Access Denied
IMPORTANT! If you’re a store owner, please make sure you have Customer accounts enabled in your Store Admin, as you have customer based locks set up with EasyLockdown app. Enable Customer Accounts
News
About VC Products
Full Sub Reversibles... with a twist
Product Highlight: Full Sub Reversibles... with a twist.
Tournaments & Events
Team Canada World Games 2017: Melissa Tancredi, Honourary Team Captain
Elite players from across Canada are heading to Wroclaw, Poland from July 20 – July 30 to compete along side athletes from the 27 official sports and 4 invitational sports featured in the 2017 World Games.
VC is a proud sponsor of Team Canada and is excited to share stories about the path to Poland.
Author: Scott "SHooter" Hastie, Head Coach
Melissa Tancredi is our Honourary Team Captain. Melissa, while now retired, is a superstar soccer forward who is a three time Olympian and two time Olympic Bronze Medalist with Team Canada. She represented Canada from 2004 to 2017 while also becoming a chiropractor in Vancouver.
You may be wondering why and how Melissa is our Honourary Captain. Here is how I pitched the role:
Dr. Melissa Tancredi,
I hope that you are having a great day. My name is Scott Hastie and I am writing to from Clappisons Corners overlooking Dundas Valley where I work as an Engineering Manager at Liburdi Turbine Services. I am also the Head Coach for the Canadian National Ultimate Team for the World Games being held in Wroclaw, Poland July 20-30th. As a chiropractor in Vancouver I am sure you have a few clients who play the game so I won't go into describing it but I would like to let you know about the World Games Team. At the world games the Ultimate competition is mixed and the team is made up of 7 women and 7 men. During the competition that pits the top five ultimate nations from last year’s World Championships (USA, Australia, Japan, Colombia and Canada) and the host country in a 3 day tournament. During the competition we play with either a 4:3 or 3:4 gender ratio that changes every 2 points. The World Games is the highest level that our sport is played and we are all excited to represent Canada.
I imagine you are thinking something along the lines "Scott I play soccer why are you bothering me?"
One Saturday morning I was reading the paper when I came upon this article:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/tancredi-among-group-set-to-say-goodbye-to-canadian-national-team/article33902349/
I instantly picked my phone and banged out this message to the team:
Anyone out west going to the Mexico vs. Canada women's soccer friendly? Last game for Melissa Tancredi. I am a big fan. Just read an article in the Globe and Mail about their game versus Germany in Rio where she was handed the captaincy. They had qualified and there was a belief that losing the game might set up a better path to the final. Her response: "We play for Canada. We don't throw matches. We don't ever go on the field without giving 100 per cent." It follows: "she essentially told us she expected to beat Germany, she was going to lead the way and we had to follow her...and she did." She scored two goals in Canada first ever win over the Germans a 2-1 victory with some key players resting for the elimination rounds. If you go to the game please tip your hat her way for me.
I was hoping our Team Chiropractor Stephen Mogatas from Jointworks would run into you at some industry mixer and he could convince you to make a guest appearance at one of our Vancouver Training Camps to provide us some inspiration before our competition. I learned last night that it appears that he has not been successful.
So I would like to come out of the blue and ask if making a brief appearance at either our Vancouver training camps April 14-16 or June 9-11 might be something you would consider. I know the team would be fired up to meet you and get a moment or two of exposure to the fire and leadership that you provided our national soccer team for so many years. Watching some interviews of your teammates describing you I noticed that many talked about your leadership, grit and spirit but also that you knew how to have fun. These qualities are exactly what we are trying to develop in our team as we head to this competition.
We would love to be able to ask you in person to be our Honorary Team Captain. The role is undefined, simple but would mean a ton to all of us.
Check us out: https://twitter.com/tcwg2017
Be Awesome
Well things all worked out and Melissa dropped by our dinner in Vancouver near the site of the 2010 Olympic Village. Adriana at VC Ultimate made sure that we had her #14 jersey for her and the team signed up one of our awesome discs.
We started with some small talk and introductions. Coach Tasia looked to me to see if I had something planned. Obviously.
I relayed the story to the group about how fired up I was reading the article about Melissa. I explained that one thing that resonated with me was the fire in the statement: “We play for Canada. We don’t throw matches. We don’t ever go on the field without giving 100 per cent.”
The second was that she backed up her words with actions. She put the entire team on her back and scored the two goals that were necessary for their first win versus Germany.
I also highlighted something I found in this thank you tweet from @CanadaSoccerEN
In this short clip her coaches and teammates related the intensity but also highlighted her balance “we are going to do work today but we are also going to have fun” and that she was the life & soul of the dressing room. This is a key tenet of Team Canada for 2017.
Well this fired up Melissa and she launched into an incredibly inspirational discussion with the team where she highlighted some key aspects of preparation for our big event. She was genuinely interested in learning about our sport, our preparation, and how we are supported. She had watched a bit of the US College Championships and was blown away that we can play this sport without referees. She took questions from the team that varied from what her pre game preparation is including all aspects of warm up and ball touches to some strategic questions about having a set national team that trains from year to year. I even threw in the loaded question to see how much time each athlete would spend doing video review. She also got to talk a bit of shop with Stephen on whatever Chiropractors talk about.
While I knew that I would be pretty fired up by Melissa I was excited to see that the rest of the team was captured as well.
We didn’t expect that the real gold would be when we went outside to get a team picture all lined up in Our VC Ultimate jerseys.
Melissa Tancredi & TCWG all in their official VC jerseys.
As soon as we were done with our pic Melissa pulled out her newly signed disc and said, “Let’s get this thing going.”
After a little instruction Melissa was launching flicks, backhands and hammers around the park. She is a natural and possibly a lock for the World Games 2021 roster. The highlight had to be her catching a hammer that was coming in hot with one hand while taking a selfie.
Melissa Tancredi Multi-tasking
And this #FlexFriday pic was pretty cool:
Melissa Tancredi & Rena Kawabata Showing the Power
Certainly in our short time together we learned quite a bit from Melissa. The visit provided an exciting spark that carried through a training camp where in true Melissa fashion, we worked hard but also had fun.
Thank you to Dr. Melissa Tancredi for your leadership as our Honourary Team Captain. We hope to do you proud.
Be Awesome
SHooter
Melissa Tancredi is a retired Canadian soccer forward who played for the Canada women's national soccer team. Follow her on Twitter @meltancredi14 or Instagram.
Official replicas, sideline, and support gear for Team Canada! Show your support of the players representing Canada by picking up a piece of Team Canada gear today.Team Canada Collection
Team Canada World Games: TEP
Des joueurs élites d'un bout à l'autre du Canada se rendront à Wroclaw en Pologne du 20 au 30 juillet prochain pour compétitionner aux côtes d'athlètes de 27 disciplines officielles et 4 disciplines invitées aux Jeux Mondiaux 2017.
VC est fier commanditaire de l'équipe canadienne et enthousiaste de partager leurs récits d'aventures portant sur leur cheminement vers la Pologne.
Author: Audrey St-Arnaud Le voyage en Colombie a été une superbe opportunité pour les 20 athlètes de l'équipe de se prépare pour un niveau élevé de compétition. Entre autres, nous nous sommes mesurés aux équipes des États-Unis et de la Colombie qui participeront également aux Jeux mondiaux. En plus de cette préparation sur le terrain, nous avons dû faire face à plusieurs situations qui ont fait appel à notre capacité d'adaptation. Bref, une belle opportunité de travailler notre preparation mentale. L'aventure a également été parsemée d'anecdotes et de plusieurs moments forts, qui ont permis de souder l'équipe. Voici donc un résumé de notre périple en quelques lignes. Journées de voyagement - 27 avril La plupart des gens sont arrivés tard. On nous a appris la journée même que nous allions jouer le lendemain alors que nous étions sensés avoir au moins une journée d'acclimatation. Il nous manquait 3 personnes dont notre entraîneur qui voyageait avec un horaire plus serré. Une belle manière de tester notre force mentale en équipe que de faire face à cet imprévu ! Jour 1 - 28 avril Nous avons joué un premier match contre une équipe de la Colombie que nous avons remporté. Déjà là, on a pu goûter à leur style de jeu rapide. Le reste de notre équipe est arrivé directement de l'aéroport pour le Showcase game contre les États-Unis. Première défaite en équipe ce soir-là, mais dont nous avons énormément appris. En soirée, nois avons découvert comment les Colombiens mangent leur poulet. Avec des gants! #meatgloves
Jour 2 - 29 avril Trois parties nous attendaient lors de cette deuxième journée, dont une contre l'équipe de la Colombie qui s'était divisée en deux puisqu'ils étaient encore en processus de selection. Après un match très serrés, nous avons remporté cette première bataille de justesse et nos deux autres parties avec une avance respectable. Clou de la soirée, Colle a poussé Kev dans la piscine. Après avoir tenté sa revanche, Colle a su le déjouer avec un acte de maître #fakekneepain #hideandseek Author: Jessie Grignon Tomas Jour 3 - 30 avril Plusieurs match nous attendait dont un contre l'équipe U24 mixte de la Colombie. Beaucoup de potentiel, mais c'est une autre victoire facile pour le Canada. Plus tard dans la journée nous étions supposés affronter en demi-finale une équipe classé plus bas, mais ce jour la, les équipes nationales des USA et de la Colombie jouaient une partie d'exhibition sur le terrain principal. L'organisation nous a demandé de jouer notre demi-finale contre l'équipe nationale colombienne afin d'éviter que USA et COL joue 2 fois de suite. L'autre demi-finale devait être USA vs COL. Défi accepté! Un début de match plus difficile pour le Canada donne l'avance à la Colombie de quelques bris. Après la 2e demie, nous avons fait 5 points consécutif dont un fameux ''Callahan'' fait part nul autre que notre Andrew Carroll qui nous amène à 11-11, dernier point du match à venir. La Colombie marque le dernier point sans erreur, 12-11 COL. Défaite difficile certes, mais beaucoup de leçon à tirer de cette partie. Nous devons débuter nos matchs fort, surtout lors des Jeux Mondiaux, puisque les parties seront seulement de 13 points. Malgré la défaite, nous avions le coeur à la danse. Plusieurs membre de l'équipe se rendre au centre-ville, dans le but d'apprendre la Salsa. Jour 4 - 1 mai Jour des finales! Nous avions l'opportunité de plus de jouer devant une foule pour notre match de 3e place. Le canada termine au 3e rang avec un score de 15-5. Le plan du reste de la journée était d'aller se reposer dans notre magnifique Casa et de revenir pour la finale opposant la Colombie au USA. Surprise! La COL remporte les grands honneurs à la maison. La compétition sera féroce en Pologne. Après un souper d'équipe dans un des restaurants branchés de la place, c'est déjà le temps pour plusieurs de retourner à la maison. La moitié de l'équipe quitta pour l'aéroport de Medellin. Jour 5 - 2 mai L'autre moitié a pu profiter de la ville un peu plus en cette dernière journée. Marchés, montagnes, bouffe et l'Atletico National étaient à l'agenda. Après une victoire du Verde, une dizaine d'autres filaient vers l'aéroport pour une escale de 10h à Mexico City. #countonme
Team Canada: World Games Training Camp
Elite players from across Canada are heading to Wroclaw, Poland from July 20 – July 30 to compete along side athletes from the 27 official sports and 4 invitational sports featured in the 2017 World Games.
VC is a proud sponsor of Team Canada and is excited to share stories about the path to Poland.
Author: Morgan Hibbert
Over the June 10//11 weekend, Team Canada headed out of town for a training camp. We chose a kids camp out of town so that we could all spend time close together without the distractions of home life creeping in.
The focus on this camp really was team bonding and team communication with exercises all throughout the weekend designed to bring us together. One of the benefits of this particular camp was its custom built challenge course located in the nearby forest. It included a series of challenges designed to make you work together as a team. There were roughly 5 unique challenges in total, ranging from climbing over a giant wall, to swinging across a lava pit to land on a small platform (Survivor fans out there would have gotten a kick out of this!) to building a bridge over an alligator infested swamp Indiana Jones style to passing teammates through a laser fence that made me feel like Catherine Zeta Jones in Entrapment!
Each of these challenges were unique and all required every member from the team to complete. Tall, small, strong, nimble, each skill set was required at different parts of the challenges.
The most fascinating part was how traditional leaders or leadership structure didn't really apply. In each challenge a different person stepped up and very organically became the leader for that challenge formulating a confident plan and directing the team as needed. Whoever it was in challenge 1, it was someone completely different for challenge 2, except we never planned this or even talked about it. I think the organic nature with which it transpired showed up much everyone already trusted all of their teammates and the unique dynamic that a team like this has. It was really special to see everyone so easily working together towards a common goal.
The 2nd fascinating thing was the desire to complete the challenge at all costs. Personal boundaries did not exist whether you were being passed through the electric fence with hands all over your bathing suit area or holding onto each other for dear life. That was the longest and closest I have ever hugged Toly as the two of us tried to put all our weight on a 4 inch wide platform in order to support our fellow teammates. Fun fact, he's a great hugger and I felt very safe in his arms.
Learning to work together as a team outside of our normal frisbee world is so vitally important. It allows everyone to display their hidden talents and it breaks down any previous judgement of what people can or can't do or what someone would be good or not good at. Everyone starts from scratch with a new challenge that no one has done before, and it really forces you to rely on one another in order to survive the perils or alligators or lasers or lava.
I felt much closer to my teammates and respected their unique talents even more after this training camp.
For locals of Vancouver, the camp was called Charis camp and I highly recommend it.
The author, Morgan Hibbbert, in his VC Ultimate Team Canada uniform. Support the Team Canada program by sporting the gear from our TC collection here.
Team Canada: Getting to Know the World Games Players
Elite players from across Canada are heading to Wroclaw, Poland from July 20 – July 30 to compete along side athletes from the 27 official sports and 4 invitational sports featured in the 2017 World Games.
VC is a proud sponsor of Team Canada and is excited to share stories about the path to Poland.
Author: Brendan WongOver the weekend of June 9-10, the Team Canada World Games squad had a training camp in Chiliwack, BC. Against a backdrop of trees and mountains, Team Canada spent the weekend playing frisbee, challenging a ropes course, eating meals together, and sharing lots of laughs. Any time that we get to spend together is important for helping players gel as a team and for getting to know each others' tendencies and preferences both on and off the field. Apart from just playing ultimate frisbee, we spent time together doing other things which further adds to making the team a more cohesive group. For example, when we all sit down for lunch as a big group, it's a great time for teammates to get to know each other in a more relaxed and casual setting. Ultimate frisbee is not just about playing a sport that we love but also has a huge social impact on all players. Personally, I have met countless people from around the world though playing this sport. Having the opportunity to play with friends locally or internationally is such a privilege and such a joy. For many of us, I imagine ultimate frisbee has had such a huge impact on our lives that it is hard to imagine life without it. When we're on the field, we want to look like a team. Team Canada is graciously sponsored by VC Ultimate who have provided us with hats, jerseys, shorts, and a warm-up shirt. All of us are proud to wear the red and white gear that represents our nation.
******
Follow the Team Canada World Games squad on Facebook here!
Coaching
TCWG 2017: Team Canada & Mental Toughness
In the following article, TCWG player Laura Mason discusses mental toughness and its importance in training.
Tournaments & Events
VC Team Spotlight: University of Texas Melee (& Women's Centex)
What can we say about this team - this season especially - other than Hook 'em Horns!! UT at Austin's top women's team is rocking it, with another strong performance bringing home the gold at Women's Centex this past weekend, the team's home tournament run in collaboration with Without Limits Ultimate.
We admit, we're a bit biased with our love for Melee and their home fields, the Charles Alan Wright Fields at the Berry M. Whitaker Sports Complex at the University of Austin. The sports complex is, simply put, sick... the benefits of being at a school with an athletic's program budget north of $160,000,000 perhaps? Yes, that many zeros.
Fun fact: VC's Adriana Withers met her much-later-to-be wife on those fields in 2003 (VC was merchandising the UPA College Championships while her wife was running medical support), and still lives part-time only about 10 minutes away.
What's more, VC's Sponsorship Manager and the founder of Without Limits, Michelle Ng, is also a Melee alumni.
Oh, and did we mention, it's usually like 80 degrees, sunny and a short drive from one of the hottest music festivals in the world, South by Southwest, going on at the same time?
Read Ultiworld's Women's Centex Preview article here.
Enough about Centex... back to Melee.
From Ultiworld's write-up, "There is no question that #2 Texas Melee is having a tremendous season, and they look like a shoe-in to make semis at Nationals this year. In both of their tournaments in 2017, Presidents’ Day & Stanford Invite, Melee has made the final. But both times they came up short."
Melee's record took a sharp turn to the winning side this past weekend at Centex, where they beat Ohio State's Fever to win the tournament.
From Texas Melee
Women's College Centex is one of the highlights of the spring college season. The University of Texas women's program has been a ong-term partner of both VC and Without Limits. TD Sydney Overman said, "We love how much Vicious Circle promotes Without Limits- in their gear, banners, and general attitude towards women's ultimate. One of the primary Centex goals each year is to grow college women's ultimate across the United States, and I know that Without Limits does a huge, huge job in helping us achieve that mission." Captains Laura Gerencser and Julia Schmaltz said, "VC always makes sure we look good! We decided to change our jersey design this year and we were initially worried about not being able to include our old emblem (the circle longhorn), but VC worked with us extensively to come up with a brand new, classic and clean new style jersey. We love them!"
Melee is deeply invested in the growth and development of college women's ultimate and that is clearly reflected in their partnerships with Without Limits and VC. We love working with Melee and we love their clean designs.
This year's Centex was extra special because of the nice weather and brand new fields, especially given the challenges over the past couple of seasons. Overman, who is a senior, said, "When it comes to running Centex, pray for the best but plan for the worst. Seriously. After the past two years, we were thankful for a sunny, minimal-wind Centex at the newly renovated UT IM fields. If that's not the formula for a successful victory-lap Centex then I don't know what is!" The captains reflected, "Because of years past, we have to say our favorite thing about Centex this year was the beautiful weather and brand new facility. Centex hasn't always had the best conditions, so we were very happy to be able to offer a very smooth, good condition tournament to teams that have been so loyal despite the past conditions." The challenges of the past two seasons made this year even sweeter.
Texas has had a dominant regular season thus far and now they begin preparations for the Series. The captains said, "The next thing on the horizon for us is regionals and we couldn't be happier that it will be back here in Austin! We are very much looking forward to hosting the south central teams (with a possible 4 bids)!"
Follow the team's journey on twitter at @txmelee
Coaching
Midwest Throwdown: Without Limits Ultimate Event
This year, Wash U Women's Ultimate and Without Limits celebrated the 10 year anniversary of Midwest Throwdown, hosting 72 teams in Columbia, MO. Looking across the vast expanse of fields, it was hard to believe that the tournament started with only 13 teams.
Purdue won the Open Division of the tournament, while Iowa State won the Women's Division. Congratulations to both teams, who took home Spikeball sets to celebrate their victories!
TD Devin Ryan felt that host team Wash U learned a lot from running the tournament. "We learned how much planning goes into running a tournament, and how there’s so much going on behind-the-scenes that the average player doesn’t have to think about. It’s incredible to have this opportunity to have so much control over how the tournament is run and it’s great having that sense of accountability and then reward when the tournament is over."
She also had positive comments about VC's presence at the tournament, "VC has been nothing but supportive of our team, and they were especially helpful of us both throughout the merchandise design process and managing the complex logistics of hosting such a big tournament. We loved how they valued our input when making any decision, and worked with our team every step of the way."
Host team Wash U has been a valued VC partner team for a number of years. Captains Nora and X had this to say about the partnership, "VC has always been attentive to our needs and supported us in getting all of the gear that we need. VC is responsive, communicative, and a great company to work with because of their attention to detail and desire to make gear that fits our team's needs."The Wash U captains' favorite part about Throwdown was the Skills Clinic at the end of Saturday. The captains said, "It's very fulfilling to be able to give women in ultimate the opportunity to expand their skill sets with talented coaches - and to be able to take part in those opportunities ourselves!" VC is happy to support the Skills Clinic, Throwdown, and Wash U Women's Ultimate.
To learn more about this and other Without Limits Ultimate events, please visit their site here!
About VC
VC Photographer Spotlight: Andraž Kramberger
We love travelling around the world and meeting players from so many different countries at ultimate events, as well as awesome individuals contributing from the sideline! In Poland last summer, we met a photographer so talented that we asked him to join our team for our next WFDF event. Please meet Andraž Kramberger...
VC: Hey Andraž! We're really excited to have you as part of the VC Lookfly team heading to WCBU this summer. How did this all come about for you?
AB: I met with VC and its crew at WJUC last year, where I was part of the Slovenian team as their photographer. While taking some photos from the finals I got into conversation with Adriana, got her contact and she told me to send her any "good ones" from the matches. So when I got back to Slovenia, I immediately edited the photos, send Adriana an email, she liked them and we remained in touch since. Earlier this year I was invited to be a part of the VC team at WCBU this June.
VC: What was WJUC like for you?
AB: It was an incredible experience to be at such a big ultimate event with thousands of people from across the globe. It was very exhausting as well because I was at the fields from morning till late afternoon and then I edited the photos and videos of the day and uploaded them, which was a tiny bit frustrating with the speed and consistency of the internet at the dorm where we stayed. But all in all a really great adventure, 10/10 would go again.
VC: What's your Ultimate background? How did you get in to the sport?
AB: I played hockey for about 14 years and when I got to college I quit and since we were always playing ultimate at recess at high school, I though I would give it a try. So I joined the local team. I got a lot of new friends and connections over it (as one does in Ultimate) but with going to college in another town, I kind of faded out of actively playing and began to take photos at local tournaments. My former teammates then asked me to take photos of their tryouts and tournaments more often and I still go when I have time.
VC: We've been using some of your photos - which are AWESOME - in our social media feeds lately. How does it feel to see your photos out there for more ultimate players to see?
AB: It's an incredible feeling whenever I see one of my pics being used anywhere else other than my own social media. I never would've thought that Ultimate would be the one thing in life that propelled my photography out into the world.
VC: What would be your dream with regards to ultimate and/or photography?
AB: I'm not quite sure yet. Of course it would be incredible if I could do photography full time but it is a hard business to get a grip on and to make a living out of, especially if you don't really want to do wedding photography (not that there is anything wrong with it, it's just not my kind of style).
VC: Slovenia is a beautiful country. Any tournaments that we should all keep in mind, or must-do's for visitors?
AB: Slovenia is a very special place in the sense that you can cross it in about a 4-hour drive and on the way you can visit some really old cities (from roman times), the mountains and the Mediterranean shore. With its position on the edges of Italy, Austria and the Balcan there was a lot going on here over the centuries. So as a tourist definitely visit Bled with its castle and its lake; Piran, which is a tiny town on the shore; Postojna cave, which is one of one of our biggest tourist attractions, but really anywhere you'll go you could find something to see.
As a Ultimate player you'll hear more and more about our teams in the future because the players here are really working hard on the next generation with a nation wide high school league. As for the tournaments I would say Woodchuck is getting bigger every year. It's an international tournament on high intermediate level. If you're more a fan of an indoor Ultimate maybe take a look at Free As A Bee (FAAB for short). Slovenia is still getting of ground with its Ultimate scene but it is getting there slowly but surely.
Follow Andraž Kramberger on social media to continuously be inspired by his beautiful work: https://www.instagram.com/krambergera/
Invalid password
Enter