Cautious welcome for new SLSA team rules

The Second Life Surfing Association (SLSA) announced in its online forum Sunday that teams would be admitted from the first SLSA 2008 Season II competition at Boneyard next weekend. Reactions from Second Life competition surfers have been mixed. Surfers contacted by SurfWatch agreed that officially recognising teams was a good first step for the SLSA, although some had some reservations about different aspects of a team league table.

"I feel, while teams bring people together and deepen the sense of community here in the Second Life surfing world, that forcing teams to compete against each other for rankings and bragging rights highlights things that are counterproductive to the overall feeling that we as a community are trying to create," said Craig Stallion, Misfit Ring Leader and former SLSA director, who was careful to point out that his comments were personal opinion and not made on behalf of his whole team. "I just hope that we do not see an atmosphere that could foster the wrong kind of competitiveness in the surfing community."

New SLSA team competition rules

Whilst the regulations for recognising teams were published in the proposed - and since adopted - SLSA constitution on 29 July 2008, the event rules on team participation in competitions and the awarding of scores to teams seem to have appeared for the first time in Sunday's forum post (see text, above).

Teams have been requested by the SLSA to register no more than 5 members each for the next competition. Scores from the top three highest scoring competitors from each team will then be aggregated to calculate a team score for the competition. In the case of a tie, the winning team will be decided by the team with the highest placed surfer. First, second and third place teams scores will now be routinely announced at 2008 Season II competitions.

"Well, it's great news, but there are some obvious concerns," said ONeill Auer, Cornish Surf Team Captain. "In principle, it might be good for surfers to win points for their team. However, what's stopping all the 'best surfers' joining the 'best team' in the future? Second Life is a small world. For me, surfing is fun as a team surfer or a stand alone surfer and so I hope that surfing teams stay fun. Only time will tell, so let's wait until next year and see how many teams are left."

"I think it is a step into a right direction. Seeing teams competing against each other will add a new level of sport excitement to the SLSA events," said Abel Halderman, co-captain for Team Tsunami.

"I was one of the supporters of recognizing surf teams all along. For Reef Riders this gives us another chance to represent Project Children, the charity organisation we represent, so I am very excited about that," said Bobbi Laval, Team Captain for the Reef Riders. "By only scoring top three finishers from each team, that gives smaller teams like ours a chance to compete equally with the bigger teams. Only letting the first 5 team members that register be eligible to score points, I am not sure how well that will work out. Only time will tell, but it is a great start and I am happy about it."

Useful links
SurfWatch: New constitution voted in (9 Aug 08)
SurfWatch: SLSA 2008 Season II surf breaks announced (30 Jul 08)
SurfWatch: SLSA overhauls its constitution (29 Jul 08)
URL: Team competition rules (SLSA Forum post)
URL: New constitution (PDF file)
URL: SLSA Website
URL: SLSA Forum

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