All-Region Teams are comprised of individual players, as selected by their peers, who exhibit excellence in skill, athleticism, integrity, and leadership during the current college season. Freshmen of the Year (FOTY) are chosen through a similar process for true freshmen players who exhibit these same characteristics or show great potential in these areas. Coaches should embody the UPA's Spirit of Coaching while instilling respect, fostering a love of the game, and developing both team and individual players.
(Awards instituted in 2002)
Each team that participates in the UPA College Series is eligible to vote for these awards. (College sectional and regional coordinators are also eligible to vote.) Each team or coordinator may vote only once and select up to 7 players from their region and division for the All-Region Team and two freshmen for the Freshman of the Year award, and two coaches for the Coach of the Year award. In order to be eligible, coaches must be UPA Coach members.
While the primary focus of UPA Series events is team-oriented, these individual awards serve a number of important purposes. Many players put a great deal of time and energy into excelling at one or more aspects of Ultimate. Recognizing that excellence on an individual level serves not only to reward the individuals for their work, but also to highlight to other players the qualities that are important to the UPA and its membership, including hard work, skill, integrity, athleticism, leadership, or a combination of these characteristics. Individual awards also provide an excellent opportunity to develop characters and storylines within the sport and the UPA Series. These help create interest in Ultimate beyond the playing field, both as a service to the UPA membership and as a tool to help promote the sport and the organization to members and non-members, Ultimate players and non-Ultimate players alike.
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