2025 Year in Review

Colorado Springs, Colo. (January 16, 2026) – Today USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States and member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, shared highlights from the past year.

This past year demonstrated the strength of our ultimate community and the power of collective purpose. I was fortunate to collaborate and build relationships with so many leaders across our sport, which helped accelerate progress on our mission and strategic initiatives. Together, we achieved historic engagement and meaningful impact. As we step into 2026, there’s an undeniable excitement about the possibilities ahead — more inclusive programming, expanded access, enhanced athlete pathways, greater opportunities for local disc organizations to thrive and even greater potential for growth at every level of play.

— USA Ultimate CEO Kevin Erlenbach

In alignment with the goals outlined in the 2024-26 Strategic Plan, USA Ultimate places a priority on elevating youth and grassroots ultimate. In 2025, USA Ultimate implemented the first annual DISCover Ultimate Day on September 6. Twenty-two communities participated in the inaugural event, in 15 states across the nation. Plans are in place for the program to return each year and introduce middle school kids to this amazing sport.

Youth Growth Grants were expanded this year, a program funded by The Ultimate Foundation that provides financial assistance to local disc organizations. Grants are provided to increase participation, reduce barriers of entry and support inclusivity in the sport. The program distributed approximately $60,000 in funding and saw 18 new recipients this year. Recipients include:

• Albany Ultimate, Albany, N.Y.
• Altitude Ultimate, Denver, Colo.
• Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences & the Arts (ASMSA) Ultimate,
  Hot Springs, Ark.
• Austin Torch, Austin, Texas
• Bay Area Disc Association, San Francisco, Calif.
• Central Iowa Ultimate, Des Moines, Iowa
• Connecticut Ultimate Club, Wethersfield, Conn.
• Emerald Valley Ultimate, Eugene, Ore.
• Environmental Charter School, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Houston Ultimate Community, Houston, Texas
• Maine Ultimate, Yarmouth, Maine
• Minnesota Ultimate, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Ultimate Frisbee of Olympia, Olympia, Wash.
• Pittsburgh Ultimate, Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Southern California Youth Ultimate, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Triangle Ultimate, Morrisville, N.C.
• Utah Ultimate Disc Association, Alpine, Utah
• Washington Area Frisbee Club, Bethesda, Md.

As part of the 2025 push to grow youth participation, USA Ultimate introduced the Community Coach program. A free resource for adults teaching young, beginning ultimate players, this new program provides a learning experience for individuals who have an interest in coaching but are new to the sport of ultimate. This effort, led by USA Ultimate’s Youth and Education Program Manager Sam Callan, went live near the end of the year and will provide a great starting point in the upcoming season for adults with limited ultimate experience but expertise or interest in working with youth.

This year USA Ultimate’s key strategic partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of America continued to blossom. Started in 2024, this partnership provides resources and opportunities to introduce ultimate in youth clubs serving kids and teens across the country. In 2025 USA Ultimate provided 150 Ultimate Starter Kits to Boys & Girls Clubs across 12 states.

In addition to the kits distributed to local Boys & Girls Clubs, USA Ultimate provided around 130 Ultimate Starter Kits to partner local disc organizations. The starter kits provide key resources and education centered on creating ultimate playing opportunities and lowering barriers of entry to the sport at the youth level. Kits include discs, cones, and teaching materials. Over 3,270 discs were distributed through these kits alone via Learn to Play Clinics, Girls Ultimate Movement Clinics, Urban Initiatives, and start-ups for College Women’s and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). USA Ultimate also hosted over 30 GUM or L2P clinics and programs.

Another exciting youth partnership was announced in 2025 with the global nonprofit 2-4-1 Sports, an organization dedicated to making sports accessible through its award-winning sport sampling program. USA Ultimate announced this formal partnership late in the year. Throughout 2026 the organizations will work together to identify pilot sites, co-host events and create training resources that combine physical literacy, play and ultimate to help thousands of children across diverse communities build lifelong healthy habits.

Talent ID Camps, designed to help young athletes take their game to the next level, expanded to six locations across the country this year. Around 300 athletes attended camps hosted by USAU, in partnership with local affiliates in Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Utah. Attendees were treated to a great experience, learning from U.S. National Team coaches and competing alongside athletes from local ultimate communities. Talent ID Camps also provided young athletes an opportunity to learn about the National Team program and the tryout process for the U-20 National Team.

As part of an ongoing effort to enhance local disc organizations’ success, USA Ultimate provided both in-person and virtual conventions. In 2025, USA Ultimate again hosted its annual Organizer’s Convention in Colorado Springs, Colorado. To encourage further growth and conversations for tournament organizers, the event featured key speakers from both inside and outside the ultimate world and covered a plethora of topics to assist LDO’s operations and growth. Seventy attendees from 35 organizations were in attendance.

A Coach Convention was hosted virtually in early December. Aimed at empowering coaches of any level, the convention saw top coaches provide learning opportunities and game-specific knowledge to 75 attendees nationwide. 

The 2025 season was the first year under a new three-tier Affiliate Program structure that was announced in 2024 following feedback from existing affiliates and local disc organizations. The top goal of USA Ultimate’s Affiliate Program is to establish a connected, nationwide network of local disc organizations, to create a solid base for growth, stability, and collaboration for the sport. Among other programs and resources, affiliates receive priority for grant funding and event bids, access to free insurance and rebates for sanctioned events. They also have a direct relationship with USA Ultimate and the headquarters staff. 

USA Ultimate Affiliates are local disc organizations who are incorporated in their state, provide ultimate programming for their communities and are working to expand the sport in their area — creating local playing opportunities for more people. There are currently 45 affiliates participating in the program.

USA Ultimate maintains a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts as they are critical to the integrity of the sport and increase access to and participation in the sport, particularly amongst youth in underrepresented communities. Throughout 2025 USA Ultimate supported this commitment by:

• Awarding 375 complimentary Play It Forward Memberships.
• Awarding 365 complimentary BIPOC Affiliate memberships through the Delrico Johnson Fund.
• Providing 57 Ultimate Starter Kits to Title I Schools.
• Hosting BIPOC events at College Championships and U.S. Open, with more than 200 applicants for the Color of Ultimate hat game in Aurora, Colorado.
• Providing continued education to headquarter staff via regular DEI discussion and presentations.
• Regular engagement with advisory councils to enhance support of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ members, with an emphasis on trans inclusion.

An ongoing goal in USA Ultimate’s Strategic Plan is to promote excitement for ultimate and increase the visibility of the sport. In 2025, USA Ultimate’s social media properties saw roughly 32,800,000 views, amassed 206,800 followers, and created 730,000 user engagements. 

Additionally, through ongoing media partnerships with ESPN and Ultiworld, a total of 353 games from nine tournaments were watched by approximately 737,000 unique viewers across more than 100 countries. Once again, all five finals from the College Championships and the U.S. Open were available to watch live on ESPN’s linear television platforms, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The U.S open mixed division final was the most-viewed program of the year, garnering 401,000 unique live viewers, followed by the women’s U.S. Open final with 259,000 unique live viewers. The sport of ultimate was also featured several times throughout the year in highlights on SportsCenter Top 10, including clips from both the 2025 College and Youth Club Championships.

Hosting premier Ultimate events continues to be at the heart of what USA Ultimate does. From facilitating more than 30 local Learn to Play clinics to hosting six National Championship events in 2025, USA Ultimate staff and volunteers remain dedicated to bringing athletes the best possible playing experience.

The 2025 USA Ultimate Beach Championships returned to Virginia Beach for the biggest Beach Championship event to date — featuring 80 teams and more than 1,200 players across 7 divisions. 

The 2025 College season ended with the exciting and well-attended D-III and D-I College Championships. Hosted in the Northwest for the first time in 20 years, many local fans were in attendance creating a great stadium atmosphere. 

Masters events continue to grow across nearly all divisions. Over 200 teams and 4,880 players participated in the Masters Series, with 111 teams gathering for the Championships in Aurora, Colo. to compete across eight divisions. Top teams (more than 30 total) qualified for next year’s World Masters Ultimate Club Championships.

USA Ultimate’s Club division remains the sport’s highest level of competition. In 2025 three teams won the first two legs of the Triple Crown Tour, with two — San Fransico Revolver (men’s) and Ann Arbor Hybrid (mixed) — going on to claim the elusive Triple Crown at the National Championships in San Diego, California.  

U.S. teams continue to compete at the highest levels in international competition. 

• USA Ultimate sent 72 athletes across three National Teams to the WFDF World Under 24 Championships, going undefeated and bringing home gold in all three divisions. 
• Twenty elite athletes on Team USA went 5-0 to take gold against tight competition in the 2025 edition of The World Games. 
• At the WFDF World Beach Ultimate Championships, USA Ultimate National Teams made up of 180 athletes medaled in nine of the ten divisions — winning seven golds and two silvers. 
• Additionally, six U.S.-based teams competed across five divisions at the Pan American Ultimate Championships, taking gold in three.

The Ultimate Foundation, the philanthropic arm of USA Ultimate, experienced continued growth in 2025. Focused on raising funds for new and existing programs, the Foundation aims to lower barriers of entry to the sport through programs like GUM and the Delrico Johnson Fund. With over $60,000 distributed in Youth Growth Grants and $30,000 towards in-kind technology grants, The Ultimate Foundation continues to provide financial support for USA Ultimate’s programming.

• USA Ultimate’s SOAR Committee gathered input from the ultimate community to iterate and craft the latest edition of the Official Rules of Ultimate (2026-27).
• The current coaching and tournament director certifications and curriculum were migrated to the USA Ultimate mobile app and Mobile Coach website.
• The online event management system was improved with enhanced rostering functionality, upgrades for linking adult and child accounts, and updates to event calendar searches for all users.
• A new email distribution platform was launched for improved member communications, marketing and organizational news.
• Three new headquarters staff positions were added in 2025, expanding the organization’s capacity in communications and national team management as well as Foundation fundraising.