Violence in Israel and Gaza is back in the news again. The conflict seems endless, and it’s left me feeling painfully aware of the futility of violence to resolve the tensions.

When I was fourteen, I was drawn to Ultimate first by its unique ideas about sportsmanship. I play at a very different level today, but I find it’s still true: by playing Ultimate, I’ve learned respect my opponent more deeply. It may not always work perfectly but, in the end, Ultimate brings me together with my opponent.

See the connection?

In the past year, a group of Ultimate players—men and women on clubs from across the country—have formed an organization called Ultimate Peace. In April, we will be traveling to Israel to run an Ultimate clinic for disadvantaged youth from Palestinian and Israel. We’ll be teaching them to play Ultimate, helping to organize and coach cross-cultural teams at a tournament during our stay, and traveling back to their communities to promote the growth of the sport and its ideals.

Will it fix the Middle East? It would be naïve to think so. But, to me, it is important to do something in the world. I only have the skills that I have—and so we are trying to do our little piece, applying our knowledge and love of Ultimate to the conflict.

This is, as you might have guessed, an attempt to raise money—the clinic and the trip will be expensive, and we’re trying to defray the costs before April. But if you’re reading this blog, it’s because you believe that Ultimate is special and that makes you our target audience.

If you are able to support us financially, you can do so at UltimatePeace.org/Donate. We are relying on grassroots support to make this trip possible; any level of donation makes a difference for our trip. Or, if you’d just like to learn more, please visit our website at UltimatePeace.org.

If you’re still not convinced, you’ll find a video below that was produced by the Peres Center for Peace (our partner in organizing the clinics). It’s a little slow to begin with, and it uses soccer instead of Ultimate to make the point, but just think about the next one highlighting Ultimate.

Jan 17th, Boulder, CO—This past Sunday I headed off to the annual Member’s Meeting. I had been warned that might be the only member there. The predictions were correct. I was the only UPA member there. In front of a horseshoe-shaped tabled lined with Board Members and UPA Staff I faced over a dozen set of eyes focused singularly on me. After the meeting I was told that I was the first member to show up to the meeting in two or three years.

I found the experience both productive and educational—maybe because I was the only member there and commanded the attention of the Board for the entire hour. In-depth we explored topics ranging from communication, the Strategic Plan, College Ultimate restructuring, and a few other odds and ends.

We began by talking about communication between the UPA and the membership. I contended that the inner-workings of the UPA, the status of projects, and rationale for major decisions are largely a mystery, and that the UPA should provide a more transparent and open approach to communication.

After much debate about the level and amount of status updates and the types of decisions that rationale may or may not be needed for, we came to understanding that perhaps it would be a good idea if on a monthly or quarterly basis, the UPA would update a page on their website that details what each department of the administration would be working on, what committees and task-forces would be meeting, and what the business of the Board of Directors would be.

To me, this sounds like a great idea and I hope it happens, but there was concern over the mandate for such a proposal. It was mentioned that if it was an idea that 10-20% of the membership was interested in pursuing, they would be enthusiastic about making that happen. You can contact your Board representative and let them know what you think.

We moved on, discussing the status of the Strategic Plan that the Board adopted last year. A full report is due out in the next two weeks, but Henry Thorne mentioned that 90% of the Year 1 objectives were met. I think this is an astounding update, and is made even more so by the fact that most, if not all, of that work was done exclusively between July and December, as the UPA was working on hiring staff in the first half of 2008. I applaud their work and look forward to seeing exactly what was accomplished in the upcoming report.

Pivoting from what had been already accomplished to what is planned on being accomplished, we had an interesting discussion about what the future priorities of the Strategic Plan are and what the possibilities for releasing a timeline are. Up to this point, the UPA has been hesitant to set member expectations then be unable to meet them. I told the Board that I thought it was unfair to accept that they release a plan with 47 tactics and that they would all be completed by 2012 and leave it at that. Without any sort of expectations for what is being planned or worked on currently, it can look like nothing is happening. Which is in fact untrue, but that can be the perception.

We debated how far off into the future and to the extent of which a report would outline the upcoming actions on the Strategic Plan. Melanie Byrd, Membership and Outreach Manager, suggested that along with publishing a yearly report on the preceding year that the UPA produce a document outlining the following year’s goals. I think this is an excellent idea, one that I hope is adopted soon. We’ll have to wait and see though.

Our attention shifted to the College Restructuring Plan. I asked about the immediate changes for the 2009 Series, and the Board informed me that they would be issuing a press release in two days (not yet published as of press-time) outlining the 2009 changes. Peri also mentioned that over the next few months the UPA would be making announcements regarding the more long term changes to the College Series.

Our final topic of discussion concerned the Club strength bid rules and if anything had been acted upon or changed since last October. The Board informed me that nothing had and that nothing likely would unless there was a feasible solution that could be acted upon quickly. The plans for Club Series reform are further down the road and this issue will surely be addressed then, but if anyone had an idea or solution that could be implemented within the existing framework, then the UPA would be able to act immediately.

So if anyone has a solution to offer for the way regions with three teams and strength bids are dealt with, they should contact Championship Director Will Deaver. You can find out more about the issue in a report the Competition Committee published earlier this month.

The entire Board was gracious and receptive. They made note that they are enacting policies for Board Members to communicate directly with their constituents more, but encouraged members to directly contact them with any questions or comments they had.

If I’m still in the area, or if I have the means to make it back, I’ll surely be at 2010’s Member’s Meeting. It was a tremendous opportunity to meet these people who have volunteered their time and dedicated their efforts to ensure Ultimate is on the right track. I think it is important that the membership be more active and more vocal about their needs and desires, because without our opinions and ideas they have little to work from. After all, it is the Ultimate Players Association.

In the next weeks we can look forward to reports on the Strategic Plan and College Restructuring, as well as the minutes of the weekend’s meetings. Also of note, along with Peri Kurshan assuming the Presidency of the Board, David Lionetti is the new Vice President, Seth Grossinger is the new Treasurer, and Joshua Seamon is the new Secretary.