From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Tue Feb 29 23:38:59 2000 Received: (from daemon@localhost) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) id XAA19524 for britdisc-outgoing; Tue, 29 Feb 2000 23:37:31 GMT Received: from snowdrop.csv.warwick.ac.uk (snowdrop [137.205.192.31]) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA19514 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Tue, 29 Feb 2000 23:37:28 GMT Received: from relay2.nai.com (relay2.nai.com [161.69.3.67]) by snowdrop.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA19732 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Tue, 29 Feb 2000 23:37:26 GMT Received: from webshield2.na.nai.com (webshield2.nai.com [161.69.3.73]) by relay2.nai.com (8.9.3/8.9.3) with SMTP id PAA25025 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Tue, 29 Feb 2000 15:36:46 -0800 (PST) Received: FROM ca-ex-bridge1.nai.com BY webshield2.na.nai.com ; Tue Feb 29 15:42:30 2000 -0800 Received: by na-ex-bridge1.nai.com with Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) id <FRWNKBF8>; Tue, 29 Feb 2000 15:35:56 -0800 Message-ID: <150C5D516A43D211A5EF00A0C99D758F01B39534@ca-exchange3.nai.com> From: "Oakley, Caedman" <caedman_oakley@nai.com> To: "'britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk '" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> Subject: RE: The Tour Format Date: Tue, 29 Feb 2000 15:35:39 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Internet Mail Service (5.5.2650.21) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk To chime in even though we were there "to make up the numbers" 2 years ago - the development of fitness, ability and "game-face" on First Touch was HUGE playing in the Top 8 - sure, we went down to UTI and Catch (though I remember a couple of really good games against Catch) - but the Red, First Touch, Headrush 3 at the bottom of the 8 really were massively competitive, and that competition gave good training grounds - maybe we weren't the best, but the training was awesome, it gave us real games, and I know that happens further down the order too. It may be that you are playing the same teams again, but the few times that you get to play teams 2 or 3 above you are very valuable - and you find yourself training for those games. *plink plink* *fizz* -----Original Message----- From: Wayne Retter To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk Sent: 2/29/00 1:31 PM Subject: Re: The Tour Format The Tour IS elitest. It IS designed to be that way - to develop and enhance the fitness, skills and teamwork of the top FEW (say 5) teams in the country. [and, assuming that those 5 teams provide the GB Open squad, improve their performances at EU/WUGC, too, getting us more spaces at EU/WUCC]* Yes, the other 3 in the "top 8" are there "to make up the numbers"! So, what's really happening here? A "Tour Event" is actually a whole load of small leagues, at one venue, in one weekend, with promotion/relegation between each one... Well, it would be, if there weren't so many team fluctuations! Hence Tour 1 is more a "Traditional/Open" tournament - everybody has a shot at the title if they win all their games, and then over the rest of the Tour we try to work into the "Peer Pool" structure gradually - kind of difficult in only 4 (or even 5) events! Especially difficult when finding a decent venue for more than 20 teams is rare, and every team below say, 12th is effectively "new" and "of unknown strength" each year as players move around. So, either we abandon the Tour format, or we revise it. Everybody seems to think that the Tour is a good thing, just not quite functioning properly, so abandoning it seems bad. The arguments about how to revise the Tour all involve some kind of split - students/non-students, topX/bottomY, etc. and all fall apart when we try not to be too focussed on one particular group... In theory, the tour should get so big that it's actually a full-blown league / regional / national system and there's Ultimate happening somewhere every day... How that development occurs though - is still open to debate! At the moment, there are enough ultimate clubs in London to hold a small tournament - but it's rare that any of them ever manage to meet up on the odd "free" weekend for a planned competitive scrimmage! (Some of the results may be predictable, but...) Wayne Retter *My apologies for not including Women, Mixed, Masters or Juniors here, but until there's enough regular club teams in any of these divisions to hold frequent tournaments/leagues, there's no focus on their development. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Wayne Retter at home: 01737-242109 wayne@phidelta.demon.co.uk mobile: 07970-903420 w.retter@england.com at work: 01737-273611