From sentto-1329730-2481-1114515499-mackay=mrao.cam.ac.uk@returns.groups.yahoo.com Tue Apr 26 12:38:30 2005 To: camdisc@yahoogroups.com From: Anna Nelson Date: 26 Apr 2005 12:38:14 +0100 Subject: [camdisc] sb transition Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Status: RO REALLY long email. please read as it regards the future of cambridge ultimate... soooo my friends. a bunch of us have been thinking...and talking...and have finally decided to do something about the state of affairs of strange blue. we feel that sb has a huge potential and that we are not realizing its potential right now. cambridge frisbee has reached a new phase. there are now many more people that come out to training sessions during the week (and probably weekends) which is absolutely fantastic. cambridge has never had this many people and neither has british ultiamte. it's GREAT! there's so much expansion and people keen to play. BUT...and of course there was going to be a but...it means that it's really really tough to run training sessions when there's so many people coming out (very little playing time when we start the game) and of such varied playing ability. we feel that in order for strange blue to reach it's potential, we have to start having a focused experienced practices where we teach fundamentals, not just basics. so we'd like to dedicate tues sessions to this goal. we would also like to give everyone a chance to come to these tues sessions. sooooo...we have decided to have a tryout! first tryout ever i think for strange blue! it's great that the scene is so developed in cambridge that we are at the point of having to do tryouts for practices. amazing!!! tues will be the experienced session open to about 20 players (that are chosen after the tryouts), where we will have focused practices, sometimes even without a game (shocking!!!), you must turn up on time, and there will be some fitness as well. this will be the training for the tour team and others who are interested at playing at a high level. if you are chosen for this session, then you will be expected to attend all tues practices...and on time and ready to learn and play. please read carefully: if you do not intend to make every single tues session, please do not tryout for this session. this is a matter of commitment, a matter of consistency for a group of people that would sincerly like to improve their game. there will be continuity between tues training sessions and we will not be repeating things we have taught just because one or two people have missed the session. you HAVE to commit to all the tues sessions if you would like to be a part of this. the point: commitment. this is a bit of an experiment to see how many committed people we can get to come to training sessions to improve as a team. take it as a challenge: we challenge you to be a committed player for strange blue. every other team in the top 24 of the tour does this. they have at least one session a week which they are required to attend. at least one. there is no reason why strange blue cannot reach that point. i would hope that everyone playing tour would want to be a part of this. we are not saying that you have to be a part of this practice to play at tour, but hopefully we will reach that level of commitment soon. the other sessions will be as before. there will be plenty of opportunity for others to have enough playing during the week. wednesdays are college league; thur will be like the others have been so far, open to everyone, with some drills, and lots of playing. i realize that it's frustrating for beginners to not have any experienced people to play with, so we will mix it up a bit on thur. also, SUNDAY is a fantastic time to come out and play with all levels of players to learn from. We aim to bring up the level of sunday training sessions. sunday practices will remain open to everyone, with drills and games being organised both for beginners and for advanced players. all people coming to the tues sessions should try to make sunday training as well. to help enhance the focus of Sunday practices, please make an effort to come on time (11 am). to rehash, chosen, committed players MUST come to tues sessions. sooo...the tryouts will be starting today! sorry about the short notice, but there will be two of them, one today (tues) and one on thurs. if you cannot make either of these, but still want to be considered for the experienced tues session, then please email me and we will work something out. the tryouts are open to absolutely everyone, don't feel like you shouldn't come just because you're still a beginner. if you can do the basics of catching and running, you have the potential to play with this team. we are looking for keen athletes that are ready to learn and play hard. you can still come to practice if you're not planning on trying out for the team, just let me know at the beginning of practice. first team student players and first team townie players, you have to try out in order to play on tuesdays (robin ;)). do not assume you have made the team. we will be doing mostly drills at these two tryouts, but due to the fact that student nationals are this weekend, we will of course end with a game, where the student team will play together. great, well, hope to see you all there today and thur for the tryout. and don't forget to let me know if you aren't able to attend. cheers. thanks for reading this. --the exec (anna, jb, jon, robin, matt s, david m, hannah, brian e, wolf) -- ********************************** Anna Nelson Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge Lensfield Road Cambridge, England CB2 1ER 01223 336574 hey everyone. thank you to the 28 (!!!!!!!!!) people who came out yesterday to try-out for the tues experienced session. well-done to everyone, was really impressed with everyone's focus despite the rain and cold during that 2.5 hours. great work. there are a few questions people have had in regard to this strange blue transition that i thought i'd address. 1. if i don't make the cut, can i NEVER play tues? i forgot to mention in the email yesterday that these tues sessions will be 'rolling admission'. meaning that just becuase you don't make the cut the first time round, doesn't mean you won't ever be able to play during these tues sessions. if we see you improving in the thur/sun sessions (there will be many experienced players at EACH of these sessions to watch you), then you will be asked to come to tues training. this way there is a bit of incentive to keep working hard during the other sessions. also, if for some reason you can't commit to tues this term but would like to commit for the summer/fall, etc, just let us know and we will reconsider you when you become available to commit. 2. it is exam time, i can't commit for this term. See number 1 above. we will reconsider you at a later date if you can't make it this term. 3. this tues session seems rather exclusive, which is not very spirited and not very frisbee-like. this is a common query and totally understandable. HOWEVER, we feel that there are enough other sessions during the week that are completely open to others. i don't think that people would really want more than three practices a week. sooo, you have wed college league, thur training and sunday training. thur and sunday training will be run like tues/thur have been run in the past: experienced people leading drills for the first hour and then playing a focused game. i find it hard to believe that we would be able to have more than these three sessions per week with enough people showing up. also, EVERY OTHER CLUB AND EVERY OTHER SPORT has at least one focused intense training a week that is by invite-only. there is no reason why strange blue shoudl not try this out. we feel that there are enough other sessions during the week to keep everyone happy. if you feel that you are not getting enough ultimate in after going to a wed, thur, and sunday practice, plus maybe a fitness session per week, DO let me know ;) 4. why are track sessions on the same day as training? yeah, that's a bit of a bummer actually. but i don't see any way around it unless we change the evening sessions. i haev a tourney/weekend training camp every weekend and i can't be track training on the mon or friday. so, sorry about that, but it's gonna hve to keep being that way for now unless someone has another suggestion. by the way, there are 15 people on the track list and 6 people were there at 7:30 am on tues!!!! well done!! awesome. the fastest man competition might be a bit of a race this time around! please let me know if you'd like to be added to this list. tues/thur 7:30am wilberforce track. i think that's it. please let me know if there are any more questions or comments about the sessions. and see you thur for another tryout!! --a -- ********************************** Anna Nelson Scott Polar Research Institute University of Cambridge Lensfield Road Cambridge, England CB2 1ER 01223 336574