Dear Parents, Alumni, and Friends of Brownian Motion-

Another exciting spring season is upon us! Final additions have been made to the A team roster, track workouts are underway, and, of course, a blizzard has buried New England. Despite the blustery cold of winter in Providence, we look ahead to fun spring with a lot of new guys. But, before we look ahead, let’s take a look back at what has transpired since last May.

Rookie captains Reid Hopkins ’06 and Colin Mahoney ’07 have proven once again that the Brown program rests on strong leadership. Reid and Colin led us through the fall season and team-selection process with equanimity. Despite having only nine available returning A team players, our annual Fall League was a success. Mike Pozar ’05 Grad ’06, Jimmy Lowe ’08, and Mike Vandenberg ’08 were all significant contributors to the organization of fall league. By the time the air in Providence was beginning to have a bite to it, a crop of youngsters was cultivated that will impact our program immensely over the next four years.

These young fellas got to prove their mettle at our annual home tournament, Huck-A-Hunk O’ Burnin’ Pumpkin, in November. B-Mo played well, winning its first five games without much fanfare. In the end, Brown finished second after a tough loss to UMass. Nonetheless, with only eight returning players, a second place finish was nothing if not a positive result.

Our B teams had their usual HHBP grudge match on Sunday as well. This year, it pitted the British versus the French, for perhaps the hundredth time in history. Alec Pinkham ’08, alongside Aleksey Novikov ’07 and Hiro Tanaka ’08, led France valiantly against a good English team. As always, the grudge match was truly a colorful event, with England prevailing in the end. Kudos to the Brits led by Ben Frank ’07, Elliott Jones ’06, and Craig McGowan ‘07.

Winter break saw the addition of ten new players to the A team. In the interest of keeping this e-mail under 50,000 words, I’ll defer a write-up on the new guys for another day. Needless to say, we don’t rebuild, we reload.

Brown then traveled to Atlanta, GA, in mid-January, for a bit of practice and Southern comfort at Jimmy and Mike V.’s. Notable on this trip were two close scrimmages against a full-strength Georgia squad that gave everyone a reason to be pumped about the spring. Also notable was a trip to Daddy D’s for some filthy BBQ ribs, A-town style.

On an entirely different note, Coach Nathan Wicks has decided not to coach this year. Tom Matthews will step up as the head coach. To fill the void left by Coach Wicks, we have added two phenomenal ultimate players and good friends, Josh Ziperstein ’05 and Paul Vandenberg ’05. While we can no longer look to the play “Paul to Zip” to bail us out in a tight spot, we can certainly look to these two to provide invaluable guidance alongside Coach Tom.

Quickly, before closing, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Jon Greer. I graduated in 2004 but have continued at Brown in medical school. I started playing ultimate my senior year in college and it has had an enormous impact on my life. I never thought I’d get a chance to play ultimate at this level and I can’t help but be honored to be a part of this tradition.

Please do not hesitate to e-mail me with any questions or comments you’d like to make (or feel free to track me down at tournaments if you'd prefer). The team is always gracious to have input from past players, parents, and friends. We could not be the institution that we are without our support network- from RI to CA our supporters come out of the woodwork to cheer us on. Nothing is more exciting than seeing old friends line the field in some far-off locale, making the game feel more like HHBP than Stanford (minus the weather, of course).

Along with your emotional support, your financial support is invaluable. The financial burden of ultimate is an entity of which past players and parents are acutely aware. With this in mind, please help us to buy plane tickets, equipment, and other necessities by donating to our team. As was the case last year, we ask that you donate to Brownian Motion through the Brown Sports Foundation (www.sportsfoundation.brown.edu). With your help, we can continue our great tradition at tournaments all across the country.

Hope to hear from you.

Best wishes,
Jon
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