From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Fri Aug 7 14:14:43 1998 Received: (from daemon@localhost) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.8.7/8.8.8) id OAA16811 for britdisc-outgoing; Fri, 7 Aug 1998 14:01:11 +0100 (BST) Received: from pathway.btX400.co.uk (pathway.btX400.co.uk [193.113.148.3]) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.8.7/8.8.8) with SMTP id OAA16785; Fri, 7 Aug 1998 14:01:01 +0100 (BST) X400-Originator: COLIN.WAGSTAFF@TRADEINDEMNITY.btX400.co.uk X400-Recipients: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk , britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk X400-MTS-Identifier: [/PRMD=BT-INTERNET/ADMD=BT/C=GB/;0000430002683432000002L322] X400-Content-Type: P2-1988 (22) Date: Fri, 7 Aug 1998 14:45:00 +0100 From: WAGSTAFF COLIN <COLIN.WAGSTAFF@TRADEINDEMNITY.btX400.co.uk> To: ", DDA.RFC-822:britdisc(a)csv.warwick.ac.uk, P:BT-INTERNET, A:BT" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>, ", DDA.RFC-822:britdisc-owner(a)csv.warwick.ac.uk, P:BT-INTERNET" <britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk> Subject: "Not all journalists are bastards!" Message-ID: <G10021513673000001020067A24C042E*@MHS> In-Reply-To: <rfNuYEAeP3x1EwwB@dreamer.demon.co.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Contrary to the belief of many after the infamous Time Out article the title of this em does not apply to all. Those were the words the journalist used this case. Here follows the report a journalist has written for my company magazine, following a telephone interview i did with an agency earlier this week. The article has yet to be published. The Ultimate Sporting Experience? Think of a Frisbee and one instantly has a vision of lazy summer afternoons in the park, whiling away a pleasant hour or two flicking a small, plastic like disc between friends while a dog leaps pointlessly through the air in a vain attempt to catch it in it's jaws. What you won't perhaps realise is that to some, the Frisbee is more than just a pssing craze to be used for a week or two and then put away in the cupboard and forgotten about like the Yo - Yo's and skateboards of an earlier time. To one member of EULER Trade Indemnity - Colin Wagsatff - the frisbee is not a toy, nor a fad, but the essential ingredient of a new sport beginning to take hold accross the country. A sport called, "Ultimate", and a sport for which Colin represents the country. Colin started playing Ultimate at university, and was soon hooked. The rules are easy to understand: 7 players on each team play on a pitch measuring 120 yds by 40 yds, which has at erach end an endzone 25 yards deep. The object is to score points by getting one of you players to catch the frisbee in the end zone, in exactly the same way as American Football. Each player has 10 seconds to release the disc once they are in possession, and cannot run or move with it once it is in hand. The winner is the first team to score 21 points, and each game will typically last between two and two and a half hours. What is unique about Ultimate, and why Colin is so obsessed, is the sportmanship and spirit in which the game is played, a spirit which he believes other sports fail to match. "Ultimate is the only sport we know where there is no referee. The game is self officiated, with 'fouls' being called by the players themselves. I know of no other sport which is played in such a spirit," he says. "It sets moral standards from which other spotrs could learn." Colin is used to the cynicim and sarcastic remarks which ordinarily greet him when he mentions his sporting interest, but he views the standard of fitness required to play Ultimate as again equal to, if not greater, than other sporting activities. Few can understand how Ultimate can possibly be regarded as a sport, but then those are the few who also fail to see why Beach Volley ball is now an Olympic event. What Colin says, is that people shouldn't judge Ultimate until they have seen it played, especially at the highest level. Then their opinions will change. How widespread Ultimate has become in this country is difficult to gauge. Unlike other countries like Sweden and Finland for example, Ultimate is not on the school Curriculum, nor is it likely to be in the foreseeable future. What Colin can tell us however, is that there are approximately 3000 players in the UK, and the week-end tournaments held throughout the summer are well attended, and are tremendous social occasions. "We have a National Body(The British Ultimate Federation) which regularly tries to promote the sport to the Sports Council, but funding and sponsorship is always a problem," Colin admits. Lack of sponsorship means that Colin and the other Great Britain team members will therefore be paying their own way for the World Championships being held in Minnesota later this year. "We need to keep raising the profile of the sport, and promoting its benefits to a wider audience," he adds. Anyone interested in learning more about Ultimate should contact the British Ultimate Federation, PO Box 1, Swan House, Leicester, LE9 5ZW, or look out on the website www.ultimateweb.co.uk/buf/. Well done for getting this far. The reason why i have posted this to BD is simply as it is one of the most accurate presentations of Ultimate i have ever read. Admitedly it is only for my bi-monthly company magazine which reaches around 2500 people accross three continents and 6 different countries. Still it is wrtten by a real journalist who also writes for many major newspapers and magazines on specialist subjects. What's more the telephone conversation i had with him lasted no more than ten minutes and he had never previously heard of Ultimate before let alone seen it played. What does everyone/anyone else think of it? Colin. UTI.