 Kira Frew playing at Potlatch 2004 |
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 Frew v. Team USA at WUGC 2004, Finland |
Kira Frew was selected to be the player featured this month because she is an up-and-coming player on a team that will be striving to be one of the top teams in the Northwest. Additionally, Frew has the unique experience of playing on the Canadian Juniors National team in both 2002 and 2004, winning Worlds both times. Read below to find out more information about her ultimate beginnings, history, skills/profile, and upcoming college season.
Ultimate Beginnings:
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Ultimate History:
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What other sports do you have a background in and when did you play them?
I was a gymnast for seven years and played a bit of basketball, volleyball and softball throughout elementary and high school.
Where and when did you first learn to play ultimate?
My friends taught me to throw when I was in grade 8, and I started playing ultimate with my high school team in grade ten. My high school, Prince of Wales, had a well developed program and had a large pool of excellent players to learn from. Since then, many of these players make up the core of the UBC Ultimate teams and are some of the best young players in Vancouver.
What about the sport has made you continue to play it since then?
I have continued to play ultimate because I love the competition and athleticism in the sport at the highest levels. I have also had the opportunity to travel with the sport to some really great places like Latvia, Finland, Montreal, and the West Coast of the U.S. Most of my friends continue to play, which adds a great social aspect to the sport as well.
Who would you describe as your main mentor(s)?
The first team that I played on was with Oscar Pottinger (currently playing with UBC and open club team Furious George) and he helped teach me a lot about the game. It’s really inspiring to watch him play because he is such a great player for his age. Leslie Calder and Steph Chow from Prime would probably be my main mentors right now.
How do you think the timing of when someone learns to play (juniors,
college, leagues, club, etc.) affects their ultimate career? How has
it affected yours?
I think that the timing of when someone learns how to play ultimate can definitely influence their ultimate career. Learning ultimate as a Junior I had the opportunity to be coached by some of the top players in the sport, allowing me to learn the game fairly quickly. By learning from these players I have always had an appreciation for the more competitive nature of the game. This allowed me to go into university and play my first year with a strong set of skills. I think that if I had learned to play ultimate later on I would have missed out on a lot of amazing experiences that I had from starting to play at a young age.
What teams have you played on?
Prince of Wales Secondary School(won Bc high school Provincials, 2003)
DFA – a juniors team made up of Prince of Wales players (won Junior Canadian Nationals, 2001)
Canadian Junior Women National teams in Latvia (2002) and Finland (2004) (won Worlds, 2002 & 2004)
TFP – a coed team of UBC players (won Mixed Canadian Nationals 2004)
UBC – 2nd year playing
What has been your greatest ultimate achievement/memory?
Winning in Finland this last year was one of the greatest achievements in my ultimate career. Although I had won World’s in Latvia, this win seemed more memorable because the competition was so much better this time around and I felt much more involved with the team since I was a returning player to the team. Our team had to play a really strong game in order to achieve this success and it was really great winning with such a great group of girls.
Please describe the experience of being on the Canadian Juniors team at Worlds this summer. How was the team selected? How did the team come together before and during the tournament? What did it feel like to represent your country at such an international event?
The team was selected through an application process, without any try-outs. It’s really hard to bring applicants together for a try out process, and wasn’t really necessary in this case. Within the relatively small Canadian Juniors community it is fairly obvious who should be on the team and the number of applicants is generally small as well.
Before the tournament we had a weeklong training camp in Winnipeg to bring everyone together. The training camp allowed us to get to know everyone on the team and start to learn to play with each other. Learning to play the same types of offence and zones was the greatest challenge, however I thought we came together surprisingly fast, which was key to winning. We continued to improve our game as a team throughout the entire tournaeRepresenting Canada was an honour, and it was really fun to see all the Canadian teams in the finals, and supporting each other.
What has been your worst (most heartbreaking, most challenging, or most
embarrassing) ultimate memory?
Losing to Berkley at regionals in the game to go was really tough. The year before that, my juniors team had lost in Semi’s of Canadian Nationals. Both games were lost by one point which made them particularly heartbreaking. The loss to Berkeley has motivated me to improve my fitness and my overall skill level in order to play my best game at Worlds.
 Frew playing on Team Canada in 2004 |
Ultimate Skills/Profile: What position do you play? Has this differed on different teams you may have played for? I have always handled except for in Finland, where I was an initiating lane cutter in our horizontal offense. What do you view as your strengths on the field? Fitness, speed, defense. What are you working on most to improve? I have been trying to develop my long game. What is your role on your college team (include leadership roles on and off the field)? Last year our team had solid leadership with Steph Smith, Michelle Ning, Megan O’Brien and Justina Larrington. With that leadership my role was to just play my best game. With the graduation of some of these players, I am hoping to get more involved with the team this year. |
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Upcoming College Season:
What do you most look forward to during the upcoming season?
I am really looking forward to playing college ultimate again. I had a lot of fun playing last year and am really excited for the upcoming season. I’m looking forward to playing our first college tournament this year, probably President’s Day, to see how our team matches up against the other college women’s teams. The college series is definitely a highlight of the season for me because there are so many good teams in the Northwest region so the competition is unreal. It’s also nice to leave our frozen wasteland to bask in the beautiful Californian sun.
How strong do you think your college team will be this year?
Despite losing some core players from last year, I think the team will be pretty good this year.
What are your goals (and your team's goals) for how far you think the
team will advance?
The biggest goal for the team is to make Nationals, but it is hard to tell so early in the season how we will match up.
Continue to check www.icultimate.com to see how Frew and UBC fare during the college season.
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