Thoughts.

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.

A few lessons I learned from today:
1) Navigating in Japan by car is harder than you think.
2) I’m really out of shape.
3) There’s a rather significant ultimate population in Japan (the tourney had some 14 or 16 teams!?–the majority of which were 90-100% Japanese. University clubs are becoming more poplar here, it seems)–it’s just not concentrated close to where I live and work. Feel free to get in touch with me if you ever happen to be out East and in search of some action.
4) Even out of shape and out of practice, my throws remain solid–more on that later this week.
5) Turning a 2-hour trip into a 5-hour one does not, in fact, do a driver’s body well. Ouch.

I racked up a layout D in my first game (second point, I think)–if you’re ever picking up with a team and you need to prove you’re legit in a hurry (say you show up 3 hours late and really need to prove that you were worth the wait), get ho.

Honestly, there’s not too much point in fussing at this point. I could say I hate it, I can say I love the idea, but neither would be a particularly useful opinion in, oh, a month or two, when the series is inevitably altered significantly to make it more equitable. Or at least more workable for the UPA in some fashion or another.

The question should not be: “What do you want to happen,” or “What do you think,” but simply: “What do you think will happen?”

(even that question doesn’t particularly need answering)

I applaud people with legitimate concerns who have raised them, but at this point all that needs saying has been said, commentary has been made, well’s run dry. Everybody just calm down. Embrace the zen, realize that there are things you cannot control, and simply enjoy the excitement.

Who am I voting for? First, a few impressions:

• I have a huuuge bias for Gwen Ambler, from agreeing with her articles on the Huddle on a regular basis to seeing her efforts to give women’s college ultimate some press on icultimate. Finding out that her commitment to the sport extends in a very broad capacity to most all levels is only icing on the cake. I have to agree with the Huddle on this one. I particularly agree with her thoughts on re-structuring the series to make it more enticing for more teams to play. Really, this sort of adjustment is long overdo, and incorporating a “season” into the series is exactly the sort of thing the UPA can and should be working on.
• I really like what Catherine Hartley Gweenwald talks up in her interview with the Huddle. Tapping into the volunteer bases of the parents in particular is, I think, an as-yet unexplored component of youth ultimate in a lot of places that has huge potential. And getting the website in order is definitely a big plus–with her PR experience I think she has a lot to offer the board.
• Finally, Henry Thorne brings a voice of experience and apparently has a pretty broad-minded approach, which means he’ll be useful to the board in all facets.

In my voting, these three were the ones who really stood out. It’s really hard for me to choose against Henry, and similarly I feel like Gwen simply HAS to be on the board with her broad experience and what she wants to do with the sport. Additionaly, while I really like Catherine’s ideas, I also have a feeling that a lot of what she will do is either possible outside of board involvement or can still be submitted to the board whether or not she’s on it.

So, I’m going with the two people I think most likely to make a difference in what the board DOES, not simply bringing ideas to the mix–Gwen Ambler and Henry Thorne. How about you?

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