Youth Club Guidelines

Updates for 2025 Jan-Aug

• YCC team bid priority flowchart has been updated to prioritize hosting/operating regional, state, and local events that include Girls/GX & Non-binary gender divisions.
  • Number of resulting bid acceptance priorities has increased to 54 (from 16).
  • Priority levels for each bid submission/submitting organization will be published for review after each bid submission phase, one week prior to bids being awarded.
  • Development proposals have been removed.
• For YCC, if a division had a team waitlist for the previous year’s YCC event, payment deposits for Phase 1 bid offers/acceptances will continue to be required by the Phase 1 deadline. Otherwise, payment deposits will not be required until the Phase 2 deadline, regardless of bid offer/acceptance timing. For 2025:
  • Divisions with waitlists in 2024 with Phase 1 acceptance payment deposits due by Phase 1 deadline: U20 Mixed, U20 Boys, U17 Boys.
  • Divisions without waitlists in 2024 with all 2025 payment deposits due by Phase 2 deadline: U20 Girls, U17 Girls.
• Moved details on Youth League Sanctioning (sanctioning for any events that include youth divisions) to a separate document (linked in Table of Contents).
• Moved General Competition Guidelines that describe all youth events to a separate document.
• Moved Youth Club Guidelines that describe all youth club events to a separate document (linked in Table of Contents).
  • Note that Youth Club Guidelines apply to all events in the competition division, including the specific events with their own sections.
  • Event-specific sections are intended to describe nuances and differences from the more broad Youth Club Guidelines and even more broad General Competition Guidelines.
• Separated school-based championship guidelines from youth club (age-based, not school-based) regionals/championship guidelines below.

2025 Jan-Aug Youth Club Guidelines

The Youth Club Division is designed to include as many players as possible who are in 12th grade and below, while maintaining consistent cutoffs that allow for fair competition. During the summer, we also extend this invite to players who have just graduated High School in the past few months. This supersedes the age division cuts-offs.

Teams Requirements

1. On-time receipt of application
2. Adequate adult support
   1. At least two USAU-qualified chaperones.
   2. At least one rostered coach with USAU Youth coaching certification. Information on where to obtain certification can be found here.
   3. All coaches attending the event must be rostered and have completed Foundational Coach Training requirements
   4. No coach or chaperone may be listed on two or more rosters at the same event (including across multiple gender or age divisions). Those fulfilling the required roles of certified coaches and chaperones CANNOT compete in ICC (the adult U.S. Open) during YCC.
   5. A coach who meets the chaperone requirements may fulfill both roles on one team roster.
3. Must be made up of players residing in the same (USAU youth) region, with residency defined as:
   1. the location where the person is living for the majority of August, AND
   2. the location where the person is living for the majority of the 3 months prior to August.
   3. If the above definition means that a player does not have a region as their “residence”, then the player is considered to be an out-of-region player.
   4. Teams are allowed a maximum of 4 out-of-region players. If you have out-of-region players, you will need to provide the reasons that these players are on your roster in this form.
4. Minimum of 14 total players registered (and attending) the event. For mixed divisions, at least 6 man-matching and 6 woman-matching players.

Player Requirements

1. Players must be students currently enrolled in high school, middle school, or junior high. Recent high school graduates are permitted if they have graduated (or received a GED) within the 9 months prior to August 2, 2025.
2. No player can currently or previously have played college ultimate; rostered as practicing with team or competed at a sanctioned event
3. Each player on the roster must be a USA Ultimate member in good standing at all times during the event. Players may not use Affiliate Membership or pay one-time event fees for YCR.
4. No player may be listed on two or more rosters at the same event (including across multiple gender or age divisions).
5. Players under the age of 18 must have a completed Medical Authorization Form onsite at the event with their coach or chaperone.
6. To be eligible for an Under-20 (U20) Division, players must be between ages of 14 and 19 on both the start date of the Youth Club Championships (8/2/2025) and at the end of the year (i.e., birthdate between 1/1/2006 and 8/2/2011).
7. To be eligible for an Under-17 (U17) Division, players must be between ages of 12 and 16 on both the start date of the Youth Club Championships (8/2/2025) and at the end of the year (i.e., birthdate between 1/1/2009 and 8/2/2013).
8. For Youth Club Regionals only: younger age divisions (e.g., Under-15) can be offered at the discretion of the Local Organizers and Tournament Director.
9. Organizations can apply for player eligibility exceptions based on special needs to fill their team roster(s). All divisions are eligible for this process. Girls’ teams and female-matching players in mixed are more likely to receive consideration. Organizations will submit their eligibility requests through the Regionals Organization Request for Player Eligibility Exception Form or YCC Organization Request for Player Eligibility Exception Form.

On-Field Personnel Ratio for Mixed Division

1. The personnel ratio for the mixed division of the Youth Club Championships and Regionals will be 4:3 (4 man-matching players and 3 woman-matching players, or 4 woman-matching players and 3 man-matching players), adhering to WFDF Rule A:
   1. These games will also have an additional disc flip after the initial flip, where the winner will decide the personnel ratio for the first point. For the second and third points, the ratio must be the reverse of the first point. For the fourth and fifth points, the ratio must be the same as the first point. This pattern of alternating the ratio every two points repeats until the end of the game (half time has no impact on the pattern). This is in line with WFDF’s Rule A, also known as the “prescribed ratio” rule described in the official WFDF Rules of Ultimate 2021-2024 – APPENDIX v1.0.
   2. In addition to Rule A, whichever gender-matching players have the majority on the starting line, a player of that gender-matching group will need to pull. For example, if there are 4 woman-matching players and 3 man-matching players on the line that is pulling, one of their woman-matching players must pull the disc to start the point and vice versa.
2. If a team cannot match the on-field personnel gender-matching ratio of all 7 players, then it must play with fewer than 7 players, matching the personnel gender-matching ratio with as many players as possible.
3. Injury timeouts
   1. In the event of an injury time-out where a player leaves the field, the replacing player must maintain the same personnel ratio as was with the injured player.
   2. If a team replaces players, the opposing team has the option of substituting a like number of, or fewer players.
   3. The replacing player(s) must maintain the same personnel ratio as was with the player(s) they replace.
   4. If a team calls an injury time-out but does not have a replacement player to maintain the same personnel ratio as was with the injured player, it may not replace that player and must play with fewer than 7 players.

2025 Jan-Aug Y outh Club Regional Events (YCR)

Overview

USA Ultimate is looking for organizations to help us expand the regional youth club competition structure. These events bring together teams from different areas, ideally from within the host region, to compete against one another. These regional events should typically be much more accessible than Youth Club Championships (YCC), at least in the divisions of YCC where demand tends to exceed capacity, and these regional events should also allow for inclusion of younger age divisions than YCC (e.g. U15 or younger). These tournaments will serve three major functions by providing:

1. Warm-up opportunities for teams preparing to compete at YCC in August.
2. An accessible event for teams who may pursue attending YCC in subsequent years.
3. A season-culminating event for teams who are not competing at YCC.

Bid Application

Any organization that wants to run a Youth Club Regional event should email the Youth Competition Manager in order to get an application.

Application and Team Selection

Application deadlines will be set by the tournament organizer. Teams must be eligible by the USAU YCC and Youth Club Regional guidelines to participate in these events:

• Events must offer equal playing opportunities for boys and girls.

Event Registration

Information on paperwork requirements and deadlines will be sent to selected teams along with the invitation to the event.

Schedule Formats

Formats for Youth Club Regionals will be determined by the local organizer/Tournament Director and will depend on the number of teams and fields, showcasing the division at its best, and providing a great playing experience for all the teams.

2025 USA Ultimate Y outh Club Championships (August 2-4, Aurora, CO)

Overview

The goal of this event is to provide national-level competition for youth ultimate players and encourage local playing opportunities for youth within the USAU structure. In 2025, USA Ultimate will be accepting bids for two separate age divisions – U20 and U17. The guidelines that follow are USAU’s requirements for qualification and criteria for acceptance for the USAU Youth Club Championships. As this is a growing division, these guidelines and the bid allocation process are subject to change.

Organizations that have outstanding events open from the previous year (tournaments and/or leagues that have never been closed out with USAU) will not be considered for Phase 1.

Application Process and Dates

Second teams within a single Boys* or Mixed division from an organization, and international teams, may apply at any time, but their applications will not be considered until after Phase 1.

The purpose of multiple bid deadlines is to accommodate organizations and teams that want to know early in the year how many bids they will receive and in which of the division(s) where demand currently exceeds capacity (i.e. all Boys and Mixed divisions). In recognizing that not all organizations are ready to bid early, while also recognizing that the earlier a team has a secured spot in the event around which they can then establish team formation and plan to attend, Phase 2 was created to fill any vacant spots in those divisions that may remain after Phase 1 offers are accepted, if any spots still remain, and to give a second opportunity for new organizations to apply.

Team Selection Process

This process is designed to encourage communities to develop both youth club playing opportunities, outside of the school structure, as well as school-based opportunities that support the USAU High School State Championships. Following is the team bid priority determination flowchart (where a lower placement value indicates higher priority/order of bid awards to be extended):

Flowchart descriptions and definitions

Top Level: “USAU High School State Championship?”
(Can be hosted by any organization at the direction of the State Youth Coordinator, as long as it was for school-based teams in the state territory where the LDO operates. Does not have to be hosted/operated by the LDO submitting the YCC team bid.)

2nd Level: “USAU Sanctioned Youth Club Regional Event or Local League?”
(Did the LDO either host a USAU sanctioned Youth Club Regional event or operate a USAU sanctioned Youth Club League that is not school-based, only age-based? Any event that meets the highest priority criteria will be eligible.)

3rd Level: “USAU Affiliate?”
(Is the LDO a current USA Ultimate Affiliate in good standing on the date of team bid evaluation? If so, higher priority.)

4th Level: “USAU Sanctioned High School League?”
(Did the LDO operate a USAU sanctioned league for middle or high school-based teams?)

G = “Yes, including a Girls division”
(pathway to leftward higher priorities, for event types operated that included a Girls/Gx & Non-Binary gender division for teams entirely composed of players in that gender identity spectrum)

Y = “Yes, but without a Girls division”
(pathway to middle priorities, for event types operated that included Mixed gender and/or Boys/Open gender divisions only but not Girls/Gx & Non-Binary gender)

N = “No”
(pathway to rightward lower priorities, for event types not operated for any gender division)

LDO = local disc organization submitting and/or being represented by the team bid submission.

Total priority values = 54 (1 being the highest priority, 54 the lowest)

In the event that two teams have equal priority status on the above diagram, the bid priority will be given to the team that has the larger number of participants in their eligible club event and high school leagues, combined.

For each of the priority levels, events operated within 18 months prior to YCC are eligible to meet the criteria. For August 2025 YCC, events operated from Jan 2024-July 2025 are eligible. For events scheduled for future operation at the time of the YCC bid application, the appropriate event/league application and/or hosting documentation must be submitted prior to the YCC phase team bid submission deadline.

After all team bids in a phase have been evaluated for appropriate priority level, the details will be published for a period of one week, to allow time for review by submitters to ensure accuracy, prior to team bid awards being finalized and distributed. Specific event names and dates should be submitted along with the team bid application, in order to increase the accuracy of identifying the qualifying criteria for each bid’s priority level.

*Note: If an organization is applying to send two boys’ teams to YCC (in either age division), it must also be applying to send either a girls’ or a mixed team (in any age division). Acceptance of a second boys’ team will be contingent on the organization accepting the bid award for the girls’ or mixed team (and fielding that team).

International Teams

International teams will be placed according to the discretion of the USA Ultimate staff.

Some things that may be considered include:

• The number of bids available in the division
• Prior attendance at YCC
• Association with their home country’s governing body for ultimate

Bid Allocation Limits

Organizations can only receive one bid per division during the Phase 1 allocations. A second bid within a division will only be considered in Phase 2 and if the division isn’t full. It will also be evaluated if the organization is adhering to the expectation about fulfilling teams across gender divisions noted above.

League Requirements

For the purposes of Team Selection priority for YCC, leagues will be defined as follows:

1. USAU Youth Club or High School League – must be operated within the preceding 18 months prior to the YCC event (e.g., for YCC in August 2025, events operated from Jan 2024-July 2025 are eligible for bid priority), including the application for sanctioning/hosting bid having been submitted prior to the team bid submission.
   1. USAU sanctioned
   2. Provides playing opportunities for youth in a youth-focused environment
   3. For youth club, competition and team makeup is not based on school affiliation
   4. Minimum of 4 league meetings (scheduled games per team) over a minimum of 4 weeks
2. USA Ultimate reserves the right to determine whether leagues applying for bids to YCC meet the above criteria

Player Uniform Requirements

• All players participating in the USAU Youth Club Championship tournament for a given team must wear jerseys of identical color and design.
• Teams must have two jerseys of distinctly different colors.
• Jerseys must have numbers on the back that are in sharp color contrast to the jersey color (for ease of stat-keeper visibility and distinction). The numbers must be at least 6 inches high and be one or two digit Arabic numerals. No two players on a given team may use the same number or numbers with the same absolute value (e.g. 00 and 0, 01 and 1, etc.).
• Names, logos, and graphics on jerseys must comply with the Name/Logo/Uniform Guidelines above.
• Uniform bottoms (shorts, pants, skirts) worn by players on the field must be the same color.
• It is recommended, but not required, that uniform accessories including weather related gear, tights, undershirts, hats, and socks be of identical or coordinated style and color.
• USAU reserves the right to disqualify and/or fine players who fail to meet the uniform requirements.

Coach Uniform Requirements

• All coaches participating in the USAU Youth Club Championships must wear either a uniform of identical color and design as the team, or professional coaching attire as defined below.
• Professional coaching attire is defined as any combination of the following:
  • The team jersey, or a sleeved shirt/polo matching the team uniform colors
  • Team shorts/skirt or hemmed slacks/shorts/skirt of an appropriate solid color
  • Business casual attire
• Closed toe shoes such as cleats, flats, or athletic shoes. Flip flops, open toed sandals, and bare feet are not considered professional coaching attire.
• Coach jerseys and shorts are not subject to the number requirements for players.
• Names, logos, and graphics on jerseys must comply with the Name/Logo/Uniform Guidelines above.
• It is recommended that uniform accessories including weather related gear, tights, undershirts, hats, and socks be of identical or coordinated style and color.
• USA Ultimate reserves the right to remove from the sideline/field and/or fine coaches who fail to meet the uniform requirements.

Event Registration

Information on paperwork requirements and deadlines will be sent to selected teams along with the invitation to the event.

Schedule Formats

Formats for YCC will depend on the number of teams and fields, showcasing the division at its best, and providing a great playing experience for all the teams.

Seeding

New for 2025 – Youth Club Regional results will be the first factor considered in seeding decisions. Teams that attend and are successful at YCR events will be given priority seeding.

After considering results from YCRs, the rest of the teams will be seeded by the USAU Championship series staff using the following information: input solicited from all the coaches of participating teams; results of last year’s Championships; and other applicable information such as team composition during or prior to the Championships and geographic location.

Application and compliance of all guidelines will be subject to the discretion of the USA Ultimate Manager of Competition and National Team Programs (Youth).