My name is Patrick “Colby” Gilman and I am running to be an At-large Representative to the UPA Board of Directors. Currently, I am a graduate student in International Policy and China Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, DC. Previously, I worked as a project manager and community outreach consultant for non-profits in Philadelphia and Seattle before moving to China for a year in 2005.

Since joining the UPA as a collegiate player in 1999, I have had the great fortune to be involved in the game on many levels, both on and off the field. I finished dead last at Club Sectionals my first two seasons and in 2004 played a bit part in winning the UPA Mixed Championship with Seattle Shazam. As a college captain, I had the honor of introducing our game to dozens of current players. Within the UPA itself, I worked as Head Scorekeeper at College Nationals in Spokane in 2002, was an Observer at College Nationals in Seattle in 2004, and from 2003-2004 served on the UPA College Eligibility Committee.

Our Ultimate Players’ Association has experienced explosive growth in membership and revenue during the past five years and with this growth, daunting challenges. To deal with these, the UPA is currently launching a massive planning effort it calls “Ultimate Revolution,” which it hopes will end with a comprehensive 5-year strategy and a fresh, clear direction for the organization.

“Ultimate Revolution” is a major opportunity for the UPA, not only to advance the game at its highest levels and involve its elite players, which the organization has always done well, but also to build a stronger relationship with those who we sometimes forget make up Ultimate’s core demographic: the large majority of players, many of whom are currently non-members, for whom local leagues and Sectional Championships are the whole ballgame. The UPA’s mission reaches out to all Ultimate players, and now is the time to make sure the UPA’s programs better support this goal.

My mission in running for the board is to ensure that as the “Revolution” moves forward, the UPA keeps the interests of these players at heart. We need to strengthen and expand local outreach programs. We need to build more intimate connections with local disc associations. We need to aggressively court the input and participation of non-member players and identify avenues by which the UPA can better serve members who don’t compete beyond Sectionals.

To this effort I will bring not only years of dedicated service to and passion for the game but also the practical experience needed to manage major projects and work successfully with local disc communities. The UPA has begun a revolution, and as an At-large Representative on the UPA Board, I will work to make sure that this will be a revolution for all of those who love the game.

Thanks for your consideration. I’ll see you on the field!

Dear UPA members,

I am the 2006 UPA Board President, and I am running for a second term on the UPA Board of Directors.  In my first term (the past three years), the UPA achieved great strides – we now have over 22,000 members and $1 million in revenues each year to help us provide venues for great competition, education for youth players (55% average growth in youth in the last two years!), and media coverage for this great sport (CSTV, UPA magazine, etc.). We have implemented a variety of services online (rostering, membership, etc.) to make interaction with the UPA easier for members, enhanced the quality of the UPA magazine, and increased the number of full-time staff at UPA headquarters to make sure the events and services members expect from the UPA are provided with high quality. The list of achievements goes on, but the most important thing to know is…we have only just begun!

In my second term it is my goal to ensure that you, as a valued member of the UPA get the following:

1) Better quality events and materials: The UPA is in the business of staging tournaments and helping people learn about the excitement of Ultimate – we do a good job now, and we can do even better (e.g., scoreboards and better score reporting, more stringent hydration/nutrition requirements, promotional materials to help youth/college teams fundraise, etc.)

2) Financial clarity and accountability: I am determined to help UPA members understand what they currently get for their UPA dues, and to ensure they have a clear voice in determining how that money is spent in the long-run.

3) Input into the future of Ultimate: As President I have helped kickstart (and really want to help complete) the UPA’s first Strategic Planning process, which will drive the direction of the sport in the next 5 years. We’re calling the Plan the “Ultimate Revolution” and as you’ll see in the next 15 months we are committed to providing every opportunity for our members to help create the Revolution alongside us. I’m especially excited about the Community Forums we will hold, in-person, in many major metropolitan areas next Spring to share data and get member opinions.

My qualifications are clear – a balance of long history in the sport (14 year elite player, college coach, tournament organizer, and Board member) and the deep business experience (6-year management consultant with a focus on strategic planning) necessary to oversee an organization the scale of the UPA. 

Most importantly, I love that I have the opportunity to make your Ultimate experience a better one. I’m excited to continue to represent you as a Board member - thanks for your vote!

Best, Mike Payne

Ultimate Colleagues,

My name is Ryan Purcell and like many of you, I am crazy about Ultimate.  I am relatively new to the sport, having only been involved in it for three years as a player on the University of Michigan Men’s team, magnUM.  In that short time I have met a small fraction of you, and collectively you’re the reason Ultimate is so special.  In no other sport have I seen participants as focused and energized about the development of the game as they are when on the field playing it.  That focus, that energy, is what I can bring to the board.  True, I haven’t been around Ultimate long, but I can add a fresh new perspective to the group.  My work as Captain and President of the club at Michigan has given me the opportunity to run tournaments, handle recruiting and tryouts, garner sponsorships, gain additional funding and facilities from the university, even develop and administer a scholarship fund for new players.  These experiences, along with my position as a current college player, put me in an ideal position to represent the views of the younger Ultimate community, the future of our sport. 

My professional background also suits me very well for a board position.  I’ve learned how to best interact and connect with kids as a youth counselor, coach, and teacher.  On the board, I’d push for the continuation and expansion of youth and high school programs.  I feel there is a strong need to reach out to new demographic groups and would support initiatives with that goal in mind.  I have a solid background with non-profit organizations and my experiences as a consultant have strengthened my ability to work with multiple stakeholders.  I’d like to see the sport grow, both in the size of the membership and in the continued exploration of how to make the game better.  I think that Ultimate has the potential to become a truly international game, and that the UPA should be leading the way on that front.  Recently, I was able to help out at the World Junior Championships and speak with several coaches from around the world.  I was struck by the lack of access to Ultimate resources that people face in other areas.  Collaboration with and support of the WFDF and other national Ultimate bodies can only serve to spread and, as a result, strengthen our sport.

Plain and simple, I love Ultimate.  I love the opportunity to compete at a high level with and against a great group of peers.  I have a tremendous amount of organizational energy that I want to give to the sport, and I know I would be a fantastic ambassador of the game. All that said, I would be honored to represent you all on the UPA Board and ask you to give me that chance.  Thanks for participating in this election process, and thanks for making Ultimate the special sport that it is.

In hucks and hammers, Ryan

I love Ultimate because of the people who play Ultimate. I’ve made many friends on the playing field and have also had the delight of introducing friends to the sport. The people – you, me, and everyone on these pages – are what make Ultimate special for me, and it is what has and will motivate me to help move Ultimate forward.

I’ve played Ultimate for six years. In that time, I captained the first youth team from Texas to the inaugural UPA Youth Club Championships in August 2005, where we finished 7th and won the Open Division Spirit Award. Leading up to Nationals, I was involved in every level of youth Ultimate –from setting up one of the first high school games in Houston to YCC. I’m most interested in helping youth Ultimate develop and move forward, and this is where I have the most experience. I have been busy working to bring Texas youth Ultimate to the national forefront. I captained my team to back-to-back championships in the Houston High School league, which we helped found with the Houston Ultimate Community. I submitted two bids for UPA youth national events and have had both accepted – YCC 2005 and High school Westerns 2006. I also helped out on the successful Texas bid for YCC 2006. These are the only successful youth bids from Texas so far. In January 2006, I helped organize the first UPA Coaching Clinic in Houston; I was certified as a Coach (but have to wait until age 21 to receive official confirmation).

What all this means for you is that I will bring my organizational skills, hard work, and drive to develop youth Ultimate across the United States to the best possible setting – the UPA Board. These skills and my experiences with many facets of the game will help me address all important and controversial issues of Ultimate, not just those of youth Ultimate, with the same open mindset. Although I am most experienced in youth Ultimate, I will take care of all aspects and issues of the game. I have played an important role in developing the high school Ultimate scene from the ground up to national competition with the best youth teams in the country, experiences that have taught me how to succeed in developing youth Ultimate and also how to confront issues important to the game. My distinctive perspective is unique and will add an important dimension to the Board and the UPA.

All these experiences have given me a rich picture of what can be done to improve youth Ultimate at all levels and, more importantly, what succeeds in improving youth Ultimate – from city scrimmages to national competitions. My strong drive and hustle on the field playing Ultimate and my strong organizational skills off the field help to build up youth Ultimate, and I relish the chance to put these desires, experiences, and ambition to the very best possible use – on the UPA Board.

Thank you.

My name is Kyle Weisbrod and I’d like to respectfully request your vote for the UPA’s Board of Directors.  I began playing Ultimate at Paideia HS in Atlanta, Georgia in the fall of 1993.  I moved on from there to college at Brown University where I played from 1998 to 2002.  For the past five seasons I’ve been playing for Johnny Bravo out of Boulder, Colorado and coaching at Monarch HS in the Colorado HS Ultimate League for the last three.  During the past 13 years I’ve also played in summer leagues in Atlanta, Providence, Boston, and Boulder.  My favorite tournaments include Clambake, Potlatch, Poultry Days, 7 Little Idiots, and, of course, the UPA’s Club and College series.

Some of you may also know me as the Director of Youth Development for the UPA.  Life is moving me away from Boulder and back to Atlanta and so I will no longer be an employee of the UPA.  I very much want to stay involved with the sport and continue to contribute as much as possible, and I can think of no better place to do that than on the UPA’s Board of Directors.

Ultimate is at a crossroads.  Over the past five years growth in participation has exploded, particularly at the youth and college levels.  With this growth has come a bevy of challenges and opportunities for the sport.  The UPA is in a strong position to lead the sport through these challenges, but it will require its leaders to listen closely to the voices of its membership so that through these exciting changes Ultimate remains a player driven sport. 

The player’s experience should continue to be the focus of the Players Association.  How can the UPA improve your Ultimate experience and increase your playing opportunities?  The rules as well as the role of coaches, television, spectators, and officials should be determined by the players and the players’ experience.

As a Board member I will push for the UPA to develop an experimental event so that the UPA can be proactive about new rules and roles for observers and gaining membership feedback on potential changes.  I will work to establish a stronger connection between the UPA and pre-series club tournaments so that there we can create a clear and defined structure to showcase our elite teams and create more opportunities for exposure and sponsorships.  I will also work to establish stronger connections between the UPA and local Ultimate leagues and organizations as we have done with our Youth division; these connections can give Ultimate more strength at both the local and national levels.  And, of course, I will continue to strongly support the youth division as it is where the UPA can impact the sport the most. 

My priority will always be, you, the player.  I will work for more opportunities for you to play at your level.  I will work to increase the quality of your UPA events.  And, most importantly, I will work to ensure that this game remains yours.

When Jesse Jackson ran for President in 1988, he was criticized for lacking detailed plans to address the nation’s problems. Jackson replied, “I am a tree shaker, not a jelly maker.” Jesse Jackson was a big idea guy - a visionary, and he was implying that he would surround himself with people who could do the hard work of turning his vision into a working reality.

In the Ultimate community, as well as in my professional life, I like to think of myself as a jelly maker. I feel I’m best at solving problems and at understanding the details and pinpointing the inefficiencies of the visions and goals of our community. I sincerely enjoy finding ways to make them work, and make them work well. This is what I’ve tried to do in the dozen years I have been an active member of the Pittsburgh Ultimate community.

For instance, as the recently retired Mars tournament director for the previous eight years, I’ve oversaw the reemergence of this once-defunct Pittsburgh tradition into a three-day, 36-team Fourth of July festival. There are a lot of unique things about Mars, from the scramble format to the karaoke at the party, and I’m proud of the role I’ve played in harnessing the ideas and energy of the many creative players we’re lucky to have here in Pittsburgh. 

When our growing summer league went to a draft format, our first draft took over 8 hours to complete due to numerous inefficiencies. For the next year, I worked with the commissioners to design a computer program to manage the draft and make the overall process run more smoothly, and much more quickly.

I’ve tried to play a similar role as the President of the Community for Pittsburgh Ultimate (CPU) Board of Directors. The board was approached by two of our members last year looking for us to donate $10,000 to support a newly formed high school Ultimate scholarship.   Knowing there was no way a community our size could contribute that much money, I worked with Henry Thorne, fellow CPU Board member and UPA board member, to organize a 150 person benefit dinner which raised well over $7,000.  I’ve also served as fields coordinator for our city, working on the sometimes thorny task of scheduling over 500 recreational players, 4 leagues and multiple club teams. Our community has grown from 8 to 24 summer league teams in the time I’ve been here, and I’m pleased to be a small part of that, and of the exciting growth we’re having in many areas of Pittsburgh disc.

My role on the CPU Board reflects my philosophy of what a board like ours, or the UPA’s, should do. I don’t believe that great ideas should always, or even often, come from a select few. As an architecture student at Carnegie Mellon, and now working as a medical imaging software developer at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, I’ve known many creative people. But no group I’ve known is as visionary and energetic as the UPA membership. If I’m elected to the board, I will work hard to understand the visions of my colleagues and fellow players and work with them to turn those visions into concrete realities that will benefit our community and our sport.

Sports have played a huge role in my life, but I’m not sure that I ever truly loved a sport until I played my first (very loosely-organized) pickup Ultimate game at North Carolina State University in spring 1996.  Over the next ten years, ultimate would play a major role in my life as I played with three college teams; one Australian women’s club team; many local co-ed leagues; various co-ed teams in tournaments too numerous to mention; and a couple women’s club teams.  I was fortunate enough to play on the women’s team at the University of Colorado for four years, including our back-to-back semis appearances in 2002 and 2003, giving me high-level Ultimate experience.  (Ultimate definitely stretched my graduate degree to six years, but it was worth it.)  Playing at all levels of the game has allowed me to meet all types of Ultimate players.

I would like to use this range of experiences to address one of the key issues facing our organization: the growth of Ultimate.  I want our sport to continue growing so that someday the term “Ultimate mom” will be as widely known and appreciated as “soccer mom” (but perhaps without the ubiquitous minivans and SUVs).  However, this growth cannot come at the expense of the quirkiness that drew many of us to the game: costume tournaments at Halloween, cross-gender points for double scores, etc.  I would relish being a part of the discussion as to how we can respect both of these viewpoints in the future direction of Ultimate.

As an engineer and a recent graduate student, I am a very methodical and organized person, which is vital to serving on the board and keeping track of the myriad committees and tasks to which board members are assigned.  I have significant professional experience in communicating to large audiences, both in print and in person.  My leadership experience, from being president of my alma mater’s Engineers’ Council to serving as athletic director for my dorm, would be highly useful as a board member.  Ultimate-wise, I have participated in many ways other than as a player, including fundraising for the CU women’s team in fall 2002; being an assistant coach of the CU women’s team in fall 2003; helping lead the Newcastle Ultimate club in spring 2004; becoming a UPA Level I-certified coach in spring 2005.  Getting my start at Ultimate on the North Carolina scene, as well as my current participation on a club team and in local leagues, would help me to represent the players of the Mid-Atlantic region.

The most important attribute I have is my passion for Ultimate.  My non-Ultimate friends (of which I do have a few) grow weary of my interest in discussing every aspect of the game, from who’s picked to win College Nationals this year to the latest rules controversy.   But this obsession would be less of a burden and more of a benefit if you choose for me to serve on the UPA Board of Directors.

I’ve been volunteering my time as a member of the UPA Board of Directors for over seven years.  In that time, I have been excited to watch the UPA mature from a struggling start-up nonprofit into a highly professional, financially stable, and rapidly growing organization.   During my tenure on the Board, I have worked hard to promote increased investments in youth Ultimate, improved affiliations with local leagues, and greater mainstream media exposure for our sport.  Now I’m running for my third consecutive term on the UPA Board of Directors because I believe this is a very exciting time for the organization, and for our sport as a whole.  Youth Ultimate is growing like crazy, corporate sponsorships are on the rise with all the right companies, UPA College Championship games are being broadcast on TV and the internet by CSTV, and the mainstream sports world is finally starting to recognize Ultimate as a legitimate sport (case in point: Ultimate was played as a medal sport in the 2006 World Games in Germany).  And now, in the midst of all this growth, the UPA is embarking on a massive strategic planning process to chart out the organization’s goals and priorities for the next five years by seeking input from virtually everyone who loves Ultimate.

 With so many years of experience on the Board of Directors already, I believe I am very well qualified to serve out my third and final term during this exciting time of growth and introspection at the UPA.  If the players whom I represent in the SouthWest choose to re-elect me, I look forward to building on the UPA’s recent successes with youth Ultimate, sponsors, and the media while helping to ensure the UPA’s strategic planning process reaches a successful conclusion that includes a continued emphasis on promoting Spirit of the Game at all levels of Ultimate.