Colorado Springs, Colo. (Dec. 18, 2019) – Earlier this month, USA Ultimate’s Competition Working Group held its annual meeting in Denver to discuss various aspects of the sport’s competition structure across its five primary divisions – youth, college, club, masters and beach.
Key volunteers from around the country traveled to Colorado for the two-day meeting to collaborate with each other, as well as USA Ultimate staff and members of the USA Ultimate Board of Directors. In all, 39 people were in attendance: 10 USA Ultimate staff and 29 volunteers, including national and regional directors, two members of the board of directors and representatives from several of USA Ultimate’s state-based organizations.
The meeting kicked off with the entire group getting updates and discussing a variety of topics, including USA Ultimate’s equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) work; SafeSport; event hosting; growth; and the state organization and affiliate structure. Throughout the weekend, each division working group discussed numerous topics more tailored to their division, both in review of the current year and looking ahead to competitions and programs in the future. Those topics included, but were not limited to, the following:
Youth:
- Coaching Updates: Who needs certification and where we need coach instructors.
- Defining school-based and club seasons, including ideas for a future youth series.
- SafeSport updates.
College:
- The ACE Program.
- Growth opportunities and related outreach programs, including the STAR Program and the College Women’s Startup Project.
- Forfeits and their effect on competition within the division.
Club:
- The major Triple Crown Tour schedule.
- Event formats and quality.
- Roster maximums and minimums.
- The roles and terms of player representatives on the club working group.
Masters:
- Potentially adding new divisions to the Masters Championships.
- Roster limits.
- The number of teams required for regional championship events.
Beach:
- Growing beach ultimate.
- Improving and increasing resources for beach players.
- Updates and the Beach Championships and other domestic and international event planning.
More detailed reviews of each group’s discussions and direction will be released early next year. Stay tuned to usaultimate.org for more on the annual Competition Working Group meeting.
