The Kids Aren't All Right

Youth Nationals is a very different event to Opens and Womens, and it's a very difficult to satisfy the interests of all involved.*

Junior Worlds players are the driving forces behind most of the teams, so ensuring their attendance is pretty vital. But in a Worlds year (which come twice as often for the little tykes) fitting them in the actual tournament is testy: you are competing with training camps, as well as the usual school/uni timetables. Hosting Youth Nationals at a date that does not coincide with a training camp means excessive travelling/money/effort/time, whilst hosting the event at a date that does coincide with a Worlds training camp runs the risk of the event being a complete write-off.

There is also the question of what we want out of Youth Nationals: should it be focused on development, or high-level ultimate, or both? If it's the continuation of the Sydney-Victoria (or Sydney-Sydney) hegemonic ultimate then by all means, hold the event away from a training camp somewhere in Sydney or Melbourne. In terms of development, though, there are two major complications I can see that prevent Youth Nationals from reaching its full potential as an event on the ultimate calendar:

1. Recruitment infrastructure: currently, the majority of players are there on a friendship circle, word-of-mouth basis. At this year's event, one team was there because of the ultimate program in place at their school. That is where I see the future of youth ultimate's recruitment - high school. Especially in regards to states that do not have historically strong youth development (here's looking at you, TAS/SA/WA/QLD/NT) and weaker (or geographically less fortunate) players who have not been snapped up by club teams in their respective states. At the NSW High School Gala Day, a 'Merit Team' is selected from the best players. This team serves no function, at present. Imagine if the merit team from the SA High School Gala Day were selected to compete as a team at Youth Nationals - the words 'representing the state' add a lot of legitimacy to a sport like frisbee, and you could bet parents would be more willing to shell out the cash if this were the case.
2. Pricing. Last year, we got a hat, a disc, two days of high-level coaching and two days of ultimate for about $80. This year, we got two days of ultimate, a hat, a disc and a party for $75. Unfortunately, swinging the tournament fee either cheaper (for development, talking $20-50 just for fields for two days) or more expensive (for discs, hats or social events) runs the risk of alienating either entire teams of prospective new players (as was the case this year, with the cost for just the tournament being prohibitive enough to ensure at least one team didn't attend) or the hardcore travellers who want the extra tidbits to show for their journey.

So that's about all I can think to say on the matter right abouts now.

*This isn't a dig at how youth nationals was run this year or last. I had an absolute blast this year, Lisi did an incredible job and was amazingly patient and deserves to be thanked with a big big hug if you see her in Vancouver. Also, the party venue was amazing- it had showers, a movie theater, a sound system and more hot pizza than the hungry youth crowd could eat.