[BD] Re: BritDisc Digest, Vol 40, Issue 13

[Keith Cleaver]

Message: 6

> Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2007 11:16:00 +0000
> From: Felix <felix37 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [BD] Sign up
> To: britdisc at ranulf.net
> Message-ID:
>         <baeb96d10701290316i6d9fc1fakac2ad5fc431a72f7 at mail.gmail.com>
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>
> My non-ultimate playing brother started a petition on this site
> (regarding the conservation of invertebrates - www.buglife.org.uk )
> and ended up meeting with Tony Blair a few weeks ago, he got a fair
> amount of uninterrupted time to chat and it was rather productive, but
> I don't think pushing for 2012 Olympics inclusion is the best thing to
> approach the government about regarding Ultimate at the moment.
>
> As far as I can see it, the major benefit of attending the Olympics
> would be to raise the profile & generate some publicity of the game.
> A main aim of publicity is to bring in new, younger players into the
> game, which I would say is certainly where the big changes are going
> to start.  However, there's an approach to this goal which is crying
> out to be made the most of;
>
> Ultimate teaches civility - using reason and rationality to get along
> with those around you to make something work, and to have a good time.
> It encourages trust, cooperation, and communication - all major
> qualities which would help solve the big behavioural problems in kids
> today, which I'm sure the government are far more aware of & concerned
> about than which sports deserve to be in the Olympics.
>
> Ultimate needs to be on the national curriculum, BUT it also needs
> publicity if anyone is actually going to choose to play it over the
> other options which'll be presented to them - I think at the moment a
> few schools offer it as an option but not enough kids at some choose
> it to warrant running a course.
>
> So, first we need the structure in place to support an influx of new
> young players wanting to play the sport - resources of information and
> tips if they are to sort out their own teams (then once they are ready
> they can then start to play Ladder League games), OR if they are going
> to join a local club, they first need to be able to find it (local
> advertising / teams map on ukultimate.com or regionalultimate.co.uk),
> then the club needs to be prepared to deal with them, so perhaps again
> a resource of information and words from experienced folk would be
> useful.
>
> Second we need to actually get the publicity going so they will be
> clued up when it comes to deciding between Ultimate and table tennis.
> We need to get Ultimate on Newsround and other CBBC/CITV airtime...
> just one or two good features a year will be enough for an entire
> generation.
>
> Then, we need to educate the schools and the teachers about what
> Ultimate is, and why they want to offer it as a sports option.  Once
> that's done, we should either get students along to help coach at
> their local school, or continue with the UKUA coaching courses,
> running one a year specifically for PE / games teachers. Perhaps this
> supporting structure needs to be in place before the schools
> curriculum move is made in fact.
>
> If these steps can be taken then it'll be a huge leap for the sport in
> this country, and inclusion in the Olympics etc are questions that
> will naturally be asked in a few years time without generating the
> response "What is Ultimate?"
>
> Felix


I totally agree with what's been said here but here's my two pence on this:

1) The events for the 2012 games had already been decided and finalised. I
heard that that was done at the same meeting as the decision on where the
2012 games were to take place

2) Ultimate has quite a way to go before it can even be considered as an
Olympic sport. There was a list somewhere on either the the UKUA  or the
WFDF site on what Ultimate needs to achieve before the sport can even
consider tabling a bid for Olympic status, and from what I remember,
Ultimate only has fulfilled a few, NOT ALL of those things.

3) The whole "recognition" thing does indeed start with schools. The more
people we can get into our schools and teaching Ultimate, the better.
However, it dosen't end there. I was at the UKUA conference at the weekend,
and one of the most striking things that was said was that in the majority
of cases, the University players either don't know of a team they can join
once they leave Uni, or even worse, one dosen't exist in their area! This
for me is also something that needs working on, otherwise, it'll be all well
and good bringing the young players in, but if there's none of the older
players around to bring them through, the sport would die very quickly
indeed.

Just wanted to share my opinions on this issue.

Keith
(keithcleaver at googlemail.com)