Can anyone upset the USA? WU24 Finals Preview

[@Mellowyellow8888]

I have a comment about your gripe about physicality.. If teams or players don't like it.. just call it.. I was playing casual pickup with some guy that plays in AUDL and masters club.. This was a very casual game in general (intermediate level game).. he got called out by me and by others.. he knew he was in the wrong and can't do anything about it.. he immediately stopped.. even subtle things such as me standing there and he had a hand on my arm... I myself don't like subtle physicality things like that.. so i call it.. it stops.. end of story.. But it goes both ways.. the player that calls it should not be doing the same thing..

[@FelixUltimate]

Yes there are degrees of physicality, and people are comfortable with different levels and should agree on an acceptable level between themselves, but the baseline should be to abide by the rules as they are written. If I make a play and there's contact, I'll always ask the opponent if they are comfortable with that level of contact when there's a stoppage / after the point. I do the same as you regarding a hand on me when I'm stationary, I'll ask them to stop doing that and they do. Going into a game knowing that your opponent is not used to / comfortable with a higher level of physicality, and bringing it to them with a hands on stationary players, I think is one step over the line and shouldn't be done let alone encouraged or coached. When I played masters beach against US, I had to tell every new US mark not to touch me, and watched as my teammates tried to play through the fouling rather than ask them to stop. I ended up telling the whole US team to stop it, but by that point we're already half way through the game or more. Much simpler if everyone just tried to play by the rules as they are written.

[@TheUltimateFrisbee]

I think it's interesting that you specifically cite the US for poor spirited play when I saw two European teams make debatable calls and then ignore insights from observers and/or pictures. It was an outcome alterer in a couple games (namely the Germany v. Canada open game), but Belgium also put on very aggressive marks throughout the weekend. I am not saying the US is above reproach, but it comes across as hating when you complain about physicality that is within the rules of the game and may not be something that other regions are accustomed too. Before it sounds biased, the US games had some debatable calls made, but in sound bites did recind and/or try to communicate with opposition some ultimately stood that shouldn't have (none that I could really see as momentum altering). There were examples of certain teams that straight up ignored discourse, which I would argue is very unspirited. I think the conversation of spirit is a two way street. I'll end with this, WFDF desperately needs to switch to a more North American model of observers going forward to better eliminate these conversations happening in general.

[@CJEpps]

I think using “trying to knock the disc out of their hands after they catch it” is a truly poor and insulting example for the US and their physicality. There could have been a number of other examples used. Tighter on the mark. Bumping downfield More likely to use an arm extension to get open. Anything, those are things that can be called and dropped in level of physicality, and also don’t cheat. They’re a play style some are more comfortable with, which is fine and should be accepted, but monitored if the opposition isn’t as comfortable with it. Saying the US hits the disc out of someone’s hand is, for one thing, not an occurrence I’ve heard the US do, and two a very different type of physicality and more resembles being a dick. The US aren’t assholes, but they do play more physicality.

[@FelixUltimate]

Yeah I just wanted to get across the point that anything that is against the rules should not be encouraged, by using more extreme/ridiculous examples (trying to flip over the scoreboard whilst other team not looking lol). Using an arm extension to get open I also don't think is fine and should be accepted, so I disagree with you there. Deliberate bumping on the mark - it's against the rules so don't do it. The opposition shouldn't have to monitor you for that, you should be monitoring yourself as you are responsible for your actions. I didn't say the US hits the disc out of people's hands - you're bastardising my words. I was overly negative and pessimistic in this video for which I apologise, I'm glad the game did not realise my concerns. From what I saw the US conducted themselves well during the final - though I haven't watched the footage yet, was just running around with the gimbal.

[@youatemycheeto]

Kind of impossible to listen to with the voice over conflicting with the commentary on the original video, no?

[@HiveUltimate]

Yeah sorry about that, we made this video in six hours in three different locations to get it finished by 1am/3am after streaming all day and then getting up at 6 to stream the finals, so the quality isn't up to the usual standard