HS State Championships | State Youth Coordinators
The UPA’s Youth Development program is centered on organization at the state level. As most HS sports are organized at the state level as well as many institutions (e.g. legal structures and PE associations), states provide readily available structure for the growth of Youth Ultimate. While many of the parts of the UPA’s Youth Development program are determined by state level organization, this section focuses on the three integral parts of state level organization: HS State Championships, State Youth Coordinators, and PE Outreach.
The UPA HS State Championship program began in 2003 with two UPA sponsored HS State Championships, Minnesota and Colorado. The program expanded to 8 states in 2004 and 13 states in 2005. These events provide high school teams the opportunity to compete against other in-state HS teams at a nearby event. The HS State Championships also provide legitimacy to the sport at the HS level. It allows one team to be the “State Champion” and allows all teams to strive to participate and perform well at an event.
The State Championships, held in May or early June provide a culmination to the spring HS Ultimate season, which has become the de facto “official” season for high school Ultimate throughout the country. States are chosen to host UPA HS State Championships on a number of criteria. The most important criterion is that the state has hosted a successful UPA sanctioned HS state championship the previous year. Other criteria include the number of HS teams, the presence of a responsible contact, and the availability of logistical support for the event.
The UPA HS State Championships are run by State Youth Coordinators (SYC, see below). State Youth Coordinators are stipended volunteers of the UPA. The SYC may also utilize the work of a Tournament Director to run the logistic aspects (fields, food, etc) for the event while the SYC runs the competition aspects (seeding, format, schedule, and rules) of the tournament. UPA HS State Championships require that all participants are UPA members and require a $150 payment to the UPA for each division. In exchange, the UPA provides the State Championship with trophies for the tournament and spirit winners, a program template, discounted discs and other merchandise for sale, and coverage in the UPA magazine and website.
The UPA hopes to expand the HS State Championships to all 50 states with both open and girls divisions at each as HS Ultimate grows. In larger states, such as California, two geographic areas will be designated as “states” in order to minimize the travel time for teams and the logistics of organizing tournaments with too many teams. As more teams develop and the parity and competitiveness of HS Ultimate grow, the UPA hopes that the HS State Championships will be the premier high school Ultimate events. To find out if your state has a UPA sponsored HS State Championship click here. If your team does not have a HS State Championship and you are interested in hosting one, please contact Meredith Tosta.
Learn more about the UPA High School State Championships:
2008 UPA High School State Championships
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The UPA State Youth Coordinator program runs alongside the UPA HS State Championship program. States that have UPA HS State Championships have UPA State Youth Coordinators (SYC) appointed at least six months prior to the State Championship. In addition to selecting the Tournament Director for the HS State Championship Tournament and running the competition aspects of the State Championship the SYC role includes being the liaison between the UPA and the state HS Ultimate league and other youth leagues in the state, assisting the Youth Development Director in identifying UPA representatives for AHPERD conferences in state, being the contact for new teams and players in the state, and maintaining a list of contacts for teams in the state.
Ideally, the UPA SYC is at the top of a state level organization that is structured for the growth of the youth division in the state. This may include having a treasurer to manage the state organization’s funds, an outreach coordinator to plan youth Ultimate outreach events, an eligibility committee to determine eligibility issues, a HS league coordinator to schedule the state HS League and determine the rules, and Youth League coordinators for leagues that exist outside the spring HS season like city summer or fall leagues.
The SYCs serve as the UPA’s most important volunteers in the youth division. SYCs are chosen based on their level of involvement, responsibility, and communication. Outgoing SYCs help identify their successor for the role. As the role and responsibility of the SYC grows along with the UPA’s youth membership so will the stipend given to those volunteers. The SYC should be fully integrated with the state youth Ultimate scene (in a much greater way than the UPA’s College and Club sectional coordinators currently are).
Contact a UPA State Youth Coordinator