Monthly Archives: April 2016

May 2016 Board Meeting

Hatgiving2014The next Valley Ultimate Board meeting will take place on Thursday, 5/26 from 6-7pm at Johnny’s Roadside Diner in Hadley, MA.

Everyone with any interest in growing Ultimate in the Valley is encouraged to attend!

Help us spread the word through the Facebook event page!

Some of the topics we will be discussing at the meeting include

  • Summer Solstice 2016
  • Valley Ultimate Summer Youth League 2016
  • Our outreach program
  • Other summer events
  • Organization goals for the next year

Come on out and help us grow Ultimate in the Valley!

 

Valley Ultimate Outreach: Round 1

USAUAffiliateLogoCOLOR-jpgDue to a generous grant from USA Ultimate, Valley Ultimate was able to launch an outreach program. Terry Plotkin is leading the charge and ran the first session last week. He reports:

I visited Frontier ultimate practice on Wednesday for valley ultimate”s first outreach to under-served schools. They are a good group of kids. We focused on a few drills, basic throwing and catching, and discussed ways they can make their practices successful and how to build their team. I told them about valley ultimate and how to plug in with ultimate in the valley. By coincidence, two parents of two different kids are former teammates of mine. When I asked them, they both were interested in helping out some of the time. It was a good day. I admire the kids (17) for organizing themselves and showing up without adult support.

We’ll be running several more sessions at Frontier and expanding the program to other local communities. A big thanks to USA Ultimate for making the program possible!

4/26 Board Meeting Notes

Hatgiving2014The most recent Valley Ultimate Board meeting just wrapped up. Here’s what we covered:

  • How to bette spread the word about Valley Ultimate activities and pull in more volunteers
  • Updates regarding the Oxbow field complex. Lots and lots of fields for Ultimate right in the heart of the Valley!
  • Launching the Summer Solstice Hat tournament. Maybe hold it earlier in the summer?
  • Dispensing grants and applying for more.
  • Updates on our just-launched youth outreach program!
  • Launching the Valley Ultimate Youth Summer League
  • Expanding our annual meeting to pull in more people
  • Starting work on a 3-5 year plan

Information regarding the next Board meeting will be posted as soon as the date is set.

Valley Ultimate Board Meeting – April 2016

Hatgiving2014The next Valley Ultimate Board meeting will take place on Tuesday, 4/26 from 6-7pm at the Bluebonnet Diner in Northampton.

Anyone with any interest in helping grow Ultimate in the Valley is encouraged to attend!

Topics of discussion will include:
– Summer Solstice Hat Tournament
– Valley Ultimate Youth Summer League
– Our youth outreach programs
– Much more!

Help spread the word via our Facebook event page!

You spoke – and we heard you!

After hearing from some past players, Valley Ultimate has decided to postpone our plans to offer a Valley Ultimate Western Mass YCC program for this year. While we still intend to increase playing opportunities for Valley Ultimate players at all levels of our sport, we feel we can serve you better by working more deeply with current and future participants to come up with a more detailed and thorough plan for migrating towards two MA-based YCC programs.

We have heard that our current plan for creating a second YCC program in MA would create a burden for the youth of Western MA (girls in particular), in which they would have to choose playing with their local friends and teammates or travelling to Eastern MA. We’ve decided to continue offering a BUDA Youth League, here in Western MA, that would qualify players to try out for the BUDA YCC program as we have done the last two years. In addition, since we acknowledge that not all youth want to try out for YCC’s in Eastern MA, we will simultaneously run a non-YCC youth league, in keeping with our mission of increasing playing opportunities for all (youth) in Western MA.

We are sensitive to the needs of young players, and especially girls, who have had fewer opportunities at every level of play in our sport. We are committed to working to end institutional bias against women in Ultimate. From beginners to the most seasoned veterans, we want to encourage all levels of play in all players. Valley Ultimate seeks to provide opportunities for more people to play Ultimate in more places, more often.

We are sensitive to the history of Ultimate in MA and want to make sure our efforts are not detracting from the efforts of others to promote and encourage Ultimate. It is for all of these reasons that we are offering these current opportunities for MA youth.

  • If you’ve played for the BUDA YCC program in the past and wish to continue doing so, without the hassle of travelling, we’ve got you covered.
  • If you haven’t played on a BUDA YCC team but want to, we’ve got you covered.
  • If you just want to play summer Ultimate in Western MA and don’t want to try out for a YCC team, we’ve got you covered.
  • And if you’re new to the sport and want to see what all the buzz is about, we’ve got you covered.

Come play Ultimate this summer in one of our leagues. No matter what you need, we’ve got something for you! Stay tuned for details of registration and dates, for all of our playing opportunities coming soon to an inbox near you. As usual, if you have any questions or concerns, we encourage you to contact us. We’d love to hear from you!

See you on the fields.

Valley Ultimate Board