History
In the spring of 2006, a number of talented Rochester-area high school students were gathered under the team name of Lime Disease to play in the UPA New York State High School Championships. At its conclusion, buoyed by their success and cameraderie, Charlie Saunders, aided and encouraged by Andrej Ababovic, Kyle Cackett, Kelsey Cowles, and Nate Konte, hatched a youth club team concept. They chose the name BlueREY (REY standing for Rochester Elite Youth) and the team logo was designed by
Kelsey. Their goal was to reach the UPA Youth Club Championships (YCCs) in August 2007, their senior year in high school for most of them. Charlie and Kelsey were the first captains and Jude Lombard-Newell was selected as their coach. Tryouts were held at the beginning of the summer of 2006 and 20 players were placed on the roster.
At that time, there were few youth club teams in the United States (and none were located within reasonable traveling distance from Rochester) and very few youth tournaments except for YCCs. In Rochester, youth were encouraged to play on organized high school teams in the SPRY and SLY Leagues, but were discouraged from playing on teams in the adult leagues. An entire team of youth players playing in the adult leagues meant overcoming much resistance. Unfortunately, this meant few opportunities to hone their Ultimate skills locally. That year, despite being a youth team, BlueREY found three adult tournaments - Ow-My-Knee, RUB, and Club Sectionals - and the Fall BYOCT league to play in. They were well on their way to raising their level of play, and needed to raise funds for their intended goal by finding sponsors. A spirited presentation was made to the GRADA board as a potential underwriter and plans were also made to offer custom-designed Ultrastar™ discs, fleece jackets, hats, and bumper stickers for purchase to family, friends, and the Rochester Ultimate community.
Although the response from the GRADA board for sponsorship was lukewarm, BlueREY pressed on, looking for more opportunities to play and for funding. The spring of 2007 saw entry into one more tournament and league play before BlueREY's bid to go to YCCs was denied. The reasons given - GRADA was a non-sanctioned UPA league (as it still continues to be today) and the number of players in GRADA was small compared to other non-sanctioned leagues from the big cities that did receive bids. Undaunted, BlueREY decommissioned their homemade T-shirts, donned their new Patagonia™ shirts, and played in four more tournaments that year before most of them went off to college in the fall.
2008 brought a significant scaling back in BlueREY, but, with some returning alumni, they still made time to play in their favorite tournament, Ow-My-Knee. They also held the First BlueREY Invitational, a spirited local coed tournament, as a fundraiser for future travel expenses. At the end of the season, the coaching reins passed to Adam Nogaj. Under Coach Adam, BlueREY traveled again to Ow-My-Knee and held the Second BlueREY Invitational in 2009.
Since that early time in 2006, many have passed through the ranks of BlueREY. The camaraderie and enthusiasm of that first team is still evident as interested youth from high schools around the Rochester area gather to develop their skills on the Ultimate fields.