I agree that the way to improve Ultimate in the long run is promotion to younger groups. But not just to build their skills early - instead, promotion in schools will increase the overall player base and the number of athletes who see it as a viable sport option.
I think this can and should be one of the main thrusts of UKUA - to promote the sport to schools. The level of athleticism involved, combined with the unique spirit of the game could make Ultimate very attractive for school sporting programmes. Ive seen occasional e-mails asking for volunteers to show Ultimate in schools, but I think the association must be proactive to approach organisations of Physical Education Teachers (do they have a national organisation?) or school sports directors - or even heads of schools. The association can go about producion of simple instructions and teaching guides for various age groups, and maybe even give schools a few discs? (Does anything like this happen already by UKUA? I just dont know) Once children start playing it in schools, they will know of it and see it as a viable sport option later in life. School teams and leagues may follow, but I think the beginning is to get young people in this country to know what Ultimate is, and give them some experience with it. A couple of months ago a 15 year old girl sitting next to me on a plane from New York to Montreal told me - without my mentioning I played - that she "really wanted to go to Vancouver to see [her] favourite ultimate team play". We need to not olny get the 15 year olds in the UK to know what ultimate is, but to see it as a normal everyday sport that can be casually mentioned in this way. -Justin P. ----- Original Message ----- From: "McLoughlin, Matthew J" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 9:39 AM Subject: RE: [BD] The Future of UK ultimate [was: Tour Structure etc] > John Palmer wrote: > "This must be due to two things: > 1. Better training and coaching at the junior and university level. > 2. A higher level of/more opportunity for competition in all divisions." > > I think it is also important to note the difference in attitude between the > UK/Europe and the US when it comes to sports. From a very young age the > emphasis on US children is to compete to win - be it local little league > baseball to university games. I don't know any other country that has > national TV coverage of university sports and has a paying crowd to come > watch them! > > If we want to improve the player base then I think we need to move away from > relying on finding people at the university level when the majority of > people already have their sport 'of choice' to putting the emphasis on high > school kids - much like what Kev Lowe (congrats on the bambino!!) is trying > to do in and around Chester. By teaching them the sport at a younger age by > the time they come to compete in open/womens/mixed they will have far more > experience than if they only had seen the game at uni - if they ever > bothered to try it in the first place! > > One way of doing this could be by organising visits to schools and then > running coaching sessions on a weekend in the winter (like local footy > clubs do). Obviously this would take a lot of time and effort but maybe > look for funding with local councils - possibly by getting a press release > from UKU showing what the sport promotes - e.g. fair play, friendship, > respect, fun - to help sell is as the ideal sport for children?!?! > > Then imagine the rewards in 5-8 years time when we suddenly have a glut of > new fresh talent who have hopefully learnt from the masters of today - then > we could compete with North America > > Just an idea > > Matt > __________________________________________________ > BritDisc mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://zion.ranulf.net/mailman/listinfo/britdisc > Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp > __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://zion.ranulf.net/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp
