In this update:

1. UKU National Indoor Championships 2009-10

2. UKU Spring/Summer outdoor events calendar

3. WFDF U23 World Championships

4. GB Junior Open coach

5. Coaching Licence

6. School Affiliation

7. Ultimatum!2009 late

8. Sanctioning events

9. How do I get involved?

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1. UKU National Indoor Championships 2009-10

Congratulations to Discmen and The Have who won UKU Indoor Nationals 2009-10 in the Open and Women's divisions respectively.  The Have also won Spirit of the Game in the Women's Division.  Open Division SOTG winners were Cowboys.  The event was held at the Toryglen Regional Football Centre in Glasgow which includes a full-size indoor rubber crumb football pitch.

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2. UKU Spring/Summer outdoor events calendar

UKU Tour and Nationals dates have not changed from those announced a few months ago.  The list below also includes the major university events.

University Outdoor Nationals

14-15 March - BUCS UKU University Open Outdoor Nationals, Sheffield

1-2 May - UKU University Women Outdoor Nationals, Brighton

8-9 May - UKU University Mixed Outdoor Nationals, tba

UKU Mixed Tour & Nationals 2010

27-28 March - UKU Mixed Tour 1, TBD (*1)

17-18 April - UKU Mixed Tour 2, TBD (*1)

15-16 May - UKU Mixed Nationals & Tour 3, Cheltenham

(*1) We lost our intended venues for these events in the last couple of weeks, and are currently attempting to replace them.  At this stage we are confident that MT1 and MT2 will go ahead on the advertised dates.  If you are interested in running the event, or believe you know of a viable venue, please get in touch.

UKU Open & Women's Tour 2010

29-30 May - UKU Open & Women Tour 1

• A+W divisions, Wimbledon
• B+C divisions, Cheltenham

19-20 June - UKU Open & Women Tour 2

• A+B divisions, Birmingham
• W+C divisions, Derby (please note this is provisional)

17-18 July - UKU Open & Women Tour 3

• All divisions, Cardiff

UKU National Championships

July <date TBD> - UKU Junior Nationals, Birmingham

31 July-1 Aug - UKU Open Regionals, various

21-22 Aug - UKU Open & Women's Nationals, Southampton

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3. WFDF U23 World Championships

U23 World Championships will be held for this first time in 2010, with the event being staged in Florence, Italy.  For more information please see the U23 section of the GB Ultimate pages.  If you are in this age group, and would like to play we strongly encourage you to look at the information and put your name forwards.

Congratulations and thanks to the management and coaching team: Barry O'Kane, James Hall, Ali Smith, Lindsay Cuthbertson and Jeff Jackson.

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4. GB Junior Open coach

Following the announcement of the U23 World Championships, the existing coaching team for the Junior Open squad decided they really wanted to try out for this unexpected and new chance to play for GB.  We'd like to take this opportunity to thank Dale Walker, Mark Penny and Josh Walkden-Smith for all their hard work coaching the GB Junior squad in the last few years. 

Its great news that Jools Murray - who was already working with the squad from a fitness training point of view - has agreed to take on the role of coach.

The GB Junior squads will be competing at this year's World Junior Ultimate Championships in Heilbronn, Germany.

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5. Coaching Licence

We are receiving an increasing number of requests for ultimate coaches.  This year UK Ultimate is introducing a Coaching Licence in order to help differentiate between "active coaches" as opposed to individuals that simply want to attend some modules of the UKU Coaching Scheme for their own interest and/or the internal development of their own club.

If you are involved in coaching ultimate outside your main club, then please look out for more news on this in the coming weeks.

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6. School Affiliation

This month, in recognition of the ever-increasing number of schools that are taking to ultimate, we introduced a new School Affiliation scheme.  This enables schools to have a formal link with UK Ultimate, and in particular provides eligibility for the school to enter UKU competitions without requiring all their pupils to become individual members.  Affiliated schools will also receive several copies of Ultimatum! and discounts for staff and pupils attending UKU coaching courses.  For the time being the affiliation forms are being provided to schools entering Junior Nationals.  The scheme will be more generally available soon.  In the meantime please contact us for more information.

Students of affiliated schools that compete with external clubs, or are part of the GB programme, still need their own individual membership.

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7. Ultimatum!2009 late, but coming

Our plans for Ultimatum!2009 took something of a hit during November and December.  Please accept our apologies for the delays.  We are nearly there...

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8. Sanctioning events

During 2010 we are introducing a simple process for sanctioning ultimate events.  The aim is to help TDs with some basic tools, information and support whilst also giving players some indication of standards they can expect if they attend a sanctioned event.  Of course there is absolutely no requirement for TDs to do this - it is just an attempt to stimulate more ultimate events by (hopefully) helping to make it a little easier!

To discuss sanctioning your event or league please get in touch.

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9. How do I get involved?

Please check the Can You Help Please? page for examples of areas where we could really do with some help right now.  If there is something else you think needs to happen then let us know.