Getting reacquainted with tiered ultimate

my last foray into the open division was in 2008 with JAM, and on that sunday late in october on the sarasota polo fields, the trophy in our team's hands, i was pretty sure i was done with the open division.  three UPA championships and three more finals losses over 12 nationals was enough of a career for me, and the commitment to the grind of the fall season couldn't be justified any more.  but, we fast forward five years and i was getting a little bug, and i talked to the condors and we worked something out and i got to wear the proud condor jersey once again.  and now i'm going to nationals wearing the same jersey that i wore my first time there in 1997.  

a lot has changed, and maybe at some point i'll put some thoughts together about the game itself, and those changes, but the thing that has been striking me most is the way USA ultimate has organized the season.  to me it is clearly not a "players" association any more, as they ask more of players, and in my mind, provide them less.  there's a few things that brought this home for me, but this post describes what i see as the shortcomings of this tiered/flight approach to ultimate

the condors went to three tournaments this year.  two of them were not part of the triple crown tour, and at these two events there was only one team at cal states, and none at the san diego tourney, that were nationals-level teams the year before (the second to last finisher at nationals in 2012).  incidentally, the condors won both events.  the one triple crown event the condors went to, we underperformed, but still only played one team that went to nationals in 2012 (and they were the last place finisher).  how is a team that is on the outside of nationals, supposed to get games against nationals caliber teams?  how can we learn what is needed to get into that top tier without a chance to see what it looks like up close?  

this year's version of the condors is relatively young (myself excluded), and we probably have a half-dozen guys who have never been to nationals.  we're not all familiar with the game at the top tier - the speed, skill and tactics that we might see on the nationals fields.  so, yes, we go to regionals, where we get the chance to play revolver in the finals.  despite traveling to three tournaments, including one that required plane tickets, this is the first time we've played against a team that played an elimination game at nationals last year.  we didn't play particularly well, and probably were a bit starstruck, especially after a particularly amazing catch on revolver's first O point of the game.  we took our lesson like men, and hopefully improve as a result.

now, i'm not trying to say that it was so great in the old days.  being on the dominant team that would go to a tourney and be surprised to have a team get half our score in pool play wasn't always fun, and probably didn't make us better.  but those tourneys (like cal states, or the now defunct labor day), would draw some top talent, but also have some local up-and-comers at the event.  the not-quite-nationals level teams would get to play a game or two against the nationals team before both groups segregated and played amongst themselves.  

it would have been great for the condors to play revolver at cal states, and suffer the 15-8 loss we were dealt at regionals.  then, maybe even play them or seattle or rhino again later in the summer, and hopefully have a 15-10 or 15-12 result, but learn even more.  and by the time we get to regionals, we wouldn't be starstruck anymore, we'd be ready to give revolver a game.  

the tiered approach is certainly bad for the "select flight" teams, as their access to the nationals teams is very limited.  from talking to some teams in the pro and elite flight, it didn't sound like they enjoyed it much either (far from a comprehensive survey, to be sure).  it sounded like a lot of money to spend on travel, with hyper-expensive entry fees (i heard $800 for an event in philly), and little payoff.  

so, it seems like this format has showcased a few games/events at the expense of the development of the middle tier (regionals-level teams) across the country.  teams outside of nationals have very limited chances to see nationals teams and figure out how to improve to give those teams more of a challenge.  it seems a bit unfortunate to me.