Olympia Ultimate Frisbee Leagues
|
Olympia Ultimate Frisbee LeaguesSpring League |
Adopted by SSUP Board on March 30, 2009
The Olympia Spring Ultimate League was started in 2003 as a co-ed mixed skill-level league. It was established to provide the people of Olympia the opportunity to play a fun, healthy, non-contact sport, and to increase the sport's profile locally in order to create a viable Ultimate community in Olympia.
As such, the guiding principles of the league are that it be fun, inclusive, educational, and spirited:
Fun – People are playing ultimate to have fun. If we are not having fun, or preventing others from having fun, we are missing the point…
Inclusive – This is a mixed skill level league, which means that we have veterans of the game playing with beginners. We must include everyone in playing the game, regardless of their skill level.
Educational – This is a teaching league, i.e., we want to teach people about the rules and strategy of ultimate. This means that when someone has a question, we stop the game and answer it, and we enforce rules accordingly.
Spirited – at the core of ultimate is the concept of good player “spirit”. In a mixed skill level league, we must each observe that concept in order to encourage others to do the same (see below discussion on What is “spirit”?)
We are each stewards of the league and its principles, and are responsible for acting accordingly. This means that participants in the league must be flexible and allow these guidelines to inform behavior, sometimes even at the expense of strictly following the rules of ultimate (see Rules of Ultimate discussion below).
From the UPA website:
Excerpts from the Official Rules of Ultimate: 11th Edition
From the Preface: "The integrity of Ultimate depends on each player's responsibility to uphold the Spirit of the Game, and this responsibility should remain paramount."
From Section 1. Introduction, item B. "Spirit of the Game. Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct from the Ultimate field. Such actions as taunting opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional infractions, or other 'win-at-all-costs' behavior are contrary to the Spirit of the Game and must be avoided by all players."
Because this is a mixed skill level league and there is a strong emphasis on teaching new players about the sport, the so called “10 Simple Rules” are given to each player at the start of the league. These simple rules are all we ask beginner Ultimate players to know as they learn this new sport. Many beginner players only learn the rest of the official rules of Ultimate (now in their 11th Edition) as they go, and at the end of one season in the league will likely still not completely understand the rules of Ultimate.
Therefore, as a general rule of thumb, the league Guiding Principles (see above) must take precedence over strict enforcement of the 11th Edition Rules. That is to say, that all players (particularly captains, as the moral authorities on the field) are heavily encouraged to use discretion when enforcing the full set of 11th Edition Rules. Players should consider good spirit and learning first, before the strict interpretation of the official rules.
Additionally, the below rules occasionally depart from the 11th Edition Rules when in the best interest of the league. In those cases, the league rules would trump the 11th Edition Rules. It is to be assumed that the 11th Edition Rules are the official rules of the league unless stipulated otherwise below.
The following rules apply to the Olympia Spring Ultimate League, including the league tournament. Captains are heavily encouraged to work cooperatively with one another, and to know and observe these rules.
Each of the following conditions must be met at game time (or within reason at the captains' discretion) in order for a team to avoid an automatic forfeiture:
You must have at least 7 able (non-injured) players to field
You must have at least one (1) able woman player (i.e., you must have at least be able to field a 6-1 team).
If both of the above criteria can not be satisfied by a team, they automatically forfeit the game. (The teams are encouraged to scrimmage and have fun anyway!)
For a more detailed discussion, see the section on Gender Balance.
This is a co-ed league that observes a 5/2 gender ratio. That is to say that, at all times, it is expected that each team field at least 2 women, and no more than 5 men. A team may field more than 2 women, but cannot require that the other team play more than 2 women. Women may match up against men if they chose, but are not required to do so.
Per the rules for forfeiture (above), teams must each have at least 1 able woman in order to avoid forfeiting a game. In addition, each team must have at least 1 woman on the field at all times. The team on offense may call either a 5/2 or 6/1 gender ratio on a point-by-point basis. The defensive team can voluntarily increase their female ratio above the offense-called gender ratio, at their discretion. If a team doesn't have 2 women and offensive team calls a 5/2 ratio, then you must play 5/1 (down 1 female).
If league participation does not allow at least 4 women for every team, the league will operate as a 6/1 league. In that case, 1 fewer women is required in all the above scenarios. Rules for forfeiture remain the same under this scenario.
Discussion re gender balance
Once the rules regarding players required to avoid an automatic forfeiture have been met, captains are asked to work together to establish procedures for fielding players fairly for that game. This may include swapping male or female players between teams if one team is down players, etc. Captains are encouraged to be cooperative and creative according to the spirit of the league, but are not required to balance teams through player swapping.
Such cooperative and creative approaches frequently follow one of three methods: (a) ask 1 of your team's female players to volunteer to play for the other side, (b) agree to a gender balance that allows the other team to play the women they have without over-exerting them, or (c) play gender imbalanced. Captains are encouraged to try other creative ideas. As always, the rule is, "its spring league- be flexible"!
The important outcome relative to gender balance is that female players are supported in this league through rules and conduct that observes the principles of co-ed play and good spirit.
“Mullet” Rule
In order to emphasize the importance of safe and spirited co-ed play, and reinforce the importance of avoiding dangerous play as stipulated in the 11th Edition Rules section XVI.H(4), the league institutes the so-called “mullet rule”. This rule means that any player can call a foul if they feel intimidated by another player while trying to receive the disc. It is important to note that the mullet rule may be invoked by either gender in this league. The purpose of this rule is to reinforce the dangerous play rule by discouraging dangerous contact before a foul is committed, rather than requiring one to be committed in order to elicit a foul call.
If the mullet rule is invoked, resulting possession of the disc follows the same rules as any other foul. This rule is not contestable.
There is no picking up other players not on your team's official roster. If a team is unable to avoid forfeiture (see above) with players on the roster, they may not pick up another player to avoid forfeiture. A team may forfeit and then pick up players in order to play the game for fun.
Each team is allowed 3 timeouts per the 11th Edition Rules, with one per half and one floating timeout that can be used at any time during the game, with one exception. There are no timeouts allowed after the whistle has been blown signifying the beginning of the soft point cap (see Game Time and Point Cap section below). After the whictle blows, no timeouts are allowed, even if a team has unused timeouts remaining. Only the person holding the disc may call a timeout.
If a timeout is attempted to be called either by a person not holding the disc or during the soft cap, no timeout is granted that team, but (unlike in the 11th Edition Rules) the disc remains with the team with possession.
Each game has a 2 hour time limit. The team captain (or chosen representative) winning the disc flip will chose whether to pull or receive, and the other team will pick a side. The game is split into two “mirrored” halves, with the first half complete once one of the teams has scored 8 points. The team that pulled at the start of the game will receive at the start of the second half; teams will start the second half at the opposite end from where they started the game.
At 15 minutes before end of those two hours, a whistle will be blown to impose a “soft cap” on points. Once the whistle is blown, the teams finish the in-progress “scoring attempt” (as defined by the 11th Edition Rules) and then a 2 point soft cap is instituted. When the soft cap begins, game point becomes either two points beyond the score of the team in the lead or 15 points, whichever is first.
At the 2 hour mark, the final whistle is blown, and the current scoring attempt is completed. If that point results in a tied game, a tie-breaker point is then played. Otherwise, the game ends.
| Last Edit: Apr 15 2009 | |