Name: Leila Tunnell
College(s) attended: Connecticut College (Freshman and Sophomore Year) UNC Chapel Hill (Junior, Senior and grad school)
Years on current college team: 3
Class year: Graduate Student
How were you first introduced to ultimate?
My brother introduced me to the sport of Ultimate when I was in the fifth grade. That was the year that he started playing ultimate under Michael Bacarinni at the Paideia School in Atlanta, GA. He and I would go throw around in our front yard all the time, and that summer I started going to the Paideia Youth Ultimate Camp.
What are some of your interests outside of Ultimate?
I was a vocal performance major in undergrad, so I love to sing (although now, mostly only around the house or at ultimate practice…). Currently I am getting my masters in music education and hope to be an Elementary School General Music teacher starting next August. Outside of ultimate and school though, the things I enjoy most are cooking extravagant meals, knitting, drinking tea and sleeping.
What is it about college ultimate that you particularly enjoy?
I think what makes college ultimate so wonderful and unique is the type of relationships that you can develop on a college team. More so than at any other level I feel as if my college team has become my family. We all spend so much time year-round playing and hanging out with each other that we can’t help becoming really close. All of my best friends are people that I have played with, and that level of intimacy enhances the team atmosphere so much. When I transferred to UNC I was very nervous about starting my college experience over and making new friends, but I immediately found my home in the ultimate community and had 25 close friends within 15 minutes of first stepping onto the field with Pleiades.
Tell us about your favorite college ultimate experiences.
I have had some really wonderful experiences with Pleiades, but one of the highlights was making College Nationals for the first time my junior year. Since high school, I had dreamed of going to College Nationals. While I learned a lot and had a great time playing Ultimate at Connecticut College, CC had their first regionals appearance my freshman year and we competed savage in the series both years that I was there – a far shot from going to Nationals. UNC lost in the finals of Regionals to UNCW on universe point, but winning the backdoor game to get the second bid to nationals was possibly the highlight of my ultimate career. It was such an incredible feeling to be a part of a team of such dedicated and talented women – all my age- and to achieve so much success together as a team.
Where/how have you honed your skills?
My main focus throughout my ultimate career has been on improving the distance and accuracy of my throws. Through high school and college, it has been my primary strength and I have spent hours and hours and hours throwing outside of practices and games working on my hucks and my throwing form. Recently however, I have realized that in order to be the best player I can be, I need to work harder to improve my athleticism and conditioning in order to be dangerous both as an active thrower, downfield, and in one-on-one defensive matchups. Ultimate is only getting more fast-paced and athletic, so I think it is really important to be able to compete athletically in addition to fine-tuning skills.
What’s your favorite college tournament to play in?
I have yet to play in a college tournament I have not enjoyed, but my favorite has probably been College Nationals. There is nothing quite like the high you get from competing against the top athletes of your age group in your sport. Every game you play, whether it is against the 1st seed or the 20th seed, you get the best competition and everyone on the field is working as hard as they can, which I think is a rare event.
What are you goals for your team this season?
I am incredibly excited about this coming college season. I think that UNC Pleiades is stronger than we have ever been as a program with almost half of our team competing in the club series this past fall and 4 attending Club Nationals. I came into this season wanting to win nationals. That was my goal. However, upon further reflection and following the example and sage advice of our coach Lindsey Hack, I have come to realize that no matter what happens in the series, I am ecstatic to get the opportunity to play one more year with this incredible team. I want us to work as hard as we can. If we do that, we will be very successful.
Did you play club this past season? How are club and college ultimate different?
I have been playing club since 2004. First with Ozone in Atlanta, then with Brutesquad in Boston, then with Backhoe when I first came to North Carolina. This past club season, however, Lindsey Hack, Cate Foster and I started the team Phoenix; a new NC women’s team. We really wanted to emphasize respect and positivity in our new program and we had a really great season playing together and finished 8th at nationals – a great accomplishment for a first-year program. This past season with Phoenix was the most a club season has felt like college ultimate to me. We all became really good friends and were more concerned with enjoying playing with each other than winning, and it reaped really fantastic rewards. I have always been one of the youngest players if not the youngest player on my club team, so there is still nothing quite like college ultimate for me since everyone is so close in age, but this past season with Phoenix has given me so much hope that I can live happily once I am no longer eligible to play college ultimate.
What do you think it will take for women’s college ultimate to move forward?
I think it is really crucial for women’s college ultimate to grow on the east coast in order for the level of play across the country to improve. Women’s ultimate in general has been dominated for so long by west coast teams, largely because there are so many strong youth ultimate programs in California and Seattle. Additionally, west coast teams get so many more opportunities to grow from playing with and against each other because of the proximity of competitive programs and due to the fact that almost all of the most competitive women’s tournaments take place on the west coast. Historically, non-west coast teams have had to travel west to get good competition pre-nationals, denying the development of good regional competition and healthy rivalries elsewhere in the countrywhich I think has, in part, stunted the growth of women’s ultimate. I believe that this trend is beginning to change with the growth of tournaments such as Centex, Easterns, Queen City and Philly Classic, but I believe that it will take a lot more development of girls youth programs and the bolstering of non-west coast tournaments in order for women’s ultimate to really move forward to the greatest extent.
