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Date: Fri, 25 Oct 96 11:56:36 BST
From: aflores@lehman.com (Aram Flores)
Message-Id: <9610251056.AA21845@londonvnm1.lehman.com>
To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk
Subject: Something (else) to stoke the fire...
Cc: aflores@lehman.com
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Status: RO

Hi all (tradional BD greeting it appears) 

Andy Cotgreave has posted somthing related to my personal pet peave with
the way British Ultimate is organised - the predominance of non-geographic
teams.  

> In Britain, what is done to
> develop the highest level of British ultimate?
> 

I strongly feel that the biggest factor in Shotgun's longevity at the top
of British Ultimate is the fact that most of us live near each other and
therefore we are able to practice (train).  I believe that as long as our
opposition are groups of ex-college friends (who might or might not be great
individual players) that get together at tournaments or occasional weekend
sessions, we will continue to dominate (not that I mind this part all that
much).  If you look around at other countries (or indeed other sports) most
teams are comprised of players that live near each other and therefore 
practice together.  It provides all sorts of advantages that just being good
mates doesn't even begin to make up for, such as; fitness, plays, different
offences and defenses etc..  

I feel that if British Ultimate is ever going to challenge the rest of the 
world, it will have to break this peculiar structure.  My suggestion is that
we limit the number of players on a team that live outside the region for
National competitions.  This is not a new concept, it was used briefly in 
the US (showing my age here).  The aim of this restriction in the states 
was to prevent teams from "choosing" the region where they had the best 
chance of qualifying.  It will clearly take a while for teams to restructure
so in the short run it would only be fair if teams were able to field two
or three players from outside their region.  I feel that having several
"big" regional (eventually many) teams practicing regularly will be a 
tremendous boost to British Ultimate.  I also feel that this will not
necessarily have a negative impact on "lesser" teams, which hopefully
will be inspired to practice as well (actually I think many of the "lesser"
teams practice more than the "big" teams).  We (shotgun) encourage people
to come to our training sessions even if they have little chance of ever
playing with us, or simply don't want to.

I feel a bit odd making suggestions that might eventually lead to our 
downfall, but I would enjoy playing more competitive games.

Aram

PS: I don't really care who lines up across from me, bring `em all on.

PPS: Del, I don't think that fragmenting the "big" teams is the right way
forward for British Ultimate.  If we don't recruit young raw talent (such
as the regulators who were the typical non-geo team I dislike) how else
do older, experienced players pass on the "knowledge"?