Jines in the Pines history by Bala Chaudhary
Disclaimer: This is totally from memory, so forgive me if I forget names and exact happenings. Also, I came to NAU in 2003, so this historical account begins then. That said, I’m almost certain that there was no women’s ultimate presence at NAU before 2003.
The first sighting of an NAU women’s ultimate Frisbee team began during the 2003-2004 school year and was initiated by a great player, Ann Halbach. Ann was from Wisconsin and had played ultimate there. She came out regularly to townie pickup and I think dreamed of starting an NAU women’s team. She had a lot of enthusiasm for the sport and started women’s practices, which I attended too. About 7-10 girls were interested but attendance at practices was weak and we didn’t go to any tournaments that year.
In 2004-2005, a freshman from Tucson came to NAU named, Jessica Creamer. Jessica had played in high school – she was really into ultimate, had the skills, and would continue to be a force for years to come. The fact that NAU didn’t have a women’s team did not stop her – she regularly practiced with the NAU men’s team (now becoming more established due to the efforts of captain Ollie Meade and coach Lawrence Walters). This was not the most glorious ultimate because women don’t get much playing time in open divisions at tournaments, but she stuck with it and improved her skills substantially.
Although NAU did not have a women’s team that year, NAU women started becoming more present in teams that townies put together for tournaments. Jessica played with the townie team Funkshui (sweet outfits, awesome dance) at Hoasis and started to encourage other NAU girls to come try ultimate too. A big recruit was Lauren Boyle, who would go on to years of leadership in NAU ultimate. Jessica and Lauren also played on CamelToe, the one and only time ever that Flagstaff sent a women’s non-college club team to a tournament (Chupacapra in Tucson). We had shiny gold miniskirts/tube tops, disgusting cheers, and a sweet dance.
In 2005-2006, an exchange student from North Carolina came to NAU to study for fall semester. Her name was Kaci Torres and she was shocked that we didn’t have a women’s team (women’s ultimate in NC is big). Even though she was only going to be here for a semester she was a major force behind this next attempt at starting an NAU women’s ultimate team. Kaci, Jessica, and Lauren put up hundreds of flyers and 40 girls came out to the first practice – way more than we expected! Kaci, Jessica, and Lauren became the first captains and I came on as coach. Ann also played with this new team. That fall we had a scrimmage with UofA Scorch in Flagstaff and beat them handedly. We also went to SoCal in SanDeigo, winning some games and even doing well against teams like UCLA. We always did way better than you would expect for a first year team because our play was athletic and aggressive. After some brief time being called Baba Banouj, we finally came game up with the awesomest team name in the world, JINES IN THE PINES!!! I think Mav thought it up in the way back from a tournament in Vegas. In the spring, Whitney Rooney (solid) took over as third captain after Kaci went back to NC. Also, some key freshmen started that year – Kristine Akland, Megan Weber, Rosi Fry, and Lauren Eatchel (aka Cricket). I think we played New Year’s Fest, Sectionals and made it to Regionals that year after winning universe point with UNM Bombshells in the game to go. Love it.
In 2006-2007, Jines in the Pines had become an institution. I coached through the fall, but then began traveling a lot for research, so passed the coaching torch to Jack Wade (Statistics instructor) who led the girls to sectionals and regionals that spring. In 2007-2008, Ben Jaffe (new bio grad student from Chicago) took over coaching.
The Jines continue to grow and improve every year and it has been a pleasure to see it happen. This team has done wonders for women’s ultimate in Flagstaff and I hope to see it continue to flourish in the years to come.