Attached:
The Community Connections Form
The USAU Medical Form
(I need both of those filled out and returned to me in hard-copy)
February 20th, 2014
Dear Ultimate Frisbee Parents/Guardians,
The students are so eager for the Ultimate Frisbee season to start, and honestly, so am I, which is why I'm already writing this letter to you in February.
First a little news. While we've lost our beloved Dave Bennett, many people have stepped forward to volunteer their help. And good thing, too(!), because we're restructuring the program this season. Instead of a Mixed A Team and a Mixed B Team, we'll be separating out into what we're calling Varsity Boys, Varsity Girls, and Mixed JV. This season we'll also be playing mostly teams within our “Region”, which includes St. Johnsbury Academy, Lyndon Institute, BFA Fairfax, Spaulding, and ourselves. Each of these other schools also plans to have a Varsity Boys, Varsity Girls, and a Mixed JV Team, so that every time we travel or they come here all three teams will have someone to play!
Nolan Benoit, who worked with the girl's team last year will be our Varsity Girl's head coach, and Olivia DeJohn will be the head coach for the Mixed JV Team. I know that Nolan and Olivia are both really excited for the season and I'm so thankful for their help. Also helping out again as volunteers, will be Leah Fury, Bill Magill, Sean Prentiss, and Aly Johnson-Kurts.
The other big piece of news is that just a couple weeks ago a gathering of high school Ultimate coaches and players presented to the Vermont Principal's Association to ask them to sanction Ultimate as a state-wide varsity sport. They approved our request, which means we now go into a two year “exhibition period” and if we have nine schools that fund Ultimate in their school budgets at that point, and all the other details of compatibility have gone well, then we'll be the first state in the country to make Ultimate Frisbee an officially recognized varsity sport! This is a huge step for us, and I'm so thankful for the participation of Julian Kelly, Alex Stetter, Ian Browning, and Kia Hanron in that presentation!
Transportation: This year we have a more complete budget through Community Connections (and next year through MHS), in which we accounted for bussing to our games on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Two events may be tricky to cover: the St. Johnsbury Invitational and States. While parents are certainly encouraged to drive to each of these events, I believe between the coaches and coaching assistants, we should have all the drivers we need. If you plan on coming anyway to either of these events it would be good to know, for the purposes of our planning.
Paperwork:
Since this year we are still funded through Community Connections, we'll need every student to fill out a Community Connections health form (attached to this sheet), even if they did one last year.
The VPA hasn't taken over yet, and until they do we'll still need students to be members of USAUltimate at http://www.usaultimate.org/.
-If your student is new to Ultimate: Your student will need to set up a USAUltimate account. It may take 24hrs for their database to assign your student's account a number, so when you can't proceed right away that's probably why. I'll need to get that USAU number from your student – an email is probably the easiest way to let me know. Having a “current” account costs $35 (I think), they'll need to sign a waiver online, and they need to fill out the youth medical form (attached to this sheet) and give it back to me.
-If your student played Ultimate at MHS last year: Chances are I have your student's USAU number, but if I don't I'll let them know on a case-by-case basis. Regardless, your student will need to to re-up their account (this costs something like $35 and you'll need to sign a waiver online), and they'll need to fill out a youth medical form (attached to this sheet). Lots of the information may be the same as the Community Connections form, but I still need both. If the $35 is a hardship, please let us know because we do have scholarship money available.
Shirts: While your student could simply borrow a jersey for the season, with a $20 deposit, students may also buy their jerseys. This year jerseys will cost $35. Checks may be payable to Community Connections, put Ultimate Jersey in the memo line.
We plan on camping again this year for the St. Johnsbury Invitational and so we may ask families to help out with the camping fees, and students should also bring money for snacks for that event, but we'll send along another letter as that time gets closer.
Important Dates
Spring Sports Parent Meeting: March 19th at 6pm at MHS. This will be an opportunity for parents to get their student's paperwork and memberships up to date.
Tryout Dates
For Boys: 6pm-7:30pm March 10-11, 13-14, 17-18, and 20. Please make at least three of those dates.
For Girls: TBD
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