January 2012

UPLA Prez Corner

To get closer to dedicated Ultimate Fields in Austin, UPLA needs your help!  We need you the weekend of March 3rd from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at It's My Park Day.  Many of you have said dedicated fields is important to you.  Now is the time!

In last month’s Prez Corner, I shared with you my vision for obtaining dedicated Ultimate fields.  To my delight and amazement within 24 hours many people clamored to my aide.  I heard from Chris "Splat" Sebilia, who after a chance meeting with a member of the Austin Parks Foundation (“APF”) was able to arrange a meeting for us with the head of the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department.

About a month later, Splat and I were able to meet with not only Rich DePalma, a member of the APF, but also with Ralph Webster, the APF President.  Ralph was up front that we had a hard road ahead of us, but anything is possible.  Rich was more reassuring that the UPLA vision for fields would find a way (in the spirit of full disclosure, Rich is responsible for partnerships with APF) but confident we could make this a reality one way or another.

The first momentus step towards our goal will be a $1,000 donation from UPLA to APF.  This donation will make UPLA an APF partner and give us the opportunity to get our name and logo out there.  The next step would be to participate in a clean-up-the-parks event on the weekend of March 3rd.  We would probably not be assigned to the park we might one day adopt, (it's too early for that), but rather simply to one that needs a good cleaning.  Regardless, this will be a great way to show we're serious about dedicating a park to Ultimate and provide a show of good faith at this early stage of our relationship.  Subsequent steps will involve working with APF and the City to figure out how to match-up UPLA's needs to existing underutilized park space.  Then, we'll begin the work of grants, fundraising and physical improvements.

Thank you all for your feedback over the last month.  Your ongoing support and shared vision of a dedicated Ultimate field in Austin will lead us to success. We may not know how many steps there are in this journey, but we are taking the first big one...and we're ready for the next few.  Thank you also for trusting UPLA to work towards this goal on your behalf.  I will look forward to seeing you March 3rd on “It’s My Park Day,” and even playing on our own dedicated ultimate fields soon.

Thanks,

Big Paul