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USA Ultimate Sanctioning
The goal of the USA Ultimate sanctioning program is to encourage and support the growth of Ultimate at all levels by assisting event organizers in providing their local community with opportunities to participate and learn through high quality, well organized events. Tournaments, leagues and development programs that are sanctioned by USA Ultimate receive legitimacy through their association with the national governing body, insurance coverage, access to resources and materials and much more.
Any sanctioned event can be either team-based, where teams register to play others, or individual-based, where individual players register and are assigned teams by the league organizer.
Please Note: USA Ultimate cannot sanction any events or programs with direct connection to or branding by the American Ultimate Disc League or any of its teams or brands. See [link to 2014 position statement] for details.
A tournament is an event that occurs over just a few consecutive days (typically 8 or fewer) with multiple games per team per day.
A league is considered an event that spans multiple weeks (typically 4+) with just 1-2 games per team each week.
The Development Insurance program covers multiple events including, practices, tryouts, camps, clinics, and pick-up games. Development: any event, program or activity involving the sport of ultimate that does not primarily involve competition that results in a team-based win-loss record that crowns a champion, but rather that is focused on the development of players and/or teams for competition (e.g., practices, camps, clinics, tryouts, pickups, standalone scrimmages, etc).
Review information about the USAU general liability, claim forms, and insurance contact information.
USA Ultimate is devoted entirely to the sport of Ultimate. As a membership based organization, USA Ultimate only endorses and affiliates with events that support our definition of Ultimate and our mission statement. USA Ultimate will be progressively increasing the minimum standards which events will be required to meet to receive sanctioning approval. USA Ultimate will not sanction an event if it believes that the event or event organizer is not aligned with the best interests of the sport, USA Ultimate programs, or the mission and policies of USA Ultimate.
Events must meet the following criteria:
- Each sanctioning application must only include a single "event" (an "event" is defined as the occurrence of a single Ultimate activity or program which runs continuously for a specified amount of time and has a single registration process).
- Any single event may not exceed 6 months in duration.
- Features Ultimate played as a: "Player defined and controlled non-contact team sport played with a flying disc on a playing surface with end zones in which all actions are governed by the Spirit of the Game."
- All players, teams, games and divisions present must be included as part of the sanctioned event and all must be registered with USAU.
- USA Ultimate sanctions and insures events, not teams. Therefore, everyone at a sanctioned event must be registered. Players/teams cannot opt out of registering if they are participating in a sanctioned event.
- Events may not be sanctioned across two calendar years (i.e. Nov.-Feb.) with the exception of winter leagues which may have a December start date. To sanction for the following year, applicants will need to reapply.
- USA Ultimate insurance provides coverage for Ultimate-related activities only. Insurance does not cover non-Ultimate activities such as socials, parties, showers, non-Ultimate games, driving, alcohol, food, etc.
Discraft is an official sponsor of the USA Ultimate event sanctioning program. All discs provided through this program are Discraft 175g Ultrastars. More information on discounted discs and other merchandise available through the sanctioning program can be found here