History
Gender Blender is the creation of Mark Evans and Dan Berman, who together thought up and nurtured the tournament from inception to a 40 team carnival throughout the opening seven years.
Starting in 1997 as an early development in competitive mixed ultimate, Gender Blender quickly developed a reputation as the essential start to a summer of ultimate in the Great Lakes area. Teams are attracted from as far afield as Denver, New York and Cincinnati.
Mark and Dan put in a great effort over their tenure and decided to hand over the reins to Karen Hood, Dilhan Kuru and Giles Deshon in 2004. They continued the legacy of Gender Blender for 4 years, in spite of a new family member for Karen and Giles, and a severe leg fracture for Giles at the tourney in 2007, their final year hosting the event.
In 2008, the tourney came under the direction of The Ultimate Experience. With teams and players coming from as far afield as England, Mexico, Australia, Germany and beyond, Gender Blender is gaining ground as a must-see event in the global ultimate community.
To date Gender Blender has been profiled in a documentary, had a feature documentary made about it, and most recently enjoyed a segment on Blockstack.tv
Blue and the rest of his team are very excited for the future of this event as they continue to expand the tourney to include more teams.