Re: Question about Youth

I started a high school team in around the same area Matt is from when
I was in high school about 5-6 years ago that fizzled out once I
graduated. I had to go through about the same sort of things, so its
hard to see people just sort of dismiss his problems.

Starting a team in an area where there is pretty much no surrounding
teams is obviously tough. I had limited exposure to ultimate before I
tried to start my HS team, so there was the challenge of having no
support and teaching a group of young kids rules, strategy, form, etc.
when you are just starting out yourself. On top of that, there is no
teams in your area to play against, so motivating people to come out
and want to get better at a sport where you can't find an opponent to
play adds another obstacle on trying to sell legitimacy to what your
doing when you are trying to convince people to give up their time
from actual varsity sports. Then, you have to tell them they need to
pay $30 on top of another $20 each for a tournament fee to play in
your first games to kids who are used to the school paying for busing,
refs, and any other fees associated with playing, well that just makes
it an even tougher sell to your players.

The advantage established high school programs have over upstarts
isn't just because they put in a "lot of work", it's that there are
systemic advantages to being on a team that has existed for a long
time. In fact, I imagine that players like Matt starting teams put in
much more effort than the average player on a high school powerhouse.
With established programs, players come in seeing it as something that
is a real sport with real playing competitive opportunities and its
easier to retain and motivate your players. There is also usually a
coach that has ultimate experience to bridge the gaps when kids
graduate and move on. Also, as a high school player in an
underdeveloped area its hard to see where the money is going to grow
youth ultimate and help you out. I know I spent countless hours trying
to find out if any other teams existed in my area and what playing
opportunities there were. The teams list isn't maintained so they are
out of date, and I never even got replies back from our state youth
coordinator until it came time for bids for the HS State
Championships. I got my team to drive 3 hours to attend which were our
first games ever, and we got treated to playing on unlined, non-
athletic fields, by a large lake with winds 20mph+. Not the best
impression for my teams first contact with ultimate, but we did have
fun.

Luke said, "knowledge that your money is going to development efforts
which are reaching out to youth who have yet to learn how awesome our
sport is". That's a tough sell when you've been in the position of
someone like myself or Matt, who is was in love with ultimate starting
in high school and are trying to spread it enough to start a team and
you have no idea what USAU is doing to help you out besides charging
you a fee to play which can discourage some kids from starting, and
you see little tangible benefits from that money. On the other hand, I
know that USAU is small and has limited resources, but they aren't
above criticism. Consider a player on a team like Matt's that is
paying $30 to the USAU to play in one tournament that is run by a
volunteer that is from my impression getting few resources from USAU
besides insurance. If USAU's biggest aim is to grow youth ultimate,
you'd think that youth players would be getting the most return from
their money than any other group. In the thread regarding dues, Colin
talked about all the ways you can get value out of your membership.
For the most part, youth players aren't going to be seeing most of
those and wouldn't be aware of the others because of how hard it is to
find information on what resources are available to you through the
website.

Matt, I'd suggest having a team meeting, going over the costs and
letting your team decide if its something they think is worth it. If
they don't go for it, most other youth tournaments aren't sanctioned.
Try to get AUDA to run a tournament and look over youth ultimate in
the capital region area (things like keeping a team list, contacts,
and keeping communication between teams). Local disc associations
across the country have a much larger impact on spreading youth
ultimate than the national governing body.

On Dec 19, 8:10 pm, Matt Simon <mwsi...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Colin, this spring will be our second year.

rrudnic, tell me exactly, how are USAU dues going to helping
youth?  Maybe you should make it cheaper for kids so they
can play in tournaments.  Maybe you should host more
tournaments so we can actually compete.  Maybe if the sport
was legitimate in the eyes of my school's administration
we'd have funding.  

Why can't the UOA or any other TD's claim to run
championship events?  The USAU's exclusive monopoly on this
is a little rash, and is hurting youth ultimate.

Thanks for just trying to win this argument by insulting my
team.  Yeah, if you couldn't tell, I'm mad.

--
Posted fromhttp://www.rsdnospam.com

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