Grand

Rapids White Lighting

The Area Grand Rapids High School Ultimate Frisbee Team
HEAD COACH: Mike Zaags Zaagman Call/text: 616.443.1881 Email: MikeZaagman04@gmail.com ASSISTANT COACHES: Scott Gritter, Kyle Hobbes DeVries and Nichol Wolverton

1st Edition: June 17th, 2013

What is Ultimate (Frisbee)?

Ultimate, the word Frisbee is trademarked so the sport is simply called Ultimate, is a high-energy sport played on a soccer-field sized field. It is played 7 players to a side with the object to score in an end zone similar to a football end zone. The main caveat is that once a player catches the disc, he/she must stop moving. Each player has 10 seconds to throw the disc once it is caught. All other players may continue to move in any direction. One of the most unique aspects of Ultimate is that it is self-officiated. Even at the highest levels (except the new professional leagues) the sport abides by the rules of Spirit of the Game in that no player will intentionally go outside of the rules for a competitive advantage. (Ten Rules of Ultimate explained on page 3). We encourage any and all who are interested [in playing] to come out to do so, as Ultimate is such a great time. I cant explain my passion and drive for it in words, and I hope to see some competitors step up and experience it for themselves. Marcus Muallem

How did the team get started?

In the 6th grade, Mike Zaagman was playing Ultimate Frisbee during a gym class. He can even remember saying that this was the best sport in the world then not knowing there were greater opportunities to play. During the summer before his junior year in high school, he played in a tournament at Douglas W alker Park. It was then that he fell in love and has not stopped playing since (except for b reaking his foot twice basketball related). Knowing that there is already a passion for a casual style of Ultimate among high schoolers in Grand Rapids and taking advantage of the more flexible schedule that summer gives for high schoolers, Mike decided to start a team. He visited 30+ high schools during the months of April and May. Reaching out an arm to school administrators, pleading with them to let their students know about the greatest sport ever invented by man. During this time Scott Gritter, a youth pastor at Christ Church in Grand Rapids, reached out to Mike about the possibility of helping coach the team. Scott has been crucial to the current success of the team and certainly in the future. Scotts love for youth and passion for Ultimate make a perfect mix as Assistant Coach. After a few casual pickup sessions, the first official practice was scheduled for May 20th. W ith less than 3 weeks of practices, on June 5th, the Grand Rapids White Lightning scrimmaged Grand Haven High School. Grand Haven has had a program for the last 3 years and went to the state tournament this year. Since the team b egan, Kyle DeVries and N ichol Wolverton have joined the coaching staff as well. In 2012 he created Zig Zag Ultimate, an organization promoting Ultimate Frisbee through tournaments, leagues and summer camps. Mike has hosted over 15 Ultimate tournaments, leagues and organized hundreds of pickup games. Mike is devoted to spreading the sport of Ultimate Frisbee in Grand Rapids. When Mike isnt playing Ultimate, he enjoys teaching Swing dance, storytelling for 2nd-3rd graders at Ada Bible Church and working out. Mike Zaags Zaagman, Head Coach & Founder Mike Zaagman, known in the Ultimate community as Zaags, is 22 years old and lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He attended South Christian High School (2008) and Calvin College (2012) with a B.A. in Business and Media Production. Mike owns a video production company, Zaagman Video Productions, filming weddings, promotional videos and concerts.

Mike has been playing Ultimate Frisbee for seven years (Junior in high school). With no high school opportunities, he jumped in playing at the club level with teams far ahead of his skill set. He captained Calvin College for 3 years and currently captains the Grand Rapids club team. He also played professionally for the Detroit Mechanix Ultimate Frisbee team in 2012.

 Ultimate in 10 Simple Rules

The Field

Is this team sustainable?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is that this Grand Rapids has, for some reason, just never gotten the Ultimate Frisbee bug in high schools. Lets start with what is going on locally. Grand Rapids has a league, which head coach Mike Zaagman is a board member, every Tuesday night all summer. The summer is split up into 3 sessions for all ages, skill levels and for guys and gals. There will be around 120 unique players throughout the summer. Many of the high school players have dropped in on a given week and picked up with a team. Also, every area college has a team! Calvin College, GVSU and Western Michigan all have A and B teams. Hope, Aquanis and Kuyper also have teams. However, the majority of the players on the college teams had no previous Ultimate experience heading into college. Ultimate Frisbee has inter-high school leagues established o n the high school level all across the nation. 3 years ago, Cincinnati had zero high school teams. Now there are 18 area schools playing! Indiana has its state tournament June 29th. Colorado has 32 high school teams with the fall being the mixed division (guys and girls play with each other) and the spring being m ens and womens divisions. Ann Arbor/Detroit area has 15+ high school teams and had the Michigan state tournament in early June. So yes, Ultimate has a place in Grand Rapids. Ultimate is played on every level. From 7 year olds to the national level. So the real question is: why hasnt Grand Rapids had a large high school scene? Well, here it is.

1.

A rectangular shape w ith end zones at each end. A regulation field is 70 yards by 40 yards, with end zones 20 yards deep. Each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of their respective end zone line. The defense throws ("pulls") the disc to the offense. A regulation game has seven players per team.

Initiate Play

2.

Scoring

3.

Each time the offense completes a pass in the defense's end zone, the offense scores a point. Play is initiated after each score.

Movement of the Disc

4.

The disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may not run w ith the disc. The person with the disc ("thrower") has ten seconds to throw the disc. The defender guarding the thrower ("marker") counts out the stall count.

Change of Possession

5.

When a pass is not completed (e.g. out of bounds, drop, block, interception), the defense immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense.

Substitutions

6.

Players not in the game may replace players in the game after a score and during an injury timeout.

Non-contact

7.

No physical contact is allowed between players. Picks and screens are also prohibited. A foul occurs when contact is made.

Fouls

8.

When a player initiates contact on another player a foul occurs. When a foul disrupts possession, the play resumes as if the possession w as retained. If the player committing the foul disagrees w ith the foul call, the play is redone.

Self-Officiating

9.

Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.

Spirit of the Game

10.

Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.

Captains perspective: Game against Grand Haven

The teams first practice was on May 20th and none of us really knew what we were doing, and 16 days later we played our first game (June 5th). The whole team showed this passion and a grand level of improvement in the Grand Haven game. We had many players who, like me, had just about never about never picked up a Frisbee before. Marcus. Words from Marcus Muallem II Our Grand Rapids Area team, newly dubbed White Lightning, started out as a group of great athletes who wanted to learn a new sport and fill some idle time in the summer. On the 20th of May, I had never even attempted a forehand pass (flick), and even my standard b ackhand needed improvement. Two weeks later, I played my first high school game having only missed 2 of my 25-30+ flick passes due to wet conditions. Our coach, Mike Zaags Zaagman, told m e in our first official practice that he wanted me to learn in two weeks what he learned in three years. He expected the same out of all of our rookies, and he consistently shows us that he has full faith in our ability to do more be better. He is a 22-year-old coach who shows coaching talent far beyond his years, and he has led me to a passion for ultimate that (admittedly) may just surpass my passion for rugby- the sport that made m e who I am today. Grand Haven was more experienced and it showed from the get go. They scored four quick points before we got on the board. But once we did things started clicking and we rattled off five more points. Our defense was stingy and there were not many holes for them to break through. B ut when there were some breakdowns they took advantage. As the game went on we definitely got better as we started finding out what were good at and what Grand Havens strengths were. Charlie. After Charlie caught the first score, the level of excitement and energy rose greatly. At first it seemed like the people on the sideline were mostly just watching the game, but after this score, there was yelling and involvement from the sideline. Connor After halftime, we went on a 4-0 run to start the half, sparked by a score by our very dedicated Jacob Arens and some clutch Ds (one of them a layout) from our resident 3rd-tallest cutter, Conner Carrico. Some great downfield huck catches from our 1st- and 2nd- tallest cutters, Joel Zwiers and Charlie Robertson also put us in great position to score converting some of those opportunities and missing out on others because of Grand Havens quick-to-react defense. Marcus We began to adjust to the game and after some time, we actually held our own with them. Our defense had definitely improved and our offense was getting into the form we had expected it to be in. I could see individuals improving
4

Thoughts from Assistant Coach: Kyle Devries

At the first practice I had no idea what I was really getting myself into other than the opportunity to play some ultimate. After about the first 20 minutes it became apparent that instead what I was there to do was to teach the high school guys and gals what ultimate really is. Most showed little to no knowledge as to how ultimate was played, the basics of the two main throws used in the game, as well as the other basic and most critical rules of game play. I realized that what these guys really needed was not another guy who wanted to play ultimate, but instead a teacher and leader of sorts. Someone who could teach by instruction and by example as well as just giving them the attention to allow them to practice and learn by doing. It did not take very long with good instruction and demonstration from Mike Zaagman and the other coaches for the guys to start really showing skill and Great Spirit towards the scrimmages that we have during practice. With more time and practice to teach more advanced field play techniques and allow the throwing and playing experience to mature, the team can and will become an excellent opponent for any group. After this happens the real fun will show up as the game becomes more natural and less forced.

throughout the game in all aspects and it was really fun to watch. -Connor. My personal favorite moment of the game was Timmy (Kneeshaw) coming up huge on a possession that led to a score. He had a great throw to start things off and then made a huge catch down the field a few throws later. He then tossed the disk into the end zone for a score. It was awesome! Gabe (Anzivino) had a sweet catch for a score even though I thought there was no way anyone was going to get it. -Charlie This is definitely a team that has a lot of talent, a lot of potential, and a lot of heart. Im very excited to see how this team improves throughout the next weeks b efore our next game, and throughout the entire summer. -Connor Our team could have started our game off better, yet I look forward to the coming weeks where we can start off our games in tournaments the way we ended our Grand Haven game. With an awesome amount of hype and team spirit and great all-around individual and team performances. We encourage any and all who are interested to come out to do so, as Ultimate is such a great time. I cant explain my passion and drive for it in words, and I hope to see some competitors step up and experience it for themselves. Marcus.

Where do we go from here?

We take this momentum and we keep pushing and pushing. The sky is the limit. We have regularly had 14+ players at practices, but we need to keep on the recruiting trail. June 13th we visited a group of Forest Hills Central students playing pickup. They brought 5 players and we brought 15 (with 3 hours notice)! We had a great game playing along side them and hope they will join our squad. We have plans to invade other high school groups playing in the area that have not yet experienced what Ultimate Frisbee can really b e at a competitive level. The team is looking for ways to let others know about this beautiful sport. We have a full schedule this summer and we have plans to continue our squad in the fall.

Upcoming Schedule Highlights State Games of Michigan East Kentwood High School Kentwood, Michigan June 22nd. 10:30am-5pm Beach Practice Holland State Park Holland, Michigan
June 24th, 5:15pm carpool @ Calvin College

1.

2.

3.

Sandy Hat Beach Tournament Pere Marquette Beach Muskegon, Michigan June 29th 9am-5pm Sandblast Beach HS Tournament Chicago, Illinois July 13-14th

4.

How to fund the team?

Ultimate is one of the cheap as far as sports go. All you need are cleats and a disc. We have our liability insurance through USA Ultimate, the Ultimate Frisbee governing body, for only $7 per athlete. This covers

the team for every pickup, practice and game for 6 months. Tournaments and jerseys are the largest expense. We do our best to keep our costs as low as possible for our athletes, however we are in desperate need of donors and sponsors for this team. Without financial support, this team will not be able to play to its full potential. Our longer distance tournaments are too costly to spread among the high school athletes. Our first major tournament is in Chicago, Illinois July 13-14th. This will be our first chance to play against only other high school teams. We are looking for someones house to stay at in Chicago to keep costs down, volunteers to help chaperone and many other areas too! If you would like to get involved in any way, please contact one of the members of the coaching staff. W e have a large need for drivers, moms & dads to bake cookies, promotion of the team and general awareness.

Thanks you for supporting the Grand Rapids White Lightning!

6