A Field Of Their Own - Centering and Celebrating Our Gx* 🥏 Athletes

The Valley Ultimate Annual Fund dedicatedly supports as many Ultimate athletes as possible to develop their skills, build lasting connections, and have a great time on the field.

We believe that making a concerted effort to center the aspirations of our Gx* athletes is crucial to supporting their continued growth and enjoyment of Ultimate. The pandemic severely impacted youth athletic participation rates across the nation, hitting the youth girls and women’s divisions especially hard.

To address this, we have poured our focus into creating equitable, vibrant spaces, including:

Creating truly mixed (50:50) league play and supporting our local women’s-division club athletes.
Providing sliding-scale fee waivers on demand for all athletes to remove financial barriers to participation.
Creating a girls-division coaching consortium and inaugurating a new annual intro-level Gx Clinic.
Strengthening our Gx Youth Club Program with more coaches, increased practice times, and targeted player recruitment.

Our Momentum: Big Dividends Starting To Payoff 🏆

Thanks to your past support, our efforts have paid off in a big way:

Gx YCC Success: Top-10 finishes at Youth Club Championships (Including 3rd in 2025!)
Growing Clinics: Welcomed 55 participants to our Fall Gx clinic.
High School Dominance: Continued State Championships from Western Massachusetts Gx high school teams.
Broad Reach: Over 65 participants from 7 local schools competed on our Gx Youth Club Regional and National teams.
History Made: Celebrated the first-ever Nationals appearance for our local Western MA women's division club team, Starling.

What’s Next: Our Plans for the Coming Year 🚀

We are not done yet! To keep this incredible momentum going, we are expanding our programming to include:

More Access: Enlarging our Gx Clinic to include more coaches and adding a late-winter indoor Gx Clinic to inspire new players.
Regional Competition: Hosting a series of Winter Gx Youth Club Round-Robins with regional teams from Vermont, Maine, and Boston.
Enhanced Training: Adding competitive tournaments and training sessions to our Gx Youth Club Program.

Your Impact: How Funds Are Used 💡

All of these activities depend entirely on the support of our local community to ensure these life-changing opportunities remain open to all—regardless of financial situation. Your contribution directly funds:

Financial Assistance: Helping us meet and exceed the $3,700 in financial aid we provided to Gx YCC athletes.
Coaching Excellence: Covering over $5,000 in additional coaching expenses for our growing programs.
Winter Indoor Space: Helping us fund indoor winter practice space rentals at $225 per hour.

⚡ Double Your Impact Right Now!

Giving right now is more valuable than ever. If you donate during National Youth Ultimate Giving Week, The Ultimate Foundation will match our first $750 with a free grant of the same amount!

It's easy to support our athletes—just click the donate button to double your impact today.

From all of us at Valley Ultimate, thank you for your consideration and community support!

*What is "Gx"?
athletes who are girls or who do not fit into the gender binary and believe that the USAU Youth Girls or Women's Division is the right one for them. As a USA Ultimate affilliate, Valley Ultimate adheres to the USAU Gender Inclusion Policy

Valley Ultimate Annual Fund 2026