St. John's 18+ Mixed Ultimate Frisbee League
This year we had some great responses to our survey and we take your feedback to heart. We also think transparency is essential, so read below for more information/details on some comments and questions that were asked.
If you’d like to discuss anything further, email us at hi@milezeroultimate.com
The teams in Monday Hat League didn’t seem super even!
Every season, we work hard to make the teams as even as possible, and while we do put a lot of weight into self-rankings, we also use our knowledge of players to ensure they are accurate. BUT, there are always dark horses, new players and chemistry that we can’t predict. Making even teams is very very difficult! There will always be a team that wins most of their games and one that loses most.
Also, one issue we heard was teams adding players later in the season which disrupted some of the balances we created. When a team loses a player, adding a player is done on a first come, first serve basis from the waitlist. We know this isn’t ideal, but it’s what’s fair to people wanting to join the league. When recruiting players (no waitlisted players), we ask teams to find people of equal skill level when possible, which happened in most instances.
Tier 1 had to play the same teams the entire season.
This was a bit of a perfect storm. In a ladder system, the top and bottom teams will always face a little less variety than the other Tiers because there is not someone moving both up and down. Then, factor in that the 2 same teams went up/down between all 4 rounds between T1/T2, and it did decrease the variety a little bit.
We can’t really control (nor would we want to!) who wins and who loses.
I wish the schedule, teams, etc… was on the main page of your beautiful website
Changing our website wasn’t an easy choice, but it allowed us to grow and function better as a league and a Board. Now that we are over the growing pains, we are working on integrating the Zuluru back end with the front end this Fall. Stay tuned.
Some experienced players were placed on a team with mostly beginners
Our league is big, but not so big that some situations aren’t avoidable. When individuals sign up in small groups/pairs/solo, sometimes there just wasn’t the opportunity to build full teams of people of equal strength (i.e., 14 people who want to play more competitively, 14 brand new players, etc).
We did our best to create teams where all players would have a positive experience.
Early morning playoffs are the worst
This is a case of wanting your cake and eating it too, or whatever that saying is. If we want playoffs in one day (a request we hear year after year), then that means some games are going to be early in the morning.
On a personal level, I agree, mornings are the worst.
Layout the full season’s schedule in advance
Hmm, this is a tricky one because of the ladder structure. All season, the schedule would be completed and posted in 3 week increments at the start of each round. We can’t really complete the next round’s schedule until we know what teams are going to be in which Tier. Also, teams had requests on nights to play on and we would work to accommodate those as well.
So, basically there is only one week out of 3 where the schedule is not known well in advance – that’s the best that can happen in this structure!
Don’t forget to check the website for your full schedule, and where you can download calendar appointments for your phone.
Also, the faster the scores get in, the faster the schedule gets done. Hint hint.
Why did some teams have 2 games in one week, it seemed unfair.
In the past, we scheduled games on Regatta Day. No one liked that. So, this year we scheduled games around that day. Unfortunately, that meant that some teams would have 2 games in one week because there just wasn’t enough field space in Regatta week.
To mitigate the impact, Board members volunteered to let it be their teams to have to play twice in a week. This obviously impacted their opponents too, but we felt it was the least we could do.
Also, if the schedule ever looks wonky, remember, there’s more to the story. We rescheduled and accommodated a lot of games this year, so other ‘2 games in one week’ situations were because of that.
We make the schedule fair and accommodating to everyone.
More notice when games get cancelled due to weather.
As a reminder, here is our policy, but sadly we are at the discretion of the City. Even sadder, sometimes the weather gets really shitty, really quickly. https://www.milezeroultimate.com/?page_id=230
We do our best to get the news out on FB, the website, twitter and by emailing individual teams. So when in doubt, call a pal or check online!
We are looking at incorporating a text alert system for future notices.
Get a deadline for teams to enter their scores.
There is one! 48 hours! Thanks to all the Captains who abided by this.
You should rank the teams at the start of the year by their players’ individual rankings and the team’s ranking.
Yes! This is what we do! We total a team’s player rankings (taking into account if a team has >14 players), and then rank teams from 1-26 on that score. If a player’s self-ranking is deemed to be not accurate by a significant amount by the League Committee, they will adjust to take that into consideration.
We want more clinics!
Our provincial organization pals at Ultimate NL (ultimatenl.ca) are the guys who run the Clinics, and they did host a number of great ones this year. We’ll pass it along to them to have more next summer.
Someone had the suggestion of a roving clinic – whereby experienced players stay behind for 15 minutes or come a bit early to help newer teams, that is something we found exciting and will recommend for the new Board.
Summer League smelled really good.
We agree. Mahogany and maple syrup.
Less secrecy from the Board.
Sadly, the biggest secret I have is my Debit Card pin. But, I think there’s probably 2 things going on, all with great intentions:
As always, please, please, send us an email with any questions. You’ll get a prompt response. Promise. I love email.
We know you can’t control it, but better fields!
We’re working on it. That’s all I can say. We secured Bowring Park for a few make up games this year which was awesome, and are going to continue to try and get you guys the best fields possible.
We are working hard to increase the awareness of Ultimate at The City and we are making progress! If you know of a field/ space that goes unused during the summer nights, please send us an email so we can investigate!
You should have a BBQ/Skills Day/Family Day!
Well, funny you should mention! Sunday Funday is back on September 22nd – see all the details here and drop by for some fun! https://www.facebook.com/events/130518467157776/
Consistent days for tiers would be great!
This is something we will definitely be recommending to the future board to investigate. With the introduction of Monday Night League, we did decrease the range of nights from 4 to 3… and it seemed like that was a positive step.
Whether it can be implemented comes down to a lot of factors, from fields to registration format, but it’s good to hear consistency is something people are into.
Spirit rankings as a tie breaker…yay! nay! huh? A whole spectrum of opinions…
I can’t really give an answer on this one, but I will say that the feedback was excellent and extensive. Sadly, it was not decisive one way or the other.
The current Board will be giving a recommendation to the new Board as to whether to keep or maintain, we will be using your feedback in a BIG way to make the decision. It’ll be up to them as to the next steps.
I loved the jerseys! I hated the jerseys! Were the jerseys different?
The jerseys were by a branch of our ongoing jersey provider (VC Ultimate) called Printed Performance. VC doesn’t do a lot of HUGE league-wide orders, but their PP branch does, which is why we were moved over there. We did not realize the sizing would be different, but hopefully it wasn’t too bad for people! Lesson learned.
Bonfires are awesome
Agreed. We’ll look into them for next year.
The Board seemed happier this year.
We were. Big time. And honestly, it’s because of two things… all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place and it was a lot less work and a smoother process. That makes out for less stressed out volunteers. And secondly, everyone was just a lot more supportive and understanding that we’re just volunteers – so thanks for that!
And seriously, your positive feedback makes us so happy. Between your kind words in person, your amazing nominations (check out the note!) and the comments in these surveys, you’ve really made us feel the love and improved the spirit of the league this year. You’ve made us a happy team. If you’re looking to get more involved, start thinking about running! Our AGM invite will be coming soon and we would love to see all of you there.
