My non-ultimate playing brother started a petition on this site (regarding the conservation of invertebrates - www.buglife.org.uk ) and ended up meeting with Tony Blair a few weeks ago, he got a fair amount of uninterrupted time to chat and it was rather productive, but I don't think pushing for 2012 Olympics inclusion is the best thing to approach the government about regarding Ultimate at the moment.
As far as I can see it, the major benefit of attending the Olympics would be to raise the profile & generate some publicity of the game. A main aim of publicity is to bring in new, younger players into the game, which I would say is certainly where the big changes are going to start. However, there's an approach to this goal which is crying out to be made the most of; Ultimate teaches civility - using reason and rationality to get along with those around you to make something work, and to have a good time. It encourages trust, cooperation, and communication - all major qualities which would help solve the big behavioural problems in kids today, which I'm sure the government are far more aware of & concerned about than which sports deserve to be in the Olympics. Ultimate needs to be on the national curriculum, BUT it also needs publicity if anyone is actually going to choose to play it over the other options which'll be presented to them - I think at the moment a few schools offer it as an option but not enough kids at some choose it to warrant running a course. So, first we need the structure in place to support an influx of new young players wanting to play the sport - resources of information and tips if they are to sort out their own teams (then once they are ready they can then start to play Ladder League games), OR if they are going to join a local club, they first need to be able to find it (local advertising / teams map on ukultimate.com or regionalultimate.co.uk), then the club needs to be prepared to deal with them, so perhaps again a resource of information and words from experienced folk would be useful. Second we need to actually get the publicity going so they will be clued up when it comes to deciding between Ultimate and table tennis. We need to get Ultimate on Newsround and other CBBC/CITV airtime... just one or two good features a year will be enough for an entire generation. Then, we need to educate the schools and the teachers about what Ultimate is, and why they want to offer it as a sports option. Once that's done, we should either get students along to help coach at their local school, or continue with the UKUA coaching courses, running one a year specifically for PE / games teachers. Perhaps this supporting structure needs to be in place before the schools curriculum move is made in fact. If these steps can be taken then it'll be a huge leap for the sport in this country, and inclusion in the Olympics etc are questions that will naturally be asked in a few years time without generating the response "What is Ultimate?" Felix On 29/01/07, Simon East <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
It wouldn't be up to the PM anyway, it'd be up to the IOC and as far as I'm aware the demonstration events for 2012 are already decided. Someone would have to look at putting a bid in for 2016 (I've heard rumours that they already are?). Who wants to be in the Olympics anyway?! Surely it would be better to get more nations competing in the World Games rather than the six that currently contest it? Si (agreeing with Andy's Monday morning grumpiness) Andrew Godber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Any point really? Let me point out a couple of the other partitions on this website: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/goldanthem/ http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/DMU2016/ Anything going to happen, apart from people thinking Ultimate is even more of a joke than they already do? Andy (Monday morning grumpiness #1) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Jonathan Dempsey Sent: 29 January 2007 09:00 To: [email protected] Subject: [BD] Sign up Get your names down http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Frisbee/ Jon D Mental Discs #99 Team REHAB #99 _________________________________________________________________ Personalize your Live.com homepage with the news, weather, and photos you care about. http://www.live.com/getstarted.aspx?icid=T001MSN30A0701_________________ _________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp ____________________________________________________________ Electronic mail messages entering and leaving Arup business systems are scanned for acceptability of content and viruses __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp --------------------------------- The all-new Yahoo! Mail goes wherever you go - free your email address from your Internet provider. __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp
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