Nominations for the Belfast Ultimate Awards 2009.

Player of the Year

Who achieved most on the pitch

• Adam Glover - great performances on pitch throughout the year. He played for Ireland at Rylands and 8Nations, was included in the IFDA 'Team of the Year', won MSP several times and won MVP at Cork. He truely is one of the best players in Ireland
• Alan ‘Marco’ McWatters - In 2009, Marco’s quality of leadership was his best yet. He kept a cool head at all times, managed his players well and fairly, and encouraged his team-mates to get the best out of them. During all of CHASE’s matches, he made sure CHASE maintained high morale at all times. This was coupled with his excellent abilities as a true all-rounder, capable of playing any position on the field exceptionally well.
  During the first day of Tune-Up this autumn, the wind made conditions nearly unplayable. Through sound advice and good example, Marco pulled CHASE through a difficult set of matches, winning them all convincingly. All this on top of the level of participation and quality of play in BUG as well as the effort put in to recover from a bad knee injury from Christmas last year.
• Chris Hunter - made the Ireland team for 8Nations, he forms the backbone of Swerve, the only team to take points of CHASE during this years Summer League, and recently he came 7th and Uni Indoor Nationals with Dundee. He has since retired from playing Ultimate.
• Garry Hughes - Garry has worked his ass off this year and his dedication has been second to none. His attendance was requested at the Ireland Development Squad "Invite Only" training sessions. He played amazingly well at all tournaments BUG attended with specific reference to Cork (Incredible against Bologna). He also gained his first Ireland Cap playing at the 8Nations. (Where he was a great asset to the squad!)
• Stephen Graham - attended all BUG and CHASE tournaments this year, his performance at Tour 2, where he kept BUG from rolling over and dying of exhaustion (winning him an MVP), gives a lot in training and on the pitch. He scored the most points (presumably) for BUG and CHASE respectively this year.

Best Beginner

Best player who's been playing for less than 15 months.

• Benjamin McFeeters - (*had two caps in Summer League '08) He's the only beginner to play a match for BUG this year and he got an epic layout at Tour 2.
• Chris Linter - (*started in the summer of '08, so make your own mind up if you want to include him as a beginner) He's just improved so much over 2009.
• Craig Ballentine - Earlier this year, Craig Ballentine came to Ultimate as a complete beginner. He showed great promise and enthusiasm straight away, throwing his first convincing forehand in his second week, claiming ‘he was practising in the back garden’. This paid off, as did his regular attendance at training and CHASE matches, as he became the solid player he is today. Craig put in his fair share of effort, helping CHASE defend the Summer League title this year, and such, deserves recognition for that achievement. He played near flawlessly for CHASE at Tune-Up this year.
• David Scott (Poody) - MVP at intervarsities, really willing to learn, takes on board advice at training and implements it striaght away
• David Marshall

Biggest Contribution to Belfast Ultimate

Who deserves recognition for their efforts.

• Alan Cooper - for setting up a proper QUB Ultimate Team. BU has been in need of an institution such as Queens feeding into it’s player base. Alan made it his mission this year to get a fully fledged QUB team off the ground, and recognised by the university. He has succeeded in both, and continues to strengthen the team through active recruitment, and training.
• Dave Hammond - "he sticks in the most effort i've seen into making things ultimate related happen", including, applying for funding from Belfast City Council, and organised and implemented 4 kit orders between BUG and CHASE this year
• ob - manages all the money in BUG, organised and ran Summer League (arguably the most important aspect of BU), attending all BUG tournaments, taught us all how to layout properly at Cork.
• Pete Gaston - for the growth in the Love Easter Tournament, and the Christmas Special. Both of these tournaments make up part of the BU Big Three, and Pete has done well with bringing up the standard of these tournaments in 2009.
• Stephen Hammond - for putting together the Red Nose Day charity match. We had a lot of fun dressing up as eejits, and a large amount of money was raised for a good cause.

Most Spirited Player

The player who has most exemplified spirit and sportsmanship throughout the year.

• Adam Glover - if you didn’t know who Adam was, but did hear his repeated nominations and MSP awards, you may think we were joking. But he is that fair-minded, resolves quarrels quickly, and can often be seen having a bit of craic with the opposition while setting up the stack.
• Benjamin McFeeters - invented Screming Circles, high spirit.
• Dave Hammond - from his nominator: "I am sure this nomination will receive a laugh or two but bare with me...I have good reason. Yes, I am talking about the same Dave Hammond who caught a Callaghan against an entirely female Kebab Hammer line and then showed the thrower the disc. It is even the same Dave Hammond who caused a player to drop a disc because he screamed "F**kin' Mine" in his ear as the player went to catch it. But this Dave Hammond truly has displayed some of the best spirit I have seen in Ultimate. Yes he wants the disc and loves a good celebration when his plan comes together but this is enthusiasm, not bad spirit. I think Dave plays very hard but never gets hot headed and rather than putting his head down when things go wrong he rallies the rest of the team and never fails to get players heads up. He is always very quick to make sure you know he is joking when it comes to his outlandish celebrations (Some even a little pre-emptive). When he thought he had offended me with a celebration he sent me a text the next day to make sure I had taken it in jest. I honestly think Dave has great Spirit and should be seriously considered for this Award."
• John Houston - he's a nice chap