UPA State HS Championships FAQs

The first step is to run a sanctioned event. You can find the details on how to run a sanctioned event. Once you’ve successfully run a sanctioned event, the teams that participated in that event will be eligible to apply for Easterns or Westerns and your state is able to seek sponsorship to run a UPA State High School Championship the following year. Please refer to the published guidelines for how states are selected for sponsorship. 

Why do the State Championships have to be UPA sanctioned?

To begin with, sanctioning is a great benefit not only to the UPA, but also to the players and the tournament organizers. Tournament organizers receive event insurance through the UPA as well as access to the forms that every youth participating in an event should fill out. Players receive the benefits of UPA membership including the UPA newsletter, access to other UPA sanctioned events, and other benefits.

The UPA is an organization dedicated to spreading Ultimate and the Spirit of the Game. In addition, the UPA has chosen to focus on growing the Youth/ High School division in the coming years. Our income is primarily from player dues. Being a youth member of the UPA is a way to support the work that the UPA has done and continues to do. Lastly, while there is no direct connection between the state tournaments and the regional level tournaments, these events are part of the UPA Championship structure and comparable to our fall series sectionals. As part of the UPA Championship structure the events must be UPA sanctioned.

What’s the difference between a State Championship that is sanctioned and a sponsored UPA State High School Championship?

Before you can seek sponsorship as a UPA State High School Championship, which includes all players having full UPA memberships, complete rosters for every team, as well as access to State Championship discs at a discount from Discraft and trophies for each division, you must first successfully run a sanctioned event. Sanctioning has fewer restrictions on how to run the event and players have several membership options, so there is more flexibility. However rosters are still required and the event organizer must show that they are capable of hosting a UPA quality event before being fully sponsored.

I’m running a state championship this year but it’s not on the list and we don’t have State Youth Coordinator on the contact sheet, what does that mean?

The sponsored states are announced and added to the website in late summer of each year. If your State is not listed and has not held a UPA sponsored event in the past, it’s probably still being run as a sanctioned event.

Do players have to have to be full members for the sponsored UPA State HS Championship events or can they pay the $5 one time event fee?

Every player who participates in the UPA State HS Championships must be a full youth member (or lifetime member). One time event fees are not eligible for these events.

What do I get for my membership? Why is it worth it for me to be a member?
 
Beyond knowing that you are a part of the fastest growing division in Ultimate, and the material benefits of having a membership card, quarterly glossy magazines and stickers, youth membership is what enables us to run existing programs and develop new areas. Your membership not only goes towards the UPA events that you directly participate in, it also enables us to develop and run coaching clinics, put free materials online, and attend PE conferences to promote Ultimate. Whether or not you attend UPA Championship events, you have probably been helped or affected by the outreach efforts that are a product of youth membership. Click here for more information on the benefits of membership.

Why are the State Championships tied to Easterns and Westerns?

The key to growing High School Ultimate is increasing the events at the local level. The UPA is a national organization with limited resources and is unable to travel around hosting state tournaments. What we can do is host national level tournaments and create incentives and a support structure for teams and their supporters to organize locally. State tournaments are a big step towards increasing legitimacy at the high school level. Even if only two or three teams attend, it allows one team to call itself the state champions, gives all the teams a goal for the next year, and sets a precedent for the event for future years.

Still have questions? Contact the Director of Youth Development