USAU Men's Club Council Rep Voting

Each team gets one vote to elect their new Men's Club Council Representative. Voting closes Friday, October 28 at 5pm Eastern.



Nominated individuals include:



- Andrew Francis, current team: Bullet, & Bamasecs author

- Jack Hatchett, current team: Boston Ironside

- Grant Boyd, current team: Condors, & Exec Dir. of SCYU



The following are the candidates' statements:





Andrew Francis



My name is Andrew Francis, and I want to be your representative on the Club Divisions Athletes’ Council. I’ve worn just about every hat someone in the ultimate community can wear- player, tournament director, USAU volunteer coordinator/director, and media.

I want to be on the Council because I believe I have good ideas on how to move this division forward in a way that works for every player on every team. Rather than just talking about problems we see from behind a keyboard, I want to get involved in the actual decision making process that USA Ultimate has set up to give us a voice.

If you follow @bamasecs on twitter or have read the website over the last few years, you will know that I am not hesitant to criticize USAU when I don’t agree with their decisions. On the flip side, I will praise them when they do things I think will drive the sport forward. One thing I have always tried to make clear is that complaining without doing anything is useless. I became the SE College RD because I thought the college players deserved better communication from their region director, and a well-run post season.

As you can see below, I’ve played for multiple teams across the SE. I’ve been on teams that were happy to just make it to regionals, and I’ve been on teams that made the semis at club regionals in a multi-bid year. I am familiar with the wants, needs, and struggles of teams at every level of the club division.

Organizer History

• College team captain/president

• Tournament director of 6 different events

• USAU SE Men’s College Conference Coordinator 2013-2015

• USAU SE Men’s College Region Director 2016-current

• Editor/Tweeter of Bama Secs

College/Club Playing History

• 2008-2012: Mississippi State University

• 2010: Freaks Of Nature (Huntsville, AL)

• 2011-2012: Brah! (TN+MS+LA)

• 2013-2015: Southern Hospitality (AL+MS+LA)

• 2016: Bullet (GA)

The biggest areas of change that I would like to work with boil down to 2 things for the men’s division:

1. How do we make the Triple Crown Tour work for everyone:

a. The Pro/Elite teams that want the best competition and are willing to fly to multiple events, but don’t want to be forced to certain TCT mandated events

b. The up and coming Select teams that have the skills to play with those above them, but not the opportunity because of the tournament schedule.

c. The teams that overachieve and place higher than they expected and don’t want to have to commit to a full TCT schedule, but also don’t want to disband.

2. How do we make the club schedule work best in conjunction with the semi-pro leagues?

a. USAU’s “hands off/wait & see” policy is hurting the club regular season by limiting playing opportunities by those not on semi-pro teams. Club teams with pro links are playing less tournaments, especially early in the season, so they skip the regional events that lead to a lot of the Pro/Elite-Select/Classic crossover. This makes it harder for the rankings algorithm to work as more rankings bubbles form with limited tournament exposure.

There are also other things that I think should be on the table for discussion and community input:

1. 15 game minimum to qualify for a nationals strength bid, 10 games for regionals

2. Should roster limits come down? Do they need to stay the same across each division? I am generally in favor of a reduction down to 24, but more research is needed to assess impact.

3. Nationals format- I favor a return to power pools as it gives more teams more meaningful games, and reduces the chance at “fluke” champions

4. New/experimental rules should always be on the table for testing. This includes the conversation of “Is it ok to have different rules in Club that make the game harder compared to College/Youth?” I am in favor of seeing how double teams/subbing during time outs/etc would look in a club game.



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Jack Hatchett



Hi, I'm Jack Hatchett and I've played for Boston Ironside since 2011. If elected, I would do my best to represent the interests and opinions of men's division teams and players to the Club Working Group. One area of focus would be to strengthen communication channels between the representatives and players to ensure that all perspectives are heard, and also to encourage discussion and development of ideas to improve the division. Over the past few years I've had countless conversations with players throughout the division about the major issues discussed by the WG -- season schedule, nationals format, rules, guidelines, roster limits, and so on -- and I've been struck by the variety of perspectives and opinions. I would love the opportunity to foster discussion of these topics and develop solutions that work for the teams and players in the men's division.





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Grant Boyd



My name is Grant Boyd and I've been involved in USAU's Men's Club Division for the last 8 years. Having played for New York's PoNY (2009-2011) and the Santa Barbara / SoCal Condors (2012-present), I feel that I have a good perspective on teams that are in the hunt for Nationals and thus have to maximize their strategies to earn bids. Additionally, as the Condors' captain this year, I helped: navigate not being a "Top Select" team, manage competing "semi-pro" conflicts, and worked with USAU to approve a name change and the shuffling of local talent in our area. This is all to say I have a better idea than some as to how hard it can be to move up USAU Flights and the difficulties that stand in the way. I also run a series of clinics here in Los Angeles, CA (where I live) called Level Up, am a member of the local LAOUT Board, and am the Executive Director of Southern California Youth Ultimate (SCYU) - LA's first unified youth program. All of the preceding allow me a lot of opportunities to talk with players across divisions and of various ranking while continually figuring out how to raise the next generations of great club and recreational ultimate players. These efforts have also taught me how difficult it is to make everyone happy, how challenging it can be to change things due to existing policies, how exciting it is when you can make a difference, and how rewarding it is to work with like-minded and passionate people to achieve great things. Should I be elected I would embrace the opportunity to work with the Club WG, USAU directors and administrators, and all of the contributing members of the Club Men's Council while trying to speak up for those that aren't yet involved. I would relish the opportunity to help brainstorm and enact change specifically related to regular season schedule and requirements, Nationals format and size, and the fine-tuning of rules for the impending next edition.

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