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From: rafael freire <raf.freire@bristol.ac.uk>
Reply-To: raf.freire@bristol.ac.uk
To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk
Subject: National teams: a reply to Sammy
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Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 08:55:24 +0100 (GMT Daylight Time)
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Sammy aired a question about a week ago- whether a 
strenghthened club team should represent GB as the 
national team- which received some responses but his 
point was largely missed.

The idea that a strengthened club team should represent 
GB, as Sam is well aware, has been around for quite a 
while. It arose largely due to poor performances by 
national teams. Many (I'll come clean, myself included) 
thought these poor performances were due to the national 
teams not having continuity, cohesion and lacking 
experience of competition at the appropriate level. There 
is little doubt that the top club teams posses these three
components, hence the idea that the best club side 
(albeit strenghthened) should represent GB was developed 
(I'll come clean again, it wasn't me) . How this idea 
could be implemented is, as Ian Stebbings pointed out, in 
need of further thought.

So here's my answer to Sammy:

Open: I don't think sending a strengthened club team to 
worlds would be a good idea at the momment. In my view 
none of the current top teams have sufficient ability or 
know-how to form the core of a national team. All of the 
top three have strengths for building solid teams, but
then they also have glaring weaknesses. Choosing one team 
to form the core would discard the strengths of the other 
teams, without addressing its particular weaknesses. Had 
this question been asked in the early to middle days of 
shotgun (4-5 years ago), the answer would have been very 
different.

On the plus side, I think the open division has skilled 
players that can do well at international level. Its just 
a question of deciding who they are and how they should be
put together to form a team.

Women: As I'm not part of the women's scene, I have no 
idea whatsoever how they could form a strong national 
team, though they clearly have talented players. Perhaps 
some of the players concerned would like to offer their 
views?

Rafi (22)