Part 2: Damage to Club Teams

Let's state the obvious: these changes absolutely crush teams.


I have some perspective here, and it's likely that you do as well. I'm 33, have played for a while, like some of you. I haven't always been the best player, or the best teammate, or the most spirited person, but hopefully ultimate has nudged me in a better direction. I was lucky enough to spend 6 seasons (2008-2013) with a group of super close friends on Jughandle. When i created a reddit account, it was only to advertise Jughandle tryouts and I thought it was best if it had my username. I was lucky enough to be the captain for the last 3 years, and in those 3 years we were a lower level regionals team, a mid-tier regionals team and an upper tier regionals team. I've had experience now running the tryout and roster process and team building process for teams now in very different places on the expectation and commitment scale. 

My old team will adjust regardless, but these changes will absolutely SUCK for our team, and many others.

Let's be real here. If you live north of the Mason Dixon line, your season isn't really starting until April at the earliest, and in reality, the season starts in May. Why is that? College! As the younger players come into college age increasingly polished (and graduate from it even more polished), it's a staple of teams elite and otherwise to usually take some young, energetic legs. (credit to the USA-U they have done a good job with High School and College divisions for the most part).
In some cases, teams might even take a precocious high school player. Southpaw took Trent Dillon, and we took Derek Yan one year, and tried unsuccessfully recruit Sadie J (who is now on the US U-19 team).

In general though, there is a symbiotic relationship. College captains tell their kids left and right to spend the summers playing leagues, and to tryout for local teams. Teams, when they get an email from a tryout saying "Hi, I have heard good things about your team and I'd love to tryout, but there is a problem. I will be at women's college nationals and not back in the area until after Memorial Day, hopefully we can work something out", usually get a reply from the club team of "Tryout X, congratulations on nationals! Savor the moment, kick butt, and we'd love to have you out when you get back, we will see you in June!" or something to that effect.

Similarly the biggest chance for a college player to become a club player, especially at the middle tier is the summer after college. This is opinion, but if a player doesn't play ultimate that season, there's a non-zero chance they may get caught up in other things as one life replaces another. What is fact though is that many graduating players generally are at school an extra week or two for graduation, packing up their stuff, and maybe taking a week trip to see some sights before they go into the working world.

Guess what. As a captain, I was fine with this process because we had a tryout tournament in May where we could weed out the easiest roster decisions, and a second one in June, where the hard decisions had to be made. Our roster wouldn't be set until July, and then you get 2 full months to really gel as a team. The tryout tournaments are fun, but the roster tournaments are where the closest bonding happens. Practices can be full of angst especially for fringe tryouts who realize they have an uphill fight to make a team. It isn't always relaxing. But once you know who your 26 teammates are, and you have several tournaments with them, by the end you'd run through a brick wall for them, and it's an amazing thing to watch and feel a team become better, become closer, and to become way more than the sum of their parts.

Done right, it's one of the single most worthwhile parts of ultimate.
It's now going to be much more freaking difficult to do. What do you do with that unseen college nationals player? (Not all college nationals players are created equal!). What do you do with that all region player who still has some glaring holes that need refinement? What do you do with that 19 year old project, that if you get 3-4 summers with them, they turn into say... Mason Compton, but now your season might be a month before Sectionals?

It's pretty much a disgusting process. The quality of play at sectionals will go way down. I can tell you that every may without fail, my club team looked terrible. We would typically look terrible at least once more each season, and only by September, after 4 months of practice, a team meeting/playbook session, 3-4 tournaments to tinker with lineups, rotations, strategies, did we look anywhere near our best. Sure that greatness is still their in flashes or maybe for a single game, but this is just awful news for teams. And the bonding, the going to tournaments, the 6 month process of making something special happen. Gone. For what? So nationals can be, in the immortal words of Tom Crawford, "Not stuck in the south?" Maybe some people WANT to go to Sarasota in October! (FYI if you think this is actually the biggest reason I have a bridge to sell you, but this reason on it's own is a stupendously bad reason.)


One other note. Enjoy regionals in Late June/Early July. I hope it's 110 degress in arizona and 98 with 70% humidity for regionals. I hope Tom has to watch all of those games in the stuffiest suit imaginable. 500+ teams enter the club series for sectionals, hundreds play regionals, only 10% of teams that start out at sectionals make nationals. September is, much of the time, in much of the country, one of the most gorgeous weather months of the year, and a perfect time to hold the highlight of the season for 90% of the teams that enter.