South Africa open

Profile

Ultimate remains a fairly small sport in South Africa where soccer, rugby and basketball dominate, but there are promising signs of explosive growth in the next year. Due to our relative geographical isolation we have very few opportunities to test our skills and grow our game by playing against sides from other countries, with the result that we look forward to Worlds tournaments as a massive opportunity.

The South African Open team is made up almost exclusively of players who started playing in Cape Town, the original hub of South African Ultimate. Many of the players now live and play in other parts of the world: Canada, America and the UK. We are all getting together to make up what we hope is the best team South Africa has ever produced.

South Africa on Defense

The main South African defense is man-on-man marking, but if there is any wind we will use one of a few different zones.

The people to watch out for on defense are:

Shane Pilosof #26 - fast, athletic and will dive for anything, try him with a bone.
Stuart Cooper #12 - big and aggressive he loves getting handblocks.

South Africa on Offense

We use two main offenses - the vertical stack with 2 handlers and a horizontal stack. The people to watch out for on offense are:

Julian Abramson #02 - huge, pinpoint hucks from both backhand and forehand
and the occasional beautiful hammer.

Pete Rive #55 – the kingpin of the team. Veteran leader who has played with the Jam and other international squads.

John Brodhead #19 - look for him flying around in the endzone, we will.

Tournament history

South Africa has never won a tournament, however since we only play at Worlds, that isn’t too surprising. We view 2004 as our breakthrough year and aim to be the surprise package of the tournament.

Team Colours:
Yellow and Green

Roster:
19

Captains:
Ryan Males
Andre Standing