So there's a couple of people considering hosting Bashionals 2010 here in Brisbane, and its being slotted onto the tentative Queensland tournament calendar for the coming year.
What's Bashionals? I think this is a Simon Talbot idea originally. It's B-Nationals.
With the introduction of Regionals in 2005 and the ongoing growth of Ultimate, there are an increasing number of teams that get together to play Regionals, but then don't qualify for Nationals (sometimes they're gutted to miss out, other times they were happy just for a run around with the boys at Regionals).
So the main part of idea is to put on a tournament for these teams - so there' s something more to the season. If you're a middling Ultimate player and/or on a middling team, you can start the season in the lead up to Regionals knowing that if you do well then you're off to Nationals, and if maybe not so well then you've still got Bashionals to fire up for.
Of course, we're primarily looking at Open teams here - at present it seems that the size of the Women's division at Nationals fits the demand pretty well (although we're open to suggestions otherwise).
The availability of the JFOG fields, plus the new convenience of having all the QUDA gear there, as well as the general attractiveness of the Brisbane climate, and the high ratio of Open teams playing Regionals without a corresponding number of Nationals slots for the North region, making hosting Bashionals here a bit of a no brainer (particularly with Nats in Adelaide).
A particular aim is to make Bashionals a great tournament of itself. Unlike Nationals which is dominated by a few favourites - it's likely that nobody will have any idea who will win Bashionals. There'll be a lot of unknowns amongst the teams, and with a lot of the big boys (and egos) of at Nationals, the event is sure to have an excellent vibe. Off the field, we'll be commiting to a particularly special party. We think we'll be asking the AFDA to donate a sizable trophy, and recognise the Bashionals champion as a pretty good team worthy of historical record.
All this is still tentative. We're putting this out there to see if people think this is a good idea, and will be writing to those teams and clubs that didn't make it to Nationals last year (as well as those in the bottom half of the Nats pile). If we think we have six teams who are keen, then it'll be on. But start thinking about it anyways.
9 comments:
So this is really an invitation to:
-Chilly C
-Fakulti B (Hi Tiger)
-Canberra B
-'Gong A
and of course Ballarat and Tassie to come visit Brisbane?
With Nationals in Adelaide (almost as far away as Perth last time), aren't you worried people will say bugger Nats, I'm going to Bashionals?
- Dan
The HoS youth team might also been keen for Bashionals if they don't make Nationals.
Townsville would also probably make the trip to Brissie if they don't go to Adelaide.
Its a tough call for Townsville to come to Regionals and then (assuming they don't qualify for Nats) Bashionals too.
The temptation might be there to skip Regionals (why come to be smashed by Firestorm again) and just play Regionals (meet new people instead).
I guess having the girls at Regionals might be a motivator to make sure we come to that one.
The idea of 6-8 guys teams going out for a bationals party sounds a little scary, particularly since we like to have a change from being in an AJ town.
This would also include a Westies team from NSW if they reformed for the event, as well as Umlaut if they don't qualify and possibly Hills teams.
Will there be something in place to stop what Dan has suggested?
Adelaide, more like Radelaide amirite?
A B nationals is an awsome idea. Initial interest may be an issue and the party issue is a highly valid concern.
It will likely increase the level of nationals by encouraging teams that might not make it to train harder as they can go for bashionals as a plan B.
While the prestige of playing Nats should be incentive enough to get teams there rather than Bashionals, there probably does need to be something in place.
In terms of stopping teams from just nominating Bashionals over Nationals, I think you should make it a criteria that they HAVE to play regionals, and if they qualify to Nationals they can't just nominate to go to Bashionals instead.
Although, this last bit might have a clause in it for teams where Bashionals is in their home region.
Also, whats an AJ town?
army jerk
I think the process would be that within the week after Regionals, invites to attend Bashionals would go out (just as they do for Nationals). If there was a team that had qualified for Nationals but expressed a preference for Bashionals, then we'd have to have a chat about why this is. We don't want to ruin Bashionals by having actual quality teams in. But also, someone dropping out of Nationals makes room for someone who wants to go to get in.
It also depends on whether AFDA wants to make Bashionals some sort of official thing, in which case it gets to set some rules if it wants. If the tournament is essentially "a couple of folks in Brisbane decide to run a tournament", then it'd be up to the organisers to decide (and whether that's a "we'll take anyone" approach, or a "we'll be a bit fussy about who gets to come" is up in the air I guess).
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