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Gridlock Exceeds Hopes and Expectations

A Traffic Jam in Which No Vehicular Movement is Possible

by Mark Goffi

Gridlock, Atlanta's newest mixed division ultimate team (that's co-ed in non UPA speak) has just completed its first season in existence.  The team's 2001 season was highlighted by qualifying for and attending the UPA Club Championships in Sarasota, Florida.  Gridlock went into the tournament as the 15th seed of 16 teams and finished the tournament two spots higher in 13th place.  We felt like this was an excellent achievement for a team that is, on average, quite young and had only been together for two months.

Gridlock Roots

The idea for Gridlock started during the 2001 Georgia Games.  Talks with several players and posts on the AFDC forum planted the idea that there was enough interest for a second competitive mixed team in Atlanta.  Over the weeks leading up to the summer league EOS tournament talks continued and much e-mail was exchanged.  Flo Pfender, Dan Heacox, and myself were the major contributors to team formation.  We agreed that we wanted to form a team that had a legitimate shot at the UPA championships while also forming a spirited team that enjoyed being together on and off the field was the other major consideration.

Challenge: Available Women

The main barrier to formation was finding enough interested women who were not already playing women's club, college or co-ed with another  team.  Elizabeth Kraft and Rebecca "Bex" Levine moving to Atlanta as well as recruiting Amy Miller and Maria Mandojana from Tennessee turned out to be very important in giving us the numbers we needed for a competitive team.  Shortly after Summer EOS, practices began and Gridlock was born, so named by Dan Heacox.

Sectionals

Our first tournament was East Coast sectionals in Clemson, SC.  Unfortunately, interest in mixed play in our section is not strong yet, something that will hopefully change in the future, as there were only two other mixed teams, Crunch and Y'all, in attendance.  Fortunately, the quality and spirit of both teams were strong.  We played two games to seventeen and came out on top to win our first tournament.

Regionals

The Southern regional tournament in Sarasota, Florida would prove to be a greater challenge.  There were three bids to the UPA championships up for grabs in the mixed division.  We thought going in that we had a shot to win the tournament and take the first seed from our region going into the UPA championships.  Holes and Poles of Baton Rouge and Hangtime of Austin quickly showed us otherwise dealing out crushing defeats on the wind swept polo fields.  We seemed to have a shot on Sunday at second place in a rematch versus Hangtime as we stayed with them in the first half, but they once again proved to be the better team sending us into our third match up of the season, and second of the weekend, with Crunch for third place.  The game was close but we were able to pull away a bit in the end to secure the third spot for the UPA championships. 

UPA Championships

The UPA championships were a great experience for the team and many friendships were built or strengthened during that weekend.  Unfortunately the opposing team quality and the wind were too much for us on Thursday and Friday as we went winless.  Though disheartened on the fields, our after hours activities were undaunted.  Saturday was a much better day as we defeated Fliegenplatte from Michigan and won a rematch against Chaos from Winnipeg to take 13th place [no doubt a result of the previous night's activities].  Gridlock finished the 2001 season with nine wins and eight losses in three tournaments.

2002

The 2002 season has started off well with some roster additions and several interested players.  Practice resumed in early January and was followed by a trip to Tampa for Janus.  The team played well in that tournament going undefeated in pool play and making it to finals before falling to the very talented SOCAGAWI.

Terminus and WUFF Coeds

Gridlock plans to compete at WUFF Coed Nationals in February and Terminus in March.  Other potential tournaments are the Savannah Coed Ultimate affair in April, Poultry Days in June, Ho Down, Throw Down, Show Down in August, Tune Up in September and the UPA Fall series.  This season promises more spirited and competitive ultimate as we try to make a return trip to the UPA championships.

Lisa Marie wins Spirit Award

Gridlock 2001 Roster:  Martin Aguilera, Chuck Alexander, Ryan Balch, Theo Beck, Holly Berman, Adam Boyd, Ned Coker, Mark Goffi, Chris Goodson, Dan Heacox, Elizabeth Kraft, Tatiana Kalb, Bex Levine, Maria Mandojana, Amy Miller, Jen Pennington, Flo Pfender, Matt Trapp, and Lisa Marie Welch (Lisa Marie was the team's 2001 spirit award winner at the UPA Championships).

 View the Gridlock web, courtesy of Ned Coker

Gridlock Fall 2001

 
Feb '02 Articles
Romey's Ramblins
Winter League
Spring League
Public Relations
Holly's Vision
Goaltimate
Ozone
Gridlock
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"Gridlock's 2001 season was highlighted by qualifying for and attending the UPA Championships in Sarasota, "
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"... Gridlock started from the idea that there was enough interest for a second competitive mixed team in Atlanta ."
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"The main barrier to formation was finding enough interested women who were not already playing women's club, college or co-ed."
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"The UPA championships were a great experience for the team and we took 13th place after being seeded 15th"
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"The 2002 season has started off well with some roster additions and several interested players."
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"Lisa Marie was Gridlock's Spirit Award Winner in Sarasota"