Emory Women's Ultimate was unofficially begun in Spring of 2000. A few loyal women practiced weekly and made it to a few tournaments. A year later, Emory Women's Ultimate has finally taken shape as Luna. Founding member Kristen Jacobsen named her team after the Luna bar. Like the Luna bar is made for women, the Lunachicks are proud to step out of the co-ed team mold and form a team of ultimate women. We are a first year program, branching off from the Men's Ultimate Club in Fall 2001. After competing in our first full college season, we are psyched for next year and encourage all women interested in playing Ultimate to come out and join us. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have, we'd love to hear from you or even better- see you on the field!
We've also enlisted the help of two amazing coaches, seasoned ultimate players Kate Shropshire and Alice Rolls. With years of ultimate expertise, they help bring Luna together with focused, intense and fun practices. They have instilled in us both the skill and spirit necessary to be a winning program. Practices are regularly attended by upwards of 20 members, and excitement is building daily as we begin our tournament season. Expect big things in the coming years, Luna is just beginning...
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Luna's first coaches:
Coach K and Alice |
Daughter of a former Emory professor, Kate grew up across Peavine Creek from Emory University. She played soccer and basketball for Paideia School, but graduated before Paideia established an ultimate team. She was first introduced to, and subsequently hooked on, ultimate as a junior at Guilford College, where she played with current Luna team member Susan Allen. After a few years of playing coed, Kate returned to Atlanta and played with Fetch, a women's team captained by Alice Rolls. Besides coaching Luna, Kate plays year-round in AFDC's ultimate and goaltimate leagues. In the non-frisbee world, she works for a biotech company and is an MBA grad student.
Alice can claim no ties to Emory except that she used to play ultimate on the lush Emory fields back in the 1980's when access was more lenient. Alice hails from Virginia where she grew up and later attended the University of Virginia. She was a member of UVA's Varsity Field Hockey team and during the offseaon was known to tinker with a frisbee during an occasional intramural game. Not until she landed in Atlanta did she really learn how to throw a flick and the true meaning of "hold the line". Alice has played ultimate for 12 years including World and National Championships as a member of Ozone. More recently, she has played and coached for Fetch. During office hours, you can find Alice running shop at the Environmental Fund for Georgia where she raises funds and awareness for 23 environmental groups in an attempt to safeguard a cleaner, greener world.
Kristen attempted to start her women's team several times before it finally took off. But her perserverence paid off in the spring of 2001 when she took her team to both sectionals and regionals, along with other tournaments, where they put on quite a show in their new skirts. After graduating KJ helped out the Luna girls with their throws and was the team advisor for the 2001-2002 season. Currently living in DC, we're sure KJ will be back in no time to resume her involvement with Luna.