91成人, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States and member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, is bringing the Championships back to Virginia Beach for the 9th time. Last year鈥檚 Beach Championships, also hosted in Virginia Beach, were the biggest 91成人 beach event to date,  and this year’s event will be even bigger with over 1,300 athletes 鈥� plus coaches, team personnel, players’ families and 91成人 staff 鈥� coming to the area.

A unique spin on the traditional grass game, beach ultimate is a 5-on-5 variation played on a smaller field. Short points and faster transitions, alongside the spectacular bids, skies and full-extension catches that come from playing on sand, make beach ultimate exciting to both watch and play.

91成人 is also partnering with the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau to offer youth outreach activities at area schools in the week leading up to the event, and hosting a for kids ages 5-15 on the beach alongside the Championships, May 9 from 1-2:15pm on the field at 21st St.

Visit Virginia Beach offers information and itineraries for teams and individual athletes looking to make the most of their time on the coast, including a and 48 hour , while game schedules and other tournament information can be found on the 91成人 .

The following is a summary of each group鈥檚 discussion over the two-day meeting.

The Youth Working Group consists of 91成人 Director of Youth Programs Dan Raabe, Manager for Youth Competition Josh Murphy, and Regional Youth Directors Jack Kennedy (northeast), Joe Strong (west), Antonia Van Twisk (central), and Jamie Wolf (south). 

A primary goal of the group is to focus on growing the Youth Club Championships. 2025 provided the opportunity to pilot running both a Division I and a Division II using a satellite field site, which was a success. This will again be implemented for the 2026 season as even more teams are expected.

The group also has plans to do more public survey work in the coming year as they investigate the possibility of introducing a new, more accessible, fall junior season. The goal of this addition would be to grow ultimate in new and emerging markets around the country. Research has already begun with select focus groups, and a sentiment analysis from that effort is available.

Additionally, the group spent significant time beginning the discussion of adjustments for upcoming 2026-2027 Sep-Aug Youth Competition Guidelines (to be released in the summer), including questions and feedback received from constituents around the country.

The College Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Matthew Bourland, National Directors Trois White (developmental), Jeff Kula (D-I men), Beth Nakamura (D-I women), Grace Kiel (D-III women), and Kevin Kula (D-III men). 

With the start of the 2026 college season next month, the college working group delved into a wide variety of topics 鈥� including finalization of the 2026 College Guidelines. Noteworthy edits include the updated cap on bids to nationals for D-I (maximum of five per region) as well as the previously announced increased D-III cutoff to include schools with up to 10,000 enrollment.

The group determined that 2026 will also introduce a new early-bird registration deadline. Teams with registrar-verified rosters received by 91成人 by March 4 may add players through March 25. The regular roster deadline will be March 11. Teams who complete a valid roster by this deadline may be allowed to add players afterwards but will be subject to late fees.

Additional work included discussions around future updated Uniform Guidelines and growth conversations regarding reviving dormant teams, supporting new schools, and outreach work needed to grow women鈥檚 division participation.

The Club Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Marc Zigterman, National Directors Adam Goff (尘别苍鈥檚), Genevieve Leo (mixed), Mia Griner (飞辞尘别苍鈥檚), and Sam Kehl (women鈥檚 growth), and player representatives Andrew Riggs (尘别苍鈥檚), Jeremiah Branson (mixed), Kirstin Johnson (飞辞尘别苍鈥檚), Clare Frantz (mixed), AJ Merriman (尘别苍鈥檚), and Tayara Romero Pena (飞辞尘别苍鈥檚).&苍产蝉辫;

One of the 2026 season changes coming out of these discussions is the introduction of a Pre-Sectional Regional Qualifying competition. This concept will be piloted only in select sections and divisions with a history of a sectional tournament surpassing 16 teams. The group also discussed updates for the coming year to the 鈥淲orld Cup Draw鈥� procedure for seeding at Club Nationals. 

Further changes being evaluated for 2026 include the redrawing of the regional boundary to move part of Kansas to the South Central Region/Red River Section 鈥� keeping the greater Kansas City area in the North Central Region/West Plains Section, and the possible expansion of the Select Flight Invite 鈥� making a major Triple Crown Tour event accessible to more teams.

Another key topic addressed was a proposed 鈥渁cademy model鈥� for team development. While the group has determined that model will not be adopted at this time, additional steps will be taken this year to create more support and resources for new and developmental teams. Among these resources are the addition of a new Women’s Strategic Growth Program, which will launch in early 2026, and the development of a resource document for new teams.

Ongoing work for the next year will include evaluation of the roster size limits, discussion of gender signalling in the mixed division, and the revision of the Uniform Guidelines document.

The Masters Working Group consists of 91成人 Senior Manager of Events and Masters Competition Byron Hicks, National Directors Jason Howard (mixed), Kyle Christoph (men),  Kristi Schmeling (women), and at-large masters working group representative Chris Cianfrani. Christoph, Shmeling, and Cianfrani all attended remotely. Adam Tarr, head of the Formats Committee, was also in attendance as a consultant.

One major point of consideration for 2026 was the allocation of regional bids. Following some anomalies last year, and in the interest of fairness, the decision was made to move away from the current method and to adopt the 鈥淗amilton/Hare method鈥� for regional bid allocations moving forward. This method focuses on awarding bids proportionately, rather than using specific size benchmarks

Participation numbers in the Masters Division grew by 11% in 2025, and the group discussed ways to both continue that trend and ensure the season structure can accommodate future growth. Age division renaming was discussed but not adopted. Topics under ongoing consideration include roster limits and the addition of satellite fields at the Masters Championships in Aurora.

The Beach Working Group consists of 91成人 Senior Manager of Events David Raflo and Regional Beach Directors Hayden Weaver (Great Lakes), Alex Jacoski (Florida), Grant Boyd (Pacific), Sam Broaddus (Atlantic), and Max Grove (Gulf Coast). Boyd and Grove attended remotely. 

A primary focus of the group鈥檚 discussions was finalization of 2026 timelines, with the due date for applications to attend the 2026 Beach Championships being set for February 9th. Additional discussion was held around the possibility of adding a calendar of sanctioned beach events and/or a qualifying event in future years.

The National Beach Championships continues to be an event seeing year over year growth. In order to continue to facilitate that growth across all divisions, the decision was made to continue offering discounts for participation in the women鈥檚 division.

Additionally, consideration was given toward instituting a requirement that National Team candidates for beach events must have previously participated in 91成人 sanctioned beach events. This recommendation is still under consideration and will be part of the group鈥檚 work throughout 2026.

Many other previously announced events are returning to familiar locations in 2026, with both the Masters Championships and the Youth Club Championships taking place in Aurora, CO. 2026 also marks the final year of a three year agreement to host the National Championships in San Diego, CA 鈥� which has hosted the event since 2018.

91成人 has a full calendar of premier events scheduled for 2026 鈥� in collaboration with a number of trusted local partners 鈥� offering the ultimate community opportunities to compete at the highest level across all disciplines and divisions.

The full 2026 Championship Events Schedule is listed below.

The two-day meeting is followed by a summary of each group’s discussion.

The Beach Working Group consists of 91成人 Senior Manager of Events David Raflo and Regional Beach Directors Grant Boyd (Pacific), Sam Broaddus (Atlantic), Max Grove (Gulf Coast), and Hayden Weaver (Great Lakes). 

After a successful 2023 Beach Nationals, 91成人 saw continued growth at the 2024 Beach Championships in Virginia Beach. With eight divisions, 75 teams and 1,100+ athletes, the tournament continues to see marked improvement. The group again considered plans for a youth mixed division, looking to bring U-20 teams to the event in 2025. 

With the strategic plan in mind, youth inclusion remains a key focus for the beach group along with growth in the women鈥檚 division. 

The group also welcomed several beach tournament organizers from across the U.S. as a way to learn and communicate with key individuals in a breakout session. The larger group discussed topics like resource development, increased competitive opportunities and promotional strategies for beach-specific events. 

The group saw participation from Ocean City Beach Ultimate鈥檚 Bryant Dean, Wildwood Beach Ultimate鈥檚 Beverly Barnum and Mike Adlis, Throwback Beach Ultimate鈥檚 Louis Gosart, former regional director and current WBUC Assistant Coach for 91成人 Sean McCall, and Zig Zag Ultimate鈥檚 Mike Zaagman.

Last year, the group conducted several surveys in early 2024 to learn more from the community. They intend to focus on organizer feedback with another survey in Q1 2025. 

Note: At Beach Nationals, high school athletes are encouraged to compete. The clock for college eligibility will not begin for such athletes should they compete in the event. 

The Masters Working Group consists of 91成人 Senior Manager of Events and Masters Competition Byron Hicks, national directors Kyle Christoph (men), Jolien Munsterhuis (mixed) and Kristi Schmeling (women), at-large masters working group representative Chris Cianfrani, and special guest regional coordinator Jeff Berget (south central). 

A major highlight for the masters working group included the age reclassification for two divisions. In an attempt to create more consistency with WFDF, the group lowered the minimum age for the great grandmasters men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 divisions. The great grandmasters men鈥檚 division鈥檚 minimum age will move from 50 to 48. The great grandmasters women鈥檚 division鈥檚 minimum age will move from 47 to 45. The change was also made with growth in mind for the great grandmasters women鈥檚 division. 

The group discussed the 2024 Masters Championships, which hosted 2,600 athletes on 109 teams in eight divisions. The discussions also included how to grow the event with limited field space. 

Bid allocations will mostly remain the same as 2024 with the exception of a few minor adjustments. The previously named 鈥渟uper regional鈥� will be renamed as 鈥渟uper qualifiers鈥� with no changes to the format.听

Other topics, including division title names and potential growth strategies were discussed along with other questions posed by the community. 

The Club Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Marc Zigterman, national directors Mia Griner (women), Genevieve Leo (mixed), and Adam Goff (men), and player-elected representatives Clare Frantz and Eli Motycka (mixed), Kristin Johnson and Tayara Romero 笔别帽补 (women) and AJ Merriman (men). 

The group decided on the redrawing of sections to provide quality sectional events and promote fair competition formats given the new restrictions on the number of games per weekend. Sections with more than 16 teams have been reviewed and redrawn. Sections with two or fewer teams may be combined for regionals. The specific redraws will be available in the club guidelines. 

The club group also reworked deadlines for roster flexibility with the goal of improving the women鈥檚 division in mind. Woman-matching players will have roster flexibility until July 30, which is the Wednesday before U.S. Open. Man-matching players have roster flexibility until June 25, which is the Wednesday before the Pro-Elite Challenge.

Also on the topic of roster flexibility, the group continued discussions from 2024 on a potential 鈥渁cademy鈥� model. The proposal was suggested by the community as a way to allow increased roster flexibility for teams that have a closely-related developmental team. While no decisions were made, the group will continue to work out the idea in 2025. 

For the TCT, the group discussed using a 鈥淪wiss鈥� draw format for earlier, major TCT events. The group reviewed the format for Nationals and is not recommending any changes. 

While the complete TCT calendar will be announced soon, the schedule will look similar to 2024 and again feature an east and west version of the Pro-Elite Challenge and Select Flight Invite, The U.S. Open, Elite-Select Challenge and Pro Championships. Notable elements of the TCT in the soon-to-be-released competition guidelines include: 

• The Pro-Elite Challenge will continue to be split into east and west events to reduce travel costs while continuing to provide meaningful playing opportunities for more teams.
• The Select Flight Invite will again be split into east and west and will include both Select Flight teams as well as high-ranking Classic Flight teams.
• The Elite-Select Challenge will continue to be required for Elite Flight teams with an opportunity for Select Flight teams to be invited. 
• The U.S. Open will again be required for the top-four ranked Pro Flight teams, with invitations being sent to teams ranked 5-8. Invites will again be extended to international teams. Games against international teams will again count towards overall game totals, but results will again not be factored into rankings.
• The Pro Championships will be limited to eight teams per division with initial invites going to Pro Flight teams. The expansion of divisions to 12 teams will be considered, based on interest. 

The club working group met with the college and rankings working groups to discuss the possible implementation of a 鈥減robabilistic model鈥� for Nationals bid allocation in 2026. The group will review throughout 2025. 

The group also engaged in discussions regarding growth in the women鈥檚 division. The group recommended several improvements to the division including a matching or mentoring program for women鈥檚 leaders to discuss important topics and a volunteer role focused on women鈥檚 division growth, amongst other ideas. 

Another important topic was signaling each athlete鈥檚 gender match on any given point in the mixed division. The group will add a best practice signaling suggestion to the guidelines which will require each player on the line to signal their gender match if requested by the opposing team. 

Other topics included the video review discussion, postseason registration timelines and a larger mixed club nationals format. 

The College Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Matthew Bourland, national director (developmental) Trois White, national directors Jeff Kula (men), Beth Nakamura (women), Grace Kiel (D-III women) and Kevin Kula (D-III men). 

While the group didn鈥檛 have many changes, the focal point of discussion was the restructuring of the developmental division. The group met with key volunteers across the country and collected feedback to discuss potential key changes to make for 2026 as the system in place isn鈥檛 meeting the needs of all and inhibits the growth of the entire division. The group intends to make structural changes to the regular season and postseason for 2026. 

The group also discussed the potential change of the D-III enrollment cutoff number but will want to evaluate further and assess how it could impact teams. 

The Youth Working Group consists of 91成人 Director of Youth Programs Dan Raabe, manager for youth competition Josh Murphy and regional youth directors Jack Kennedy (northeast), Joe Strong (west), Antonia Van Twisk (central) and Jamie Wolf (south).

The group鈥檚 focal point was to discuss the recent survey that sought perspective from organizers, coaches, parents and players on the future structure of the Youth Club Championships. The group discussed potentials for the improvement of YCC as the event has grown to capacity. 

The results were comprehensive and allowed for several decisions to be made and more discussions to take place. If you are interested in seeing the results of the survey, . 

One of the key decisions that was made is related to team participation in 2026. Divisions with more than 24 teams will be split into two different tiers (DI and DII). The two-tiered system will allow for more teams to participate and avoid turning teams away from the event.

The group also discussed other ways to include all teams at the event in addition to improving the experience and will continue to investigate potential solutions. 

One of the other decisions made was to not require summer regional event attendance for YCC teams, while still encouraging participation at such tournaments for YCC warm-up and seeding opportunities. 

More discussions are upcoming for the group as the youth guidelines are released at a different time of year, spanning from September through August. 

The three initial 18-player rosters for the mixed, open and women鈥檚 division teams were chosen by U.S. National Team coaches following a pair tryouts last month. All totaled, 180 players took to the sand to compete for a spot on 91成人 after more than 1,000 players applied for consideration.

Of the 54 players selected, more than half are returning from the 2023 delegation that won a pair of world titles in the open and women鈥檚 divisions and a bronze medal in the mixed division. The open team features 11 returnees, while the mixed and women鈥檚 squads each return eight players.

Occurring every two years, the 2025 edition will take place next November in the Algarve region of Portugal.

Additional U.S. National Team rosters for any applicable masters divisions will later be announced by 91成人.

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_{听鈥燫eturning to 91成人 from mixed roster}

Following an initial application process that saw more than 1,000 players express interest, 91成人 coaching staff pared the pool down to a final list of invitees that will attend one of two tryouts later this month.

Tryouts are held for the three elite-level divisions: open, mixed and women’s.

Following tryouts, coaches will select a final roster of 54 players 鈥� three teams of 18 that will compete in the mixed, open and women鈥檚 divisions.

In addition to the elite divisions, WFDF will host several yet-to-be-determined masters divisions with those teams being selected via an online application.

A pair of tryouts will be hosted for players interested in competing on the mixed, open or women鈥檚 teams, while an application process will be used to select players to one of nine possible yet-to-be-determined, age-restricted masters categories.

For elite players, a west tryout will occur November 2-3, followed by an east tryout November 9-10 with specific locations to be decided at a later date. Tryouts will be led by head coaches Eileen Murray (mixed), Bryan Jones (open), and Samantha Broaddus (women), whose appointments were announced earlier this month.  

The 2025 edition of WBUC will be held November 2-8 in Algarve, Portugal.

Eligible 91成人 members interested in applying for consideration should review the application procedures and complete the by Friday, August 30th.

Preview Application

Colorado Springs, Colo. (January 9, 2024)鈥�The 2024 91成人 Beach Championships will return to Virginia Beach and take place May 11-12, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States announced today.

The event, which was hosted by Virginia Beach since its inception in 2015 through 2022, was held on west coast for the first time last year where it welcomed a record number of teams and participants (1,100 athletes on 68 teams in eight divisions.) Those numbers are expected to increase this spring as the event is set to add a youth division to the tournament for the first time.

The 2024 91成人 Beach Championships will be co-hosted by the City of Virginia Beach Sports Marketing and Resort Management LLC.

The two-day meeting is followed by a summary of each group鈥檚 discussion. Following the release of 91成人鈥檚 Strategic Plan earlier this year, a special emphasis was put on the four major strategic priorities: elevate youth and grassroots ultimate, enhance local disc organization success, promote excitement for ultimate and fuel the future. 

The Youth Working Group consists of recently hired 91成人 Director of Youth Programs Dan Raabe, manager for youth competition Dana Jefferson, regional youth directors Jack Kennedy, Joe Strong, Antonia Van Twisk and Jamie Wolf and guests from Denver-based Altitude Ultimate, Libby Cravens and Justin Salvia, who provided additional perspective, ideas and content to the discussion. 

91成人鈥檚 strategic plan, which was influenced by input from the ultimate community鈥檚 many stakeholders, is strongly focused on advancing and growing youth and grassroots ultimate, particularly at the local level. The youth working group had lengthy, complex discussions regarding how to best attack the goals outlined in the plan. 

As the group discussed how to proceed, it concluded that significant growth would require decisive changes to 91成人鈥檚 competition structure over the course of the next several years. It plans to begin with widespread data collection and community discussions with youth leaders across the country. The development of a youth department and addition of Raabe to the newly created, director-level position at headquarters was the first major step of many towards building a more complete, connected and cohesive youth ultimate scene. 

The group discussed several aspects of the Youth Club Championships (YCC), including the bid acceptance process, priority structure and equity across divisions. The promotion of girls鈥� ultimate continues to be a top priority of the group. 

The eligibility rules for YCC were further developed to best fit the players that YCC is intended for and took into account situations like dual-enrollment, early graduation, gap years and more in the process. 

As part of the eligibility discussion, the group explored exceptions and clarifications, including a new rule that will shift the responsibility for exception requests to the local disc organizations and away from individual players.  

Another major point of conversation was the youth volunteer structure. The group discussed a potential restructuring in upcoming years with greater collaboration between youth outreach volunteers and youth competition volunteers in the near term.

The College Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Matthew Bourland, national developmental college coordinator Amy Hudson, national directors Jeff Kula (men)  Beth Nakamura (women), Grace Kiel (D-III women) and Kevin Kula (D-III men). 

The group used a thorough analysis of participation data from the last several college seasons to discuss several points of emphasis for the upcoming year.

Rankings were a focal point following the 2023 season and the group addressed multiple concerns, including the ranking algorithm, roster validation and forfeits. The upcoming competition guidelines will reflect a change to the algorithm that removes any benefit for teams that had results invalidated due to issues of athlete eligibility. (Invalidated results will only be included if they lower a team鈥檚 ranking.) 

The group also reinforced the need for teams to play all of its scheduled games via the addition of a new forfeit deterrent. The rule was inspired by community feedback that forfeited games take away playing opportunities and that teams intentionally avoided opponents they believed could hurt their ranking. By default a 60-point power rating penalty will now be assessed to forfeiting teams, which will be applied to their final regular season ranking. An appeal process will be instituted for legitimate circumstances, including health and safety risks and other verifiable logistical challenges. 

The group also decided that an institution鈥檚 second/third team, etc. (i.e. developmental teams) at D-III programs will compete in the D-III division during the postseason. 

Another key decision was made on the topic of conference 鈥渁ll-advance鈥� events. While these events remain important to properly evaluate and seed teams at regionals, conferences with up to six teams will now use a one-day tournament format. This decision was made to increase the likelihood that events can still be completed in a weekend in the event that inclement weather occurs. 

Another major topic of discussion for the group was regional event scaling as it worked to balance the growth of meaningful competition with the growth of the number of teams competing in the college division. A decision was made to specify how many bids would be given to regionals based on team count, gender division and competition division. The scaling determination recognized that D-I and D-III women鈥檚 conferences are at a different growth stage, but also aligned with input received to make postseason events more meaningful.  

The Club Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager for Competition and National Team Programs Marc Zigterman, national directors Carolina Gonzalez-Llanos (women), Genevieve Leo (mixed), and Adam Goff (men), and player-elected representatives Clare Frantz and Eli Motycka (mixed), Kristin Johnson and Tayara Romero 笔别帽补 (women) and Pawel Janas and AJ Merriman (men). 

A primary point of discussion for the working group was the Triple Crown Tour (TCT) and how to best continue providing meaningful playing opportunities to club players of all levels. Per the group鈥檚 analysis of the EOY player and team surveys, there was a significant rise in satisfaction from the women鈥檚 division, which was a specific point of emphasis from the previous year鈥檚 meeting. The group also spoke about how to best continue supporting all divisions while specifically pushing for continued advancements in equity for the women鈥檚 division. 

While the complete TCT calendar will be announced after the new year, the schedule will look similar to 2023 and again feature an east and west version of the Pro-Elite Challenge and Select Flight Invite, The U.S. Open, Elite-Select Challenge and Pro Championships. Notable elements of the TCT in the soon-to-be-released competition guidelines include: 

• The Pro-Elite Challenge will continue to be split into east and west events to reduce travel costs while continuing to provide meaningful playing opportunities for more teams.
• The Select Flight Invite will again be split into east and west and will include both Select Flight teams as well as high-ranking Classic Flight teams. 
• The Elite-Select Challenge will continue to be required for Elite Flight teams with an opportunity for Select Flight teams to be invited. The group reiterated the importance of this structure to achieve connectivity in the rankings and earning bids to regionals.
• The U.S. Open will again be required for the top-four ranked Pro Flight teams, with invitations being sent to teams ranked 5-8. Invites will again be extended to international teams. Games against international teams will again count towards overall game totals, but results will again not be factored into rankings. 
• The Pro Championships will be limited to eight teams per division with initial invites going to Pro Flight teams.  

The group also evaluated several notable ideas that came out of the survey data, including a potential 鈥減reseason鈥� that would introduce club tournaments with no impact on rankings, as well as more inclusive high-level events later in the season. Time was also spent discussing the viability of a late-season, second-tier national tournament (similar to the NCAA鈥檚 NIT basketball tournament). While no decisions were made, the group acknowledged the challenges with planning such an event but is committed to gathering additional input from the community throughout the year. 

Discussions also took place around rosters with regards to injury deadlines, late-season roster extensions and roster mobility. 

With the success of local disc organizations being a significant goal of the new strategic plan, the group also explored ways for club teams and local organizations to build or enhance mutually beneficial relationships, connecting the groups through coaching, clinics, events and more. 

The 鈥淲orld Cup-style鈥� draw will be used again for the National Championships with minor modifications. 

Other topics of discussion included National Championship costs, bid 鈥渢heft鈥�, registration deadlines, mixed division personnel ratio and majority pull rule, the redrawing of sections to address limitations caused by new competition formats, Classic tournament quality and language around suspended games. 

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The Masters Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager of Events and Masters Competition Byron Hicks, national directors Kyle Christoph (men), Jolien Munsterhuis (mixed) and Kristi Schmeling (women), at-large masters working group representative Chris Cianfrani, regional coordinator Jeff Berget (south central) and special guest Charles Cooper. 

A major focal point for the group was improved communication across the board from 91成人, national directors, regional coordinators and more. The group is working immediately to put together a toolbox of useful communication documents and examples for volunteers, organizers and more. 

The group also discussed the 2023 Masters Championships, which hosted 2,500 players on 108 teams across eight divisions. The group elected to scale back the number of teams in 2024 to 100. 

At last year鈥檚 working group meetings, the masters team worked to form 鈥淪uper Regionals鈥�, which will continue in 2024 after discussion by the group. 

Other topics, including age reclassification and longer national events were also discussed along with additional ideas posed by members of the community. 

The Beach Working Group consists of 91成人 Manager of Events David Raflo and regional beach directors Sam Broaddus (east coast), Grant Boyd (west coast), Max Grove (Gulf Coast), Alex Jacoski (Florida) and Hayden Weaver (Great Lakes). 

Looking to improve on a successful national event, which was 91成人鈥檚 largest ever with eight divisions, 68 teams and 1,000+ athletes, the tournament will include a youth mixed division beginning in 2024. It will be contested as a 4 vs. 4 competition with a 2:2 gender ratio.

The group also intends to build on the successes of 2023 by conducting player, team and organizer surveys in Q1 2024 and create a database of resources for beach event organizers.

The policy, which passed by a 10-0-2 vote at a March 9th board meeting, will remain in effect through 2024 and applies to states with laws that restrict participation of transgender athletes to the division that matches their sex assigned at birth rather than their gender identity.

The long-term status of the policy is subject to further evaluation as 91成人 gathers more information from the ultimate community as part of its upcoming strategic planning process this spring.

The policy affects 91成人鈥檚 six major championship tournaments: the Beach Championships, College Championships (Division I & III), U.S. Open, Masters Championships and National Championships.

Prior to board discussion and vote, 91成人 staff consulted with, and solicited input from, transgender and non-binary players and organizers in the ultimate community, as well as organizers in the states where these prohibitive laws exist.

While these laws do not specifically apply to 91成人 events, or otherwise prohibit the application of 91成人鈥檚 policies regarding the participation of transgender athletes, the feedback provided to 91成人 indicated that transgender and other gender nonconforming athletes in the ultimate community may not feel safe traveling to states with restrictive sports laws. This new policy signifies another step towards cultivating a more inclusive and safer environment at major championship events.

As a leader among national governing bodies of amateur sport in considering anti-transgender legislation as a factor in determining championship event locations, 91成人 is believed to be the only NGB that currently has such a policy in place.

In 2020, 91成人 introduced a revised Gender Inclusion Policy 鈥� widely considered to be one of the most inclusive in all of sport 鈥� which advocates for the ability of all athletes to participate in the division in which they feel most comfortable and safe based on their gender identity.

91成人 reiterates its unwavering support of the transgender community, strives to create a welcoming and inclusive environment and believes an individual鈥檚 gender identity should be recognized, respected and included at all levels of sport.

Currently, 19 states have laws that restrict participation in inter- and/or intra-scholastic sports based on sex assigned at birth. As a result, the following states are ineligible to host any of the six aforementioned championship events at this time due to the corresponding legislation cited below.

In consideration of today鈥檚 announcement, Dave Klink, 91成人 Board of Directors President, issued the following statement:

91成人’s position on inclusion, as stated in our Gender Inclusion Policy, is not complicated:  We value inclusion.  The development of a policy regarding event hosting in light of a growing number of transphobic state laws, however, is a complex undertaking, and the legal and political landscapes are changing rapidly. 91成人 staff brought a detailed presentation to the board to help inform our decision, but all involved also recognize that this is a challenging issue, and the decision was motivated by at least as many questions as answers. Ultimate is played in all 50 states, and 91成人’s involvement with the sport in the United States is not, and cannot, be limited to states whose legislatures share our values. Even as we temporarily institute this policy for the protection of our athletes at our highest profile events (where safety concerns are arguably more pronounced), we acknowledge that this is an imperfect policy.  We recognize that local ultimate communities often do not agree with their state legislatures, nor are values within ultimate communities homogeneous. As such, our new policy is both over-inclusive and under-inclusive. Though we do not feel comfortable hosting our highest profile national championship events within their borders at this time, there will still be a great deal of ultimate being played in states where the legislatures have passed anti-transgender laws, and we intend to continue to have a presence in those states and to partner with their local ultimate organizations. I sincerely hope that the safety concerns which have influenced this policy will be temporary. Because of the many competing considerations in developing this policy, we believe it is very important to involve the ultimate community in further depth to consider it on an ongoing basis. We are excited to see how our new strategic planning process over the next two months can provide an immediate opportunity to engage with the entire ultimate community on how this policy could be continued, refined, or modified.