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COLIN
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Subject: "Not all journalists are bastards!"
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Contrary to the belief of many after the infamous Time Out article the title of
this em does not apply to all. Those were the words the journalist used this
case.
Here follows the report a journalist has written for my company magazine,
following a telephone interview i did with an agency earlier this week.
The article has yet to be published.
The Ultimate Sporting Experience?
Think of a Frisbee and one instantly has a vision of lazy summer afternoons in
the park, whiling away a pleasant hour or two flicking a small, plastic like
disc between friends while a dog leaps pointlessly through the air in a vain
attempt to catch it in it's jaws.
What you won't perhaps realise is that to some, the Frisbee is more than just a
pssing craze to be used for a week or two and then put away in the cupboard and
forgotten about like the Yo - Yo's and skateboards of an earlier time.
To one member of EULER Trade Indemnity - Colin Wagsatff - the frisbee is not a
toy, nor a fad, but the essential ingredient of a new sport beginning to take
hold accross the country. A sport called, "Ultimate", and a sport for which
Colin represents the country.
Colin started playing Ultimate at university, and was soon hooked. The rules are
easy to understand: 7 players on each team play on a pitch measuring 120 yds by
40 yds, which has at erach end an endzone 25 yards deep. The object is to score
points by getting one of you players to catch the frisbee in the end zone, in
exactly the same way as American Football. Each player has 10 seconds to release
the disc once they are in possession, and cannot run or move with it once it is
in hand. The winner is the first team to score 21 points, and each game will
typically last between two and two and a half hours.
What is unique about Ultimate, and why Colin is so obsessed, is the sportmanship
and spirit in which the game is played, a spirit which he believes other sports
fail to match. "Ultimate is the only sport we know where there is no referee.
The game is self officiated, with 'fouls' being called by the players
themselves. I know of no other sport which is played in such a spirit," he says.
"It sets moral standards from which other spotrs could learn."
Colin is used to the cynicim and sarcastic remarks which ordinarily greet him
when he mentions his sporting interest, but he views the standard of fitness
required to play Ultimate as again equal to, if not greater, than other sporting
activities.
Few can understand how Ultimate can possibly be regarded as a sport, but then
those are the few who also fail to see why Beach Volley ball is now an Olympic
event. What Colin says, is that people shouldn't judge Ultimate until they have
seen it played, especially at the highest level. Then their opinions will
change.
How widespread Ultimate has become in this country is difficult to gauge. Unlike
other countries like Sweden and Finland for example, Ultimate is not on the
school Curriculum, nor is it likely to be in the foreseeable future. What Colin
can tell us however, is that there are approximately 3000 players in the UK,
and the week-end tournaments held throughout the summer are well attended, and
are tremendous social occasions.
"We have a National Body(The British Ultimate Federation) which regularly tries
to promote the sport to the Sports Council, but funding and sponsorship is
always a problem," Colin admits.
Lack of sponsorship means that Colin and the other Great Britain team members
will therefore be paying their own way for the World Championships being held in
Minnesota later this year. "We need to keep raising the profile of the sport,
and promoting its benefits to a wider audience," he adds.
Anyone interested in learning more about Ultimate should contact the British
Ultimate Federation, PO Box 1, Swan House, Leicester, LE9 5ZW, or look out on
the website www.ultimateweb.co.uk/buf/.
Well done for getting this far.
The reason why i have posted this to BD is simply as it is one of the most
accurate presentations of Ultimate i have ever read. Admitedly it is only for my
bi-monthly company magazine which reaches around 2500 people accross three
continents and 6 different countries. Still it is wrtten by a real journalist
who also writes for many major newspapers and magazines on specialist subjects.
What's more the telephone conversation i had with him lasted no more than ten
minutes and he had never previously heard of Ultimate before let alone seen it
played.
What does everyone/anyone else think of it?
Colin.
UTI.