USA Ultimate

Mid-Atlantic

Southwest

At-Large

• Kathy Hendrickson

• Mary-Clare Brennan
   
• Stephen Hubbard

• Grant Maynard
   
• Henry Thorne
   
• Miller Yoho

Kathy Hendrickson

My name is Kathy Hendrickson.  I have been serving on the USA Ultimate Board this year as the Mid Atlantic representative.  I am the Treasurer of the Board and, in that capacity, have been involved with reviewing Ultimate’s budget, audit, tax return and monthly financial statements.

My experience with Ultimate is different from most Board members.  I am a parent, not a player.  I am also a lawyer and I headed up a nonprofit organization about the same size as USA Ultimate for eight years.  So I bring to the Board a different perspective and some experience that can be useful to a nonprofit that is growing in exciting ways.  I have handled the financial, operational and legal issues that a nonprofit organization has to deal with.  In addition, I have served on the Boards of several nonprofits – Women’s Center and Shelter, Neighborhood Legal Services and Compro.

Ultimate is unique.  I have cheered my three children on as they have played and coached Ultimate for fifteen years at all levels - youth leagues, high school, college and club teams.   Ultimate’s emphasis on Spirit of the Game teaches life lessons and fosters lifetime friendships.  I think it has been one of the most positive influences in my children’s lives.  If I can contribute to the growth and strength of USA Ultimate by contributing my efforts as a Board member, I am happy to do that. 

Mary-Clare Brennan

To the membership of USA Ultimate: 

My name is Mary-Clare Brennan and I am a candidate for the Board of Directors of USA Ultimate. Though I am not a member of the organization or a current competitor, I am a fan of the sport and the people that play it. 

What I am is a career sport and sports marketing professional and I’ve been nominated as a candidate of the Board, both for my appreciation of the sport of Ultimate and for my experience and knowledge of the world of corporate sponsorship in a sports environment. I am a sixteen year veteran of the United States Olympic Committee’s Marketing Division and have worked closely with Olympic and Pan American sport NGBs for my entire career. Since beginning my Olympic career prior to the 1996 Atlanta Games, I’ve been on the team selling and managing sponsorships in connection with nine U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams and two-U.S. based Olympic Games. I began my career however, not in marketing but in sports science and medicine. Following my undergraduate degree from Indiana University in Bloomington, I received my master’s in sports management - from the schools of education and business - at the University of Texas at Austin and still consider Austin one of the greatest cities in the world (next to Boulder, Colorado, of course). 

More importantly, the reasons that I am interested in serving on the Board of USA Ultimate include the fact that the sport represents an ideal similar to that of the Olympic Movement.  While the Games represent the belief that countries can come together and compete peacefully on the sport of play; similarly Ultimate’s ‘Spirit of the Game’ represents an attainable ideal that players can self-govern, in a respectful manner, without requiring officials or umpires to adjudicate the game. I’m also tremendously impressed with the individuals that play Ultimate. You are a highly educated, independent and truly fun group that it would be an honor to work with and to serve. 

As a staff member of an organization governed by a volunteer Board, I am well aware that the role of the Board is to set policy then to get out of the way of the professional staff who execute it. If elected to the Board of USA Ultimate, I would certainly do my best to help guide the organization - especially in the areas of marketing, sponsorship and business development - and support Dr. Crawford, Andy Lee and the rest of the staff to achieve the business and financial objectives of USA Ultimate.

 
Stephen Hubbard

Hello USA Ultimate Members,

I ask for your vote because I have a clear vision of what USA Ultimate could, should, and will be.  

Qualifications:

• Played: College and Club, Open and Mixed

• Coached: College, Club, High School 

• Observer, Observer Coordinator, Tournament Director

• Certified CrossFit Personal Trainer, Owner and Operator – Hubbard Strength and Conditioning

• Bachelors in Biology from UC San Diego, Minor in Philosophy

Stances:

1. GOOD third party officials make the game more fun and more fair for everyone involved.  USA Ultimate should continue to heavily invest in the growth and improvement of the Observer Program.  I envision a future where those who like playing with third party officials can choose events which employ high quality Observers while others can choose events without officials if that’s what they prefer.

2. Self-Offication CAN be a fun and fair method of rules enforcement IF players are GOOD Self-officiators. USA Ultimate should be actively working to help players and teams be better at self-offication. I feel strongly that if we are to continue to be a sport where players make the calls, the USAU is sorely lacking in their efforts to make players good at self-offication.  

3. USA Ultimate should strive to be a National Governing Body in the mold of US Soccer or USA Basketball as opposed to MLS or the NBA. Given our particular situation, USA Ultimate does a great job coordinating tournaments. That said, I support a USA Ultimate in which the split between Governing and Organizing is very apparent.

4.  USA Ultimate should have an active department that targets high schools for the creation of teams. Often young players find the game through summer league or pickup games but have no recourse for creating more playing opportunities for themselves. USA Ultimate should facilitate the creation of high school and youth club teams when there are young players looking for guidance and support. 

5. USA Ultimate IS currently doing a good job at setting standards and must continue to stay high minded. Sideline safety and field lining, roster verification, tournament sanctioning, coach and observer certification, and communication with membership should never be compromised. USA Ultimate’s path towards increasing professionalism is encouraging and must be reaffirmed. 

For a more in depth look at my proposals for the Observer Program, Self-Offication Improvements, Governance vs. Organizing, Youth Opportunity Creation, and High Organizational Standards please see my website.

I hope to have your vote.

Grant Maynard

Hi, my name is Grant Maynard, and I’m seeking election to the USA Ultimate Board of Directors. Since I started playing Ultimate in 2003 I’ve watched the (then-called) UPA morph into a more mature and focused organization, and I’d like to help both the organization and the sport continue their upward trajectory.

I started my Ultimate career with Cornfed (University of Nebraska), entering a program that barely had enough participants to conduct a scrimmage, let alone field a competitive team at a tournament. I served a year as captain and later served as an alumni advisor to the team and the organizer of Cornfed’s successful bid for a Five Ultimate sponsorship, which helped ignite interest in the team. I have also served as a tournament coordinator and played on various club/league teams; my most recent involvement with the sport, however, has been establishing XMSultimate, a new Ultimate apparel and design company, with a business partner this spring.

By day I’m an attorney, and I currently advise several corporations and nonprofits on corporate structure, governance, and ethics issues. I hope to be able to use that experience to make sure the USAU continues to use its funds efficiently and operate in the most effective way.

The past year has been an exciting year for the sport of Ultimate, especially given the increased visibility the sport has received through the debut of the AUDL. As a director, one of my initiatives would be to explore how we can take active steps to convert casual and budding fans of the sport from spectators to participants.

One of the main issues facing the sport of Ultimate and the USAU going into the future is how to best manage growth while maintaining the integrity of the core pillars of the sport. The mission of the USAU focuses on keeping the personality of the Ultimate community at the forefront even as the sport becomes increasingly mainstream. As a director, I would take a keen interest in developing strategies for how that balance can best be achieved in the face of the expansion and "legitimizing" of the sport of Ultimate.

Youth Ultimate has been a strong focus of the USAU for the past several years, and as a director I would seek to continue and expand those initiatives. When I started playing Ultimate in college, none of the players on my team had ever played before. Since then, however, the creation of high school teams and the consequent increase in youth access to skill clinics and people that have a deep understanding of the sport has dramatically changed the landscape of Ultimate in Nebraska. I’ve seen first-hand how developing skills, strategies, and techniques at the youth level is the key to grassroots growth for the sport, and I would like to continue to support and expand those priorities as a director. 

Thank you for supporting my candidacy for the USAU Board of Directors. 

Henry Thorne

Pretty sure I’m your best pick for growing Ultimate.  I grow things for a living as an entrepreneur, most recently co-founding 4Moms, I’ve been growing Ultimate more than most anyone else, I’m passionate about it, and I’m good at it :) 

I believe Ultimate is the Ultimate sport.  My wife Karen was a Fish Head, our boys Alex and Max are current champions with the University of Pittsburgh, I’m a former three time World Champion with the Seven Sages in the Masters division.  I’ve served on the USAU board for 14 years and led many initiatives that have grown the sport and organization dramatically including the formation of the Mixed and Youth Divisions and the hiring of our last three CEO’s.  Locally I’ve helped develop Pittsburgh into a leading Ultimate community.

As a result of those efforts and those of many many other people, our sport has reached a pivotal moment, it’s grown to where there is a spectator base large enough to provide a viable revenue stream.  This is a new opportunity USAU has to aggressively embrace to remain the sport’s leader. 

Players want to play in front of fans, and we need to provide that great experience for them while simultaneously providing a great experience for fans, replays on a jumbotron, seating up close to the fields like in the NBA, this all has to happen.  USAU has the best team and resources in the world for taking advantage of this new trend and I’d like to jump in and be sure we lead it.  And I want USAU to continue leading because, with no profit motive, USAU will keep making the sport better for the players including continuing to give them a voice both on and off the field.

Vote for me if you want to see Ultimate continue its rapid growth and if you want USAU to continue leading it.

Miller Yoho

We all know that it is an exciting time for Ultimate as the sport continues to grow in popularity.  With this growth I believe that it is important that USA Ultimate have a distinct vision and plan on how to encourage this growth, and market Ultimate to a broader population of supporters.  After years of playing ultimate I have found myself in a place where I believe that I can give back to the sport that I love to play, watch, and discuss.

Following a review of the mission of the Board of Directors I believe that I am uniquely suited to serve as a board member due to my education in college student development, and my role as a marketing director for an athletic department at a university.  As part of my career and education I have spent the past few years working on college campuses and have developed what I believe is an in-depth knowledge of how ultimate can further grow and develop in the higher education environment.

I also believe that my current position as a marketing director for an university’s athletic department has given me skills that will directly relate to a position on the board of directors.  I am responsible for not only marketing our athletics to the campus and surrounding community, but also am in charge of corporate sponsorships, game day operations, social media, and other duties that directly relate to the direction ultimate is heading.

Lastly, I have a passion for the sport of Ultimate and its growth.  I started playing ten years ago, and have learned more things about myself and teamwork through games, practices, and off the field bonding that can only happen in the middle of a long drive to a tournament.  I have applied to be a member of the USA Ultimate Board of Directors because of my passion for ultimate, and belief that I have valuable skills that directly complement the work the board does.  I am looking forward to the future of the sport we all love, and am thankful for the possible opportunity to serve the ultimate community.