We began our work by developing, for the first time in our organization’s history, a vision and set of core values that will guide all of our work. This vision and values reflect who we are and what we stand for. We are committed to them and proud of them.
Why do we need a new strategic plan? Our original strategic plan comes to a very successful conclusion this year. The staff has executed the strategies and objectives of the most recent plan exceptionally well, and we are confident they will do the same with this plan. We are at an important point in the evolution of our sport and organization, and we need a new strategic plan to guide our decision making, resource allocation, and prioritization of work.
We took our time building this plan, and as mentioned above, our work was preceded by a great deal of research conducted with all of you, including multiple national surveys, focus groups, committee inputs, and detailed analysis of this data by a group of data-crunching experts. As a result of taking this methodical and thoughtful approach, this is really your plan for the future of our sport and organization.
You can view the strategies and goals of this plan below. In a nutshell, this is a plan to take our sport to the next level, with an emphasis on increasing our visibility and driving growth across all ages and divisions, with a particular emphasis on youth. Our newly restructured club division will showcase the sport at the highest level, while exposing Ultimate to millions of kids nationwide. Simultaneously, we will be hard at work helping leagues and associations build up their local infrastructures and programs to be ready for the influx of interest we build via the increased national exposure. By investing in visibility and exposure as a top priority, we are saying to the sports community at large: "Here we are, the coolest sport on the planet. Check us out and have your kids give it a try!"
We will continue to provide the highest quality events all over the country, with our quality standards receiving more emphasis. We’ll revisit and make real to our thousands of new players our core guiding philosophy of Spirit of the Game. We’ll develop long-term athlete development pipelines and increased levels of support for our international teams, so that we build a model of sustained competitive excellence. And we are building a stable and innovative organization driven by a culture of excellence. We’ll be modernizing our structure with revised bylaws to reflect our current evolution and building best practices and financial plans to ensure the long-term viability and vitality of USA Ultimate.
A sincere thanks to all that helped us build this plan – your plan – for the incredibly exciting future of USA Ultimate!
- Mike Payne, USA Ultimate Board President (2013 - 2016)
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