Nationals Format

Just finished another disappointing Nationals campaign.
HoS came close, but couldn't close it out when it mattered.

I did some thinking about the format of Nationals though and had an idea:

Reduce the number of teams to 12 with two pools of 6.
Pros:
- Much better level of competition
- Top 4 seeds don't get a free pass on day 1
- Much more chance that Div 2 Nationals will be successful

Cons:
- ??

Interested to here other people's thoughts on this...

Turnover Responsibility

I have been thinking lately about turnovers and who is ultimately responsible for them.

I think that the majority of the time, in high level Ultimate, turnovers are less the result of good D, or bad work by the receiver, but are the fault of the thrower.

For example, if a pass is made towards a receiver, and their guarder blocks the pass, I believe that the majority of the time this is the fault of the thrower. Sometimes the receiver might have not attacked the disc, or might have changed their cut, or misred the disc, but if the defender is able to get to the disc first, it's generally a bad throw. And sometimes the defender makes an amazing play that gets a d irregardless of good work from the thrower and receiver, but this is very rare.

Here is my extremely scientific breakdown of how often I believe each of these roles is responsible for different types of turnovers:

Type	Thrower	Receiver	Guarder*
Throw goes OB	95%	5%
Throw gets D'd	70%	25%	5%
Throw goes to ground	90%	10%
Throw is dropped	30%	70%

*Obviously the Marker is also factor in turnovers, but my rigorous scientific method ignored their involvement.

So what does this mean? As a thrower I now realise that if their is a turnover, it's pretty much my fault. So I have to take greater responsibility as a thrower to not force things and cause a turnover.

Thanks Pottsy

Jonathan's major achievements in the past 2 years:
• U23 world championships.
• Brought Beach Ultimate into WFDF.
• Hugely successful World Games 2009.
• Excellent relationships with IWGA and SportAccord.
• 10 new WFDF members (20% growth!) in 2010.

As someone who has had the privilege to work closely with Pottsy, I thank him for his amazing contributions to Ultimate.

THANKS!!