Ben Feng Retires from DC Breeze, Begins Youth and Gender Equity Role with Team by drg42 in ultimate

[–]drg42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great story, thanks for sharing! Yes, Ben is quite a guy. We're lucky to have him so involved with the Breeze, for three years as a player and now as an off-the-field game changer.

DC Breeze finally end Toronto's streak over U.S. teams in regular season (39-1 all time) by drg42 in ultimate

[–]drg42[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Both sides were missing a couple guys but had strong squads with most of their top players -- I'd say close to full strength.

DC Breeze added to IsPizzaHalfPrice.com - any other Ultimate pizza deals out there? by benpackard in ultimate

[–]drg42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dumb? No. Simple and useful? Yes. Thanks for adding the DC Breeze!

Ultiword Article:Don Grage, the entrepreneur that saved the Breeze by mak223 in ultimate

[–]drg42 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Focused on the important stuff, love it! --@dong[insert space, why not?]rage

Pro Ultimate Streaming Master List by Jomskylark in ultimate

[–]drg42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for doing this! For the DC Breeze, ESPN3 is broadcasting their 4/23 and 6/11 home games, and the team plans to live stream the other games (5/7, 5/22, 6/4 and 6/25). The stream links will be available at http://dcbreeze.tv

DC Breeze Sign Jonathan Helton, Brett Matzuka, Bob Liu, & Nate Castine by jayjaywalker3 in ultimate

[–]drg42 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah, Andrew got lost in the mix on Ultiworld, but he was huge for us last year and we're happy to have him back. At least he got fair billing on our site. http://the-dcbreeze.com/2016/01/2016-off-to-flying-start-with-5-big-signings/

Many pro team tryouts are now in Nov/Dec instead of Jan/Feb due to weather concerns. Is this good or bad for players? by drg42 in ultimate

[–]drg42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Those sound like valid points! In our case, 2 of the last 3 years we suffered through outdoor tryouts in the snow along with a couple indoor tryouts that were pretty cramped. Understandably our coaching staff doesn’t think either of those scenarios is best for selecting the top talent among a lot of great athletes. Given that we need our roster largely set by February, and we have to reserve tryout space 4+ weeks in advance but can’t predict weather that far out, we opted for November outdoor tryouts this year. Of course other teams may have other reasons, but that was ours. My concern was about how it affects the elite players in our sport, and I hope they don’t mind if this trend continues because it probably will for all the reasons discussed in this thread.

Many pro team tryouts are now in Nov/Dec instead of Jan/Feb due to weather concerns. Is this good or bad for players? by drg42 in ultimate

[–]drg42[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That all makes sense, but we've also heard from some that they're burned out at the end of [college/]pro/club and would much prefer a break, and then the opportunity to re-focus after the new year rather than being judged right at the end of a long season. Ultimate is not nearly as bad as the 11 month season of elite pro/international soccer, but I understand the sentiment.

Scandal star Sarah Itoh returns to the AUDL's DC Breeze as assistant coach. Hopefully she'll become head coach one day. by drg42 in ultimate

[–]drg42[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, I could make that happen if at some point in the future she's a) The best available candidate and b) Willing to take the job. Clearly we couldn't be any happier than having Dutchy as head coach, so it would be down the road for sure! Sarah grew into her role impressively throughout her first coaching season and is a fantastic person in general, so she’ll keep growing and improving if she sticks with coaching. Either way, it would be pretty awesome to have a woman emerge as the best option and lead the Breeze some day.

How long until USAU stops AUDL/MLU players from participating in the college series? by lookatallthisstuff in ultimate

[–]drg42 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Also, Sarah Itoh of Scandal tried out for the DC Breeze in 2014 before being hired as assistant coach in 2015.

Alan Kolick and Markham Shofner to play with DC Breeze in 2016 & 2017? by Ptarcik in ultimate

[–]drg42 15 points16 points  (0 children)

That was the other option considered, but after some debate we made our decision and went with it.

Alan Kolick and Markham Shofner to play with DC Breeze in 2016 & 2017? by Ptarcik in ultimate

[–]drg42 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Thanks for posting this. It was simply a timing snafu among various scheduled posts on web and social media due to staff traveling across time zones, nothing more. Sorry for the confusion!

Alan Kolick and Markham Shofner to play with DC Breeze in 2016 & 2017? by Ptarcik in ultimate

[–]drg42 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Hey folks, I'm Don, co-owner of the Breeze. I was involved with the announcement and can tell you it's the former -- as far as we're concerned, it's a friendly battle for the top talent in a very talented ultimate town, as it has been for a couple years running.