In this update:

1. Ultimatum Editor required

2. Advice for clubs with Junior members

3. Indoor Nationals

4. Mixed Indoor Nationals

5. Junior Indoor Nationals

6. University Mixed Indoor Nationals

7. Tour 0 - Open Tour 2008

8. Elections and UKUA Structure

9. Membership 2008

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1. Ultimatum Editor required

After years at the helm of everyone's favourite magazine, Jack Goolden is attempting to step away from producing Ultimatum! Jack has kindly offered to continue in the role of designing the magazine, but would like someone to take over the task of collecting and editing articles.

If you would like to get involved, please contact Si Hill - or perhaps talk to Jack directly to find out more.

Meanwhile this seems like a great opportunity to say thanks again to Jack for all his hard work on Ultimatum!

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2. Advice for clubs with Junior members

Thanks to those members that have been in touch regarding advice on Child Protection policy and E-CRB checks - and apologies for the slow response that some of you have had. We anticipate making more progress in this area during April and will be in touch with everyone that asked for help.

At the simplest level adult players should realise that if they have under-18 players in their team that play at tournaments - or even just come to practice - it means that a specifically identified person must be responsible for them during that time. Neither the UKUA, nor a Tournament Director can take this responsibility on for you.

We are able to do E-CRB checks now.

We will make the following documents available during April:

- A brief summary of what you need to know and do if you have juniors in your ultimate club

- Guidance for coach/responsible adult

- Template Child Protection/Safety Code

- Template risk assessments, e.g. for travelling to tournaments

- Sample consent forms

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3. Indoor Nationals

Congratulations to Mexican Horse Bandits (Open) and Shimmy (Women's) for becoming Indoor National Ultimate Champions 2008. SOTG went to Air Badgers (Open) and Birds Aye (Women's).

This year's event was held in Sheffield, using the Ponds Forge International and Concord Sports Centres - enabling us to host the Open and Women's divisions at the same event for the first time.

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4. Mixed Indoor Nationals

Congratulations to BOB for becoming Mixed indoor national Champions, and to Schwifron and 'MC Codhand vs the scrappy siblings' for coming 2nd and 3rd respectively. MVP's: Stu Mitchell (BOB), Brigid Harty (Schwifron)

The weekend started badly for one player with a broken thumb in the first game but otherwise the weekend went well with 18 teams looking for the mixed title. There quickly emerged a huge difference between the top and bottom halves of the ladder comparable to the A and B tours, although the lower games were just as competitive as the higher games, if not more enthralling to watch.
The spirit award was tied between Addicted to Love and Meat Pie, with the Brown winning the party award.

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5. Junior Indoor Nationals

Congratulations to Ocelots 1 (Malpas) who beat Airbadgers 1 (Exeter) in the final to win the 24-team Junior Indoor Nationals in Plymouth. Spirit went to Brighton 1.

The 3rd Under 17 Indoor Nationals was held in Malpas, Cheshire on 8-9 March. Airbadgers 1 (Exeter) retained the title they won last year, beating Artic 1 (Sutton Coldfield) in the final. Manor 1 (York) won Spirit.

This was the 3rd year of this event, which saw 14 teams competing - despite the fact that some of the players had qualified for the Open Indoor Nationals in Sheffield!

For the full details (and historical results going back to 1994!) check out the Juniors results pages.

Huge thanks to all the coaches and teachers that give up so much time to make it all happen!

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6. University Mixed Indoor Nationals

Congratulations to Ro Sham Bo (Edinburgh) for retaining their status as university mixed champions; 2nd and 3rd place went to Warwick Bears and Manchester's Halcyon. MVP's: Jools (Ro Sham Bo), Gash (Bears)

Uni mixed indoor nationals was hosted in Manchester, and despite the short games there was plenty of high quality ultimate to be had. Halcyon did exceptionally well following a poor result at regionals to come in third, whilst Ro Sham Bo and Bears who met in the open final battled it out for the mixed title, which was narrowly snatched by Edinburgh amidst chants from the cheerleaders on the sideline. Jools laid out for everything and Gash stood literally head and shoulders above the other boys on the pitch. We wish them both the best of luck for the future ultimate careers. Both spirit and party awards went to Dundee's Shooting Stars.

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7. Tour 0 - Open Tour 2008

Slightly earlier than usual - and hit by the kind of torrential rain we normally only get in July, "Tour 0: Lay it on the Line" took place on 15-16 March on the playing fields of Wimbledon Common.

Brighton lived up to their London Winter League form and came away winners, beating GB Masters (who won Spirit) in the final.

The results will be used as the basis for seeding teams at Tour 1 in Bristol on 5-6 April - when the big-guns of Clapham, Fire, Chevron, Fusion and Leeds will be allowed back out to play.

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8. Elections and UKUA Structure

You might have noticed that the elections have been delayed. We have taken the decision to update the legal structure of the UK Ultimate Association. It will be necessary to have a vote on this at a later date, therefore we are delaying elections so that we can have all of the voting at the same time.

Watch this space for more information over the coming weeks.

In the meantime, thanks to those people that have put themselves forward for election.

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9. Membership 2008

UKUA Membership now runs for one year from purchase - so you don't need to purchase membership just because its the New Year. You should receive an email reminder when your membership is due to run out.

When you do renew we are pleased to announce that this year's membership also includes a free copy of "Flat Out" the EUC 2007 DVD.

If you renew your membership early in order to obtain your copy of the DVD asap please note that:

(i) Your contact details on the website must be up to date.

(ii) You will NOT be penalized for the early renewal and your membership will be adjusted to run to one year from the current expiry date.

Please also note:

(i) The DVD offer will be backdated to memberships purchased since 1 Oct 2007 provided the contact details are up to date.

(ii) The DVD offer is only available to full ordinary, full university and full young members.

The process for sending out membership packs is not as automated as you might hope, and I would like. If you haven't received anything after 2-3 weeks it is worth checking your account:

(i) It is possible that there is a problem with your address - e.g. house number missing, nothing there at all, etc

(ii) If your membership status says "Authenticated User" this means your payment has not registered on the website for some reason. In this case please contact admin[at]ukultimate[dot]com to help us resolve the situation. The usual reason is due to the UKUA user account and paypal account having different email addresses - a problem that can be resolved once it is identified.