TUA Social League Player’s Notes: Spring 2003

 

These notes are written to be read in detail!

 

 

www.afda.com/tua/

 

This address will lead you to the Spring League home page.

 

If you have not become an AFDA member, please follow registration links and complete the AFDA registration. (When filling in the form you are asked for an email address. If you do not have a regularly used email address, put something like no@email.com.) If you cannot access the web, I will have to get full details from you to register for you.

 

Each week the scores and any notices will be updated on the home page, as well as being emailed to you.

 

 

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SPIRIT OF THE GAME: Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.

 

This is a SOCIAL, MIXED-gender and MIXED-experience league. We have no umpire, except ourselves, and we all strive to be objective and impartial. Winning points is secondary to playing safely and being good spirited.

 

SPIRIT POINTS

Spirit is a subjective thing, and is a sum of the experiences of every player through the game. Captains ought to ask all their players to contribute their assessments. These will mostly be formed on the basis of good or bad calls or incidents through the game, and inevitably also on the way in which the opposition contributed or detracted from their enjoyment of the game. It may also be based on the dynamics within the other team - did they display good humour amongst themselves, and use their own players equitably?

 

Spirit is to be scored out of 10 and must be whole numbers.

 

CHEERS needn’t be a song or dance – in fact a cheer is not compulsory EXCEPT that we don’t just walk away at the end of a game. It is assumed that the second game each night will be followed by a minimal huddle and a few words and 3 cheers. A slightly more elaborate huddle, game, chat, song, dance or whatever might follow the first game. Please don’t avoid ultimate because of The Cheer!

 

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SAFETY

Ultimate is NON-CONTACT SPORT. Collisions and intimidation are strenuously avoided. Our players span  a huge range of speed, age, size, sports experience and ego, and all must feel safe and be safe when playing the game. If you play sport like Jeff, that is fast, intense and uncoordinated, then you need to allow a much bigger margin of error so that you can guarantee that you will not collide with anyone.

 

Note that shepherding/blocking/screening is not allowed. The “pick” call is made if screening does accidentally occur. These practices are common in other sports, so can take continued conscious effort to remove from the way we play.

 

Personal injury avoidance also includes warming up/down and stretching before and after games, and wearing cleats.

 

Ultimate is an all-weather sport. Cancellations due to weather are very unlikely (probably only happen if the council closes the fields.)


----------------------------------------------------- RULES -------------------------------------------------

 

There is no referee in ultimate – so every player needs to develop a good understanding of the rules, by reading handouts and accepting on-field instruction from experienced players.

 

The definitive reference for the rules is at the web pages below. Here is a quick interpretation of the present local variations:

1.       The pull may be dropped.

2.       The brick is 10 metres

3.       Mixed league, minimum of 1 of each sex on the field (for 5-a-side) Defensive teams should field the same number of men/women as the offensive team if possible.

4.       The game is considered to be forfeited if a team cannot field four players (at least 1 women) within 10 minutes of the starting time (unless the opposing captain agrees to play the game with fewer players on the field).

5.       If 24 hours notice of a forfeit is provided to the opposing captain, the game is considered to be a 3-0 loss (rather than a forfeit), with each team being awarded their spirit average (rounded up).

6.       Games start on the hour (e.g. at 6:00pm and 7:00pm), at which time teams must field four players at a minimum. Each game is 45 min long. If a team cannot field four players the team must commence play when directed by the opposing captain, with as many registered players as they can muster. This means that in some circumstances, a game may start before a forfeit is declared. No team has to match opposition player numbers.

7.       Each game ends at the whistle. This means that the disc cannot be thrown again once the whistle has sounded - the disc in the air can be played until it is caught or goes to ground. This is to encourage prompt starts to following games. If there is no following game, then captains may agree (BEFORE the game starts) to play out the point when the time-cap goes and then play another point if one is required to resolve a tie.

8.       Each team may call up to two 2-minute time-outs per game. There is no half-time.

9.       Pick-up players can play, by agreement of both captains. Only paid-up players who have played with the team at least THREE times may play finals.

10.   At the end of each game, there will be an exchange of cheers.

11.   Spirit is scored out of 10 (no half points).