biography

Master Gardener bio

Blog

I'm getting good at writing my biography in the third person.

My Master Gardener biography:

"From farmlands in Indiana to the Valley of Hearts Delight by way of Arizona deserts, Kitt Hodsden has been around plants and gardening her entire life. An avid ultimate frisbee player, Kitt enjoys building community websites at her day job, being outdoors hiking with her husband and two beagles, and gardening. She continually wonders if this year will be the year her front yard ceases to be the disaster it has been for the longest time."

My UCPC bio

Blog

The organizers, Tiina and George, of the UCPC want biographies for the presenters, of which I'm one. My talk is called "Ultimate for the non-gifted athlete." It's full of tips, tricks, mantras and strategies I've learned over the years on how to overcome the worst of disadvantages when playing ultimate.

In case you were wondering, that disadvantage would be the genetic one, where you can't teach height, etc.

I'm definitely out of practice when it comes to writing auto-biographies, but I gave it a shot when it came clear I couldn't convince Kris to write one for me.

Kitt Hodsden was first introduced to ultimate in the mid 1990's on a Santa Monica beach by her coworkers. She fell in love with the sport the first time she went up in a hospital throw with four other players, and, more surprised than her opponents, came down with the disc. She started playing ultimate seriously several years later, playing on local Los Angeles women's teams, before moving to Northern California and switching to Mixed division play. Following a steady-improvement approach, Kitt played on successfully better teams throughout her career, with this past season resulting in a Mixed Division Club Championship with her current team, Mischief.

Kitt participated in track, cross country and fencing in school, but ultimate is both the first team sport Kitt has ever played, as well as her first sport that involved flying objects. As a result, her journey through the sport is familiar to a great many ultimate players: beginner to intermediate to solid player, but not a rock star. Compensating for this, Kitt worked hard, and gained insights into game of ultimate by absorbing knowledge of the great players, star coaches and amazing strategists around her, applying their wisdom to her game: she may not make the big play, but she will always be there open on the swing cut for the continuation.

Ultimate has been a consistent theme in Kitt's life since those early days of beach ultimate. In addition to being a player, she has been a driving force as a lead organizer in several Northern California ultimate leagues. She was also a volunteer, and later web developer, for the Ultimate Player's Association, leading the development of the organization's online rostering tool.

In the real world, Kitt is a co-owner of CodingClan, LLC, a small web development firm specializing in building dynamic community websites. She lives in Northern California with her ultimate playing husband, Kris McQueen. Her writings can be found on her website, http://kitthodsden.org/.

Another item off the list of things to do this weekend.