USA Ultimate

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Event Guide (PDF)

When you ask players about the country’s best ultimate cities, the responses are often predictable: San Francisco, Seattle, Boston. Maybe a few others are thrown in on occasion for good measure, depending on the person being asked.

Not surprisingly, these same cities seem to have a stranglehold on youth ultimate dominance as well. One example of an effective trickle-down theory, youth in historically premier ultimate locations tend to be the beneficiaries of better organization, stronger coaches and larger talent pools from which to draw.

But what about places like Minnesota? At this year’s Youth Club Championships, Minnesota Youth Ultimate will field five teams: two in the U-19 open division and one in each of the other three divisions. Five is the most teams ever supported by one local youth organization in the history of YCC. Sure, the convenient location certainly helps in recruiting and being able to field that many teams. But, despite the distance, Seattle is still right behind Minnesota with four teams.

U-19 Girls Division

A1 - DiscNW (1)
A2 - Cincinnati (3)
A3 - TYUL (6)
A4 - DiscNY (8)

B1 - BUDA (2)
B2 - Denver (4)
B3 - Minnesota (5)
B4 - DeVYL (7)

Schedule (PDF)

Scoreboard

The U-19 girls division has doubled in size since the inception of the Youth Club Championships in 2005. Starting with just four teams, the 2013 field includes eight squads, matching 2010 for the highest number of teams to attend the Championships in this division.

But no matter how many teams show up in Blaine, Seattle has had this division on lockdown since the first Championships in 2005.  Seattle teams have won the U-19 girls division for the last eight years running, each year of existence for the Youth Club Championships, with an average margin of victory in the finals near seven points.  

2013 will see teams from New York and the DEVYL program of Philly/NJ in this division for the first time. And after a year’s hiatus, Boston is back again with an eye on claiming their first title after claiming two second-place and two third-place finishes over the years. Colorado Cutthroat will also be a team to watch. Their roster includes six veterans of the Monarch High School team that convincingly won the Western Championships earlier this summer.

If anyone has a good shot of challenging the Seattle dynasty, the Triangle’s Warhawks might be the team. The squad scheduled to show up in Minnesota is largely the same Saga roster, along with some new additions, that won the Paideia Cup and Southerns earlier this year after going 3-3 at the Commonwealth Cup, a college tournament, in February. With Backhoe and Phoenix veteran Sasha Resnick alongside former Axis of C’ville and current Boneyard member David Allison leading them from the sidelines, the Warhawks could be in for the long haul.

U-19 Mixed Division

A1 - BUDA (1)
A2 - DiscNW (2)
A3 - Maine (3)
A4 - Bay Area (4)
A5 - Minnesota (5)
A6 - Chicago (6)
A7 - Pittsburgh (7)

Schedule (PDF)

Scoreboard

This year’s smallest division with seven teams, the U-19 mixed division has historically been the most inconsistent and difficult to predict. Only Boston and Minnesota have sent mixed teams to each Youth Club Championship. Boston earned their first title in the division last year. Minnesota earned their only win in 2009, and San Francisco is the only city to have taken home the championships more than once with back-to-back titles in 2010 and 2011.

The division’s only brand new team this year hails from Pittsburgh. New York and Madison both sent teams last year but will be absent in the division this year. New York is fielding their first girls’ team this year in addition to an open team, so the switch could reflect a growing number of girls participating from the NYC area.

After earning their first championship last year, the BUDA squad will be looking to defend that title. Three consecutive second-place finishes led up to last year’s victory; they’ll want to maintain their first overall seed throughout the weekend. Despite their fourth-place finish last year, San Francisco meeting Boston in the finals for a third time in four years likely wouldn’t come as a major surprise to anyone. 

U-19 Open Division

A1 - Minneapolis (1)
A2 - Chicago (8)
A3 - TYUL (9)
A4 - South Dakota (16)
A5 - Birmingham (17)

B1 - Cincinnati (2)
B2 - Pittsburgh (7)
B3 - Atlanta (10)
B4 - Missouri (15)
B5 - Minnesota-B (18)

C1 - Seattle (3)
C2 - DeVYL (6)
C3 - Iowa (11)
C4 - Indiana (14)
C5 - TYUL-B (19)

D1 - Denver (4)
D2 - Boston (5)
D3 - DiscNY (12)
D4 - North Texas (13)

Schedule (PDF)

Scoreboard

The defending champions, Minnesota Superior, got their first championship in the U-19 open division last year (it was their second-ever YCC title, with the first win coming in the U-19 mixed division). They surprised some last year by claiming the championship after starting the weekend as the five seed and upsetting Seattle in the semifinals. This year, they enter the tournament as the overall one seed, reflective of last year’s performance, and will come as a surprise to no one in 2013. At an event where turnover is constant and expected, seven players return this year for Superior, giving them solid and experienced leadership to rely on while trying to defend their title.

Last year’s second-place team, Cincinnati’s Flying Pig, is another veteran group. Over half of this year’s roster played in the 2012 finals in Blaine, including five members of this year’s Centrals Champion Holy Family Catholic squad. Seattle’s Kingpin is another team to keep an eye on. With the strength of DiscNW and five division championships behind them, they can never be counted out.

If this year’s field at YCC is any indication, the South and Midwest look to be growing and adding talent. After losing only one team from 2012, new teams will arrive in Blaine this year from Dallas, Birmingham, Indiana and Missouri along with first-time B teams from Minnesota and the Triangle.

With more and better competition than ever before, the division is up for grabs, even with history on the side of teams like Seattle, Minnesota and Cincinnati.

U-16 Open Division

A1 - Seattle (1)
A2 - Bay Area (4)
A3 - Pittsburgh (6)
A4 - Minnesota (7)
A5 - Maine (9)

B1 - Delaware Valley (2)
B2 - Triangle Area (3)
B3 - Cincinnati (5)
B4 - Atlanta (8)

Schedule (PDF)

Scoreboard

In its third year, the U-16 division is on the receiving end of the recent explosion of youth ultimate in Maine. In addition to their mixed team, Maine is sending a U-16 team to compete at YCCs this year. The Atlanta ATLiens are the second new team in the fold in 2013. Their core group of players come from some of the strongest high school programs in the South. The ATLiens likely won’t look like a first-year team.

After being upset by the Triangle in the division’s inaugural finals in 2011, Seattle continued the city’s winning trend in Minnesota and came out on top in 2012. The historically strong DEVYL program of Pennsylvania/New Jersey will likely also be in the hunt after a finals loss to Seattle last year. They will bring six veterans with them to Minnesota to face off against five familiar faces from Seattle.

One advantage of a young team in 2012 is the experience and leadership that returns the following year. Ten of the Triangle’s NC Hammer 21-person roster played with the team in Blaine last year. Their familiarity will undoubtedly be an advantage this weekend.