Youth School-Based Guidelines

I. Updates

1. There are no major changes to this year’s guidelines for school-based play. Minor formatting updates have been made for better clarity and organization.

II. USA Ultimate Middle School Guidelines

Middle School State Championships maintain the same requirements and guidelines as High School State Championships with the following exceptions:

1. Players can participate with a one-time event fee, in lieu of an annual membership, in a MS State Championship event that is NOT being run by a USAU Affiliate organization.
   1. Note: Affiliate-hosted events already offer a better value with the annual Affiliate-level membership option.
2. For the Middle School State Championships, team rosters will require one rostered coach with current USAU Coach Certification at any level¹ by the team registration deadline.
   1. They are not required to roster specifically a Youth certified coach (any certification level suffices).¹
   2. However, teams are highly encouraged to have a Youth certified coach on their roster.¹
3. Player Eligibility:
   1. Students must be enrolled in a middle or junior high school.
   2. Students in fourth or fifth grade in states where there is no elementary school playing opportunity available for their division may play with their associated middle school’s team, contingent on approvals from the middle school team’s coach, the player’s parents/guardians, and the middle school’s administration.

III. USA Ultimate High School Guidelines

A USAU High School State Championship is the pinnacle event of school-based play. Organizations are chosen to host a USAU HS State Championship at the discretion of the State Youth Coordinator (SYC), Regional Youth Director (RYD), and Manager of Youth Competition, with hosting priority offered to Affiliate organizations. A State Championship is a specific state tournament for each gender division, owned by USA Ultimate and operated at the direction of the USA Ultimate Competition State Youth Coordinator (SYC). Reliable organizers to host the events and train future organizers are critical to sustain these highly successful events.

In 2025, the states hosting USA Ultimate High School State Championships were the following: California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

A. Requirements for Hosting a USAU High School State Championships

An official bid form or document must be submitted and received by the national Manager of Youth Competition, who will facilitate approval by the appropriate State Youth Coordinator (SYC) and/or the Regional Youth Director (RYD). Contact information for SYCs and RYDs can be found here.

1. The state championship must be publicly announced to local organizers and via USA Ultimate web properties at least six weeks prior to the event. Announcement must include:
   1. Date(s) of event
   2. Location of event
   3. Contact information for event
   4. Registration requirements
2. The state championship must be available to every HS team in the state that meets the State Youth Coordinator’s deadlines.
   1. In the event that there are too many in-state teams to accommodate all at a single state championship event (for a given age/gender division), then there must be a USAU qualifying event(s)* for the state championship (to provide an open, fair method of including all interested teams).
   2. If there is a qualification process or qualifying event requirement for any team within the state, then all teams must participate in a qualification process or appropriate qualifying events.
      Example: If North Carolina requires qualifying events for teams in Raleigh and Wilmington metro areas, then Charlotte, Greensboro, and Asheville area teams must also compete in a qualifying event in order to gain access to the state championship tournament.
   3. The State Championship can include teams from outside of the state as long as it does not prohibit in-state teams that have met the registration requirements from participating.
      Additionally, both the SYC and the RYD should be made aware of this arrangement.
   4. Teams cannot be required to participate in a secondary event or lower level of competition (such as a Division II or a developmental division) without a Qualifying Event structure, and should be excluded from the top level (or event) only if the team chooses to do so (opts into the lower level of competition).
3. Qualifying Events:
   1. To be considered a qualifying event, the qualifying USAU-sanctioned structure for states must be accessible for any eligible team to opt to participate.
   2. Any questions around what is considered a qualifying event, please contact your RYD.

B. Team Info

All teams must submit an official State Championship roster by the deadlines outlined below. All participants must be USAU members in good standing with USAU membership dues and individual waivers submitted prior to participation at the State Championships.

Player uniform requirements for USAU State HS Championships are to be determined by the State Youth Coordinator.

1. Membership options for players:

1. At least Affiliate-level membership if the event is hosted & operated by a current USAU Affiliate local disc organization (LDO).
2. If the event is not being hosted & operated by a USAU Affiliate LDO, then Youth or higher level membership (e.g., Lifetime).
   • Note: Affiliate-level memberships can be upgraded to a higher level (such as Youth), by just paying the cost difference (available in each player’s online account at play.usaultimate.org/members).
3. Players who have never had a USA Ultimate membership at any level are eligible for a discounted Youth Intro membership for their first year of participation.
4. Players may NOT pay one-time event fees in lieu of annual membership.

2. On-Field Personnel Ratio for Mixed Divisions

1. At USAU MS/HS State Championships that include a mixed gender division, the on-field player personnel ratio for that division will be determined by the USAU State Youth Coordinator after consulting with the affected teams’ captains and coaches.
2. Please note that only a mixed division of a State Championship that has an on-field personnel ratio of 4/3 (4 boy-matching players and 3 girl-matching players, or 4 girl-matching players and 3 boy-matching players) will count as a Mixed divisions event when determining teams’ State Points total towards the YCC promotion-relegation points system in the youth club division.*

3. Event/Team Registration Requirements and Deadlines

1. All teams competing in a State Championship or Qualifying Event must be registered in the USAU online Event Management System (EMS) for the appropriate event two weeks prior to the event to facilitate team seeding and scheduling by the tournament planning staff.
   • Teams who are not registered in the online system by this deadline may be deemed ineligible to compete at the discretion of tournament planning staff.
   • Teams that miss the deadline may contact the State Youth Competition Coordinator (SYC) to request late acceptance and may be subject to a $75 late fee at the SYC’s discretion. Late admittance may be granted pending completion of registration steps (USAU qualified chaperone and Coach rostering), but the SYC is not obligated to allow late teams to participate at all.
   • Registering your team in the EMS requires rostering a chaperone and eligible coach. Players can be rostered up until one week before the event.
     • If your team is competing in the State Championships for the first time, or if you need assistance with coach certification requirements, feel free to contact the Manager of Youth Competition with any specific questions.
2. Each team must have a chaperone listed on the event roster (please see the Team Organizers page for details on team creation and event registration) by the team registration deadline.
   Chaperones must have:
   • met the age requirement (21 years or older)
   • created a USAU account with current active membership
   • passed a USAU background check
   • completed SafeSport training
   • signed all waivers

   In order to meet the event deadlines, teams must have chaperones begin the background check process no later than four weeks before the event.

3. All teams are required to have a minimum of ONE USAU Youth certified coach present and listed on the official event roster for all State Championships and Qualifying Events (please see the Team Organizers page for details on team creation and event registration).

   • If it is a team’s first year competing at their state championship event, they are granted an exception to this Youth Certification requirement and must have at least one rostered coach with current USA Ultimate coaching certification at any level.¹
   • Coaches for High School State Championships must be at least age 18, and they cannot be a student at the school for which they coach.
   • Information on where to obtain coach certification can be found here. All coaches beyond the required minimum who are attending the event must be rostered for the event and have completed some level of USA Ultimate coaching certification.¹
4. No player, coach, or chaperone may be listed on two or more rosters at the same event (including across multiple gender or age divisions) or at separate events being held simultaneously.
5. A coach who meets chaperone requirements (over 21 years of age) can fulfill both roles on one team roster. It is highly recommended to have a separate coach and chaperone.
6. It is strongly recommended that all player membership dues and waivers be submitted online prior to the team registration deadline (ideally at the beginning of the team’s season, upon their commitment and acceptance to join the team).

Note: If a chaperone’s or coach’s background check expires prior to the end date of a State Championship, they must renew their background check. It is recommended that they begin this process at least 30 days before expiration. There may be additional registration information required by your State Youth Coordinator. Contact your State Youth Coordinator in advance of the registration deadline for more details.

4. Rostering Deadline: One week before the State Championships

1. Online rostering must be completed one week prior to a team’s State Championship (For example, if a team’s state championship is May 11-12, rostering must be completed by May 4).
2. State Youth Competition Coordinators may set an earlier deadline for rostering in coordination with their Regional Youth Director.

5. On-site Player Additions

1. Without previous notice and approval, State Youth Competition Coordinators will not accept on-site roster changes or player additions. If you expect to need an exception for any reason, please discuss this with your SYC prior to the player rostering deadline.

6. Player Eligibility

USA Ultimate High School Championship events are competitions for school-based teams. All players on teams participating in the event must meet the following guidelines for “High School Players.”

1. To be considered a High School Player, students must meet the following school enrollment requirements:
   • Students at public and private schools must be regular members of the school they represent, during the entire term during which the event is held, in order to participate in an interscholastic athletic activity.
     1. Students are a “regular member” of a school if they are enrolled half time or more, exclusive of interscholastic athletic activities.
     2. If a student is enrolled in multiple schools such that no single school represents greater than 50% of their schooling, then that student’s playing options will be guided by the homeschool player eligibility framework below.
   • Students must be enrolled in 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
   • Students in 7th or 8th grade in states where there is no Middle School playing opportunity available for their gender division may play with their associated high school, contingent on approval from the high school team’s coach, the player’s parents/guardians, and the high school’s administration.
2. Students must not turn 20 years old prior to June 1 of the current school year.
3. Students who are fully homeschooled may participate as part of the ultimate team at the public high school that they would normally attend or be assigned outside of homeschooling status, provided that team meets the state tournament participation requirements.
   • If a student is a regular member of a school they should play with that school’s team and may not play with any other school, regardless of any simultaneous homeschool status or designation (school enrollment supersedes homeschooling status).
   • If there is no team at that school, they are a “free-agent” which is further described in the next section.
   • Teams composed entirely of homeschool players must have a designated geographic area they draw from, which should be based on school districting lines, and require annual approval from the SYC.
4. Students who do not have a team at their school but wish to play for a school-based team from another school are known as “free-agents”.
   Each State (SYC) may set their own eligibility rules regarding free-agents, but if no specific rules are established at the state-level, then the following standard free-agent rules should apply:
   • Players must contact SYC to request approval to play as “free-agent” and renew this request-approval each school year.
   • Players may join the team at the school closest to the player’s residence that has an existing team.
   • If that nearest team is not in need of or open to adding players (e.g., has a roster of >20 with playing time concerns already), then the player may join the next closest school’s team.
   • Each school team may not accept more than 3 free-agents.
5. Students ineligible per the above requirements and per any of their state’s eligibility exceptions may apply for an eligibility exception. Please contact your State Youth Coordinator to apply.
6. Players under the age of 18 must have a guardian-completed Medical Authorization Form, which names their coach and chaperone, onsite at the event with their coach or chaperone.

7. State Eligibility Exceptions

The USAU Youth Guidelines provide a framework for school-based play across the country. However, State Youth Coordinators can create modifications to eligibility rules for their entire state up to one month before the event date with Regional Youth Director and USA Ultimate approval.

1. If approved, these modifications will supersede the USAU eligibility guidelines for that state and must be applied consistently and to all teams within that state. These exceptions can be found here and will be updated at least 30 days before each State Championship event. Please contact your SYC if you are applying for an exception.

8. Clarifications and Exceptions

These rules are designed with the intent to be as fair as possible for the wide range of players seeking to participate in the State Championships. But experience has shown that there can be cases where these rules do not clearly and definitively determine the eligibility of a particular player’s situation. The following procedure is available for players/teams for whom the rules are not clear:

1. The coach, team representative, or the player in question should consult with the State Youth Coordinator and the State Eligibility Exceptions, which are linked here and are typically updated each year by April 1.
2. If the case is not clarified by the State Exceptions, the player can submit an exception request to the State Youth Coordinator, who will consult their Regional Youth Director and USAU Manager of Youth Competition for how to proceed.
3. In the event that the coach, team representative, or the player feels that the decision is somehow biased, inconsistent, or that all aspects have not been considered, they may submit an appeal to the Director of Youth Programs.
4. An email to appeal must be sent at least two weeks before the rostering deadline for the event. Late requests will only be considered at the discretion of the Director.
5. The inquiry will be reviewed by the Director and responses sent by email.
6. The Director will rule on a player’s case based on the published Youth Competition Guidelines; this is not the mechanism for requesting changes to the guidelines.
   Please contact the Manager of Youth Competition on the process for proposing changes to future guidelines.

Click here for State Youth Coordinator contact info.

Click here for detailed instructions on how to complete your roster and for links to the needed forms.

Click for the Medical Authorization Form (required for minors and maintained by team chaperones and coaches to authorize their medical assistance when needed). This is NOT the same as the annual USAU liability waiver.

¹Starting in the 2027-2028 guidelines, all coaches coaching youth ultimate will be required to have Youth Certification.