Summer Leagues & Club Teams

One of the easiest way to improve your college ultimate game during the offseason is to participate in summer leagues during the summer and on club teams during the fall.

Summer league allows younger players to take the reigns on offense and defense.

On your college team, it is unlikely that a first- or second-year player would be put in the handler position in a crucial spot at a tournament. Those roles are reserved for the veterans on the team, who have “been there, done that” so to speak.

But that positional hierarchy dissolves in summer league, which usually is a little more laid back, instructional and experimental. Younger players have the opportunity to try new things, develop throws and play different roles in sometimes critical situations. That type of experience will go a long way toward progressing the level of a player’s game heading into the next college season.

Hit the jump to read more about how summer league and club teams can improve your game.

Summer league also keeps the players in shape and allows players to continue fine-tuning their throws and other important ultimate skills. Field awareness, man defense, backhands, forehands … these skills can be eroded by not playing ultimate often enough, and the gap between spring and fall semester is long enough for a player’s skills to diminish substantially. Summer league bridges the gap between the spring and fall semester, allowing players to maintain and improve upon the skills learned during the spring college season.

By the end of most summer leagues, which usually run until early August, the men’s club season begins to heat up. August and September are the hottest months of the year in terms of temperature, but also the men’s club season. Tournaments spring up nearly every weekend leading up to the UPA’s Sectionals, Regionals and Nationals tournaments.

Club teams are a great way for young players to learn even more about the game of ultimate. In addition to the basic skills — throwing, catching, cutting, defending — learned on a college team, young players will learn more advanced skills playing with veteran club players. Offensive and defensive strategies, zone defenses, better marking skills, more advanced throws and more complex offenses are some of the things younger players should expect to experience while playing for a club team.

While the positional hierarchy generally does disappear in a summer league, it does return on a club team. Young players learn to play roles on a club team like shut-down defender, cup or wing in a zone or deep or mid in an offensive system. Learning these specialized skills will help a young player perfect and utilize those talents during the spring college season.

And there is no better way to get a head start on training for the college season than with a club team. By the time a club player becomes a veteran, he has likely been playing ultimate for five or more seasons. The knowledge acquired in that span of time includes how to train the body for the physical, demanding nature of an ultimate season. Most club players are in top shape and can help motivate younger players to strive for excellence off the ultimate field and in the gym.

Talk about a way to impress your teammates at the beginning of the fall semester. If you participate in summer leagues, pick-up games and the club season, you likely will come into the fall semester a wiser, smarter, faster and stronger ultimate player than you were just four months removed from the college season.

So if you are going to be in the Bama Section this summer/fall, keep and eye out for these leagues and club teams, and make sure to get involved!

Summer Leagues/Games

Baton Rouge
New Orleans
Atlanta
Huntsville
Birmingham
Memphis
Mobile
Slidell
Chattanooga
Nashville
Destin
Fayetteville
Shreveport
Columbia
Mississippi (mostly Jackson)
Orlando
Houston
Asheville
Gainesville

Club teams

Baton Rouge Turbodog
Huntsville Freaks
Birmingham Ironmen
Chattanooga Jackhammer
Mississippi All-Stars (contact Brad Jones at Mississippi State)
Memphis Bluff City Bangers
Little Rock Boys Named Sue
Nashville NUDE
Cleveland Killer Mosquitos
Fayetteville Disc Association
Atlanta Teams
Destin Storm Surge
Orlando Teams

I have tried to be as comprehensive as possible with these lists. But if you have a favorite league, pick-up game location or club team that is not shown here (or if you have contact/web page info for any of the above), please leave it in the comments or email it to me at the email address at the top of the sidebar to the right.