Colorado Springs, Colo. (February 26, 2020) – USA Ultimate is excited to announce the 2018 and 2019 Coordinators of the Year Award recipients. The coordinators’ awards program was created to help recognize the hard work and dedication of some of the many great volunteers who help make USA Ultimate programs a reality all around the country.
Congratulations to each of these amazing volunteers!
2019 Coordinators of the Year
Youth Division
State Youth Coordinators
Matthew Frayer – Michigan, Central Region
Matt Frayer has done an excellent job as the SYC in Michigan. Michigan has traditionally struggled to get teams to commit and participate in the organized structure of a USAU state tournament, but Matt was instrumental in moving the state forward to a more robust system. With clear guidance, communication and passion, Matt increased participation at the High School State Championships, and he has already begun planning for more teams in 2020.
Jacob Barr – New York, Northeast Region
Jacob made big strides in connecting with the various communities in New York and worked diligently to gain a holistic view of the state in order to make informed decisions that best served everyone.
JJ Jordan and Eian Brent – Texas, South Region
JJ and Eian were once again ahead of the pack in planning and organizing yet another High School State Championships tournament. With this being JJ’s last year, we were fortunate he took the time to ensure he had a replacement – Eian – and he went above and beyond to prepare Eian to hit the ground running! Thank you both for all you do.
Joe Strong – Utah, West Region
Joe was helping run youth ultimate in Utah even before he became a USAU SYC. He has done a lot to promote both middle school and high school opportunities in the state, and has been wonderful to work with.
College Division
Men’s Regional Director of the Year
Trois White – Southeast
Trois took over for long-time RD Andrew Francis. After a year of getting his feet underneath him, Andrew excelled as an RD in 2019 with his communication and decision-making.
Women’s Regional Director of the Year
Anna Thorn – Northwest
Anna has long been a stalwart RD in the Northwest, constantly navigating difficult issues. We are sad to see her leave the region and state of Utah, both of which are now thriving because of her, but we’re excited to see what she’ll bring as an RD of the Great Lakes!
D-I Men’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Oliver Vorhees – Metro East Region
In his first year as coordinator, Oliver took the reigns of a disorganized region and was superb in his communication with teams, many of whom had not had such consistent communication in several years.
D-I Women’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Danielle Tran – South Central Region
Dani is a rock star! She jumped into the South Central coordinator position and took control of deadlines, bids and communication with almost no issues.
D-III Men’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Gabe Gluskin-Braun – Southwest Region
Gabe brought stability to the D-III Southwest region with impressive communication and commitment. While a small region with only one event, the Southwest has had issues in the past with late bids and a lack of coordinators. Gabe came in and quickly helped right that ship!
D-III Women’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Grace Chen – New England Region
Grace was an all-star in 2019 for the D-III New England region. She committed to making sure events were announced on time and properly organized, and she always followed up when issues arose. She did an amazing job for us in 2019!
Club Division
Men’s Regional Coordinator of the Year
Melissa Battis – South Central
We could give Melissa Battis a lifetime achievement award for how often she knocks it out of the park. She always gets things done and gets them done well. She communicates at the right times and in the right ways, and we’re lucky to have her be such an involved volunteer.
Mixed Regional Coordinator of the Year
Matt Konen – Northwest
Matt was just a delight from the beginning of the season, as this region faced some pretty serious challenges last year. Matt handled everything with elegance, kept a terrifically positive attitude throughout and was always available and responsive. Thanks Matt, and we’re thrilled you’re back for 2020!
Women’s Regional Coordinator of the Year
Veronica Kolegue-Spalaris – Northeast
Veronica was a new RC that stepped up in a big way this year. She did a great job of filling a number of vacant sectional coordinator spots at the last minute. She was also very helpful when a sectionals event had to change locations. She communicated well with other coordinators and her national director, and she was always available when needed.
Men’s Sectional Coordinator of the Year
Lee Feldscher – West, New England Region
Lee faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles in his section this year, but he was able to deal with it all extremely well. With killer mosquitoes forcing a change in venue, Lee was able to secure a new field site and ensure a safe playing environment for all.
Mixed Sectional Coordinator of the Year
Anastasia Foster – Texas, South Central Region
Anastasia just moved to the section and jumped right into her role as Sectional Coordinator. Everything went smoothly in her first year and she did a great job communicating with other teams and coordinators.
Women’s Sectional Coordinator of the Year
Christy Cheung – NorCal, Southwest Region
Christy Cheung NorCal Sectionals! Typically, the SC just handles tournament formats, but Christy went out of her way to secure field space for women’s sectionals and handle a last-minute team addition, which required her to extend our field reservation (I think while she was on vacation!). She was also excellent about gathering input about a one or two-day format from participating teams.
Masters Division
Regional Coordinator of the Year
Jeff Berget – South Central
Jeff is always on top of his game in communicating with his teams and making sure things run smoothly for his region.
2018 Coordinators of the Year
Youth Division
State Youth Coordinators
Kevin Baumann – Ohio, Central Region
Kevin does it all for the youth in the Ohio area. He manages both the High School State Championships and their YCC U-20 mixed team. He is one of the longest lasting SYCs, and we appreciate that he keeps sticking around!
Jonathan Levy – Massachusetts, Northeast Region
Jonathan oversees one of the largest High School State Championships in the country. He does a great job of keeping them organized and helping new teams figure out what they need to do to compete.
JJ Jordan – Texas, South Region
JJ has done a great job of steering our High School State Championships in an area where coordination can be pretty tough. He always manages to keep a positive attitude, though, and he works hard to accommodate a lot of different needs.
Justin Salvia – Colorado, West Region
Justin has been a mainstay in Colorado youth ultimate for several years. He does a great job of promoting our sport at the youth level and keeping Colorado’s many divisions organized.
College Division
Men’s Regional Director of the Year
Brian Schoenrock – North Central
One example of Brian’s leadership was when he helped oversee a nearly impossible weather situation that required flexibility, commitment and an inordinate amount of time to find a solution.
Women’s Regional Director of the Year
Candace Brahm – Great Lakes
Candace took over a region with zero coordinators underneath her, but her energy, commitment and dedication helped navigate the region through another successful season.
D-I Men’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Tim Kefalas – South Central Region
To quote the regional director, ‘Tim was one of the most organized coordinators I’ve ever seen.’
D-I Women’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Alyssa Weatherford – Northwest Region
Alyssa is a long-time coordinator who has always been reliable navigating field issues with great success.
D-III Men’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Ethan Sternberg – New England Region
During Ethan’s first year as a coordinator, he constantly worked with team captains to keep a difficult region organized and running smoothly.
D-III Women’s Conference Coordinator of the Year
Steve Kreider – Atlantic Coast Region
A long time coordinator, Steve went above and beyond in 2018 in helping to bring multiple events outside of his supervision to his region. It is hard to find a more dedicated coordinator than Steve.
Club Division
Men’s Regional Coordinator of the Year
Cody Bjorklund – Northwest
Cody Bjorklund has been the men’s RC in the Northwest for several years now. Smooth execution and easy communication are expected from our RC’s, and last year was no exception as Cody’s leadership helped the entire region run smooth sailing.
Mixed Regional Coordinator of the Year
Ryan Anderson – Mid-Atlantic
Ryan has been doing such a great job as RC. She is organized, responsive and in-tune with her region and the larger ultimate community.
Women’s Regional Coordinator of the Year
Meeri Chang – Southwest
Every year regions suffer from some major challenge – inclement weather, bug infestations, loss of fields or a lack of equitable field locations. The SW region occasionally has high heat issues, and it is one of the most expensive areas to reserve fields. Meeri has dealt with a variety of challenges over the past few seasons as the women’s club RC. She always deals with patience, open communication and active problem solving. The active communication from Meeri helps teams know what to expect, and properly prepare and know how rules in the TCT have changed for the women’s division over the past couple of seasons. Yay growth bids to regionals!
Men’s Sectional Coordinator of the Year
Rick Artus – Texas, South Central Region
With Texas being the fourth largest section in the country, coordinators manage the difficult task of accommodating and communicating with so many teams, as well as managing logistics for events that sometimes are larger than regionals. This year, Rick was essential in assisting with last minute field closures due to weather, proactively collaborating with other coordinators to adapt schedules and communicate changes with teams to ensure everyone was still able to compete. These are the qualities that make Rick a valuable coordinator.
Mixed Sectional Coordinator of the Year
Zachary Weiss – NorCal, Southwest Region
For the past two years, Zach has managed the mixed division of what is possibly the most complicated section of the country across all three divisions. For example, this year he supervised a ‘23 teams, 10 advance’ nightmare tournament format. Zach is very organized and is great about communicating with team leaders early and often. Tournaments run by Zach always run very smoothly and player feedback is unanimously positive.
Women’s Sectional Coordinator of the Year
Amanda Borders – West Plains, North Central Region
Amanda has done a fantastic job coordinating the women’s division of the West Plains section for the past two years. Having a super small section each year (anywhere from one to three teams) is actually extremely difficult to organize, but Amanda has always done everything in her power to make the process easy for all teams involved. She gathers input from everyone involved to come up with the best solutions possible for any problem. She has been informative and accommodating every step of the way – planning field locations, creating schedules, filling out paperwork, giving suggestions, communicating with other coordinators and more.
Masters Division
Regional Coordinator of the Year
Tim Streit – Southwest
Tim has been a steady hand as a regional coordinator year in and year out. His attention to detail insures his region is always one that is well run.
