Issue 5 - May 3, 2024
covering nontraditional, emerging and niche sports with a focus on women and LGBTIQA+ people
Hello and welcome to the fifth issue of Beyond the Big 5!
US Quadball Cup 2024 Recap
This week, I recorded a recap episode of the podcast about US Quadball nationals with special guests Michael Goldman, Soleil Heaney, and Chanun Ong. It’ll be out soon. Here’s a brief description of what went down April 14 and 15:
Harvard won college D1 and the finals was a rematch of last year against UTSA. Somehow, this was an even better game than last year!
Boom Train won the club championship division, beating last year’s winners, the Warriors. This is the first time any Midwest based team, regardless of division or league, has won a national championship in this sport. All club teams in this division played 3 max; no one had a waiver.
College D2 was a chaotic delight, ending in Cal beating UCLA and getting their first national title.
Skyline (incidentally Warriors’ development team) won club open. I don’t think there was a winner of college open, but it looks like both teams had a great time.
Nearly all my predictions were wrong, except for college open. :D
While you wait for the full recap, check out a video I released last week called Learn Their Names. Right after nationals ended, most of the online discussion was just about the Warriors losing. I’ll spare you the Reddit screenshots. In my annoyed state, I developed an idea to highlight some of the top college teams. Learn Their Names is a collaboration with Quadball.One, the new live scoring/stats app developed by Michael Rodriguez a year-ish ago. It spotlights the final 4 college D1 teams and then the top 2 college D2 teams, showing off top scorers and rookies. The goal is to develop more content around this theme, to show off more players paired with stats and media.
Other Recap Media
A lot of photos have been posted.
By me: I have a couple of albums up here, also posting on the BB5 Instagram. There will be way more up over the next few weeks.
Matthew Brooks: on Instagram, highlights one, two, and three
Kim Cheng: Google Drive of everything, Facebook too
Kielan Donahue: Google Drive of everything, Instagram with highlights
Jeannette High: Facebook
Mike Iadevia: on Facebook
Shirley Lu: Instagram
Tori Nutt: Instagram
Linnea Shultz: Instagram
USQ is starting to upload high quality videos of all the games from their livestreams over on YouTube.
Co-captain of Cal Alex Peterson wrote a piece for Fast Break News on how his team won college D2.
Third Bludger Interference produced two interview episodes on Harvard and Boom Train. Ally Manzalla and Liam Zach of Boom Train gave a solid overview of their team’s trajectory this season, and what the last game against Warriors was like. For Harvard, Mac Mertens and Andrew Steinberg broke down what made their team click.
Harvard head coach Ethan Sturm did an episode on his new-ish podcast, Post Game Huddle, on game management and what went into defeating UTSA and nearly everyone else this season.
New Podcast Episode
Episode 7 of the BB5 podcast, featuring personal trainer and quadball player Joanne Lam, is now available on Spotify and iTunes. Before I go forward, I want to mention that this podcast and the advice given are meant for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice.
I first met Joanne from QuidCon in 2021, a virtual event that US Quadball and Major League Quadball hosted during one of the waves of COVID lockdowns. She led a great home workout session. I started following her online, and came to really admire her approach to training, especially foundational exercises that prepare the body for movements commonly found in a sport like quadball. She’s an incredibly experienced player, having started with the venerable Emerson College in 2010 and most recently played with Team Canada at IQA World Cup in 2023.
In the interview, we discuss what kind of fitness and health care professionals can help athletes with training and injury recovery and how best to use them, how to approach training as we age, the impact of hormones and menstruation on athletic performance (and vice versa in some cases!), how to track workouts more effectively, and more.
Here’s how to learn more about Joanne’s services and to get in touch:
@JoanneLamFitness on Instagram
@TheQuadballCoach on Instagram, for exercises/tips just about training for this sport
The Quadball Coach website
Joanne’s YouTube channel
View the full show notes here.
MLQ Roster Drop
Major League Quadball dropped all their teams’ rosters for the 2024 season yesterday. I shared some of my brief, lukewarm takes on Instagram stories. The season officially kicks off June 1.
Pro Rankings Update
In volleyball, Atlanta is on top. In ultimate, Philly is up in the north and DC is king in the south for the PUL; for the WUL, Seattle is just at the top of the mountain in the northwest (with Colorado close behind), and San Diego is sitting pretty in the southwest.
WUL Recap - Seattle Tempest vs Colorado Alpenglow
Speaking of Seattle and Colorado, I covered their game last weekend. Here’s a recap.
Women’s Water Polo College Championship
Fun fact - pre-pandemic, water polo had about as many college teams as quadball! The women’s water polo college championship starts soon, on May 8. The finals will be on May 12 at 7pm PT/10pm ET on ESPNU. Growing in Southern California, water polo was everywhere! I am not surprised that California still dominates this sport. Competing are:
Wagner (29-4)
Biola (14-16)
UCLA (23-0), the #1 seed
Stanford (18-6)
University of Southern California (18-8)
Hawaii (22-3)
Princeton (23-6)
Cal (17-6)
Fresno State (21-7)
I’m rooting for Fresno State! Beat Cal!!
What to Watch This Weekend
The PUL game of the week is Atlanta Soul vs Nashville Nightshade. It’s Saturday, May 4 at 6pm ET. Neither team has won a game so far this season, though Atlanta is a step above in the rankings. Game will be on YouTube.
Volleyball has six games this week. I think you should watch #3 vs #4 aka San Diego Mojo vs Grand Rapids Rise. They’re playing twice, first on Saturday, May 4 at 5pm ET, then again on Sunday, May 5 at 4pm ET. Only four out of seven teams make it to the championship, which takes place May 15 and 18 in Omaha, NE, and there are just two spots left. Watch on YouTube.
By the way, seven PVF players have received invites to workout with their national teams, in anticipation of the Volleyball Nations League and this summer’s 2024 Paris Olympics!
For the WUL, there is just one game this weekend, Seattle Tempest vs Colorado Alpenglow. Last weekend Seattle had the edge, though Colorado tried to stage a comeback multiple times. Will Colorado win with hometown and altitude advantage on their side? Watch on YouTube on Saturday, May 4 at 5pm PT.
In Closing
Shooting sports is better in the sun than in the rain! Who knew!
Beyond the Big 5 is written by Mary Kimball.