Re: blw- Help Get the UOA Out West

Thanks for reaching out, Jason.

I'm excited about the possibilities of the UOA, but I am also lacking
a lot of information. I may be over-generalizing here, but I think
that most West Coast folks only know about the UOA through discussions
here on RSD, which can be difficult to get anything useful from (and,
more often than not, descend quickly into useless and long MG-and-Todd-
dominated threads).

So, before I start championing the UOA name out west, I'd like to get
some very specific information from you. My suspicion is that once you
put this information out to the public, you won't need my help
anymore! If I ask for something that you don't have, or is a 'trade
secret', I can respect that...but I will check through the list and
I'd really like to have all of these questions addressed. Thanks in
advance, I know this is a lot of work and that you are a volunteer in
all of this.

If all of this sounds ok, my questions are below. I'd suggest that if
other people have questions, they could post them here as well...but I
would politely ask that nobody answers these questions until Jason
(the official voice of the UOA) has an opportunity to answer in full.
I'd be surprised if those full answers would take less than a week.
Ben

1) Basic stats:
a) How many UOA tournaments have been run?
b) When was the first one?
c) How many total non-repeating teams have come to these
tournaments?
d) How much do UOA tournaments typically cost? (Any useful
estimation is fine, I'm not looking for a line-item budget)
e) What does this tournament fee cover?

2) Observer stats
a) How many total Observers have worked for the UOA?
b) How many are still active? Have any stopped working for you, or
been removed from your active list?
c) What kind of growth in your Observer group do you see year-to-
year?
d) How many of these were trained in USAU observing before UOA? How
many after? How many never have been?
e) Can you describe to me the process of recruiting and training
UOA Observers?
f) How are UOA observers compensated for their time?
g) Can you give me a sense of the playing level of these Observers?
(I am looking for a general sense, here, of the qualification of your
staff...specifics are not necessary.)

3) Feedback
a) How does the UOA collect feedback?
b) What is your honest assessment of the feedback you've received?
(Note: I do not expect UOA feedback to be perfect. Feedback is never
100% positive, even if it should be.)
c) Are there aspects of the UOA that you'd like to change?
d) What do you think are the most successful aspects of UOA
tournaments?

4) Publicity
a) Are there any videos available of UOA observers in action?
b) Maintaining a useful website is incredibly difficult. Way more
difficult than most people think. Do you plan to do this?
c) Personal opinion: I think the tone and style of Mike Gerics'
writing on RSD is a serious detriment to your mission and visibility.
More people on the West Coast likely know the UOA as "Mike Gerics'
thing" than as an independent and quality organization on its own.
Some would avoid working with the UOA specifically for this reason,
unfortunately. Is there a way to change that dynamic?
d) To a similar extent, Todd Leber (aka 'ulticritic') is associated
with the UOA very tightly and tends to dominate RSD conversations
(which make up the vast majority of news about the UOA). Do you have
any ability to change this?

5) Jason Weddle
a) Can you tell me a little bit about your background? I feel like
you are a known quantity on the East Coast, and less so in the West.
b) What are your long-term goals with the UOA?
c) A long-time Ultimate player comes up to you and says: "Self-
officiating doesn't work. Referees are inevitable. We should
immediately create situations where high-level play is refereed so
that we can catch up to the rest of the sports world and showcase our
athletes." How would you respond?
d) A long-time organizer and teacher comes up to you and says:
"Without self-officiating, we will lose the parts of Ultimate that are
special, specifically advantageous over other sports, and that work
really well with young people in terms of cost and external benefits
that parents love." How would you respond?




On Dec 22, 9:29 am, Jason Weddle <jason_wed...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi blw,

This is an official letter of interest for the UOA to attend and
officiate in any tournaments that you're a part of in the Western
US.

The UOA officials are anxious to show the west that they are the
premier Ultimate Officials.

Please consider having our crew out west.
Please resond here or to me personally.

Thanks,
Jason Weddle
jason_weddle at yahoo dot com
UOA Founder-co

.

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