Nickel city ultimate
board of directors
Hey there! My name is Mike Kanaby, but you can call me Bert. I’ve been involved in the Buffalo Ultimate Community since 2009, when I entered the scene as a freshman at the University at Buffalo. Ultimate was love at first sight for me. I loved the game, I loved the competitiveness, and most of all, I loved the people. That is all still true to this day as I continue to be heavily involved in the sport that stole my heart.
I’ve spent most of my Ultimate time here as a player, but I’ve also served as a Captain and a Coach. Over the more recent years, my involvement has revolved around being the President of Buffalo Club Ultimate, as well as performing various odds and ends for Nickel City Ultimate as a board member. This work allows me to still be involved in the community, while balancing other priorities. While I may not be quite the player that I once was, I’ll still dust off the cleats from time to time and embarrass myself in front of the younger generation 🙂
I have many treasured memories in the realm of Ultimate Frisbee, but I’d rather share something more broad. The single most impactful thing that Ultimate Frisbee has given me (other than a wife and tons of friends that I consider family), is the platform to hone my leadership ability. Time and time again, this experience has helped me to be a more empathetic, caring, and patient person. Skills that I continue to work on every day with the help of everyone in this community, something that I couldn’t possibly be more thankful for.
Last, but not least, I do have some non-ultimate related things in my life. First up, my wife, Jennine! Okay, okay, she is technically ultimate related, but I like to think that her around backhand was not the only reason I pursued her ;). On March 30th 2021, I became a first time Dad to my son Otis, he’s a pretty incredible tiny-human. I also spend a lot of time at my “real” job where I manage Data Conversion projects for a software company. While the subject area is horribly boring (California Property Tax), the work I do is incredibly challenging in a good way, and it pushes me to continue to be a better leader, much in the same way Ultimate Frisbee does. It is the only job that I have ever had that pushes me in a similar way and I plan to be there for a long time until starting my retirement gig as an Ultimate Coach.
I love my family, I love my friends and I love my Ultimate community so much. I am a wife and stay at home, homeschooling mom of four amazing kids. I have been playing Ultimate for 20 years and 15 years ago my husband TJ and I started the first club team in Buffalo, Lake Effect. I have always been involved heavily with logistics around our club team and recently was appointed Director of Community Relations – a board member position with Nickel City Ultimate. Even at 37 I am still passionate about playing and seeing the growth of the sport in our area.
Hello! My name is Dave Schneggenburger and I have been playing ultimate for ~11 years at this point (God that’s scary to think about…). During my college years, I played with Canisius College before moving on to the club scene with Lake Effect. Looking back over the years, I could not have asked for a better group of people to spend time and grow with both on and off the field. It has been a truly amazing journey and I am very much looking forward to what the future holds, especially with all the new faces that have made their way into the community.
I have served in various roles during my tenure with the Buffalo Ultimate community, and now currently as the Finance manager for Nickel City Ultimate. My general responsibilities include serving as a board member, tax filings, bank statement reconciliations, and general accounts receivable/accounts payable duties. Riveting stuff to the average individual, I’m sure!
It’s hard to say what the most memorable moment of my ultimate career thus far has been. During my very first year playing club at our very first tournament, we played our way into the cross-over game to get into the elite division before falling victim to Slow White. We made up for it on Sunday, though, by playing our way into the championship game of the lower division! I think it was a defining moment for a lot of people on that team (most of whom are still involved today) that we had something special in terms of both talent and a budding community. Most recently, I will never forget Molly and Bert (Mike Kanaby) taking Lake Effect to Regionals by beating Syracuse on universe point in the game-to-go; Bert with the legendary backhand huck he’s so known for, and Molly with a nasty layout grab in the endzone. That was the first and only time I have ever seen Bert fist-pump and yell “LET”S GOOOO!”. That whole point was heart-pounding, fantastic, magical, and amazing all at the same time.
Outside of Ultimate, I love to travel and my bucket list items are to see every National Park the U.S. has to offer, get to every state, and make it to every continent.
In summary, it’s been an awesome journey and I’m truly grateful to everyone I have had the pleasure of meeting so far through Ultimate; cheers to more memories to come!
Hi everyone, my name is Jennine Kanaby and I have been playing ultimate since my freshman year at Cornell University in 2006. I joined the Buffalo ultimate community in 2016, I have 3 main passions in my life; my family, my career, and ultimate! I have enjoyed working on the NCU board with my husband Mike. At home we have cats, dogs, and our son Otis. During the work day I am a local veterinarian in the city of Buffalo. I love helping both my clients and my patients live their best lives. Ultimate helps me live my best life and I hope to give more athletes the opportunity to play through our work at NCU.
