Archive for Ultimate Frisbee

Looking beyond the Olympics

7 July 2012 Rachel Communications, Marketing, News, Public Relations, Ultimate Frisbee No comments
Frisbee_090719

There is a certain upcoming event in London later this month. It is an event many years in the making. It is an event which has seen 70,000 people give up their time to volunteer. And it is an event which has caused many logistical headaches. I am not about to talk about the Olympics, although it creates many interesting areas of PR and marketing conversation and debate. I wanted to remind you of those sports we forgot, the ones which do not feature in the Games. Have a look at this blog to read up on some of the most unique sports found being played in the UK. Reverting to an old favourite, although unfortunately a sport I have recently neglected, I was interested to read this week that UK Ultimate, the governing body for Ultimate Frisbee have partnered with Wham-O Europe to support the Frisbee@schools project. This strikes me as an excellent partnership which hopefully will encourage some very positive outcomes. I personally look forward to seeing its development.

Rachel Barkley Aim High

200 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I cannot promise this blog will remain Olympic-free, over the past few months I have been fascinated with all the PR and marketing related topics that have arisen as a result of the Games in London. From a non-PR perspective I also have a great personal interest, the tickets for a Hockey event sit in pride of place on my desk. I am really looking forward to enjoying some of the exciting Olympic vibe in one of my favourite cities.

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The importance of your message

5 March 2012 Rachel Communications, Ultimate Frisbee No comments

To me, this video represents the importance of understanding your audience and creating a strong message designed for them. The video is all right, but it is by no stretch of the imagination the greatest, most imaginative video created, but it is effective because of what is says.

The video is designed for Ultimate players and as a result manages to create a strong message based on the core values, desires and motivations of Ultimate players. I watch this video and I feel inspired, I am reminded why I love this sport and I am reminded what I can achieve.

What about other people watching this video? Well they might ask why on earth those eejits are chasing a disc around a field!

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The importance of branding for sports teams

29 February 2012 Rachel Communications, Marketing, Ultimate Frisbee One comment

Fivestar Frog Splash (Leeds Met) Logo

If you are looking for examples of strong branding the sports industry is the place to look. Teams rely on having strong brand identity to engage their fans and give them the opportunity to feel involved in their team, and ultimately support them financially. This is achieved through team colour, a strong logo and a team identity to which fans are able to relate. The passion that sports fans provide is magical, they are loyal to their teams and would fight to defend them.

What about small sports teams? If your team’s fan base consists of parents, friends or at most your university, is branding still important?

The single most important part of a team is the team. It is impossible to be successful if you cannot work together as a group to support and develop to reach your results, whether they are to win competition, or have a lot of fun trying! To gain this team spirit requires a strong brand identity, team members need to be able to relate with their team, feel involved with it and be able to engage with it.

While helping to run Leeds Met Ultimate Frisbee Team (Fivestar Frog Splash) this has become all the more apparent to me. The club is very new and facing many of the challenges which come in this early stage of life. What has been important however is that all the members feel that they own their club. They get a say in decisions, they understand what is going on and they have influence.

We are still trying to find our identity, but the foundations are there and in time the identity will grow stronger as the club continues to adapt and grow. What was important in the early days was establishing the initial image, this included naming the club and creating a logo. The whole team was given the opportunity to contribute to this ensuring that they were satisfied and involved in the decision.

We recently acquired sports kit and this is another important step in our development, playing in the team colours is a reminder that we are part of a team and we need to work together to achieve our aims. As the club grows undoubtedly the brand identity will continue to be important as we purchase merchandise, such as branded discs, host tournaments and get better known throughout the Ultimate world.

I have been able to see the importance of brand identity within my small sports club, and understand how these principles can relate to other clubs. Your team’s image needs to reflect your team members, this will ensure that as you develop you can ensure that you are growing in the right direction to achieve the most appropriate aims. It also helps attract future members who suit the culture of your club.

The world of sports branding is fascinating and offers brilliant case studies to show how branding can be effective.

Fivestar Frog Splash (Leeds Met Ultimate Frisbee team) demonstrate branding through kit

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Three lessons learnt from Ultimate Frisbee

8 February 2012 Rachel Ultimate Frisbee 4 comments

Image via http://www.facebook.com/lookfly

There are lessons to be learnt in everyday activities, if only you look for them. One of my regular (if uncommon) activities involves running around sports halls and muddy fields in an attempt to catch a disc. Ultimate Frisbee has been important to me for the past three years, during which time it has provided a relief from dreary unemployment and introduced me to new friends at university and around the country.

I love Ultimate, even though I am hardly talented at the sport! As well as improving my life it has taught me some very important life lessons.

Be prepared
All sport requires preparation, turn up at training with the wrong equipment having just eaten a huge meal and you cannot expect to perform to your capabilities. Rebecca Chan discusses how Ultimate Frisbee taught her about the importance of preparation in this article.

Preparation is vital in all areas of life; turn up to university or a meeting unprepared and you will suffer.

Teamwork
Team sports require you to be able to effectively work as a group. In Ultimate Frisbee we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of our team mates. We do this through training together and team building events such as social events. Knowing each other well means we can work better as a team.

Team work is important outside of sport. Whether while completing group assignments at university or working on projects at work, understanding strengths and weaknesses of your team mates enables you to plan for success.

Dedication
I openly admit that I am not a good Ultimate Frisbee player but through playing frequently and putting in effort and energy I am improving. Dedication is important at all levels, whether it be me practising regularly or elite players spending hours in the gym to increase their athletic ability.

It is the same in the workplace. The world does not owe us success, but through dedication to our work we are able to earn success.

My uni team proudly present our first trophy!

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My New Year Resolutions

1 January 2012 Rachel Career, Education, Featured, Interests, Just For Fun, Placements, Public Relations, Ultimate Frisbee 4 comments
Summerfest_2008_fireworks_7096

Welcome to 2012! If we believe the Mayans then we may witness the end of the world, or otherwise we may just live another of many years to come. Either way if 2011 is anything to go by this could be another dramatic, heartbreaking, interesting, amazing, educational year.

2011 was a brilliant year; I learnt a lot, met fascinating people and have experienced amazing things.

I’ve chosen three new year resolutions to share with you to ensure 2012 is an absolutely brilliant year.

  1. Read more books. I love reading a lot, from books, to newspapers, magazines and even the back of a cereal packet. There is rarely a moment where I am not reading, however I am reading a lot less books these days which I feel is a shame. So my first resolution is to read a lot more from books. I love crime thrillers and satirical fiction so if anyone can recommend great books in these genres it would be great. Also I’d love to read more industry related books so if anyone has recommendations I would also appreciate that and might even review them on this blog.
  2. Obtain some great placements. I am currently looking for short term PR placements and a placement year opportunity beginning from this summer. It is a little bit daunting but more than anything it is extremely exciting. This year I want to get some great placements particularly looking at Healthcare, B2B and Internal Communications. Hopefully I will be able to bring you news about some great placements on this blog.
  3. Improve my Ultimate Frisbee skills. I have made no secret of my involvement in my university’s Ultimate Frisbee team and my house is testament to this with numerous discs and trails of mud leading to well used boots. However the reality is I’m shamefully bad at playing the game. Up to now I have used multiple excuses from being too busy to an old ankle fracture but I now have physio treatment and my list of excuses is disappearing quickly. 2012 is my Frisbee year! Through a combination of nutrition, fitness and determination I hope that by the end of this year I will no longer be embarrassed to admit I am not a beginner at the sport. I also hope to play in Leeds varsity and show those Uni boys that they no longer dominate the sport!

Undoubtedly I will continue to update my blog with the developments of my resolutions. I would also be really interested in hearing from my readers what their resolutions are. Are you doing something crazy like jumping out a plane? Or is this year going to be the year you take up running? I would love to know.

 

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Ultimately Unbelievable

2 December 2011 Rachel Interests, Social Media, Ultimate Frisbee One comment
English: ultimate frisbee pictogram

When it comes to big names within the Ultimate Frisbee world Brodie Smith is undoubtedly one of the biggest and for good reason! His videos have the ability to amaze players and non-players alike.

Brodie has worked hard to gain attention for the sport so it is great to see him gain international coverage from his latest amazing video when it went viral, even featuring in our own Daily Mail.

The amazing video which can be seen below had over two million views when I published this, which is great awareness for Brodie and ultimately the sport!

Even if you have no interest in throwing discs I would recommend you watch some of his other amazing videos because they are simply amazing! Especially this special basketball feature.

If any Leeds Met students watching these videos have been inspired watching the videos come and try out the university team, although I can’t promise much catching from boats.

Ultimate Frisbee is one of the UK’s fastest growing sport and with it gaining great media coverage it is exciting to see how the sport will continue to develop and grow.

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Fivestar Frog Splash: The Scribble

17 October 2011 Rachel Interests, Just For Fun, Ultimate Frisbee No comments

As it has somewhat taken over my life in the past few weeks I found myself creating a visual representation (or scribble) of my sports team, Fivestar Frog Splash.

Fivestar Frog Splash

Froggy looks how I feel after a tournament!

Leeds Varsity

7 October 2011 Rachel Interests, Leeds, Ultimate Frisbee 2 comments

Ultimate Frisbee at Leeds Varsity

Not particularly one for sport, I had no idea whether I would actually enjoy Leeds Varsity last Wednesday. I need not have worried, there is something about the buzz in the air that fuels the rivalry between Leeds’ universities which means even the least sporty of people can still enjoy it.

This was the first Leeds Varsity I’ve actually been to (despite having lived in Leeds during two others) and it was also very special as it was the first year Ultimate Frisbee was featured. Leeds Met Ultimate Frisbee team was only established last year, whereas the Leeds University team is significantly more established.

It was a brilliant game, and Leeds Met surpassed my expectations. Perhaps I should have had more faith in my team but I had heard such great things about Leeds Uni’s team. There were some spectacular plays, especially considering the wind and I am very positive about our chances in upcoming competitions. Hopefully we will get a chance to play Leeds Uni again later in the year after some more training sessions together.

I was also very proud of our supporters. While there were less of us than there were of Leeds Uni (we were on their pitches straight after their training session) we still managed to make the most noise while remaining spirited.

Again, my photography skills may be called into question, as this is the only reasonable picture I actually have from the day, but hopefully James, our resident team photographer, will be able to supply us with more later.

We now have a very exciting weekend as the team set off to Manchester to play in a beginner’s tournament! It will be a chance for our newer players to get a good feel of the game that we all love and the community associated with Ultimate Frisbee.

Update: James has now put up his significantly better photography, view it on his Facebook page.

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Freshers’ Fair

29 September 2011 Rachel Interests, Leeds, Ultimate Frisbee No comments

Freshers' Fair Stand

Here is a picture of a few of the Leeds Met Ultimate Frisbee team setting up our stand at the AU Freshers’ Fair. Unfortunately I can’t find my camera so I do not have a picture of the stand all set up.

We were present at both of Leeds Met’s Freshers’ fairs last week and they were very busy, intense days. Having said this, it was great fun and we had a lot of interest in the Ultimate Frisbee team.

It is only the second year of the team but we have high hopes and are looking forward to playing in lots of tournaments, competing hard and having lots of fun.

We welcome all level of players from complete novice to world champion and any for Leeds Met students interested in trying out the sport we have a FREE taster session on Saturday 01 October in the Green Sports Hall on the Headingley campus. Alternatively turn up to any training session, join the Facebook group for details.

Update: Found the camera, here is our very squished stand at the City Centre campus.

Tight squeeze at City Campus Freshers' Fair

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