April 4, 2022
The AUDL is excited to announce the launch of its Sky AUDL program, an initiative designed at cultivating a working relationship with the already thriving ultimate communities in Latin America. As part of the program’s launch, three AUDL teams—the DC Breeze, Los Angeles Aviators, and New York Empire—will be competing in showcase games in the annual Torneo Eterna Primavera (TEP) tournament held in Colombia’s city of Medellín on April 14-16, 2022. The Mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, will be in attendance as a VIP to make a ceremonial first toss of the disc.
“This is an exciting opportunity for the AUDL as we look forward to bringing our professional style of ultimate for the first time to Latin America,” said AUDL Commissioner Steve Hall. “The AUDL already has player representation across different Latin American countries, but we hope to expand this relationship by having a showcase in Medellín. Ultimate is already extremely popular among Latin American countries, and we feel it’s a great opportunity to generate additional excitement for the sport on an international basis.”
To help guide the launch of the Sky AUDL initiative, the league is pleased to announce its first Latin American program ambassador in Joc Jiménez. A former all-star with the Aviators in 2019, Jiménez will direct and manage clinics, and help build out a working group of coaches and mentors aimed at assisting their local communities in the growth of ultimate participation.
“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to play the sport I love with my team in front of my home country,” said Jiménez, who is originally from Bogota, Colombia. “This showcase will only increase the international presence of ultimate and I hope to see more fans, players, and coaches participating in professional ultimate in the future.”
The AUDL showcase games will be held on Saturday, April 16, and will be available live on AUDL.tv. The TEP games, as well as a full subscription to the channel, will have a new, lower pricing structure for Latin American residents; the AUDL will continue to work to offer adjusted pricing options on the streaming service, and for the first time in the AUDL’s history, each game will be broadcast in both English and Spanish on AUDL.tv.
The first exhibition will feature Los Angeles against an assembled team of Latin American all-stars, featuring Jiménez and a squad of some of the best players from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela. In the second showcase, the East Division’s toughest rivalry will take center stage as the Breeze square off against the 2019 AUDL champions and perennial playoff contenders from New York.
Be sure to follow the full showcase series at TEP.
Thursday, April 14
PUL Showcase - Women’s Division
Revolution (COL) vs Milwaukee Monarchs (USA)
8:15 PM/ET - 7:15 PM Medellín time
Friday, April 15
World Games Scrimmage "Partido Exhibición World Games" - Mixed Division
Sel. Colombia (COL) vs All-Stars (USA)
8:40 PM/ET - 7:40 PM Medellín
Saturday, April 16
AUDL Showcase #1 - Open Division
Los Angeles Aviators (USA) vs All-Stars (Latin America)
8:30 PM/ET - 7:30 PM Medellín
AUDL Showcase #2 - Open Division
New York Empire (USA) vs DC Breeze (USA)
10:15 PM/ET - 9:15 PM Medellín
Latin American All-Stars Roster
Eugenio “Pipi” Petermann
31 years old - 8 years experience - Argentina
Alejandro “Ale” Mora
24 years old - 3 years experience - Chile
Benjamín “Polanco” Pérez
24 years old - 2 years experience - Chile
Jose “Rosero” Giraldo
27 years old - 9 years experience - Colombia
Andrés “Rama” Ramírez
24 years old - 10 years experience - Colombia
Luis Sebastian “Español”
24 years old - 6 years experience - Colombia
Jonathan “Cantor” Herrera
34 years old - 12 years experience - Colombia
Jose Jiménez Aguirre
33 years old - 14 years experience - Colombia
Hector Ordoñez
31 years old - 12 years experience - Colombia
Juan Pablo "Pacheco"
25 years old - 12 years experience - Colombia
Daniel “Montoya” Giraldo
33 years old - 12 years experience - Colombia
José “Joc” Jiménez
27 years old - 9 years experience - Colombia
Jordi “Jordeta” Rodriguez
24 years old - 10 years experience - Dominican Republic
Cristóbal “Cristo” Díaz
29 years old - 7 years experience - Dominican Republic
Jorge “Airvan” López
26 years old - 11 years experience - Mexico
Esteban “STB” Castañeda
32 years old - 11 years experience - Mexico
Luis “Cheje” Sánchez
29 years old - 10 years experience - Mexico
Cristian “King” Pinzon
27 years old - 10 years experience - Panama
Victor "Junior" Blanco
26 years old - 12 years experience - Venezuela
Luis “Lucho” Tarre
40 years old - 24 years experience - Venezuela
Joberth “Cochito” Chirivella
24 years old - 7 years experience - Venezuela
Jhony “Xavier” Acevedo
31 years old - 14 years experience - Venezuela
Jonathan “Nathan” Zuleta
33 years old - 18 years experience - Venezuela
About the Los Angeles Aviators
The Los Angeles Aviators are a professional ultimate team that competes in the West Division of the American Ultimate Disc League. The mission of the Los Angeles Aviators is to promote family-friendly entertainment, improve health, and create stronger community through professional ultimate in Southern California. For more information visit https://theaudl.com/aviators.
About the Latin American All-Stars
The Latin American All-Star team for the 2022 AUDL Showcase is some of the best Ultimate talent from countries across North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. This team, with representatives from El Rio Grande to the Patagonia, will serve as the beginning of a Latin American professional development program. This extraordinary mix of experienced players from seven countries will showcase their talents during this unique AUDL event.
About the New York Empire
The New York Empire are a professional ultimate team that competes in the East Division of the American Ultimate Disc League. The team entered the AUDL in 2013 and won the AUDL Championship in 2019. For more information visit https://theaudl.com/empire.
About the DC Breeze
The DC Breeze are a professional ultimate team that competes in the East Division of the American Ultimate Disc League. Established in 2013, the DC Breeze proudly represent the District of Colombia and the National Capital region as they launch their tenth AUDL this year. For more information visit https://theaudl.com/breeze.
About The AUDL and Professional Ultimate
The American Ultimate Disc League was founded in 2012 to introduce and showcase our talented athletes and precision play to a global audience. Ultimate is a fast flowing and highly athletic low-contact sport that is played by advancing a disc down a field to score in the end zone. Players cannot run with the disc, and play continues until one team scores.
With pinpoint passing and the unique flight of the disc, each game generates many exciting catches and defensive plays that frequently appear on EPSN’s Sports Center Top 10, Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, and other leading sports shows.
The league has 25 teams representing the US and Canada. Each team competes in a 12-game regular season schedule, with top teams entering a playoff round and division winners advancing to a final four style Championship Weekend. Our audience enjoys our exciting, affordable, family-friendly events, devour our highlights and video features on social media, and watch our full-length games on TV or streamed online.
