Phased Return to Play Guidance

Please go to this page for the full details of our current Return to Play guidance: www.ukultimate.com/story/phased_return_play_guidance

23rd April

Return-to-Play Update

Over the next few days there will be a few changes to each home nation’s return to play status. Below we have outlined the details for each, and we also try to provide some clarification on the situation moving forward. 

We will update the Return to Play infographic in line with the changes that are outlined below.

9th April

Return-to-Play Update

Travel Restrictions - England

There has been a new update from Sport England, DCMS and the Department for Transport about the travel guidance for sport. It has been clarified that sport is not an exempt reason for car sharing by individuals not in the same household or support bubble.

Car sharing now is not expected to be permitted for sport until at least Step 3 of the Government’s Roadmap, no earlier than 17 May. 

Clearly, this limits what clubs can organise for now, but hopefully this gives everyone the opportunity to build and develop more local play whilst things are still opening up. For some ideas and resources, check out our Play Local page HERE!

Northern Ireland - Phase 2

N. Ireland will be able to start affiliated sports club training from Monday 12th April at Phase B.

Full details can be found here: http://www.sportni.net/pathway-out-of-restrictions-for-outdoor-sport/. However, it should be noted that training for adult groups is currently limited to 15 people. 

In terms of travel, players should avoid car sharing and must adhere to social distancing rules when not playing. 

25th March

Return-to-Play Update

In light of UK Government advice updates published 24th March, we are updating our guidance for England as follows:

• Phase C modified play will be permitted from Monday 29th March
• Clarification on number of participants

As of Monday 29th March, Phase C modified play will be permitted, alongside all the other relevant Return-to-Play guidance and regulations. 

We continue to recommend that clubs organise at least their first training session largely under Phase B restrictions, and take some time to transition gradually over 2-3 weeks.

Firstly, Ultimate is a tough game.  For most people, their bodies will benefit from taking some time to adjust.  

• If you haven’t seen Jools Murray’s “Waking Up the Body” series on our facebook page, please take a look.  Jools warns that the 2nd and 3rd sessions may well pose more of an injury risk than the first.  The Phase B guidelines are of course all about reducing the risk of transmission.  But they also mean that training will involve a series of well-defined movement patterns, with no need for defensive, reactive movements.

Secondly, it is likely that you have club members with a wide variation in terms of recent experiences of being in groups and having contact with other people.  Feedback from our recent International Women’s Day online discussion made this point really clearly.

• "Across the population, there are varying levels of precaution regarding the coronavirus. For some, Phase B might be the level at which they wish to play, yet for others they may wish to return at Phase D. In order to be inclusive, clubs may need to have alternative practice options or multiple sessions to accommodate the different approaches and precautions taken by their members."

12th March

Return-to-Play Update

Further to recent announcements by the UK and Scottish governments this update

1. Confirms our immediate plans for return to play, and 
2. Provides an indication of our expectations for the following few months.

Throughout this announcement we refer to our Phased Return to Play framework . The infographic has also been updated to reflect the below. 

We also want to take this opportunity to provide reminders about the following general points:

• Access the Covid-19 Club Preparation & Off-field Activity Guidance here
• You can use the template Attendance Register online form here
• If your club has been affected by a positive test result, please complete the Covid-19 Incident Report Form
• We kindly ask all active or recently-active clubs to please complete the short survey regarding their training status
  
  

Schools

As schools reopen this month, they are also now able to start playing more sport: both within the school and potentially even inter-school matches or competition.  We have created a short School-specific appendix to our Return to Play guidance.

<< UKU Club Guidance Appendix - Schools >>

Scotland

Following this statement by the Scottish Government:

• Phase B training for groups of up to 15 people is permitted from Friday 12th March.  

You must check the local limitations on travel which we understand to be more restrictive for adults than they are for young people aged 12-17.  There is an indication that more detail about future changes will be published next week.

This particular change was made at relatively short notice, and unsurprisingly we have not yet had any update or contact from sportScotland.  It is possible we may receive information from sportScotland that requires us to make further last minute changes to the guidance.

England

Following the UK Government’s Roadmap announcement:

• Phase B training is permitted from Mon 29th March until the end of the government’s Step 1.
• Phase C training and/or local games will be permitted when we move to Step 2, no earlier than 12th April.

We are still hoping to receive some guidance about Government’s expectations or requirements as regards close-contact during play.  We are also monitoring what other team sports are planning to do. 

Wales and Northern Ireland

There are no changes to the current guidelines in either Wales or Northern Ireland, and so effectively no club or group training is permitted.

Longer-term outlook

For the time being we will have to continue to manage variations between the home nations, but presumably the removal of restrictions will align increasingly over the coming weeks and months. 

In the outline below we have used the UK Government’s four-step Roadmap as a preliminary framework for what our Return to Play timeline may look like, provided government guidance does not change

• A transition to Phase D (possibly training only) will occur during Step 2: presumably towards the end of April.
• Phase D competitive matches will be permitted from the start of Step 3 if not before.
• In collaboration with BUCS we may move to permit competitive play at University level more quickly, as is already the case for schools.
• During Step 3 we expect competitive play will be limited to fixtures between two teams only.
• We assume that tournament play involving more than two teams will be permitted from Step 4, but note that the Government is still referring to “appropriate mitigations” being in place and we do not know what impact that might have on the reality/practicality of running a weekend ultimate event.  
• So for the time being, we are not making plans to host and run weekend tournaments this summer other than retaining our existing booking for Nationals at the end of August.

We are working on more details for all of the following, but felt it was helpful to provide a limited update now:

Challenge League (name TBD)

We are finalising plans to create a competition framework that tracks the results of any and all matches between “registered teams” - along the lines of an idea we called the Challenge League when we published some limited information last year about how it might work.  We assume that games in this structure will be possible from Step 3 onwards.  

It is our goal that this approach will become the mechanism for determining UKU Rankings so that individual matches and smaller, local competitions can factor towards the national club rankings structure, as well as traditional weekend UKU Ranking events when play returns to normal. 

GB Futures

Whilst, sadly, there are no GB teams competing during 2021 in any age-group, there is continuing work to set up the GB Futures Scheme and more announcements and details will follow this month.  This will create some additional training and development opportunities for players in the 14-24 age-range over the coming summer, and we want to emphasise that Futures is a long-term, permanent programme.

Club Nationals 2021

The club National Championships series will go ahead, and will be open to all clubs.  We are expecting that the structure for qualification will not be the same as it was in 2019, and that we will have to adapt to an approach that does not rely on a weekend Regional qualifier at the usual time (end July / early Aug).  

We are planning that Nationals will act as a qualification mechanism for WUCC 2022.

European Competition

There is no EUCR-West in 2021, but there may be an European Club Finals on 30th Sept - 3rd Oct.  We do not know what the general entry procedure will be for this event, if it goes ahead and so we are not able to specify how this will be done for UK teams.  It is reasonable to assume that either it will be based on 2019 results, or qualification will be handled at Nationals.

23rd February

Return-to-Play Update

With lockdown we’ve been a little bit quiet, working on things behind the scenes, but following the government’s announcement yesterday we just wanted to reach out to you all to let you know that we’re reviewing the Return to Play situation. 

We’re hoping to get some more details from the government and other sports organisations soon that will help us to create our own corresponding Return to Play timeline. However, please bear with us as we work on this as it may take us a while. You might not hear from us for a little bit longer, but please be assured that we’re working hard to get everyone back playing safely. 

Keep an eye out for future updates on our website. We hope that we’ll be able to share some details on what the 2021 season may look like with you soon!

5th January

Return-to-Play Update

Following the announcement of a national lockdown across England and mainland Scotland from 5th January 2021, in summary, all areas in the UK are now limited to PHASE A of the Return to Play Guidance. The infographic has been updated to reflect this. 

We reiterate our general position that clubs and members must take responsibility for understanding and interpreting government guidance and the implications of any additional local restrictions (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales). For Schools, please continue to follow AfPE advice. If in doubt please contact UK Ultimate or use the Covid Officer email forum.

26th December

Return-to-Play Update

Following the announcement in Northern Ireland that additional restrictions will be introduced on 26 December for six weeks, including all indoor and outdoor sport not being permitted, all of Northern Ireland moves into Phase A. 

19th December

Return-to-Play Update

Further to today's Government announcements we confirm that, effective Sunday 20th Dec, areas of England in Tier 4 plus all of Wales move back to Phase A restrictions.

11th December

2nd December

Return-to-Play Update - UKU Guidance & England and N. Ireland Changes

Following the announcement from the UK Government of the Covid-19 Winter Plan, confirming the lifting of the national restrictions in England on 2nd December and the re-implementation of a three tiered approach until the end of March 2021, and further guidance published by DCMS on 1 December, we can now confirm what this means for Ultimate in England. 

Outdoor Ultimate - England

For all adult outdoor Ultimate, including University Ultimate, the appropriate Modifications During Training & Play (Phase B-C-D Details) guidance should be followed for your specific area - Tier 1, 2 or 3. 

We have included the updated infographic showing which Phase is applicable for each Tier, but here is a quick summary:

• PHASE D can be played in TIER 1
• PHASE C can be played in TIER 2
• PHASE B can be played in TIER 3

27th November

Return-to-Play Update

We will be publishing a more substantial update next week as we are currently expecting some more information via Sport England about the latest changes to restrictions in England, effective 3rd December.  Provisionally we are expecting to adopt the following approach, at least initially:

• England Tier 1: phase D
• England Tier 2: phase C
• England Tier 3: phase B

Indoor Ultimate will be extremely limited everywhere and, sadly, we do not expect any UKU Indoor championships to take place this winter.

11th November

Return-to-Play Update

5th November

Return-to-Play Update

Following the government’s announcement on Saturday 31st October of the new set of national restrictions to be imposed in England, we would like to clarify what this means for playing Ultimate around the UK.  This announcement includes

• Return to Play information by region
• USA Ultimate Skills Challenge
• Save our Sports Campaign

We have also updated the Phased Return to Play Infographic.

In England, from Thursday 5th November, all areas are restricted to PHASE A. This is in addition to the government guidelines that this is only permitted with the people you live with, your support bubble, or if on your own with one person from another household. These changes also apply to University Ultimate.

Schools, however, are permitted to continue to play in PE lessons. Although this is still in reference to the previous guidance issued on this and the advice from AfPE about indoor PE lessons. If you have any queries on this, please contact admin@ukultimate.com. 

In Scotland, the Scottish Government has confirmed their new framework which is in implementation as of Monday 2 November. Below is a summary of what this framework means for the sport and leisure sector:

• Level 0: All sporting activity permitted, with some general restrictions, such as the wearing of face masks, physical distancing etc.
• Level 1: No adult (18+) indoor contact sport.
• Level 2: Same as level 1.
• Level 3: No adult (18+) indoor non-contact group sport / exercise or adult (18+) indoor contact sport. No outdoor adult (18+) contact sport.
• Level 4: Indoor sports facilities closed. No outdoor contact sport allowed for any age. 
• Children and Young People are grouped together as under 18s. Previously over 12s were grouped with adults.

As part of this, there have also been some updates on the approved travel guidance for sport and physical activity, this is now up on the Scottish Government website.

However, it remains that:

• For Levels 0 - 2, areas remain in Phase D, but check details for indoor ultimate.
• In Level 3 and Level 4 - where only “non contact team sports” are permitted - that means Phase B. 

A table showing the Sport & Physical Activity Protection Levels in Scotland can be found here: https://sportscotland.org.uk/media/6232/phase-3-return-to-sport-and-physical-activity-guidance-021120-final-005-1.pdf [page 3]

For both Wales and Northern Ireland, our understanding is that no updates have been made.

We reiterate our general position that clubs and members must take responsibility for understanding and interpreting the implications of local restrictions.  If in doubt please contact UK Ultimate or use the Covid Officer email forum.

We also remind all active or recently-active clubs to please complete the short survey regarding their training status for October. This will help us to judge the extent of activity around the country as the situation has evolved. In addition, there is the Covid-19 Incident Report Form to help us monitor the ongoing Return-to-Play. We kindly ask that you complete this if your club has been affected by a positive test result (link below)

<< Ultimate club training under UKU covid guidance data submission form >>

<< Covid-19 Incident Report Form >>

USAU Skills Challenge

Another lockdown doesn’t mean you have to stop throwing though! USA Ultimate has introduced a new Skills Challenge.

It provides a way for players to have fun, whilst developing their ultimate skills and connecting with their local community and beyond. Choose from a variety of challenges that focus on throwing, catching, athleticism and even some cool disc tricks. 

Through the USA Ultimate mobile app, you can track your personal performance in each skill, and if you’d like, you can opt in to the leaderboard to see how you, your friends, teammates and others in the community stack up. 

Check it out here: https://www.usaultimate.org/resources/skills_challenge.aspx

Save Our Sports Campaign

The UK’s sport and physical activity sector has joined forces to launch a new campaign called Save Our Sports, urging the Government to save grassroots sport, fitness and leisure facilities from permanent closure due to COVID-19.

We rely on sport and leisure facilities to run our events and for clubs to run training sessions. Indirectly, the impact that closures of facilities would have on playing opportunities could be huge, so if you are interested in the campaign, find out more about the initiative and sign their petition here: https://www.sportandrecreation.org.uk/news/covid-19/save-our-sports 

21st October

Return-to-Play Update

We issue the following update in response to the many changes in government guidance and regulation issued over the last week or so. 

In particular we have taken the decision to limit clubs in Tier 3 areas of England to Phase C.

This update has information about the following:

• Dealing with local restrictions
• Clubs must report training status regularly
• Indoor Ultimate appendix
• Close contacts

Dealing with local restrictions

We have taken the decision to limit clubs in Tier 3 areas of England to PHASE C.

We iterate our general position that clubs and members must take responsibility for understanding and interpreting the implications of local restrictions.  If in doubt please contact UK Ultimate or use the Covid officer email forum.  However, we thought it might be helpful to clarify the following:

• England  
  • Areas in Tier 3 “COVID Alert Level: very high” are limited to Phase C.  
  • Areas in Tiers 1 and 2 remain in Phase D.
• Northern Ireland
  • Our current understanding is that all of Northern Ireland is limited to Phase B, non-contact team sports, in groups of max 15. 
•  Scotland
  • In the areas where only “non contact team sports” are permitted, that means Phase B.
  • Our understanding is that all other areas can remain in Phase D but you must check.
• Wales
  • During the period 23 October - 9 November our interpretation is that disc-sport related activity is limited to Phase A.

Clubs must now report training status regularly

We really hate to add to the admin load, but right now we need more information to help judge the extent of activity around the country.  Consequently we will temporarily require all active clubs to complete a very short survey at least once every calendar month (more frequent submissions are welcome, but optional).  During this period we will also aim to publish a summary of the data each month.

<< Ultimate club training under UKU covid guidance data submission form >>

Indoor Ultimate

We have produced a brief appendix confirming our guidance for Indoor Ultimate.  

Close Contacts

This document was shared with the Covid officer forum last week and we are now publishing this alongside the rest of our guidance.  The purpose of the document is to provide more background on the rationale for the three phases B-C-D and how they are expected to differ in terms of risk and how Contact Tracing authorities might be expected to treat people training under each of those systems.  

9th October

Return-to-Play Update

As per previous announcements we confirm that we will move to Phase D of our Phased Return to Play from Monday 12th October.  Please note the additional important comments below about Indoors and government references to "contact sports". 

There are some changes in the final version of Phase D Guidance compared to the draft that we published in August.

• Clubs are required to go through a minimum of 3 sessions at Phase B or C prior to moving to Phase D.  This is in order that your players become accustomed to all the adjustments that are needed to minimise the risk of transmission, and to make sure your club systems and plans are working as expected.
• We have included some guidance about Spirit Circles.  We encourage teams to continue this tradition, but of course all the players in the circle should be 2m from their neighbours.  It will be a big circle, but it will still work - at least while the maximum number of players is still 30.

Local restrictions referring to “contact sports”

Where a local restriction refers to “contact sport”, you should assume this means Ultimate being played under Phases C-D guidance.   Where only “non contact team sport training” is permitted you should assume that means only Phase B is allowed.

So, for example with reference to this week’s announcement in Scotland, in the areas affected by the temporary ban on contact sports you are still permitted to run training using Phase B Guidance.  But also take careful note of the extra travel restrictions.  

Please accept our apologies for the increased complexity.  It is not easy to find the right balance between simplicity;  allowing play where it is safe and permitted; and managing the variations in rules and restrictions around the UK.  For club covid-officers or committee members we have a covid officer google group / forum that you can request to join here. 

2nd October

University Clubs Return-to-Play FAQs

We published a Return-to-Play FAQs document for University clubs earlier this week.  The document includes questions about training, competitions, communications and other places to get more information.

30th September

Covid-19 Incident Report form

To help us monitor the ongoing Return-to-Play, we have created a Covid-19 Incident report online form.   Our aim is to:

1. Gather data on how often clubs are affected by a positive test result.
2. Improve our understanding of how Contact Tracing authorities approach the situation if the person testing positive had been at training.
3. Provide a mechanism for individuals to report concerns.

We hope in general that people completing the form will feel able to include their contact information, but it has been set up to allow anonymous submissions.

25th September

Return to Play Update

15th September

Return to Play Guidance Update

As per our previous announcements, we confirm that as of Tues 15th Sept we are now in PHASE C of the Phased Return-to-Play.  

Please also see the announcement we published on Friday 11th September, which includes news about University competitions, return to play timetable, Indoor Ultimate, covid officer googlegroup forum, ideas for training sessions; and thanks to our UKU Medical adviser.

There are some relatively minor changes in the final version of Phase C Guidance compared to the draft that we published in August.

• Noted the Covid-officer training available from sportscotland.
• Added links to local travel advice.
• Additional line clarifying that active, normal defending is allowed (except on the thrower) but that players should make adjustments to avoid standing face-to-face within 1m of each other.

11th September

Return to Play Update

There are quite a number of headlines in this update, but it seemed like a good moment to pull these things together in a single announcement.  Please read all of it.  We think there is information here for everyone.

UNIVERSITY CLUBS

BUCS is setting up a TERM ONE team competition format that will enable some outdoor competitive play Oct-Dec.  

• We have confirmed with BUCS that our plans for moving to Phase D *are* compatible with the fixture window for this Term One competition.   
• Entry is OPEN NOW and closing date is Friday 18th Sept.  Entry is handled by your AU through BUCS.
• We really encourage clubs to consider engaging with this.  There are no BUCS points involved; it’s just an opportunity to play, and could really help with integrating your new players.  
• We are making our own plans to support some competitive play in the University Mixed division.

University Indoor Regionals

• The events we booked for UXIR on 30 Oct - 1 Nov have all been cancelled.  
• We are in discussions with all of the venues we booked for 21-22 Nov (UMIR) and 28-29 Nov (UWIR).  Sadly, we do not expect any of those events to be possible.  Confirmation is likely to follow in the coming week or so.
• For now, we will keep under review whether there is a viable alternative for offering the University Indoor Championships in some other format, or perhaps in early 2021.  In the meantime we encourage clubs to focus their attention on playing outdoors.

We are working on some university club FAQs to be released this month.  

Do you need help making contact with club players in your area?  

PLEASE ALSO READ THE UPDATE FOR ALL CLUBS BELOW

ALL CLUBS

Indoor Ultimate.  We have approached DCMS and sportscotland for guidance on how and when we could permit a return to training for indoor ultimate.  No timeline available yet but we are working on it.  Even when Indoor Ultimate is signed off, you can expect that UKU will continue to recommend training and playing outdoors, but we recognise that some clubs have good reasons for wanting to use indoor facilities.

We are still planning to move to Phase C on Tuesday 15th September, subject to final review in a UKU board meeting on the evening of Monday 14th.

• There will be some minor updates to the documentation before the final Phase C Guidance is released, but these are mostly about integrating as much of the Scotland Appendix as possible.
• Our understanding is that recent announcements in England, Scotland and Wales about reductions in size of gatherings are not applicable to organised sports.  So ultimate clubs following UK Ultimate Return-to-Play Guidance are not affected.
• In simple terms, the main change moving Phase B -> Phase C is to allow some defending, but you should avoid all situations where players stand still for several seconds within 1 metre of each other, especially face to face.  So “disc width” becomes 1 metre, there is no stall count, and there are adjustments for managing foul calls and discussions.  You MUST check the details in the guidance.

We are currently planning to move to Phase D on Mon 12th October. 

• We will probably require clubs to go through a small number of Phase B/C training sessions before they are permitted to move to D.
• This is about making sure everyone has had some opportunity to adjust to being at training with social-distancing arrangements before moving to something closer to normal play.
• We also note this quote from Josh Briggs at Clapham: Phase B “makes sense as a way to build people back into the game as you can't go too hard and risk injury.”  

We are still collecting club training feedback if you missed it.

• We have created a Covid-Officer online discussion forum where we hope to encourage more direct information-sharing between clubs.  You can ask to sign your club officer up to the group by completing the club feedback survey

One theme in the feedback so far was a request for ideas of things to do.

• Huge thanks to Flik for creating this page to help out: some of the information is available to anyone; some of the details are only available to subscribers. 
• We created this Ultimate Activities scrapbook of drills and games to help with ideas for coaching Ultimate to younger players, but actually there are quite a few ideas in here that are relevant to the current limitations.

And finally, huge thanks to Dr Kenny Duffy, UKU Medical Adviser for his substantial help and advice in guiding our return-to-play plans and guidance.

4th September

Scotland-specific return to play guidance

We have been in communication with sportscotland to confirm sign-off on our club guidance in Scotland.  Please see UKU Club Guidance Appendix - Scotland for details, which is additional to our existing UKU Club Guidance Phase B.  In particular this provides the necessary confirmation that Ultimate clubs in Scotland can now train in groups of up to maximum 30 people, provided, of course, that they are following all the appropriate measures.  The document has been added to the main guidance page.  As of today, 4th September we are still in Phase B.

3rd September

Return to Play club training feedback survey

We are gathering feedback from clubs regarding their experiences and views on returning to training to help inform our decisions on next steps.  Clubs who have trained since 17th August are expected and required to complete the form.  We would very much like to hear from other clubs and groups too.  The deadline for completing the form is the end of Wednesday 9th September.  Thanks.

https://forms.gle/BZBURpfzSXPsoRAh9

12th August

Return to Play Update

Further to our earlier announcements regarding Return to Play we are now able to release the following guidance update.  

We will move to Phase B of our Phased Return to Play on Monday 17th Aug, applicable UK-wide other than regions subject to “local lockdown” conditions.  REGIONS SUBJECT TO EXCEPTIONAL LOCAL LOCKDOWN CONDITIONS STAY IN PHASE A.  THIS APPLIES BOTH TO THE ACTIVITY LOCATION AND INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANTS.

• Clubs need to meet a number of requirements in order to return to organised training: please see the full Phase B guidance and all related documenation here.
• We have also published DRAFT guidance for Phase C and Phase D so that club committees, coaches and players can prepare for those changes with more notice.  
• The guidance documents contain links to other information
  • Role description for a club COVID-19 Officer
  • Template COVID-19 risk assessment
  • Information about contacting relevant local authorities
  • Template training attendance register (required for contact tracing)
• After 3 weeks, from Mon 7th Sept, we plan to review the impact of clubs returning to training under Phase B.  Clubs that train between 17th Aug - 7th Sept will be required to complete a short feedback survey to UKU.
• We will also be publishing an individual, optionally anonymous feedback form so that members can share their views or concerns about the process and their experience to help inform our next steps.
• Provisionally we expect to move to Phase C on Tuesday 15th Sept.  

We urge all clubs and players to restart cautiously.  Organising and delivering training under these new conditions will not be easy and we expect and need all club committees and UKU members to take the procedures seriously.  It has also been a very long break and an unusual period of time for many people.  Please take it easy.

Finally, we make the following comments about informal groups getting together to throw, train, etc.  

• Hopefully the UKU guidance is useful to help such groups take sensible steps to minimise the risk associated with their activity (e.g. regularly cleaning discs), and provide a reference point for the type and level of activity being recommended to clubs.
• Please pay special attention to the number of people that are permitted to take part in such activity because depending on your location, it may not be the same as for a formally-organised club following National Governing Body guidelines.

24th July

UKU Nationals - Cancellation

Sadly we have now taken the decision to cancel UKU Nationals on 29-30 August.  Hopefully this is not a surprise to anyone, but it is nonetheless a great disappointment.  

We have submitted our return-to-play action plan to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) as per the announcement we made on 10th July.  There are indications that major team sports are making plans to return to community competition, and so for the time being we will leave open the possibility of running a club National Championships under a different format before the end of the year, subject to the response we receive from DCMS.

We are optimistic that we will be able to move to Phase B in the coming weeks, but please understand that until we have formal sign off for the Action Plan we are still in Phase A (see the announcement from 10th July for more details).  

10th July

Update to Government Guidance

1st July

UKU Outdoor Events - Cancellations Update

Having waited as long as possible to see how the situation developed we have taken the decision to cancel 2020 UKU Regionals for all three divisions:

• 1-2 August, Leicester 
• 1-2 August, Edenbridge.

This is obviously really disappointing, and also raises some questions about 2020 UKU Nationals:

For the time being, we are holding our booking for Nationals at the University of Nottingham on the weekend of 29-30 August, but we are not able to confirm the format of the competition.  We are not able to confirm the number of teams that would be involved in whatever competition goes ahead.

 Qualification

• Assuming that the number of places at Nationals will be limited, and now that Regionals has been cancelled, teams will be invited according to their finishing positions at 2019 Nationals, followed by:

• Women’s: 
  • Rankings at 2019 Regionals-South
  • UKU Rankings at end 2019

• Open:
  • Rankings at 2019 Regionals assigned using EUCS waitlist as follows: S,N,N,S,N,S,S,N
  • UKU Rankings at end 2019

• Mixed:
  • Rankings at 2019 Regionals assigned using EUCS waitlist as follows: N,S,N,S,N,S
  • UKU Rankings at end 2019

• Irish teams will not be eligible to compete in the competition in 2020.
• Bid allocation for 2021 will not necessarily follow the normal process as results in 2020 will likely be affected unfairly by the situation.  

As noted in the previous competition update, we will be considering the limited training time that has been available when deciding on any format or schedule.

Disclaimer.  We really do NOT want to give the impression that we expect that Nationals will go ahead at the end of August.  We are simply keeping our options open.  

Refunds

We continue to work through refunding all entry fees for cancelled events.  At this point:

• All credit card payments have been refunded.
• All teams that paid by BACS or gocardless have been contacted in order that we can confirm details for sending the refund.

If you think we’ve missed you out, please email events@ukultimate.com.

17th June

XEUCF 2020 Bid Allocation

In April the European Ultimate Federation (EUF) announced a temporary change to the annual European Ultimate Club Series (EUCS) to better cope with the implications of the COVID-19 crisis.

In response to the original announcement, the UKU Competition Committee discussed options for allocating bids and determined that we would use the results from the 2019 UKU Nationals / EUCR-W.  This week, the EUF has announced the finalised bid distribution by national federation.

The UK has been awarded 2, 2, and 4 bids in Women’s, Mixed and Open respectively.  The Irish teams are being awarded their own bids directly, so the UK bids, based on finishing positions at UK Nationals 2019, are as follows:

Confirmed Bids

Women: Iceni, Bristol

Mixed: SMOG 1, Deep Space

Open: Clapham, Chevron, Alba, Devon

EUF Waitlist

Women: SCRAM (#4 on waitlist)

Mixed: SMOG 2 (#3 on waitlist)

Open: EMO (#2 on waitlist)

UKU Waitlist (in waitlist order)

Women: SYC, Throwback

Mixed: Reading, Birmingham

Open: Brighton, Ka-Pow!

Emails are being sent today to each of the teams that have been awarded a bid, and those teams on the EUF waitlist, with a form to complete if they provisionally plan to attend.  Any of those teams that already know that they do not want to attend XEUCF should let us asap please so that we can contact the next team on the UKU waitlist.  We may contact other teams, and that will be done according to their finishing position at 2019 UKU Nationals.

10th June

UKU Outdoor Events - Refunds and Cancellations Update

Refunds

Thanks so much for your patience and understanding.  We are now working through all of the team fee refunds for the events that were cancelled.  If you paid through the UKU website using a card or gocardless payment, you should receive an email when the refund is set up, after which it will take a few days for the money to reach your account.  If you paid by bank transfer, we will need your club bank details in order to send the refund.  Please look out for an email about this.

Our goal is to send the funds, or have requested bank details from you, for all of the outstanding refunds by the end of June.  If you would like us to prioritise a particular payment please email events@ukultimate.com.  The YDG card payment refunds have been set up today.  

July Cancellations

Although we never opened entries to the following events, we are now confirming that the UKU Ranking Events planned for July have been cancelled:

Moor Lane, 11-12 July

Edenbridge, 18-19 July

The remaining events in our calendar are Regionals and Nationals.  We are well aware that in both cases, staging those events without teams having an opportunity to train together or perhaps attend a preparatory warm-up event raises all sorts of questions and issues.  However, for the moment we have decided to wait for further developments and guidance before determining the next steps with those competitions.

4th June

Update to government guidance re outdoor activity

Government guidance about outdoor activity has changed in all four home nations since our last update on 13th May.  To be absolutely clear, the changes do not permit team sports like Ultimate due to the close contact between participants.  Announcements on 30th May that referred to “competitive sport” were applicable only to a very specific definition of “elite athlete” and do not affect Ultimate.

You will be aware that the changes generally have in common some increased flexibility regarding the number of individuals from different households that can meet outdoors, provided they continue to follow social-distancing guidelines.  The rules vary in different parts of the UK, and it seems likely that the trend towards local or regional variation will continue.  For this reason, this announcement will not attempt to list out all of those variations.  You must take personal responsibility for understanding the general guidance to the public as it applies to your location and your personal circumstances.

In England, there has been some relaxation on the question of sharing equipment for passing a ball (or disc).  However, UK Ultimate’s position on this specific question remains the same, and is consistent for the whole UK.  If you want to meet for disc-based exercise, our advice remains that each person brings their own disc and has contact with only that disc for the duration of the exercise, focussing on just throwing, and avoiding contact with other people’s discs through catching, or picking them up.

If you decide to play some disc golf, please be aware of the comments we made previously:

1. Your UKU membership does provide liability insurance for playing flying disc games other than ultimate - essentially as a form of practice for Ultimate - although this does not extend to formal, organised competition in those other sports.  

2. We asked for some advice from the British Disc Golf Association (BDGA) as well and they kindly pointed us at this post.  Please take particular note of their comments relating to safety and parks being busier than usual.

15th May

Covid Advice Group

We would like to form a small advisory group to help us interpret government guidance and check the information we provide to members about returning to disc-based activities, and at some point, to Ultimate.  

Clearly, people working in medical roles are extremely busy right now, so the idea is to create something that would not take up much of your time - rather just an opportunity to review and guide UKU plans or announcements before they are finalised.  If you would like, and have time, to share your first-hand knowledge and experience of what is happening on-the-ground to inform how we, as a community, deal with the next steps, please complete this short online form.

We’re hoping to have a team with a variety of medical roles and from around the UK.

13th May

Government update to exercise guidelines

This week, the UK Government is making changes to guidance relating to exercise and outdoor activity.  Of course these changes do not permit team sports like Ultimate, and there is no indication about how or when that might be possible.  

You will be aware that there are differences between the four home nations.  Our understanding is that in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the recent changes relate only to being allowed to spend more time doing exercise.  In England there are some additional changes, and there is a useful summary on the Sport England website here: https://www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/coronavirus.

We were one of several sports that raised the question of two individuals from different households sharing equipment and the response is at the end of this Q&A page.  Realistically, it is difficult for two players throwing a disc back and forth to adhere to that advice.  If you do meet an individual from another household to do some disc-based exercise, firstly please ensure that you follow social distancing guidelines maintaining at least a 2m distance from each other and other people.  Our advice is for each person to bring their own disc and have contact with only that disc for the duration of the exercise, focussing on just throwing (and avoiding contact with the other person's disc through catching, or picking it up): practice your pulls, or maybe play some disc golf.  Either way, please take responsibility for sticking to the relevant guidance, and of course, be respectful of other members of the public. 

We have two further comments relating to disc golf:

1. Your UKU membership does provide liability insurance for playing flying disc games other than ultimate - essentially as a form of practice for Ultimate - although this does not extend to formal, organised competition in those other sports.  

2. We asked for some advice from the BDGA as well and they kindly pointed us at this post.  Please take particular note of their comments relating to safety and parks being busier than usual.

29th April

Resources for schools - can you help please?

We have a small group of teachers and coaches looking at the need for new resources to help teachers deliver PE and sports competitions when schools reopen for everyone.  The idea is to share simple information about how frisbees can be used in activities, games and competitions that meet constraints that are likely to affect school sports in the coming year.  

We are hoping to find one or more volunteers who have the skills and experience to help with the graphic design and editing aspects of this project.  If you think you could help, please get in touch.

For the competition part, which will probably include teams competing and scoring remotely from each other, we would ideally build some smart-looking, slick scoring-spreadsheets.  If you feel you could volunteer to help with that part, please let us know.

Finally, if you have brilliant ideas for frisbee games you believe would fit the brief, then of course we’d love to hear about them too.  Please feel free to send them over.

If you are available to help, please get in touch: admin@ukultimate.com.

2020 EUCS Announcement from European Ultimate Federation

On 27th April, the European Ultimate Federation announced that European Ultimate Championship Regionals (EUCRs) would not happen in 2020, but that they are making plans for a larger Finals event (xEUCF) if it is possible.

In the UK, we combine the West region EUCR with UKU Nationals.  For now, UKU Regionals and UKU Nationals are still in the calendar as per our original plan.  If it is possible to run those events, we will go ahead, but Nationals 2020 will not be a qualification event to EUCF.

The UKU Competitions Committee is reviewing this change to EUCS and will confirm how the UK bids to xEUCF will be allocated teams in due course.  

30th March

Upcoming Events - Cancellation Update

Following our previous announcement regarding the April/May 2020 Club Outdoor Events, we can now confirm that London Moooxed - due to take place in May - is now cancelled. In addition, the following summer events are also cancelled:

• Nottingham Windfarm (6-7 June)
• University Mixed Outdoor Nationals (13-14 June)
• Junior Outdoor Nationals & School Championships (4 July) 

As outlined in the statement made on 23rd March, we will fully refund team entry fees that have been paid for the above events. However, we kindly ask that you please bear with us in this period as we will not be able to refund all entry fees straight away. More information on this can be found in the announcement here.

 

Please keep an eye out on the UKU website and UKU Events Announcement Newsletter for further updates.

Update Statement re Coronavirus (COVID-19) 30th March 2020

In these exceptional times, UK Ultimate has no ongoing income.  We have been reviewing how the organisation will manage financially over the short, medium and longer term under various scenarios of “life returning to normal”.  Our conclusion is that we should take action now, taking into account the possibility that disruption to Ultimate could well continue for much of the rest of 2020, and perhaps into 2021.

We have decided that it is in the best interest of the organisation, our staff and Ultimate in the UK, that we apply for support from the Government Job Retention Scheme.  Effective April 1st - May 31st, the following members of staff will all be “furloughed”.  This means that UKU will receive support for 80% of the normal wage costs associated with those members of staff:    

• Chesca Tyler Weddell (Coach Education Coordinator)
• Chris Bamford (UKU Administrator)
• Meg Price (Events Coordinator)
• Ruth Flight (GB Junior Programme Manager, part-time)

Simon Hill (CEO) and Laura Atkins (bookkeeper, part-time) will continue to work, however their hours will also be reduced.  

Under this scheme furloughed staff are not permitted to work for their employer, so please be aware that during this time there will be just one member of staff dealing with all ongoing work, and any incoming contact or queries.

The government scheme is in place until 31st May.  If it is extended we will review the situation and may extend these temporary staffing arrangements.

Whilst similar changes are being experienced by companies and individuals around the country, it is still unsettling for anyone affected.  The board of UK Ultimate would like to thank the staff for their hard work and flexibility throughout this time.  

Our board and staff also want to thank all UKU members for their support whilst we have been working, and continue to work through the impact on our events and programmes.  Like you, we are greatly looking forward to a time when we can all get back together to play Ultimate.

In the meantime, please follow the advice and stay at home.

24th March

WFDF Cancels or Postpones all World Championships over Next Six Months

 This morning, WFDF announced a decision to cancel or postpone all three of the WFDF World Ultimate Championships to be held over the next six months. This will at least affect the following:

• World Ultimate & Guts Championships, Netherlands, 11-18 July
• World Junior Ultimate Championships, Sweden, 18-25 July
• World Masters Ultimate Championships, Australia, 5-12 September

http://www.wfdf.org/news-media/news/press/2-official-communication/969-wfdf-cancels-or-postpones-all-world-championships-over-next-six-months

This is of course a huge blow for all the athletes, organisers and volunteers for whom these events would have been the culmination of months and years of hard work and dedication. 

As per the announcement, WFDF and the three Tournament Organising Committees are currently working through the details in order to return as much of the fees as possible to the players/teams.  

Also, WFDF is currently in consultation with the TOCs to discuss alternatives for the affected events (further details in their announcement). They will continue to evaluate what will be possible and will provide further information as soon as possible.  

As soon as we have more information we will be sharing that directly with the affected individuals.  You can also keep an eye on WFDF’s website for further news.

23rd March

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Advice - Stay at Home

We hope that you are safe and well.

Many members of the ultimate community are out doing critical work today.  On behalf of all UKU members and Ultimate players; a huge thank you.  We hope that you have what you need.  If you think we can help in any way, please let us know.

For the rest of us.  Please follow the advice and stay at home. 

We understand that some of you may want to go out throwing to try to keep active in this difficult time, but we would like to highlight that this involves the unavoidable aspect of sharing a disc and continues a level of non-essential social interaction. 

We love playing Ultimate as much as you do and throwing skills are an essential part of our sport, but bearing in mind government advice and the positive impact that staying at home could have, why not take this opportunity to build on other aspects of your fitness that are also key! There are lots of different resources out there at the moment, but here is a small selection of links that we’ve put together so that you can continue to keep fit within the comfort of your own home:

• This Girl Can - Home Exercises https://www.thisgirlcan.co.uk/activities/home-exercise/ 
• The Body Coach TV - P.E. with Joe (new 30 min videos every day - great for families) https://youtu.be/Rz0go1pTda8 
• Fitness Blender - Free Online Workout Videos https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos 
• NHS - Gym-Free Workouts https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/gym-free-workouts/ 
  
  

Also, please share your Ultimate specific home workouts with us! We’d love to see how you’re keeping fit at home with Ultimate in mind - simply tag @UKUltimate and use #UltimateAtHome so that everyone in the community can see and get involved. 

Why not tell VC Ultimate too! They want to know if you’re at home and doing your part to keep your community safe.  Post a picture of you exercising, working, cooking, playing board games – whatever you’re doing to keep yourself occupied – in your VC gear and they’ll send a surprise gift pack out to a winner every day until the end of March. Be sure to tag @VCUltimate and use #VCstayconnected to enter.

Following the recent cancellation of a number of upcoming UKU events (full details in our previous announcements published on the UKU website), we have been working on plans to refund team entry fees that have been paid to UK Ultimate so far.

We can now confirm that we will be processing full refunds for ALL team entry fees that have been paid for the following UKU outdoor events:

• Y Ddraig Goch
• Grey Towers of Durham

Should the following also be cancelled, we will fully refund entry fees for these UKU events as well:

• Nottingham Windfarm
• University Mixed Outdoor Nationals
• Junior Outdoor Nationals

We kindly ask that you please bear with us in this period, as we will not be able to refund all entry fees straight away. However, if you are an individual who has paid the team fee(s) out of your own pocket and are in urgent need of the cash, please contact us by emailing events@ukultimate.com and we will prioritise your refund. 

Alternatively, if your team/club would prefer to take your entry fee payment as credit towards a future UKU event, please let us know. This means that we will not refund you at this point, instead we will work with you to take it off one of your team entry fees in the future.  

Also, in response to those of you that have kindly been in contact with us asking about how UK Ultimate’s financial position will be affected by the situation - thank you for keeping us in your thoughts. This is still a work-in-progress, but here are some things we can say:

• This situation means that all usual sources of income for UK Ultimate have effectively stopped until further notice.
• We have always been quite careful about UKU reserves and so we have every reason to believe that UKU will still be here when this is done.
• We will have to make some adjustments to the way we work - for example staff members may reduce their hours for a while.  This is something we are discussing openly internally, but isn’t something we can appropriately share in any more detail today.

For people who have wondered if there is anything they can do to help:

• Thank you, and please do continue to be patient whilst we work through all the details.
• If you have detailed knowledge of the HMRC Job Retention Scheme announced on Friday, we’ve got a few questions that we haven’t been able to resolve so far - please email or call Si Hill.
• If your team/club is in a position to do so and would like to donate your team entry fee from the event(s) that you’ve entered so far this year, all donations will be gratefully received. Please just let us know by emailing events@ukultimate.com 
• If you’re able to renew your UKU membership for this year, despite the fact that few events may be happening this season, then that would be highly appreciated - UKU membership fees are one of the key contributors to UK Ultimate’s income and every little bit can help in this uncertain time. 
• If you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to contact us via admin@ukultimate.com but please bear in mind that we may not be able to get back to you right away. You can keep an eye out for further updates regarding Ultimate in the UK and COVID-19 on the UKU website and through the UKU Event Announcement Newsletter. 

19th March

April/May 2020 Club Outdoor Events - Cancellation Update

Following recent updates from the venue and taking into account the latest government advice, sadly we have to announce that the Grey Towers of Durham event, due to be held on 25th-26th April, is now cancelled. This is in addition to the recent announcement that all Tartan Tour events in Scotland will be cancelled, including the Glasgow Caledonia’s Call event that was previously planned to take place on 31st May.

We are currently waiting to hear back from the team organising London Moooxed. We anticipate that this event will also be cancelled, although please look out for confirmation of this in due course in the UKU Events Announcements Newsletter.

For now, we are remaining optimistic that Nottingham Windfarm 2020 may be able to go ahead. Of course, we’d love for Ultimate to resume as soon as possible, and fortunately our event partners are helping us to keep our bookings as planned despite it being unclear exactly how this will all look in a couple of months, so we are currently holding off on cancelling this event! However, should this change then we will update everyone as soon as we can. 

Also, thank you for your patience and understanding whilst we continue to monitor the situation. We will share as much information with you as we can throughout this uncertain time, so please keep an eye on the UKU Event Announcements Newsletter and the UKU website for all of our updates. 

18th March

University Men’s & Women’s Nationals 2020 - Cancelled

As the COVID-19 situation continues to develop, unfortunately University Men’s & Women’s Outdoor Nationals 2020 (4th-5th April) is now cancelled. 

BUCS will also announce this cancellation on their website - https://www.bucs.org.uk/. 

We will continue to provide updates about the events due to take place this year on an event-by-event basis for now. We will continue to monitor the situation closely over the coming weeks and we will update you as soon as we can. As a reminder, entries remain suspended until further notice. 

Keep an eye on the UKU website for all updates regarding COVID-19 and the UKU Events Announcement Newsletter for event-specific information.  

17th March

Update Statement re Coronavirus (COVID-19) 17th March 2020

On March 16th, the government announced that everyone should stop all non-essential travel and social contact.  Obviously we all love playing Ultimate very much, but we cannot see any situation where playing Ultimate is essential.

For that reason, unless and until there is a change or relevant clarification in official guidance, UK Ultimate’s position is that all Ultimate in the UK should now stop until further notice.    

So, further to our announcement yesterday 

• All Ultimate clubs should stop club training sessions
• All GB training is cancelled
• The UKU Level 1 Coaching Course on 21st March is cancelled

We will continue to provide updates about the events due to take place this year as soon as we can, and still on an event-by-event basis for now.  We do not know when the guidance will change; we do not have any more information that you do. Keep an eye out on the UKU Events Announcements Newsletter regarding each event’s individual status.

Please note that we have - exceptionally - sent this message on our Weekly Digest newsletter because that newsletter has the largest number of subscribers.  

16th March

Update Statement re Coronavirus (COVID-19) 16th March 2020

Given the developing situation it is clear that we will be making substantial changes to the 2020 outdoor season.  We are in contact with our tournament venues and other partners about our events and how to handle the impact. Please click here to read the full statement.

Events Update:

• Y Ddraig Goch (Cardiff) 2020 will not take place on 28-29 March.
• We are working with BUCS to clarify the plan re University Outdoor Nationals (Nottingham) on 4-5 April and will provide a further update later this week.
• We are not making any statements about other UKU Ranking Events today, except to say that we have temporarily suspended team entries to all UKU events.
• We will send further details about all of the above as soon as we can. Our small team has limited capacity to deal with large numbers of individual queries. Thanks for your patience and support.

GB teams:

• GB U20 team training sessions on 21-22 March and 28-29 March have been cancelled.

Coaching courses:

• The UKU Level 1 Coaching course on 21st March in Sheffield will still go ahead following relevant guidance. Participants will receive further information directly by email.

Club training sessions:

A number of clubs were in contact with us last week about whether they should continue to run club practices. 

• For the time being this is a decision each club will need to make for itself, taking into account all of the relevant guidance, and in particular emphasising to individuals within the club that they must take personal responsibility for making the right decision about whether to attend or not.
• Sport England issued this statement on 12th March which we think is relevant for club committees to read and think about: https://www.sportengland.org/news/coronavirus-information-sector

Announcement to confirm cancellation of Y Ddraig Goch 2020

Given the developing situation it is clear that we will be making substantial changes to the 2020 outdoor season.  We are in contact with our tournament venues and other partners about our events and how to handle the impact.

Today we are announcing that YDG 2020 (28-29 March) has been cancelled.

Please see our latest statement.  We will provide more information about YDG and other events as soon as we can over the coming days.  Thanks for your patience.

5th March

Update Statement re Coronavirus (COVID-19) 5th March 2020

UK Ultimate’s response to the ongoing situation with the coronavirus will be led by government advice to the general public and to sports organisations where it applies to our circumstances.  The situation is changing rapidly, and we may be required to make last minute changes to our plans.

We will issue further updates as and when it is appropriate.  Please read on for the rest of the statement.

General Comments

Current advice is that “there is presently no rationale to close or cancel sporting events”, but we make the following comments:

• Anyone with flu-like symptoms should avoid the risk of spreading their infection, whatever that infection may be, by staying at home and recovering;
• All participants and attendees should be up to date with latest government advice and take appropriate action as it applies to them; https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/coronavirus-covid-19-uk-government-response
• You will already be aware of the importance of washing your hands, and should expect additional measures at sports venues that encourage or even mandate regular hand-washing and/or the use of hand-sanitiser, especially on arrival.

UK Ultimate-specific comments

We note the following points that are more specific to UKU events:

• Participants must respect that some people will prefer to avoid shaking-hands, high-5s, standing in a close huddle for a spirit circle or timeout.
• That said, players who decide to compete must accept that they will, at times, be in relatively close contact with opponents, especially their marker. This is not avoidable.
• Participants and attendees deciding to attend UKU events are expected to take responsibility for themselves - just like they do on the field. Be self-sufficient: as individuals or perhaps as a team.
• We are reviewing whether to put in place any steps to enable players to clean discs periodically.
• You should expect that competition schedules will be finalised even later than usual so that we are better able to adapt to teams dropping out.
• The detailed arrangements for our events vary. So for now at least, we will deal with the implications of any cancellations on a case-by-case basis.