Ishaan Banerji, Batch of 2019

Ashoka University will be hosting India’s first ever National College Ultimate Championships this weekend(10th and 11th February). Five college teams from across India, along with two Ashokan teams, will congregate to compete for the title of the country’s best college Ultimate team.

The teams that are participating are IISc (Bangalore), Christ University (Bangalore), Delhi University (Delhi), Jain University (Bangalore), ISB (Hyderabad) and two teams from Ashoka(Ashoka Hammerheads and Hawks). Christ University, IISc and the Hammerheads are the most established of the teams present, and will have to battle it out against each other for the top seed. The profiles of the teams can be found on the National College Ultimate Championship page on Facebook.

As the first national college tournament, NCUC’18 marks what may be a great new period for India’s Ultimate arena. The participation of colleges and schools is integral to the overall growth of any sport, and beginning with this tournament, one may expect to see greater involvement by colleges in the Ultimate tour, which as of now is mainly populated by clubs. In USA, for example, many of the best college players go on to make their marks at the pro-league level in AUDL(American Ultimate Disc League) and even at the international level. With this new arena for Ultimate tournaments set up, it can be expected that the number and quality of players involved in Ultimate will increase.

A number of star mentors will be present at NCUC, including some who have played for India. Vivekanand Srivastava has represented the Indian team on multiple occasions, and Abhishek Srinivas, affectionately called Cisa, played for the Indian Open Team at WUGC 2016, and currently is part of one of the elite Indian teams, called Learning2Fly. Jaidip Patel, the coach of Ashoka Hammerheads and a former President of the UPAI, will also be present. Jaidip was one of the people involved in the growth of Indian Ultimate, has also played multiple times for India, and was the founder of 91 Ultimate, India’s only Ultimate gear store.

With some great teams coming in from across the country, NCUC looks set to be a great tournament, with bragging rights and a beautiful trophy up for grabs. Make sure you come out onto the football field to support the Ashokan teams, and see some great Ultimate!

Ishaan Banerji, Class of 2019

Over the last weekend, Ashoka Hammerheads, the Ultimate Frisbee team, participated in a national tournament in Surat, called Surat Ultimate Open, one of the four tournaments of the year-long UPAI(Ultimate Players’ Association of India) tour. The tournament was conducted on the 17th, 18th and 19th of November, at Fountainhead School in Surat, along with grounds all across the city.

26 teams from all over the country convened in Surat for the tournament, with 3 teams from Delhi, namely Hammerheads, GK Mad, and Stray Dogs in Sweaters(yes, the names in the Ultimate community are weird). The tournament ended with a dazzling final between the India U24 team, that is preparing for a tournament in Perth, Australia, and Jumbish, a team from Surat itself. The match was liberally peppered with all-out layouts, some insane skies, and some of the best throws one might ever see.

The Hammerheads started with a seeding of 17, and over the course of the tournament, reached 14. Having reached the highest seed of any team in Division 2(17 downwards), Hammerheads also won the Division 2 award. The team also came close to winning the Most Spirited Team award, ending the tournament as second on the list. The team consisted of 17 players, 11 men and 6 women, and was overall the best team that Ashoka has put up in the last couple of years, and with Ahmadabad Ultimate Open coming up in a couple of months, hopefully they go further and further.