Smog. The 4 Year Plan.
“There's a space for a Northern Hub of Frisbee to be created between our three universities to really put the North East on the map. Loads of keen players and nowhere to put their skills to test means, the way I see it, the more players we can get together the better. Once we have a strong base we can think about selective teams” – Alex Mazzon, 2015
Overview
The United Kingdom has very recently established itself (particularly in the Open division) as a strong medal contender in WFDF World Championship events. The biggest player base in the country is London and it supplies the vast majority of players for the National and top Club teams. However Ultimate is still very young in this country development wise, as the ever growing University scene, draft leagues, tour sizes, number of Women’s teams etc exemplifies. There has been some discussion recently amongst some of the more tenured Smog players about taking advantage of a floundering Ultimate scene in the North East to create a flourishing squad. Using players situated in our three ‘Target Cities’ of York, Durham and Newcastle, we hope to make connections with the University teams, leadership and players and begin coaching them. In this way we hope to improve the level of Ultimate in the North East and create a feeder system for Smog as a Club team. Copying the examples of Bear Cavalry and NEO we would use our three regions as bases for training, both separately and in ‘Large Training Weekends’ (catchy name pending). We would aim to attract men and women in equal measure. However given that our current Open team is far more advanced than our Mixed team, and eclipses our ability to field a Women’s team, I would envisage the strongest component of Smog four years down the line still being its Open team. Hopefully with Mixed and Women’s in hot pursuit.
Short term goals/possibilities (Now - End of 2015 season)
Maintain an Open first team
Create Smog Leadership
Overall captain
Open, Women’s, Mixed captains
Vice/Regional captain(s) (some correlation with the point above?)
Regional administrative role(s)
Treasurer
Decide what our new kit should be (we need kit with proper numbers and middle names):
Same/Similar design + Numbers (our kit has attracted some attention because it’s awesome), but more expensive.
Plain kit – much cheaper, can look more pro/simple.
Enter tournaments with a smog development team:
Tournaments to enter MT1, MT2, MT3
Increase awareness of club - particularly in universities and their local areas
Create Facebook page, Twitter, YouTube accounts.
Everyone should talk about smog at every available appropriate opportunity
Make sure we have a smog player in each of the cities to help coordinate future events
Start to build a strong female contingent for future Women’s team
Can grow out of strong push in Mixed department
Medium term goals/possibilities (2015 - 2016)
Maintain Open first team
Do not envisage Smog entering Tour as an Open team in 2016 season
Enter a couple high level competitive tournaments
One domestic?
One European? (Early 2016?)
Use our collective international and high level experience to craft a ‘Smog Playbook’, never straying from:
Simplicity
Effectiveness at both a University/beginner level and a top level (top 4 Tour)
Willingness to change any aspect can be improved/competition drives us to make adjustments
Collectivity - we work out strategies as a team
Build up strong connections with target cities’ university teams.
Send Smog players to uni trainings
Help with coaching
Put a lot of effort into getting women involved:
Specific assistance with uni Women’s coaching/interest raising
Send Female Smog players to uni Women’s training
Plan training sessions for three target cities. Continuity is key. All target city sessions must follow same path/journey and same time schedule
Hold mixed training sessions in our three target cities:
York - Max/Andy/Conrad?
Durham - Harry/Annie/Carlo?
Newcastle - Maz/Lucy?
Frequency of sessions? Weekends? Weekday night(s)?
Host one (two?) large training weekends in York, London, Durham, Newcastle, somewhere else
These will require excellent attendance from current (then ‘top’) Smog players
Enter a strong first team into all three Mixed Tours
Enter a second team into all three Mixed Tours
Enter a (second) mixed team into UKU Nationals (envisage all top players still being committed to high level Open and Women’s teams)?
Maintain exciting online presence - Twitter, YouTube, Facebook
Long term goals (2017 - 2019)
Maintain high level Open team
Enter high level domestic/European tournaments
Enter Open tour
Enter UKU Nationals
Qualify for Euros
Win Open Tour
Win UKU Nationals
Win Euros
Have a second Open team
Enter Open tour
Attend one European tournament
Have two strong Mixed teams
Enter Mixed Tour with first team
Enter second team into Mixed Tour
Possibility of a third, weaker, team entering Mixed Tour
Enter UKU Nationals
Qualify for Euros
Win Mixed Tour
Win UKU Nationals
Have a Women’s team
Enter a high level domestic tournament
Enter Women’s tour
Enter UKU Nationals
Qualify for Euros
Win Women’s tour
Win UKU Nationals
Maintain connections with universities and regional/young players in three target cities.
Continue assisting Uni coaching
Continue sending Smog players to Uni trainings
Continue with regional trainings
Continue with ‘large training weekends’
Continue to put a lot of effort into getting women involved:
Specific assistance with uni Women’s coaching/interest raising
Send Female Smog players to uni Women’s training
Organise scrimmages between smog women and other teams
Host a ‘Smog tournament’:
Open team hosts a tournament for 8/12/16 teams
Mixed team hosts a tournament for 8/12/16 teams
Substitute ‘large training weekend’ for Smog regional showdown tourney:
Split each region into two mixed teams and play a 6 team, round robin tourney
Send Smog players to schools to coach
Maintain exciting internet presence - Twitter, YouTube, Facebook
Expand into full game footage
Highlight reels
Coaching videos
Promotional Ultimate videos for schools/uni fresher weeks in target cities/UKU/self promotion
Enter Smog juniors into UKU Indoor Junior Nationals (all/any age levels)
Start to train Smog babies
Josh Briggs