ToStrikeInfinitely wrote:
This can probably be split off into a new thread, but Mark, you have a good point. On one hand, it can be very disheartening for new players to play against Jason Keller and co (in fact, its disheartening for anyone); at the same time, you don't want to baby your freshman into solely playing novice and D2 events.
What's even more disheartening is a field where Jason Keller and co come in 5th (and if one of the 10 teams in DI had been Brown fielding a DI team for the heck of it with you and Jerry, Rutgers could have been in the lower bracket--that's sobering!)
I'd personally advocate D2 and undergrad awards at all tournaments, like we tried to do at EFT (had we compiled the stats in time). Also, I believe there will be a NE mirror of the Illinois Novice tournament at Harvard - the writing should be excellent, and I'd encourage you to take your freshmen there, as there will presumably be an age/skill cap of some sort.
I agree that we should probably fork this if we want to keep discussing it, but I agree in general. In brief, I think that Novice tournaments or lower Divisions in at least a few tournaments a year (like if Harvard does Illinois) are the main answer. D2 awards at other tournaments are neat, but I'm not sure how much it might mean to give to a team that went, for instance, 2-11, but happens to be one of two with all sophomores or under. Then again, what impresses me most about our frosh this year is their tenacity in the face of some pretty obvious upcoming beatdowns (For instance, we got a whole team of frosh for Brandeis Deepbench), so who knows!