After attaining ‘team’ status from Kettering Student Government over the summer, the team recently hosted its second annual tournament, Thunderstorm 2011. Not only was this year’s tournament larger than the inaugural one last year (10 teams as opposed to eight last year), but Kettnetic Thunder improved their performance as well.

“We finished seventh and had a win over the Grand Valley State B team,” said team captain Ken Kaminski. “Considering half of our roster was new, we were happy with the performance.”

The tournament was held Oct. 15 and although the weather was cold, rainy and windy, the tournament ran smoothly.

“The weather was better last year, but the schedule ran smoother this year,” Kaminski said. “The other teams enjoy the setup here, they like how it is compact and the fields are close together.”

The tournament acts as a fundraiser for the ultimate program, helping fund the season, which starts in January. Grand Valley State’s ‘A team’ won this year’s tournament. Hope finished second and Valparaiso finished third.

The tournament also gives Kettnetic Thunder’s more inexperienced players a chance to gain valuable tournament experience without having to travel a long way from home.

“This is great experience for our freshmen,” Kaminski said. “They get to see other teams, see what the competition is like and it helps us set goals as a team. The freshman had a blast.”

Kaminski and co-captain Zach Johnson are not just trying to get the team ready for this season, however. They are also mindful of creating a long-lasting Ultimate tradition at Kettering.

“We’ll never stop pushing the limit in improving our team structure, training processes, and performance. We have an enormous amount of things going on and things lined up to get ready for next season and even next academic year,” Kaminski said.

“Right now we are currently training our new A-Section Legacy Captain, Steve Wineski, and will be searching for a B-Section LC this Fall 2011 term. These new captains will go through 1-2 years of in-depth Ultimate, leadership, and management training to take over the team as Zach and I get ready to graduate in two years.”

“We’re in the process of creating a Captains Manual, which will be a highly detailed and living document with everything a future captain would need to know and what we have learned over the years. With these developments you can be sure Kettnetic Thunder and the sport of Ultimate will be a big thing at Kettering for a long long time.”

For more information, visit www.ketteringultimate.com or email ultimate@kettering.edu.

For more photos of the tournament visit the photo album on KettNet - the Kettering Network - on facebook

Contact: Patrick Hayes
phayes@kettering.edu
810.762.9538