USA Ultimate Competition Working Group Meeting: College Update
Posted: December 18, 2017 02:21 PM
STAR and ACE Programs, College Mixed, New D-I Pathway, D-III National Women’s Director Position Discussed
Colorado Springs, Colo. (Dec. 18, 2017) – USA Ultimate’s Competition Working Group met in Denver earlier this month for its annual meeting to discuss various aspects of the sport’s competition structure across competition divisions – youth, college, club and beach – as well as outreach. The meeting included eight USA Ultimate staff members, two members of the board of directors and 25 key volunteers and was held over two days. Following the meeting, we are releasing summaries of each smaller group’s discussion. The youth competition, outreach and beach recaps were released last week. The club update will follow.
The college working group consists of USA Ultimate Manager of Competition and Athlete Programs – College Tom Manewitz along with Jeff Kula (National Men’s College Director), Beth Nakamura (National Women’s College Director), Kevin Kula (National Division III College Director) and Amy Hudson (National Developmental College Coordinator).
2017 College Working Group
L-R: Manewitz, Nakamura, Hudson, K. Kula, J. Kula
The guidelines for the 2018 college season are already set, but the college working group did make one change. They created a new pathway for Division III teams to participate in Division I conference events. Division III teams that have attended Division I regionals for three consecutive years now have the ability to opt into their respective D-I conference events at the beginning of the season.
The college working group also reviewed feedback from the first year of college mixed events – four events held around the country this fall – which was overwhelmingly positive. The division’s inaugural year was a great start to college mixed play. The working group wants to build on the great start and hopes to grow the number of regions in 2018 and increase the number of events offered. They also discussed decreasing some of the existing academic eligibility requirements, since the events are not currently qualifiers.
The STAR Program will have an increased focus on online content beginning next year. The group hopes to establish a set of resources that will be useful to teams year-round and also to work with members of the college ultimate community to make the program’s existing online resources into a more robust offering to help team development.
The Achieving College Excellence (ACE) Program, which was developed to incentivize growth and recognize sustainability will see an organizational shift beginning next year, with the application window being moved from early spring to the fall. Accepted teams will now be a part of the program for a full year, January 1-December 31.
The college working group is also excited to add a new member beginning next year. USA Ultimate is in search of a Division III National Women’s Director. The new national director will be responsible for overseeing the D-III women’s division and for competition issues related to the division, including helping oversee and organize elements of the regular season and college championship series. If you are interested in applying to be the new D-III National Women’s Director, you can find more information and details on how to apply in the full job description.
Stay tuned to usaultimate.org for more summaries from the 2017 Competition Working Group meeting. The club division recap is up next.
Previous 2017 Competition Working Group Updates:
2017 Competition Working Group
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