"Official" supporters group for U23/U19 teams? : UltiTalk.Com

Nice and boring, AUS - Australian Ultimate Supporters...

On the note of U23, the opens team was just announced today, and here's my rant, which I need to get off my chest so I don't stay this annoyed. For starters here is the team:

Jake Angelovich VIC
Sebastian Barr VIC
Peter Blakeley NSW
Alexander Britten-Jones SA
Nicholas Dowle NSW
Mark Evans NSW
Glen Fowles WA
Christopher Hill NSW
Matt Hill VIC
Andrew Jackson ACT
Stephen Johnson VIC
Samuel Kuchel VIC
David Lockhart VIC
Lachlan McDonald VIC
John McNaughton QLD
Brett "Sweet As" Middleton SA
Andy Moroney VIC
Logan Rhyne NZ
Daniel Rule VIC
Calan Spielman NSW
Tom Tulett NSW NOT QLD
Luke Turner NSW
Tiger Webb NSW
Phil White NSW
Tim Wise VIC

Sure the team is really awesome when you look at it, I mean I agree wholeheartedly with the selections...well at least with 18 of them, and can see why another 4 were chosen. But if they had told us at the beginning that the best way to make the team was to play well in prior events then get injured and sit out the majority of the selections, then maybe I would have stayed here last year and played at nationals in australia instead of in england and put my name in the hat.

It appears that at least 4 of those selected played between 0-33% of the camps. Firstly, how can you select someone who you haven't seen play in over 4 months perhaps or even longer on their previous achievements, let me just say, it's remarkably easy to lose form in sport, I know, because I lost form in the 6 weeks I was out with a hole in my foot, leaving 3 weeks to prepare from not being able to walk properly to being match ready for the 1st camp, where I played like absolute crap (new people, no match practice, terrible fields for someone just getting back into it). No other sport selects players to play for their team if they haven't proven themselves in lower level games or at training in the 3 months prior to the team selection, why should ultimate? Sure they might be good but in 4 more months at the actual comp but aren't the players who have been training going to be better then as well?

Then there are players who played some of the camps, but didn't really do anything special in this time to justify there spot on the team, again, previous performances? bit unfair on the people who played better than them at the camps but haven't been seen before by the selectors.

Because this is basically just a pointless rant, when are we going to stop taking imports into our freaking national teams? Sure if they are a citizen and are better than others on the team, fair enough, but this keeps happening, surely an australian playing FOR their country will have that extra level that a non-australian playing with our country just won't have when the crunch time comes along. It's called national pride perhaps?

I could go on and justify these points more thoroughly and even add multiple other ones, but this rant has served it's purpose now. all calmed down.