From britdisc-owner@csv.warwick.ac.uk Wed Apr 10 13:55:58 2002 Received: from daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (root@daffodil [137.205.192.30]) by pansy.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g3ACtvd05082 for <suaaz@mail.csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:55:57 +0100 (BST) Received: from agave.csv.warwick.ac.uk (root@agave [137.205.192.52]) by daffodil.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g3ACpI718318; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:51:18 +0100 (BST) Received: from agave.csv.warwick.ac.uk (daemon@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by agave.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.12.0/8.12.0) with ESMTP id g3ACeeQR019306 for <britdisc-outgoing@agave.csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:40:41 +0100 (BST) Received: (from daemon@localhost) by agave.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.12.0/8.12.0/Submit) id g3ACeeaG019305 for britdisc-outgoing; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:40:40 +0100 (BST) Received: from snowdrop.csv.warwick.ac.uk (root@snowdrop [137.205.192.31]) by agave.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.12.0/8.12.0) with ESMTP id g3ACedQR019298 for <britdisc-real@majordomo.csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:40:39 +0100 (BST) Received: from hotmail.com (f155.pav1.hotmail.com [64.4.31.155]) by snowdrop.csv.warwick.ac.uk (8.11.6/8.11.6) with ESMTP id g3ACect13806 for <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 13:40:38 +0100 (BST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 05:40:30 -0700 Received: from 194.6.79.172 by pv1fd.pav1.hotmail.msn.com with HTTP; Wed, 10 Apr 2002 12:40:30 GMT X-Originating-IP: [194.6.79.172] From: "Sarah Gibbons" <sargibbons@hotmail.com> To: britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk Subject: Re: TOUR and Regulation Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 12:40:30 +0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Message-ID: <F155BQtmzKfdIiQTjGs000084ad@hotmail.com> X-OriginalArrivalTime: 10 Apr 2002 12:40:30.0220 (UTC) FILETIME=[E604C4C0:01C1E08C] Sender: owner-britdisc@warwick.ac.uk Precedence: bulk I couldn't disagree more strongly with Hussey's previous comments concerning the women's tour. There are a handful of exceptional female players who can compete effectively in the upper eschelons of the open tour. However, the majority of women who compete at this level will get less disc, less pitch time and less opportunity to develop their skills as players. I find it really difficult to believe that those women who end up playing for open teams in the lower half of the Tour get to play as tactically a sophisticated game, with as many opportunities to learn and improve there skills as they would if they played for a team of experienced women in the Women's Tour. In terms of separation of the sport into men's ultimate and women's ultimate, what's wrong with that? Mixed ultimate already allows us to compete on an equal footing, why is open so important for women? In terms of Ultimate as a sport, speed, agility, athleticism and height are becoming more important, and it's unrealistic to believe that all women can compete against men as athletes. They are more likely to develop their athletic capacities playing against other women, where they will have more responsibility on the pitch and probably more game time. In terms of wanting to play at a high standard, it doesn't take a genius work out that if more women committed to playing in the women's tour instead of writing it off as a low grade competition, then it would be (and I certainly wouldn't dismiss the possibility that it will still be anyway) a high standard event. As for hosting the women's tour on separate weekends, it's already been mentioned that we have a pretty packed calender in our relatively short outdoor season, so I doubt that this is a practical suggestion anyway. Finally, I think it's important to note that the nations that produce the world's top women's teams (the US and Canada) have clearly defined and extremely competitive women's divisions. Clearly, there are more female players in these countries and we can't yet hope to emulate this. However, there are 19 teams currently entered in the first Mixed series event. Each team must have a minimum of 4 women to enter. That's enough for 10 potential women's teams. I would welcome any comments or explanations as to why this has never happened. It's time for an honest and serious appraisal of women's ultimate in this country if we really want to build a platform from which we can produce an excellent GB women's team. Sarah Gibbons _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx