Coordinators Home > College Coordinators Info > Regional Coordinators
First off, THANK YOU for volunteering to help run the Championship Series this year and for all you do as a UPA College Regional Coordinator! The Series truly could not happen without you, and because of your help, the UPA College Series will continue to be a much anticipated and enjoyed event in the Ultimate world. Please read through this guide to find all the info you'll need to do a great job. Have a great season!
Please take a look at the job descriptions below for a general overview.
Link to Sectional Coordinator Packet (This is what you will need to pass along to your Sectional Coordinators when you hire them. You should, of course, know what it is your SC's are doing so please make sure you are familiar with this and other SC information.)
Championship Series Organizational Structure
The organization of the UPA Championship Series is as follows:
In order to function effectively and efficiently it is important that we have a communication network. Coordinators play an essential role in this network. When working perfectly the system looks like this:
Players to Captains to Sectional Coordinators (SCs) to Regional Coordinators (RCs) to National Director (ND) to UPA HQ ( Championship Series Manager or Championship Director)
The system works the other way for disseminating information. Please try to stick with the communication structure. If you have a question or new information, go to the next person in the chain. It will help everyone be able to manage their time more effectively and help make sure all the right people are in the loop. If you feel like the structure is breaking down at some point, please contact the next person in the chain and let them know.
The UPA has an "alias" email system, which will be relied upon heavily for communication with you as a coordinator. The system allows us to publish a UPA-specific email address that will forward email directly to whichever personal email address you wish to use. Your email alias is listed by section and division on the UPA Contacts page. Write your National Director to make sure the alias is forwarding messages to your current email account. People call us all day asking who you are and when your events are taking place. It is very important that you keep HQ informed of any changes to your contact info (email, mailing address, phone). Please go to www.upa.org/members and use the online membership tool to make sure we have your current address in the database. We want to be able to get in touch with you when we are sending out membership information and gifts to our volunteers.
You can find other volunteer coordinator email addresses at Contacts page on the UPA website. The National College Director's email is upa_ncd@upa.org.
Championship Director
Will Deaver
will@hq.upa.org
800-UPA-GETH ext 114
Ultimate Players Association
4730 Table Mesa Drive, Suite J-200
Boulder, CO 80305
Championship Series Manager
Matthew Bourland
matthew@hq.upa.org
800-UPA-GETH ext 117
Ultimate Players Association
4730 Table Mesa Drive, Suite J-200
Boulder, CO 80305
It is important to both the organization and to you personally that it is clear when communicating publicly whether you are doing so as a private individual or in your capacity as a UPA coordinator. It is also important when you communicate as a UPA coordinator that you do so in a professional manner. The following guidelines are suggestions put forth by the UPA Board of Directors for public communication by UPA employees and volunteers.
www.upa.org/BOD/Internetposting
There are just a few things you need to focus on through the Fall and Winter months. Below is a checklist with those items. Following the checklist there is more detailed information about each item.
Recruiting Sectional Coordinators
As a Regional Coordinator, it is your responsibility to recruit and manage Sectional Coordinators for your region and division. All Sectional Coordinators should be in place by 1/15/08. Until each position is filled, you will be responsible for Sectional Coordinator duties for vacant coordinator positions. This means that the SC's email alias will be directed to you.
The position of Sectional Coordinator is one of the most important in the UPA. These coordinators are the organization's most direct line of communication with players and teams. They also handle all of the administrative and competition related issues for the beginning of the Series. For the Series to get off on the right foot, it is important to fill these positions early and with good, responsible people. Please make sure you use the "Questions to ask prospective UPA coordinators" document and the Sectional Coordinator job description when recruiting coordinators.
Please send new coordinator contact info (name, address, email, section/division) to your National Director before 1/15/08 or as soon as you fill the position. You will need to distribute the Sectional Coordinator packet to your SC's after you have them in place.
You will be sent a list of teams and team contacts for your region from the previous year's College Series. It is the Sectional Coordinator's responsibility to contact the teams in his/her section. You do not need to contact these teams unless you can't find a Sectional Coordinator. It is your responsibility to pass this team and contact information on to the appropriate coordinator along with the Sectional Coordinator packet.
Please email your National Director with information about your tournament dates and location. S/he will pass this information along so that it gets posted on the UPA College Series Calendar and Score Reporting Tool. It is very important that you keep everyone informed of any changes to your event dates/locations. The more we can get on the web, the easier it is for everyone. If you have a web page for your tournament, please enter the URL into the Score Reporting Tool for your event.
Tournament Hosting (Logistical Guidelines and Requirements)
You are in charge (within UPA guidelines) of all aspects of competition, site selection, date selection, logistics, communication with your teams, captains' meeting, format/schedule, field setup, etc. However, this does NOT mean you need to run the tournament by yourself—in fact, you should not! Get help, you will need it and you deserve it. You should attempt to find a Tournament Director to be in charge of the site setup and tournament logistics. Touch base with a local Ultimate league or organization in your area to see if they are interested in hosting the event. You may even solicit bids from various sites in your region and choose the one you think will provide the best tournament. If you have a TD handling fields/facilities, please pass along the relevant information about UPA tournament requirements. And remember, you are still in charge of making sure all competition aspects are within UPA standards—it is your responsibility to make sure games are on time, played to the correct points, capped well before dark, etc. (Sunset Times)
Pre-Tournament Payment Deadlines
(Note: This is different than the UPA registration deadlines.)
In order to facilitate pre-tournament planning, UPA Coordinators (in conjunction with Tournament Directors) are encouraged to impose a deadline by which teams must decide whether they will attend the tournament. This deadline may be associated with submission of a tournament entry fee, as determined by the coordinator. Tournament Directors may keep entry fees from teams that pull out of the tournament beyond a certain date provided that date (it cannot be before the UPA registration deadline, for instance) and the fee are reasonable, were approved by the event's UPA coordinator, and were communicated by the TD or coordinator to the teams ahead of time (coordinators are to put the approved deadline on the event's Score Reporting Tool page). Any deadline that would restrict access to the tournament for teams that would otherwise be considered eligible must be announced well in advance and must be approved by the National Director.
Please remember that although you are a valued UPA volunteer, you are not an officer or director of the UPA and therefore have no authority to bind the UPA in a corporate or any other capacity. Therefore, when you execute contracts or agreements with site owners, vendors and other parties providing services for your tournament, these must be executed in your individual capacity and not on behalf of the UPA. This is why it is usually desirable to find a host organization that can sign contracts on behalf of the event.
As a UPA coordinator running a UPA event, you and the field site are covered by default by the UPA's general liability insurance policy. Please read over the policy description so that you know what is covered and what is not. If you need proof of general liability insurance to reserve fields or need any other organizers specifically covered, please submit the following form to Matthew Bourland at UPA HQ (matthew@hq.upa.org) at least 2 weeks before your event.
Series Insurance Application (electronic form)
Amenities (required and recommended)
Required:
- Fields
- Medical Requirements met
- Access to water
- Access to restroom facilities
Recommended but not required:
- Lined fields
- Shelter
- Food (bagels, oranges, etc.) for participants
- Tournament programs
- Other elements that add quality to the event
It is required that you have a medical plan in place for your tournament as outlined below. For smaller events, this should save money by not requiring an Athletic Trainer on site.
Events with fewer than eight fields AND <10 minute response time for emergency services:
Events with eight or more fields OR >10 minute response time for emergency services
Contact UPA HQ (matthew@hq.upa.org) about the discounted disc program. UPA designs are available for Sectional and Regional tournaments. These discs will be available for purchase by your tournament at highly discounted rates. You may do whatever you want with them... sell them at the tournament to supplement the budget, use them as prizes or game discs, or just give them away. It's a good opportunity, and it's up to you. An email will be sent out before the Series to assess demand for these discs.
You should always be aware of and ready for the impact that bad weather might have on your event. Does your area consistently have bad weather around the time of your event? Will the fields be available if it rains/snows a lot? What will you do if the weather looks bad enough to cancel your event? How do you handle inclement weather that comes during the event? Following are some tips and important safety information regarding weather and your event.
Lightning can be a significant threat to the safety of participants in outdoor athletic events like Ultimate. The odds of being struck by lightning are significantly reduced when proper safety precautions are taken. The following link contains procedural guidelines that should be followed by UPA coordinators at their events in order to reduce the likelihood of lightning related injuries. (UPA Lightning Guidelines)
Different areas of the country experience a variety of weather conditions. The lightning guidelines are safety precautions meant to apply generally to all outdoor venues. If you believe these guidelines are not applicable to the area of the country where your event will be held, you must inform the UPA Championship Director; supply an alternative, documented set of guidelines; and receive approval to use those standards instead of (or in addition to) the UPA Lightning Guidelines.
Please read the 2008 College Series Guidelines online. You need to know and refer to these guidelines for much of the detailed Administrative and Competition related information on the Series. You should be familiar with all of this information, or at least know where to look to get the answers to questions.
This section covers how a College Regional Coordinator handles UPA administrative, competition, and conduct issues related to the College Series. The season is almost under way, and with it the excitement is building. Read on to find out about the pivotal part you get to play in making the UPA College Series the most exciting and anticipated Ultimate event of the year.
You need to be familiar with, communicate, and help enforce registration deadlines. These deadlines are helping the UPA become a more effective organization and should make your job the morning of the tournament much easier by reducing the paperwork you have to deal with. Please refer to the 2008 College Series Guidelines for more details on the deadlines and other player and team requirements.
Please review the online rostering section of the Rostering 101 instructions for details on the new online rostering system. Also, please note in the 2008 Series Guidelines Team Info instructions that online rostering is now a requirement for registration. The system will allow you to check team and player registration status via the website prior to your event.The following documents will be of use to you and the teams. (The forms are all available online.) Please be familiar with all of these documents and be able to tell teams and players where to find them.
Adobe Acrobat Reader must be used to read the PDF files (registrar instructions, waivers). You may need to assist teams in getting this information.
The Rostering 101 document is a useful guide for teams who need step-by-step directions for rostering.
Most teams should be done with paperwork by the time they reach Regionals, helping both you and them concentrate on the fun, competitive aspects of the tournament. Before Regionals you should access the online rostering system to get information about the teams registered for your event, including which rosters have been certified by HQ, who is on each team, whether they are eligible to play, whether they are current members, and whether they have a valid waiver on file. Ideally, everyone took care of this stuff at Sectionals, but realistically we know that you will need to collect some or all of the following items from players before they are allowed to play:
And remember these helpful hints:
Checking UPA Memberships and Waivers
Any player that is not indicated on the roster report as being a current UPA member must pay dues before playing or prove they are current with one of the following:
If a player can't prove membership via the roster report or one of the above methods, s/he must pay dues. We will issue refunds if necessary. (Have the player contact HQ after the event.)
Note that only the roster report and printout of the online account information will indicate whether a waiver is on file. If a player cannot prove they have a waiver through either of these methods, they will need to fill out another.
You will need to send all information that you do collect at the tournament to HQ the day after your tournament - this is extremely important. (This means MONDAY!) Please use overnight delivery or other express service so that we can process this information before the next level of competition. Tournament fees should be used to cover costs of mailing post-tournament information. Any problems with players' status after Regionals will be dealt with primarily by HQ, but you may be asked to help track down teams or players.
Using the Score Reporting Tool
The UPA has a great online Score Reporting Tool. It can serve as a basic tournament website to communicate pre-event info, set up your event format and schedule, report game scores, and post event write-ups after your tournament is over. It's also tied directly into the UPA Ranking system, so you don't have to enter scores anywhere twice. If you have a tournament website, you can link directly to your UPA Series event on the reporting tool instead of creating a separate schedule for teams. You can even print out formats and schedules. Rather than creating the format yourself, be sure to use the "import format" feature of the Score Reporting Tool to ensure that the correct format is being used. Thanks to Rodney Jacobson for developing this tool and helping integrate it into the UPA system.
HQ will set up your event for you on the reporting tool before the tournament, although you will need to report your scores the night of, or at the latest, the morning after your event ends. You will also need to provide a Final Rankings list, and if you want, you can add a write-up for the fans!
Read the instructions for how to use this system at www.upa.org/scorereporting/instructions.shtml.
You are responsible for knowing and communicating UPA competition guidelines for your Event. Much of this information is available in the 2008 UPA College Series Guidelines. Additional information and clarification on competition issues can be found in the following sections.
Sectional Crossovers and Boundary Issues
You are not required to run a Division II regional tournament, even if any of the sections in your region are holding a Division II Sectionals. You should communicate as early as possible with your Sectional Coordinators about the possibility of their holding a Division II tournament. Refer to the 2008 College Series Guidelines (Sectionals) and the Sectional Coordinator online training packet for more information on Division II events. If you do choose to have a Division II Regionals, team qualification criteria are the same as those applicable for Division I. This includes application of the bid allocation formula, seeding standards, and use of the appropriate Series format. Deviations from these standards may only occur with the approval of the National Director. Work with your Regional tournament director to coordinate space and other logistical requirements.
Remember, teams that compete in Division II Sectionals are NOT eligible to advance to Division I Regionals. Similarly, teams that compete in Division II Regionals are NOT eligible to advance to the College Championships.
Regional coordinators must approve sectional tournament formats. This is partly to make sure an approved format is used, and partly to protect coordinators from accusations or the appearance of bias. Sectionals tournaments may use any of the approved formats in the Champ Series Tournament Formats Manual. The formats in the manual are well laid out and thought out. All you have to do is fill in the blanks. If you wish to use a format not in the manual, you must get approval from the National Director at least 10 days before the tournament. Make it clear to Tournament Directors that changes to the format are not an option at the event. If something occurs at the event that requires a change to the format, contact the National Director to make sure everything is okay.
The National Division Director must approve your regional format. This is partly to make sure an approved format is used, and partly to protect coordinators from accusations or the appearance of bias. Regionals tournaments may use any of the approved formats in the Champ Series Tournament Formats Manual.
Placement games must be scheduled for teams that are eliminated from contention for bids to the College Championships.
Game caps may be implemented by the Event Organizer (UPA coordinator) in accordance with the 11th Edition Rules, based on tournament logistical requirements. Here are some guidelines for how to implement game caps at your event:
Refer to the 2008 College Series Guidelines for this information.
Please refer to the forfeit rule in the Series Guidelines. There are three primary reasons for this rule. One is to reduce the likelihood of competitive advantages being gained or lost due to teams not playing scheduled games. The second is to reduce the likelihood of a team backing out of a game when the opponent wants to play. And the third is to encourage more Ultimate within the UPA Series structure, which creates excitement and further enhances the legitimacy of the competition. The only situations in which forfeitures are permitted are outlined on page 8 of the Formats Manual.
You will be the person responsible for communicating and enforcing these rules at the event, and the person who may grant exceptions in cases where you feel a team's actions were beyond their control. Please keep in mind the ramifications of any forfeits in the context of the reasons listed above. Encourage teams to play all scheduled games. Keep in mind that you do have the leeway to allow forfeits if the competition is not adversely affected and if you feel that circumstances are beyond the control of the forfeiting team. This is most likely to happen early in the tournament due to travel difficulties, or late in the tournament during placement games. Use your best judgment and be prepared to defend your decision to the National Director.
Suspended Games
If a game has to be suspended because of weather, lack of light, or other issues, use the following guidelines for resuming play at a later time.
Refer to the Rules section in the Series Guidelines.
Refer to the Observers and Rules sections in the Series Guidelines.
These are available in the Champ Series Tournament Formats Manual under the section entitled "Basic Theories of Tournament Scheduling."
You are the UPA authority at your event and as such have the responsibility for handling issues in a professional manner consistent with UPA policy. These guidelines should help you achieve positive resolutions to problems that may come your way and will help the UPA continue to be a responsible and responsive organization.
Administrative/Competition Issues
If a team or player is guilty of a roster violation (e.g., participation of ineligible players, roster fraud, etc.), that player and/or team may be disqualified at the discretion of the event's UPA coordinator. The coordinator, team, or player should take appeals for further action in these circumstances to the National Director. When dealing with the potential diqualification of a player or team, contact the next coordinator up the chain to get additional input before proceeding.
You should read and be familiar with the Conduct Policy of the UPA and the Code of Conduct expected for UPA events. As your event's UPA Coordinator, you are an Acting Disciplinary Authority for your event. This role is defined in theConduct Policy and is summarized below.
The Acting Disciplinary Authority may be a tournament director, a Tournament Rules Group ("TRG"), a certified Observer, a Sectional or Regional Coordinator, a National Director, a member of Administration performing his/her duties in some specific capacity, an officer or agent of the UPA, or some other UPA-appointed individual or group. An Acting Disciplinary Authority may, as necessary, impose sanctions or penalties for violations of the Code of Conduct. For example, a tournament director has the authority to eject a violent player from a tournament. More than one Acting Disciplinary Authority may have jurisdiction over an event. If there is more than one Acting Disciplinary Authority, it is advisable to form a Tournament Rules Group comprised of those individuals and possibly including a player representative.
An Acting Disciplinary Authority may impose sanctions as necessary to run the event in accordance with UPA policies. Such sanctions may include, but are not limited to, ejection of a team or player from a game or tournament or assessment of points against a team.
All UPA Sectional and Regional events are covered by the UPA's general liability insurance policy. This covers the organization and you as a UPA coordinator. You must print out several copies of the Incident Report Form and Instructions and bring them to the tournament.
Please read the instruction sheet so that you will know what to do in case of "an event that has or may result in property damage or traumatically induced bodily injury." In layman's terms, this is what you do if there's a chance someone could file an insurance claim because the fields or other property is damaged, or because someone gets hurt on or off the field. You will need to report the incident directly to the insurance company, as outlined in the instructions. Please mail a copy of any incident reports to UPA HQ as well. (You can include them with the other materials you mail to HQ.)
Pre-season Responsibilities:
Pre-tournament Responsibilities:
Tournament responsibilities:
After the tournament:
Thanks again for volunteering for the UPA and the sport of Ultimate! The incredible event that is the UPA College Series couldn't happen without you. Good luck with the season. Please work with your National Director and your fellow coordinators to resolve any questions/issues with your event or teams. Or contact Will Deaver (will@hq.upa.org) or Matthew Bourland (matthew@hq.upa.org) at 1-800-UPA-GETH.
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