Counselor Pete Rock! Pete was a participant in our first ever YUP camp back in the summer of 2011 (and the year after that, and the year after that), and has continued on to become an incredible ultimate player! He now plays for Edina High School and will undoubtedly help his team build an Edina-sty in the coming years. We are so happy to have him back at YUP helping out this summer!

June 20, 2015. It was a beautiful morning in Bethel, MN. Droves of ultimate players had made the trek out to compete in a one day round robin tournament. The morning was going swimmingly for YUP coach Robin Fassett-Carman- by the first half of the first game she already had a layout grab in the end zone for a goal, she was shutting down her players on defense, and unstoppable on offense. But in a sad turn of events, just as she was making an amazing catch, Robin was slide tackled by her opponent and broke her foot. Now, she has sadly been relegated to THE BOOT. 

The boot is not a completely uncommon accessory for an ultimate player. Ultimate is a "non contact sport" that sports quite a bit of contact, leading to various breaks and sprains (don't worry this actually doesn't happen that often). When most players get the boot, they resign themselves to modeling a huge clunky gray shoe day in and day out- enough to ruin any outfit. Not Robin Fassett-Carman. When life gives her lemons, she decorates them with sparkles and ribbons- a philosophy she expertly applied to her boot. Robin is single-handedly revolutionizing injury fashion one broken bone at a time. 

This week of YUP was one of the biggest weeks in YUP history, and as such the tournament format was a little different than normal. Six teams took to the field in two pools. Pool A contained team Spectacles, team Bolo, and team Tankini, Pool B was team Mukluk, team Tuque, and team Sarong. In Pool A the Spectacles looked dominant, only dropping two points in two games and earning themselves a bye to the semifinals. The Mukluks took pool B but had a harder time with it. They were down 4-0 in a game to 5 against Tuque, but when they changed up who was guarding who they were able to force some turnovers and make a miraculous comeback to win 5-4.
After pool play the quarterfinal matchups were set to be Tuque v. Bolo and Sarong v. Tankini. Tuque took their quarter 3-0 (games were to 3 for the quarterfinals due to time constraints) in a game that was much closer than the scoreline indicates, with lots of chances for both teams. Meanwhile, Sarong managed to pull out a victory in an even longer, closer game against Tankini, earning themselves a rematch against the Mukluks. 
In the first semifinal Tuque went up 3-2 against the Spectacles, making themselves the only team to be first to three in all of their matches. Unfortunately, they fell to another late game surge and the Spectacles advanced to the final with a 5-3 win. The other semi saw Sarong looking to improve upon their previous performance against the Mukluks. However it was clear that they were feeling the effects of their physically demanding quarterfinal and the Mukluks won out.
Thus, fittingly, the final was between the winners of each pool. Sadly I was unable to watch the finals but my fellow counsellors assure me it was one for the ages. Amazing plays were made by both teams and every point was hard fought. The eventual result was a 5-3 victory for team Mukluks. Congratulations to them and to every other team in this tournament, they all deserve it!

18 contenders valiantly competed for the coveted bronze, silver, and gold medals. We had an exciting line-up of events: accuracy challenge, in and out box, longest throw, gotta catch 'em all, the classic conehead race, and more! Shoutout to our gold-medalists Abby and Leo!

Below: Leo taking first in the conehead race, well on his way to the gold medal!

Four stellar teams faced off in this weeks tournament: Team Sleipnir, team Jormungandr, team Fenrir, and team Mjollner. In the first round Fenrir fell to Jormungandr while Mjollner took care of business against Sleipnir. The next round saw two close matches. Fenrir managed to claw their way past Sleipnir's tough defense and inexhaustible legs for the 5-3 vicotry. In the other game, Mjollner jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, but Jormungandr went on a run of their own to go up 3-2. The teams traded points until universe point at 4-4. Jormungandr was starting on offense, but Mjollner's Drew Nordman laid down the hammer with a big hand block. This gave his team great field positioning and they were able to punch it in for the 5-4 victory.
Thus going into the third round Mjollner was the only undefeated team. This didn't last long however as Fenrir eked out a 5-4 comeback win against them. After Jormungandr won a hard-fought game against Sleipnir there were three teams with a 2 and 1 record. Who would play in the final was decided by goal differential, which fell in favor of Mjollner and Jormungandr. Wanting revenge for their earlier loss Jormungandr came out on fire and put the squeeze on Mjollner scoring the first four points. Mjollner made a valiant effort but Jormungandr's team chemistry (Cole Norman, Cole Weinstein, and Grace Prince) was too much for them in the end. Jormungandr emerged victorious, 5-2.