Colorado Springs, Colo. (March 19, 2026) – USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States and member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, today announced the establishment of an Advisory Council for the Girls’ Ultimate Movement (GUM).

GUM is a USA Ultimate program that provides resources and funding to drive girls’ participation in the sport, develop leaders and inspire female athletes. Originally co-founded in 2014 by Zara Cadoux, Heather Ann Brauer and USA Ultimate Manager of Youth & Educational Programs Mike Lovinguth, the program has been carried on through the role of state based Girls’ Outreach Coordinator volunteers.

Despite the initial success of this program, GUM has struggled to come back to full programming following the pandemic shut-down of events, and the corresponding loss of USA Ultimate staff and staff transitions. While local organizers continue to run GUM clinics and events, the outreach coordinator model has not been as effective as needed in rebuilding successful programs since the return to play in 2021. 

Advisory councils have been successful in supporting both the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC ultimate communities, so the decision was made to follow that model for GUM as well. Interviews for council positions were conducted earlier this year, with the goal of building a capable and diverse group that represents the community. Offers to candidates were made in February, and the first council meeting took place at the beginning of March.

Goals for the new council will be to provide top level support and a unifying messaging around GUM programming and events. Over the next year the council will assist USA Ultimate staff to:

  • Introduce refreshed branding and marketing support for the GUM program to increase visibility and engagement.
  • Launch a series of community virtual meetings to share insights and collaborate across local efforts.
  • Increase the amount of GUM clinics, leagues and women coaches in local communities nationwide.

2026 will also see the return of the GUM Ball at the Youth Club Championships in July, and the launch of new GUM merchandise from Spin Ultimate. 

Meet the GUM Council

Isa Brady (she/her) began playing ultimate as a freshman in high school, and has competed in the Youth Club Championship series with the Colorado Cutthroat U20 girls team since 2021. Isa is currently a freshman at DePaul University in Chicago where she plays with the Laser Chains. 

“I played ultimate for four years in high school and am excited to continue playing throughout my college career. My time playing in high school gave me many opportunities to grow both as a player and as a teammate. Through these experiences, I became increasingly aware of the need for more girls in ultimate. Since starting college, that motivation has only grown stronger, and I am passionate about helping expand opportunities and encouraging more girls to get involved in the sport.”

Ally Fion (they/them) started playing ultimate in college at Northwestern University in 2014 and continued playing with the Imperial College of London while studying abroad in 2015. Experiencing how global and tight-knit the ultimate community was, Ally became passionate about fostering and building community within the sport, and has been deeply ingrained in ultimate ever since. Upon moving back home to North Carolina in 2019, Ally helped develop an LGBTQ frisbee league and joined the Triangle Ultimate staff as the Director of Marketing and Community Engagement. Ally also serves as the USAU State Representative for North Carolina and is the Executive Director of North Carolina Ultimate. When not working in ultimate, Ally does more ultimate. Ally plays mixed masters and women’s club in the area and coaches women’s college and middle school. Occasionally, they’re joined by their frisbee dogs, Koda and River. 

“Now more than ever, people are paying attention to girls’ and women’s sports. We’re in an exciting moment where new digital platforms like TikTok, alongside outspoken champions and investors in women’s sports such as Billie Jean King with the Professional Women’s Hockey League, and Michele Kang with women’s pro soccer, have expanded visibility and access to these spaces. As such, there’s been an exciting momentum shift with more people than ever motivated to support opportunities for girls and women in sport. I’m excited for GUM to tap into that energy. Ultimate has always been a community-driven sport, and I look forward to our community coming together, fired up to expand access, visibility, and opportunities for Girl-Matching-Players in ultimate.”

Libby Cravens (she/her) lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with her husband Michael, a fellow ultimate player. Libby is a pediatric Speech-Language Pathologist, proficient American Sign Language user, enthusiastic hiker, and mediocre gardener. She runs a local MS and HS ultimate program, is a U-20 Girls’ Division YCC coach, serves as the Outreach Director for Altitude Ultimate and on the Fort Collins Ultimate Board, and has been playing, coaching, and organizing ultimate for 20 years. She started playing in Houston as a high schooler, played and coached for many years at the University of Texas at Austin before her time in Philadelphia/New Jersey. Libby moved to Colorado in 2021, and is officially Grand Masters eligible. She has been involved with GUM since the Best Practices panel when it was first being created. She owes much of the love in her life to the sport of ultimate, and the communities that have shaped her.

“I want EVERY ultimate player to know what GUM stands for and to be doing their part to get more girl-matching players (GMPs) playing ultimate! I want to see communities all across the country celebrating our talented girl-matching and women-matching players, encouraging more women-matching players to coach, and showing girls that our sport is a space for them. People can’t support the important work that GUM is doing if they do not know GUM exists. Eventually, every single adult community will benefit from having supported the growth of the number of GMPs. Increasing GUM’s visibility will allow us to have a bigger impact. I hope every player that sees this will support GUM’s growth and truly make this an unstoppable movement. “