Board of Directors

The Board’s role is summarised as follows:

• Determine UK Ultimate’s mission and purpose
• Determine and monitor UK Ultimate’s activities and services – ensure that appropriate practices and policies are in place
• Appoint, support and review the performance of the CEO/Administrator
• Ensure the availability of adequate resources, approve annual budgets
• Enhance the public image of both the sport and the organisation
• Serve as a Court of Appeal
• Assess its own performance and account to the members for the organisation’s performance

There are up to eight elected positions on the Board as follows:

Chair:

The chairperson is responsible for leading the Board:

• Ensure regular board meetings/calls occur
• Chair board meetings – and support/encourage activity and discussion between meetings
• Ensure Board meetings are effective
• Support, advise and manage the CEO/Administrator
• Member of Remuneration committee

Treasurer
The Treasurer has overall responsibility for all UKU finances and budgets.  In particular the Treasurer should work with the CEO/Administrator to:

• Supervise accounting
• Authorise payment of UKU bills
• Ensure tax obligations are met
• Ensure UKU accounts are independently audited
• Chair Remuneration committee
• Member of Grants committee

 

Director of Competitions (DoC)
The DoC is responsible for planning the UK ultimate events calendar across all divisions and for coordinating all UKU events and the associated rules – including ensuring we have a clear strategy for the ongoing evolution of the national competition structure.
These activities should be done by leading two key groups of volunteers:

• UKU Tournament Bids Committee
• UKU Competitions Committee

The Director of Competitions’ role is to lead these groups to deliver “the calendar”, the UKU competition rules and the UKU competition structure.

 

University Coordinator
The Uni-Coordinator is elected by University Members annually in the Summer and is responsible for University Competitions and promotion of student ultimate.  The role includes:

• Chairing the Uni Coordinators Committee
• Answering queries from student players
• Ensuring AGM and e-AGM take place
• Attend and chair AGM

 

Director for Junior Ultimate
One member of the Board is required to be or become an active member of the Junior Ultimate committee in order to ensure we maintain good communication between the Board and the Junior committee.  This role include:

• Ensuring that the organisation continues to review and improve its approach to Safeguarding/Child Protection
• Supporting the administration of the Enhanced CRB disclosure process.

 

Without Portfolio
The remaining three positions on the Board are all "without portfolio" in order to offer an opportunity for individuals to propose and take a key role in an area that they feel is important.

In addition to the commitment associated with each specific role, each board member commits to:

• Have regular access to email/internet and read email at least once a week (other than during planned absence).  Weekly email volume is less than one hour – but does increase around Board meetings
• Attend Board conference calls (approx 6 calls per year) plus one face-to-face meeting and respond to correspondence within 5 working days
• Read all emails posted on UKU Board e-group and UKU Member Updates

 

A Vice-Chair is appointed from the without-portfolio board members:

• Takes role of Chair when s/he is not available
• Provides support to Chair when needed

UKU Staff

In addition to having the support of many volunteers, we have - for several years - employed an administrator to help keep the organisation running as smoothly as possible.  In 2007 we extended this role to include the day to day management of all aspects of UKU.

 

CEO/Administrator
Reports to the Chair of the Board, and is responsible for the management of UK Ultimate and implementing the day-to-day administrative activities of the organisation.

At a high level the purpose of the CEO role is:

• Work with the Chair to ensure that the Board formulates and regularly review the UKU’s mission and strategic plan; ensure it is able to monitor annual plans and targets
• Be responsible for staff/volunteer leadership, management and administration of the organisation in executing the agreed plans and fulfilling its obligations – which includes dealing with important, but unexpected issues that arise
• Work with the Chair to ensure that the Board receives appropriate advice and information on all relevant matters and hence enable it to fulfil its governance responsibilities
• Promotion of the sport and the organisation – ensuring that both are appropriately presented to stakeholders, e.g. UKU members, sports teachers, fund-awarding bodies, WFDF, etc
• The CEO/Administrator is also a director and Company Secretary

The administrative activities include:

• Managing membership data and sending membership packs (e.g. membership cards)
• Admin of Board meetings – i.e. dates and minutes
• First line of response to players and public approaching UKU
• Ensure tournament calendar is available and accurate
• Maintenance of Insurance arrangements
• Administer Board elections
• Administration of UKU coaching courses – attendees, material, venue, etc.
• Administration of Enhanced CRB checks: managing checks, member details, etc, maintaining list of checked people; and any other administrative activities that arise from running these CRB checks.

For the time being these roles are both filled by a single individual.  We have an expectation that as the organisation continues to grow we will be able to separate these roles.

Board Documents

* Memorandum and Articles of Association of UK Ultimate Ltd.

* Equity Policy

* Development and Innovations Grants Scheme

Attachment	Size
20100611 UK Ultimate Equity Policy.pdf	72.86 KB

Can you help please?

Ultimate relies a great deal on the kind support of many people around the country.  When it comes to being directly involved with the UKU people often seem to have the impression the only way to help is by being on the Board.  Actually this definitely isn't the case.  This page has been set up to try to provide a clear list of areas where we need help...  Often, the exact nature of what has to be done is open to be decided and can probably be adapted to suit your situation.

In general - and unless it says otherwise - please use the contact form, or email admin@ukultimate.com if you would like to discuss getting involved. 

And - well - thanks in advance!

 

 

Here is a list of areas where it would be fantastic to have more help at the moment.

- Artwork/Design - we are considering an update to the UKU logo/branding and also want to start planning for GB kit 2011-12.  We are also planning to be exhibiting/demonstrating ultimate at some large multi-sport exhibitions/shows in 2010 - it would be fantastic to have some support and expertise to help make sure ultimate looks the part.

- Accounting - Dom Hall, the current treasurer, is planning to resign later this year.  Thankfully - Wayne Davey has generously agreed to stand for the role (although I don't think he'd mind if someone else did it).  It would be really useful to have 2-3 other people with accounting/finance background that could help out with tasks from time to time so as to limit the impact on our volunteer Treasurer. 

- Getting Started resources and information - there is so much great know-how out there - it would be cool to pull some of it together and create a really clear starting point for new teams/players in the UK.

- GCSE Assessment criteria.  Following some work done by an individual that sent criteria for ultimate to an exam board, the exam board has contacted UK Ultimate to help finalise the criteria.  Relatively urgent help needed from some PE teachers that are familiar with ultimate to help refine and finish off please.  Its probably just a couple of hours for someone with experience of GCSE PE.

- GB Juniors.  There is no denying that this is a pretty demanding area.  Whilst our team for managing and coaching the squads in 2010 is in place we are always keen to hear from people that might be interested in getting involved now or in the future - and we know that some of the current team would like a break after 2010.  We're particularly keen to encourage players at the "experienced end" of their playing careers to get involved with this.

- Content for UKU website -> write a tournament report - or become part of a broader team to make sure the updates keep on coming...

 

Last updated 8 Feb 2010

 

NB - this is not an attempt to press-gang you into doing something.  We're really just trying to improve the levels of communication about what is going on and where/how you can get involved - if you would like to.

 

 

 

Competitions

The role of the Competitions Committee is to own the structure and rules for all senior UKU competitions.  This will also include working with the Uni and Junior divisions to ensure UKU adopts a broadly consistent approach to competitions.

The DoC and CEO are members of this group.  The remainder of the committee is appointed by the DoC from people who apply for the role.  Any UKU member can apply to be on the committee but it is kept relatively small (no more than 9 people including the DoC and CEO).  Posts will be renewed annually, but in general the goal is that individuals will be involved for longer than one year.

Key tasks:

• Agree and publish the UKU events calendar well in advance
• Maintain and publish UKU Competition rules
• Review and update the competition structure in the context of a growing and changing population of players
• Ensure that UKU competitions/rules are well structured in the context of international competitions, such as WUCC and EUCS
• Work with international competition committees (e.g. WFDF Ultimate committee and EUCS committee) to ensure that we are well represented in those discussions, and have visibility of international competition plans.
• Attend UKU Conference for an annual face-to-face planning/review meeting and be available to answer questions from members attending the conference

Event Bids

The role of the Bids Committee is to provide clear ownership of the process of deciding who will run UKU tournaments.

The committee will be appointed by the Director of Competitions. 
The CEO is a member of the committee in order to support the process, but does not have a vote.

Key tasks:

• Ensure there is simple process for bidding for UKU events
• Ensure events are well advertised to potential bidders
• Discuss bids for UKU events and award the event to the successful bid
• Provide brief documentation of decisions to be available to members
• Allow division-specific committees to continue to run process where it is working effectively and the committee has better knowledge of details (i.e. Junior, Uni events)

Scheduling

The role of the Scheduling Committee is to:

• Deliver format and schedules for the main outdoor UKU events
• Support TDs (esp. for UKU events) in producing the best possible formats/schedules for their competition
• Provide a resource of tournament formats/schedules for members to use in their own tournaments

Women

The Women’s Committee main aims are to:

• Act as communication group between women players and other areas of UKU – in particular the Board and Competition Committee.
• Encourage and promote all aspects of women’s ultimate – in particular to support growth in the number of women players
• Take responsibility for rules and competition structure questions that are specific to the Women division.
• Maintain and update the content in the Women’s area of the UKU website.

The Women’s committee is run using an “approved volunteer” system.  The approval process is handled by the existing committee.

Look here for more information about the committee's goals and the current members.

Junior

The Junior Ultimate committee, led by the Junior Coordinator is responsible for:

• Managing and coaching GB Junior squads
• Administrating UKU Junior tournaments
• Developing Youth Ultimate
• Promoting the work of Youth Ultimate
• Managing the finance and funraising of Youth Ultimate

The committee has set targets to be a world leader in Youth Ultimate. To achieve these targets we need dedicated volunteers across the UK, to contribute their time and effort towards the work of the Junior Committee.

The Junior Committee is currently recuiting for a number of positions.

• Communication & Enquiries Officer
• Junior Director of Competitions
• Junior Committee Treasurer
• Publicity (PR)
• Fundraiser
• Youth Ultimate Development Group

If any of these roles look appealing to you, please read the job descriptions and
submit an email of interest (including who you are, your experience, and a brief about why you believe you could make a difference in that role) to: uk_jr_ultimate@yahoogroups.com

 

If you would like to support the committee but do not wish to apply for one of the positions above, please submit an email of interest (including who you are, your experience, and a brief explanation of what area you would like to help in) to: uk_jr_ultimate@yahoogroups.com

 

These roles are a great opportunity to be a change maker and really move Ultimate forward in the UK. They are also a great tool to fatten up someone’s C.V. There are countless stories about volunteers in Ultimate roles such as these who have ended up capturing the attention of employers, universities, etc! Its win-win.

University

The UU Coordinators Committee is responsible for University Ultimate.  The main tasks are:

• Running the tournament allocation process for UKU University Championships: Regionals and Nationals, indoors and outdoors across open, women and mixed divisions
• Providing advice/interpretation/adjudication on eligibility and roster questions
• Supporting regional development of university ultimate

Regional coordinators are elected at regional AGMs at outdoor open regional qualifiers.

Medical Team

We are fortunate to have the support of Dr Usamah Jannoun, our Chief Medical Advisor, and a group of physiotherapists and osteopaths that support UK Ultimate and in particular our Great Britain teams.

The team is led by Dr Jannoun, and also includes: Monica Franke, Clare Whittingham, Andy Kelly, Jo Vokes.

Dr Usamah Jannoun MD FFSEM (UK) DMS-Med DSportEx-Med was appointed to the voluntary role of Chief Medical Advisor for UK Ultimate in 2007.

Usamah has worked with sportsmen and recreational athletes for over 15 years in the UK and abroad (Switzerland, Germany, Bermuda) and brings with him a wealth of clinical experience. A keen sportsman himself, his interest lay in Sport and Exercise Medicine and his philosophy is to keep his patients active and fit. He works full-time as a Sport Physician in London amongst a team of leading UK physicians. He is a keen practitioner of many techniques, uses Ultrasound and MRI as diagnostic tools and traditional Orthopaedic and Osteopathic techniques of treatment as well as acupuncture and spinal pain relieving injections.

Usamah teaches and lectures both nationally and internationally to a wide audience in Musculoskeletal and Sport and Exercise Medicine. He is Clinical Tutor for BASEM, the Bath University Postgraduate Diploma/MSc in Sport and Exercise Medicine and to the British Institute of Musculoskeletal Medicine (BIMM) modular courses attended by mostly GPs and Sports Physicians. He is instructor to the national Peripheral Injection Road Show for physicians and has taught senior physiotherapists on the Society of Orthopaedic Medicine (SOM) injection courses.

Usamah's mostly works with the GB teams at the moment. The plan is that gradually the team will be able to help us improve the medical/physio cover at UKU (and other) tournaments, and provide information for all UKU members.

Grants Committee

The Grants Committee is in place to make decisions about distributing funds from the Development and Innovations Grants Scheme.

 

Coach Educators

The role of the Coach Educator team is to:

• Deliver UKU Coaching courses
• Progress the extension and development of the UKU Coaching Scheme

Members of the Coach Educator team are appointed by invitation from the existing group on the basis of playing and coaching experience.

Temporary Committees

From time to time the board appoints a small group of people to deal with a specific question or issue.  

Most commonly this is done as a selection mechanism for coach, captain, and/or management positions for the GB teams.  In this case the usual approach is to delegate the task of considering applications to a small group of players or ex-players with significant experience of involvement with GB teams, but who have little or no personal involvement or interest in any of the applications.  The group then makes a recommendation to the Board.