> and had one of their only junior tournaments tainted with this bad press.
It's true - the only UK Junior tournaments currently are Junior Indoor Nationals and Junior Outdoor Nationals, and with a rapidly expanding number of junior players picking up for Club teams for Tour during the holidays, I think there's a big gap under the heading UK Junior Tournaments which now needs to be filled. There are in fact loads of schools teaching Ultimate now, and plenty of pupils who are eager to take it further, but often have nowhere to go. We all know that playing Ultimate is the best way to learn Ultimate, perhaps the same is true of learning SOTG? How can we expect our juniors to play one UK Junior tournament, train train and train hardcore style, and then show perfectly spirited gentlemanly conduct in tense situations at an ultra competitive European standard? It just doesn't add up. One of the problems is of course that juniors are minors and so special rules often apply, making organising a tournament more work (perhaps someone can clarify if this is true), and it has to be a selfless act, as the TD and their team/friends are unlikely to be eligible to play at the tournament themselves. I think starting with one-day events will make things much easier and be a huge step in the right direction from where we are now (though a 2-day event could bring in European Junior teams...). One-day events fit with the new Ladder League way of doing things, so... If you're eager to get involved in hosting a Junior Ladder League event, perhaps in September or October after term has started, get in touch & I'll pass your message on to the Junior Ladder League Coordinator, Liam Kelley. Hosting a LL event is as simple as ever - find some space, book it if you need, choose a date, and invite some teams. If we could just get a handful of them running this year, they will make a big difference & schools will soon start to run the events themselves. Felix Ladder League Coordinator __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed
