2022 Club Division Guidelines Released

Colorado Springs, Colo. (April 8, 2022)—USA Ultimate released today its 2022 Club Division Guidelines, outlining the details of both the regular season and the postseason championship series.

The guidelines were written alongside USA Ultimate’s club division working group – including player-elected athlete reps and volunteer national directors – and reflect a variety of updates as a result of the continued recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Notable changes are outlined below.

• No team, regardless of flight status or ranking, will be required to attend any regular season events.

• All teams that earned a flight status in the 2019 or 2021 postseason will be invited to tournaments based on the highest flight that they earned.

• Waitlists for events will be based on a combination of 2019 season finish and rankings as well as the 2021 season finish, with priorities based on the goals of the various flight-specific events. View event waitlists.

• With no required events, there will be no byes to Regionals. All teams participating in the Series will be required to compete at Sectionals.

• The Pro-Elite Challenge, U.S. Open and Pro Championships will utilize – for mixed teams – WFDF’s Rule A for on-field personnel ratios, with the goal to eventually have all mixed events transition to the new “prescribed ratio” rule in the coming years.

• Guidelines have been updated to reflect the new 2022-23 Official Rules of Ultimate, which will be used for all USA Ultimate competition. This applies to all USA Ultimate-sanctioned events. The new rules are available at usaultimate.org/rules, along with supporting documentation highlighting and explaining the latest changes.

• Rankings will be reinstated with the same requirements as previous years (i.e. 10 game minimum to earn Series bids.)

• Final rankings from the 2022 season will directly affect a team’s status for 2023.

• To allow teams to host tryouts and establish rosters on a timeline they and their community are comfortable with, players will have the flexibility to play on multiple rosters from the start of the regular season until July 5. After that cutoff, players may switch rosters but cannot return after playing in an event with a different team. (The rule after July 5 is the same as previous years).

• Roster caps will be reinstated but increased to 32 players for Pro, Elite, and Top Select Flight teams. Select and Classic Flight teams will not be subject to roster caps.

• Coaching requirements have changed, effective December 2021.