Hi all,
Just to echo thanks to Maria for organising the women's tour at Southampton.
The participation of so many women and teams does an enormous amount to
further the development of the women's game at a higher level.
I have a few points which I'd like to make. These are personal and do not
reflect my team, and are not intended in any way as criticism to the
tournament director - who I thought put on a fantastic tournament.
1 - It was a shame that the women's games were relegated to the furthest
pitches. I appreciate there may be scheduling problems, but it doesn't
really promote a marganalised area of Ultimate. At the same time I'm sure
you could ask why lower ranked teams are almost always consistently on the
far pitches. It certainly can't be an arguement of standard of pitch because
EVERY team that competes is entitled to the same quality of ground.
2 - It was in my view a real shame that the women's final was scheduled to
start during the men's final. The fact we had to play on far fields was
perhaps an unfortunate conflict of scheduling, but facts remain that a) very
few women saw the women's final b) very few other players saw the final -
(apart from a very well represented Chevvy).
3 - I'm not asking for a sympathy vote with women's ultimate. I'm saying we
need to promote the sport by raising our profile and this involves
encouraging both women's and co-ed games.
I recently spent a year in Australia where it is standard on the Saturday
evening to have a display game of womens and/or co-ed. The standard of
support (from ALL players) out there is extremely high, and the game is well
supported and very competitive. People actually sit down with beers to watch
and cheer on! - I don't expect many players at Tour 3 could even name 4 or
more of the women's teams competing.
4 - The development of the Tour is fantastic for open ultimate, but hasn't
done much for women's as yet, and I think it is crucial that the women's
game completes its integration into this event and gets recognition and
support from all players, just the same as co-ed and juniors continue to
grow. In recent years women players have done a fantastic amount to promote
the sport - Tara Jewell, Laura Pearce, Mavis organisers, student women...the
list goes on..and if I haven't named you - sorry!!!
5 - And my last bit of crapping on - The final, since nothing was really
mentioned of it. A hotly contested game between Mavis and Bliss, with some
players from both teams going to Prague. Some fantastic play, hard running,
with Bliss narrowly winning. Many thanks to Mavis for a great game.
Diana
Bliss
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