COLLEGE NATIONALS 1998 – INTRODUCTION
MAY 29–31, BLAINE, MINNESOTA

This year's premier Collegiate tournament, the May madness if you will, was marked by two final games that went down the wire. It was the semifinals that were predictable and the Finals that were intense hard-fought matches.

Many teams had the benefit of playing each other in featured tournaments throughout the year. It helped teams improve the level of play and it also brought increased attention to the Callahan Rules, most of which appear to be supported by collegiate teams.

In general, the Callahan Rules call for active officials and specific time limits between pulls, turnovers, and for time-outs.

For this year's tournament the rules were not used and may not have been practical. To begin with, the rules do not work well in the women's division, and secondly they may not be able to generate fan support when it is pretty clear that our Marketing and Promotional efforts are close to nil.

Still, teams on the whole seem to favor the rules. I think the alleged difficulty in getting enough officials is a false trail, but concerns over ending our unique self-officiated system are justified.

For 1998 Nationals the standard system of observers was used. The observers were not empowered to make foul calls, but they were able to make active line calls. In the instance of a foul call, a player had the choice to appeal the call to an observer. This seemed to work pretty well as disputes that could not be settled quickly on the field were often brought to an observer for a quick and final decision.

There are some issues on the board for 1999 Nationals. The Callahan Rules, for one, will be discussed, but there is also Regional Redrawing up for consideration and continuing talks about the current wildcard system.

But all that really matters are the teams on the fields and the games they played. There was some real good stuff for show in 1998.

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This was written for the UPA Newsletter.

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