From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Wed Sep 24 22:36:37 1997
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Date: Wed, 24 Sep 1997 19:19:42 GMT
From: Wayne@phidelta.demon.co.uk (Wayne Retter)
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To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Regionals
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I said I wanted to play in a tournamnet I wasn't running, Si Hill made an
announcement, Dave 'Sammy' Neilson followed up and Neil Travers disagreed...
My turn again!
As Neil said, Regionals were created to provide a method for selecting
qualifying teams for Nationals. This selection method has now been replaced by
the Tour.
Unlike the US/Canada/other examples, the relatively small size of our country
and the small number of teams therin, hardly (IMHO) merit regions being a
necessity - if teams *really* wanted to play regionally, they'd have nonTour
events/leagues/etc.
On the other hand, the seeming unwillingness of the current Southern *teams*
(mine included) to travel further north than the Leicester-Warwick line on a
regular basis merits giving Scotland and Ireland (they play Ultimate there too,
now!) their own Regions.
There was originally an idea to make it necessary for teams to play at
Regionals (after Nationals) to qualify for the next Tour, but this idea has
been abandoned due to the rostering constraints that this would involve.
The point of Regionals, surely now, as a non Tour event, is for the following
sorts of teams to come and play: (names are given as examples only, I'm not
having a go at anybody, really)
1) teams that have disappeared, often amalgamated into 'regional' Tour teams
such as 'SLUT' (Lurkers + Angels + other South Londoners) and 'Squawks' (Skunks
+ Mohawks combination)
2) teams that are too small / new / far away / don't want to play in a Tour
event (anybody seen London team 'Albatross' at a tournament? Leicester has a
whole host of league teams starting, several Unis have 2nd teams)
3) 'oneoff' reunions (remember Hombres, or Funky Monks at Ross-on-Wye ?)
4) 'devolved' Tour teams (Hombres, Regulators, London-ish Druids, Back-of-
Beyond Druids, London Catch22, Leeds Catch22, UTI)
5) Womens' teams (even if they do have their own Nationals! some of them want
to play at Open events too!)
6) Juniors teams
OK, so these teams can compete in the nonTour events - if a) there were a few
more, better publicised and b) people could be bothered to get off their
backsides and go play (OK, some of you have lives outside Ultimate, but those
who don't, you don't have to go with your regular team - I assembled 14 pickups
in a week to play all 4 days at the BUF Open!)
Regionals *should* happen. OK, I'm not convinced with the timing, but that can
be adjusted as we learn a bit more...
If the Ultim8 Tour is about *improving* the standard of Ultimate in the UK,
Regionals should be about *expanding* Ultimate in the UK - who cares if you
don't win, what did you learn and what did you teach?
Time to lend my soapbox to somebody else...
Wayne Retter
Fluid Druids (mostly, when south of the Leicester-Warwick line, otherwise
willing to pick up so long as I'm allowed to run around a bit)
PS: Since nobody seems to have realised for most of the year: all those teams
that should be at Regionals ARE ALLOWED to play in the Tour events and/or in
the 'Not the Nationals'. Bear it in mind for next year!
--------------------------
Wayne Retter
home: Wayne@phidelta.demon.co.uk
work: Wayne_Retter@watsonwyatt.co.uk