Board of Directors | Current Board Members | Bylaws | Strategic Planning | Past Board Meeting Minutes | Submit a Proposal to the Board | UPA Conduct Policy | UPA Public Statements
UPA Response to Questions Regarding UPA Strategic Planning Research Findings and Related Commentary
During the past several months, some members of the Ultimate community have called into question the research conducted by the UPA as part of the strategic planning process, claiming that the UPA is “out of touch with its members”. The UPA would like to address these claims by providing some facts about the process.
A variety of methodologies were used for gathering input from the Ultimate Community. This included the following:
- Hard copy surveys distributed to more than 768 members players at events in mid to late summer
- Local small group sessions held in dozens of communities and hosted by local volunteers (http://www.upa.org/upa/strategicplanning/calendar)
- Online surveys conducted among members/non-members (4153 received), online local players (distributed by league organizers 1482 received), former members (2162 received), hard copy mailed and online parents (743 received)
- Four strategic planning summits hosted in four hub communities: Seattle, Boston, Atlanta and Minneapolis.
Each of these processes was communicated to the membership and the Ultimate community at large via email (enews), the UPA web site and the Ultimate news group rec.sport.disc. Participation was elective.
The UPA made a concerted effort to get in touch with a broad spectrum of the Ultimate community with more responses received than at any time in the organization’s history. The processes used for data gathering were cost effective both from a financial and a volunteer resource perspective. Members were incorporated at every step of the way to determine the final plan.
While the UPA believes that the above discredits the suggestion that “the current [UPA] administration is COMPLETELY out of touch with the wants and needs of the membership and to are (sic) large extent are simply misrepresenting them”, the organization would also like to respond specifically to claims that we are out of touch with the needs/wants of the players as it relates to the research conducted at the NC Open Club Sectionals on Saturday, September 22.
As an example, the UPA calls attention to the question from the independent NC Open Sectional survey regarding referees in Ultimate:
Refs in ultimate
78 supportive (53.1%)
40 neutral (27.2%)
29 unsupportive (19.8%)
The UPA contends that the information gathered in its online survey closely aligns with the above question, but provides more meaningful interpretation of player feelings on the issue.
When asked about their feelings regarding referees, 2913 respondents revealed a very ambivalent stance.
–18% said “Referees will ruin Ultimate -they should never be allowed”
–34% said “It is dangerous territory -integrity of the game will be at risk”
–26% said “I might be ok with it -I am open to experimentation”
–17% said “I'd like to play with it, but only at certain levels”
–5% said “It's the future of Ultimate -it's the only way
This survey was conducted in the Oct-Dec of 2006 throughout the UPA’s playing population (US and Canada) across all divisions and levels of play. As noted above, almost 3,000 players responded to the question.
The UPA’s survey when filtered to only show results from players that competed at NC Open Sectionals reflect a similar result to that received at NC Sectionals.
From time to time various groups have experimented with the use of referees in Ultimate, yet official UPA policy clearly state that “fouls and violations of a subjective nature” can only be called by players. What is your feeling about referees in Ultimate?”:
–2.9% said “Referees will ruin Ultimate -they should never be allowed”
–20.9% said “It is dangerous territory -integrity of the game will be at risk”
–28.6% said “I might be ok with it -I am open to experimentation”
–40% said “I'd like to play with it, but only at certain levels”
–8.6% said “It's the future of Ultimate -it's the only way
This filter yields a total of 35 survey respondents. While the phrasings and answer choices of the UPA’s question and the September 22 survey question are somewhat different, the intent of the questions is the same. The answers to both questions are also remarkably similar. 23.8% of the UPA respondents chose one of the “unsupportive” answers, 28.6% chose the “neutral” answer, and 48.6% chose the “supportive” answer.
Far from discrediting the UPA’s survey, the September 22 survey indicated that the UPA’s survey was an accurate reflection of the UPA’s membership, however the UPA survey provided an additional insight into the level of player interest .
Furthermore, the UPA asked an almost identical question regarding observers to compare the strength of support for observers against the strength of support for referees. The results are below:
Observers are used at many UPA Championship events and other high level tournaments. In addition, the UPA has started an Observer Certification program. According to UPA policy, observers are permitted to make active calls on objective violations and can settle disputes on fouls and violations or a subjective nature. What is your feeling about observers in Ultimate? Full Survey (2,913 respondents)
–1.9% said “Observers will ruin Ultimate -they should never be allowed”
–10.4% said “It is dangerous territory -integrity of the game will be at risk”
–22.3% said “I might be ok with it -I am open to experimentation”
–43.3% said “I'd like to play with it, but only at certain levels”
–15.3% said “It's the future of Ultimate -it's the only way
–5.7% said “Observers do not go far enough – Bring on the refs”
–1.1% said “I don’t know or don’t care”
NC Open Sectional Players (35 respondents)
–0% said “Observers will ruin Ultimate -they should never be allowed”
–2.9% said “It is dangerous territory -integrity of the game will be at risk”
–8.6% said “I might be ok with it -I am open to experimentation”
–45.7% said “I'd like to play with it, but only at certain levels”
–28.6% said “It's the future of Ultimate -it's the only way
–14.3% said “Observers do not go far enough – Bring on the refs”
–0% said “I don’t know or don’t care”
The UPA’s surveys were comprehensive by not only targeting a wide range of players from different levels and divisions throughout the country but also in asking questions that allowed players to compare varieties of options directly. In this example, both the full survey participants as well as the NC Open sectional player segment prefer observers over referees.
In addition, the UPA’s strategic planning process did not just end at this single survey. The UPA conducted multiple surveys targeting specific demographics to delve further in to key topics uncovered in the original surveys. The survey results were then presented to players in dozens of small meetings and then four larger meetings where Ultimate players were asked to develop initial plans. These plans were then refined by 14 subcommittees. Finally, these plans were approved by the UPA Board of Directors at the January, 2008 Board Meeting.
The final strategic plan was the fruit of an 18 month process that all segments of the UPA community and administration participated in. The September 22 survey results serve to support the UPA’s survey results that these plans were originally built on.
