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Date: Mon, 2 Jun 1997 12:58:37 -0400 (EDT)
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Subject: Fwd: 1997 UPA Experimental COED Series
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spread the good coed ultimate word
---------------------
Forwarded message:
From: coedisc@speakeasy.org (Coedisc)
To: upa_coed_list@upa.org (UPA Coed List)
CC: lynnenolan@aol.com (Lynne Nolan), mikecola1@aol.com (Mike Cola),
byrneupa@aol.com (Bob Byrne), troy@u.washington.edu (Troy Frever)
Date: 97-06-01 22:46:58 EDT
At last... the details you've been waiting for!
FIRST UPA NORTH AMERICAN EXPERIMENTAL COED SERIES
Here's how the Experimental Coed Series works:
But wait...
before you read any further...
Remove any thoughts of this being a normal
championship from your mind.
Any Canadian or American local Ultimate group with a great idea for an
alternative tournament can host an EXPERIMENTAL COED PRELIMINARY
TOURNAMENT (COED PRELIM).
The quick version: Coed Prelims can start NOW. Tourney
organizers MUST register prelims with the Coed Director
(Joey) as worthy experiments. But you DON'T
have to sanction your prelim with the UPA. The final
CELEBRATION will be LABOUR DAY in Chicago. At least one
team per prelim will represent each experiment at the UPA
COED CELEBRATION. Time for some coed craziness!!
The Nitty Gritty:
Thanks to Lynne Nolan and her amazing crew in Chicago, we now have details
on the final tourney for the coed series!
The first ever UPA final "COED CELEBRATION" will be held in Chicago
(Naperville) on Labor/Labour Day weekend... that's Aug 30-Sept 1. It's
the week before Tune-Up at the same awesome polo field, and is combined
with the town festival, a fun run for literacy and more...
COED PRELIM TOURNAMENTS - HOW TO HOST ONE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Coed prelims can be held anywhere in the U.S. and Canada - your local
group is welcome to put together an experimental tournament. At least one
"ambassador team" from each prelim will be invited to play in Chicago over
Labor/our Day weekend.
Coed prelims can happen any time, anywhere, from now until late July or
early August, on a first come, first served basis (the earlier the better
so invited teams can make plans for flights, etc). There is no way to
know how many coed prelims will happen at this point, and no way to know
if we will have to limit number of prelims (a GUESS right now is that we
will be able to accomodate up to ABOUT 30 prelims). The UPA coed web page
will be the best place to check for updates: http://www.upa.org/coed
Coed prelims will mostly be weekend tournaments, but heck, you may even
want to try a mini weeknight prelim or anything else as long as the
event's experimental theme is clear to all involved and approved by the
coed committee. Please write Joey to work out any details.
WHAT IS A COED PRELIM? WHAT DO YOU MEAN EXPERIMENT??
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The point of this series is to promote coed play and push the limits of
Ultimate. Lets see what will happen when we actually TRY some of those
crazy party ideas...
Each coed prelim needs ONE unique experiment* (examples at the bottom)
for:
Gender
Spirit of the Game
Community Service
Other
Prelims must be COED. "COED" means at least three of both genders playing
at all times (4:3). Exceptions may be made to accomodate gender
experiments or for areas severely deficient in coed play (5:2 may be ok,
just get it approved through Joey). Play at the final will be 4:3/3:4, so
all "ambassador teams" need to be prepared to play 4:3 at the Coed
Celebration.
UPA sanctioning is encouraged for prelims, but NOT required this year. We
want to make the coed series as easy on players and organizers as possible
- more fun, less bureaucracy! However, the UPA provides an amazing, yet
mostly intangible service that coed players need to support and become a
part of. The final celebration in Chicago WILL be sanctioned, so all
players there need to join the UPA for $25/yr or pay the one-time
$10/event fee.
CREATING A COED PRELIM:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Each prelim needs to be registered reasonably IN ADVANCE (your experiment
needs to be approved by the coed committee to become part of the series).
Don't worry, it isn't that big of a deal, just write in with your idea. We
want to be flexible, but please don't call on a Thursday expecting to get
your tournament approved for that weekend. The more notice you give, the
better. A list of approved prelims (when, where, etc) will be kept
updated on the Coed Series homepage. I will also try to get them listed on
Eric Simon's upcoming tournaments list.
A goal of the series is to encourage NEW coed tournaments. However, you
can always apply for an existing tournament to become a prelim, as long as
you create a worthwhile experiment.
FINAL COED CELEBRATION - HOW TO BE INVITED TO CHICAGO?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Each prelim picks a list of teams recommended as "ambassadors" for the
final Coed Celebration. At least one team from each prelim will get a
spot at the final. Each prelim organizer can pick 2-5 alternates as well.
Please make sure each team on your list can actually make it if picked.
We would like to get as many teams to the final as possible. At this time
there are at least 30 team spots for play in Chicago. Alternates will be
chosen by the coed committee based on things we can't know now, like:
- Total number of prelims
(if there are 10 prelims, more teams per prelim will
play in Chicago. if there are 30 prelims, fewer teams per
prelim will play in Chicago.)
- Number of prelims per area
(example: if there were 4 Oregon prelims and only one Georgia
prelim, Georgia alternates may be chosen before Oregon
alternates)
- Other positive factors for alternate teams include:
- UPA membership
- if the prelim was a new tournament
- quality of the prelim's experiment
- There will also be a small number of "hat" teams for interested
prelim organizers. Details will be sent once your prelim is
approved.
Prelim organizers please get your Top-5 list of "ambassador teams" to Joey
as soon after your prelim as possible (like call or e-mail the next day
206-286-1106 or upa_coed_dir@upa.org).
THE REST:
~~~~~~~~~
Oh, I'm sure there will be more to say - if you have questions or
suggestions, speak up! This is the first time anyone has done anything
like this - so let's push some boundaries and see what evolves...
Send your prelim ideas to:
Joey Gray at upa_coed_dir@upa.org
or call 206-286-1106
* SOME EXAMPLES OF COED PRELIM IDEAS:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember, each prelim only needs ONE experiment. Be clear about it and do
not try too many things at once. Here are some of the ideas that came up
as the series was invented. They are listed just to get you started.
Your experiment needs to be approved by the coed committee before
confirming your tournament as part of the series. Go ahead! Think up
something that's never been done before and see what happens...
Some possible GENDER Experiments:
- all scores Female -> Male, or Male -> Female throws
- start each game with all of one gender, then each point change
one, so that after 7 points, the gender balance has completely
switched 7:0 -> 6:1 -> 5:2 -> 4:3 -> 3:4 -> 2:5 -> 1:6 -> 0:7
- Count mixed gender passes per game - the most integrated teams
get extra points (percentage of mixed throws vs. total throws)
Some possible SPIRIT OF THE GAME Experiments:
- incorporate points for various spirit-related activities (whatever
you want to experiment with), i.e. extra points for great
plays, teams that get voted on by others, cheers,
great sportsmanship, whatever. Keep it simple - just pick
one spirit experiment and be CLEAR about it.
- Combine spirit points with score points
- No call tourney, or teams involved in least calls get extra points
- Experiment with any way to quantify or reward spirit of the game
is it possible? Just try and see...
Some COMMUNITY SERVICE Tournament Ideas:
- Volunteer hours associated with tournament
- Donations raised per team combined with score & win/loss record
- Clothing or Food Drive
- No garbage tournament
- Combine tournament with clinic for "at risk" kids
Some OTHER Prelim Possibilities:
- age experiment, juniors and masters, parents, college
- any combination of savage-whatever - 7s, 8s, 10...
- hat tournament
- trade players after each game (a la Vancouver's Love-In)
- prelim with refs (anything goes for the sake of an experiment!)
- rules variations
- incorporate winning the party
As you can see, every prelim will select teams for the final Coed
Celebration based on very different criteria, beyond just playing/scoring
points/winning games. The point of this year's coed series is to learn
from everyone's experiments, spread energy for coed Ultimate to areas
where it isn't strong yet, and create a niche within the UPA for players
who not only like competition, but all the crazy, less straightforward
elements of Ultimate as well. As you can guess, this series is for those
who like some spontinaiety and uncertainty in their lives. If you need a
lot of structure or know you or a teammate might freak if things like
seeding, etc, are not obvious, then this is not the best place for you to
play. But if you love playing for playing's sake, want to join coed
players from around North America to celebrate Ultimate and Ultimate
Spirit, and you have a new idea you want to try, you're in the right
place. This entire series is one huge experiment, so put yourself in a
petri dish and see what happens!
Joey Gray
UPA Coed Director
upa_coed_dir@upa.org
http://www.upa.org/coed
THANKS!
~~~~~~~~
Thanks especially to the coed committee and coed discussion list for
working hard all winter to invent this series. Thanks to UPA board
members Troy Frever and Eric Simon for their encouragement and wisdom, and
thanks to Lynne Nolan and her Chicago crew for stepping up to host the
first Coed Celebration in a very big way!