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| Sport | Ultimate (sport) |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | National |
| Founded | 1993 (1993)[1] |
| Affiliation | World Flying Disc Federation |
| CEO | Danny Saunders |
| Official website | |
| www | |
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Ultimate Canada is a not-for-profit organization that serves as the governing body of the sport of Ultimate (also known as "Ultimate Frisbee") in Canada. It runs the Canadian Ultimate Championships (CUC) and Canadian University Ultimate Championship (CUUC) series.
Canadian Ultimate Championships (CUC)
Each August, teams from across the country travel to the Canadian Ultimate Championships (CUC) to compete for the national title in 7 different divisions: mixed, open, women's, junior open, junior women, masters open and masters women. Teams compete at this seven-day tournament not only to determine the national champion but also to determine who will represent Canada at the next world championships.[2]
From 2016 to 2019, the mixed divisions were held separately from the remaining divisions.
In 2022, the format was changed again with the three Masters divisions at their event, the three senior divisions at their event, and the two Junior divisions at their own event.
Canadian University Ultimate Championships (CUUC)
The CUUC started in 1995 and brings university teams from across the country to compete in the open & the women's division. Each fall Ultimate Canada operates two competitions for university Ultimate teams in Canada: the Canadian University Ultimate Championships (CUUC) and the Canadian Eastern University Ultimate Championships (CEUUC). The CEUUC began in 1998 and brings university teams primarily from Ontario and Quebec together to compete in the open & the women's division.[2]
In 2010, the Toronto Ultimate Club released a documentary film, 30 years in 30 minutes,[3] that traces the club's history as well as the history of ultimate Frisbee in Canada. Not far removed from the invention of ultimate in the late 1960s, Ken Westerfield and Jim Kenner (the founder and CEO of Discraft) ran the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships with guts, disc golf, freestyle, ultimate and individual field events in the early 1970s at the Canadian National Exhibition. In 1975, they moved the tournament to the Toronto Islands.[4] They also participated in several Frisbee show tours across Canada for Irwin Toy (Wham-O licensee and Frisbee distributor for Canada). Each year their show tours would end in Vancouver where they would set up the Vancouver Open Frisbee Championships on Kitsilano Beach and Stanley Park (1974-1977). This is where Jim Brown, Bill King, and John Anthony of freestyle fame made their first competitive appearances. From these championships and the presence of these touring professional Frisbee players Ken Westerfield, Jim Kenner, and Bob Blakely of Irwin Toy, Toronto became the hub of Frisbee activity in Canada.[5]
Ken Westerfield initiated the Toronto Ultimate Club (TUC).[6] The Toronto Ultimate Club is one of ultimate's oldest leagues.[7] Ken Westerfield lived in the Beaches in southeast Toronto, this is where he would set up shop, taking his Frisbees down to the beach on a grassy area next to the boardwalk called Kew Beach and would play with whoever wanted to join him.[8] Four of the original ultimate players, Ken Westerfield, Jim Lim, Stuart Godfrey, and Patrick Chartrand and others played a pickup game of ultimate Frisbee one afternoon with Westerfield outlining the rules. For this group, it became a regular thing and the group began to grow. In 1979, Westerfield using his local tournament player contact list, started weekly ultimate pick-up games in the Beaches on the same grassy area next to the boardwalk on Wednesday evenings. Christopher Lowcock, introduced to disc sports by his brother Les, became part of this group. Lowcock, Westerfield, and the others would recruit more players as they passed along the boardwalk, Wednesday's ultimate pick-up was becoming very popular.[9]
In 1979, Westerfield sent team invitations to Wards Island, West End, North Toronto and Westerfield's team the Beaches,[10] to join the Toronto Ultimate League. These were the first four teams, each taking turns hosting the league games at their home locations. The league starting night was at Kew Beach. These were the very first disc ultimate league games in the city of Toronto, the beginning of the Toronto Ultimate League (Club), and the first ultimate league in Canada. The Toronto Ultimate League developed into the Toronto Ultimate Club (TUC), which now has 3300 active members and over 250 Teams playing the year round.[11]
The first Canadian Ultimate Championships (CUC) was held, for the open division, Ottawa in 1987, produced by Marcus Brady and Brian Guthrie. OCUA subsequently hosted the 1993, 1999, 2002 and 2011 Canadian Ultimate Championships.[12]
Canada has been ranked number one in the Ultimate World Rankings several times since 1998 in all the Ultimate Divisions (including Open and Women's) according to the World Flying Disc Federation.[13]
In 2013, as a founding partner, the Toronto Ultimate Club presented Canada's first semi-professional Ultimate team, the Toronto Rush, to the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). They went undefeated 18-0 and won the AUDL Championships.[14] In 2014, the Montreal Royal and the Vancouver Riptide joined the AUDL. In 2015, the Ottawa Outlaws became the fourth Canadian team to compete in the AUDL, of 26 teams.
In 2015, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted full recognition to the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) for flying disc sports including ultimate.[15][16]
The Toronto Ultimate Club was founded in 1980.[19] It is Canada's oldest ultimate league with teams participating every season, on most days of the week and various fields (indoor and outdoor) throughout the year. It is a not-for-profit organization that was incorporated in 1995. The club consists of three full-time managers, a strong board of directors that represents the membership, and over 100 volunteers.
London Ultimate Club (LUC)[20] is a growing league in London, Ontario. The club was founded in 1998 and incorporated as a not-for-profit in 2008. The club runs outdoor leagues in the summer and indoor leagues in the fall and winter.
Ultimate is popular in Ottawa, Ontario. OCUA is currently one of the two largest leagues in Canada (alongside the Vancouver Ultimate League), and for a time was the largest ultimate league in the world. In 2004, there were 354 teams in the summer league and approximately 5000 members.[21]
The Vancouver Ultimate League has around 5300 active members who play throughout the year.[22] Its primary focus is recreational play. It also hosts clinics and introductory programs for new players and supports several elite club teams that compete in provincial, national and international championships.
Founded in 2004, the CUA coordinates year-round leagues, annual tournaments, a growing juniors program, and outreach efforts to promote the sport of ultimate frisbee within Calgary and surrounding areas. Each year in June the CUA hosts the annual Ho-Down and Slo-Down tournament that draws more than 30 teams from across Western Canada and the United States.[23] Calgary Juniors Ultimate hosts an annual tournament and youth league.
Windsor Ultimate in Windsor, Ontario since 2007.[24] In 2010, Windsor Ultimate officially became a non-profit entity in the province of Ontario, this move allowed the organization to better situate itself as a legitimate sports league in Southern Ontario.
The Montreal Ultimate Association has enjoyed incredible growth and has become one of the largest Ultimate associations in Canada. Although the sport first came to Montreal in 1984, the 1993 season truly signaled the start of an Ultimate league that eventually became the association we know today. In 1997, players felt the need to create a non-profit organization that they called Association de Ultimate de Montréal.[25]
Hall of Fame Inductees 2011 was the inaugural year. Ultimate Canada created the Hall of Fame to recognize contributions from pioneers in the sport.
Builders
Players
Teams
Founders
Saskatchewan Saskatoon Ultimate Disc-sport Society Saskatoon, SK
Alberta
Calgary Ultimate Association Calgary, AB
Edmonton Ultimate Players Association Edmonton, AB
British Columbia
Vancouver Ultimate League Vancouver, BC
Victoria Ultimate Players Society Victoria, BC
Kamloops Ultimate League Society Kamloops, BC
Manitoba
[1] Winnipeg, MB
Nova Scotia
Halifax Ultimate Recreational League Halifax, NS
Ontario
Ottawa-Carleton Ultimate Association Ottawa, ON
Toronto Ultimate Club Toronto, ON
Sudbury Ultimate Club Sudbury, ON
Kingston Ultimate Kingston, ON
Guelph Ultimate Players Association Guelph, ON
Waterloo Disc Sports Waterloo Region, ON
London Ultimate Club London, ON
Windsor Ultimate Windsor, ON
Durham Ultimate Club Durham, ON
Peterborough Ultimate League Peterborough, ON
Quebec
Fédération québécoise d'ultimatePQ
Association d'Ultimate de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke, PQ
UltimAction, Pour une relève du ultimatePQ
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan Ultimate Players AssociationSK
Saskatoon Ultimate Disc-Sport Society Saskatoon,SK
Regina Ultimate Flying Disc Club Regina, SK
Newfoundland and Labrador
Ultimate Newfoundland and LabradorNL
Men's Avalon Ultimate League St. John's, NL
St. John's Women's Ultimate Recreation League St. John's, NL
Mile Zero Ultimate St. John's, NL
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