Why LA Throwback?

2019 Edition

The LA Throwback Beach Ultimate Fest is back for seconds. Our maiden voyage happened in 2018. The feedback we got was great, and players said they wanted us to do it again, so we are.

When we first launched LA Throwback, the obvious question was, “Why,” given the existence of an incumbent tournament – Lei-out – held the very same weekend. We answered that question in our open letter announcing the event.  This year, a lot has changed. But the question “Why Throwback” remains, though the answer has evolved.

When we created Throwback we articulated the principles that would guide our effort, emphasizing service, community and transparency.

The transparency referred to our promise to publish our budget numbers so that the community could see how and where the money was spent. We feel that this is a critical principle – one we hope the community will come to expect of all events – to insure that the interests of organizers and participants remain aligned as the amount of money involved grows.

Service referred to our commitment to providing a top-notch experience for all participants. This included a commitment to adequately staffing the event – field staff, medical staff, and party staff – and to paying those who did the work rather than relying on volunteers, to ensure a smooth and responsive event. Thanks to our 2018 fiscal sponsor, the ABUA, service also meant not just uniformly sized fields, but lined fields for all games in all divisions.

The commitment to community was based on our recognition that the growth of ultimate is due to the time, effort, and passion of lots and lots of people, not least all the team captains out there who are the core organizers of the sport. We want to involve as much of the local community in putting on Throwback as possible, to use the funds raised to support the growth of ultimate in the area, and to foster a connection between our local teams and those visiting So. Cal. for the weekend. We have the great gift of wonderful beaches that the city of Santa Monica makes available for public use for a pittance (less than $1K for two miles of beach for two days), and we feel that the benefits of that great resource should be shared as broadly as possible.

It is in this area that we look forward to making big strides in this, our second year.  This year, we have invited a number of local area teams to join us in hosting the event, with an emphasis on new, young and developing teams. We have asked each of these teams to host a division (or in the case of our largest division – Festive – a bracket) of 20 teams. In addition to paying the individual players who will be doing the work ($250 per person for the two days of the tourney), we will make a donation to the team (we are budgeting $650 per team this year) to support their activities during the year. We’re also asking our sponsorship partners to help out with team needs as well. We hope that helping to put on Throwback will become an annual tradition with these teams, and that they’ll put a lot of care and heart into making sure that the teams they are hosting have a great time while here. We also expect that running each of our divisions will give young players experience as tourney organizers that they will carry forward in their ultimate careers.

This year we’re delighted to have the following teams participating as hosting teams: Spoiler Alert, a new mixed club team; USC Lockdown, the men’s ultimate team at USC; RipTide, a high school team from Santa Monica organized by longtime So. Cal. ultimate player Charlie Mullin; and a new team just forming this year at Loyola Marymount University being led by Luke Hart-Moynihan with an assist from the great Dr. Dan Hyslop.  The women’s ultimate team at Occidental College will be hosting our LA Throwback Early Bird tournament, to be held on Jan. 12th-13, 2019. And once again, the women of UCLA ultimate (BLU and Midas) will be organizing and hosting the Throwback party on both weekends.

As Throwback grows in the future, we hope to add opportunities for other teams to join us in hosting, so that no matter how large the event becomes, it will retain a high level of service along with a strong sense of appreciation and connection between the hosts and our friends from around the country and around the world.

In addition to involving a number of local teams in the hosting of the event, we are also using the event to raise money for an Ultimate Community Support Fund. Last year we attempted to raise money for such a fund solely via appeals for donations, but the total amount raised was modest (about $1K). A quarter went to support women’s ultimate at UCLA, with the remainder going to support after school youth coaching efforts developed by Southern California Youth Ultimate (SCYU). This year, we are planning to use some of the proceeds from entry fees to fund the Ultimate Community Support Fund, in addition to requesting donations.

We will be setting up small grant opportunities with this fund, so that local area players and teams who need support for their efforts to grow the sport can apply easily and get a quick response. We envision these funds being used for any number of purposes, from players who need money to help them spend time coaching, to teams that need practice discs or help reserving field space for practice time, to individual players who would like to travel with their team to an important event but lack the resources to do so. Where the funds ultimately go will depend on the vision and needs of the members of our community who apply for them.

To carry this vision forward we have incorporated as the LA Throwback Foundation, a California public benefit corporation. We are a membership organization, and each year the members will elect a board of directors who will oversee the operation of the Foundation, the production of the event, and the distribution of funds. Our goal with this model is to promote a continuous influx of new talent and energy each year, while insuring that the original intentions of the effort are sustained over the years. If it all works as we hope, many of the young players who come in to help put on the event may later come to play key roles in the organization going forward.

We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this next phase in the development of Throwback. We can’t tell you how much we appreciated the support of all the teams who joined us for the very first LA Throwback Beach Ultimate Fest, and how much fun it was to have them here. We look forward to an even better event in this, our second year, and look forward to seeing you all out there on the sand.

Post-script: Among the many things that have changed this year, we are heartened that Lei-out is now under new management, led by Andy Bandit and friends, who have been organizing ultimate in this area for many years. They have committed to financial transparency (i.e. publishing their budget) and are clearly working hard to provide a great level of service at Lei-out this year. We are glad to see the changes and consider ourselves in friendly competition with them. We hope whichever event you choose to attend, you have a great time in Southern California this coming Martin Luther King 2019 weekend (or Jan 12-13 for the LA Throwback Early Bird).