Sport | Ultimate |
---|---|
Founded | 1979 |
CEO | Tom Crawford |
Country | United States |
Official website | http://www.usaultimate.org |
USA Ultimate is a not-for-profit organization that serves as the governing body of the sport of Ultimate (also known as ultimate frisbee) in the United States.
It was founded in 1979 as the Ultimate Players Association, but rebranded itself as USA Ultimate on May 25, 2010. The United States Olympic Committee, empowered to govern amateur sport in the USA per the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1978, officially recognized USA Ultimate as a Recognized Sport Organization on June 10, 2014.
Its mission is "to advance the sport of Ultimate in the United States by enhancing and promoting Character, Community, and Competition." Its vision is that "Ultimate is widely known, played, and respected in the United States as a sport that inspires athletic excellence and integrity among participants and fans."
In addition to organizing and supporting national teams to represent the nation in international and world championship competitions, a major focus of USA Ultimate is the Championship Series; it sanctions certain tournaments throughout the year in five divisions (Club, College, Youth, Masters, Beach) and runs the local, regional and/or national championship tournaments at the end of the respective seasons. These events are governed by the 11th Edition Rules. While the national champion is crowned in various divisions of the USA Ultimate Championships, four Canadian teams have won championships over the years in different divisions- Vancouver's Furious George (Club Open), University of British Columbia (College Women's), Stick Dog (Masters Women's), and Winnipeg's MOFO (Youth Club Mixed).
In 2008, the 40th Anniversary of the birth of Ultimate, USA Ultimate adopted a Five Year Strategic Plan with input from Ultimate players throughout the United States, in hopes of facilitating the growth and evolution of the sport for the next forty years.
The Club division is currently the only competition division that is not restricted by age (like Youth and Masters) nor school enrollment (like High School and College), but is rather subdivided only by gender into Men's (open to any gender and previously called "Open"), Women's, and Mixed (with prescribed gender ratios) gender divisions, which have their regular seasons in the summer and their post-season championship series in the fall. The first national championship took place in 1979 in State College, Pennsylvania. The Women's division was added in 1981. The age-based Masters Open (now Men's) and Women's divisions were added to the Club division in 1991; the Masters Women's division was discontinued in 1997, and the Masters Men's division joined Grandmasters in a separate summer Masters Division in 2012. The Mixed Division was added in 1998. Club national championship tournaments were held in Sarasota, FL from 2000 through 2012, and in 2013 USA Ultimate began moving around the location, starting with Frisco, TX for 3 years and then Rockford, IL in 2016. The event returns to Sarasota, FL in 2017, followed by San Diego, CA in 2018 and 2019.