Player Spotlight: Sylvia

Sylvia (holding the disc)

Name:	Sylvia
Age:	15
From:	Rorotan, Jakarta
School:	SMK Harapan I, Class 1AK
Hobbies:	Shopping, basketball.
Impressions of ultimate:	Fun, and look forward to playing next time.
Frisbee experience:	Seen them before, but never thrown one.

Player Spotlight: Siti

Dave, Siti and John

Name:	Siti Suaebah
Age:	17
From:	Buaran Indah, Jakarta
School:	will fill in soon, Class 3K SMK
Hobbies:	Listening to music
Impressions of ultimate:	Fun, but tiring.
Frisbee experience:	Had never seen one before today.

School Visits Saturday December 16, 2006

This week we visited two SMKs (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan - Technical High School). SMK teach management, accounting and other general business skills. Interestingly, these schools are attended almost exclusively by girls. There were allegedly 4 boys at the first school, and only one at the second.

The first school (the name of which I will insert into this article very soon) was a little further out of Jakarta than those we had visited before and the majority of the girls were wearing jilbabs (head-scarves) so we weren't sure how sport lessons with big sweaty white men would go down (Liz being the notable exception). It soon became obvious that there was no need to worry and we played for a good half-hour with well over 100 spectators cheering the players on.

Soon enough it was time to head back to our old favourite Sekolah Harapan I to teach their SMK students a thing or two about ultimate. This was the first school we had been to with a female sports teacher and it really seemed to make a difference in how easy it was to get the girls to take the first step out on to the field.

For more photos, see below:

Photos: John and Howie.

Pick-Up December 10

Had another good turn-out this week, though there was only one kid I recognised from SMU Harapan I (Sukri, see below for his profile).

They were running a four-corners (throwing and cutting) drill when we turned up at 5pm. We joined in with them for a while, then set up two fields and had a game of 7 on 7 and a smaller game of 4 on 4 until we ran out of daylight. The kids were doing very well, but it's definitely time to start getting some discipline on defense and teach them to force properly.

Thanks to Howie, Manoah (on 2 hours of sleep) and Bhavna for coming out and playing.

More photos below:

Little Manoah, all tuckered out.

SMU Harapan I visit

On Saturday Manoah, Ardy and I made our way back to Sekolah Harapan I to see the Senior High School (SMU) kids. The older kids were substantially better behaved than their younger brothers and sisters, but were actually a little harder to get out on to the field. Teenagers...

Once we got them out on the field we had a good game although it was rather male dominated, having the feminine touch of Liz last week made a big difference. So much so, that in fact the SMP girls from last week hung around until the end of the game with the older kids to have another game. Melinda was nowhere to be seen though...

Tomorrow will be our last visit to Sekolah Harapan I to teach their technical school students. We'll be leaving from Taman Rasuna at 1pm for all those who couldn't handle the 9am starts from previous weeks.

See you there.

For more photos, see below:

Photos by John and Manoah.

Player Spotlight: Sukri

Manoah, Sukri and Ardy

Name:	Sukri
Age:	16
From:	Kampung Jembatan, Jakarta
School:	SMU Harapan I, Class III SMU
Impressions of ultimate:	I am happy to play, it's good to not be left behind and to know about sports that are popular in other countries.
Frisbee experience:	Never thrown one, but seen it played on the beach.

Thanks for the discs

Thanks a lot to all of those who attended Worlds in Perth and the Manila Spirits and sent some discs flying our way. The kids really appreciate them. Also, thanks to Boom, Manoah and Liz for collecting discs for us. PS: Sorry about the crappy video quality...

The Inaugural Lapangan Prumnas Klender Weekly Pick-Up Game

We had our first of what will hopefully turn out to be many pick-up games on Sunday afternoon, and it was absolutely heartwarmingly fantastic. Unfortunately the time slot clashes with Discindo training in Senayan so I was almost 3 hours late. Apparently around 10 kids from the school we visited the previous day (see below) had gone home just before I arrived, but there were still around 25 kids there throwing discs around. Most of the leftovers were from Kampung Melayu (aka Jakarta's frisbee heartland) but there were still around 7 from the general neighbourhood.

We had a few games, one with some of the older kids, and one with the younger ones. Play is getting quite fluid with the older kids; they seem to have picked up the give-and-go instinctively and the flow is good. Defence is still somewhat erratic, but the stacks are normally so disorganised that it doesn't really matter too much. That will be the first lesson next week.

In terms of management issues, Ardy did a spectacular job of keeping the whole show running with help from some of the Kampung Melayu students. I am starting to think that we should give him a raise, considering the time he puts in every week what a good job he's doing and lots of other reasons that I will detail in a separate post.

The kids did a great job keeping track of our stock of donated discs (Thanks to Manoah, Liz and Boom for collecting them, and everyone at Worlds and the Manila Spirits who donated them) and we only lost one disc. That loss was to the 6 year old son of the caretaker of the stadium showed such promise and enthusiasm that the KFJ committee unanimously decided to give him one on the proviso that he keep coming to training (not hard since he lives there).

The one downer, well, not so much a downer as something to improve on next week, was that there was only one girl there. Desti from Kampung Melayu (who also took some of the photos you'll see below) is a great handler and does a great job on the field, but I'm sure it's hard as the only one. I'm hoping we'll see some more next week.

I asked the kids as we were packing up what they thought of the field and the day's play. The time is a bit of an issue, they'd much prefer to play in the morning, but when I asked them if they wanted to get the same slot next week the answer was an emphatic (and shouted) yes.

If anyone wants to come and teach (or learn) next week, then drop us a line below and we'll work something out. Also, if anyone who has a decent camera (still or video) wants to come it would be much appreciated.

For more photos see below:

Quite possibly the greatest 6 year old ultimate player in Indonesia (That's right Ascher and Sam you've got some competition)

Some of the older kids taking a breather while the younger kids make the most of the remaining daylight.

Me about to sky a bunch of 12 year olds. Rock!

Photos by Desti and John

Player Spotlight: Melinda

Melinda was far and away the best player we saw at SMP Harapan I. She wasn't much for talking and seemed a little embarrassed when I interviewed her and took her photo, but on the field she cut into space like a pro and did a great job coordinating her classmates (including the boys) on the field.

Name: Melinda
Age: 14
From: Walikota, Jakarta
School: Sekolah Harapan I
Class: Kelas II SMP
Hobbies: Basketball
Impressions about ultimate: "Enak-enak" (Fun)
How long have you been playing ultimate: First time.

SMP Harapan I Visit

We had a very productive visit to SMP Harapan I on Saturday morning. Ardy and I were joined by Indonesia's very own World Champion mixed ultimate player Liz. Having a woman come along made a huge difference to how outgoing the female students were; in fact, we had a few points at the end with only girls because they all wanted to have a go.

You may note from the photo above that the name of the school is actually SMP SMA SMEA Harapan I. Due to space requirements, apparently this school runs in shifts and is a junior high school (Sekolah Menengah Pertama - SMP), senior high school (Sekolah Menengah Atas), and a technical high school (Sekolah Menengah E-something Atas). We may well visit this school again next week to show the SMA students what their little brothers and sister are talking about.

For more photos, see below: