About
The Central PA Ultimate Club (CPUC) is a nonprofit organization established to promote the accessible and enjoyable playing of ultimate in the region, share the playing of ultimate and to provide a framework for organizing local ultimate activities in the Harrisburg, Lancaster, and York areas.
Contacts
To email a question about a specific event, please click the "Contact event coordinator"
link located on the page for that event. For questions or comments not related to
a posted event, please send an email to the
theboard@centralpaultimate.com as we would be happy to hear from you.
Website Questions: webadmin@centralpaultimate.com
FAQ
What is Ultimate?
Combining the non-stop
movement and athletic endurance of soccer with the aerial passing skills of football,
a game of Ultimate is played by two seven-player squads with a high-tech plastic
disc on a field similar to football. The objective of the game is to score by catching
a pass in the opponent’s end zone. A player must stop running while in possession
of the disc, but may pivot and pass to any of the other receivers on the field.
Just like basketball, Ultimate is a transition game in which players move quickly
from offense to defense on turnovers that occur with a dropped pass, an interception,
a pass out of bounds, or when a player is caught holding the disc for more than
ten seconds. Although Ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its basic athletic
requirements, the rules are simpler which allows the game to be self-offi ciated.
The concept of Spirit of the Game™ is integrated into the basic philosophy of the
sport, is written into the rules, and is practiced at all levels of the game from
local leagues to the World Games. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by a group of students
at Columbia High School in Maplewood, NJ. The first official rules of the game were
recorded in 1970. One of the fastest growing sports in the world, Ultimate is played
in more than 42 countries by hundreds of thousands of men, women, boys and girls.
- UPA
How can I get started?
People of any age or background can play Ultimate. The best way to get started is
to find a pickup game in your area.
Please check out our Events section for more information.
What does CPUC do?
- Organizes local leagues
- Organizes tournaments
- Provides a communication channel for local players
- Provides assistance to local club teams
- Conducts new player and women's clinics
Can I post news?
As the public presence of CPUC we ask you send news and events that you would like posted on centralpaultimate.com to the board
What constitutes news?
News is an event that is Ultimate-related (and in some cases not) that you would like to share with the greater community. Past posts have been about chances to play, teams looking for players for tournaments and the occasional birth of the next generation of players. Remember this is a public presence on the Internet so if something does get posted like your hat tournament, party or profession of true love for CPUC it will be able to be read by your boss and ex-KGB agents in Uzbekistan.
What is an event?
Pickup, leagues, clinics, and tournaments.
Can I participate in events?
CPUC will try to help you find local pickup games by posting the locations and contacts on this website. At ost pickup games you show up with a desire to play and away you go! CPUC organizes clinics and some organized play which are free of charge. CPUC also runs a Winter and Summer League. To participate in these events you usually have to register or send an email to a coordinator.
Is CPUC non-profit?
CPUC is an incorporated non-profit organization with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This action was taken to allow local players to purchase liability insurance and rent fields for league play, tournaments and other fun. CPUC has a Board of Directors that administers the non-profit. All members of the Board are volunteers.
What does it mean to be a member of CPUC?
First
of all, to become a member of the Central Pennsylvania Ultimate Club all you have
to do is register to play in the Winter or Summer leagues. Your league fee entitles
you to membership. Second, we ask that you don’t act like a knucklehead and show
some respect for the Spirit of the Game and your fellow players. Third, look closely
in the bylaws of CPUC and you will find some other fun details. Members get to vote
in CPUC polls, vote in CPUC elections, run for CPUC offices and have their suggestions
presented to the Board of Directors.
History
The Central Pennsylvania Ultimate Club started as a pick up game led by Steve and
Rose Relles and Craig Miller at the HACC Harrisburg Campus in 1996. Four or five
people gathered to play see who else would come to play and end up playing hot box.
After
an advertisement was published in the Patriot News more people began to play and
within a a year we had 33 regular players. People such as: Dr. Dan, Turner (the
first of the hippie lawyers), Pat, and Peaches would often end up at Buck’s house
to share a few beers and one of Lance’s pizzas. Phone lists started being collected
to keep in contact and rally people to play.
After being chased off of the HACC property by a non-hippie lawyer worried about
liability the game landed at Ft. Hunter Park on Front Street in Harrisburg. More
persons became involved as pick up was advertised on the UPA website and the email
list began to grow. Eventually 40 persons were trying to get a run in on a Tuesday
or Thursday night. The first summer league was held on fields that were hijacked
on a regular basis by persons such as Darrin showing up at 3:30 to make sure small
children did not try to play soccer on league night.
The size of the league required more field space and more field space required being
able to provide insurance. To get insurance the loose knit confederation of players
who were part of an email list had to become a non-profit corporation that was legally
recognized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. After an indoor game one cold winter
day a meeting was held that led to the development of the Yahoo group and the first
Board of Directors. The Yahoo group was a great way to organize people and allowed
for lots of spontaneous play to celebrate various created holidays. The Yahoo group
was listed on the UPA website which drove even more people to join the Yahoo group.
Later CPUC was incorporated and the best part of incorporation is reserved, permitted
fields!.
Summer leagues were fun so Todd and Kimberly started a winter league. This lead
to much more interaction with college teams such as Gettysburg, Dickinson, Messiah
and Shippensburg. More involvement led to greater need for summer and winter league
fields and the first registration database was built by Brent to handle player ratings,
payment and provide information for the league drafts. A blog was put together to
function as a website to give people who were trying to find a game a place to look.
If you found this piece you are looking at the most recent webspace built for CPUC.
Yet another attempt to allow new players to find a game, allow existing players
a chance to keep in contact and create some fun and to help promote the sport of
Ultimate in Central PA. We have had regular players from Austria, Canada and even
backwaters such as Wisconsin come into town and hopefully have a blast playing and
meeting other persons. A lot of teams were formed from all the lists and contacts:
the Pennsyltuckey Turkey F'ers (which was the inspiration for the name for the Dickinson
team - Jive Turkeys), Critical Mass, Mixed Nuts, Grampage, Adult Flicks, Cicadalicious,
Fission, Hecklers Anonymous, Grumpy, the Cupcakes and maybe even Bearproof.
To sum it up, CPUC is lists, contacts, and connections that allow people to create
fun while playing Ultimate.
