Opinion: University teams need spirit captains

Editor/Writer: hazard

Let me start off by saying: I don't think spirit at University level is bad. But I do think it can be better. And I think having a spirit captain in your team is one of the good things you can do to help that.

My personal experience of having a spirit captain at Oxford University (for two years) has seemed to have a really positive impact. Case in point: last year at SEUXIR (without a spirit captain), our Men's team finished bottom in spirit. At UMIN/UMON, with a spirit captain, we finished second and first respectively (with the latter being the highest spirit score at UMWON across all divisions). There were other circumstances, but I do believe that having one person to focus on spirit helped.

So, why is having a spirit captain useful? I'm going to outline the roles I think a spirit captain should have, which should hopefully double in addressing the need for one.

1. Set a good example to your team
By being a role model to the team, a spirit captain helps set the standard. In the same way the captain sometimes needs to make a big bid to inspire the team, the spirit captain can demonstrate expected rules knowledge/hand signs/level-headedness on field.

2. Make sure spirit isn't forgotten about
When a captain has to focus on too many things at once, sometimes a few things slip. Having someone who makes sure spirit scores are done straight after a game (and that everyone is involved) can make sure spirit is a team focus.

3. Set a good example to the other team
Ideally, a spirit captain should introduce themselves to the other team's captains at the start of the game. By identifying themselves, the other captains have a specific outlet for raising any spirit issues. If possible, going over quickly at half time just to double check that there are no spirit issues that need to be raised is a great way to ensure clear communication between teams, and an enjoyable game for all involved.

4. Don't be a referee
The job of a spirit captain is not to get involved in every call. It even involves asking your teammates if you aren't sure what to do in a situation. You do have a right in WFDF rules (along with the captain) to approach any calls which are going overly long. Your job is to help them reach a conclusion, not to force them to a particular conclusion. You are still a player with your perspective on the game.

5. Have fun
To make this personal, I've really enjoyed being spirit captain whenever I've been allowed. It's great to see the positive aspect you're allowed to have on a team, and the difference that makes to your team attitude. It can be tough to be impartial sometimes. It can be tough to keep up a positive attitude every game. Every role and duty has its flaws, but this is one I think is worthwhile, both on a personal, and a team level.

Bonus advice: Get your WFDF rules accreditation (and get other people to do basic). We'd be in a lot better shape if more people had this in the UK. Also, double check the pick rules.

Spirit captain is a role specific to tournaments. It's not just something that teams struggling with spirit should consider - I think it could help any team, regardless of how spirited they currently are (as long as they have someone who takes the role seriously). Spirit is one of the things that makes this sport so great and unique, and having a spirit captain can help us as a community push it to that next level.

Friendly Arguments #2: Which non-Clapham team will do best at EUCF? + Best Coach, Best Indoors O Strat

Until I get more people volunteering to edit/run these, this is the banner I'm using. No regrets.

Editor/Chair*: hazard

Contributors: GeorgeJorgensen, MJB, hogi
*Due to issues beyond our control, a few people have had to dive in and out of the chat at points. We’ve tried to fix it in editing, but this piece is going to be a bit more scattered/short than usual. Hopefully this means that there’s lots more to add as comments after the piece!

hazard

Welcome to friendly arguments! In this format, three talented and reasonable people fiercely debate some of the hottest issues in Ultimate. We’d love to hear your thoughts on who won, and different answers you’d have given.

On the table today:

Which non-Clapham team from EUCR-W will do best at EUCF?

Who is the best coach in UK/Ireland?

What is the best offensive strategy for indoors?

I’ll be chairing/judging today. I’ll be going on who gives the best argument in my opinion, rather than just the option I agree with most.

We’ll start by having our participants introduce themselves, so you know who they are and any bias they have in their arguments.

GeorgeJorgensen

Reasonable?

hazard

A subtle and hopeful hint

GeorgeJorgensen

Hi, I will be playing for PELT at Euros, played for FIRE at US Open, but mostly play for JR.

hogi

Hi, I’m Hogi. Played with Clapham and Herd this year. Perpetually broken, good behind a camera 🎥

MJB

I'm Matt, I play for Reading and I like to complain.

hazard

Good summary. Let's go.

Which non-Clapham team will do best at EUCF? 

Let’s have some opening arguments.

GeorgeJorgensen

Well, I feel I have to just go *discs out and say that it is going to be PELT.

*ed’s note: sports equipment changed for censorship reasons

MJB

I am going to argue for Chevron because I think they've had a great year. Also a couple of their European rivals are missing EUCF so that can only help. George picking PELT only strengthens my resolve.

hogi

I would back Iceni. I think they’ve had good results this year, even with a big roster turnover. Some big games haven’t gone their way but they were a very different team at Worlds than they were at Tom’s Tourney for example. I think their players have more experience winning games at Euros than some of the other qualifiers across the various divisions and that can’t be overlooked.

hazard

So, to summarise. George: PELT, MJB: Chevy, Hogi: Iceni.

GeorgeJorgensen

Ha it will come as little to no surprise that my argument is based almost entirely on how good it will be if I am right. High risk, high reward. Same reason I have been betting on Curve for promotion for years.

hazard

Who is missing MJB?

MJB

Tchac and Ragnarok both finished higher than Chev at EUCF 2017 (Rag beating them in the round of 16). So that's two fewer teams they'd have to beat.

I think Chevron are a slicker operation this year, and I think there will be top european teams that would be vulnerable to an ambitious Chevy. Buuuut I think could also have been said of other years too. I don't think they'll medal but I do think they'd beat PELT again.

GeorgeJorgensen

I think the PELT team that I know are precisely good at taking down the big names. Unpredictable, very energetic and really stubborn. I will couple with that with calling a lucky route to a medal.

I would personally love a Chevron vs PELT game. As I mentioned the last time we had a chat about this, I think they looked really good at Nationals.  In poor weather, in a situation PELT can play zone, I think almost any game is winnable. But the depth of Chevron's roster in flat conditions would take the edge over us.

Depth and overall fitness...

hogi

PELT are a funny one at times. They had a great Windmill last year for example but then lost to someone I wouldn’t have said they would lose to at Euros (FWD>>>)? I agree with George that on their day PELT can take down anyone so just depends how they show up.

GeorgeJorgensen

And just won Irish Nationals (if that adds any weight to my case)

hogi

The way both teams have played this year, Chev would beat PELT. This game already happened at Worlds remember, I think Chev seemed more athletic in that game and ran PELT ragged. Very different rosters, mind you, so maybe not as relevant 🤷

This is a hard one to be honest. Chevy have had a great season. Can’t take that away from them. Whatever it is, they haven’t been able to get the results against most other teams for a while at Euros. As a Clapham player, dare I say I’d like to see them do well this year? Yeah, why not, sure; they’ve worked hard and this year and they’re progressing and it’s good to see that paying off so best of luck to them.

MJB

Historically they have not been able to bring it in Europe but I think they are a slicker outfit this year.

Deciding between Iceni and Chev is tricky.

GeorgeJorgensen

Iceni is quite a bold call. Not Bristols?

hogi

Think it comes back to my point about knowing how to win at Euros. I think Bristol have had a great year. They’re athletic and making the plays at times they need to. But they don’t have the experience of winning at Euros and I would think a simple transition zone would snuff most of their initiations, especially when they play iso.

GeorgeJorgensen

I am such a sucker for the underdog though and wanting hunger to win out against experience. Same reason I want the Rockets to win the NBA title.

hogi

If you were up for a true underdog, George, you’d vote for Gravity here.

GeorgeJorgensen

Only way is down for that team.

hogi

That or Bleagles in a bigger surprise than John Cena returning and winning the Royal Rumble in 2008 👋

hazard

…Gravity aren’t going, I believe. Glasgow did get a wildcard spot, but all twelve team spots are filled on the site for the Women’s roster.

hogi

Oh yah... 2 bids. 🐀🐀

GeorgeJorgensen

There is nothing I like less as a JR player than to see Glasgow get a wildcard spot.

hogi

For the record... I did say Iceni or Chev in my first response to Harry, so I’ve just picked the spicier choice for arguments sake.

MJB

Ice have been dropping the odd game for a while, but they did seem to stop the bleeding at worlds and finish as highest UK women's team, and as Hogi says, losing talent matters less on a very deep team. I think my rationale behind my decision to back Chevy is mainly a narrative one; resurgent Chevron over Iceni stopping the decline. Additional factors include; Chev's sideline heckle game, my girlfriend playing for Nice Bristols, and wanting Chev to do well this year so it'll be even more glorious when Reading eventually tear down the last stronghold of the non-training, non-geo mono team.

GeorgeJorgensen

No love in-chat for Reading. Sure that goes against some of Hazard's rules...

hazard

If our captain doesn’t pick us then I’m happy to follow his lead.

hogi

Iceni are just a solid group. They lost some good talent, sure, but they have a lot of weapons in the likes of Jenna, Jackie, Maya, Coops, who have been doing it for years. They have other players taken on bigger roles this year then like Sophie Wharton and Randi Burns (two of Quartet’s finest at DGC2018) and, to stop name dropping, I just think they have an all round solid crew with good experience and good leaders.

Without seeing their Euros roster, I’m confident they can play their game and get Ws against anyone on their day. Especially when you consider some of the highest level games we’ve seen this year in Europe, eg the Windmill final which was a turnfest between Mainzelmädchen und Atlético.

hazard

Fact check: Jenna, Jackie, Maya and Coops all seem to be back for EUCF (or just rostered for fun).

Closing the argument there. I’m giving the first point to Hogi - I got some good specifics at the end and some good reasons why, even if he did nearly manage to argue in favour of Chev.

Best coach in UK/Ireland?

GeorgeJorgensen

I didn't realise we could win points.

Im repping midlands with - Brummie (Sion Scone).

I have only had limited experience of him coaching me but I think he has one of the best sports minds and a good online blog. He never gives it any of this 'proper ultimate' rubbish and just focuses on points that will help teams win. I know there was some controversy around how he was coaching the U24s recently but all the negative stuff I kind of approve of. "He was quite aggressive about some things"; yeah damn right. "He didn't always listen to player opinions"; why would he, he knows better than you...

hogi

I heard some grumblings too about negative comments coming from the sideline quite often 😬. I can be fiery at the best of times myself but you gain absolutely nothing by effectively telling a player “you messed up” after they mess up. It would take a stupid or self centred player to not realise and admit their error.

GeorgeJorgensen

I also love a good bit of sideline shade throwing.

hogi

Good thing you didn’t vote for yourself then 😂

GeorgeJorgensen

Ha, I don't think any of my team would rightly let me call myself a coach. Do not think I can do justice to Brummie's CV. Certainly not in comparison there.

hogi

I’m going with Ian French, AKA Frenchi. He is just a really good coach. He’s currently coaching Gravity and he’s the Ireland Women’s coach for EUC next year. His history as a coach speaks for itself really:

Uni - he experienced good success with Trinity nearing the end of their Men’s team’s streak on the title, he brought UCD to a number of Men’s finals including a Nats title in 2014, and two mixed Nats titles in 2012 and 2014.

Until very recently he was a long term Jabba player coach, he got them to multiple Mixed Nats titles, a 2013 Men’s final and a Men’s title in 2015. He’s coached the Jabba women’s team to multiple national titles too. With the Irish Mixed team in 2015, he coached the team to a 28-2 season and European silver medals, winning Windmill and Dublin’s Golden Cup that year too. Most recently he’s been Gravity Women’s coach as they won back-to-back Women’s Nats titles and a third place finish at UK Nats 2018.

So yeah, that’s his CV and I’ve probably missed some stuff too.

hazard

For those who don’t have anything else to do today, here’s a lot of reading from Brummie (Subscription only).

hogi

I’m sure all the Irish readers are thinking Leo Yoshida should be in the conversation. I’d agree with that too but I think Ian has been around more consistently for the last while so I’ll stick with him even if Leo has a crazy good resumé too.

hazard

I’ll add in the quick one - Brummie coached GB Men to silver in 2012. And the World Games team in 2013.

hogi

Coached the GB Men to silver in 2011 at Euros too. Some saw it as a mistake for him to play the year after when it was apparent that he brought a lot of value as a non-playing coach. Their opinions, not mine. I can see the appeal of playing for sure. I think the now move to having more non player coaches is good for the sport and there were definitely fewer in 2012 (at least at club level as I know a good few countries had them in Sakai). Tough call for Brummie to make I’d say, but can see the appeal as I said.

GeorgeJorgensen

I'd like to add shade throwing grumbly sideline to the positives column. If I may...

Also, playing against Brummie he gave EMO a hard time for disregarding our 4-1-2 iso as "stupid" instead of adjusting their play. After this dressing down they turned the game around completely and spanked us. I think that might have been the first ever Fog Lane.

hogi

I think Ian’s line calling and player management are v. good. You always know where you stand with him too. He’s great to discuss the game with and spend extra time pre/post training working on small fixes.

Case in point, at EUC in 2015, we (Ireland Mixed) went into the week with 9 healthy players as Rob Holland broke his wrist/arm pre tournament, then on Day 1 Brían Henderson dislocated his shoulder... then on Day 3 Ian Fox torn ankle ligaments (I think?). So we’re down to 7 healthy blokes for another 4 days and he got us to the final by managing game time and picking the right tactics for us to utilise our women’s superior ability and to save our guys legs. This included him playing a few points here or there (thankfully we had registered him as a player), but largely he didn’t really put a foot wrong that week (until he did in the warm-up of the final and got injured).

GeorgeJorgensen

I have never liked warm ups.

hazard

So, for Brummie you’re saying he should have stopped being a playing coach earlier, and Frenchy you’re saying he’s good because he re-became a playing coach? If I were to compose a very sketchy strawman, that is.

hogi

Brummie didn’t NEED to play. GB had a big ol’ squad. Frenchi had a squad of 7 guys to play Mixed for 4-5 days so it made sense to play some points to save the legs of his players

hazard

Sweet. Point to George, since Brummie can pick enough players for a tournament then. Although I did really like Hogi’s argument, and I may be over-correcting for my personal preference for coaching being more interactive/discursive.

MJB

I don't have much experience of playing under any of the big coaching names in the UK, and certainly none for Ireland. The reputations of Megan Hurst, Callum Spiers & Chesca Weddell come to mind, been told James Freeman was good, and I've heard mixed reviews about Brummie - although he's certainly got the best CV.

I'll contribute instead a little grumble about the state of coaching in the UK - it sucks. I'm only really interested in reading what US coaches have to say because there's actual initiative, creativity and nuance there. Generally it feels like we UK coaches all teach the same things, and it's certainly not because we've got all the right answers and best practices. We have a dearth of coaches in top level ultimate; the combo of having so few, and ones we do have often being player-captain-coaches, is stunting real innovation because we're too busy trying to create cookie-cutter players that know just enough to play on our teams.

More club teams need coaches and assistant coaches, and those club teams need to appreciate them. More university teams need to ask for and appoint coaches. If you were good at uni there's a very good chance you ran or facilitated some drills, a training or helped plan a season, maybe you captained and called lines or whatever. Anyone can do those, that's just admin. Find a club and coach! or find a club that has a coach and help out! Raising the average ultimate literacy in the UK scene will help a great deal.

We need to build a coaching culture in our sport before we can get to all the really interesting strategy and tactics; half of that is getting more coaches more often, and the other half is getting ultimate players to be more coachable (which is another separate and longer grumble).

hazard

Alright, that might be a longer grumble we publish another time. Let’s close now.

What is the best indoors offence?

hogi

So long as the other team was adamant about playing person D, 2-1-2 iso. Easily messed up by a zone.

hazard

We’re assuming the other team is playing properly, so no indoor zones. That’s essentially like giving up. Come at me indoor fans.

hogi

Ballincollig play a clean as hell 2-1-2, see Irish Nats final 2017 vs Blade.

GeorgeJorgensen

I think I would play my offense in both situations. 3-1-1. For a few reasons.

hogi

Surely having 3 at the back is cloggy AF*?

*ed’s note: as frick

GeorgeJorgensen

Firstly, we all know that you can win by just putting it to your big lads. With a good thrower you can basically get 2 options for a break score. If they mark out your 'iso' you can throw it straight to the endzone. It can sometimes feel a little tight but you so so rarely have to move it between you.

hogi

I’d be playing a 1-2-2 against an iso in any case.

GeorgeJorgensen

The other reason I like 3-1-1 is it stops quick scores dead in their tracks. Because 3 people should be between anyone and the endzone in the case of a turnover.

3-1-1 also provides the opportunity to completely embarrass teams that poach it wrong. In a mixed scenario I find that if you put a lady in the endzone, people will leave them, and then get scored on quickly. I just can't turn down an offense that makes other teams feel bad about themselves.

MJB

The humble Ho stack was good enough for World Men’s Indoor Champions 2018, Revolver. (Also indoors blows)

hazard

Ok. Ending it now. Making the call, but I’ll add for our readers that I decided that just having a tall person to chuck it to didn’t technically count as a tactic, due to not being specific enough. This despite broad agreement in our chat that it was one of the best tactics.

Final snap decision - points to George for final one. I’ve actually played that stack an made that exact shot, and I can confirm it is immensely satisfying. Although I’d love to see a 3-1-1 vs 2-1-2. Also, bonus points to everyone for not picking sidestack.

This closes out our piece. As said at the start, I think there’s a lot more discussion to be had on all of these points, so I’d love to read any comments you all have on reddit/facebook/blogger. What arguments would you have made? Did I judge any of these incorrectly? If you enjoy these pieces and would like to be involved in one in future, do drop us a line.

The University Writers' AGM

Editor/Chair:hazard

Welcome to the AGM for the ShowGame’s University writers. For those that aren’t aware, this scheme has been going officially two years. We get a bunch of people, and they volunteer to be a writer for a year. They do research, they write the preview articles, and then they get involved in all the extra stuff us editors ask them to do as well (such as the discussion pieces or any commentating work). We also have a bunch of students (myself, Haydon and Ali) who work as uni editors, providing feedback, reminding people of deadlines, and writing little extra bits ourselves. Then there’s also Josh, DP, and Sean who do extra editing and formatting, providing quality control and putting the pieces up on the ShowGame. There’s a huge amount of work involved on all count to try to produce all the content, and help develop the way Ultimate is covered in the UK.

The purpose of this AGM will be to have an active and public discussion about Ultimate media in the UK: what we’re currently doing, how we can do things better, and how we can stop doing things which are bad. I feel like this discussion is sometimes held behind closed doors or between a select few editors. It is really easy to accidentally create a hierarchy. Media is something that affects us all, and this piece is aimed to open up those boundaries.

The rest of this piece will be a discussion between the writers, rather than addressed to the reader. I will close out this bit by saying we would love to hear your thoughts as well. After all, you readers are the people we do this for! Any thoughts, criticisms, or even any pieces you want to get involved in and write yourself - I’m always willing to help more people get involved. The output of this AGM will lead to us deciding what to do with the scheme next year, so now is absolutely the best time to let us know what you enjoyed and where to take things. Finally, I am personally very proud of all the writers. I know they come in for criticism at times, but I’ve witnessed firsthand the hard work they’ve all put in, and their drive to improve. I can’t wait to see what they do from here.

hazard

I’m going to start in a bit of an odd place. I’d love to know why you all applied to become a writer in the first place.

Rush

I applied to be a writer because I wanted to give a good account of the amazing region that is Scottish university ultimate. Having dominated the UK nationals scene this year, I hope that I have given a good preview and account of the region!

Slender

This will sound rather petty, but the year before I joined there was an preview article for indoors which I felt did quite a few teams an injustice. I realized that after three years of uni fris I knew a bit about the region and instead of moaning about you guys being wrong decided to have a go myself.

Alun P

I think me and Slender read the same article (plus an extra year of uni...)

Clackers

Because I wanted to give it a go really, and agreed to cover the lower leagues because it's nice for the less prolific teams to get representation. And it's nice to have a reason to attend events since playing in them is unlikely for me these days.

Andrew

The pay was too good to pass up. But seriously, writing gigs are pretty rare, writing gigs about something you love rarer still. That and a nice writing and possibly editing credit for the CV meant I couldn't pass it up.

hazard

So, follow-up - was it worth it? Did you get to do those things to the level you hoped?

Clackers

Yeah it was, and I got to do things like commentating I didn't expect I would

Rush

Yeah I’d say that it was, I got to write about nationals and I was mostly right about predictions for BUCS so all in all I’d say it was worth it. Maybe in future I can write for Tour or Regionals (if those things exist)

Slender

It was definitely worth it. If you're one of those people that loves talking about fris then it gives you a platform to do that all the time. To an extent. Feel free to disagree but I felt what I wrote was fairly accurate and stuff I got wrong had good ideas behind them, i'd have to liked to write my own opinion piece at some point but I never really got round to it with uni etc. though I'm sure you guys would have let me do it if I'd have approached you.

Alun P

I was pretty happy with everything, even my hot takes for Mixed Indoors seemed to be pretty accurate. It was fun getting to throw my endless pre- and post-tournament speculation at more than the same few friends down the pub

Andrew

It is a side gig that is a bit of a time investment, more than I was expecting, but still not too demanding if you know what to expect. ... And I've made some hot take predictions that didn't really pan out. But I've really enjoyed the experience. Everyone is so knowledgeable about Ultimate! It's nice to get some writing and even debate practice in while learning more about the sport.

hazard

What did we enjoy doing most this year? What were the moments which made all the work worthwhile?

Alun P

Being proved right in my prediction about Huddersfield bombing it at UXIN was gratifying. There was some hate when I put that up, but it was worth it.

Rush

I enjoyed talking about UMWON and predicting BUCS fixtures. Just talking to people about predictions was interesting and gratifying

hazard

I’m actually going to throw in an answer for this one too - the live coverage of Uni Indoor Mens/Womens Nationals. It was a *lot* of hard work getting all the commentators and filming stuff together. Finishing with probably the most well-covered non-International tournament the UK has ever seen was really cool.

Clackers

Probably the UMWIN commentating, and just being there in general - it was my first tournament I've attended where I didn't have to play, and could just watch everything happening

Alun P

More seriously, I've actually got to know some of the people I've been playing against for years a bit better through chatting to them ahead of stuff. And got some absolutely gold photos sent to me

Slender

I actually quite enjoyed all the research for the BUCS preview articles, but i'm weird like that. Felt really good to when a relatively new member of the uni club I didn't know very well came up and and started discussing my article with me.

Andrew

For me personally, I really enjoyed the debates that would crop up from time to time, often about the BUCS system. I'll defend Swiss Draw till the day I day, but I invite you to discuss in the comments

hazard

In my mind, there’s four types of coverage we can produce: predictions, live coverage, post-tournament, and general analysis. How well do we think we managed these, and are there areas we should focus on more?

Rush

Live coverage is hard as we only have a few kits. I think everyone enjoys predictions so we can focus on that. Post-tournament we’ve not been great at

hazard

As a heads up, one thought I had in this area was to replace regional post-tournament discussions with articles, since it tended to only be one/two people at a time. This then makes the big chats a bit more special too. It also gives a different article type for variety.

(See the X takeaways article I’ve started experimenting with after tour, although people would be free to do their own style - and I’d still ask for all star picks from tournaments).

Slender

Live coverage I feel is always going to be difficult until we consistently get people there who aren't playing.

Clackers

My predictions haven't been great haha but other people's have been good. I think we could focus more on post-tournament stuff, maybe via the article line, but I like the chat aspect of a chat. I would be up for getting more people involved in tournament discussion - we started getting photographer insight for the regions they were in, but some regions were still missed out/underloved. Whether this happens via chat or article I'm not too bothered

Slender

General analysis is something I think we could do much more on. I guess it's not analysis per say but I thought your interview with the Bath captains was really good, there is much more scope to do things like that. For example, let’s have a look in a years time and see if St Andrew's "Elite ultimate program" scheme or whatever has actually brought in elite players. Maybe start a conversation with a wider audience about alternatives the BUCS league seen as apparently everyone hates it. I feel we didn't do enough of that stuff over the course of the year.

Rush

I mean they do have two guys (Lochlan and Gabe) who were in GBU24 worlds squads so they have a good programme and I don’t doubt that they will have more players in the next cycle. Also they did make Div 1 final so that’s a strong team

Slender

I mean in sense of, now they're advertising across Europe and America, will they actually bring in players specifically for ultimate, or will it just be a fad .

Alun P

There are some cool stories in uni ultimate. Stuff like Huddersfield's rise from not existing to regional champions, the (former) multi-year Nottingham unbeaten run at outdoor nationals, and whatever the hell keeps Hazard going for his 30th year of university ultimate. It might be nice to try and tell some of those.

Andrew

Well, it's no secret that previews require the least organization by far. Just assign a writer and give them a due date with time to edit, nothing crazy. I think they're kind of boring for readers, to be honest. They're mostly just reiterations of things even casually interested Frisbee players would be aware of. So I'd like to shift more focus to post-tournament and analysis. Live is a special case as it's very labor intensive, often requiring people to give up a whole weekend of playing and as you say, our resources are limited so I think we're doing the best we can with what we have on that front.

hazard

The current priority list (as I see the way we treat it):
1st previews, 2nd post-tournament, 3rd live, 4th analysis

Are we right to focus on the basics first given the limited resources we have as editors? As a side note, more people helping us on that side of things definitely helps us push the boundaries of what we can do. I wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of the extra stuff I did without Ali and Haydon.

Alun P

I'd like to see analysis move up, but I'm not sure what you'd move down to make room for it

Slender

I agree with Alun, otherwise it all becomes a bit formulaic, the same narratives kept tending to crop up all season. However yeah what you'd sacrifice for it is a good question.

hazard

Being fully aware we have a slightly male-dominated chat right now, how do we think we do on gender issues?

One of the pieces of feedback we have got is that sometimes Women’s coverage falls a bit short - and one of my personal thoughts on that is that having fewer female writers is a big part of that. We currently only have one per outdoor region. I think having one per indoor (mixed) region would be a good solution - it brings us closer to parity to the men, and, since the women’s outdoor season is so short, it helps us gain familiarity with more of the teams. It also means each writer is covering fewer teams, so can go into more detail. We can only do this if we get people applying however!

(Shoutout to the Gender Equity forum in London for helping with some of this)

Clackers

I agree with this, one per mixed region would be great!

hazard

I also know our mixed outdoor coverage falls short. I more blame the weather and uni structure for that. As a mixed-player through and through, this has always saddened me, and I’m open to ideas.

Clackers

Even if the weather was glorious like it was the year before, I think the major problem is the structure of Mixed Outdoor. Without a change (e.g. mixed warm up tournaments/regionals) that we aren't really in control of it's difficult to cover the event.

Andrew

For perspective, I'd like to point out that Ultimate is the most gender equal sport perhaps in the entire world, but also specifically in the UK. Players think about and care about gender equity. The culture is almost revolutionary, in a way. So my hope is that we can acknowledge the good work so far while knowing there is still more to be done. As for ShowGame more specifically, I think we work hard to give both genders equal airtime. Gaps in coverage for female teams occurs due to a shortage of writers (which we try to address) or, at the uni level at least, differences between women's and men's route to nationals, with the former being a regional tournament and the latter, a league.

hazard

How do we do in covering teams? We have a tendency to focus only on the elite teams, with our second leagues men’s coverage I think being the only exception (although some preview articles mention all teams, the focus is always at the top).

One thing I think we fail to appreciate sometimes is the scope of uni ultimate, and just how many people/teams there are in the UK. Is there something we can do about this, or do we just accept this as the nature of coverage.

AnnieB

I think there needs to be more focus on second teams. It really encourages the newer players to know that the community is interested in their games and their playing.

Clackers

Even the second league coverage only really focuses on the teams at the top

hazard

Personally, I think we do ok - we try to produce Div 2/Div 3 coverage wherever we can. But, being frank, I play for a uni which is nearly always going to be covered. So this is a particular area I’d like to be called out.

Clackers

I don't really know how to cover the teams that never get mentioned without a very long article that covers teams we don't know much about at all (teams like Sunderland, for example), which will be difficult. But I think it'd be nice for us to look into covering ultimate at universities that we don't get to see, e.g. the college leagues of Oxbridge and Durham

Slender

Do you think people in the college leagues read the ShowGame?

Clackers

No, but how many university teams are aware that intra-university leagues exist? It could be something that allows larger universities to explore it for themselves

Alun P

It would be hard to give much more focus without introducing a second BUCS writer to each region to do lower leagues. No offence meant to Clackers but it's a big ask to have one person cover all that. Then you end up talking about all the second and third teams, which might be less popular, and very hard to predict.

As a counterpoint, the women's articles have done solid jobs running straight to the bottom of their regions, although smaller tournaments makes that a little easier.

Clackers

I agree that I would not be able to extensively cover all seven leagues of teams

hazard

Having done it the year before as editor and writer - nope. Nope nope nope.

Clackers

It would help having local contacts in the lower leagues who know more about the league than I do

hazard

The second leagues are so vast that it’s almost impossible to cover with any sort of quality, unless you get really focused. Even as someone who knows a lot of uni Ultimate, I often found myself having to just look at results rather than messaging captains and doing more in-depth research when I covered it - it was just going to be too much otherwise, both in terms of article length and toll on me.

Andrew

All sports coverage naturally gravitates towards covering the winners, as that's what the readership is interested in. Is there a problem with that? I'm not sure there is.

hazard

As a suggestion: Something like a “team of the week” interview. I don’t think we could cover every team, but we could increase coverage of some teams that rarely get mentioned.

Slender

Ooh that was something I wanted to bring up!

Andrew

Same! I was thinking a small spotlight article on a lesser known team--maybe once a month. Ask a few Q's, spread some love for those underdog teams playing decent Ultimate and hugging the middle of the pack.

Slender

We should definitely do a weekly run down of BUCS results

hazard

How are we doing at helping you writers stay in Ultimate media outside of uni stuff? We’re have more scope for commentators/contributors, but it’s still daunting to take that leap.

Slender

I think you've been quite good, there's been a lot more this year that I could have done thanks to you if I'd have wanted to.

Clackers

You're doing good.

Andrew

Harry Mason in particular was always pushing me to do some editing or some live coverage this summer, always unprompted. It's great! Even though my PhD has taken up more and more of my time and I've had to turn him down on many occasions.

hazard

One extra thing: how has our Nationals-level coverage been? In the past, people have found it daunting jumping to such extensive coverage.

Clackers

I didn't think it was too daunting to cover Nationals, but not playing in it helped with that.

Andrew

I'm not sure about this. I didn't follow all that much of the nationals coverage.

hazard

Actual final question: How have we done in providing feedback? Has it been useful?

Slender

Couldn't really ask for more

Clackers

Yeah same

hazard

Sweet, thanks both. Would it be ok to finish on a final message to those thinking of applying next year?

Slender

I'll try not to be cheesy, if if you're even slightly considering doing it then go for it. Everyone wants to help you. It's a great way of putting yourself out there as well and giving more exposure to ultimate which is a really important job that Harry and The Show Game are really helping with.

Clackers

Go for it! It's fun and you get to chat ultimate

Andrew

Feedback has been good. The editors are very competent with both grammar and tone, but you're generally on your own in terms of content. If you want to start writing, my advice is to gather more information than you think you'll need! Pester your interviewees for specific details, like nicknames, jersey numbers. And don't be afraid to let your personality come through in the writing!