Thank you for helping Cambodian Ultimate grow!

[Jared Cahners]

Hello and a big Suasdey to all of you,

You are receiving this email because either you have helped Cambodians play ultimate in the past (thank you, thank you, thank you) or you have expressed interest in helping us in the future (thank you in advance). We have been very lucky to be supported by such an enthusiastic and generous group of people from all over the world. I’d like to take a couple minutes to tell you what has been happening in the Cambodian Ultimate scene over the last few months and the exciting opportunities we have ahead of us.

Here’s what we’ve been up to in the first part of the year. January brought our annual Phnom Penh Hat Tournament. Along with the insane fun that all involved had, it was also was an important event for player development; we had 31 Cambodians compete (record Cambodian participation) and the winning team was led by their Cambodians. Our local players did not have to pay to enter this tournament thanks in part to the generous donations made by many of you to our player development fund. Special big thanks to the donors who gave after Zone Cup last December. Some of your gifts were used to bring 12 players, mostly women, down from Kampong Cham province to compete. You’re awesome.

We also had two clinics in the Spring, one on the beach alongside the Mekong in Kampong Cham and one in Phnom Penh. In February we sent a mixed group of expatriates and Khmer players from Phnom Penh three hours north to help out our friends in Kampong Cham. There we ran a small beach tournament and a clinic. We had a great turn out from our Kampong Cham contingent. Watch out Phnom Penh! It was a great event. It was funded by the player development fund and the foreign players who participated. Thanks for making it happen.

In May we ran a clinic for schools and NGOs around Phnom Penh. Over 100 kids participated. This was made possible first by Northbridge International School who generously provided the field and also by the donors to the player development fund. But the stars were players from SWA, Phnom Penh’s youth ultimate club. They took care of all the on-field organizing and did all the coaching. Smiles were huge all around as our next generation of players got some disc time in.

One of our biggest moments of the year-to-date was the recently completed Zone Cup tournament in Ho Chi Minh City. SWA sent a team, supplemented by myself and an international contingent of women, to compete against some of Asia’s best squads. Our very difficult schedule included the recently-crowned Singaporean national champions, Freakshow, a club team that finished tenth in the world, Shiok, as well as other established regional clubs. While our win-loss record itself was not very impressive, the play of our Cambodians was. They fought through injuries and exhaustion to still make some of the more exciting plays in the tournament. They learned a lot and many of our opponents and spectators expect the team to be very competitive in this tournament in upcoming years.

This trip was made possible by your donations to SWA’s crowd-funding campaign as well as organizational donors such at Empowering Youth in Cambodia, the Youth Ultimate Project, and Kate Korpi Salon in Phnom Penh. Thank you all so much.

But wait; money is good, but how did they cross the border to play? Where did they get the passports? Thank you to all of you who contributed to my “Can Jared Learn Korean” fundraiser. We raised over $1,000 for Cambodian passports. That money contributed in part to 13 passports, 12 of which have now been used to play in international ultimate competitions. 

And to those of you who contributed clothes, especially footwear; it is being worn proudly. These gifts were very appreciated and get a lot of use.

It has been an exciting year so far. And there’s more to come…

Next month brings the Singapore Open. While Cambodia will not be sending a team, we have received a great invitation from Crackerjacks, Singapore’s Men’s national champions who will be competing in the world championships in London next year. They have invited two Cambodians to train with them the week before Singapore Open and then compete with them at the men’s event on Friday. This is a great opportunity for a couple of our players to receive top-notch training with one of the class teams in the region. During their time in Singapore they will be training with other clubs as well.

In September, we will be sending a team to the Mekong Cup tournament in Ho Chi Minh City. While we don’t yet know the composition of the team, this will be another opportunity for our Cambodian players to compete against good competition from around the region.

Finally, this fall Phnom Penh will hold it’s first women’s clinic (!!!). Growth Through Ultimate, my new project, and the Phnom Penh Ultimate Association will work to get more Cambodian women playing the sport. We will team up our local talent with some female stars from the region to work with schools and NGOs to show that this is a sport for women to enjoy as well as men. We’re very excited about this. It is a major step for us towards not only expanding the love of the game, but in realizing one of the great social lessons of ultimate; gender equity and cooperation.

In the next couple of weeks I will be sending another email (far shorter than this one I promise), about how specifically you can help us with our upcoming events. If you want to help NOW, that would be amazing. Material help, inspirational support, and expertise are always appreciated.

If you want to help us right now with the Singapore training trip, Mekong Cup, and/or the Women’s Clinic, you can send me an email at jaredc...@gmail.com or you can contact SWA’s coach/mentor/spiritual leader Rodwell Kov at rod...@gmail.com.

Thank you again for all your help.

Jared Cahners

Prime Minister, Phnom Penh Ultimate Association

Founder, Growth Through Ultimate-Cambodia

P.S. If you would rather receive these notifications on Facebook, you can join the “Friends of Cambodian Ultimate” group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1450068145298014/). There I will be sending out the exact same messages I send here, so no reason to be on both lists. Join the Facebook group and send me an email so I can take you off this list.

P.P.S. If you would rather not hear about Cambodian Ultimate from me at all, send me an email at jaredc...@gmail.com and you’re off the list. No drama. Thank you for your past and/or future support anyway.