LA Beach Ultimate

Having moved to Ohio in July from Long Beach, I left behind many things including my job, Ultimate and friends. I miss my friends and Ultimate the most. The scene in LA that Corey describes is hard to replace. When I first moved to LA in the late 80's I was playing Ultimate 6 days per week and even twice on Sundays sometimes. The League system isn't huge like other cities, but playing outside for Winter League is pretty awesome no matter how many teams there are. For whatever reason we didn't play on the beach that much back then. There was no tournament and no organized pick up. The Lei-out tournament didn't even start until 2000. Now it's huge and more and more people are playing on the beach in LA. Beach Ultimate is awesome for many reasons.
1. You never have to fight for field space
2. You don't have to wear cleats
3. You don't need very many people. You can have fun playing 4 on 4.
4. You can play in the rain (of course you can play in the rain on grass, but you have to worry about damaging the field and that's not an issue with sand)

I find it to be a great work out and easier on my body. I started a beach game on Saturdays in Long Beach so that I could play without having to drive very far. This was essential when we started having kids and time became more of an issue. That's one thing about Ultimate in LA, you do have to be willing to spend some time on the freeway. Playing Ultimate and then kicking it on the beach afterwards having some beers is a great way to spend a Saturday. To make it even better you hit the Belmont Brewery after that for some great food and microbrew. I've played indoor here once and it was okay. That new turf is nice, but not the same as playing on the beach in Southern California.