The Ultimate Coalition of Palo Alto sponsored another youth outreach session with the Mountain View High School's Ultimate Frisbee Club on January 11, 2003. Six UCoPa volunteers, led by Jim Lemons, helped to illustrate the finer points of the game to 25 young men & women.

We began the session with some basic instruction—backhand, forehand, and basic marking techniques. Here Jim Lemons shows how a marker should keep hands low, elbows in, while marking the thrower.

Discussion of ultimate to young players always begins with an explanation of "The Spirit of the Game."

Here Jim & others explain what Spirit of the Game means to those of us who regularly play ultimate.

Several coed members of the Mountain View High club practicing how to mark a backhand throw.

Hartti Valta brought his years of International and World Class competition to the outreach session. Hartti is a former member of the Finnish National Team. The Finnish team LiquiDisc finished in the top 3 at the 1999 World Championships.

Here Hartti demonstrates how to use the full extent of one's pivot to push a forehand huck beyond the reach of the marker.

After an hour or so of drills & practice, it was time for a bit of a scrimmage. We split into teams, with two UCoPa volunteers on each team. Here Chris tosses a backhand swing pass to a teammate breaking free down the left sideline.

Although many of the Mountain View High players still didn't own cleats, the enthusiasm level of the students was incredibly high. UCoPa brought lots of reading material for the club notebook—the 10th Edition of the UPA (Ultimate Players Association) rules, explanations of the Stanford Offense, and about a dozen practice discs for the club's use.

UCoPa encourages its members to participate in this and other outreach programs.

If you have any questions, or if you would like to get involved with future outreach programs, or if you have equipment (cones, discs, cleats, pinnies) to donate, contact Jim Lemons as soon as possible.