Grass Roots Ultimate: Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Whether you are coming from a different part of the country to our leagues, or have been away from league for awhile, here are the basic differences between the divisions:

A is for more advanced, experienced players. You should know how to mark, throw forehand and backhand, know the basics of vertical stack and zone formations, and have a working knowledge of the rules.
B includes beginners, anyone not comfortable moving up to A, and those wishing to mentor other B players. A lot of teaching is involved in B league, as most teams practice together during the season. This is a great social aspect of B league.
When available, the Development Division includes directed practices and scrimmages, rather than formal games. The “Dev” division is suitable for any player who would like the opportunity to develop their skills in a structured practice environment. “A” players and captains may wish to volunteer to assist in the Dev division. Contact clinics@gru.org for more information about the Dev division.

Q2) I don’t have a car to get to the fields, can I still sign up?

We recommend you sign up and then check with your new teammates to see who might be coming from the same area as you. You can always email gru-chat to locate some neighbors for carpooling. There are generally quite a lot of folks in GRU who appreciate carpooling. Alternatively, you could solicit someone to sign up as a “baggage” pair with you for carpooling purposes.

Q3) I’m potentially going to miss a lot of games, can I still sign up?

We prefer you not sign up if you know in advance that you will miss more than half of the games. Missing the tournament can also be a significant deterrent, especially if you will already be missing a lot of games. If you choose to play, please indicate this information in the comments field, so the drafting captains can accommodate. Please also consider not registering and participate as a pickup when you are able. Of course, if things change after league starts, you can always pull yourself from the league so your team can replace you with someone who can attend regularly. See our Refund Policy for further details.

Q4) Should I attend the draft? How do I find out what team I’m on?

Only captains attend the draft. Within several days of the draft you should hear from your captain. Also, we update the website with rosters. If you do not know which team you are on within 3 days of the first league games, contact us.

Q5) I want to play with my 2-3 friends, how do we sign up together? Can we put together our own team?

Currently our leagues are not designed to allow this. Your best option to play with a group of folks is for one of you to volunteer to captain. This gives you the ability to draft your friends/family.

Q6) A group of us from our high school team would like to play in GRU’s league, which division would be best and can we all play together?

Again, your only solution to all playing together is for one of you to volunteer to captain. It is also important to remember that ours is a co-ed league so you will need to recruit the necessary number of men and women. Accommodations would be made on a case-by-case basis for your entire group to play together. Please email league@gru.org for further discussion. Most often, B league is most appropriate. If you feel pretty skilled with a high level of play (see FAQ on Which Division to Play), we prefer you email league@gru.org to inquire about playing A league.

Registration

Q1) How do I register?

Go to https://registration.gru.org. If you don’t have an account, please create one. Otherwise, login to your existing account. Verify your player profile and update it if necessary. Below your player information, you will find a list of active leagues. Click on the appropriate link (by gender) and follow the steps.

Q2) What is “Baggage”?

Baggage is a tongue-in-cheek term that we use for a player request. Currently, we allow players to request one other player to play on the same team. Both players must register while there are available slots. Each player in a baggaged pair must indicate the other as their requested player. “Unreciprocated Baggage” will be ignored at the draft. Specify your “Baggage” when you complete your league registration. You may update your Baggage request at anytime before the draft, by logging into your registration account and updating your player information for the appropriate league and division.

Q3) What does “Waitlist” mean, and how does it work?

Simply, it is a queue for players to get in when the current spots have all been taken. Because we try very hard to maintain the desired male-female player ratios during registration, we make a limited number of spots available for each gender. When those initial spots are filled, the registration goes into a waitlist-only status. However, as enough people of both genders sign up on the waitlist, we are often able to expand the available slots to accommodate additional teams. When this happens, the first group of men and women on the waitlists will be “released” to register.

We ask that if you join the waitlist, that you try to check your email once a day during the registration period to see if you have been released. If you do not register after being released within the requested time frame, you may lose your spot. If your release expires (i.e. you don’t see a link to complete your registration when you log in), it is possible to re-release you. Contact us to ask about a re-release.

After registration is over, there is an initial period where we may try to fill last minute vacancies in the draft pool. This is also managed through this waitlist process.

Finally, during the season, replacements are often needed, and these are solicited from the waitlist.

We strongly encourage you to join the waitlist if you have missed the registration period. Likewise, if you find that you are no longer interested in being on the waitlist, please notify us, so that we may give others a chance to play.

Q4) What is “Advanced Registration”?

Generally speaking, Advanced Registration is a means of allowing certain people to register for a league before it is open to the general public. Typically, this is offered to men during the women-only registration period, as an incentive to fullfil a certain need of ours before the general registration begins. For example, during the Fall 2008 registration, we offered Advanced Registration to men who referred a new female player to our league. The new player did not have to be “baggaged” with the referring player. The specific Advanced Registration policy will be included in the league information page, but if you have any questions, let us know.

Payment

Q1) After I submitted my payment information I got an error or a blank page. Am I registered?

If this happens to you, please check with us so that we may ensure that the process was completed correctly.

Q2) How can I get a refund?

Please see our Refund Policy. If you need to request a refund, contact us and be sure to let your captain know too.

Q3) What do I get for my money?

Registration for league gets you: 8-10 weeks of league play (often with double-headers), a 2-game-minimum tournament, a player “gift” of usually a disc or t-shirt, invitation to a league party, and other discounts at our post-game sponsor.

Schedules

Q1) When and where will games be?

The general dates, times, and location for league play will be published in the specific league info page on our website. These schedules vary by season, but generally Spring and Fall Leagues are on Sundays, and Summer League is on one or two nights during the week (historically Tuesdays and Wednesdays). Locations vary by the availability and cost of fields, but will be announced to the best of our ability prior to registration.

Q2) I signed up to captain. When is the draft, when will I get player lists?

All the captains will be notified by email within the week before the draft with details. Draft time/date details are usually posted on this gru.org also. The league coordinator tries very hard to get a complete, accurate player list to captains a few days in advance. Please understand that is often quite a challenge, as there are usually a number of last-minute changes.

Q3) I’ll be in Boulder . How could I get involved in your league(s) when I’m there?

The best way to stay informed of our leagues and schedules is to sign up for our gru-chat yahoo group and our GRU Announcement list service. Otherwise, we post tentative schedules for all our leagues on our website. If you are only passing through, just try picking up at league by viewing our schedule online or emailing gru-chat that you are available for pickup.

Q4) I just moved to town and it looks like I just missed registration. Can I still play?

It is possible. Join our waitlist (see the What does “waitlist” mean?) and stay tuned. If you are a woman, there is a good chance we’ll find a spot for you. We recommend signing up for gru-chat and offering your services as a sub if needed. Please also see our Player Pickup Policy if you wish to be a sub.

Q5) I want to be sure I know when registration is, so I don’t get wait listed again!

Please sign up for our yahoo group: gru-chat. This is the best way to stay informed and receive all league-related announcements. We have also started an announcement-only email service, that will be GRU-only announcements. You may sign up for that on our home page. We also have a Google Calendar where all of our events are published. You may link to that from our home page too.

Rules

Q1) Can I bring my dog(s) to the field?

Although many of us are dog lovers, we need you to leave Fido at home. Our field manager requires all pets to be on hand-held leashes, not unattended. Obviously this is impossible if you are playing. Also, hot or rainy days don’t usually make for happy pets. Please consider your fellow ultimate players…no one wants to play on a field after a dog has roamed onto it to leave a care-package. If you bring your dog to the field, please be aware that we may ask you to remove the dog or that we (or any other bystander) may call animal control officers to remove an unattended animal.

Q2) What is the rule on bringing alcohol to the fields?

Absolutely NO personal alcohol is allowed at the fields, no matter where we play. Fields are hard to come by and we must do all we can to maintain good relationships with the cities we play in. Your adherence to this rule is very important. Occasionally, we are able to obtain alcohol permits for tournaments at NON-SCHOOL fields. If in doubt, please assume that NO ALCOHOL is the rule.

Q3) Are there any other rules I need to be aware of?

Yes, in addition to the rules of No Alcohol and No Dogs, we also have: No Glass, No Drugs, No Peeing (i.e. public urination). Violation of these or other field rules could result in your expulsion from this or future GRU activities. Please respect your ultimate community and the work of our volunteers by respecting our policies.

Communication

Q1) How will I know when our game(s) are canceled?

We have several ways to announce cancellations. We send a note to gru-chat, so your being signed on to that is very helpful. Our website homepage gets updated with the details, and our hotline (phone number displayed on website, 303-661-0664) is also updated. We will often cancel league if the fields have received a lot of precipitation recently or if they currently receiving it. We make our best effort to provide advanced notice, but this is not always possible. We can cause great damage by playing on soft fields and threaten our future field privileges. Excessive wind is another possible issue. Keep in mind that some of these conditions are not obvious if you don’t live near the fields, so checking weather online and checking our resources are recommended. See our lightning policy for additional information about lightning cancellations/delays.

Q2) What is “gru-chat”?*

We have a community email group on Yahoo Groups: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/gru-chat/. You may change your preferences to receive only daily digests, web-only access (i.e. “no email), or special notices only by logging into your Yahoo Groups account and customizing your account.

Q3) I have a problem with another player in the league, what do I do?

Please see our Conduct Policy. If you feel that a player (including any captain) has violated this policy, or if you have any other similar concern, we encourage you to contact either the Conduct Committee or the Board of Directors. We take player misconduct very seriously, and hope to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all our players and community. We will respect your desire for confidentiality, should any concerns be raised.

Other

Q1) I’d like to suggest changes for future seasons. Who can I contact about that?

After each season, we ask all players from that season to complete a survey and invite feedback on your experience. You may also contact the GRU Board of Directors. We also encourage you to get involved as a volunteer.

Q2) Where can I find more information about Ultimate Frisbee?

Please feel free to peruse our site, in particular the section called Resources. There you will find links to other ultimate sites and information. One major source is the Ultimate Players Association (www.upa.org). While Grass Roots Ultimate is not a UPA-Sponsored League, we highly recommend the UPA as a resource for learning about ultimate.

Q3) What is Rocky Mountain Ultimate?

We officially incorporated as a non-profit organization and have received IRS approval as a public charity under Section 501©3 of the tax code. Our official organization name is Rocky Mountain Ultimate, however we run our leagues and tournaments under the trade name of Grass Roots Ultimate. Either name is acceptable.

Posted: 08/04/2008 02:22 AM by Jenny Nunemacher

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Grass Roots Ultimate