ok. i just read about 5 days worth of britdisc
conversations re: tours splitting them. i want to
express support for making the mixed occur in a
separate season.
this is primarily because i feel there are many other
women out there, like me, that enjoy playing with men
( *sigh*, not like THAT!). i played open tour this
year with reddog because of this. however i found it
more and more difficult to play as much as i wanted as
i was a liability on D. (put a tall guy on me and send
him deep.)
i think there are very few, if any, women out there
who could compete in the open tour at its highest
level. i played it because i want to be better. i
couldnt see this happening by playing the current
women's tours.
but now if i want to improve i need to switch to
mixed or womens as competing in the top 16 opens is
not yet feasible given my ability. the womens scene in
the uk is improving and i KNOW we have women who kick
ass, but the quality of play is different and the
support network for women of intermediate ability
trying to improve is not really there.
this is NOT a dis on any of the women organising
womens ultimate in the uk, i have complete respect for
what the womens organisers are taking on, i just dont
think there are enough women currently in the uk to
support the growth of womens ultimate, a womens tour
or proper training for intermediate levels. its either
top play by top women or mixed play with a fair number
of beginners.
i know its selfish to not support the womens scene by
not playing womens tour but until there are more
mid-level womens teams its not great for
self-development and improvement. and, like i said, i
prefer playing coed anyway. (im expecting to get shot
down for this so please feel free to criticise my take
on uk womens.)
what i really REALLY want is a serious mixed scene in
the uk where mixed tours are made up of mainly geo
mixed teams as well as the occasional pickups and
where its taken seriously.
there are plenty of other fun tournaments for mixed
(or other) teams. the tours, all of them, should be
serious, in the sense that teams enter it having
trained together and try to play their best. if the
uk wants to compete against north america, people may
need to consider that tours are not for massive
parties and getting wasted but about early nights and
energy food (not beer!).
we're not there yet, but if we want to be a dominant
force in world ulti, we need to start acting
nationally like we are one, not just open, but mixed
too. (and womens as it picks up in popularity.)
just look at the north american mixed and womens
scene. its as serious as open. thats cool in my
opinion. thats how i want to play mixed and im sure
there are other women out there who feel the same(i
hope!). there will always be fun tournies around, it
just doesnt have to be mixed tour.
i can see all this happening (or starting on the
track to this happening) if the seasons are separate.
i read an email (scando?) about mixed starting the
season off as a 'relaxing' introduction into the
summer season. this is bs in my opinion.
the benefits of splitting the seasons are, like i
think rob alpen said, that the top players in the uk
would be able to commit to both seriously. so open and
womens players could also play serious mixed too.
intstead of having to choose. i sincerely believe
this would contribute heavily to the improvement of uk
womens' level of play and to an increased
participation of women in ultimate. i know i would
definitely support and play womens if i knew i could
also play mixed and i believe other women who played
open this year instead of womens may feel the same.
something to consider though, many women play because
they got sucked into ulti via uni. so having mixed
tours or womens during the exam period (as someone
else pointed out) may not be great. having any tours
during exams reduces the participation numbers
greatly. (speaking from experience!) is it a
possibility to shift the season over more into summer
fall as opposed to spring? just wondering.
lastly as regards to reducing the number of tours, i
think bowers said that it would make the victories
more important; feel less like 'oh well we'll beat
them next tour'.
as a sideliner i think this is spot on. watching the
finals at open tours was f. awesome but it seemed less
of a big deal. if there were less tours, winning them
would be a bigger deal and you'd have to work harder
for each of them. no second chances. obviously i
wasnt in the finals so this is just an observation, my
tuppence worth.
having fulfilled expectations of writing as much as i
talk i will end my email here.
spike
# 13, red dog
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