Possible Spring College Tournament, not on West Coast...
- From: tijuanatwostep@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: 18 Aug 2005 09:58:10 -0700
I am encouraging an open discussion with this topic for all the college
teams who are skeptical about another West Coast debachle like we
experienced last year and searching for options that involve less
money, less travel, comprable competition.
Here is what I have:
Valley Park Soccer Complex in Tulsa, Oklahoma has recently re-opened
its doors to the Ultimate community. Summer Solstice was held there in
June and the West Plains Club Sectionals I think are scheduled there.
This is a huge soccer complex with the capability of accomodating 50
Ultimate fields. It is a nice complex, efficient staff, good fields and
a manager who wants to see more Ultimate played at his fields. Most
importantly though, the manager offers a Guarantee for players that no
matter what conditions may exist (sans lightning of course), play will
NOT be cancelled. Since the complex is primarily a soccer complex, it
doesn't get much business before April, so anything scheduled there
before April is encouraged.
When could a tournament take place here?
Oklahoma has agreed to assist in running a tourney here with us
(Kansas) and the first week of MArch looks to be the best possible
time. Two weeks or so after Mardi Gras, two weeks before Centex. Now, I
know Tulsa is not as glamorous as San Fran. or San Diego, but it is
closer for many teams, cheaper and the weather can be anything from an
inch of snow, to 80 and warm. But to know your team is guarnateed play
under any circumstances, it doesn't make the 5 or 6 grand you spent
getting there all that bad.
What kind of tourney would it be?
If this tourney happened at the proposed dates, first week of March, it
would be 2 weeks before Centex. Now if you went to Centex last year you
saw the top National teams all in Austin and had the possibility of
playing anyone, be it from your Region or not. What this tourney in
Tulsa could be is more of a Regional Tune-Up; an opportunity to see
Regional comp early, before Centex, which in my opinion is just as
important as seeing National Comp. For example: At Kansas last year
(South Region), the Zontals went to Stanford, Mardi Gras, Centex, Fools
Fest, Sectionals, and we never saw our main Regional competition
(Texas, North Texas, Texas A=M) until Sunday at Regionals. Since we
only had one bid, that was kind of tough. This could be an opportunity
for Regional teams to get a feel for one another early in the season.
Say, Saturday Regional pools of Wisconsin, CUT, IOWA, Minnesota, then
breaking up on Sunday to play whoever.
Finally, I know this tounrey would possibly conflict with Stanford. I
don't like the idea of stealing teams from another tournament that is
counting on those precious entry fees. However, I think College
Ultimate needs more options in the Spring. In tulsa in March there now
is an option and it comes with a guarnatee for play which proves to be
a very viable issue after last season.
But this tournament can happen only if teams commit early to the idea
of it. Planning a tournament takes awile, especially if it is going to
accomodate very good comp and a lot of teams hopefully so it would be
benefitial to get feed back from you college teams that have the
ability to attract good comp, I'm thinking of the Hodags, Mamabird,
Jojah, Florida, Texas, CUT, UNC, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, etc. Hell,
this would be more acomodating to East Coast teams who would only be
flying half way across the country. I think this could materialize into
something that could benefit many College teams who are a little weary
of signing on to a tourney out West that can drain a team's budget
though the competition would be great.
Anyway, sorry to overwhelm everyone, but the brains are storming in
Kansas about this tourney possiblity since the West Coast seems a
little too much this year.
Please post freely on this topic with your thoughts as to the strengths
and weaknesses of this idea. Without input from teams like those I
listed, this can't happen.
Tripping into a 5th year,
Austin
Kansas Ultimate
.
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