Our Vision & Mission

Ann Arbor Ultimate (A2U) strives to form a socially welcoming community that values spirit and learning for players of all identities and experiences. To these ends, A2U provides consistent and accessible playing options, as well as social events, learning opportunities, and community support.

Breaking Down Our Vision and Mission

Socially Welcoming Community

• We want all players to feel included both on and off the field
• We emphasize welcoming players that are new to the area and/or new to the sport
• We strive to designate a post-game hang-out location for players to socialize with their team and other teams and/or encourage an end of league social gathering
• We allow players to join in groups of 2-3 so that they can join with a friend/carpool buddy
• We encourage parents to bring their children to watch from the sidelines
• We generate new teams each season and keep baggage groups small to avoid the formation of cliques
• We have division and team email lists as well as a Facebook page to encourage inter/intra-team communication

Spirit and Learning

• We put spirit first and prioritize all players having a good experience over “winning,” which means we do not emphasize standings; if we announce any end of season winner, it will be a spirit winner
• We sponsor clinics in order to help players improve their abilities
• We believe that regardless of where players fall in the spectrum of experiences, they should feel encouraged to grow and learn in the league setting
• We support involved players to also grow their leadership skills through captaining, which is supported with a pre-season captain meeting/training
• We value learning about ourselves as an organization and regularly provide opportunities for feedback in the form of surveys after each league

All Identities and Experiences

• We recognize that players come to our league from a wide variety of backgrounds and we strive to be aware of the different desires and needs of our constituents
• We welcome players of all race, gender, sexual orientation, level of ultimate experience, and age (minimum age for adult divisions is 15).
• We encourage players to sign up as the gender by which they identify (please see our Gender Inclusion Policy)
• We offer a variety of formats and opportunities to target various groups in our community (e.g. competitive, mixed, womens, hat tournaments)
• We expect our players to be respectful and to value each other’s safety on the field

Consistent and Accessible

• We aim to provide a consistent quality of positive experience in all the ways that we operate as an organization
• We offer multiple playing options throughout the year and while we may adjust leagues or tournaments to improve them, we generally aim to maintain the same structure so that you know what to expect from league
• We are committed to keeping our leagues affordable and limiting cost as a barrier to entry in our community
• We recognize that distance to fields may be a barrier to some members and strive to avoid that by encouraging carpooling

Community Support

• We welcome collaborations with other ultimate organizations in the area, whether it is other leagues, club teams, college teams, or youth teams
• We are happy to promote other organizations’ ultimate opportunities that align with our mission and vision and to consider other types of organizational or financial support when applicable

Last Updated: December 17th, 2022