Hello,
Thanks to Dave for fielding all the questions/critisisms so far, even those
that are outside his responsibility as TD of the tournament. For those of
you that don't know me, I am responsible for writing the schedules for the
Mixed Tour, something I have been doing for the past 3 years or so. I'm also
a member of the UKUA Board (thanks for voting for me!).
1. Mike N - There is a method for deciding which teams are entered for MT2,
its in the Mixed Tour Rules (on the website).
2. As with anything, scheduling a tournament involves compromise. The fact
that
a) every team that wanted to got to play
b) no one complained that they got screwed by the seedings
c) no one complained the games were too short so they didn't get value for
money
makes me believe that I got it right. Which, considering the many hours I
spent working through various options, taking a variety of things into
consideration and trying as best I could to answer everyone's questions is
reasonably gratifying.
3. yes, having teams play 5 games in a row isn't ideal, but given the
alternatives it was the best option available (or have I missed the helpful,
well thought out, suggestions as to how it could be done better that always
accompany people's gripes?!). Have those people that complained about 5
games in a row also noted that those teams got a late start on Sunday and
only played two games, thereby ensuring they were as fresh as possible. This
wasn't by accident! And that's the only time this is going to happen,
because now that teams have had a fair chance of finishing in the
appropriate place, we are going to play in peer pools for the rest of the
Tour and beyond. One days sl;ight discomfort for the benefit of the next few
years, definitely worth it in my book......
4. Criteria for running a UKUA sanctioned event - when the UKUA get 4 bids
for every event they'd like to run, we can start getting to the level of
awarding them on the basis of the speed of refilling water bottles. IIRC
there was only one bid for MT1, so it was York or no Ultimate, are you
really going to criticise the UKUA for choosing York?!
5. I'll ignore the complaints that have no basis on reality (do you not find
it embarassing that some of your complaints are factually incorrect/made
up?!?!) but just point out that if you want a general improvement in the
facilities available at events you WILL have to pay more, or find a large
group of "dedicated" volunteers. Personally (and this is MY opinion) I'd be
willing to pay double the tournament fees we curently pay to have some of
the things not currently available (and so TDs get better remuneration for
their not inconsiderable efforts!).
Finally, I don't get paid anything for all the time and effort I spend
working on making sure the Mixed Tour runs as smoothly as possible and
answering queries, complaints, [EMAIL PROTECTED] on BD etc. I don't do it for recognition
or thanks either (although that's always nice), but I did get a bottle of
vodka once.... In stark contrast, the Premier League, awash with cash, still
has managers & players complaining about the Xmas schedule. Dry your eyes
mate, nothing's ever perfect!
Ultimate (in this country) relies on people who are willing to give up their
own time and effort for free/not very much so that people actually have
events to go to. We do our best, but there'll always be something that
doesn't go as well as we planned, but don't think we don't take that on
board and strive for things to be better next time.
Jaimie
PS I helped make some of the sandwiches, for free, that people enjoyed. Glad
I got something right. ;)
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