Bears Outdoor Beginners

Not actually a picture from BOB, but it is a picture of freshers playing on Varsity Pitches. Close enough.

Bears Outdoor Beginners, also known as Bears Open Outdoor Beginners by some, is one of the best ways to give your beginners some outdoor Ultimate experience while the UK weather still allows for it. The tournament follows outdoor rules but is five a side with reduced sized pitches.

BOB is of open beginners format but we encourage teams to bring both male and female players and to try to match players on the field where possible. This tournament is a bit later in term than traditional Uni beginners’ tournaments, and we will also be allowing two experienced players on the line (though encourage giving beginners as much pitch time as possible) – this is to combat the additional challenges posed by wet and windy outdoors in Autumn.

This page has all the information you might need as a team taking part in BOB. If you’re looking for something that isn’t explained here, make sure you check your captain’s pack once they have been sent out. If it still isn’t there, feel free to contact us at bearsfrisbee@gmail.com.

2017

Date & Venue

The 2017 tournament will be a 16 team tournament taking place on the 4th November 2017 (Saturday), from 9am to 4:30pm on Varsity Pitches at the University of Warwick. Due to the later date, all players will also need basic UKU membership. All players will need studded boots.

The pitches likely won’t show up on your GPS of choice, they are located opposite Varsity Pub, so try using the following details instead:

Varsity
Gibbett Hill Road
Coventry
West Midlands
CV4 7AJ

Alternatively, just enter the coordinates 52.38392, -1.567494 into your favourite mapping application.

Parking in front of the pub isn’t free, so we recommend parking your cars (or other modes of transport, we don’t judge) at the Car Park indicated on the map below (behind Varsity).

If you need to use the toiletsshowers, or changing rooms, we recommend using those in the Westwood Sports Centre. You can also use Varsity’s facilities, but please take your boots off and make sure you don’t bring any mud into the pub or they’ll hate us for ever. And we don’t want that because we go there for a meal after every training.

If you need to buy food at any point in the day, we recommend either Rootes Grocery Store (in central Warwick University Campus, very charming but somewhat expensive – about a 10 minute walk each way) or the Cannon Park Shopping Centre which contains a Tesco as well as a number of food outlets (about a 20 minute walk each way so only really do able if you have two games off unless you drive there). Cannon Park also contains a Sports Direct if you desperately need any sports equipment. These are also the two places where you can find free cash machines/ATMs if you need access to some of that cheeky moolah at any point in the day, there is also one within Varsity Pub but it will charge you.

Varsity Pub is also an excellent place to have a post-tournament meal and we will definitely be heading there with our beginners, if you’d like to join us let us know and we will book a table for you!

Beautiful map

Click to enlarge.

Schedule & Spirit

A link to the schedule is here. A hooter will be going off at the start of each game, and also at hard cap – in case we get delayed in our timings for any reason, trust the hooter not the schedule.

Spirit scores will be submitted using an online form which will be linked here, please try and use your phones but if this is a problem, ask the TD for help. If you’re lucky, the pub opposite have free WiFi which may be reachable from the pitch. We will be including ‘use of experienced players’ as an example under the fairmindedness category.

Rules & Format

We will playing using outdoor rules but on reduced 5-aside sized pitches. Games will be 25 minutes. We will be playing with soft and hard caps, more details will be on the schedule.

Experienced players (6+ months of playing) are encouraged to accompany their beginner’s teams, however a maximum of 2 are allowed on the pitch per point. You should make these players known to your opponents before starting your game to avoid any confusion. Experienced players may assist, but not score points, and in the case of an experienced player accidentally catching the disc in the end zone, they should take the disc to front of the end zone and resume play from there.

Other Information

Accidents & Emergencies – first aiders will be present on the day, go to them if you need any fixin’. Please try not to die, the University probably wouldn’t let us host another tournament. If needed, the nearest A&E is:

University Hospital Coventry
Clifford Bridge Road
Coventry
Warwickshire
CV2 2DX

Phone number: 024 76964000

Water – We will provide each team with a couple of 5L bottles of water, please collect them when you arrive. We recommend that you come to the tournament with your water bottles pre-filled up, but if you run out of water either ask at the TD desk, or you can ask the staff in Varsity to fill it up for you.

Contact Details

Feel free to contact our TDs at any point with any questions you might have. They’ll be present on the day, and are here to help! They’ll also be taking part in the tournament, so please don’t think they’re ignoring you if they don’t respond immediately.

Will Bolton
07505 014679
bearsfrisbee@gmail.com

 

Ignore those grey clouds in the background. That never happens.

Fun for the whole family!

Wow, this guy better be on the first team by this time next year.

We’re not saying that your freshers are going to be this good, but ours will be. No pressure.