So Tribe missed out on going to Prague by 1 point.
We led before half against every team we played and we squandered late leads against Smurf both times.
Based on the results across the weekend, we didn't deserve to go.
But to miss out by 1 point was still tough.
What did I learn?
- When I want to, I can play some good D
- When I want to, I can play really safe offence
- Decision making with the disc is one of the most fundemental parts of the game
- If you don't train properly as a team, you don't play properly when it counts
- When you try and out body someone on a floaty disc, and fail, you look a fool :-)
- Self refereeing can work at any level.
This last point didn't sink in for a few days, but I take it away as one of the most important lessons from the tournament.
France's recent World Cup qualifying debacle, with Thierry Henri's handball, raised the issue of honesty in sport. Although the stakes were comparably lower, the importance of the final game against Smurf was one of the most important ever played in Australia. One team won and go to Prague, the other lost and has to stay home. Yet even in such a high stakes game, the players ability to self referee in a fair and honest manner stood up. There were no bad calls, no arguments, no unresolved disputes. Both teams wanted to win, but not at any cost. Not at the cost of honesty. As one of the captains of the losing team, I know that without a doubt the idea of using our ability to self referee to our unfair advantage never even crossed my mind. And I hope the same thing could be said of every other player.
As the US seem to be experimenting more and more with "active observers", I hope that Ultimate in the rest of the world doesn't and that it continues along the path of allowing the players to make all the calls. Not because it's all nice and warm and fuzzy with everyone being nice to each other, but because it works. It actually works. Players can be trusted to make correct calls, no matter what the circumstance. And that way you can play the game knowing that the best team will win. Not the result of some dodgy call, or lack therefore, by a ref. Not by one team cheating and getting away with it. But because at the end of the day, they were better at the great game we play called Ultimate.
