WA Ultimate hosted the 2016 WAFDA Awards Sunday 18th December at the North Fremantle Bowls Club. The Awards ceremony was hosted by the newly appointed Executive Committee; Annie Jessop (President), Rhiannon Coad (Secretary), and Caitlin Bartholomaeus (Treasurer). This year's winners are:

Club of the Year - Esperance Ultimate Club
Coach of the Year – Kyal Oh
Tournament of the Year - Winter Crowns
Administrator of the Year - Kirsten Chick
Team of the Year - UWA Women's Uni Game Team
Outstanding Service Award - Annie Jessop
Female Rookie of the Year – Tessa Poot
Male Rookie of the Year - Brendan Canzirri
Female Youth of the Year - Sage Lovell
Male Youth of the Year - Seth Lovell
Female Player of the Year – Jodie Palmer
Male Player of the Year - Kyal Oh

Club of the Year - Esperance Ultimate Club

Esperance Ultimate Frisbee Club is deserving of the 2016 WAFDA Club of the Year as we have seen massive growth and development of our Club and raised awareness in the wider community. 2016 saw EUFC host our Inaugural Skylab Classic, Esperance's first disc games and Ultimate competition. We hosted WA's first ever KANJAM competition and introduced Esperance to the game of disc golf. This event was a great success and it couldn't have happened without the commitment and tireless work of our committee. Our Club President, Ben, can often be found in the local newspaper promoting this game he is so passionate about and he is a regular on local radio stations. A local community group runs school holiday programs offering free trials of different local sports. Ben and other members of our committee volunteer their time to participate regularly in these programs and spread the love for Ultimate Frisbee. We have also held events at many local community markets and fundraising events to spread the word. We have regular contact with the local school sports teachers and have run skills sessions in some local schools. Our website is in great condition, with the addition of our online store recently streamlining our registration process and providing a channel for communication with members and anyone interested in finding out more. Our Facebook page is a hive of activity, keeping Club members and the community up to speed with events and developments at our Club. Our Club is extremely inclusive and caters for all skill levels. We sent two teams to represent EUFC at the Moovin the Groove comp and won the Spirit Team award. We also had a team at the Phoenix has Risen comp and again won the Spirit of the Game award. We are proud of our Club culture and the way we promote our game to others. Ultimate Frisbee was recognised at the local Sports Star of the Year awards recently, with our Club President Ben receiving an award in recognition of his service to the sport. He was invited to speak at the event and while talking up the sport he also managed to actually throw some discs inside the Function Hall.

Coach of the Year - Kyal Oh

Kyal is a passionate and energetic coach. His exceptional leadership skills on and off the field and his ability to provide an approachable environment for all he works with is commendable. Always open to feedback from his players, assistant coaches and head coaches, Kyal constantly works hard to become a better coach. His enthusiasm and willingness to always excel and develop his coaching skills further is inspirational to all who work with him. In the past year Kyal has coached across various levels, his unique skill set allowed him to adapt to any level of play and to work with both genders in the area of player and team development.
Kyal has committed countless hours of his time to attend training sessions, organise games, develop his players and create personal bonds and team's cohesiveness. He possesses excellent interpersonal and communication skills. This is consistently highlighted throughout his volunteer coaching roles, whilst working full time. His coaching experience is vast in the seven years he has been involved in the sport.
In the year 2016 alone Kyal coached with four different teams at various levels as a coach:

• Sisko Ultimate Club - Australian Ultimate Championships, Ballarat 10th place.
• UWA Ultimate Club - Men's Team - 2016 Australian University Games, 4th place.
• West Australian U-22 Men’s Team, 2016 Australian Under-22 Ultimate Championships, 3rd place.
• Australian Under-20 Boys Team, 2016 World Junior Ultimate Championships, Spirit of the Game winners; 16th place.

Kyal has an outstanding ability to plan training content, set and track goals, plan and run drills, appropriate procedures to injury management and fitness aspects, efficient communication to players and support staff and can dedicate the time necessary to research and analyze styles and tactics of opponents in order to provide direction to the teams leadership groups.
Kyal has gained wide ranging experience, developing his knowledge and coaching skills in a unique way, giving him the ability to successfully engage with a diverse range of athletes and age groups, a well-deserved winner of the WAFDA Coach of the Year.

Tournament of the Year - Winter Crowns

This tournament has steadily increased in player numbers with the 2016 version being the largest so far with 45 participants. This is largely due to the fact the players always have a good time. This is partly due to the social nature of the tournament and the structure of a king and queen hat tournament where teams change every round which allows someone to play on the same team with most of the participants. This tournament has been a good way to introduce newer players to a weekend tournament and allows them to engage with the wider ultimate community. The Murdoch sports oval provide great facilities for an ultimate event. The fields were in great shape and with new toilets and change rooms and a watercooler all needs were covered. With most of the tournaments being held north of the river Winter Crowns being based at Murdoch provided a nice change for the southern residents with a couple even coming up from Bunbury just to attend. Lots of bananas, mandarins and lollies were provided to keep sugar levels up as lunch was provided at the end of play to allow players to stuff their faces with the awesome burgers that were cooked up. The low cost at $25 was seen as a reason for the increased participation of the tournament. All the relevant information was sent out on both Facebook and by email to make sure everyone received the correct information. Registration was simple as everyone signed up as an individual and paid cash, no problems were encountered. Perfect weather for playing Ultimate was organised much to the pleasure of everyone. A non-playing tournament director allowed for prompt response to any issues that arose during the day.

Administrator of the Year - Kirsten Chick

• ensuring that everything is organised for events and tournaments for Sisko and they ran smoothly
• promptly replied to issues raised for Div 1 and 2 for sisko
• promoted sisko to assist the development of women's ultimate in Perth
• continually committed self to volunteering her time to ultimate (UWA, Sisko, U22, U18 etc)
• recognised at Div 2 nationals for her committment to helping WA be represented at Div 2
• organising pretty much all of div 2 national for sisko
• making sure Sisko exec committee runs smoothly
• volunteering to be events coordinator and making sure everything is completed on time and events ran smoothly

Team of the Year - UWA Women's Team

The UWA Women's club began their season with open training's and tryouts in April. Stemming from UWA's social competition of over 30 teams, these training's and tryouts were a huge success with 27 girls  vying for positions on the WUG and AUGs team. The UWA Ultimate club was pleased to be able to provide a highly knowledgeable and experienced coach - Annie Jessop- to lead the team. Upon the announcement of the three teams, the UWA Ultimate club with the help of the appointed coaches, organised and ran training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday nights. These training catered for all skills levels - from players who had only played social, to worlds level players, each week saw a large turnout of girls and huge amounts of growth and development within the team. In the lead up to unigames the team fostered team spirit and identity through participating in many external competitions including Perth single gender league and the UWA Open. Testament to the hard work and passion of both the players and coaches, as well as the organisational skills and dedication of the committee, the UWA women's team has seen great success this year both on a team and individual level. The team went undefeated at AUGs, coming home with a gold medal and 3 of the girls also received green and gold awards. Further, testament to the development of all players, 8 of the 15 eligible girls were selected to represent WA at an U22 level.

Outstanding Service Award - Annie Jessop

• Commitment to developing womens ultimate through Sisko;
• Commitment to WAFDA with ensuring the smooth running of various events/tournaments (i.e. PUL);
• Always plays and encourages good spirit when playing and on the sideline;
• Encourages new players to come down and join in regardless of their ability;
• Continual recruiting to develop both Ultimate and women's ultimate through Sisko;
• Ensures communication with all people on a one on one level is appropriate and encourages them to grow;
• Coached UWA for uni games as well as developed Sisko and continued to volunteer for WAFDA

Female Rookie - Tessa Poot

Tessa did so well in her first year of playing. She is a quick learner, good listener and great on field performer.  Able to inject new ideas for the team and all times a true team player. Prior to 2016, Tessa had played unigames level but never nationals She originally missed out on selection in the team but her consistent commitment to attending training and fitness with the training squad and the significant improvement in skills over that time prompted selectors to offer her a place in the Div 1 nationals team less than 2 months from the tournament. Tessa was an integral member of the team that travelled to Ballarat. Many experienced players agree that her energy and positivity was a contributor to the shift in club culture that occurred over last season. In November she was also part of the inaugural U22 WA Women's Team that placed 4th in Geelong.

Male Rookie - Brendon Canzirri

Brendon began playing Ultimate in September 2015 with Curtin Ultimate Club. His first tournament was the 2015 Australian University Games (AUG) with Curtin University. Since his introduction to the game he has competed at numerous levels including:

• 2015 Australian University Games, Cutrin University
• 2016 Sydney-Melbourne Open, Sublime
• 2016 Western Regionals, Sublime
• 2016 Kaimana Klassik (Hawaii), Sublime
• 2016 Australian Ultimate Championships, Sublime
• 2016 Australian University Games, Cutrin University
• 2016 Australian Under-22 Ultimate Championships, Western Australia

Brendon has also participated in multiple Perth tournaments and Perth Ultimate Leagues throughout the 2015-16 Year. His athleticism sets him above many players and his passion toward hard work is inspiring. He is always motivating his team mates to improve and work hard around him, setting a great example of sportsman ship and spirit of the game. Brendon was appointed as the spirit captain of the inaugural U22 West Australian Men’s team; he also held this role with Curtin University and ensures the role is upheld with integrity. His willingness to learn has helped him excel to the level that he plays at, as others often forget him as a first year player, a well-deserved winner of the 2016 Male Rookie of the Year.

Female Youth - Sage Lovell

• Sage is a current member of the Broome Ultimate Club
• She has excelled on the field in a range of tournaments.
• Locally she played in the Broome Hat (June 2016), and the Kimberly Cup (July 2016) on her school team.
• She represented WA at Youth Nationals (June 2016) where she was named on the 2016 green and gold team.
• She played on a youth team at WA State titles.
• Sage was selected to play on Terra at the Under 20 World Championships in Poland.
• She played on the mixed team for the Under 22 Nationals, and was awarded the Female MVP for the tournament.

Sage is still very young and it is impressive how well she plays against much older opponents. Sage is an excellent team player and fosters spirit of the game by always being open to new learning. She has become more familiar with the rules of the game, and demonstrates her knowledge on the field. While Sage has not had an official leadership position, she is a natural leader among her peers. She has a positive attitude on and off the field, which is a benefit to any team she is on.

Male Youth - Seth Lovell

Seth is deserving of this award due to his attitude and commitment both on and off the field. He has competed at a high level for his age, listed below. Although he did receive this award last year, he has continued to grow in the past
12 months also. He has also been involved in coaching for his local club Broome Ultimate; and coaching his school team. He is a positive member of any team and is very happy to learn and takes on advice when given. He has also been helpful in assisting organisers at tournaments he has attended, such as states titles. Achievements:

• Competing in the Cable Beach Hat (July)
• Coaching and playing and the Kimberly Cup (School competition - July)
• Competing at the Phoenix has Risen, and was awarded the Male MVP Played for WA at the under 18
• Nationals and was named on the Green and Gold team for 2016
• Played on Thunder at the Under 20 worlds in Poland.
• Played in the under 22 Nationals men's team (bronze medal).

Female Player of the Year - Jodie Palmer

Since moving to Perth at the start of 2016 Jodie has made her mark on the Perth Ultimate Scene. Jodie's notable playing achievements in 2016 include:

• Selected to represent Firetails at WUGC
• Selected in Sisko Divsion 1 team
• Selected (and captained) UWA Womens team (who were undefeated)
• Green and gold recipient

Male Player of the Year - Kyal Oh

Kyal has been playing Ultimate since 2009. After his first Australian nationals’ season in 2012 with Sublime Ultimate Club, he has excelled within the sport and is a leader within the Perth ultimate community. In addition to his amazing contribution as a coach over the past year, Kyal has also dominated on the field as a player.

2015 Australian Mixed Ultimate Championships (AMUC): Kyal was an integral player on the team Word Art who competed at the 2015 AMUC finishing in 11 th place. His on-field contribution did not go un-noticed as he was awarded the male MVP award for the tournament.

2015 Asia Oceanic Championships (AOUC): Kyal was one of only a few Perth players named to Represent Australia at the 2015 AOUC in Hong Kong and the only Perth player on the Open team, who took home a silver medal from the championships.

2016 Australian Ultimate Championships (AUC): Kyal co-captained Sublime Ultimate’s AUC team. Kyal was named equal runner up as MVP for Sublime, as voted by his peers at their annual awards, after taking out the title in 2014 and 2015.

2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championships (WUGC): Kyal was selected to represent Australia in the senior mixed team, the Barramundis, who competed in London at the WUGC. This team played exceptionally well and Kyal’s hard work paid off bringing home a silver medal from the world championships.

2016 Australian Mixed Ultimate Championships (AMUC): As no team from Western Australia competed at this event, Kyal was welcomed as a valued player on a Sydney based team, None. This team placed 4th in Spirit of the Game and in 7th place overall.

Perth Ultimate League (PUL): Kyal assists many teams in the Perth Ultimate League always on hand to lend his skills and help teams improve however he can. The past year has seen Kyal be a part of 3 league winning teams, including a Spirit winning team across both A and B divisions. Kyal has also picked up two PUL MVP awards in 2015.

Kyal plays with passion and integrity at all times, who is exciting to watch. Treating himself like a true athlete, he is always motivating his team mates to improve and work hard around him. As a leader, coach and an athlete, Kyal strives to lead by example at all times on and off the pitch.