From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Sat Mar 6 12:38:09 1999 Received: by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.1/8.9.1) id MAA22375 for britdisc-outgoing; Sat, 6 Mar 1999 12:36:54 GMT Received: from daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (daffodil [137.205.192.30]) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.1/8.9.1) with ESMTP id MAA22368 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Sat, 6 Mar 1999 12:36:52 GMT Received: from finch-post-11.mail.demon.net (finch-post-11.mail.demon.net [194.217.242.39]) by daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.1b+Sun/8.9.1) with ESMTP id MAA29354 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Sat, 6 Mar 1999 12:36:52 GMT Received: from [212.229.115.75] (helo=couplehood.demon.co.uk) by finch-post-11.mail.demon.net with smtp (Exim 2.12 #1) id 10JGK1-0005aC-0B for britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk; Sat, 6 Mar 1999 12:36:50 +0000 Message-ID: <sewqaBATES42EwFl@couplehood.demon.co.uk> Date: Sat, 6 Mar 1999 12:35:31 +0000 To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk From: Adeline Fonseka <fonseka-koon@couplehood.demon.co.uk> Subject: London 20th March MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Mailer: Turnpike (32) Trial Version 3.05 <pQeBUJjiWKFsLFBKGUAoATBGzN> Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk I appear to started somewhat of a landslide with my little suggestion of a London Teams Friendly on March the 20th. The various threads I heave been receiving all point to a widespread desire to have a 'London scene'. So, just to spark up some more interest I am posting the main ideas I have noted in the correspondence I have received: 1. That the London Summer Ultimate League is something that should continue, albeit on a more self-organized basis. Too much work was involved getting teams to arrive on time and with the 'right' players for one person to reasonably be able to do it. The suggestion is that there really ought to be at least two regular weekend games in London where tems can turn up and play each other, that these locations should be fairly central (and this appears to refer to Regent's Park, Hyde Park, Kensington, Mile End, and Clapham Common) and that there should be a basic little web site somewhere where results can be posted. Other points noted were that the games should be at night (not good in my opinion) so that they will not clash with fixtures that teams may have out of town, and that they should be run for a fairly sort period to allow for students to play before they break for hols or cram for exams. The latter point leads me to the next suggestion … 2. That there ought to be a mini League-style tourney for London Uni teams, only. Not wanting to be snobbish I believe its reasonable to allow any team in the London, Greater London or anywhere within reasonable travelling distance (i.e. Reading / Cambridge / etc) to join the fun. No details have been fleshed out but I forsee potential for this being a hit sometime during the first month of the summer terms. On the point of student study commitments, I don't think there is going to be that much of a problem. Firstly, I advocate short, time capped games to run for just one day. Secondly, being a very local (London & immediate vicitnity) tournament the usual problems about travelling time and access shouldn't deter students from turning up just one day a week, unless they have been really lazy and not looked at a book since January, in which case they are probably going to fail anyway so what's the diff? Thirdly, This kind of format will be conducive to beginners getting Ulty fever by exposure to a tournament vibe, something which has always proven a big catalyst to selling the game. The shorter games and the easy travel should mak it a soft-entry option for people just picking the game up, and the exposure to a wide range of team standards and styles ought to be exciting as well. The final point I want to make here is that having a London tourney make a lot of sense as far as publicising the game goes. Imagine a Ross-on- Wye happening in the middle of 6 million people in London, as opposed to some playing fields a half hour away from the passing public. Naturally I am thinking of very central venues like Regent'' Park or Hyde / Kensington. The urban press offices and newspapers will find it much easier to get off their arses to cover something so local, and 'ooo, weird and strange', neh? 3. There has also been a strong sentiment that these friendlies should be a regular event. By that I am not certain if they are talking weekly, fortnightly, monthly or what. Still, there are some evident benefits of having a weekly thing where, say, four or five London Ulty teams match up and have a good competitive session against each other. I don't think that this last suggestion need be very formal with rankings, records etc. The team captains themselves should be able to call each other up and arrange some kind of phone chain to get everyone on pitch on time. The main advantage in skills terms of this would be to allow teams to develop an esprit de corps and an individual playing style by regularly playing 'other' teams as opposed to only playing within their own club / circle. This ought to mean (in an ideal world) a significant rise in standards as players learn to fall into their own groove and start to specialise in certain positions. It should increase intra-team communication and intuition so that X knows what Y will do, having seen him or her do it 7 times out of ten in a weekly match. And everything I havee said viz student beginners ought to apply with equal emphasis for this situation. Right, that is my post for now. Following on from this I will send an update of the responses I have had from various teams about the 20th of March. Everyone please RSVP ASAP. That is if you plan on coming. Cheers all, Adam Keen Under Cover Lovers -- Adeline Fonseka