Is College Ultimate "IT?"
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Loading ...Given the recent news of the NCUA (thus far getting an admittedly lesser response than the initial C1 announcement–which is sure to change once the weekend is over), and this particular post by Dusty (even if the blogging has stopped, he’s still worth reading), I’ve been pondering this question over the last couple days.
Is it all downhill after college? Certainly the level of play rises, but the excitement is different there. While I can watch elite ultimate and think to myself, “So long as I keep working, I can do that too,” I think it’s a lot easier for your typical ultimate fan (? maybe I should put “player” here instead) to look at collegiate ultimate and feel more connected/relate more to the game. If we’re looking for a showcase with potentially broad appeal, perhaps college ultimate IS the way to go. In the long run, perhaps packaging and selling collegiate ultimate will lead to the most “success” (here defined as increased public awareness and some semblance of “legitimacy” in terms of more broad-spread recognition as a varsity sport). I really don’t have enough of an education in the way ultimate has grown so far or a good understanding of potential markets to say anything about these developments with any certainty, but it’s certainly an exciting time to be an ultimate player! I’m very interested to see where this period of relative turmoil leads–the bet here is that by 2010 we see a stable system commonly accepted as the norm, but 2009 remains a very clouded picture and what happens this year will determine what becomes “acceptable” in the season following.
Rather than such grandiose notions, my main contemplation has been more personal. Namely, in my post-college-partum depression, will elite ultimate really be something I want to pursue?
It was easy for me to be motivated and work hard in college–I wasn’t working just for myself, but I knew that my own work contributed to the team and that team was something more than simply a team–the team was (and remains) my family. You probably read all of Hector’s goings-ons about Wisconsin, despite he himself being years removed from playing there. It speaks volumes to the pull that the Alma Mater can have, even while playing at the sport’s supposedly highest level.
Is it even close to possible to recapture some of that fire and passion playing with a group of guys who I don’t live with and learn with and stay up much later than is appropriate to play Smash Bros. (the N64 original–Ness and PK Thunder saves 4eva) with? I don’t think so.
I think Dusty is spot-on in assessing the motivations of the two divisions. Club is elite, but college is passionate. Until ultimate as an entity is big enough to support full-time elite players, we absolutely can and should focus on building at the grassroots level, building at the collegiate level.
Whoops. I did say I don’t really know what I’m talking about…I’ll leave it there.
Please feel free to chip in with your thoughts here–apologies to my Aussie readers, I’m not sure how much of this actually has relevance to the way you structure things over there.
Related posts:
- Exciting Times in College Ultimate
- UCPC Review, Part 5 (the final: "A Season of High-level College Ultimate," Nathan Wicks)
- College Defense: Minimize Threat, or Maximize D Opportunities?
- The Huddle’s College Survey Data, and My Methods
- Post #150! 7/19-20: Ow My Knee, or: "Hey. Just so you know. We’re really good at ultimate."
The upper echelons of ultimate nerds in Australia are pretty up to date on the whole NCUA/C1 bit so you haven’t lost us! I’m keeping a close eye on the developments because it kind of relates to my role down here (National Universities Coordinator) and I’m interested to see what they do in terms of promotion and sponsorship.
In terms of loyalty to college versus club, I think the answer is quite simple – with your college team you have a sort-of forced commitment because there’s only one team you can play with, and the name is ongoing (of the college I mean, not the team). With club, there is no guarantee that the team will be around the next year (at least in their current form, ie: same name, colours, etc) for you to play for/try out for/follow.
But I experienced a greater sense of conscious team-building in club this past year than I did in the last two playing college. Rutgers is in the midst of developing a program, so it’s complicated here, but I sort of feel like a lot of these kids don’t have the dedication or drive that I’m looking for. The measuring stick I use is, in fact, whether they will play after college. Everybody on a club team chooses to be on that team, and they pick the team that gives them the experience they want–I was at the bottom of the roster of a team trying to make Nationals, because I wanted to learn, improve, and get experience against the best players/teams in the country. I have loyalty to both, but I saw more sacrafice from my club teammates. They wanted it more. Dusty is right, most people don’t and won’t want it that much.