From the press release:
Gidday all brisbane ultimate players! After alot of research, alot of rejection and finally a stroke of luck, Brisbane finally has on its horizon an Indoor Ultimate tournament! For those who have never played Indoor before, its a completely different style of ultimate. Its played smaller and faster, with no wind or rain to worry about, and every player able to throw the full field- it's a recipe for some great action-packed utlimate! For those who have played indoor, this tournament will be slightly different! Due to physical constrants of the venue, it will be played even smaller on a standard size basketball court, with an added twist of the basketball 'keyhole' as the endzone!
Also the league will be a great pre-BUML season warm up for your team! awesome team building, fitness, sharpens your handling skills, game instinct and discover tricks and techniques you never knew you had!
Certainly, Indoor ultimate is great fun for every one, beginner to advanced, its even a great way to convert all those indoor soccer/netball players at your work that havent yet seen the light and refuse to open their eyes! So, the need to know:
When: 7pm-9pm Thursday nights, starting the 12th of January through to the end of February
What you get: at least two 35minute games of high intensity crazy indoor action! Plus prizes and the never ending glory of being brisbanes indoor league champions!
Where: Howell Indoor Sports Centre, Brisbane Grammar School, 14 College Rd, Spring Hill Queensland 4000
Who: All welcome! - sadly, Due to the limited space and availability at the venue, max of 8 teams can register! so you'll need to get in quick! dont miss out!
Why: Because this is a rare brisbane indoor league!! - right in the city too! AND opposite the normanby hotel?!
How: 3:1 or 2:2 m/f split. offence decides. Traditional ultimate rules. final league structure will depend on numbers.
Contact me if you have any questions, or head straight to http://www.afda.com/rego/showcompetition.php?competitionid=1148 for more info and register!
So come along, burn off those xmas callories, keep active over summer and have a great time!
Pass this on!
Erik Stevenson
erik.stevenson@hotmail.com
Taya Siedler
tayasiedler@mac.com
Showing posts with label BUDA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BUDA. Show all posts
Friday, December 16, 2011
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Growth in Brisbane Leagues - 2006 to 2010
[edit - hopefully we can't seem to cromulate the 'team numbers' embiggening problem, so will post it separately another day]
Data drawn quickly from the AFDA Registration Database, with all the limits that entails, but generally the longer a League has used the system, the better the quality as players and administrators become used to it. Up to the reader to judge the value, anyway.
We've left WUFL 2009 Season 3 off as the other Leagues didn't have a season 3 that year, and that data didn't buck the general trend. WUFL Season 2 2010 also had only 15 people registered, so we left that off too (although we know there were four teams).
UQ and Townsville Leagues don't use the registration system (which annoys QUDA and AFDA, as they can't report those player numbers when we seek funding etc - but equally, UQ and Townsville question the need for their players to pay AFDA fees when their Universities provide public liability insurance), and Gold Coast has only recently started, so no trend data there as yet.
Do these graphs tell a story? Maybe that BUML Div 2 is the engine for growth in Brisbane (the mid-table drop is presumably tied to the establishment of Div 1). Its also evident in BUML Div 2 that team size must be growing, as team numbers aren't growing at the rate player numbers are.
Of course, growth isn't everything - most obviously it's worth noting that BPL, in focusing on elite play, doesn't specifically aim for growth.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
All Aboard the BUDA Train!
So a General Meeting of the Brisbane Ultimate Disc Association was held on the weekend, and a fresh management committee was elected! Congratulations to:
President Mat Ryan
Vice-President Megan Barnes
Treasurer(s) Adilia Murabito and Nathan Litzow
Secretary Leon 'Fatty' McIntyre
Several other folks put their hands up to help out with BUDA, showing the enthusiasm people have for the association. Yay volunteers!
There will no doubt be a few months of getting some feet under desks, but these are the people to start talking to about your ideas for the long-term future of Ultimate in Brisbane.
President Mat Ryan
Vice-President Megan Barnes
Treasurer(s) Adilia Murabito and Nathan Litzow
Secretary Leon 'Fatty' McIntyre
Several other folks put their hands up to help out with BUDA, showing the enthusiasm people have for the association. Yay volunteers!
There will no doubt be a few months of getting some feet under desks, but these are the people to start talking to about your ideas for the long-term future of Ultimate in Brisbane.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
So What Would a "Brisbane Ultimate Stategic Plan" Involve?
Stepping out of the normally impersonal stately Brisbane Ultimate Blog mansion here - yes, its a chat on the street with JdR.
So following this post and associated email and talking to folks, I was asked by a couple of people as to what this might look like.
The most important thing that I want to see if a *process*. Even if this thing comes up with things I completely disagree with, I will be happy if we've done something through a good process.
This strategic plan thing is about deciding as a *volunteer* group where we want Ultimate in Brisbane to go in the future, what we think we should prioritise to make this happen, and by implication, what sacrifices we’re willing to make to make this happen (by sacrifice, I mean “instead of putting my volunteer effort into doing solely what I think we should do on my own, I will aim to cooperate and put my volunteer effort towards the things the group (of which I am a part) is keen on.”)
Ie – this is about generating a collective agreement about what we want and what we want to do about it, and the volunteer group committing to it, and in particular not revisiting it unless things change drastically.
To try to get people to abstract from their personal commitments to the present (or the current status quo), its also typical of a strategic plan that it doesn’t start for a while. Hence, my thinking for this one is that we do the work in the second quarter of 2010, and implement for 2011-2013.
A plan like this is also desirably consistent and relatively simple. Consistent so that a new person can pick it up and understand it, and also to harmonise people’s effort over time (ie not waste effort doing something that doesn’t fit, distracts people or just plain goes against the effort of other people). Simple so that you don’t over-do it.
Committing to it is also about conserving effort. If we agree now our plan for the next three years, then we’re also saying we’re not going to spend time and effort doing this again until its done or something drastically unexpected changes.
I’m not really wed to what the Plan should involve – the important bit is that we have a process and that people are willing to give and take and agree to something that is “best for Ultimate in Brisbane”.
I could leave this post here, because as I've written above, the important thing to me is that we do it. Its secondary what it contains. But then I'm willing to offer some ideas on that too, to sketch out some things that I think people might want to address.
What is the goal of Ultimate in Brisbane? We need to discuss this and see if we all have a common goal. Personally, I think it is ‘growth’ in player numbers. Other possible goals – doing well on the National stage, developing quality play, having fun, increasing legitimacy of the sport, establishing stability/consistency in administration/fields/etc, giving existing players more opportunities to play – all of these can be interpreted in terms of growth
What is the scope of such a plan? I’d suggest the focus of the plan be about Leagues in Brisbane - things that are conceivably under the control of a single administrative structure (hopefully BUDA). Tournaments and other things that happen within the Brisbane geographic area are things that are accessible to non-Brisbane players, or need to be consistent with things that are done outside of Brisbane. So these other things can be left to QUDA or AFDA to concern themselves with. So we're talking here about BPL, WUFL and BUML and possibly local pickup. UQL could be in if the UQ Club wants to.
What are some of the key issues? If people are agreed that growth of League play is the goal, then this leads us into a variety of issues.
Do we grow the existing Leagues, or do we establish new Leagues, or do we do both?
I think in reality we do both. A “League” is to a degree an administrative construct. What we need to do to grow though is to establish new playing centres in time and space – these may well be part of a larger administrative structure (eg part of a larger League like BUML) or be a separate League sitting under BUDA.
Growing existing Leagues is easiest, as you’ve got the administration in place, you just need to cope with more people. Currently, we don’t really try very hard to grow our existing Leagues in my humble opinion. League growth has really just come from “Ultimate is a good product” (aka word of mouth aka people liking it and bringing their friends along).
To grow existing Leagues at a speed or rate beyond this, you can prioritise (ie pick one or two to focus on):
- effort on advertising/promotion (eg recruitment)
- effort to ensure the existing League is well run (eg clear start and finish dates)
- effort to support the creation of new teams (eg incentivise experienced players to help)
- effort to develop the quality of play (eg coaching, establish divisions, recognise on field success)
I’d also say that in Brisbane we do a poor job of establishing new Leagues. There is a sense that if someone wants to establish a new League, then they’re sent off into the wilderness on their own to make a go of it. Unsurprisingly, they fail or recognise its not even worth trying. Its very very hard to do everything on your own - find fields, recruit new players, try to persuade experienced players to come over, actually run the League - all while still trying to play your own Ultimate and do whatever else you do with your time.
Setting up a new League in my mind requires more effort, support and possibly sacrifice from the wider Ultimate community. This could include:
- survey existing players to find out where and when they would commit to a new League. Essentially, who is sick of driving the distance they do to play in a new League, or who would prefer to play on a different night?
- use existing League money to subsidise the new League to help it establish itself. This may be controversial but we generally agree we all benefit from more Ultimate. Making the new League a lot cheaper while it gets established (this may take several seasons) is essential, really, and making existing Leagues slightly more expensive to do this is reasonable if growth is the aim.
- change existing Leagues to make ‘space’ for the new League, so that it can attract existing teams and players. Eg, change a night, delay the start date of an existing League so that existing players will go try the new League
This brings me to a common point of discussion at the pub is that if only BPL and WUFL (which have separate player pool in Open and Women) were on the same night, then that would create a spare night for a new league to start and prosper in. Exactly true. People find this quite hard to approach though, as we’re pretty comfortable with the way things are.
The challenge for putting both on the same night is a) inertia - which can be countered by agreeing now that this change desirable, but also agreeing that the change wouldn’t come in to force until some time later (eg early 2011) and b) fields - for which I’d put in the plan that if we can find enough fields to put BPL and WUFL on the same night (it’d be nice if they were near each other, but not necessary), then that’s the night they’d move to – ie if someone can find 5-6 Ultimate pitches worth of space on Tuesday night, then both Leagues can be on Tuesday. If someone can find the same space on Thursday, then move to Thursday. Those who don't want to move are now motivated to find fields on their prefered night ....
I think most people agree that BUML can and will grow, and the long term goal is to increase the number of divisions so that people can get quality games. Having individuals just play one division, and establishing promotion/relegation in this League would improve competition. Having a goal of standard maximum number of teams per division also would help manage seasons and support levels of quality (eg max 6 teams in Div 1, max 12 in Div 2, any number in Div 3).
I've also written and spoken elsewhere of where I think BPL could go in terms of working towards two divisions, clubs where individuals compete and are developed, and where those clubs compete in areas outside BPL.
I say a "goal" here, and this is an important point throughout - that we're setting a general place we want to get to, without necessarily saying how we'll get there or when, or even what the goal will look like in detail.
A further challenge for Brisbane Ultimate is I think generating the desired level of volunteer resources. In one element, there is competition for these resources as many volunteers in Brisbane are attracted and able to act on the state (QUDA) or national (AFDA) level. Many people have recognised that establishing a ‘club structure’ can help resolve this. People will generally volunteer for something that is ‘close’ to them. At the moment, not many people feel close to the 400 or so regular players in Brisbane. But they would feel closer to the 10-50 or so people in their club. Other cities have been very successful in establishing formal clubs to motivate people to help and make their competitions easier to manage. Brisbane should consider this closely, and work out what might be best suited to it.
A more formal Club structure can also improve the quality of Ultimate played. Eg people are more willing to help develop a fellow clubmate than they are a random stranger. On the other hand, we need to balance this with our roots of being welcoming to everyone, and the strength that we get from being one large common and friendly community.
So there's some of the things I think I'm talking about in terms of a Brisbane Ultimate Strategic Plan.
a) Its a record of lengthy discussion amongst interested people, followed by an agreement about how to move forward on our shared desires and goals.
b) And I've gone ahead and sketched some of the things I'd like to see discussed - that I think we want to grow, and how we want to grow by giving more support to new Leagues, enhancing our existing Leagues, and establishing clubs more clearly to take the volunteer load of recruiting and developing players and managing competiton.
Thanks for reading, and having an interest in more than "I just want to play."
So following this post and associated email and talking to folks, I was asked by a couple of people as to what this might look like.
The most important thing that I want to see if a *process*. Even if this thing comes up with things I completely disagree with, I will be happy if we've done something through a good process.
This strategic plan thing is about deciding as a *volunteer* group where we want Ultimate in Brisbane to go in the future, what we think we should prioritise to make this happen, and by implication, what sacrifices we’re willing to make to make this happen (by sacrifice, I mean “instead of putting my volunteer effort into doing solely what I think we should do on my own, I will aim to cooperate and put my volunteer effort towards the things the group (of which I am a part) is keen on.”)
Ie – this is about generating a collective agreement about what we want and what we want to do about it, and the volunteer group committing to it, and in particular not revisiting it unless things change drastically.
To try to get people to abstract from their personal commitments to the present (or the current status quo), its also typical of a strategic plan that it doesn’t start for a while. Hence, my thinking for this one is that we do the work in the second quarter of 2010, and implement for 2011-2013.
A plan like this is also desirably consistent and relatively simple. Consistent so that a new person can pick it up and understand it, and also to harmonise people’s effort over time (ie not waste effort doing something that doesn’t fit, distracts people or just plain goes against the effort of other people). Simple so that you don’t over-do it.
Committing to it is also about conserving effort. If we agree now our plan for the next three years, then we’re also saying we’re not going to spend time and effort doing this again until its done or something drastically unexpected changes.
I’m not really wed to what the Plan should involve – the important bit is that we have a process and that people are willing to give and take and agree to something that is “best for Ultimate in Brisbane”.
I could leave this post here, because as I've written above, the important thing to me is that we do it. Its secondary what it contains. But then I'm willing to offer some ideas on that too, to sketch out some things that I think people might want to address.
What is the goal of Ultimate in Brisbane? We need to discuss this and see if we all have a common goal. Personally, I think it is ‘growth’ in player numbers. Other possible goals – doing well on the National stage, developing quality play, having fun, increasing legitimacy of the sport, establishing stability/consistency in administration/fields/etc, giving existing players more opportunities to play – all of these can be interpreted in terms of growth
What is the scope of such a plan? I’d suggest the focus of the plan be about Leagues in Brisbane - things that are conceivably under the control of a single administrative structure (hopefully BUDA). Tournaments and other things that happen within the Brisbane geographic area are things that are accessible to non-Brisbane players, or need to be consistent with things that are done outside of Brisbane. So these other things can be left to QUDA or AFDA to concern themselves with. So we're talking here about BPL, WUFL and BUML and possibly local pickup. UQL could be in if the UQ Club wants to.
What are some of the key issues? If people are agreed that growth of League play is the goal, then this leads us into a variety of issues.
Do we grow the existing Leagues, or do we establish new Leagues, or do we do both?
I think in reality we do both. A “League” is to a degree an administrative construct. What we need to do to grow though is to establish new playing centres in time and space – these may well be part of a larger administrative structure (eg part of a larger League like BUML) or be a separate League sitting under BUDA.
Growing existing Leagues is easiest, as you’ve got the administration in place, you just need to cope with more people. Currently, we don’t really try very hard to grow our existing Leagues in my humble opinion. League growth has really just come from “Ultimate is a good product” (aka word of mouth aka people liking it and bringing their friends along).
To grow existing Leagues at a speed or rate beyond this, you can prioritise (ie pick one or two to focus on):
- effort on advertising/promotion (eg recruitment)
- effort to ensure the existing League is well run (eg clear start and finish dates)
- effort to support the creation of new teams (eg incentivise experienced players to help)
- effort to develop the quality of play (eg coaching, establish divisions, recognise on field success)
I’d also say that in Brisbane we do a poor job of establishing new Leagues. There is a sense that if someone wants to establish a new League, then they’re sent off into the wilderness on their own to make a go of it. Unsurprisingly, they fail or recognise its not even worth trying. Its very very hard to do everything on your own - find fields, recruit new players, try to persuade experienced players to come over, actually run the League - all while still trying to play your own Ultimate and do whatever else you do with your time.
Setting up a new League in my mind requires more effort, support and possibly sacrifice from the wider Ultimate community. This could include:
- survey existing players to find out where and when they would commit to a new League. Essentially, who is sick of driving the distance they do to play in a new League, or who would prefer to play on a different night?
- use existing League money to subsidise the new League to help it establish itself. This may be controversial but we generally agree we all benefit from more Ultimate. Making the new League a lot cheaper while it gets established (this may take several seasons) is essential, really, and making existing Leagues slightly more expensive to do this is reasonable if growth is the aim.
- change existing Leagues to make ‘space’ for the new League, so that it can attract existing teams and players. Eg, change a night, delay the start date of an existing League so that existing players will go try the new League
This brings me to a common point of discussion at the pub is that if only BPL and WUFL (which have separate player pool in Open and Women) were on the same night, then that would create a spare night for a new league to start and prosper in. Exactly true. People find this quite hard to approach though, as we’re pretty comfortable with the way things are.
The challenge for putting both on the same night is a) inertia - which can be countered by agreeing now that this change desirable, but also agreeing that the change wouldn’t come in to force until some time later (eg early 2011) and b) fields - for which I’d put in the plan that if we can find enough fields to put BPL and WUFL on the same night (it’d be nice if they were near each other, but not necessary), then that’s the night they’d move to – ie if someone can find 5-6 Ultimate pitches worth of space on Tuesday night, then both Leagues can be on Tuesday. If someone can find the same space on Thursday, then move to Thursday. Those who don't want to move are now motivated to find fields on their prefered night ....
I think most people agree that BUML can and will grow, and the long term goal is to increase the number of divisions so that people can get quality games. Having individuals just play one division, and establishing promotion/relegation in this League would improve competition. Having a goal of standard maximum number of teams per division also would help manage seasons and support levels of quality (eg max 6 teams in Div 1, max 12 in Div 2, any number in Div 3).
I've also written and spoken elsewhere of where I think BPL could go in terms of working towards two divisions, clubs where individuals compete and are developed, and where those clubs compete in areas outside BPL.
I say a "goal" here, and this is an important point throughout - that we're setting a general place we want to get to, without necessarily saying how we'll get there or when, or even what the goal will look like in detail.
A further challenge for Brisbane Ultimate is I think generating the desired level of volunteer resources. In one element, there is competition for these resources as many volunteers in Brisbane are attracted and able to act on the state (QUDA) or national (AFDA) level. Many people have recognised that establishing a ‘club structure’ can help resolve this. People will generally volunteer for something that is ‘close’ to them. At the moment, not many people feel close to the 400 or so regular players in Brisbane. But they would feel closer to the 10-50 or so people in their club. Other cities have been very successful in establishing formal clubs to motivate people to help and make their competitions easier to manage. Brisbane should consider this closely, and work out what might be best suited to it.
A more formal Club structure can also improve the quality of Ultimate played. Eg people are more willing to help develop a fellow clubmate than they are a random stranger. On the other hand, we need to balance this with our roots of being welcoming to everyone, and the strength that we get from being one large common and friendly community.
So there's some of the things I think I'm talking about in terms of a Brisbane Ultimate Strategic Plan.
a) Its a record of lengthy discussion amongst interested people, followed by an agreement about how to move forward on our shared desires and goals.
b) And I've gone ahead and sketched some of the things I'd like to see discussed - that I think we want to grow, and how we want to grow by giving more support to new Leagues, enhancing our existing Leagues, and establishing clubs more clearly to take the volunteer load of recruiting and developing players and managing competiton.
Thanks for reading, and having an interest in more than "I just want to play."
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Future of Brisbane Ultimate - Upcoming BUDA AGM
So JdR posted the following email to the BUDA-yahoogroups list this morning. As the Brisbane Ultimate Blog loves discussion, have a read and post your comments below (click on the word "comments".
Hi everyone,
I am writing to you to invite you to take an interest in the future of Ultimate in Brisbane.
The QUDA/BUDA AGM will be held during the Northern Regionals tournament on Sat/Sun 13-14 March (exact date and time to be advertised).
For couple of years, the BUDA (Brisbane Ultimate Disc Association) has been relatively defunct (bar the sterling efforts of Adilia Murabito as BUDA Treasurer and the League Directors of BUML, WUFL and BPL).
While many people assume QUDA "runs" the Leagues in Brisbane, at present it is limited to providing general support to League Directors much in the same way it supports Townsville and Gold Coast Ultimate. QUDA does provide specific assistance to Leagues in terms of field provider liasion (that's been my job), but generally, League Directors have run their Leagues independently (and done a very good job, I might add - this email isn't about the way Leagues are run - this is about the future).
But it has been frustrating to me as a player and administrator that Brisbane Ultimate has lacked anyone taking a long-term and Brisbane-wide view to supporting the existing Leagues, and developing new Leagues and playing opportunities. Other cities are powering forward to bring new players in and improve the quality of play, but I feel Brisbane is lagging.
The coming AGM is a chance for the membership to discuss whether and how to correct this. The BUDA part of the AGM will involve electing a BUDA General Committee. The General Committee includes a BUDA President, BUDA Treasurer, BUDA Secretary and BUDA Vice President, as well as the Directors of BUML, BPL and WUFL (who are technically appointed by the Committee). There is also room for people to be elected as General Members of the BUDA Committee.
I hope there are people out there who will step up into these roles for 2010-2011.
If we are successful in electing a BUDA General Committee, then, to make the will of the membership clear to the new Committee, I will propose a motion that the BUDA General Committee:
- meet at least bi-monthly over the coming year;
- develop and implement policy and arrangements to provide support and oversight to the BUML, BPL and WUFL Leagues and Directors;
- agree an Memorandum of Understanding with QUDA to demarcate responsibilities for Ultimate in the Brisbane area; and,
- draft, consult on, and approve (by September 2010), a strategic plan, covering the growth and development of Leagues in Brisbane for the period 2011-2016.
If we are unsuccessful in electing a BUDA General Committee, then I will instead propose a motion to the membership that the QUDA Executive take on the role of the BUDA General Committee for 2010-11, and that the QUDA Executive provide support and oversight to the BUML, BPL and WUFL Leagues and Directors, and prepare the strategic plan outlined above.
I am not very keen for QUDA to take on this role, as it has a lot of other work to do. But I would rather make it clear that someone is taking responsibility on behalf of everyone in Brisbane, for the future of Brisbane Ultimate.
I should add that it is equally valid for people to vote against these motions, and leave us with the status quo. At the least, we will have had the debate and come to an agreement, rather than continued with the present ambiguity of people assuming that someone else being responsible.
Thanks for reading this. I would welcome further discussion, either via email direct to myself, email to everyone on this list (if you think your points are of interest to the hundreds of people on the list), or on the various internet discussion areas, including the Brisbane Ultimate Blog.
JdR
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