From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Wed Mar 22 09:42:40 2000 Received: (from daemon@localhost) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) id JAA28525 for britdisc-outgoing; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:40:24 GMT Received: from daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (daffodil [137.205.192.30]) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA28513 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:40:22 GMT Received: from receipt ([194.73.73.175]) by daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id JAA29151 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:40:17 GMT Received: from [212.140.70.188] (helo=ianstebb) by receipt with smtp (Exim 2.05 #1) id 12Xhcq-0007iQ-00 for britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk; Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:40:28 +0000 Message-ID: <004c01bf93e2$e7759d00$bc468cd4@ianstebb> From: "Nancy Stebbing" <nancy.stebbing@tesco.net> To: "britdisc" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk> Subject: Mixed Ultimate Series 2000 (long) Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2000 09:28:54 -0000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk OK- only 4 months late, here are the details for the Mixed (co-ed) Series and Mixed Nationals. No dates have been set yet, I'm currently looking for tournament hosts, but here are the details of how it would work. It's vaguely similar to the Tour, but with less hassle, and half the testosterone. If you are one of the teams that feels excluded from the Tour- I hope you'll consider playing these events. There is no penalty for missing an event, and every team has a shot (in theory, anyway) of winning every tournament. nancy BUF/BUA Mixed Ultimate Series 2000 Purpose and Goals 1. To encourage the growth of the Ultimate player base. The system is based around 'loosely' regional teams, with the dual aim of moving to a regional team system and, more importantly, to encourage existing players to recruit new players in their area. Although there are legitimate arguments against regionality, experience in the US and Canada shows that enforcing a regional system DOES promote the growth of the active player base. Additionally, a regional system will aid the development of local practice sessions, raising the skill levels and quality of play for all Ultimate players. Regional systems also promote rostering which can facilitate the tracking of players as they change addresses or move to other levels of the sport. (Roster information also allows publicity and information sharing outside of electronic communication.) This information is vital if Ultimate is ever to gain government recognition and funding. The Mixed series will be using a database (in co-operation with BUF, if possible) to track players. 2. To encourage the play of mixed Ultimate. The current offering of Ultimate events discourages mixed play by pitting mixed teams against open teams. By offering explicitly mixed events, teams and players who wish to play in the mixed format can do so on a level playing field, competing against other mixed teams. 3. To provide a mixed tournament circuit and a structure for a Mixed Nationals. It is often difficult and a financial risk for individuals or teams to organise a tournament without BUF sanction or support. By creating an 'official' series, more teams will organise tournaments (outside of the Ultim8 Tour) due to reduced risk of low attendance and financial loss. 4. To provide a larger player base for the selection of a national mixed squad. Mixed ultimate has strategies and playing styles specific to the game. By encouraging more players to play mixed more often, national selectors will have a greater range of players to choose from, many with advanced skills specific to the mixed game. The Mixed Series, Mixed Nationals, and Nationals Qualifying Points For the Mixed series, Mixed Ultimate will be played by WFDF rules. This means that there is a 4/3 gender split on the pitch, with the team going on Offence (the team receiving the pull) deciding whether it will be 4 men or 4 women on the pitch. The defensive team must match their gender split to that of the offensive team. The Mixed series will consist of three or four two-day, national events. All events will have an 'open' format, meaning that any team entering can win the event. (This is a change from the Ultim8 Tour, where previous performance can prevent a team from winning an event.) All events will be publicised on Britdisc and using other means as available. All events will be open to any rostered mixed team. Rosters will be collected at all series events; rostering rules are detailed below. Each event will contribute to qualification for the Mixed Nationals. In a manner similar to the Ultim8 Tour, points will be acquired at each event. To qualify for Mixed Nationals, a team must have a minimum of 20 points, ten of which must have been earned at a Mixed Series event. (Ways of earning points is further detailed below.) Unlike the Ultim8 Tour, a team earns 10 points for simply attending a Mixed Series event. Many teams will be able to acquire all the necessary points for qualification for Mixed Nationals at a single event. Seeding for Mixed Nationals will be on the basis of points acquired. If it becomes necessary to exclude teams from the Mixed Nationals due to over-subscription, teams with the lowest point totals will be excluded. It is important to note that this points system and event structure is different from that of the Ultim8 Tour in several ways. Firstly, there is significantly less pressure to attend every event- missing an event will not effect your seeding at the next event, and many teams will have ample points for entry to the Mixed Nationals and a reasonable seeding for that event by attending one or two Mixed Series events. In addition to the national events, it is hoped that teams will organise an official one-day event in their region. To qualify as an 'official' event, the event must be publicised on Britdisc, open to any rostered mixed teams, provide a minimum of 6 hours of playing time, and enforce the rostering system OR use a hat-tournament format. Points can be acquired at these events, although they will not count towards the minimum of 10 points earned at a national event needed for Mixed Nationals qualification. Additional Nationals qualification points can be earned by rostering new players. One point is earned for each new player rostered to play in any official event. For official hat-tournaments, points for new players rostered will go to the team which recruited that player. A new player is defined as a player that has never played an Ultim8 Tour event, a student event, a women's event, a mixed event, a Mixed Series official hat-tournament, or any other British or foreign tournament, excluding hat-tournaments not part of the Mixed Series. (In theory, a player could have played in a hat-tournament, and still qualify as a new player.) As this is a new system, there is limited opportunity to check on a player's past history; Spirit of the Game will have to extend to honesty about team rosters and new players. Teams found abusing the new player points system will lose any illegally gained points and 'fined' and additional 50 points per offence. Wherever possible, Mixed series events will not conflict with Ultim8 Tour events, Women's tournaments, or GB training sessions. However- many of the regional events could take place on weekends where there is a foreign tournament or a GB training session, as the player draw will be less than that of an Ultim8 event. PLEASE NOTE- it will be easily possible for a single player to play for an Ultim8 tour team, participate in GB squads, play on a Women's team (where applicable), play the occasional foreign tournament, AND to play for a mixed team. Rosters and Players Each team must submit a roster for each Mixed Series event. The roster will collect information on players, including addresses and e-mail addresses, for addition to the player database. A player may play for only one rostered team at a time, but unlike the Ultim8 Tour, there will be no limit on changing teams during the season. A player can play for a different team for each event if he/she wishes, providing he/she meets the regional roster requirements. The only limitation on changing rosters comes into effect for Mixed Nationals. For a player to play with a team at Mixed Nationals, he/she must have been on that team's roster for one of the previous Mixed Series events. In the event that Mixed Nationals is the selection criteria used for World Clubs, a team qualifying for World Clubs must send a team that includes AT LEAST 7 of the players who played to qualify.