USA Ultimate

Invitation to Annual U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Assembly Provides Opportunity to Promote Partnership with Women’s Sports Foundation

Colorado Springs, Colo. (September 26, 2016)—USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States and proud member of the United States Olympic Committee, was invited to present its Girls’ Ultimate Movement (GUM) initiative to various multi-sport organizations (MSO) at the annual U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Assembly in Colorado Springs last week.

USA Ultimate Chief Executive Officer Tom Crawford and the youth and education department’s Sarah Powers and Dan Raabe used the opportunity to explain the organization’s strong commitment to gender equity and diversity, outline its GUM program and curriculum, and describe how USA Ultimate’s partnerships with the Women’s Sports Foundation and MSOs like Boy Scouts of America, Catholic Youth Organization and Jewish Community Centers Association are leading to increased awareness and participation at the youth level.

The presentation to dozens to youth-serving organizations and fellow USOC members also allowed USA Ultimate to describe how ultimate could be incorporated into their programming, particularly that which is aimed at girls. 

Raabe gave attendees an overview of GUM’s middle school curriculum, which not only teaches girls how to play the sport of ultimate, but also teaches important leadership skills and how to translate them from the field of play into their communities. 

Powers then provided a more detailed look at how to use ultimate to teach one important component of the sport and its Spirit of the Game ethos – conflict resolution. She walked the group through a sample session of the GUM curriculum featuring this particular emphasis – one of seven sessions designed to build sport-specific skills as well as personal leadership qualities.

Like ultimate, many sports are constantly looking to improve female participation in sport, and USA Ultimate’s unique partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation and its girls-specific outreach programs are helping to serve as a template for other national governing bodies and sports organizations.

"We were thrilled to be invited by the USOC to discuss our partnership with the Women’s Sports Foundation and the Girls’ Ultimate Movement," said Crawford. "The USOC is well aware of our strong commitment to gender equity, as well as our track record of developing strategic partnerships with other Olympic family members. They love to share those successful examples with their broader member organizations. As a result, we already have expressions of interest from four new potential partners – three of whom are very intrigued and interested in the GUM program and curriculum – making this year’s assembly another great success."  

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