Hey Sam et al,

I think a greater indication of our progress & the depth of our region
was the Division 2 results - Mohawks 2nd, Sublime 3rd, and Aye-Aye
8th! That's an average finishing position of around 4.3, which is
incredible.

I agree that pregionals should be taken seriously and beginner rules
shouldn't apply - a level playing field which is reflective of how
those teams will perform at regionals - i.e. not losing any players.
One problem is with first teams losing two players to injuries in the
two or three weeks between Pregionals and Regionals - are they then
allowed to take players from their Pregionals squad to Regionals?
I would take the hard line of saying no, because otherwise there can
be complications and really no way to stop people who want to cheat.
This means teams will have to take better care of themselves and value
their players more - possibly including one more on the first team
than they would otherwise, incase someone gets injured. What do
people think, does this sound like a fair solution?

Aye-Aye sound cool to host SEUOIR, Portsmouth (Matt Harwood) SQWIRT,
Mohawks can host Pregionals, and Matt could also host UMISER if it's
in the second term. Maybe Aye-Aye could host one tournament in term 1
and one in term 2 - we'll just have to see, but I *think* we should be
alright for venues.

About LL ending at SEUOR as opposed to the end of June - this matter
is still up in the air, as although the majority of voters went for
SEUOR, the majority of captains went for end-of-June, with the usuals
not casting a vote (I'll get in touch with them separately sometime,
or maybe Shimmy will).
I'd like this to be discussed more before we decide which way to go.
Personally I think SEUOR is a great time to end it, as there can be a
presentation for the various winners, and then teams can concentrate
on their projects and exams in the summer term. There's always a big
dropoff in attendance to practices in the summer term I find, and a
lot of players are simply too busy with exams and the like to be able
to commit to anything. It would be harsh for a team to work hard in
term 1 & 2, and then have their title taken away in the third term
when they are too busy to defend it. Also, it's incredibly expensive
to play as much as the Mohawks have this year already. I suggest the
summer is kept free for seriously good fun tournaments.

Anyway, just my thoughts,

Felix


On 02/05/06, Samuel Hird <samuel.hird@...> wrote:
> Hey Everyone,
>
> I was just looking at the poll results and noticed that the majority of
> you voted to end the LL at the OUSER. Now its happened it's a real
> shame there isn't anything to really work for anymore, and it can be
> hard to keep up the motivation after the huge bout of tournaments we
> have up until OUSER has ended. Most universities are still in full
> swing and were still recruiting many players and having some great
> scrimmages, but it would be nice if we could organise a few matches
> that really meant something.
>
> As for a second team tournament. I think that having players change
> between 2nd and 1st teams would be a mistake. The whole point of the
> pregionals would be to find the strongest 2nd teams. If a 2nd team
> comes top of the pile to qualify for regionals and then looses say,
> their main handler, they may be considerably weakened and deserve the
> spot much less than a team made up solely of 2nd team players. One
> extra strong player on a team of 5 can make a huge difference, even if
> they can't score. We're at the stage where many of our regions second
> teams can be stronger than some 1st teams, and I think credit should be
> given to those teams and a pregional tournament should be taken as
> seriously as regionals or nationals and 'beginners rules' should not be
> added.
>
> Perhaps more importantly than that is the discussion (that doesn't seem
> to be happening) on uniultimate about bidding. Our region is growing
> hugely, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be in line with the number
> of people willing to host tournaments. Its all very well saying we'll
> have another tournament, but last year there were no bids for ISER,
> with the Mohawks having to host it at the last minute.
>
> I've just realised this email sounds rather pessimistic. I didn't mean
> it to be. Its great our region is doing so well (finishing an average
> of 3 places above the north at nationals – well done!) to warrant
> discussion about how to fit all the teams in.
>
> Sam
> Thrown
>
>
>
> --
> Samuel Hird
> samuel.hird@...
>
>
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>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
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