Beyond the Big 5 Issue 8
I'm back with a bunch of coverage of quadball and ultimate!
covering nontraditional, emerging and niche sports with a focus on women and LGBTIQA+ people
Hello and welcome back to Beyond the Big 5’s newsletter! This spring I started writing and covering tournaments again, after finally reaching a better place health wise following last year’s post concussion syndrome adventure.
What’s Out Now
Quadball
I went to US Quadball Cup 2025 in April. You can read my preview article here. I’m still editing photos and working on written recaps, including three player spotlights. Here are the albums I’ve published so far:
Team Photos
Onsite Uploads
D-I Finals between Creighton and Virginia
I also published a silly highlight reel on Instagram and a video today showing a series of rapid fire photos I took during the club open division final.
Ultimate
In March, I went to Seattle Tempest’s home opener against Oregon Soar. Here are some photos.
Earlier this month, I went to USA Ultimate’s D-III and D-I College Championships. I just released a podcast episode about women’s D-I, which the University of British Columba won, and a written recap is coming soon. The episode is just 15 minutes long and features interviews with two players and a coach. I’m still editing photos (the story of my life!), but here’s what I have up now:
Women's D-III Semifinals between Haverford/Bryn Mawr and Middlebury
Women’s D-I Quarterfinals
Women’s D-I Finals between UBC and Carleton College Syzygy
What’s Next
Quadball
I’m profiling two college players, Chantal Siodlarz from Virginia and Madi Namanny from Creighton, as well as Kobe Kendall on the Warriors. I’m also working on a story about the history of trading cards in the US, with interviews with pioneer George Williams and current guru Shirley Lu. The Quadball World Cup is in July in Belgium and I have a series in development about that. Plus all the photos from USQ Cup to release!
Ultimate
I’m going to the Western Ultimate League Championship June 7-8 in Oakland, CA. I’ll be shooting photo and video, plus hopefully conducting audio interviews with coaches and players.
Other Sports
I might cover rugby and roller derby this summer, along with men’s pro ultimate and club ultimate. We’ll see what happens!
Other Sports News
Did you hear about the uproar in Ireland over the uniforms for women’s camogie teams? For over 100 years, players were not allowed to wear shorts–until just this month! Here’s a gift link from the New York Times that goes into what happened. The Camogie Association didn’t cave until teams started applying immense pressure via protests at marquee games. Players can now choose to wear shorts or skorts. Check out this interview from Ireland AM with Dublin captain Aisling Maher. It’s wild how the association ignored player concerns for years about this. Camogie is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by over 100,000 women in Ireland; the men’s counterpart is called hurling. It’s a cross between lacrosse, field hockey, and tennis played on an open field.
In Closing
It’s good to be back! Feel free to reply and let me know what you’re following as we head into summer.
Beyond the Big 5 is written by Mary Kimball.