Yarning About Elite Development in Queensland with John McNaughton

Now that the Nationals 2009 campaign is complete, we at the Brisbane Ultimate Blog spent some time hiding in the grass down by the river at Yeronga, waiting for QUDA’s new Elite Development Coordinator, John McNaughton, to wander by. Taking a break from assignment writing, John didn’t quite know what hit him when our crack team of Black Ops specialists tranquilised, bound and gagged him and brought him back to BUB headquarters, where he awoke, wild eyed and confused, and the interrogation began.

Well, not really, but anyway here’s a chat with John.

Brisbane Ultimate Blog: So John, Firestorm got a pretty good result at Nationals 2009 …

John McNaughton: Yeah, we're pretty happy with where we ended up. It was a rough first day, losing to Karma after leading the whole game, and when we were out of contention by the end of day one, it had potential to get ugly. However, we managed to make the most of our time in the lower pool, getting up some confidence and sorting out some things, and were stoked to take it all the way back to 5th place.

BUB: So what’s next on the FS agenda?

JM: At the moment, a bit of time to chill out – the Open season is a pretty long slog, so after Nationals, it's nice just to kick back for a bit. We're already looking towards the future though – 5th was all well and good for this year, but cracking into the top 4 is a clear goal for a Southern Nationals in 2010.

BUB: And don’t forget we’re due to host Nationals in the North Region in 2011.

JM: Yeah, someone better go book some fields for that – can we get the Grammar fields out at Northgate? I'm glad we don't have to directly follow Perth's act in that regard... they were pretty special.

BUB: Anyway, the real reason we were sitting down to chat was to talk about your new role at Elite Development Coordinator for QUDA. For those who don’t know, QUDA has a structure with an Executive who make general decisions and stuff, and then a series of Coordinators with responsibility for different areas. But Elite Development can seem a bit vague – what’s your ‘realm of action’?

JM: I believe that Elite Development is not so much an area unto itself, but mostly about working with other groups and areas, with a focus on generating the best outcomes for elite-level Ultimate in/among Queenslanders. Basically, I reckon the aim is to set things up so that we develop the best players and teams possible at the higher end. "Higher end" isn't necessarily strictly defined – while it's clearly inclusive of the national and international level, it can also filter down to local level, because local players are the Nationals/Worlds players of a few years' time.

This means I'll be working with clubs in Queensland aiming to take teams to Nationals (e.g. Firestorm and Sultry), Mixed Nationals and Australian Uni Games, for a start; working with some league directors to see what can be done on local levels; working with the Youth coordinator to develop our young guns, including those heading to Newcastle for Youth Nats pretty soon; working with the Coaching Coordinator (once we've got one) to set up elite coaching structures; and sometimes maybe just striking out on my own occasionally, if something comes up.
First thing on the agenda, though, is the mixed season.

BUB: Got some more details there?

JM: There are a few things on the cards. The S&M league from last season was quite a success, and though the enthusiasm was driven by a Brisbane-hosted Mixed Nats where we sent a number of teams, I think it would be well supported again. We've just got to find the best way to fit in with the Women's League, to allow those players to get involved in both.

I understand QUDA and AFDA have been encouraging organisers in Victoria and NSW to announce their Mixed Qualifier events soon, to give Qld teams aiming for Mixed Nats a chance to play an extra interstate tournament in the lead-up to Hobart. We’ll probably slot the Queensland Qualifier into our calendar based on how that looks.

I'm told Townsville are talking about whether they’ll have the numbers for a tilt at Mixed Nats. Hobart is a long way for them to go, but fingers crossed they'll be able to make the trip – it's been a bit of a rough year for them, between Nats in Perth and now this. I don't know about Gold Coast plans, but there's been some good action down there of late, so maybe they're tossing it up as well, which would be sweet.

Obviously, Halibut will be kicking it all off – it's a bit of a stalwart on the Australian tourney calendar... Actually, just looking now, I think Halibut may be the 3rd longest running tourney in the country (after Nats and Melbourne Hat), which is a fantastic effort. Can anyone verify this?

And obviously, on a related note, it's uni season as well as mixed season, but we'll come back to this.

BUB: One thing I know QUDA is talking about is providing support for bona fide non-playing Coaches to develop and travel with Queensland teams.

JM: Yeah, this has been looked into on a casual basis before, but there's consideration to making it more official and public. There are definitely advantages to having non-playing coaches with a team, and it may be a very positive use of resources. Having this support structure known ahead of time could really encourage people to take on coaching roles, which would be a forward step.

I view coaching as a very important part of Elite Development – while many of us have learned the game on quite an ad hoc basis, picking up little things here and there, time spent under a coach can really accelerate learning. There's also plenty of talk at AFDA level about elite coaching at the moment, which could have trickle-down effects.

BUB: You said we should come back to AUGs??

JM: It's a really positive time for Queensland unis at the moment, I think – Griffith GC are coming along really well (nice work Stef); QUT seem to be continually growing, putting in more teams to more competitions every year; I believe JCU may have had a revival this year; and UQ are obviously a major player as always. There's also talk of movement at USC (Sunshine Coast), which would be fantastic.
In addition to that, the deal that will be seeing AUG on the Gold Coast every odd year until 2015 is as good as things will ever get for us, in terms of accessibility.

From an elite perspective, I will be trying to work with the Uni Coordinator and with the uni teams to get the most from each AUG campaign. Unis are obviously a great breeding ground for exciting new players, and so I'll be looking to help the unis achieve their best possible result, but also help keen players from those teams to find opportunity in other areas of Qld frisbee.

BUB: Off in the distance is the 2010 Open season – thoughts there?

JM: Obviously, I have a double interest in the Open season, between my Elite Development hat and my role in Firestorm. While this will take plenty of my time, though, there are other things we'll be looking at in the mean time. BPL has restructured this year, after 2008 saw it slip off a little in some ways, and we'll be looking at this to see whether it's worked, and what else can be done. This was set up as our development ground for elite Open players, so this is a pretty major focus of my area.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this. We often get quite comfortable in BPL, doing the same things season after season, and don't like the idea of radical change (e.g. to team/club structure). This means that meetings to discuss BPL's future can get pretty intense when suggestions are made, but these things happen, and we need those ideas to come out so that we can really consider whether we're doing the best thing for what we're after.

If nothing else, I'm keen to get back to 6 teams and get rid of that bye. That'd be cool.

BUB: I can see we should interview Stu and some of the BPL captains soon to see what they think.

JM: They're all yours – my captain is in your stately mansion somewhere, I believe...

BUB: Anything else?

JM: We're weighing up some possibilities at the moment, like maybe holding an Open and Women's hat at the end of this year to help kick off the season. That's all up in the air for now, though – we'll have a look at the mixed season first, and get on top of that.

BUB: What about Firestorm’s 2010 campaign?

JM: Semis minimum. Back it.

BUB: Thanks for your time, John. See you on the field.

JM: Thanks – can you undo the handcuffs now?

BUB: You just have to remember the safeword, young fella.