Vancouver 2010 Games- Be Part of the Opening Ceremony!!

Nation,

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games start next Friday and my wife has asked me to post this:

Sign up to be part of the Opening Ceremony!

Canada wants to welcome the world and—for the first time ever—people all over the world can become part of the Games. On February 12 during the Opening Ceremony, an official Olympic souvenir will be sent out digitally to those that want to be part of the action.

Everyone who is watching, listening, or reading about their favorite athletes or their most inspirational story, can receive a unique memento that will be sent out while billions of eyes are focused on the Opening Ceremony.

To be part of it, go to code.vancouver2010.com, which is the official digital and cultural interaction site of the 2010 Winter Games. Just click on the invite, sign up, and you’ll be ready to go on February 12, 2010.

Signing up is also your ticket to a global social media event that will give you the opportunity to be a virtual participant in the Closing Ceremony.

Cheer on your country, and become part of history.

I'm Back.... CUPA name Change.. World Clubs

Nation,

I apologize for a huge blog vacation I took. There has been a lot going on in Canadian ultimate during the off season.

Please note I'm probably going to be pretty terse in this review. Apologies in advance to my more "diplomatic" readers.

CUPA becomes Ultimate Canada

Just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention that Canadian Ultimate Players Association is now legally called Ultimate Canada.

Excited about the name change, and I am glad my friends in sport will stop asking me why the national sport organization sounds like a players union. :)

World Ultimate Club Championships

This issue was simple: WFDF had decentralized the roster rules for teams/countries for the upcoming championships in Prague, Czech Republic. They left the rules for composition of teams up to the national organizations. Teams representing our country can look as much or as little as the club that won the right to go to WUCC. (In canada, you had to be at CUC 2009).

Personally, I find this decentralization of roster requirements for a world championship a major mistake by WFDF. Downright stupid really. I still am struggling to find the reason why.

Having this thrown on the NSO's, Ultimate Canada assigned the task of handling roster rules to our competition committee. The committee, which I chair, is made up of competitive players of varying experiences both on and off the field. We had extensive discussion on this, and tried to cover every single point and counter point.

It would have been EASIER if WFDF had told us we had to set roster requirements, and we could have set clear rules before CUC 2009. Of course, WFDF couldn't do this. That would take some leadership.

Teams had to play in CUC 2009 in order to qualify for World Clubs. Teams knew this heading into the summer season. Despite this, some teams ditched nationals to play at the Emerald City Classic. Should we allow players who didn't attend nationals to be part of the World Club Experience? Opinions from those outside the board were polarized, ranging from giving Furious and GOAT their own bids and private jets to shutting all non CUC 2009 players out altogether. (A little puffery there on my account regarding the private jet.. just trying to keep this discussion light)

If we make rules too easy for roster requirements, good players who went to CUC 2009 and qualified for worlds would be ditched for better players who did not attend CUC 2009. If we make rules too strict, we'll get tremendous flack and we'll handcuffed captains/coaches of teams going to Prague.

In the end, we came up with a decent solution. Moving forward, I believe we need to make world clubs bids and player eligibility contingent on CUC series participation (regionals and nationals in the year leading up to World Clubs). Executing these incentives, in partnership with changing the culture and quality of the CUC series, will be vital to ensuring better attendance at our national championships from our elite teams.

WUCC PROPOSAL

PRINCIPLES
Provide rules to support Canadian club teams attending the WUCC instead of all-star teams. In doing so, rules should accommodate the regular changes a team’s roster undergoes from year-to-year. Provide a policy that is fair to all Canadian ultimate players.

PLAYER CLASSES
Please note that while Ultimate Canada may not have any roster restrictions for the number of players from a certain player class, the WFDF has a roster limit of 28 players.

GENERAL REQUIREMENT
Canadian teams attending the WUCC must have a number of Class A players equal to the lesser of the following numbers:

a) 12
b) 50% of the number of players on the team's 2009 CUC roster.

Example a) If a team's 2009 CUC roster had 26 players then they would require 12 class A players (50% of 26 is 13, so we use the lower value of 12).

Example b) If a team's 2009 CUC roster had 19 players then they would require 10 class A players (50% of 19 is 9.5 rounded up to 10 which is lower than 12).

Class A (Regular players): A member of the club who was on the club’s 2008 CUC series roster and/or the club’s 2009 CUC series roster. There are no restrictions on the number of Class A players on a team’s WUCC roster.

Class B (Practicing players): A member of the Club who:

a) has been playing with the Club since May 1st, 2010, and has not
competed in that team’s division (i.e., Open, Mixed, Women’s, Masters,

Juniors) at a National Championship or WFDF Sanctioned Regional
tournament or series with any other team during that time.

b) practices with the team and has attended two team events (training
camps/ practice weekends or tournaments) since January 1, 2010, with
at least 1 event being a tournament.
c) meets one of the following criteria: Canadian citizen, Canadian
permanent resident, Canadian work visa holder or Canadian student visa
holder.
There are no restrictions on the number of Class B players on a team’s
WUCC roster.

Class C (Other players): A player who does not meet the requirements

for Class A or B. Class C players must meet one of the following
criteria: Canadian citizen, Canadian permanent resident, Canadian work
visa holder or Canadian student visa holder. Teams are restricted to
three (3) Class C players.