The Subtile Nuances of Playing Club

Back Story.

I think it's a fair to say that the Northwest has a great depth of talent. And from my experience being selected to play on a top tier team is similar to being hired by a business. The hoops that people jump through during the interview process are similar to those players go through during tryouts. In the NW the tryout process begins with one open combine where players come together for one afternoon and have a "shot" to prove that they deserve to move on to the next round of tryouts. Sounds a lot like the sifting through of resumes, no? Similar to how companies respect employee referrals, a majority of players to make it past the combine have a connection to the leadership of the team. You see nepotism for students or alumni of programs with a heavy presence already within the organization. And more often than not the person to get the job has the greatest depth of connections. It's interesting watching the Chain tryouts develop because it seems as if they are willing to take on a lot of young talent and grow them as players actively on the team. Unlike a lot of cities up and down the west coast, talent in the south is much more spread out, so a focal point doesn't exist where intermediate players can hone their skills on a second tier team.

Atlanta:

Culture.
I believe Seattle sometimes exemplifies the ideology of being too cool for school. It is hard to break through and meet a lot of the top players because they are often non existent within the greater community. Also in Seattle I feel like more often than not you see players whose lives revolve around ultimate and I would say by and large a lot of the people that I have met here are much more career driven than their Seattle counterpart.

Play.
Chicks love the long ball. If I could sum up the style of play into one sentence this nails it. There is an overwhelming number of people that can throw the disc a mile and jump out of the roof to get it. It's an odd contract to playing in Seattle where the pace of the game is very fast and shots over 40 yards are a rarity.

Community.
This feeds back into the culture, but I feel like people here like playing for the sake of playing and don't take themselves too seriously. During my first night of playing in the South at a Sunday night coed league game. There were an astonishing number of Chain and O-zone players spread across various teams. I have also learned that winning summer league is a well sought after goal, I would equate it to the indoor goaltimate league in Seattle (people taking a little too seriously).

Conclusion.
One thing I can say for certain is that it doesn't matter if its in the South or Northwest you can always find people that play ultimate that are good people to be around.