Colorado Cup This Weekend!
The Colorado Cup is this weekend, and it is a great opportunity to see some of the very best ultimate players and teams in the country.
In ultimate, as in baseball and football, college play is good, exciting, and fun to watch, but the most skilled play comes largely after college. In ultimate, this is the "club" level. The "club" teams consist of the best players in the country, both graduates and the cream of the college players.
The Colorado Cup is a club tournament. There is an open (men's) division and a women's division. Teams from all across the country are coming - literally from Boston to California.
The kids know players on at least three of the teams: Bravo, Sack Lunch, & Rare Air. Derek, Steven Rouisse (Tina's husband and a sometimes coach), Colin Gottlieb (CU star and Derek's brother), Beau Kittridge (CU), and Josh Ackley (CU and 2004 Callahan winner) all play for Bravo. Rare Air is Tina's team. Sack Lunch has Jeff Berget (Lakewood's coach and the "organizer" of the summer league) on it.
Play runs from 9:30-7:45 on Saturday and 9:00-4:15 on Sunday. The showcase game, scheduled for Saturday at 6, is between Tina's Rare Air and Schwa from Portland.
The tournament is at the Columbine Polo Grounds, a great place to picnic. The fields are green, the view of the mountains is lovely, and where else can you see homes that are bigger than many shopping malls?
It's free.
Directions:
The tournament is at the Columbine Polo Club
By Car: Take Santa Fe south to Mineral, turn right, go through one stoplight, and it's your next right. It looks like a gated community. (And it is. There's supposed to be someone in the gatehouse to let you in.)
By Bike: South on the Platte River Greenway until just past the turn off to the Carson Nature Center (in South Platte Park), cross the bridge to the west side of the Platte, at the next intersection, take a right, follow the big sidewalk/bike path west along Mineral (there will be a lake on your right) until you reach the driveway into the Polo Grounds.
The Google map will give you driving directions. For bikers, moving around on the satellite view may be useful to show the turn off from the Greenway.