News

TJSL Youth Leagues (The FUNdamental program) Ages 8-13

General Information

For the first time ever TUC will be hosting Youth leagues for players 14 years of age and younger.  This program is aimed at providing a fun atmosphere for the younger players to learn and develop the skills necessary to play ultimate, with the emphasis on FUN.  We will have 3 regionalized divisions across the city.

• Summer ultimate for youth aged 9-13.
• Games happen weekly, followed by playoffs at the end of the season.
• No car, no problem! Games are in the same location each week to help facilitate carpooling.
• Youth teams are balanced according to age and skill level.
• Players may request to be placed on the same team as one other player, and TUC will do our best to place them together.
• Our youth league depends on volunteer coaches. If you are interested in volunteering as a Youth Coach, please email juniors@tuc.org.

We did the following Youth Leagues in 2012:

Mondays:
-TJSL Southwest Youths at Buttonwood Park 6:45 PM – Sundown (8:30-9)

Wednesdays:
-TJSL Northeast Youths at Sir John A MacDonald 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM

Sundays:
-TJSL Southeast Youths at Riverdale Park 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM

Date: Starting week of June 18-24 to end of August
Cost: $35/player (jr membership fee)
Restrictions: Age 8-14years old in 2012
Other: Co-ed league, coaches provided
Contact: Ian Brooks juniors;@tuc.org

2012 TJSL Youth Division Recap

This past summer saw the Toronto Ultimate Club run its first ever league geared towards players aged 8-13 year olds, Toronto Juniors Summer League (TJSL) Youth division.  The TJSL Youth division started up with 3 locations located across the city (Southwest at Buttonwood Park, Northeast at Sir John A MacDonald CI and Southeast at Riverdale Park).  This past Sunday, August 26th, Riverdale Park hosted the TJSL Youth division playoffs where participants from our SW and SE youths came together to celebrate youth ultimate in the city. 

Each player participated in both a throwing accuracy and distance competition.  There were two divisions for each discipline, a over grade 6 division and a grade 6 and under one.  Future GOAT hucker, Nicki Gallant, won both the accuracy and distant in the grade 6 and under division.  In the over grade 6 division Torja Istiaque won the accuracy while Umer Zulfigar won the distance.

During the afternoon festivities the kids were also grouped into two teams, the RED team and the BLUE team, and put on a fantastic display of ultimate for parents and spectators.  The game was a back and forth battle where no team went up more than 2 points on the other.  With less than 5 minutes remaining in the game the red team being down by a point quickly scored to tie the game at five each.  “Next point wins” is then announced by one of the coaches.  These were the words that got everyone on the field motivated as both teams played with an energy that could have been compared to that of a GOAT versus Furious George playing universe point for a national championship.

The point went back and forth for around 15 minutes with both teams having ample opportunities to get that final point for the win.  There were hucks, great defense, smooth flow and of course lots of running.  In the end, the red team capitalized on a mid field turnover to quickly move the disc up field and with a 20 yard pass into the endzone to score the championship point.

Congrats to all participants of the TJSL Youth division.  Junior ultimate has come a long way in the city of Toronto and it’s great to see that there is a young generation of players under the age of 14 years old that already have know the basics of the game.  The future of Ultimate in Toronto is looking great and that is all thanks to the great coaches that we’ve been lucky to have volunteer their summer to help out. 

A special thank you goes out to TJSL Youth coaches:   Thomas Meyer, Christopher Bracht, Dilhan Kuru, Marianne Long, Jon Brandt, James Lim, Daryl Newbury, Matt Machina, Sandy Yep, Emma Thompson-Murphy, Sebastien Gest and Chris Kam for their dedication in organizing and developing the future stars of Toronto Ultimate!

For those youth participants interested in continuing in the fall or even if you want to join up as a new player we will be running a Fall League for Youth aged (8-13 years old) players starting from September 21 until November 5 at Riverdale Park from 12 PM to 2 PM. Participation for this league is free but you must be a registered TUC Junior Member ($35).

2012 TJSL YOUTH PHOTOS
-courtesy of Ian Brooks

This Thursday August 30th sees the TJSL Teen division finals that will be taking place at Downsview Park from 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM. Come check out as the 5 divisions from across the city come together to battle it out to be the 2012 TUC Junior Summer league champion.