Daiha Fehring (Ballarat)

Daiha took up ultimate in the weeks prior to AUG in 2008, and after a stellar week on field, dedicated herself early on to making the trip to Surfers in 2009. Daiha's ferocity and work rate on defense has seen her generate blocks time after time, no matter what the stakes of the game.

During second semester, Daiha took it up herself to be BUUF's fundraising coordinator, and ran a number of activities from social nights to working at the Ballarat Uni coffee cart. Her efforts were the difference between coming and not coming for many players, and the club has appreciated her commitment to this year's AUG campaign.

Josh Rynan (Ballarat)

Josh started playing ultimate as something to do on a Tuesday night way back in 2007. However it wasn't until after his first AUG in 2008, and a road trip to Bathurst earlier this year that he threw himself head first into the sport. Josh spent the winter months travelling each week to play league in both Melbourne and Geelong, as well as throwing or hitting the weights any time he was available.

Josh's passion towards BUUF in 2009 has not gone unnoticed by everyone both within the club and also from other teams. He has been one the the loudest voices of motivation in BUUF's "Out For Justice" campaign, whether it be being the first to come and last to leave all training and social events, or simple things such as posting Youtube clips to Rocky training montages on everyone's Facebook page. Josh has reinvented himself over the last few months as a key member of the club both on and off the field.

Annette Zou (ANU)

This year, the Frisbee Gods smiled upon the ANU and brought to us a player who not only has incredible talents on the field but is an amazing artist, and a dedicated volunteer. Annette is the product of a juniors team started several years ago in Canberra by Meg Bailey, and this year has decided to bring her talents to a University level.

On the field, Annette is hard to miss: offense or defense, cutting or handling, Annette makes an impact wherever she is, with her speed, throws, and most importantly, her grit and determination. She was selected for the highly competitive Kaboom Ultimate Training Squad and won the right to attend their training sessions, bringing her training session total to 5 sessions a week! Annette made full use of the extra training sessions, and has been dedicated to improving her knowledge and skills.

Annette also organized an "ANU + friends" team in the ACT league, and was pivotal in supporting and encouraging her players, some of which moved on to ANU training and also EUGs with the ANU. Her efforts enabled the ANU to recruit a strong female line for the ANU team at EUGs.

However, Annette really outdid herself with the amazing artwork she produced for the ANU this year. Not only did she create an amazing logo for our playing strip, but she dedicated hours of her time- during the mid-semester exam period- creating 20 personalized party shirts! That's right, each ANU team member has their own awesome Totemic logo, thanks to Annette's efforts. Be sure to check them out during the week, and send all compliments to the artist.

Thanks for an awesome year, Annette.

Byron Vickers (ANU)

Over the past summer, Byron contracted a rare and contagious disease known as "Ultimate Frisbeeitis." Symptoms included the dedication of obscene amounts of time and effort to organizing leagues and teams, an obsession with a small, plastic disc-like object known as a "Frisbee" and apparent enjoyment of painful sprints sessions. We hope he will never recover, since the Ultimate Frisbee club at the ANU has certainly reaped the benefits of Byron's strange disease.

In the beginning of the year, Byron was honored with an invite to train with Fyshwick United, the infamous Mango Men's Team. Byron quickly realized he had a lot to learn, and in June made his merry way up to the Men's Development Clinic in Brisbane, returning just in time to lend his newly- found skills to the ANU team at EUGs. In the leadup to AUGs, Byron has tirelessly worked on his fitness and throws, and has attended every training, throwing and sprinting session on offer.

You'll see Byron on the field playing as a solid handler: he's always in the right place at the right time, and with a range of great throws, you can be sure he'll take the good option and hit his player on the chest. He is also a tireless defender, and gets some great Ds, especially those point-saving high blocks in the endzone!

Off the field, Byron has also dedicated many hours to helping organize a "Lunchtime Sport" league at the ANU. He has also volunteered to run the huge ACT league, on behalf of the ANU in order to put some money into the ANU kitty for next year. Byron is a fantastic volunteer, and will never turn a job down.

We're really glad to have Byron with us this year, and hope he can lend us his skills and his organizational might for years to come.

David Lim (UNSW)

David Lim has stuck with Frisbee and the UNSW Ultimate team through high and low times. Managing much of the teams day to day needs under the dual role of Vice President and Treasurer, he is one of the faces of UNSW ultimate on the Kensington Campus, helping in the club’s revival. As a presence in the Sydney Ultimate scene, he knows as many people from other teams as there on his team. After coming to Sydney from Canberra two years ago, he has made a name for himself on the circuit. Competing in leagues while attending uni full time and practicing with the UNSW club team twice a week, he is always improving his game. His love of the sport made it the talk around campus.

David’s agility and accuracy act as a devastating combo on the field. Of the line his acceleration is impressive. He finds holes in the defense and takes that advantage. His choices on the field are smart and make the best of the situation he finds himself.

Balancing his Frisbee commitments with numerous other societies on campus, David is playing almost every day in some way. Whether running or throwing he is always improving in some manner. This interaction with the game has allowed him to meet players that teach him new skills that other players never have the chance to learn.

His commitment to the team is through not only his work on the field, but also the work behind the scenes. He has found who to talk to in order to prepare the team for its trip to the Gold Coast. David knows what needs to be done and by when, keeping the rest of his team on track.

David is most comfortable on the field though, playing Frisbee. He is driven every point to succeed, digging past where many hope they can in order to make the play. David is a Frisbee player and loves it, always excited before and after the game. He looks forward to each match and keeps his team excited too. It is impressive what David has accomplished in the two years since he has picked up the disc. Very few can do what he does, making him spectacular and deserving of the Martin Laird Award this year.

Peter Nixon (Melbourne)

Pete has had a long standing association with the Geelong Frolf and Ultimate Club (GFUC) and is very excited for his first AUG. He joined the Mutation as soon as he could find us and has been a constant presence at all trainings and social events. Pete has been a great asset to our team on the field where he can out run and sky some of our best seasoned players. He is also an asset off the field, being in charge of a number of our fundraising attempts. Pete has also shown, both at our club, and at the recent Southern Youth Development Camp, an eagerness in teaching and recruiting new players to our sport. Pete’s talents are taking him further and further with his eyes set on attending both AMUC and AUC in the upcoming months. The entire club is behind him and looking forward to seeing him strut his stuff on the world stage with his bid for the under 23 team.

Kristen Burdon (Flinders)

Kristen has been playing for Flinders for 3.5 years. She’s competed in 4 AUG, and 1 SUG for the club. She has been a key member for several of our league teams adding strength to our female line up. She has helped raise over $2000 for the club, which has helped several of our unigames campaigns get off the ground.

Jonathan Warren-White (Flinders)

Jonny has been playing for Flinders for 2.5 years. He’s competed in 2 AUG, 1 SUG for the club. In our club’s social league he’s been responsible for developing several teams from complete newbies into competent experience players. He is constantly recruiting and developing newer players and contributes greatly to higher level team think-tanks.

2008 Nominees - Where Are They Now?

Nathan Wong (Macquarie Uni)

"Since AUGs, I've become the president at the Mac Uni club, and played my first Nationals season with Fakulti X. I've taken on more management roles as well, jointly running my first tournament (a University Hat) at the beginning of the uni season, which is looking to become a permanent fixture. I'm looking forward to playing more tournaments this year (like Mixed Nats, AUGs) and hopefully participate in the u23s Worlds next year (if it goes ahead) as well as Nats 2010."


Steph Malcher (Deakin)

"I played my first club season with Honey, placing fourth at Nationals earlier this year. I recently played with Deakin University at Southern Uni Games. Played, and won, my first final at the B-Town Showdown! Hooray! Again enjoying Division 2 at Albert park, as well as playing my first season of Div 1. Looking forward to the Spring Fling Women's league at Albert Park. Unfortunately not able to play AUG's or Mixed Nats due to the Deakin uni time-tabling shambles.... :( Also off traveling next year, so no Nats or World Clubs for me. Hopefully some South American pick-up games though!"


Ben Foley (Flinders)

"Won AUG gold last year, represented Karma B at Southern Regionals and Karma at Nationals, recruited and trained 90% of SA's Youth Nats team, won MSP at High Spirits tournament in Victor Harbor, won silver in the SAFDA open league, became vice-president of Flinders University Ultimate Frisbee Club (FUUFC), captained the Flinders SUG B team (called Partae), am currently captaining a team in the SAFDA mixed league, will be going to AUG's with Flinders this September and consider ourselves gold medal contenders, will be playing with Pillow Fight at Mixed Nats in October (we also won the KCC), will be heading to the Indian Rim Asian Uni Games with Flinders in December, and plan to represent Karma again at Nationals next year. I will also be making a bid for one of the U/23 Australia teams and to play with Smurf if they get into World Clubs next year. "

Chris Khoo (Vic Uni)

Chris has been a god-send for Vic Uni this year. As a player who played his first tournament at the inclement Melbourne Hat 2008, his improvement in less than a year has been out of sight. You will see him handling at AUG this year, and on a team of 10 players, not only will he be playing a virtually savage tournament, but there is little doubt that his exponential improvement will continue.

As one of two students at Vic Uni who had ever played Ultimate before, Chris has been a driving force behind getting a team together and taking them to the games.

With 2 weeks before registration deadline and three players confirmed, Chris was in the Uni cafeteria snaring poor unsuspecting diners and convincing them of the multiple benefits of joining the team, and managed to scrape together a team just in time to register for the tournament.

His dedication to improvement has been seen in his consistent attendance at three different leagues around Melbourne and the training camp in Brisbane earlier this year. Chris also shows exemplary Spirit in his unwavering positive attitude and never ending patience in coaching beginner players.

Chris is a superb ambassador for the game and would make a terrific recipient of the Martin Laird award for 2009.

Peter Adan (UWA)

Peter started playing ultimate in his first year of university and was a product of the newly introduced Monday nights social sport league developed by the Ultimate Club. Peter was quickly seduced by the sport and in his second semester put together his own team to compete in both the social league run by UWA as well as the WAFDA social league, with varying success.

Peter take on new roles and responsibilities within the club in 2009, the least of which include organising numerous social events in order to raise funds for AUG’s. Peter is a very active member of the clubs committee and is currently in charge of developing and implementing promotional strategies for the club.

Peter has also come along strongly in his ultimate playing ability, developing into a very solid handler on which the team’s offence can be built. In addition to this his juggling of state rowing commitments with his desire to develop as an ultimate player has seen Peter become the fittest player in our team and he consistently performs well at the end of games. Peter will be one to watch at AUG 2009 as well as a player for Sublime in Adelaide 2010.

2008 Winner - Rosalie Suthers

Team: UTS
Number: -

Rosie started playing in 2006 has been a key member of UTS Ultimate Frisbee as Social Coordinator in 2007 and stepping up to the plate as Vice-President in 2008. Since the beginning of the year, Rosie has been working hard to keep the club running by organising training sessions and hassling fresh blood into the local hat league. She became the invisible force that pointed newbies to the direction of Wentworth Park. As the AUG team manager. Rosie is also responsible for herding the team down to Melbourne with her great organisation skills.

On the FCUTS line, Rosie has filled the role of handler with ease. The 08 season has also seen Rosie make great cuts playing mid and hot Ds in zone defence. Her leadership on the field has been vital for the young team.

2008 Winner - Jason Carr

Team: UWA
Number: 1

Jason has been playing university ultimate since 2006, joining the UWA AUG team following promises of fame, fortune and unlimited women. These initial illusions were soon dispelled; nonetheless Jason continued to hone his skills and soon became an integral part of ultimate at UWA and in the greater WA community.

Throwing away his promising AFL career, Jason took on the role as UWA Ultimate Club (UWAUC) President in 2008. Under Jason’s guidance, the UWAUC has expanded rapidly: managing to field 2 full teams in WAFDA’s Perth Ultimate League and another team in the Social Ultimate League.

This made UWA the largest club in WA and also the source of the most new players; a testament to Jason’s commitment to the development of ultimate.

In addition to this, in 2008 UWAUC also developed and ran an intra-UWA social league. This league has 4 full teams and will form the basis of player development to feed in to UWA’s PUL and AUG teams. This further reflects Jason’s hard work in developing UWA ultimate for future years. Financially, UWAUC has also prospered under Jason’s leadership, securing sponsorship paying for team uniforms and creating a bank balance that will allow the club to continue to grow in 2009.

Finally, as a player, Jason is a valuable asset to the UWA team. Despite having to undergo knee surgery in late-2007, Jason has returned as one of UWA’s most important players. A solid handler and a hard cutter, Jason will create many problems for the defences of opposition teams and is almost certain to make his nationals debut for Sublime in 2009.

A few words about Marty...

From Ant Dowle...

"Marty was the true spirit of uni games - a dedicated partier, great ultimate player, Australia's best cheer leader (yes, I remember the days when teams did a cheer for each other at the end of the game) and a fantastic MC who was not afraid to skull a beer (9 in 1999) when he made a faux pas in a speech or even for the sake of it. eg. Half a bottle of galliano in one hit in 2002. He was a great example and idol for any young uni persons coming through the ranks."


From Owen Shepherd...

"Marty was synonymous with uni ultimate for hundreds of players. He did so during several years of AUGs and regional uni games. It was his "speciality". Under Marty's involvement we had the first AUCs (with 5 teams) and by the time he left, there were ~20 unis who had competed. Almost all of Marty's best party adventures were at AUGs/AUCs. Marty should be honored before too many people who know him move on."

The Martin Laird Award

The Martin Laird Award is an award that seeks to recognise the achievements and efforts of Australian university ultimate players. We're not after the "best" player - we want to find the unheralded stars of the uni scene. The players who wear their team's colours with pride. The players who put in the effort at training and tournaments week after week. The players who help keep their club running. And the players who are the Nationals winners in years to come.


Aims

- To recognise the talents of players that may not stand out at a club level.
- To reward university clubs for their efforts in recruitment and development.
- To recognise a player’s efforts over a whole season, not just at one tournament.
- To serve as a motivator for nominated players to contribute to their club.
- To generate interest in university ultimate between clubs, states and the wider ultimate community.


Structure

- Awarded to one male and one female player.
- Awarded at the end of AUG, in significance of that being the ‘conclusion’ of the uni season.


Eligibility

- Previous nominees may be nominated again provided they still fulfill the rest of the criteria.
- Must be an Australian resident (non-citizens eligible pending other criteria)
- Must be completing their full degree at an Australian tertiary institution recognised by Australian University Sport.
- Have not previously competed at AUC (“Nationals”) or AMUC (“Mixed Nats”).
- Have not previously competed at a WFDF event – WUGC, WUCC or WJUC.
- Are nominated and voted upon following the criteria outlined;

• Overall offensive and defensive abilities.
• Commitment to improving their knowledge and skills.
• Commitment and service to their university club.
• Adherence to the principles of the “Spirit of the Game”.

Process
- Each university club nominates one male and one female player for the award.

• There is no formal process for the clubs’ nomination – clubs may choose to have a vote among their players, or simply have the nominees chosen by senior players or coaches.
• These nominations are submitted to the National Universities Coordinator by 5pm on the Sunday two weeks prior to the commencement of Australian University Games.
• The nominations consist of the player’s name, jersey number (if applicable), recent photo and a short explanation of why they are nominated.
• Nominations will be posted to a public website as they are received.
  

- State University Coordinators may also nominate players not nominated by their club, but are under no obligation to do so – they may choose not to exercise that right. Clubs must not attempt to influence the State University Coordinators’ decisions.
- At AUG, each team is given a list of nominated players at the start of the week (at the captain’s meeting prior to the first day’s play).
- Each team then votes for their preferred candidate.

• Votes are allocated to the preferred candidates, with values from 5 to 1. 5 going to the first choice, 4 to the second, etc.
• Votes are allocated separately for male and female categories.
• Teams cannot vote for their own nominees.
• The Green & Gold Selection committee can also cast votes if they wish to, using the same process as teams.
  

- Votes are to be submitted to the National Universities Coordinator or the Competition Manager by the end of the day on the Thursday of AUG. Votes are then added up and the award is presented at the medal ceremony on the Friday of AUG.