For example all the people who organise our sport - leagues, tournaments, web sites, policy, couching, publication and sausage sizzles still play the sport. We don't have a sweet group of Mums, Dads and hasbeens to deal with all that organisational stuff for us. Painful.
We need to regularly exert energy into recruiting, promoting, educating, explaining and selling our sport to all and sundry in the hope that it will continue to grow so that we can continue to play games.
Its really only the Taiwanese who want to get our autographs. Young sports.
Some excellent aspects about being involved in a young sport like Ultimate Frisbee are that lots of us are in with a chance of playing the game at a National or International level. Excellent.
Our community is smallish and loving. It's great to be quickly accepted into a community that wants you to be there.
The great aspect of being in a young sport that I want to highlight here is that in our young sport the early heroes of Ultimate Frisbee are people we know. The titans of Ultimate Frisbee legend in Australia are people that might even still play on our league team. Players from the first Australian team at Worlds in 1988 might just still be trundling around in our community.
There are many founding members of the Brisbane Ultimate Frisbee community who should be enjoyed and remembered for their direct connection to the beginning of our sport. Today i'd like to mention one.
Jason Ray
I'm not going to tell the whole JRay story here, not because I don't know it (he has told me enough times) but because either you already know the man and have firmly formed your opinion, or you don't know him and if that's the case you should ask Buzz about him, it's much funnier that way.What I will say is that Jason worked pretty hard to develop our sport in Brisbane. He contributed much to our community landscape including the much loved Brisbane Premier League. In the early 2000s when Brisbane was a one league town (mixed at UQ) Jason worked to initiate and administer as the first league director the R.C. Dog Cup.
For those of you who haven't had a close look in a while its printed right there on the trophy.
We love our Thursday night open league. The Dog Cup, the Mens A league and now the Brisbane Premier League. It is an enthusiastic and significant competition. It means a lot to those who strive for success in what can be a challenging and competitive environment. This week it enters a new phase as a 7 team competition, very exciting.
We owe thanks to Jason for the beginnings of our competition.
Jason has played his last season of BPL. In classic JRay style his last game was full of passion and angst, wild hucks out of bounds, 3 massive plays in the dying stages of the game and a gritty grand final win against an old enemy.
Jason you are one of the founders of Ultimate Frisbee in Brisbane as well as a contributor on the domestic and World stages. You have inspired many of the current crop of Brisbane elite to achieve their best either through encouragement or through their desire to best you on the field.
You'll be missed at the Moreton Bay Buggers and i'm sure you'll be remembered. Well done mate.
