Competition Working Group Updates

Colorado Springs, Colo. (December 19, 2025) – USA Ultimate’s Competition Working Group met in Denver, December 6-7 for its annual meeting to discuss various aspects of the sport’s competition structure for all divisions – youth, college, club, masters, and beach. The annual meeting included 12 USA Ultimate staff members, two members from the board of directors, and roughly 22 key volunteers and player-elected representatives from the ultimate community.

The following is a summary of each group’s discussion over the two-day meeting.

The Youth Working Group consists of USA Ultimate Director of Youth Programs Dan Raabe, Manager for Youth Competition Josh Murphy, and Regional Youth Directors Jack Kennedy (northeast), Joe Strong (west), Antonia Van Twisk (central), and Jamie Wolf (south). 

A primary goal of the group is to focus on growing the Youth Club Championships. 2025 provided the opportunity to pilot running both a Division I and a Division II using a satellite field site, which was a success. This will again be implemented for the 2026 season as even more teams are expected.

The group also has plans to do more public survey work in the coming year as they investigate the possibility of introducing a new, more accessible, fall junior season. The goal of this addition would be to grow ultimate in new and emerging markets around the country. Research has already begun with select focus groups, and a sentiment analysis from that effort is available.

Additionally, the group spent significant time beginning the discussion of adjustments for upcoming 2026-2027 Sep-Aug Youth Competition Guidelines (to be released in the summer), including questions and feedback received from constituents around the country.

The College Working Group consists of USA Ultimate Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Matthew Bourland, National Directors Trois White (developmental), Jeff Kula (D-I men), Beth Nakamura (D-I women), Grace Kiel (D-III women), and Kevin Kula (D-III men). 

With the start of the 2026 college season next month, the college working group delved into a wide variety of topics – including finalization of the 2026 College Guidelines. Noteworthy edits include the updated cap on bids to nationals for D-I (maximum of five per region) as well as the previously announced increased D-III cutoff to include schools with up to 10,000 enrollment.

The group determined that 2026 will also introduce a new early-bird registration deadline. Teams with registrar-verified rosters received by USA Ultimate by March 4 may add players through March 25. The regular roster deadline will be March 11. Teams who complete a valid roster by this deadline may be allowed to add players afterwards but will be subject to late fees.

Additional work included discussions around future updated Uniform Guidelines and growth conversations regarding reviving dormant teams, supporting new schools, and outreach work needed to grow women’s division participation.

The Club Working Group consists of USA Ultimate Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Marc Zigterman, National Directors Adam Goff (men’s), Genevieve Leo (mixed), Mia Griner (women’s), and Sam Kehl (women’s growth), and player representatives Andrew Riggs (men’s), Jeremiah Branson (mixed), Kirstin Johnson (women’s), Clare Frantz (mixed), AJ Merriman (men’s), and Tayara Romero Pena (women’s). 

One of the 2026 season changes coming out of these discussions is the introduction of a Pre-Sectional Regional Qualifying competition. This concept will be piloted only in select sections and divisions with a history of a sectional tournament surpassing 16 teams. The group also discussed updates for the coming year to the “World Cup Draw” procedure for seeding at Club Nationals. 

Further changes being evaluated for 2026 include the redrawing of the regional boundary to move part of Kansas to the South Central Region/Red River Section — keeping the greater Kansas City area in the North Central Region/West Plains Section, and the possible expansion of the Select Flight Invite — making a major Triple Crown Tour event accessible to more teams.

Another key topic addressed was a proposed “academy model” for team development. While the group has determined that model will not be adopted at this time, additional steps will be taken this year to create more support and resources for new and developmental teams. Among these resources are the addition of a new Women’s Strategic Growth Program, which will launch in early 2026, and the development of a resource document for new teams.

Ongoing work for the next year will include evaluation of the roster size limits, discussion of gender signalling in the mixed division, and the revision of the Uniform Guidelines document.

The Masters Working Group consists of USA Ultimate Senior Manager of Events and Masters Competition Byron Hicks, National Directors Jason Howard (mixed), Kyle Christoph (men),  Kristi Schmeling (women), and at-large masters working group representative Chris Cianfrani. Christoph, Shmeling, and Cianfrani all attended remotely. Adam Tarr, head of the Formats Committee, was also in attendance as a consultant.

One major point of consideration for 2026 was the allocation of regional bids. Following some anomalies last year, and in the interest of fairness, the decision was made to move away from the current method and to adopt the “Hamilton/Hare method” for regional bid allocations moving forward. This method focuses on awarding bids proportionately, rather than using specific size benchmarks

Participation numbers in the Masters Division grew by 11% in 2025, and the group discussed ways to both continue that trend and ensure the season structure can accommodate future growth. Age division renaming was discussed but not adopted. Topics under ongoing consideration include roster limits and the addition of satellite fields at the Masters Championships in Aurora.

The Beach Working Group consists of USA Ultimate Senior Manager of Events David Raflo and Regional Beach Directors Hayden Weaver (Great Lakes), Alex Jacoski (Florida), Grant Boyd (Pacific), Sam Broaddus (Atlantic), and Max Grove (Gulf Coast). Boyd and Grove attended remotely. 

A primary focus of the group’s discussions was finalization of 2026 timelines, with the due date for applications to attend the 2026 Beach Championships being set for February 9th. Additional discussion was held around the possibility of adding a calendar of sanctioned beach events and/or a qualifying event in future years.

The National Beach Championships continues to be an event seeing year over year growth. In order to continue to facilitate that growth across all divisions, the decision was made to continue offering discounts for participation in the women’s division.

Additionally, consideration was given toward instituting a requirement that National Team candidates for beach events must have previously participated in USA Ultimate sanctioned beach events. This recommendation is still under consideration and will be part of the group’s work throughout 2026.