Tournament 2 in my club season was a spectacular long weekend. A group of friends formed the "Magic Alliance" and went to ULW (Ultimate Long Weekend). This tournament is my favourite coed tournament that mixes Ultimate with a game of basketball and a game of volleyball all in the setting of a sports camp with access to great facilities.
Pictured Above: The Magic Alliance preparing for our volleyball game (photo by Lexi Marsh).My concern with going to a tournament like this is does it affect my play in the Open division. A few years back some of us went to another of my favourite tournaments, Gender Blender, and then returned the following week to practice. We were horrible, and our coach questioned if the fun tournament was a factor in our poor play.
My opinion is a fun tournament should have no affect in your play in another division unless you party too much and suffer physically (which is usually associated with fun tournaments). The key, however, to achieve this is to use the fun weekend as part of your training by trying to improve little things in your game.
For example, play a position that you don't normally play to improve those aspects of your game under new and different situations. Don't play lazy even if your team is dominating or getting crushed. A weekend of Ultimate games at any level will help you get your body tournament ready.
Another benefit of the fun Ultimate weekend is it helps avoid burnout since the pressure of competition is significantly lower and you can enjoy some of your friends that you might not see when playing in other divisions.
PJ
2 comments:
Magic Alliance had a lot of strong players on it. It was really nice for me as a weaker player on the team to be able to ask people for feedback. I got lots of great comments and sideline help that I hope to remember for future tournaments. I wouldn't have gotten that opportunity without this fun tournament.
We're leaving ground - will things ever be the same again?
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