Tuesday, May 06, 2014

College Scholarship for Ultimate Frisbee

The UNCW Seamen recently won the 2014 Atlantic Coast Regional which in itself is a worthy recruitment tool. Now comes news the Seamen also offered a scholarship to a player in the sport of Ultimate.

A. College. Scholarship. for. Ultimate! Frisbee!!

The Seahawk article indicates UNC - Chapel Hill also offers a "scholarship" for their Ultimate team; UNC Darkside offers end-of-the-season monetary awards for their top freshman ($1000) and for the team's top returner ($500). The UNCW athletic scholarship, however, reads to be a form of financial aid for a student/player who committed to the UNCW Seaman Ultimate team.

Screengrab of UNCW article.

The University North Carolina-Wilmington newspaper story does not specify the scholarship amount, though the article notes the UNCW Ultimate team - considered a club sport - has plans to offer more in the future. There's also a possibility of the team becoming a non-profit. Currently, the team is crowdfunding their tip to Nationals.

UPDATE: The UNCW scholarship = $2500.

How many other colleges offer scholarships to students before the season to play on their college's Ultimate team?

1 comment:

Darren Shultz said...

The Pittsburgh High School Ultimate League (PHUL) has offered a college scholarship for the last 11 years: http://www.pittsburgh-ultimate.org/scholarship

While they're the first do have created a community-funded endowment, they certainly weren't the first to offer college scholarships for Ultimate.

I believe Colorado, Cornell, maybe Brown were doing so around 2000 or 2002. These were awarded usually by an alumni donation. I'm sure I have some old notes somewhere if I look hard enough.