Just a note about the Loughborough beginners tournament this weekend.
Another very well run tournament, lots of fun and great development for new players to the sport. The general standard of fair play and 'spirit' was very high, with the experienced players in each team generally promoting these attitudes to their new players very well and setting the right example on the pitch.
However, there was one game that we played (I won't say their name) but it was against a team who were being coached. During the game, there were a very large number of calls of different types in the game. And most of this was coming from the sidelines where their coach (amongst others) were continual trying to call 'outs' and 'fouls' to the advantage of his team. At one stage, the coach tried to get his players to call one of our players not in the end zone, from a full length of the court away.
My point is, the leader of the side sets the example for their player's to follow. Although the team I am referring to played with real intensity and skill, my instinct suggests they were looking to gain an advantage from the 'self-referreeing' nature of Ultimate, in their pursuit of success.
As an aside, some of you may be aware of a study I have been doing on leadership in sport, which I used ultimate teams as my sample population. As part of the study, I had the privilege of interviewing several captains from the top of the A-tour and Women's tour. The overriding impression I took from the interviews, was that the captains were aware of their responsibilities, set good examples of fair play themselves, and promoted fair play within their sides, which can only be a good thing for the progression of the sport in the UK.
I hope that captains continue to realise their responsibilty towards the 'spirit' of Ulitmate, and place an emphasis on fair play, with the game we played at the weekend being very much an isolated incident.
Matt (Reservoir Discs - Bangor Uni) __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list BritDisc@near.me.uk http://zion.ranulf.net/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp
