Tuesday, June 09, 2009

The State of HS Ultimate in the US

I was poking around score reporter and i figured it would be interesting to look at a map of the current state of high school ultimate in the US.

The result if the follow. All the states in blue have a UPA sanctioned state championship taking place this season, the red on the other hand, do not.


What then, about the states where we know ultimate exists but there is no state championship yet? That's the map you see below you here - those states are highlighted in a beige.


A few observations:

  • Some of the states without championships have had high school ultimate rocking for a while - Texas and Connecticut for example.
  • Some of the states with Champs surprised me a lot, because I hadnt even heard of teams before - Indiana, Utah and Idaho - huge props go out to whoever is organizing things in these places - making it happen in a big way.


Overall this is a significant expansion over the past few years of course - right now there are 24 states with championships 26 without.

But the question is how do you start leagues in those states and cities that don't have them yet. Usually it falls on a willing and motivated individual who already lives in the city and wants to see something happen.

But what if there were another, more effective, already practiced way that the UPA could expand the sport into the remaining 18 states and create lasting leagues within 3 years.

I have the brief outlines of such a plan that I'll post later in the week.

It's possible to do this, it is entirely feasible, the question is does the UPA have the drive to make such a plan happen? I hope so.

Check back in and post your feedback.



PS - ignore the numbers in the maps, those are electoral votes (i cheated and made the map with an election calculator - in case anyone is wondering the current state of high school ultimate championships garners 311 electoral votes. aka the oval office and bragging rights)


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Comments (7)

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Oh, Matt . . . I'm all a-flutter to hear the plan. Seriously.

St. Louis alone has 12 teams, plus (at least) Rockhurst in KC and the Warrensburgh Gigafighters.

Jason.
1 reply · active 825 weeks ago
Wow . . . that fade doohickey when you post a comment is nasty.

Faaaaaaade.
Damn. . . I just found your postscript. Please disregard above.

At least I get to see the fade one more time.
Just an FYI...CT, UT and KS have UPA sanctioned event state championships (they don't have SYCs nor are their events run with much UPA oversight, unlike the HS Champ events in the 22 states with SYCs). We are working with the organizers in those states, as well as others, to help grow not only their State Champ events but also their infrastructure to sport growth through leagues, clinics and the like. Hopefully they join the HS Champ states in the coming years. South Carolina, Illinois and DC run events that are not sanctioned (or least not this year). New England runs a "state" championship that NH teams attend.

A handful of Flycoons players have been doing a great job with getting some HS teams off the ground in Montana and there is a new league of Charter schools out of Arizona that are looking to organize a State Champ soon. All very exciting!

- Meredith
Yeah, my high old high school ran the state UPA championships in CT this year. They don't receive any help from the UPA even though they are sanctioned by it.

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