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MARBULA ONE: TEAM PRIMARY
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Team Primary Getting in early practice for the upcoming Marbula One season.
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DO QUALIFIERS PROPERLY PREPARE? 2019 saw the introduction of a whole new layer to the format of the Marble League – The Marble League Showdown. It was created to function as a qualifier to the qualifiers and to shine a light on new teams as well as neglected teams which hadn’t been reaching much success. Though widely enjoyed, some have questioned whether there are just too few events in qualification rounds to the games. Do qualifiers properly prepare? Ultimately, qualifiers are in place to separate the elite from the rest. The selectees go on to compete in events of greater prestige. So, can it really be said that just four events is enough to decide which marble teams are above the rest? Teams with brilliant stamina and endurance could dominate the sixteen-event Marble League despite a slow start. Still, with such few events in the qualifiers it is quite possible that such teams fail to make it through while quick starters but poor finishers make it through. Many would argue that qualifiers are simply too short to adequately prepare teams for the real experience. On the flipside, it could be argued that qualifiers test a very important quality in marbles — their ability to cope under pressure. Look no further than the Oceanics’ performance in 2019 to see the damaging effects of weak wills. Unable to deal with the extreme pressure of be-
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ing the hosts and with their home crowd looking on, they collapsed and finished a humiliating last. The ability to consistently succeed under pressure is what separates the best from the great and it is important that qualifiers reflect this important aspect to the Marble League. Even if mental strength is an integral part to competition, it cannot be denied that there are days which teams just aren’t at their best. Qualifiers should mainly determine the likelihood of success of a team in the real Marble League, so, is it fair that the fate of a team can be determined by as little as a couple poor finishes in the qualifiers? The teams which reach the main event gain so many more supporters than those which even only just miss out on making it in. Especially now, with the introduction of the Marble League Showdown, it can be difficult to emerge from past failures. The multi-levelled system is designed to keep high scorers in the main events while poorer performers struggle. The Kobalts and the Rojo Rollers used to be close to reaching the main event — they just needed to make it through the qualifiers — but this year they had to first progress through the Marble Showdown first in order to even reach the qualifiers. The Rojo Rollers made it through but the Kobalts did not and will have to wait another year to recompete — a devastating blow for their (few) supporters. Perhaps this new system rather than adding entertain-
ment will perpetuate the presence of fan favourite teams instead of introducing new teams rendering the competition dull and repetitive.
have caused teams which specialise in those areas to struggle. Maybe it didn’t have too devastating an effect. But we’ll never know.
Nevertheless, worthy teams should be able to make it through qualifiers regardless of an unideal format. So, it can be said that the focus should be on the actual Marble League not the preliminary qualification rounds. The viewership for the main events simply is greater so the resources would be better invested in the creation and running of the main event as it is the pinnacle of marble sports. Qualifications by their very nature will always be lesser than the real competition so why not give most attention to the strongest teams which have the largest fanbases?
Four events is fun! It’s exciting! Unexpected wins can have massive impacts. As eager viewers, we are drawn to the qualification in the hopes that are favourite teams make it through. We are willing to sacrifice complete fairness in the hopes that luck is in the favour of our favourites. After all, if qualifiers were a true representation of the Marble League then they’d be the exact same thing as the Marble League. The entertainment of competitions is in the upsets so if qualifiers are to value absolute meritocracy then enjoyment is sacrificed.
One last reason why qualifications do not function adequately for the Marble League is because the lack of events means that some of the wide range of disciplines are included in the selection while others aren’t. However, credit where credit’s due, the Marble Showdown did a respectable job in including the breadth of disciplines and included both team and individual events. Power and tactics were tested in Collision; control and endurance in Balancing. Speed and technique too were tested in the Sand Rally and Funnel Race. There were some minor issues: precision was conspicuously lacking as a discipline. Events such as diving and curling which value accuracy were not included which could
Personally, a change to six events rather than four would be best for the qualification. It seems to be the best balance of them being a true representation of skill while more or less retaining the all-important unpredictable quality giving it its excitement which short competitions rely on for attention. I stress that this just one opinion in the sea of many other suggestions and I respect the JMRC’s decisions on the structure of qualifications as they are likely who best understands the marble sport world. But hey, maybe shaking things up a bit might do the Marble League a favour.
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Lozodust: Graphic Artist
