From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Wed Oct 30 07:17:44 1996 Received: from thistle.csv.warwick.ac.uk by clover.csv.warwick.ac.uk with ESMTP id HAA11321; Wed, 30 Oct 1996 07:17:18 GMT Received: by thistle.csv.warwick.ac.uk id QAA14822; Tue, 29 Oct 1996 16:43:36 GMT Received: from dub-img-3.compuserve.com by thistle.csv.warwick.ac.uk with SMTP id QAA14498; Tue, 29 Oct 1996 16:37:35 GMT Received: by dub-img-3.compuserve.com (8.6.10/5.950515) id LAA28633; Tue, 29 Oct 1996 11:36:51 -0500 Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 11:36:38 -0500 From: Ian Peter Stebbing <106040.3441@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: The nationals aftermath To: Britdisc <BRITDISC@csv.warwick.ac.uk> Message-ID: <199610291136_MC1-B6D-B579@compuserve.com> Sender: owner-britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Status: RO In reply to Andy C from Chevron re: nationals, organisation and other petty complaints. Before saying any more I would like to point out I had nothing to do with any of the organisation of the tournament and would expect an official reply to be heading in Andy's direction soon. There has been much discussion here recently about the need for the top teams to qualify for nationals given the complete mauling they inflict on the vast majority of their opposition and the need to cater for development at both the top and bottom of playing standard throughout the sport. Here for once we had a tournament that catered only to the top 16 teams in the country and primarily as the tournament progressed to those still capable of winning it. As a member of one of the top sides and having spoken to many other players in both my own and from the other top teams we were very impressed with the whole tournament. We actually got to play 3 highly competitive matches over the weekend of a proper duration and each potential winner had an even chance. This tournament was about deciding who is the best team in Britain and it achieved it 100%. To have to play 3 consequtive matches is not uncommon at top level non-UK tournaments where matches are played to points not time but given large time slots to avoid overruns. This was attempted at Hitchen, unfortunately the weather did not help much making games last longer than normal. Having played for Pittsburgh this Spring they complained of having to sit out one time slot because they did not want to sit around for 2 or 3 hours between games preferring to stay warm and focused and viewing the potential short gaps between games as a reward for finishing a team off as quickly as possible. Breakfast I did not eat at the site but GBP10 does not sound bad for a whole team especially when you consider that it is only about 75p per head. The timing may have been unfortunate but consider the poor VOLUNTEERS who got up to SERVE YOU breakfast at 8am on a Sunday morning. The closing ceremony was a bit of an anticlimax however these things usually drag on forever and are quite boring. Given the impending darkness and the likelihood of more rain, brevity was probably welcomed. In further defence of Chris it should be remembered that he had just finished playing in the final and personally more interested in a hot shower and a beer. The spirit trophy was actually awarded to Stan on the grounds of Simon Hill having collected multiple opinions from the crowd watching the final. In my opinion (an I hasten to add this part is only my opinion) the one vote per team leads to rather undervalued spirit vote anyway. Often this leads to a multiple tie showing the strength of SOTG within Ultimate but you can only vote for people you played against or seen. The tournament organisers/support staff etc. between them see virtually all the games as Chris did, sometimes to the displeasure of his own team because he was meant to be trying to win as well as run the tournament, and can provide a more informed decision as to who should win spirit. Perhaps here it is worth mentioning that Chris did not play at regionals either because he was the TD for the south-east region so that they could actually have a tournament, again he should have been in Exeter playing for his club side. The women's tournament was not initially part of the Nationals but was fitted in to allow it to run concurrently. The number of teams involved seemed to be changing on a daily basis in the week leading up to the tournament peaking at 6 but in reality finishing at 4. Chris was not involved with this but did his best to accommodate it and rightfully handed over to Liz Bourne for the presentation who I felt did a good job. Echoing Rebecca Humphries thoughts this is not the place to attack TD's especially if you do not know the facts. Try asking questions first at least and then if you feel its necessary go ahead. It is also pretty bad to whinge about the cost of breakfast when as I understand you haven't even paid yet! I for one thoroughly enjoyed a very hard and competitive tournament with the exception of the weather which I understand is still outside our control, mine certainly. Ian Stebbing Fluid Druids PS I apologise for the length of this message but I feel rather strongly about this.