Hello BD, Here are my opinions as a member of the Women's Committee:
1. A pre-season seeding tournament. Tour 0 for the Open division is primarily a seeding tournament to make sure people are in the correct division. My opinion is that until the women's division grows enough to have a second division, there is no need for a mandatory Tour 0 for seeding. Women's Tour 1 of every season is structured in a more open style to allow for significant movement in seeding (as was done this season). More heavily peer pooled tournaments only happened in Tours 2 and 3. That said, by all means if you want to play more women's ultimate, there's no reason not to have optional events outside the UKUA events structure. One of the reasons there have been fewer Tours the last few years is to increase the profile of, and interest in, non-UKUA tournaments. In my opinion, and I hope this doesn't sound condescending because that's not my intention!, but both of your teams (Crown Jewels and Dirty Olive) should really think about tournaments in Europe if you're gagging for more playing time. All kinds of different teams, different styles, and opportunities to play international teams is pretty exciting. I'd suggest it to keen, developing Open teams too. 2. Tour structure. The Tour must benefit all teams. Coming up with a structure that gives that to 16 or so teams of vastly different experience and focus is difficult and inevitably involves compromise. This year, the Women's Committee felt that the structure used in Tours 2 and 3 was just such a compromise that allowed all teams to feel that the Tour was a useful exercise. (Here is an example of why compromise is needed: speaking frankly in my capacity as Iceni captain, but there is a limit to "development" i.e. one-sided games that high seeded teams like mine want to play. My team's stance is in direct opposition to your desire to play higher seeded teams more often). We're open to suggestions for how to structure things next season and will no doubt re-jig tournament formats as the Women's Tour becomes more and more competitive. Lastly, if you'd like more input to the decisions of the Women's Committee, please put a nomination in and join it! Aura Iceni > > > We (Dirty Olive) would also welcome a proper seeding tournament for > women's tour next year. Our observations from this year's tour is that > it was much more competitive, particularly in the 5-8 section, and from > what I saw (though it'd be great to hear from teams who played in the > lower > half), the bottom 8 squads had more depth too. > > While > I think it would be foolish to pretend that there isn't still a > significant gap between the very top teams and the rest, it's very hard > to predict how over the next six to twelve months the remaining women's > teams will grow and develop, and a seeding tournament would be the most > effective way to gauge this. It would also give the people deciding on > tour formats a clearer indication on what format would provide the most > competitive games, while allowing teams maximum opportunity to improve > their ranking. It would also be great to have another tournament of > women's ultimate. > > We also welcome the opportunity to have > this conversation on Britdisc. Over the last few years, the Women's > Tour has really taken off. It's very different from how it used to be > when I first played in a women's tour event (too many years ago to > think about), where you were lucky if there were five women's teams, > and most of which would have no more than 8 or 9 players, and you > always had to play on the worst pitches. While there's still a lot to > do to grow the game, women's ultimate is not on the fringes of ultimate > in this country - it's very much part of the mainstream. We'd be > particularly interested to hear from the members of the women's > committee - what are their thoughts about the future of women's > ultimate, and what more needs to be done to grow the game. > > Sarah > Dirty Olive > >> Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:09:12 -0700 >> From: [email protected] >> To: [email protected] >> Subject: Re: [BD] UKUA 2010 Events Calendar >> >> Hey BD, >> If the 2010 UKUA calendar is under consideration, we'd like to prompt >> some discussion into the format of Women's Tour. Considering >> there has been an incredible growth in the women's division in the last >> couple of years comments about the women's division are strangely quiet >> on the BD front (and also on the UKUW list). Firstly though, >> thanks to all involved in putting on the Tour series this year - the >> experience for Crown Jewels was that Tours were well run and successful. >> >> >> Our observations in the women's divisions were: >> >> Much higher level of play in 2009 compared with last year, within our >> pool (5-8) and also in cross-over games. >> Final >> tournament rankings were less predictable and on the most part varied >> through the season as much as they could given the Tour format >> (certainly within the 5-8 pool and from what we can tell, also within >> the 8-16 pool). >> >> With that in mind we'd like to ask that UKUA / UKUW to consider few >> things when putting together next year's format. >> >> A seeding tournament for Women's? >> The >> need for this probably depends on the format of the tours, although I >> think we were all disappointed to only play 3 Tours this year - more >> women's Ultimate is never a bad thing! Again, our experience of overall >> improvement in teams would support a pre-Tour seeding tournament as >> seen in Open tour. >> >> >> Tour formats >> Use >> mixed pools rather than consecutive peer pools. Sure, it was great for >> our team >> to go away and come up with strategies to overcome the offense / defence >> that we faced each time we played our closely-seeded peers (11 of our 19 >> games in 2009 were against the same 3 teams). However as a young club, >> looking to develop further, we learnt more from playing teams >> (especially the higher ranked teams) we'd only come across infrequently >> or never before. We feel there's the potential for women's ultimate to >> develop >> hugely in the UK but if Tour continues to focus so closely on peer / >> super-peer pools, given >> the limited amount of women's ultimate available, we feel this >> opportunity is >> diminished. >> >> Agree / Disagree, it'd be great to hear from other women's teams! >> >> Cheers, >> >> Jo, Lara, Amy >> Crown Jewels >> >> >> >> >> ________________________________ >> From: Matthew Ford <[email protected]> >> To: Britdisc <[email protected]> >> Sent: Monday, 24 August, 2009 4:45:13 PM >> Subject: Re: [BD] UKUA 2010 Events Calendar >> >> >> Could I also kindly request that all student and junior tournaments are >> also published up on the events page on ukultimate.com as soon as >> they're confirmed please. I know this request comes out every year >> (usually from an angry Thrash), but it's frustrating when the tournament >> you're organising turns out to clash with three student events... >> >> >> >> Thanks y'all >> >> >> >> Whippet >> >> >> >> > Date: Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:55:57 +0100 >> > From: [email protected] >> > To: [email protected] >> > CC: [email protected] >> > Subject: Re: [BD] UKUA 2010 Events Calendar >> > >> > It's under discussion just now. Admittedly, it is taking rather longer >> > than we'd hoped, but better perhaps that we get it right than that we >> > have to change it. Expect announcements within a couple of weeks. >> > >> > B >> > >> > Wayne Retter (aka Wrecker) wrote: >> > > FAO Competitions Committee, I guess... >> > > >> > > Is there an outline of 2010 events, yet? and especially dates by >> which outdoor (Mixed/Open/Womens Tour) tournament bids would need to >> be submitted and winners would be announced? >> > > >> > > Thanks >> > > Wayne >> > > >> > > --- >> > > Wayne 'Wrecker' Retter >> > > wayne[dot]wrecker[at]ntlworld[dot]com >> > > __________________________________________________ >> > > BritDisc mailing list >> > > [email protected] >> > > http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc >> > > Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > >> > __________________________________________________ >> > BritDisc mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc >> > Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed >> >> _________________________________________________________________ >> >> Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 Optimised for MSN. >> >> http://extras.uk.msn.com/internet-explorer-8/?ocid=T010MSN07A0716U >> __________________________________________________ >> BritDisc mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc >> Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed >> >> >> >> >> __________________________________________________________________________________ >> Find local businesses and services in your area with Yahoo!7 Local. >> Get started: http://local.yahoo.com.au >> __________________________________________________ >> BritDisc mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc >> Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed > > _________________________________________________________________ > More than messagesĀcheck out the rest of the Windows LiveĀ. > http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowslive/ > __________________________________________________ > BritDisc mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc > Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed > __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [email protected] http://www.fysh.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/staying-informed
