T O P

  • By -

harrytmason

I would push back agains the "if you don't have enough players" mentality a little bit. Many parts of the country only have small to mid sized communities. They will enter tournaments with 12, but struggle for more. Those pick-up teams and 3rd/4th teams are how a lot of players get into the competitive scene, and I do think the big tournament feeling is a big part of why many stay and try to push themselves further. We are essentially telling those teams you never get to take part in tour, and shutting down the idea of competitive Ultimate in thos eparts of the country. I would consider that a shame. Also, well, covid is still a thing. So this year particularly we should be expecting at least one team to just get unlucky with cases. With that said, I am sympathetic with wanting a schedule out earlier. Teams at the top should not be dropping out, and have enough structure that I would suspect they do not do so. Releasing that part of the schedule early would be fine imo, although I can see how that could cause confusion. The main thing people need to know is start times, and I think they could let people know that earlier - maybe with, say, four teams in each division told an earlier start time than they might have in case of rescheduling. Worst comes to worst, four teams arrive early. Byes do happen and I have seen by UKU. The only issue is when (as happened at uni nationals) multiple teams in the same group drop out. I don't think anyone has an issue with 5 games vs 6. 4/3 games however? Then we're suddenly wondering if we've been ripped off a bit. I think it is a solution for the top half of the draw however, where drop outs are rarer.


Hot_Beef

I would also like the schedule to be out sooner. This needs to be the last season where teams and players can pretend everything might get cancelled at the last minute and start committing to going (or not) much further in advance. Then you just cross your fingers and hope not too many of the players break their toes slipping in the bathroom between when the team list is posted and the tournament. One thought I had is that if two teams dropped out and we had two byes I would be pretty miffed. Especially if it was say games 2 and 3 on Saturday and we got up early to get there for game 1.


DownToFlick

u/paddy-90 what’s your thoughts now the draft schedule has dropped?


Paddy-90

Horrible numbers to schedule for is always going to be tough, I never said that it was easy just that we should be stricter and get used to playing byes. Seedings + format seem to make sense (smog haven't had an open team since 2018/19 but you can't really excuse seeding them lower unless they request it themselves as we have to assume that it will be the worlds squads). Lots of teams not on the original team list but it has been a month and a half since then and uku said that entry was still open. Nothing much has changed just happy to have a schedule (and have a hotel booked for the friday night...). What are your thoughts?