As we welcome the month of May with open arms and flying discs, the ODSA is busy building growth and reaching new heights. With the continuation of the RADD Tour and the developing series of events relating to Provincial Championships, we are seeking to establish a new standard, while improving the delivery of disc sports programs and events throughout the province. As you'll see from the information below, we are making great strides in these areas and are excited about our momentum!
For the period April 28th - May 30th, ODSA is providing an comprehensive overview and hands on instruction on the disciplines of both Ultimate and Disc Golf to an average of 420 students per day, throughout the province. A total of 3 concurrent RADD tours, with 10 fully qualified instructors are in full swing! The success of this outreach programming has been phenomenal. Schools that don't have Ultimate teams and/or programs are now poised and excited to start them. Schools are asking to buy 9 hole disc golf portable targets and to start disc golf programming. We are blown away with the positive results and feedback we are receiving on a daily basis.
Returning from last years successful Fall Tour are Dusan Nedelko and Ryan Briggs, who are on a 7 week road tour teaching daily. They started in Sarnia on April 14th and will end in Kingston on May 30th. Follow this link to see their schedules and the schools they are reaching. On April 28th, ODSA rolled out 2 additional 5 week progams, in the Toronto region and in the Ottawa area. These are partner programs with both OCUA and TUC. In Ottawa, we've hired Rob Wormald and Jon Rayner to deliver our programming, here is a link to their schedules. In Toronto, through TUC, we have been extremely fortunate in securing 6 talented instructors from U of T based touring teams. They are James Fong, Mark Kowgier, Nancy So, Nathaniel Brown, Stephanie Salerno and Tom Walsh. The co-ordination of the instructors has been aided by Gerald Quan and Taylor Martin. To review GTA instructor teams bookings and schedules, follow this link.
New for 2008 is ODSA's commitment to run a series of regional events leading to a Provincial Championship. To date, 8 events have been scheduled and a few events have already been completed. This series compliments some of the fine work and accomplishments that have taken place over the past years in the Disc Golf community in Ontario. This however is a step-up from past tours, with everyone involved being properly insured and with the final champions being crowned and rewarded with some awesome prizes such as a reserved spot in Disc Golf's most prestigious event the USDGC! To see who currently leads the series in point rankings click here! To learn more about this series
The Canadian Ultimate Players Association (CUPA) has asked the Ontario Disc Sports Association (ODSA) to run its regional series of qualifying tournaments where necessary for divisions that require such for the CUPA National Ultimate Championship which are taking place in Calgary, Alberta from August 14th to the 17th 2008.
To date only one event has been booked. ODSA partnered with WODS to deliver the Ontario Mixed Ultimate Championships. To learn more about this event
On April 24th, the Ministry of Health Promotion held it's 41st annual gala sports awards honouring individuals, volunteers, coaches and athletes, for their service and accomplishments in sport. The Ontario Disc Sports Association's Executive Director - Christopher Lowcock was honoured and received a Sly Apps lifetime achievement award from the Minister of Health Promotion, Margarett R. Best for "a rich history of involvement in disc sports at the local, provincial, national and international levels. With his passion and dedication he has helped put disc sports on the map in Ontario."
ODSA also invited a Corporate Partner to the awards dinner that took place at the Granite Club in Toronto. Pizza Pizza attended and received a Corporate Award for their years of support starting in the late 90's for disc sports at the local, provincial and national levels.
The Waterloo Organization of Disc Sports a thriving and growing disc sports club in the Kitchener/Waterloo region and has had some marvelous news to share with the disc community. Recently an article written by a WODS member, Jennifer Kellett was published in The Record and was highlighting their time and enjoyment in playing Ultimate.
On another positive note, WODS is pleased to announce an expansion of its relationship with the City of Kitchener involving the development of previously unused field space at Kiwanis Park to be used as designated ultimate fields. Beginning in the summer of 2008, Kiwanis Park will be home to at least five full-sized, lined ultimate pitches for use by WODS summer ultimate league players on three nights per week. Both WODS and the City of Kitchener are committed to remediation of the land for a long-term relationship, with field quality expected to improve over time to the point that it will rival the conditions at most other field facilities formerly used by WODS. The plan will also allow WODS to support the rapid growth it has seen over the past number of years. This endeavor represents a win-win situation for WODS and the City of Kitchener. WODS ultimate players will benefit from dedicated, regulation-size, lined fields in one central location, without having to compete for field time with other sports groups from week to week and year to year. The City of Kitchener will benefit by having many soccer and football fields released back into the rental pool for increased use by those groups. WODS looks forward to a positive long-term relationship with the City of Kitchener, with its members pledging to help maintain the beauty and tranquility of the park through sportsmanlike play and good faith towards the park facilities and the neighbouring community.
The ODSA boasts a member club base of 25 clubs, with individual memberships of just under 12,000 members. We are currently running or helping to run registrations for 7 clubs/leagues and offer these services to all member clubs for free. We are pleased with the growth we have achieved in such a short period. Thanks again for your support and continue to fly straight in 2008!
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May his spirit live forever! 1970-2010 
