Contesting a Foul call on CUPA?

Nation,

To be well known in ultimate, you need to play for a long time, be good at the game, and have a very distinct/passionate personality. For these reasons, Greg Lang is famous... or infamous... however you want to put it. Seriously, fewer people are as well known for their amazing hucks and ability to play when motivated. If you're playing Lang, I highly suggest you don't bug him. It does your team absolutely no good.

Mr Lang recently participated in the Toronto Ultimate Festival and watched Team Canada's World Games team scrimmage with some of Toronto's best players. He was very disappointed to see that almost all of the Team Canada roster is open and womens players and not coed players. He was so angry that he wrote a late night rant on his local league open forum and has called a violation on CUPA.

Brett Taylor at No Borders 2008
Photo Courtesy Dave Knowles

Violation on CUPA?

"CUPA has yet again selected non co-ed players to represent Canada in an international co-ed competition... Those men and women who choose to and dedicate themselves to the co-ed game of ultimate in Canada are the only Canadian players who should be eligible to represent our country in that division internationally."

As a board member of CUPA, I feel the need to speak to this. Here are my thoughts:

• I don't mind Greg Lang or anyone else having an opinion and expressing it regarding CUPA decisions or team selections.
  
• I'm not sure posting on open forums of local leagues is the best way to reach CUPA, and doing it long after team selection is a little reactive.
• I completely disagree with Gregs violation call (I can't contest a violation) and his idea on how International coed squads should be put together.
  

Greg's idea, as I understand it, is that only Co-ed players should be considered for coed national teams. Instantly, we are limiting the talent that we can pick from, and we are discriminating againsts players and teams who may only be able to play for men's and women's teams in their area. How do we determine who is really a coed player and who is not? This could get messy.

CUPA is really trying to improve its processes for competitive play and team selection. Events such as World Games (the national team in selection) is a small rostered event that will feature the best players from the best countries. We worked very hard to recruit a talented selection committee (Andrew Lugsdin, Jeff Cruickshank, Eva Cham, Sherri Madigan, Lara Mussell) to try and cover all division across the country and put forward a winning team based on lessons learned from past World Games experiences.

It doesn't make it right, but when one looks at the Team USA roster, we see a similar trend in open/women player selection for the World Games roster. I do think that the overall best players are in the open/women's divisions, but I also hope that Team USA has not missed out on any hidden coed gems. It's Canada's gain if they did.

I want to see the best players picked for national teams, regardless of division, location, politics or gender. I think the entire CUPA board also echos that sentiment, and we're trying to make that happen on national team at a time.

World Games 2009 – Team Canada

Nation,

The World Games roster was recently announced on the CUPA site.

Selected by a committee (consisting of Andrew Lugsdin, Jeff Cruickshank, Eva Cham, Sherri Madigan, Lara Mussell) that has exstensive World and National experience as players, the 2009 Worlds team is as follows.

MEN
Alex Hughes- Vancouver
Andy Ouchterlony- Toronto
Derek Alexander- Ottawa
John Hassell- Toronto
Kirk Savage- Vancouver
Oscar Pottinger- Vancouver
Sam Kennedy - Toronto

WOMEN
Alex Snyder-San Francisco/Fury
Alyson Walker-Toronto
Anne Mercier-Ottawa
Genevieve Dufresne-Montreal
Kira Frew-Vancouver
Vicky Chow-Vancouver

ALTERNATES
Jeff Lindquist-Toronto
Morgan Hibbert- Vancouver
Nick Menzies- Vancouver
Jenn Kwok- Vancouver
Kate Crump- Ottawa
Val Dion- Vancouver

My Comments/Analysis

• I think this is a good team, heavily based on the past performances and experiences of some of our country's best.
• So who are the captain(s)?
  
• One of the biggest flaws in the 2005 team was the apparent lack of team chemistry. Given the familiarity of most of these players, that should not be an issue this time around
• Another major flaw in 2005 was the lack of team height. The small roster sizes for the tournament provide an obstacle to picking a team to handle every situation. I can't speculate on whether this team has enough height until we know the rosters of the other teams.
  
• I like the fact that recent college/university stars are emerging on the national scene. To see Kira Frew, Anne Mercier, Sam Kennedy, Oscar Pottinger, Jeff Lindquist and Morgan Hibbert this far denotes a changing of the guard and a lot of hope for future world teams.
• The three biggest suprises are probably Lindquist, Crump, and Kennedy. The casual touring fan might not recognize these individuals, but I am sure that they will be ready and able to play at this level. Crump is a late starter to ultimate that is a physically dominating presence in both college and Canadian club ultimate. Lindquist (along with Crump) impressed at the Worlds last year in coed. He's a handler that quite literally can run an entire offence and make big throws. Kennedy's star has risen steadily, through McGill and GOAT experiences.
  

So what do you think? Will Canada win the World Games ultimate title in 2009? Did the selection committee miss someone?