Youth

Youth Ultimate in Austin is growing by leaps and bounds or maybe we should say by hucks and hammers. UPLA is leading the way in supporting youth Ultimate in Austin by hosting 2 major high school tournaments each year, by providing a high school and middle school spring league with a middle school tournament, and by hosting USAU sanctioned youth clinics as well as USAU sanctioned coaching clinics for youth coaches. The result is a huge growth in the number of youth players participating in Ultimate in the Austin area. The benefit will hopefully be a larger Ultimate community for the future.

UPLA is proud to be the host of the 2 premier Texas High School Tournaments. The Texas Fall High School Tournament is the kickoff, or Pull in this case, of the high school Ultimate season. Its purpose is to introduce all of the Texas teams interested in competing in the coming school year and to set the preliminary seeding for the Texas High School Ultimate Championship held in the spring. The 2011 Fall Tournament was a USAU sanctioned event with 12 teams from across the state competing in a one day six game tournament.

UPLA also host the USA Ultimate State High School Ultimate Championship held each spring in Round Rock Texas. This tournament is part of the USAU High School National Championship series and the participants are qualified to advance on to one of the National Championship Tournaments. The 2011 State Championship had 14 teams and introduced Texas as an official USAU sanctioned state.

UPLA's 2012 Spring League will introduce a high school division to its format. Six teams will play two games once a week over a six week schedule. This league will host clinics run by Austin's elite adult players to help develop and teach Ultimate to both new and advanced youth players. Middle School will also play an interschool format finishing with an end of the season tournament.

Youth Ultimate in Austin has also seen the emergence of a Youth Club Team. The youth club team is a culmination of the best of the best players from area high schools and its goal is to field a team of the best youth players from the Austin area to play in competitive Ultimate tournaments. The youth club team made its debut in the 2011 Sectionals Open division with a 3-3 record and at the 2011 Celebracion del Espiritu tournament with a 4-2 record.

The Austin Ultimate community has really come together to support youth Ultimate and the result is a better, stronger, larger group of Ultimate players participating in the sport. If you would like more information about youth Ultimate in Austin and or to learn how your team can participate in youth events, please contact the UPLA Youth Director at youthdirector at AustinUltimate dot org.