Steam Whistle Spirit of the Game!
How-To Guide | Spirit Winners | SOTG Scoring System
‘Spirit of the Game’ is a fundamental guiding concept of Ultimate Frisbee, and its widespread practice has facilitated the thriving of the sport as a fair and fun competition.
The TUC leadership has placed a strong emphasis on the upholding of exemplary standards for individual and team spirit, despite rapid growth and a player base of increasingly variable levels. Towards achievement of this goal, TUC has a Spirit Chair Committee, the Chair of which will communicate directly with the League GM to monitor Spirit issues, and to investigate new ways to infuse Spirit into the TUC experience.
Impacting individual spirit from a third-party position is a challenging task. Towards this goal, the following actions are implemented each year. Strong emphases are placed on the direct communication to beginner players of Spirit standards, on a more responsible grading system, on a reward system, and on an improved monitoring and management of trouble teams and players.
- Incorporation of Spirit into TUC skills clinics. For each 90 minute skills clinic we now aim to dedicate 75min to skills development and 15 minutes to Spirit discussion. Attendance at skills clinics by new players and teams will be encouraged via direct communication.
- Modification of the spirit scoring system in 2014 from our historical 10-point grading to the WFDF Spirit Scoring System, to facilitate the provision of more comprehensive and less subjective feedback for the league and teams.
- Encouragement of team captains to delegate spirit scoring responsibilities to their co-captains. TUC perceives that a division of responsibilities will facilitate a more dedicated team reporting.
- Teams with consistently poor Spirit will be identified prior to each of the mid-season and season-ending tournaments. Tournament entry will be conditional on a brief meeting with both the League Manager and Spirit Chair. In addition, teams or players of consistently poor Spirit may be asked to attend one of several ‘Spirit Mentoring’ clinics, which will be held intermittently throughout the summer months.
- Implementation of sanctions for individuals or teams whom perform particularly unspirited or dangerous actions on the field of play.