Cincinnati Ultimate Players Association
Public Statement on Coronavirus Concerns #11
Revised 2021-04-22

Dear CUPA Community, 

I hope you are all staying safe and well. The CUPA Board met last week for our quarterly meeting and there were many takeaways as we looked ahead with renewed optimism for ultimate to return in the coming months. The full meeting minutes will be posted later, but I wanted to share the highlights for you now.

Youth Ultimate

Starting Monday (April 26), we are opening Phase 2 of our Return to Play Plan. The most significant change from Phase 1 is that there is no longer a size restriction for groups at practices. We are optimistic that we will be able to continue through the phases and are currently evaluating the restrictions for upcoming phases, most notably the mask requirement with increasing temperatures outside. Remember that in order to participate at any phase, coaches and players must complete the requisite certification and registration requirements, respectively.

Our goal (if trends continue as they are) is to lead into the summer with considerations for youth offerings this year. We know the challenges that traditionally impact youth play in the summer (even before the pandemic), but given the fact that we have now gone over a full calendar year without ultimate, we don’t want to wait until the fall to resume youth activities if we can provide summer playing opportunities before then. In the coming weeks, we will be surveying our youth teams to get feedback on how we can best structure activities for all involved. We will reach out to our contacts directly for this feedback soon.

Adult Leagues

One significant change over the past couple months has been the rollout of vaccinations in our area. The constantly improving availability for adults to get their shots provides hope that a safe return to play is a realistic possibility. At this time, we have set our sites on a return to play for adults around mid-June, aiming to have a slightly shortened summer league season that ends around the usual time of early August. We can’t guarantee anything yet, but we are preparing with the hope that we can safely pull this off.

We haven’t made final decisions on exactly what requirements and/or safety protocols will be in place, but we wanted to let people know that we are strongly considering the possibility of some (if not all) leagues requiring participants to be vaccinated. The reason we are sharing this information at this time is to allow everyone to take action now if they want to complete the vaccination process before mid-June.

As mentioned, we are considering all possibilities and continuing to monitor the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic and our sport. Whatever the end result is, we know that this summer’s leagues will be structured differently than past years in some way. To help us design the best structure for everyone involved, we ask that any players interested in CUPA summer leagues fill out this survey. We’ll take this information to come up with a more definitive plan ahead of our next update to the community.

There are still challenges ahead, but we do want to convey optimism with this message. We greatly appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding over the past year. With so many moving parts, we will do our best to provide safe playing opportunities for all as soon as we can. Thanks in advance to everyone for your helpful participation through our surveys, and we look forward to sharing further updates soon (targeting for the next update to be included in our newsletter at the beginning of May). Have a wonderful week!

Thanks, 

Ryan Gorman
President, CUPA Board of Directors
president@cincinnatiultimate.org

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The Cincinnati Ultimate Players Association (CUPA)'s mission is to serve as a regional resource, promoting growth in the sport of ultimate and instilling Spirit of the Game™ at all levels of play. CUPA is an Ohio non-profit corporation run primarily by volunteers. CUPA is tax-exempt under IRS section 501(c)(4). To see how CUPA can help you or your organization at any level of ultimate, please visit the website or contact the Board of Directors.