After a much needed, post-season break your Utah Wild players and organizers are picking up steam as we prepare for the next season!
Quick Hits:
🔗We are Hiring!: Whether you've only got a little bit of time to spare or are interested in helping drive the strategic vision of the Wild, we've got positions open for you! It takes a village to run this organization and are prepared to meet you where you're at so your work with the Wild can be beneficial to both parties.
Seeking Sponsors for 2023: Is your business or a business you know looking to: support a growing women-founded and women-led business; increase their reach and visibility; or provide opportunities to local gender diverse athletes? Reach out to us at partnership@utahwildultimate.org about getting your business logo on our jerseys, being promoted on social media, or getting your products in front of our athletes and fan base. Jersey sponsorship spots are limited and must be locked in before the end of the year!
Upcoming Events:
🔗SLC Fall Goaltimate League: It's not too late to sign up and join the fun! Get some touches in under the lights and enjoy some time with ultimate community as the club season comes to a close. Starts this Tuesday, October 4th and runs through Novemeber 15th.
🔗Pre-Tryout Mixers: Whether you're getting ready to try out for a spot on the Utah Wild 2023 professional roster, or just looking to play some ultimate with other woman-matching players: join us in SLC on October 8th and Provo on October 29th for some coaching and practice from the Wild coaching staff.
🔗Tryouts for the 2023 Pro Roster: Come join the best players from across the Mountain West on November 5-6! Compete for a spot on our 2023 roster or just put reps in and learn from elite players and coaches. Saturday open to players ages 16+.
🔗Pie Toss Hat Tournament: Utah players of all ages and genders, join us for our 2nd Annual Pie Toss hat tournament in South Jordan on November 12th!
🔗Wildin' Out Goaltimate Hat Tournament: Boise players of all ages and genders, join us for our 1st Annual Wildin' Out Goaltimate hat tournament at Ann Morrison Park on November 12th!
Looking Back:
Since the end of our 2022 professional season, Wild players and organizers have been busy getting involved in various community-based initiatives!
Wild Outreach Efforts
Throughout the summer we were grateful to partner with several awesome organizations for clinics, camps, conferences, and the like. We helped teach about the sport of Ultimate, teach the next generation of players, and helped grow the Ultimate community.
Thank you to SHAPE Utah, Utah Ultimate Disc Association, Utah Diné Bikéyah, Game On! Sports 4 Girls Northern Utah, Salt Lake Shred, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah for your partnership! Check out a few pictures below from some of these events:
On The Field:
USA Club Ultimate, Ski Town Classic, and the World Ultimate Club Championships
The majority of our players, board members, and coaches couldn't stay off the field this summer and participated in the USA Ultimate Club season. We had players represented on Utah Swell, Boise Seven Devils, Denver Small Batch, Seattle Riot, and Denver Molly Brown in the women's division, as well as Salt Lake City Sego, Montana Moondog, Seattle Mixtape, Los Angeles Lotus, Denver Flight Club, and Fort Collins shame. in the mixed division. All of these teams competed at the Regional Championships last weekend. Now five Wild players, Paige Kercher, Jen Cogburn, Jessi Crowley, Kyra Khoroujnikova, and Kendra Miller, continue their seasons onto the National Championships which take place Oct. 20-23 in San Diego, CA.
As part of the Club season, Utah Wild took on the mantel of hosting beloved mid-season tournament, Ski Town Classic. With 40 teams flying in from as far east as Florida and as far west as Hawaii, it was an exceptional weekend of ultimate! Thank you to our sponsors, Visit Salt Lake and the Utah Sports Commission for their ongoing support of this event and the sport of ultimate.
Earlier in the summer, we also had six players represented at the World Ultimate Club Championships, where Seattle Mixtape players Paige Kercher, Jen Cogburn, and Cori Bigham took home 1st place! If you haven't already, send your congratulations to these world champions! Additionally on the world stage, three players - Carolyn Vlach, Molly Robbins, and Julianna Williams - participated in World Master's Ultimate Club Championships in Limerick, Ireland.
Youth Club Championship Coaching
This summer, the Utah Swarm U17 girls team was coached by Wild players Kellie Koester and Sailor Ong, and the Utah Swarm U20 girls team was coached by Wild players Kendra Miller, Maddy Paskett, and Wild coach Tania Reitz. It was the first time Utah has been able to field a U17 girls team! These teams travelled to Minnesota in August to participate in the Youth Club Championships where the U17 team broke seed to get 5th place in the country, and the U20 team broke seed to get 2nd place in the country! We are incredibly proud of all of the players on those teams and the coaches who helped guide them - the future of ultimate in Utah is bright!
August Silent Auction
Utah Wild successfully ran it's first ever silent auction! We'd like to send out a huge thank you to all of the local businesses and friends of the Wild that donated items and experiences, and an even bigger thank you to the people who participated in the auction! We raised almost $4000 in support of our mission!
We plan to bring this event back next summer and if you have ideas for auction items it is never too early to reach out to us!
Advocacy
In line with our mission, it's important to the Utah Wild that our community grows as we grow. This summer we were grateful to have the privilege of donating some funds to two great organizations: our Purposeful Partner, Utah Diné Bikéyah; and the Layshia Clarendon Foundation.
As part of our Purposeful Partnership program, we donated 5% of the last year's revenue from corporate sponsorships to Utah Diné Bikéyah, which ended up as a $400 dollar donation. Utah Dine Bikeyah works to preserve and protect the cultural and natural resources of ancestral Native American lands to benefit and bring healing to people and the Earth. If you're unfamiliar with their work, we highly encourage you to follow them on Instagram and check out their website for ways to help or join them. We hope to continue this partnership and support for Indigenous communities in Utah.
Additionally, in light of transphobic language among Utah ultimate community members at the Youth Club Championships in August, Utah Wild showed solidarity with trans athletes by selling trans flag wrist bands along with Utah Wild merchandise at a Salt Lake Shred home game where 100% of profits from the wrist bands and 50% of profits from all other merchandise went to the Layshia Clarendon Foundation. We want to send the message that trans and gender nonconforming athletes are welcome in our community and were glad to be able to donate $100 to this foundation.
Western Ultimate League Announcements:
Check out our league's most recent updates on their website!