Aaah! The happy sound of people talking! And even better... arguing! > I agree that it is important to try and raise this countries game to the > same standard as America's, but if new players such as myself, who are > dedicated to ultimate as a sport, are not given the chance to see top UK > ultimate, surely it is going to be much harder for us to break though > and see high-level ultimate for what it is.
>Jez >utb #18 We have to look to the future, decide what we want the sport to be, and then try to get there. It is crucial for rubbish teams to be able to watch better teams play. However, every football team in the country does not play in the same venue every weekend to facilitate this in their sport. Luckily we can watch football on TV (now you can watch top Ultimate too - cheers Roadie Films!) More appropriately: every handball team, or korfball team, or (think of some laughable niche sport...) American Football team in the country doesn't turn out to play in the same place at the same time. What they do instead is have a National Championships, or cup competition, or similar, which represents the pinnacle of their sport, and the rest (enthusiasts, other players, locals, the curious, the media) turn up to watch. This makes for more pressure, better games, better players, better occasions and, crucially, better pics and films with actual factual crowds in the background. > With this in mind I can see removing one tour helping to improve > the focus and importance of the events to the teams involved, > helping our club and national teams competing in World-level > tournaments where there are no second chances. > Alex, Clapham I'd say, and already have, remove one tour, and add regional qualifiers for Nationals. Nationals has become severely and sadly devalued. It's now little more than a fun tournament to wrap the season up after the Tour and whatever international stuff is happening that year. Everyone except the winners just shrug their shoulders, put it down to tired legs, and look forward to next year. Nationals should be it, the dogs, the be-all and end-all, like it used to be. Sure we get better by playing the Tour, but we should do so to win Nationals. Compress the whole Open season, put it at the start of the summer, so Students can all compete before exams, and close it with Regionals and Nationals (max 16 team, probably 8) in June. Then Mixed (or whatever) can take over, and those of us who want to do something else (including dedicating all our time and energy to getting GB to Worlds, in shape and playing like a team) can. Rob Chevron __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://zion.ranulf.net/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp
