Ultimate started in Nicaragua 12 years ago with a pick-up game played by some ex-pats and missionary teachers on a field at Nicaragua Christian Academy. Over the years the game has slowly become more organized and players have grown in their skills. About 3 years ago Mike Rumley-Wells, a competitive lover of everything Ultimate, decided to make a push for more structure. Over the next 2-3 years the Ultimate community would begin playing a more structured game and learn what Ultimate really was. This also led to a separate and more competitive pick-up game where people who truly wanted to learn and compete could grow and play completely structured Ultimate (when there were enough numbers jaja)
After 12 long years, hard work from many different people, and the intentional investment of Breaking Borders in the local community, Nicaragua was finally ready to host its very own Ultimate tournament! We had almost 80 people sign up from 3 major cities in Nicaragua. The tournament was a hat and had players of all ages come from Matagalpa in the north, Granada in the south and Managua, the capital city. We had 5 teams all named after area volcanos. After pool play and the intense heat of the day, history was made as Team Momotombo (actual volcano pictured in the background) became the first champions of an Ultimate tourney in Nica. If you look closely Volcan Momotombo is paying its respects to the winning team!
Momotombo Volcano erupting as Team Momotombo won the tournament!
Team Momotombo- Winners of the first ever Ultimate tourney in Nicaragua!
We are very proud and honored to help make history happen down here in Nica. We believe The Hat created a great foundation for us to move forward this year and truly develop Ultimate around the country. We are also very proud of our students who participated and how they competed with all the other players. Many of them said it completely changed their outlook on Ultimate and that they can't wait to practice, train, and get better so they can compete again. This was a great opportunity for them to see what a tournament was like before they go down to Costa Rica and play against 3 other youth teams at the end of April.
Thanks to Five Ultimate, Disc Store, Centro ABEM for hosting, and every 8th Man for helping make this possible. We can't wait to host more tourneys, clinics, and community outreaches. Maybe one day YOU can join us for one!
A majority of the pictures of the event can be found on the Federacíon Últimate de Nicaragua page (taken by Katie Brokaw) and the rest can be found here, with photo credit to Jonathan Chen.
*If you would like to find out more information about The Nica Project and learn how to get involved, please email support@breakingborders.org