Spinning Ahead, Spiders look to 2024
Dear Spiders Family,
Thank you, thank you, a thousand times thank you for your support for the Spiders and our community this season. While I'd be lying if I said the sudden end to this magical season wasn't disappointing, I cannot be more grateful to our players, staff, and the entire Spiders Ultimate Community for your commitment to building Ultimate in Oakland through grit and joy this season.
For those that haven't seen the final results, the Spiders 2023 season has come to an end following two hard-fought, thrilling games in Socal last weekend. On Friday night, playing in Santa Barbara, the Los Angeles Aviators scored the go-ahead goal with two seconds remaining to prevail 24-23 over Oakland. With the season on the line Saturday night in San Diego, the Spiders once again came up just short as the Growlers prevailed 20-19, again scoring the deciding goal with just 2 seconds left in regulation. Despite these setbacks, this Spiders season has been special for so many reasons.
In just our second full year in Oakland we saw a young, unproven team come together on the field and in the community. The Spiders improved from 4-8 in 2022, to 7-5 and fighting for playoffs all year in 2023. The team volunteered over 500 hours at community events throughout the Bay Area including Oakland's Black Joy Parade, SF Pride, and Bay Area Disc Association (BADA) tournaments. We welcomed more than 2800 fans on Spiders gamedays, introducing many to an amazing team and sport. These highlights, along with so many other great memories, were possible thanks to your support. You, and the rest of the Spiders 8th leg, inspired us to play for Oakland and our growing Ultimate family every practice, every game, every day.
Now that our regular season has concluded, I've been asked, what comes next? In short, the Spiders keep spinning our web!
In the coming months we'll be working hard to improve upon our success this season and broaden and deepen our impact in the community. The Spiders will continue to work with BADA, OUSD, and our Bay Area community partners to provide more Ultimate programs for youth while giving back to our community. We'll be looking for new strategic partnerships to support our team and grow our sport, and we'll look to expand our team of coaches, staff, and volunteers to deliver an amazing experience at every Spiders event.
Throughout the process we'll be asking for your help and feedback to ensure our team supports and reflects our community at every step of the journey. To that end, we'd be grateful for five minutes of your time to complete a short survey about your experience with the Spiders this season. One respondent will be randomly selected to receive a signed Spiders disc and hat as a thank you for completing the survey, and additional feedback is always welcome and accepted via email at info@oaklandspiders.com
As we prepare for the year ahead and our 10th season in the AUDL, we're grateful to play for the best fans in Ultimate, and for your support and help developing our culture and community. Thank you again for an amazing 2023 season, stay on the lookout for updates over the coming weeks in your inbox and via our social media @oaklandspiders, and remember-
8 Legs, 1 Heart- 5-1-OAKLAND!
Cheers,
Jackson Stearns
Team President & General Manager
