Triangle Partnership || Raleigh Radiance & Raleigh Flyers
BE Ultimate Apparel roots itself in drive, hard work, and passion for sport. This sentiment has been translated into all of the actions and decisions we make. To continue to BE Better and push for excellence we are excited to announce our partnership with four extremely high-level teams.
Here are the first two profiles..
Profile || Raleigh Radiance
Q: How long has your club been around and how did it start?
A: Raleigh Radiance was founded in 2018, with our inaugural game on April 21, 2018 vs. Nashville NightShade. Radiance was started through conversations and collaborations between the Raleigh Flyers organization and local women leaders from women's and mixed ultimate.
Q: What's the story behind your name?
A: Radiance is the collective noun for a group of cardinals, the NC state bird. We chose this name for that significance and wanting to keep on theme with the Flyers and North Carolina symbols.
Q: What do you think makes your team different?
A: Our roster represents the diversity of talented female players in the Triangle, across NC, and throughout the East Coast. We want to emphasize the power of bringing women together from different divisions, and facilitate cooperation and friendship among all female ultimate players!
Q: What are your goals for the upcoming season?
A: This season we are focused on introducing a professional option to women in ultimate with the goal of promoting this format to our outstanding community in the Triangle. We also want to work alongside the other women's teams forming to promote professional women's ultimate across the country. We hope to build interest and partnerships to grow the sport of ultimate, especially in this women's professional setting, while engaging with our community.
Profile || Raleigh Flyers
Q: How long has your club been around and how did it start?
A: The Raleigh Flyers have been competing in the AUDL since our inaugural season in 2015. Casey Degnan and Mike Denardis built the franchise on top of excellent ultimate talent that existed in North Carolina with the goal of creating a championship caliber professional team.
Q: What's the story behind your name?
A: North Carolina has historically carried the description of being the state that was “first in flight” and this fit perfectly into the high flying world of ultimate. The process to determine the name was long and arduous with some humorous discards that will remain private.
Q: What do you think makes your team different?
A: I think when the team started we had a number of veteran players from the area who were used to cultivating a very gritty defensive mentality on top of an aggressive offense that enjoyed challenging teams deep. We’re a team that has very strong roots in the state and most of our talent is homegrown from within North Carolina, though in 2017 we started to attract more out of state talent with the acquisitions of Goose Helton, Bob Liu and, most recently, Mischa Freystaetter. A lot of our older veterans love the fact that we don’t necessarily draw superstars from out of state. There’s also definitely a burning desire within our local players to secure a championship for Raleigh, something that hasn’t yet been done at the club or pro level.
I think the franchise as a whole is built on the vision of that a lot of people share here in the triangle. We want to be the part of the US that produces the best ultimate teams and best ultimate talent. We’ve just started achieving that at the youth and college level across both divisions and we still have yet to see how our efforts to build ultimate in the community will pay off at the club and professional level. Talking with older players on Ring of Fire or the Flyers, North Carolina wasn’t necessarily producing ultimate superstars in the men’s division until fairly recently, though we certainly have in women’s. Superstars like Nethercutt, Williams, and Fairfax are a fairly recent development for the area.
Q: What are your goals for the upcoming season?
A: We have all the pieces to win championships in all events we partake in, we just need to become as efficient of a team as we possibly can. The early season tests of the AUDL has certainly shown us that we have room to grow.
Check out the archive of the Radiance taking on the Nightshade! Also, be sure to check out the Radiance's home opener!
If you are interested in partnering with BE Ultimate Apparel please shoot us an email at info@beultimate.com and see how you can BE Better than Ever.