Connecting Ultimate Communities with CEO Kevin Erlenbach

Building relationships, strengthening local organizations and growing the sport one community at a time.

Growing ultimate across the country starts with a simple idea: show up, listen and build relationships. For USA Ultimate CEO Kevin Erlenbach, Director of Member Services & Community Development and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Chair Stacey Waldrup and Director of Youth Programs Dan Raabe, that means getting out into local communities and connecting with the people who make the sport happen across the country. Read on for Erlenbach’s take-aways from these visits.

The progress of a sport can be measured in players, teams, tournaments and memberships. But some of the most meaningful impact happens beyond the numbers. It happens through conversation and collaboration with dedicated volunteers, passionate coaches and local organizers who work hard to create opportunities for others to play.

Over the past two years, Stacey, Dan and I have traveled across the country to meet with USA Ultimate affiliates and other local disc organizations. Their visits have included communities in California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin, with more visits on the horizon.

These trips are about more than checking in. They give the team a chance to hear what is working, understand local challenges, celebrate successes and learn how USA Ultimate can better support people on the ground building the sport at the grassroots level. 

Unique Opportunities Everywhere

One of the best parts of these visits is discovering what makes each ultimate community unique. Every organization has its own successes, signature programs and ideas for growing the sport. Each also faces challenges that require creative solutions.

The visits give USA Ultimate’s national headquarters staff a chance to learn directly from the people doing the work.

In Cleveland, that means hearing about the strong participation and welcoming atmosphere of the city’s popular winter league. In the Chicagoland area, it means learning how different organizations work together and complement one another’s programs to provide a healthy ultimate community for many age groups. In Rochester, New York, it means exploring the history of the local ultimate leagues and what changes have driven their evolution over time.

A trip through North Carolina offered an especially good look at the different ways communities are building the sport. 

In Raleigh, Triangle Ultimate’s thriving middle school program continues to fuel their stable program growth in youth, and inevitably their adult programming, over time. In Winston-Salem, conversations with new board members focused on their plans to strengthen local adult competition and look at building club competition. In Charlotte, the team discussed the benefits of affiliating with USA Ultimate to help support their work to introduce 15,000 middle school kids to ultimate in their local county school district. The trip wrapped up in Asheville, where the national office staff watched a practice of one of their rapidly developing youth teams and explored ideas for how to use this success as a catalyst for enduring impact with the city’s growing middle school team, and learned more about the program’s progress.

Each stop offered a different perspective on what it takes to build a strong ultimate community.

Not every visit is with a large, established organization. Some meetings are with smaller groups that are just getting started or looking to take the next step. They may be working to grow a league, launch a youth program or find better ways to serve their existing players.

No matter the size of the organization, these visits create opportunities to share ideas, work through challenges and find new ways to grow. These conversations are a reminder that there is no single path to success. Every community has something to teach, and every organization has the potential to make a lasting impact.

Growing the Game Together

Ultimate is about more than winning championships and elite competition. It is also about introducing someone to a disc for the first time, creating a place where people feel welcome and making sure future generations have opportunities to play.

Across the country, local organizations are building that future in their own ways. By connecting these communities with the resources and support of USA Ultimate, the sport can continue to grow from the ground up.

Growing ultimate is about more than increasing participation numbers. It is about helping communities build something that lasts; a place to compete, a place to connect and a reason for the next generation to keep coming back.