This past weekend there was a tournament in Dallas, Tx. called Texas 2
Finger. Before I say anything else, it was a great tourny that was put
on very well and the fields were great to play on.
However, as I sat on the sideline this weekend and watched my team and
friends play I began to see person after person fall victim to
cramping by the end of the day. The reason for it was obvious, anyone
who is running around in 95-98 degree weather for several hours on end
is going to end up with cramps or worse, like dehydration or over-
heating.
I strongly believe there is a fundamental flaw in the entire idea of
playing 4 games in the heat of the day for two days.
My understanding is that because Ultimate got started on the East and
West coast predominately, the end of the year tournaments (Sectionals,
Regionals, Nationals) had to be held sometime in Sept/Oct because
come November it was too cold outside to play Ultimate. This meant
that all the tournaments leading up to Sectionals, Regionals,
Nationals had to be played throughout the course of the Summer so that
teams would be ready for these tourny's.
The problem with this schedule is that as the s****t grew and become
more popular, teams that started forming in the South had to follow
the same schedule as everyone else, and what we are left with is
several tournaments a year that are held throughout the Summer in
various locations across the southern United States. THIS IS A MAJOR
PROBLEM!
The UPA is soon going to have a heat-stroke or death on their hands
(if they haven't already) because of players pu****ng themselves too
hard during these summer tournaments that are being held in places
where is gets into the upper 90's and even 100's. It is absolutely
INSANE that we are playing 4 games a day in this type of weather, and
there needs to be serious change; or a solution needs to be
presented.
Whether or not you choose to believe in global warming is not an issue
I'm going to discuss here, but if in fact our planet is getting
hotter, then these summer tournaments are going to become more and
more dangerous.
It seems to me that the College Season is in much better shape than
Open/Women/Co-ed, as our season takes places during the spring, making
these conditions less threatening to us. However, there is some draw-
back to practicing in the early spring for teams up North, as there is
still snow on the ground, however most of these teams practice on
indoor facilities anyway.
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Solution 1: Tournaments should either begin much earlier in the day or
much later in the day, if we are unwilling to change the dates of
Sectionals, Regionals, and Nationals. I would suggest starting at
either 6:00 am or 6:00 pm. Granted we would still be playing in the
heat, but it would only be 1 or 2 games as opposed to all of them.
Solution 2: We push back the entire season so that Tournaments are
played throughout the fall, and Sectionals, Regionals, Nationals is
held during the winter. Now I understand that teams in the North would
have major problems with this as it is almost impossible to play
Ultimate in the snow, but as I understand it, several teams have the
pleasure of playing on indoor facilities. We could also host Nationals
in the South during the winter as we never have snow on the ground and
the temperature is perfect during that time of year.
Solution 3: The North and South begin to play separate Sectionals,
Regionals, Nationals as to accommodate for the weather in each given
region.
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Granted, my solutions are sophomoric, but I wanted to put them out
there so I could hear some feedback or at least some better ideas.
Your thoughts?
- Doctor
UNT/Dallas United
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