UPA Members:

I am not sure how many of you may be aware of it, but the UPA will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2004. I hope that as a member of the Ultimate Players Association you will agree that these have been twenty five very good years—thanks to the incredible dedication of thousands of volunteers who have committed countless hours of their time to increase participation and the quality of play in the sport of Ultimate.

In the past several years, we have seen a number of major changes—not the least of which is your board of directors’ commitment to improve the governance of the world’s largest Ultimate sports association and the quality of the services provided in order to increase participation at all levels, from grassroots leagues and clinics to the Championship Series.

As I mentioned in my last column to you, an important part of the board’s evolution to become a strategic policy-making body has been a commitment to secure a top-level staff to implement UPA programs on a day-to-day basis. We are fortunate to have an incredibly hard-working staff with a great mix of professional skills and Ultimate knowledge. In the past two years alone, we have demonstrated our commitment to the Championship Series by hiring a full-time staff person to direct our three top-level events; have recognized that growth at the youth level is the key to Ultimate’s future and secured full-time staff dedicated to developing initiatives for both coaches and players at the high school level; and, in our commitment to improve the way we communicate with our most important audience, the player-members of the UPA, recognized and responded to the need for professional direction and development of our publications and web site.

Hopefully you have noticed the many successes that we have had in the past year alone—the development of an online membership enrollment system; continued improvement in the processes, procedures and participation opportunities related to the Championship Series; evolution of our primary publication from a newsletter to a magazine (I hope you love the glossy format as much as I do) with lots of great photos AND stories; upgrades to the quality and quantity of information on our web site; for the very first time, professional production of the UPA College Championships for television distribution; a doubling of participation by youth-level players; and after repeated requests by league and tournament organizers, an increase in the level of liability insurance available to $2 million.

To continue this progress, the board has determined that we must have additional resources to:

• provide a youth Ultimate program (and a coach development plan) that will sustain and enhance the rapid growth in the Juniors Division;

• improve our computer infrastructure to provide online rostering, to webcast our championship events eventually, and to upgrade our web site;

• develop effective strategies to support grassroots leagues, as well as tournament and clinic organizers;

• pay our staff competitive salaries;

• add sport accident insurance to our insurance liability coverage package;

• fund new initiatives to grow and enhance the sport of Ultimate.

We are therefore announcing a dues increase for the 2004 membership year. At the same time, we have recognized the need to attract new members and have officially introduced a introductory rate for brand new players who join after August 1 (and have never participated in a UPA sanctioned or organized event).

All current members will receive a notice from the UPA reminding them of the need to renew for 2004. I hope you will join me in celebrating the UPA’s 25th anniversary by renewing early…and not missing a single day of participation in the biggest and best Ultimate organization in the world.