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FOR THE 2017-2018 SEASON, VC WILL OFFER ALL WOMEN'S COLLEGE TEAMS A 20% NO-OBLIGATIONS SPONSORSHIP DISCOUNT ON THEIR TEAM UNIFORM ORDERS, WORLD-WIDE.  If your team has a coach, VC will also offset a small part of that investment for you and add a no-charge coach jersey to your order. What's more, if you're an open or mixed team actively working towards promoting equity at your school and in your community, we want to hear about what you're doing and help share your success. You will also be eligible to receive a Women's Development Sponsorship if your actions are tangibly making a difference in the support of female athletes in your area. HOW DOES IT WORK? It's really quite simple. We'll ask you to tell us a bit about your team in this form and we'll be in touch to follow up within 1-2 business days. You can also drop us a line any time to get more information. Here is our contact info. A 20% discount will be added to any estimates we send you for your team uniforms and we'll walk you through the order process from start to finish. Other benefits: Free professional design help (up to 3 hours per team) if you submit your requests by December 1st. Individual team and player direct online ordering - check out our current system here, with a new and improved version launching by the end of August 2017! That's it, unless you want more... WHAT MORE CAN VC DO FOR YOUR TEAM? We are committed to working every day to be the best we can be, and that includes supporting the initiatives and values of our community. Some examples of what else we can do are: Promote your team and its initiatives via our wide-reaching social media channels Share your success stories and the successes of other teams to help learn from each other and inspire our community Offer your team Discs for Development, which allows us to offer Discraft practice discs for as low as US$5.50 / CA$6.91 per disc Most importantly, we'll continue to stand up and speak out for what's right and do our best to support and promote equity in ultimate through our actions, investments and our partnerships. HERE'S THAT "APPLICATION" FORM AGAIN, OR DROP US A LINE TO HEAR MORE AT INFO@VCULTIMATE.COM - THANK YOU!

A group of old GOAT players and friends-of-the-herd were surprised this Thanksgiving with a sweet note from the designer behind the mysterious GOAT team mascot, Pary Bell. VC caught up with Pary to hear the story behind one of ultimate's most recognizable logos. VC: The team name GOAT has always has some mystery around it. Greatest Of All Time, Greater Ottawa And Toronto… are you able to actually enlighten us to the meaning of “GOAT”? Pary Bell: It is not for me to reveal the secrets to how the small group of 5 of us (me, John “Boogs” Hollins, Andrew Edgell, Geoff Simonet, and Andrew Ochterlony) who formed the team came to name the team GOAT, but I will say it was not my favorite name for the team... but I was committed to work with it! So the mystery continues!!! VC: What was the original inspiration for the logo? Was it intended to throw non-team members off the scent of the real meaning of the team name? PB: Once we decided on the team name, I started noodling ideas around how to create a fun logo would capture the commitment we all made to the team while also highlighted the playfulness we all had back then. I quite loved the Furious George logo and the Sockeye logo at the time and wanted to give us a similar character to the name of the team.VC: What impression did you want to logo to give off? The eyebrows are furrowed in a way that makes the goat look fierce, but there’s also a playfulness in the final version of the logo.  PB: You are bang on here – I wanted to show that we were going to be a team to be reckoned with (which was a prophecy that came to be) but that we were also prone to have a lot of fun and did not take ourselves too seriously. You can see in some of my sketches that I was really trying to balance off both elements and I think I accomplished it in the final version. VC: We found some pretty epic old school GOAT team jersey designs, dating back to the camo sublimated side panels from 2005. Actually, GOAT can be credited with the first sublimated big wrap-around side logo in 2009 or 2010, or maybe even earlier? That jersey was an iconic one for VC and ultimate in general – everybody wanted a side print logo for years… so much so that we actually changed our jersey pattern to be only one side panel to allow for it. PB: How cool is it that your design helped create a far reaching trend in ultimate jersey designs? First off – I LOVED my camo jerseys. They were awesome. I would step further back and mention our powder blue jerseys that we won our first National Championship in. It is when we began to challenge the status quo. The camo ones followed that followed by the innovation with the big wrap, but it all started with the desire to be different A revolution in ultimate jersey design... the side logo hits ultimate fields everywhere... The artist behind GOAT's big side logo design was VC's good friend, Anatoly "Told" Vasilyev. "I'm not 100% how exactly I came up with the idea of the wrap around logo," Toly says when we asked him about his inspiration. "I think my thinking process started after attending my first Nationals in Sarasota. I was like a kid at a toy store, walking around those huge polo fields surrounded by some of the best ultimate the world had to offer. But the frustrating part was that you couldn't tell what teams were playing where. Everybody had the same type of jerseys with small logos or teamnames and black shorts. None of the teams stood out using creative design, colors, fit or whatever. I love GOAT logo, which in my opinion reflects well the team personality and i thought it would be a great idea to make it more visible & recognisable. Even though I believe now it's been overused, but back then we set a really cool trend that looked good on so many other teams for years!" VC: Do you know if this goat likes monkeys? PB: I can say that the original group that formed GOAT was inspired what they had done on the west coast, and we set forth a roadmap to get Ultimate in the East to be just as competitive or more. This was why the formation of Grand Trunk and ROY were so important in our early days. We would not spank the Monkey in the first year, but we believed we had a plan that would get us there. And you know how things rolled out! Support The Herd by sporting GOAT gear, available in the VC online store here.

The following post has been written by VC's CEO Adriana Withers. I recently saw a clip of Billie Jean King being interviewed by Seth Meyers talking about the movie Battle of the Sexes, which tells the story of the 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. When asked about the match, King says it was all about social change and recalls being 12 years old at a tennis club surrounded by everything white - including all the players. She asked herself, "Where's everybody else?" I couldn't agree more with Billie Jean King in this interview. This idea of sport, one of the most joyous and potentially empowering activities, being passively (and actively) exclusive to many people is the drive behind all of VC's equity efforts. The VC team is looking forward to working more on projects like Discs for Development with Discraft and the Face of Ultimate campaign with the World Flying Disc Federation. The goals are to get more discs out to as many development programs around the world and to show all potential players that they can be, and are, the face of ultimate. As members of the ultimate community, we need to be thinking, talking about and working on supporting the inclusion of all in our sport. Sport does make a difference in people's lives - through health, community and values. Thank you to all that are making a change with their efforts in this area - please be in touch; we're here to help.   "It's all about social change. Trying to fight for equality and freedom for everyone." - Billie Jean King *** VC & WFDF Partnership: The Face of Ultimate & VC Ultimate Company Values Statement The World Flying Disc Federation is the international governing body for flying disc sports, with responsibility for sanctioning world championship events, establishing uniform rules, setting of standards for and recording of world records. VC is the Official Apparel Partner of WFDF. As our sport matures past the stage of “what is ultimate” around the world, thanks in large part to the amazing accomplishment of WFDF securing recognition from the International Olympic Committee, we are now faced with the question of “who is ultimate”? Ultimate can be everyone, and it’s important that the international governing body promotes that in every way it can. VC wants to be your partner in this mission. To us, this includes showcasing both male and female players from around the world, of all ethnic and religious backgrounds, competing and playing our sport respectfully against one another. To us, this embraces a commitment to having all advertising materials representing players from all continents equally. To us, this means proactively ensuring that on-and-off-field footage from events includes a diverse make up of players and is equitably split between the divisions. To us, this means that no person around the world should think that he or she doesn’t look like an ultimate player. To us, this is the embodiment of Spirt of the Game and it’s what makes our sport so uniquely special and important to grow throughout the world.​

Our good friends at Without Limits Ultimate hosted the 8th year of Fusion this past weekend at the Smith River Sports Complex in Martinsville, VA. At Fusion, East Cost club players are brought in to run FREE skills clinics - this event is a fantastic opportunity for college teams to kick off their fall season. Tournament Director Kyra Catabay shares her thoughts on the event. This past weekend, we kicked off the women’s 2017-2018 college season at Virginia Fusion. Although a deer took out my driver side mirror, I would still call it a success for the first tournament of the season. For the past 8 years, Without Limits has hosted skills clinics after pool play games on Saturday. It was an honor to continue this tradition with over 100 players — many of them brand new to ultimate. Thank you to our clinic coaches from Phoenix, Backhanded, and NC Warhawks for making this possible! One of the highlights of my weekend was listening to a player explain to her teammate the meaning and story behind the “Nevertheless she persisted” quote that was printed on our new Without Limits jerseys. It’s a reminder that we will be told to sit down and be quiet. And it’s the strength to keep going. Thank you to all of our attendees for making Fusion possible. We hope to see you in the future! Contact Without Limits for more information on their events and programming. Women’s Ultimate.  Community.  Competition.  Empowerment.

VC is proud to sponsor GOAT, an elite touring team from Toronto and our longest standing partner squad. More GOAT players than we could count have helped us grow as VC team members, design strategists, product developers and general all-around supporters. After bringing home gold - and the Open Spirit award! - at the 2017 Canadian Ultimate Championships in Ottawa this summer, The Herd updates us on their season. GOAT celebrating their win at CUC!Photo courtesy of Ultimate Canada 2017 has been a strong year for Toronto men's Ultimate. The Toronto contingent representing our country at the World Games in Poland was instrumental in earning a bronze medal for Team Canada. GOAT took home a national title at CUCs in Ottawa. The Toronto Rush came within one point of an AUDL championship against the Bay Area juggernaut San Francisco Flamethrowers, defeating last year's champions along the way. And now GOAT is poised to carry that momentum into the USAU fall series and prove that last year's stumble was an exception, not the rule. That said, the road to glory is treacherous, and there are a few key members of the herd that won't be making the journey down to the green pastures of Sarasota: Scott "SHooter" HastieSam PaivaGreg EllisMichael JonesGord Harrison ... Did we miss anyone? Nah, that sounds right... ;) In any case, after their 12th(13th?) straight sectional championship victory in the Upstate NY Section, GOAT is looking to take the Northeast Region title back from perennial powerhouse Ironside, as well as assert their dominance over regional rivals PoNY and Dig. With the influx of some premier young talent like Victoria, B.C.'s Ben Burelle, Ottawa, ON's Kinley Gee, and homegrown stars Michael Mackenzie, Bretton Tan, and Jason Huynh, GOAT has found an energetic compliment to their established veteran core and is looking stronger than ever. Check out @ultiworldlive on twitter for scores and updates on the weekend of September 23/24 to track GOAT's progress and cheer them on their road to the 'ship! Follow The Herd online:TwitterFacebookWebsite A special shout-out to recently retired Coach SHooter. We couldn't be prouder to have had Scott "SHooter" Hastie in VC gear on so many occasions - from GOAT to Team Canada(s!). Congratulations, SHooter, on an epic career and best of luck on all that's to come. #Youdabes Read GOAT's heartfelt tribute here.

VC is proud to sponsor the 6ixers from the 6. (“The 6” refers to the city of Toronto. In honour of the city’s main area codes: 416 and 647). The Toronto 6ixers are your Canadian Ultimate Women's Division Champions! After a hard fought 4 days playing against the country's most talented women, the 6ixers cemented their place atop the podium with a 15-13 finish over Vancouver powerhouse Traffic. While this was their first ever CUC appearance, the 6ixers performed like veterans. For the 6ixers the final was defined by clinical, gunslinging offense and grinding man defense. It was the perfect ending to a golden weekend. Good luck to the 6ixers on their upcoming run at the USAU series! The following is a post from the team's players, Jordon Meron. Follow the 6ixers on facebook here. We are your Canadian Ultimate Women's Division Champs! Wow. I am still smiling about that game, and I'm so proud to have been a part of it. Early on this season we knew we had the tangibles - experience, speed, talent, but this past weekend we showed we had resiliency and grit, and that's what I am most excited about. With the USAU series looming ahead, this CUC victory will give us the fuel that we need to continue to push. Congratulations to all the amazing athletes involved in CUC's, and especially the women's final which was chalk full of talent, awesome plays, and tenacity.  We can't wait for the next chance to play on Canadian soil! - Jordo   Thanks to the 6ixers from these awesome photos by Noah Markus Photography!