Julia Dunn spoke to some of the women involved in the All-Star Ultimate Tour to discuss the effects the Tour is having on women and Women’s Ultimate around the world.

Fifteen female athletes from all parts of the United States, Japan, Canada and Australia recently undertook a trip of a lifetime, travelling over 4500 miles to play nine elite club teams in cities across the United States. The All-Star Ultimate Tour just wrapped up its second year after being founded to address the gender gap in media coverage, and has the goal of promoting the visibility of women in Ultimate. The women who made the Tour, selected based on an application, were the leaders on their respective college teams, played each other as adversaries on the field, and came together to showcase elite Women’s Ultimate. This project forms one of the many initiatives to promote Women’s Ultimate in the world, and has given female Ultimate players around the world a set of role models.



Qxhna Titcomb, the founder of the All-Star Ultimate Tour and co-owner of Five Ultimate, organised and played simultaneously in 2015. The Tour started as a result of the increased media coverage of men in the professional leagues in the US, which suddenly gave women fewer playing opportunities. A beautifully made documentary came out in June that covered the journey of the team, and started a lot of conversations about the gender inequality in Ultimate.

“It’s kind of the first piece of media of its kind in our community,” said Titcomb. “[The focus is on] how sports are an avenue for life or reflection of life in some ways, and how it empowers us to create change.” Past documentaries, like Black Tide and Chasing Sarasota, focused on the play, the score, and the athletes. The All-Star film focuses more on the context and the impact of the Tour, and demonstrates the pure athleticism and skill along with the challenges that female Ultimate players face.

This year, after firmly establishing the Tour in people’s minds, she aimed to make change through the width of the coverage – hitting a lot of people in a short amount of time – by visiting two new cities and expanding media coverage. In addition, Titcomb aimed to increase the depth of impact – influencing a small amount of people in a large way – by hosting clinics for girls in the area to learn from inspiring role models. “If you’re trying to change, you need both width and depth in order to get the whole surface area,” she explained.