There's definitely a "calm down/relax" part of the culture that silences a lot of the problems that are explicit and the ones that simmer right beneath the surface as well. The ethics and power dynamics in ultimate are definitely areas where more thinking (from sharp minds like yours!) would be helpful.
Hey Noam- I found this piece of yours to be very affecting and congrats on putting it together. I have been noodling on a theory that there are so many bad actors in ultimate because the volunteer layer is stretched so thin that we tend to accept worse behavior and allow bad actors to persist longer because the alternative is not having a coach, not having someone to organize [insert thing here], not having a person whose institutional knowledge is so instrumental in doing a thing. It creates a really permissive culture, notably because there aren’t strong structures to address or remove someone from the community. I haven’t really articulated this but if it’s something of interest to you let me know.
I think that makes a lot of sense and is definitely of interest! Along those lines I think another reason we sometimes don't take some bad actors seriously is because some of us don't take ourselves seriously which is a fun quirk of the sport but given the reality of the growth of ultimate the last couple decades I'd obviously really like us to start taking coaching, coaching youth, and the power dynamics present in the sport much more seriously.
There's definitely a "calm down/relax" part of the culture that silences a lot of the problems that are explicit and the ones that simmer right beneath the surface as well. The ethics and power dynamics in ultimate are definitely areas where more thinking (from sharp minds like yours!) would be helpful.
I will certainly do my best! And I really appreciate the kind words
Hey Noam- I found this piece of yours to be very affecting and congrats on putting it together. I have been noodling on a theory that there are so many bad actors in ultimate because the volunteer layer is stretched so thin that we tend to accept worse behavior and allow bad actors to persist longer because the alternative is not having a coach, not having someone to organize [insert thing here], not having a person whose institutional knowledge is so instrumental in doing a thing. It creates a really permissive culture, notably because there aren’t strong structures to address or remove someone from the community. I haven’t really articulated this but if it’s something of interest to you let me know.
I think that makes a lot of sense and is definitely of interest! Along those lines I think another reason we sometimes don't take some bad actors seriously is because some of us don't take ourselves seriously which is a fun quirk of the sport but given the reality of the growth of ultimate the last couple decades I'd obviously really like us to start taking coaching, coaching youth, and the power dynamics present in the sport much more seriously.