What do we know about selecting an Executive Director for a large non-profit governing body? Essentially, nothing.

I can only imagine the difficulty in reaching out to a global marketplace and trying to find that single best person to fill a complicated role. Matching skills with future goals is hard enough, let alone trying to find a person that has all of the skills, and will work for your asking price.

In my discussions with UPA members and administrators, price is a major issue; people with the skills that we want as an ED are usually taking a step down, salary-wise, and they are doing it for love of the game or because the job is an especially good fit for them.

Sandie Hammerly was the longest standing ED in UPA history. She presided over a time of tremendous growth and massive increase in player numbers around the USA and beyond. She wasn’t perfect, and despite her success her harsh working style rankled with UPA administrators and members over many issues. Sandie was an iron fist, which is exactly what we were looking for when we found her. Coming from another sport, and with a history of leading non-profits with determination and a nose for protecting the organization’s rights, Sandie was the right choice to lead a UPA that was increasingly dealing with outside for-profit institutions that might otherwise have leaned too hard on the UPA at a cost to us all.

Before Sandie, Joey Gray was an excellent ED at developing bonds to the greater Ultimate community. Like, say, Mixed. But she wasn’t as well equipped to deal with hungry corporations, so when she was done we went looking for (and found) Sandie, who was ready to play tough. The gains we’ve made in the past 5 years cannot be ignored, nor can Sandie’s direct contributions to them. For every coach or team that didn’t get along with Sandie well, or every would be collaborator that was irked, there was a contract or negotiation that was handled professionally and resolutely. From Ben’s experience with CSTV broadcasts of the College Championships, it is clear that without Sandie the game would have been portrayed extremely poorly by a group of editors with little invested in the growth of the game. It was Sandie, by persistence and demanding perfection, that kept those broadcasts useful.

We are in the midst of our next ED search, and it remains to be seen what the UPA has determined are the most important criteria. Even with perfect criteria, there is no guarantee that a qualified individual with the right skills and the right price exists. Given the limitations (and understanding that priorities in these areas mean likely taking on weaknesses in other areas), we propose that the UPA focus on three main strengths.

Most important, to us, is finding an Advocate for the game. We want someone that can walk into a room and really sell Ultimate, both to outside parties and also to the players that have such a stake in the game. The biggest question here: Does this necessarily mean a present or former Ultimate player? We don’t think it is necessary, but non-insiders will need to be able to develop and portray a profound appreciation for the game. This is something that Sandie was never able to do as well as we wanted (keeping in mind that this was seriously de-prioritized when we were hiring at that time). We need a Salesperson.

Secondly, we need an ED that can consolidate the UPA’s view into media outlets. We want an ED that will talk to us. Website announcements, UPA newsletter articles, something…we feel that a major problem with the current state of the UPA is that most of the great things that are being done are almost totally secretive, unless you already know where to look. Did you know that a GrandMaster’s and Women’s Master’s tournament was held this past weekend, driven by the UPA (after intelligently taking up the momentum built up by other Master’s advocates)? Publicity is paramount, and as much as we need a great director we need someone to tell us where that direction lies. We need a Speaker.

Thirdly, we need to develop the UPA into an institution that can join the Ultimate players, coaches and developers around the country. Someone must be able to find a way to leverage the UPA’s resources (both financial and, perhaps more importantly, influential, computational and mechanical) to help the small groups around the nation…and world? As it stands, the UPA is an initial developer of programs. It could be more effective by broadening the tendrils of intelligent support for independent program developers, allowing the UPA to act as a meeting place, a coordinator, an administrator of people from different backgrounds and ideas to bring great ideas forward. We love the UPA Innovation Grants Program (as should be obvious, since we received a $750 grant for this site) but we want the UPA to be, at it’s heart, an Innovation Grant Collaboration. Where would we be without Rodney’s online tools or the NUTC camps or the UCPC or Ultivillage? Where is the next great idea, and when it comes out, will the UPA have a Director than can recognize and support its value? We need a Joiner.

In a perfect world, we take those three skills in a former player who loves the game, works tirelessly, speaks passionately, and wants to work for lift tickets in Colorado. Given that this is unlikely to be in large supply, we trust that our Board is looking for the best Director possible, and we wish Sandie Hammerly well and send our gratitude to her for her long and fruitful reign.

Partnering with a government sporting agency, a group of Ultimate players and administrators in Medellin, Colombia are hosting a tournament as the focal point of a two-week Ultimate event including camps, meetings, and team activities.

Interested in more information? Check out www.tepmedellin.com. Look for the small red buttons to the bottom right, especially for the link to Brochure.

Potlatch will be in full effect this weekend in Redmond, Washington, and I just wanted to say that I hope everyone has a great time, and that I hope more than a few people get a layout block on Ben.

I, unfortunately, will not be making it out this year. Sad, I know.

If you have a chance to, say hi to and thank a Huddle author. Their time and commitment to writing for the site makes it what it is. And if you have any ideas or input for the site, you can find Ben somewhere at the field. He’s the billy-goat looking one. With glasses.

Also, as we mentioned in our feature this week on Race In Ultimate, Downtown Brown will be opening up their circle to everyone for the very first time this year. Find the brown players wearing the orange, yellow, and brown, and say hi.

Lastly, check out this story from KUOW (NPR in Seattle). On The Conversation, Ross Reynolds interviews Bunny Bartram, DiscNW executive director about Potlatch. Near the end, in a moment that makes me proud, Bunny talks about “the coolest thing he ever saw at Potlatch:”

Well, last year there was team called Man Powered Submarine, and they in fact made a man powered submarine. And while it didn’t actually go under the water, they did in fact carry it eight miles down the trail to the park site to play at the tournament.

AWOOOGAH! So good luck to my team Man Powered Submarine, good luck to defending champs DropCop (née DropBull, née DropBear), and everyone have a great time. Wish I were there.

UPDATE
Ben here. A couple of notes on this year’s Potlatch:

1. This is probably the most competitive Potlatch ever, with Team USA/Canada, Jewbilation and Downtown Brown at full strength and with competitive rosters, a returning champ, a huge Seattle All-Star team called Wedding Party Diaper Sniper, not to mention Vagabonds from Oregon.

2. Man Powered Submarine versus Squid Squad. Showcase. Or not? Shhhhh…

3. DropCop, returning champs, is on a mission to save partying from those that do it poorly. To Protect and Serve Drinks. To make sure Potlatch happens again.

4. There have been Potlatch related parties starting last Friday, and tons of Potlatch related events in the last two or three days. Seattle always seems to be a little crazy, this is no exception (maybe the crazyiest I have ever felt it).

5. Last time the fourth fell on a Potlatch night was the year of the Flashflight Game in the midst of a fireworks show. That was a night that is still seered into my retinas (PS No fireworks on the field, please! As per Potlatch rules).

6. Potlatch is going to a no-under-18 model this year. For liability reasons? Too bad, but probably for the best. They are taking up a collection to benefit Seattle Youth Ultimate.

Eugene Solstice just wrapped up this weekend and saw Revolver and Fury winning the Elite and Women’s division respectively.

Rules
There were no funny rules or formats this year at Solstice. I got caught up with having a baby, coaching and work and fell down on the job. The format and rules were as vanilla as vanilla can get. Elite and Women’s were two pools that played into semifinals. Open and Coed used the ECC format (round robin into finals.)

Everyone I talked to expressed disappointment that I hadn’t cooked up anything interesting, so I immediately began planning for next year. Expect a couple interesting rules modifications, but the real excitement will be from a great new format!

Women’s
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Fury brought seven returners (of the twelve they are keeping,) four of whom are second-year players. Their median age has dropped from 31 to 25. Riot brought a team that is 100% turned over since the 2004 National Champion team. Zeitgeist, Traffic, Schwa, Slackjaw, Special Forces (Montana) and Underground (a new Seattle team, largely Viva plus UW) all brought teams in various states of upheaval. None of that mattered. Fury beat Riot in the final.

The final wasn’t particularly well played as both teams looked like they were finding their way toward an identity. There were lots of turnovers off of bad decisions and weird mistakes. They are clearly feeling their way toward functional offenses and the spacing on both sides looked murky and unsure. For Riot, Smalls, Alyssa and KK were putting up big throws in the absence of Jenn Willson, Gambler led the way on defense and Miranda seemed to be taking a step back to make room for her teammates. For Fury, Jodi Dozono was carrying a lot of weight for an otherwise young team, Slap and Georgia Bosscher (you read that right) were putting up big throws that were successful often enough. Fury put on an run to open the game and after the half, so that even when Riot made some noise and a run (using man in the first and zone in the second,) they were too far down to ever really threaten. It is a complete fail for me not to know the score, but I don’t. Since I am guessing, I’ll say 15-12 or 15-11.

Teams on the Up
Fury: Reload and keep shooting.
Zeitgeist: Handily beat the team ahead of them last year (Schwa)
Underground: Second team from Seattle: beat Traffic, challenged Riot, hung with Fury, made Semis.
Special Forces: Please play women’s instead of coed.

Even
Slackjaw: Beat Underground, challenged Traffic, coughed it up against Special Forces Sunday AM.
Riot: Made Finals. Lost to Fury.

Down
Traffic: Lost to Riot and Underground. That makes them 3rd in their section.
Scwha: Missing Chelsea (Team USA) and a team identity.

Elite
Revolver is for real. They handled everyone they played this weekend, beating them a variety of ways (pressure push against Rhino, blow out against the Monkey, punishing mistakes against the Fish.) Combining the mentally tough small ball Revolver has traditionally played with the three big, fast Coloradans (Beau, Mac and Martin) pushes this team over the top from Dark Horse to Short List.

The Fish have a lot of work to do. Their roster has gotten younger and younger in the last couple of years and they are very dependent on their youth to perform on defense. What I saw this weekend is not going to get it done. They failed to put away a scrappy Rhino team and pissed away their chances against Revolver. Their offense looked fine.

The finals was Revolver the whole way. They came out and capitalized on Sockeye mistakes and bad luck to go up 3-0. Sockeye’s offense finally got it together and the teams traded through half until 10-8. Sockeye got its first break when Skip scraped up a ridiculous lay-out grab to make it 10-9. Sockeye pulls, plays great d and forces a tough drop on the Revolver goal line. Then they drop the dump. 11-9. Revolver breaks them twice in a row to go up 13-9 game over. The teams trade again to a 15-11 final.

Both teams hucked a lot. Revolver hucking not just to Beau, but to their whole stable of little fast guys. Sockeye went to Ray Illian and BJ (both of UW) again and again. Final stats: Revolver offense: 11 of 12 and never really tested. Sockeye offense: 10 of 14 off of some silly mistakes and a 1 for 5 hucking day from Ben Wiggins. Revolver defense: 4 for 14 and a nice job of pressuring Sockeye into mistakes and punishing them for it. Sockeye defense: 1 for 12.

Teams on the Up
Revolver: Handled Sockeye in the final (and everyone else along the way.)
Rhino: Beat Furious to make Semis. Showed themselves to be legit, if a bit thin.
TFP Men: Half a coed team finished third in their pool, beating Voodoo?

Even
Furious: Typical Solstice. 80 screaming lab monkeys, Lugsdin in running shoes and a rumor of MG, Kirk and Shank playing in the fall.
YR/Shark: Played okay. Didn’t beat any big teams.

Down
Voodoo: Lost to half of a coed team and a non-practicing Portland team.
Sockeye: see above
Oregon Ultimate: Between Rhino, Portland and Ego (coed) there is enough talent to field a damn good team. Somebody please get it together!

Hi5 won the Open division and Manifest Destiny (from Eugene) won Coed.

Thanks to everyone who came and played. Enjoy your summer and good luck in the fall.

This year’s version of ECC is being helmed by Ben Wiggins, my partner in crime on The Huddle, and me. As things progress and we get closer to the tournament, we’ll have more and more updates and information here to fill you in. And, hopefully, once tournament time comes we’ll have plenty of live updates from the fields.

For now though, you can whet your world’s-best-tournament-appetite at the official Emerald City Classic website. There is info about tournament travel, sponsors, and schedules, and we have recently updated the near-finalized list of teams, save one Mixed team TBD and the questionable availability of a Scandinavian team.