Cambridge `Coed' Ultimate Tournament








BUF Mixed Ultimate Series 2001

Purpose and Goals

1.   To encourage the growth of the Ultimate player base.
The points system used to rank teams for the National Finals awards a single
point for
each player newly recruited to tournament level Ultimate.  Continued growth
of the player base is necessary for the award of government funding and
inclusion in international sport festivals, such as the World games.

2.  To encourage the play of mixed Ultimate.
The Ultim8Tour system has a drawback in discouraging mixed play by pitting
mixed teams against open teams. By offering explicitly mixed events, teams
and players who wish to play in the mixed format can do so on a level
playing field, competing against other mixed teams.

3.  To provide a mixed tournament circuit and a structure for Mixed
Nationals.
It can be difficult and a financial risk for individuals or teams to
organize a tournament without BUF sanction or support.  By creating an
'official' series, more teams will organize tournaments (outside of the
Ultim8 Tour) due to reduced risk of low attendance and financial loss.

4.  To provide a larger player base for the selection of a national mixed
squad.
Mixed Ultimate has strategies and playing styles specific to the game.  By
encouraging more players to play Mixed more often, national selectors will
have a greater range of players from which to choose, many with advanced
skills specific to the Mixed game.

The Mixed Series, Mixed Nationals, and Nationals Qualifying Points

For this year, the Mixed Nationals Results will be used to determine the
order in which invitations to the World Club Championships, to be held in
Hawaii in 2002, will be issued.  Invitations will be passed down the order
of finish until all slots are filled.

For the Mixed Series, games will be played by WFDF rules.  This means that
there is a 4/3 gender split on the pitch, with the team going on offence
(the team receiving the pull) deciding whether it will be 4 men or 4 women
on the pitch.  The defensive team must match their gender split to that of
the offensive team.  For each Mixed Series Event, teams must be ready to
play on Saturday morning with at least 4 players of each gender, no
exceptions.  Teams not meeting this requirement will not receive any
Nationals qualification points.  For Nationals, teams must have at least 4
players of each gender who can play throughout the entire tournament.
Failure to do so will result in disqualification.

The Mixed Series will consist of three or four two-day national events.  All
events will have an 'open' format, meaning that any team entering can win
the event.  (This is a change from the Ultim8 Tour, where previous
performance can prevent a team from winning an event.)  All events will be
publicised on Britdisc and using other means as available.  All events will
be open to any rostered mixed team (subject, as always, to the tournament
director's discretion).  Rosters will be collected at all Mixed Series
Events; rostering rules are detailed below.

Each event will contribute to qualification for Mixed Nationals.  In a
manner similar to the Ultim8 Tour, points will be acquired at each event.
To qualify for Mixed Nationals, a team must have a minimum of 20 points, ten
of which must have been earned by playing in a Mixed Series Event.  (Ways of
earning points are further detailed below.)  Unlike the Ultim8 Tour, a team
earns 10 points by simply attending a Mixed Series Event.  Many teams will
acquire the all the points needed for Nationals qualification at a single
Event.  Points will be awarded in the following manner:
                    1st place:  60 points
6th            :  24 points
                    2nd           :  50 points
7th            :  20 points
                    3rd            :  42 points
8th            :  17 points
                    4th            :  35 points
9th            :  15 points
                    5th place:  29 points
10th          :  14 points
                                                   all other teams:  10
points
Seedings for Mixed Nationals will be based on points acquired over the Mixed
Series.  If it becomes necessary to exclude teams from the Mixed Nationals
due to over-subscription, teams with the lowest point totals will be
excluded.  (Based upon the 2000 season, this should not be necessary.)  It
is important to note that this points system is different from that of the
Ultim8 system in several ways.  There is significantly less pressure to
attend every event- missing an event will not affect your seeding at the
next event.  Also, many teams will earn ample points for entry into the
Mixed Nationals and a reasonable seeding for that event by attending one or
two Mixed Series Events.

Rostering new players can earn additional Nationals qualification points.
One point is earned for each new player rostered to lay in any Mixed Series
event.  A new player is defined as a players that has never played an Ultim8
Tour event, a student event, a women's event, a mixed event, or any other
British or foreign tournament.  Hat tournaments are excluded from this
definition.  Spirit of the Game extends to honesty about team rosters and
new players.  Spirit of the game also extends to other teams being
responsible for reporting infractions; no one gains from letting
misrepresentations pass unnoticed.  Teams found abusing the new player
points system will lose and illegally gained points and be 'fined' an
additional 50 points per offence.

Rosters and Players

Each team must submit a roster for each Mixed Series event.

A player may only be rostered for one team during a Mixed Series Event, but
unlike the Ultim8 Tour, there is no limit on changing teams during the
season.  A player can play for a different team at each Event if he/she
wishes.  The only limitation on changing rosters comes into effect for Mixed
Nationals.  For a player to play for a team at Mixed Nationals, he/she must
have PLAYED for that team at one of the previous Mixed Nationals Events.
Spirit of the Game extends to this requirement.  Teams found playing
ineligible players at Nationals will be disqualified.  Spirit of the game
also extends to other teams being responsible for reporting infractions; no
one gains from letting misrepresentations pass unnoticed.

Given that the Mixed Nationals results will be used as selection criteria
for World Clubs, a team qualifying for World Clubs must send a team to
Hawaii that includes AT LEAST 7 of the players who played in the Mixed
Nationals to earn that qualification.


 Other tournaments
====================

May 26-27        Cambridge
June 9-10          Leeds
June 30- July 1      Edinburgh
August 18-19     Nottingham

One more date is in the works, as is Nationals.  See the BUF events
reminder for details.

Nationals will be used to select teams going to Worlds next summer.
As such, there will be NO roster exceptions this year.  This means
that you show up with at least 4 women (or men if that's your
particular recruiting problem) ready to play on Saturday morning or
you get no nationals qualifying points.  NO EXCEPTIONS.  This is not a
new rule, you've always needed at least four women to play.  And it's
still pretty lenient- if you lose players to injury through the course
of the day, you won't be disqualified, you'll just have to play
short-handed.

On a related note- you need to have enough players to play all the way
through Nationals, even if injury occurs.  I'd say that means you need
AT LEAST 5 players of each gender.  Moan if you like, but that's the
way it has to be this year to be fair.