The kids aren't alright

Apologies for titling this post with a decidedly average Offspring song, but over the email lately there's been a bit of discussion about the future Youth Nationals. And no, I'm saying that as in Youth Nats is going to drop off the radar. It seems that Youth Nats has never managed to find a comfortable home on the calendar.

The big problem is where to stage it. It has always been in Sydney because that's where the majority of youth players are. But it has always been a struggle to get interstate teams coming, largely due to parental permission and cost. Also commitment - most youth players have only been playing a short time (less than a few months) and aren't likely to commit to a weekend interstate.

And so the current favourite line of thought is to localise youth tournaments and training camps - have them run in capital cities. To a Victorian parent, having your teenager go for a weekend in Melbourne is more appealing than letting them fly up to Sydney for a weekend for some game with a plastic frisbee.

But from this train of thought came my idea - run state based championships, and have representative teams compete at Youth Nationals. There are three key reasons for this idea...

• Funding: State Associations have a clear avenue for youth funding - getting their rep team to Nationals. Whether they pay for a coach, or a bus to get them there, or uniforms. They can even apply for government funding if they are sending a rep team, rather than a club team.
• Legitimacy: Getting selected for a state team in any sport automatically places some legitimacy on it when talking to non-players. Particularly in this instance, parents and schools. Because many other sports use a similar system, it gives the parent or school an automatic basis for comparison - they equate it with being selected for the state team in footy or soccer or tennis or badminton.
• Clear pathway: Play for your school/club team, play for your state team, make the Thunder/Terra training squad, make the Thunder/Terra team.
  

The format I suggested was as follows...

• * The State FDA's are responsible for determining the selection process for their team. Whether they have selection trials or a state championships, or simply "who wants to go?" They submit their team by a certain date.
• * NSW and Victoria split into Metro and Country, giving us teams of NSW Metro, NSW Country, Vic Metro, Vic Country, ACT, Queesland, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia. If a state doesn't have enough for a full team, merge them with the nearest team (eg: WA with SA)
• * Selections for Thunder/Terra training squads may take this tournament into account.

This kind of format would also give the volunteers some clear roles they can aim for, particularly being coaches and selectors. With an increased presence of coaches and selectors at the elite level, this setup would give senior players an opportunity to cut their teeth on such a role. For example: rather than diving straight into to be a selector for Terra, a Sultry player may be a selector for the Queensland youth team to get a feel for the process.

Over the years, prestige will be built up for the rep teams - they could be given a name early on and treated like a club team, but would still fall under the jurisdiction of the state FDA (particularly their Youth Coordinator). Kids would strive to make the team and being selected would be an honour, similar to how it is being picked for Thunder/Terra. And players who then go on to club teams would still have a connection to the team, and may come back to coach or even just support them.

Um....who's actually going?

After musing about it briefly over at Ultitalk, I thought I'd actually put a bit of thought into who is actually going to be in Perth at the end of April.

Flights booked already

Fakulti X & Fakulti Y - After taking home the shield last year, Fakulti are returning to their traditional even split teams this year. Whether they can go back to back is anyone's guess.

Fyshwick United - They came oh so close last year, and after smashing shit up at Share The Love, it seems they're prepped for a big season.

I-Beam - The ongoing success of I-Beam makes the Deathstar experiment seem funnier every year. Anything less than quarters would be disappointing. Not sure I'd back them in for semis though.

Chilly - Will take #1 or #2 in South.

Heads of State - Will take #1 or #2 in South.

Karma - Probably 3rd.

Firestorm - Well someone from North are gonna be there.

Sublime - Shouldn't have to explain this one.

Hot Chilly - I was going to put these guys as a 'maybe' but I think they're going to be a lot more experience and talent than Hot Chilly's of the past and should comfortably get themselves spot #3 or #4 from South.



Will have to wait until March 15th

Manly - With Barefoot's absence, that opens up a spot for a 'new' 5th place team from the East. I'm putting Manly up there as the best shot since they were part of the show in Melbourne two years ago.

Hills - The women have been, the mixed have been, but the open has never quite made the cut. Same boat as Manly, this year is their best chance so far.

Slamtown - It really depends on if they want to go or not. North will be competing with West to get numbers to Regionals and therefore a second spot via wildcard. Firestorm have said they'll only have one team, but if their second team come 2nd at Northern Regionals, that's gonna fuck up their eligibility to get on the team that goes. It's a long shot, but Slamtown could very well come in 2nd.

Fear - Their best shot is the AFDA giving West a second slot because they're hosting. I think North may get the edge in the wildcard stakes with more players competing.

Sublime B - Similar to Firestorm's predicament, they could either go even split to get the two spots and risk not being able to shift players if one misses out, or go A/B and let the B team fight their own battle.

Karma B, HoS B & Tassie Tiggers - It's gonna be a shitfight between these three to finish 5th at Southern Regionals and earn a (potential) wildcard. If I had to make the call today I'd pick HoS B, but that's because I have no idea what Tassie's team might look like.

Singapore & Phillipines - These are the two rumoured international teams making the trip. Since they aren't likely to be attending a qualifier any time soon (what region would they count as? NZ?) they'll have to wait and see if there's room for them. Affordability isn't likely to be an issue as it is surprisingly cheap to get to Perth from anywhere in South East Asia.



Sorry lads, not this time

Umlaut & Westies - these teams were formed simply to play some enjoyable open ultimate without the aim of going to Nationals. And good on them - it's what the sport needs more of.

Brisbane Barbarians - see above.

Ultimate Evolution - again, see above.

Thor - unless they have some first born children around to sell, I don't see them getting the capital together to make it happen.

GFUC - these boys lack the tournament experience needed in the open season, especially in an increasingly tough region. Give it two or three years and we'll see Geelong challenging for spots.

Roflcopter - Regionals fodder. They said it themselves.

Happy Pig - I think this team might be forming to try and get numbers towards a wildcard spot for Perth. Still, it's good to see Western Regionals actually happening this year.

Early season news and rumours

So I've been keeping my ear to the ground in several places to see what's going on early in the season. And in my ongoing mission to be the first dedicated ultimate journalist (Match Diesel can suck it), I thought I'd share some of the more substantial rumours that are floating around the place.

- First off, the South Region, and it looks like Southern Regionals is already going to be bigger than last year. GFUC made their debut in both the open and women's divisions at GCC and came 4th in both, and won spirit in both. Both teams are young and athletic, and just need the experience that comes from playing in tournaments.

- Chilly's usual two team setup was looking shaky a couple of weeks back with not quite enough players to justify a second squad. Not after last year's effort with two small teams anyway. But since then they've gone on the recruitment trail and got enough for Hot Chilly to happen this season. Coupled with the return of quite a few veterans, and the enticement of a prominent Dingo to play south of the Murray, and Chilly are looking good for title #4.

- Karma are bringing two teams into Regionals, and will stick with an A/B split. Heads of State are over in Hawaii competing in Kaiamana, and will make their selections soon. They aren't sure whether they'll have numbers for a B team, but are still working on it.

- We don't know if Evolution or Tassie Tiggers are having a tilt at Regionals, but if they do come it could very well earn South a wildcard, which would give both of these teams a decent chance of getting a spot in Perth.

- Sporting Team Box Athletico United had a small squad at GCC but still cruised past Honey, who have more players to choose from this year. Without a Worlds campaign in the back of the mind of a fair percentage of their squad, Box should be able to bounce back into semis contention at Nationals.

- Going up North now, and that region isn't looking nearly as strong as 2008. They managed to secure a wildcard last year based on Regionals participation, but it isn't likely a second Firestorm team or The Pass will pony up for the cross country flights, so they might lose that wildcard in 2009. It will also be interesting to see if Minx return for season 2009, or if we'll just see Sultry representing North.

- West are taking advantage of a home turf Nationals with two more clubs entering Regionals, which means a Western Regionals will actually happen this year. Predominantly masters-based Fear have entered the open division against a split Sublime squad, and new women's team Kaos are going up against Primal. Unfortunately for Fear they might be waiting upon a possible wildcard, while a spot for Kaos seems safer, especially if a women's Northern Regionals doesn't happen.

- There is a long standing spot for New Zealand teams to participate in Nationals, but in a non-Worlds year, and with the high cost and logistical difficulty of getting from NZ to Perth, I'd be surprised to see either an open or women's team make the trip. Chalk up another wildcard in each division.

- In East, the big news is Barefoot choosing not to participate in this season. The club's younger players are finding homes elsewhere, while the old guard are resting the muscles to prepare for probably the worst kept secret in ultimate - Thong's tilt at World Clubs 2010.

- Fakulti will be defending their title for sure, but whether they stick with an A/B split or return to even split is anyone's guess. Well, anyone outside their leadership group anyway. The biggest discussion point with regards to this is Fakulbee's performance in Coffs. I wasn't there, but one drunken Nationals player did remark to me that, "they should be punched in the face for wasting everyone's time." Hmm.

- Fyshwick are gearing up for another tilt at the title. Jonno Holmes will play a big role, and there's talk he may be joined by a couple of big name former Sydney-siders this year. Anything less than semis would be a disappointment for United.

- But touching again on the withdrawl of Barefoot, it has opened up the door for a new club to get a spot, particularly if Wollongong also choose not to go west. A second Fyshwick or I-Beam team doesn't seem nearly as likely as Umlaut or Hills getting a berth.

- Wildcard look like having two teams, as seems the norm these days. Southside, Sugar Mags and Factory Girls all appear to have similar squads to last year without any major losses/gains. But this year sees the return of Manly to the women's division. A look at Share The Love and BC Invitational registrations shows there's a mix of old and new, and they'll almost certainly shake up the Easterns and Nationals placings.

Send any rebuttals or rumours of your own to the usual address.

Club history

As of writing this post, BUUF has played 218 games and had 133 players pull on a navy shirt.

We've lost more than we've won (about a 60-40 split), but we've had a lot of fun doing it.

While we've had a lot of Australia rep players take the field for us, we've managed to produce two Australian reps of our own.

Next week we get our new jerseys. On the left sleeve everyone will have a number that is different to the number on their back. It is the number in which order they played their first game for BUUF - a move stolen from GFUC, who probably stole it from the Australia cricket team.

Also next week, on Wednesday, BUUF turns 5 years old. We're not sure of the exact date, but it was the week before O-Week in 2004 that myself and some friends were sitting around in the UBSA office, bandying about an idea for an ultimate frisbee team. We'd been talking about it all summer since some of us saw it played at 2003 AUG, but nothing had been planned. That day, we bit the bullet and said "let's do it" and came up with the name.

One week shy of the 5th birthday, we did two things to add to our history.

We broke our club record for longest winning streak (the record is now eight games).

And we finally broke through to win our first competition - Geelong League season three.

Yeah BUUF.

(L-R) Nathan Job, Tarrant Meehan, Simon Talbot , Doobie Kuchel, Dan Rule, Greta Hunt, Mon Connell, Jez O'Brien, Dylan Carter