A look back at 2023 and a look forward to Tomodachi Invite 🇦🇺x🇯🇵!
Live Ultimate happening all weekend long!
We were at all the games, we know best, Stef and myself got together to check out what’s MOST rewatchable from 2023. Check it out and share in the comments if you think we missed a game or two.
Inaugural Tomodachi Invite 2024!
Tomodachi means 'Friends!' in Japanese and is the main theme of this tournament between friends from Japan (Mavericks) and multiple Australian teams. Tomodachi Invite aims to spread friendship and cultural learning, while showcasing incredible Women's ultimate!
We are beyond excited to be able to stream this amazing event in Australia!
Mish and Kade interviewed themselves on their instagram page, here is it for you:
Ohayou! Hello!
We are Mish and Kaede.
We have been friends since 2019, opponents at WUCC and World Games, and now teammates on Spicy and Mavericks.
Why did we want to do this?
This idea started from a simple desire - to bring Tokyo Mavericks to Australia. Both of us have benefited from cultural exchanges in the past - Mish in Japan, Colombia and USA, Kaede in USA and Australia - and we are extremely enthusiastic about encouraging others to go on similar adventures! And the first step to this? Make friends with players from other communities and countries.
The more we thought about creating a tournament in Australia with Mavericks, the more we realised how many intersecting benefits there were. We reckon this event is based around three main values: Fun and friendship, cultural exchange, and women’s development.
Women’s development:
We care deeply about women’s development, and about providing opportunities to players who haven’t had as many of them. One of the aims of this tournament was to offer an exciting learning opportunity to teams around Australia. The Japanese style of ultimate has long been respected in Australia, and the chance for women’s club teams here to play Tokyo Mavericks is huge. There are so many wonderful teams that could have come, and by inviting one from each city, we could spread the opportunity and knowledge as broadly as possible.
Cultural exchange:
We want this tournament to be the point that players realise that how we each play is not the only way to play frisbee. Playing styles vary immensely around the world, and we wanted to give our players a taste of this variety. Creativity and open-mindedness are great for improving the way we play ultimate, and also for improving the way we live our lives! You have so much more power to make your own choices in life when you understand how much there is out there.
Fun and Friendship:
As you build a team, and commit more and more to a sport, there’s a risk of getting too serious, of wanting to win at all costs. We wanted to offer something different, something to go to the heart of why many of us play sport - fun and friendship. By creating a small tournament, with just a few teams invited, we wanted there to be genuine opportunity for people to make new friendships. We hope these friendships may be the start of many more opportunities in the future!
We also wanted to offer something to the wider ultimate community, as we recognised that such a small tournament doesn’t give everyone the chance to attend. From this, we decided to do the final day of the event as a skills clinic.
Go enjoy the show and follow their instagram for updates!
See you in the chats friends!