2014 Competition Working Group Meeting Wrap: Part 3 (College Division)
Posted: February 12, 2015 12:00 PM
COMPETITION WORKING GROUP MEETING WRAP
Part 3 – College Division
Colorado Springs, Colo. (Feb. 12, 2015)—Several weeks ago, Dec. 6-7, USA Ultimate hosted its annual gathering of headquarters staff, national volunteers, player-elected division council athlete representatives and delegates from the competition working group to discuss, plan and refine a variety of topics and future programs.
The Winter Competition Working Group Meeting was held in Denver, Colo., and focused on several areas, including the Triple Crown Tour and USA Ultimate’s Beach, Youth and College divisions.
The meeting, which included 30 of the brightest, most well-respected and passionate stewards of ultimate in the United States, resulted in the implementation of several changes and improvements to existing programs as well as productive discussion and sharing of ideas related to the future of ultimate.
USA Ultimate would like to thank the following individuals for their participation in these meetings and recognize their ongoing commitment, vision and support:
Tyler Kinley – Club Working Group; Men’s Division Athlete Rep
Jack Marsh – Club Working Group; Men’s Division Athlete Rep
Michelle Ng – Club Working Group; Women’s Division Athlete Rep
Peri Kurshan – Club Working Group; Women’s Division Athlete Rep
An-Chi Tsou – Club Working Group; Mixed Division Athlete Rep
Steve Sullivan – Club Working Group; Mixed Division Athlete Rep
Adam Goff – Club Working Group; Men’s Division National Director
Remy Schor – Club Working Group; Women’s Division National Director
Dave Klink – Club Working Group; Mixed Division National Director
Alyssa Kelly – Youth Competition Working Group; West Regional Youth Director
Jinny Eun – Youth Competition Working Group; South Regional Youth Director
Josh Seamon – Youth Competition Working Group; Northeast Regional Youth Director
Fran Kelley – Youth Competition Working Group; Central Regional Youth Director
Claire Chastain – Youth Outreach Working Group; National Outreach Director
Heather Ann Brauer – Youth Outreach Working Group; National Girls Director
Zara Cadoux – Youth Outreach Working Group; Chair, Girls’ Ultimate Movement (GUM)
Amy Hudson – College Working Group; National Developmental Director
Beth Nakamura – College Working Group; National Women’s College Director
Jeff Kula – College Working Group; National Men’s College Director
Kevin Kula – College Working Group; National D-III College Director
Kimberly Beach – Beach Working Group; Atlantic Regional Beach Director
Sean McCall – Beach Working Group; Gulf Regional Beach Director
Becky LeDonne – Beach Working Group; Great Lakes Regional Beach Director
Rocky Beach – Beach Working Group; Pacific Regional Beach Director
Baker Pratt – Former USA Ultimate Manager of Competition & Athlete Programs (Youth)
Connor Maloney – Incoming USA Ultimate Manager of Competition & Athlete Programs (Youth)
Mike Lovinguth – USA Ultimate Manager of Education & Youth Programs
Ty Krajec – USA Ultimate Manager of Competition & Athlete Programs (College)
Ernest Toney – USA Ultimate Manager of Competition & Athlete Programs (Club)
Byron Hicks – USA Ultimate Manager of Events
David Raflo – USA Ultimate Manager of Events
Will Deaver – USA Ultimate Managing Director of Competition & Athlete Programs
Following these meetings, USA Ultimate will issue a series of releases describing some of the decisions that were made and many of the ideas that were presented and shared by the group. The collaborative nature of these discussions and the decision-making process, as well as the valuable input and perspective provided by many members of the ultimate community, resulted in many exciting updates and ideas worthy of future discussion and consideration.
The third installment of these releases focuses on the future of the new USA Ultimate College Division. The first installment focused on the Triple Crown Tour; the second installment focused on developments in the Beach Division.
COLLEGE DIVISION
The college division has long been USA Ultimate’s largest competition division. With more than 800 teams competing in the college season each year, the division accounts for approximately 15,000 USA Ultimate members.
Since being founded in 1984, the college division has grown to include a both Division I and Division III Championships as well as many teams participating in the developmental division.
During the fall of 2014, several coordinators collaborated as the College Development Task Force and brainstormed new initiatives to help grow college ultimate. College division representatives at the 2014 Competition Working Group Meeting selected the following projects to focus on implementing in 2015 and beyond.
"The meeting always provides an important opportunity for us to get together and share ideas about the future of college ultimate," said National Men’s College Director Jeff Kula. "We looked critically at both what is going well and how we can continue to improve the experience for the teams, and we're all excited for the 2015 season."
Club Sports Ultimate Guide
Growing college ultimate starts with educating those who may not be familiar with the sport, and at the university level, club sports departments can promote a great deal of growth. The Club Sports Ultimate Guide will be a resource for university club sports administrators to answer any questions they may have about the sport of ultimate. This resource will be available for schools that already have ultimate teams and also for those that do not yet have teams to provide a solid foundation for the benefits of the sport and hopefully influence them to start a program at their school.
B-Team Start-Up Guide
The average size of college programs is growing, and with this growth, some teams may get too large to effectively develop younger talent with a single team. In order to better inform teams on the processes of starting a B-team or C-team at their school, we will develop a B-Team Start-Up Guide. This guide will help existing programs determine the feasibility of introducing a B-team, and if feasible, it will detail the ideal pathway to do so.
STAR Program
With its reintroduction in the fall of 2014, the College STAR (Season Training and Recruitment) Program will continue in spring 2015 with a webinar on the topic of women's ultimate. Contributors to this webinar will include National Women's College Director Beth Nakamura and National Developmental College Coordinator Amy Hudson. There will be two to three additional webinar-based STAR events covering topics solicited from the college ultimate community, including the possibility of an in-person clinic to be held at the National Championships in October 2015.
Online Coordinator Webinar
Starting in January 2015, the national directors and the USA Ultimate manager of competition and athlete programs for the college division will be holding monthly training webinars for college coordinators. These webinars will better train the coordinators on the responsibilities of their positions, which will in turn help them better serve the teams in their regions. Our January webinar was incredibly well received, and we will continue to provide quality training opportunities via these monthly webinars throughout the course of the college season.
National Developmental College Coordinator
We were incredibly excited to introduce Amy Hudson as our new National Developmental College Coordinator in November 2014. As the newest national-level college volunteer position, the National Developmental College Coordinator works with other coordinators, the national directors and USA Ultimate’s manager of competition and athlete programs on all initiatives related to the growth of the college division. Welcome, Amy!
Guidelines
USA Ultimate and the extensive volunteer network that helps make the college season successful each year continually review the college division guidelines and make updates and revisions whenever necessary. Minor revisions were made for the 2015 season, including a revised regional scaling system and a new requirement for athletes to have full USA Ultimate memberships to participate in in regular-season events, similar to current club division membership requirements.
The 2015 College Division Guidelines are available on the USA Ultimate website at usaultimate.org/college/guidelines.aspx.
2015 College Season
The 2015 college season is well underway, with hundreds of teams competing across dozens of sanctioned regular-season events.
The season will lead up to the Division I and Division III College Championships in May. The Division III College Championships will be held May 16-17, in Rockford, Ill. The Division I College Championships will take place on its customary Memorial Day weekend, May 22-25, in Milwaukee, Wis.
Have any questions or comments? We welcome community feedback and discussion made in a respectful manner. Please refrain from profanity or personal attacks, as such public comments negatively reflect on our sport and community.