[ Post a Response | Valley of the Sun Ultimate Association ]
Posted by jose on 4/2/2009, 1:37 pm, in reply to "What's this spirit of the game stuff?"
130.76.64.X
n00b,
You bring up some good points. I've been playing for quite a while, so I'll give you my perspective on the "Spirit of the Game." I'm sure almost all of the veterans will agree with me. Just sometimes, we forget.
"Spirit of the Game" means that a player would never intentionally violate the rules of the game.
Now, what does that mean? Well, the rules are based on the fact that no player would ever travel, or foul, or impede another player. It also means that no player would intentionally foul someone, call a bad foul, argue a fair call, yell, kick, scream, b###h, or whatever.
Do people make bad calls? Sure they do.
Do they violate the "Spirit of the Game?" Well, sometimes.
Most of us will inevitably violate the SOTG. There are more than a couple players that play "dangerously" in that they have little regard for hurting people. Is this intentional? Probably not. They're just idiots. (Sorry if I offend anyone, but if you have a complete disregard for other players' safety during a league game, then you're an idiot.) There are also players that make bad calls. Do they do this on purpose? I believe most of the time they don't. Sometimes I make bad calls. And, sometimes I get smokin' pissed when people make bad calls against me. I mean, everyone has a breaking point.
What I can tell you is this. There is a wonderful community of ultimate players here in the Phoenix area. And, many of them, and probably even the guys from last night, love this game and appreciate what SOTG means. It's just that sometimes in the heat of the moment, we forget. And, that's where the community comes in.
So, this goes out to everybody, but if you notice some un-Ultimate behavior, feel free to let someone, or even me, know. People quickly change their attitude when you bring them back to reality. Many bad calls are reversed due to sideline heckling. I've had teammates come up to me and help calm me down and remind me that there are rules in place to deal with these situations. And, guess what, the people that continue to make bad calls either change, or end up leaving the sport, because that behavior isn't tolerated for large amounts of time.
Things, and people, don't change without some assistance, just like how I can't have the bathrooms opened if no one tells me they're locked. *Hint hint*
GOOOOOOOOOOOO LEAGUE!!!!!!
jose
League Director
