Revised February 2024
Halifax Ultimate (HU) strives to make all activities as inclusive and equitable as possible. HU is also committed to working with Disc Nova Scotia to promote inclusivity province-wide. HU maintains that this is a living document, and that welcomes all feedback and proposed revisions from all stakeholders.
Background
Several factors influence the inclusivity and equity in Ultimate.
First, as in many sports, ultimate frisbee was defined in a binary manner that aligns most easily for cisgendered individuals, be it gendered leagues and competitions or binary divisions within ‘mixed’ play. This binary division hinders inclusivity of all genders to the sport.
Second, early 7v7 mixed play had an imbalance in the number of players from the binary player groupings, leading to a majority group (4 male / open players) and a minority group (3 female players) on the field. The imbalance could then result in more play time, and therefore more development, for the majority group and/or a larger number of players engaged in the sport from the majority player group. It has been recognized in recent years that the framework of the traditional 7v7 mixed game led to an inequity between binary groupings.
Third, Halifax Ultimate has adopted WFDF Rules of Ultimate which aims to remedy the inequity of 7v7. Additionally, it aims to run leagues and events that are more equitable, e.g., 6v6 or 4v4.
Halifax Ultimate recognizes that inclusion and equity are broad topics, and as a starting point wishes to address the areas involving gender.
Guiding Principles
The principles of the Halifax Ultimate inclusion policy are access, participation, respect, and support.
These principles are defined as:
- ACCESS – Players of all skill levels can find us, learn about us, identify with a place in the sport, and join in the sport.
- PARTICIPATION –Players can develop relationships with the community and have sense of belonging with meaningful participation.
- RESPECT – Player can expect to play in a respectful environment free of discrimination, and harassment.
- SUPPORT – Players are made to feel safe by the organization & community, the guiding principles & organizational policies – including encouraging their voice being heard.
For these principles, inclusion is the removal of barriers and the fostering a community for all players to be a part of.
In harmony with spirit of the game, we believe that every player bears a responsibility in establishing and maintaining these principles.
The Policy
Halifax Ultimate defines inclusion as the removal of barriers which exclude certain members and/ or groups from meaningful participation in the sport and the fostering of an environment where all players feel welcome and safe.
HU is committed to handling all complaints relating to inclusion and equity swiftly and confidentially, to the extent possible considering the need to take appropriate corrective measures.
General Respect
Halifax Ultimate will offer all players opportunities to improve their skills, knowledge, and leadership prospects, while receiving meaningful playing time.
HU will, as conditions allow:
- Encourage all players to participate in its leagues and events by sharing all details on its website and social media sites, at least 72 hours before registration starts;
- Encourage opportunities for all players to play in offerings that match their skill level while offering chances for skill continued development;
- Encouraging respect and a safe environment free of harassment or discrimination for all players; and
- For leagues without designated uniforms to mitigate the need to change on the field by automatically assigning the ‘home’ team to a white (light) jersey colour.
Women-Matching Players
We intend to offer opportunities for women matching players to improve their skills, knowledge, and leadership prospects, while receiving meaningful playing time.
Halifax Ultimate’s will, as conditions allow:
- Require all mixed division activities to have both a men and a women- matching captain;
- Favour rule selection and league formats for mixed division to provide equal field time for women and men matching players, accounting for sufficient registrations in each player group;
- Invest equivalent time, energy, and offering in separate women and men-matching divisions, again accounting for sufficient registrations in each player group; and
- Encourage participation on the Board and Halifax Ultimate committees, when interest permits, by a minimum for two board seats.
Non-Binary and 2SLGBTQQIA+
Disclosure of 2SLGBTQQIA+ status is not a requirement of participation in Halifax Ultimate activities and does not need to be identified to register or participate.
Halifax Ultimate shares and adopts Ultimate Canada’s definitions for Gender Identity and Gender Matching in its operations:
- “Cisgender” – People whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth
- “Gender” – The socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities and attributes that a society assigns to masculinity or femininity
- “Gender Expression” – The manner in which an individual represents or expresses gender to others – through behaviour, hairstyles, activities, voice, mannerisms, etc.
- “Gender Identity” – An individual’s deeply held sense or knowledge of their own gender
- “Gender reassignment” – medically-supervised program of treatment to transition a person’s body to align with their gender identity through hormone therapy and/or surgery
- “Intersex” – Refers to a combination of features that distinguish male and female anatomy
- “Sex” – An individual’s biology that is generally categorized as male, female, or intersex
- “Transgender” – People whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. In order to align their bodies with their sense of gender, some transgender individuals undergo gender reassignment
- “Transgender Female” – Someone who was assigned the male sex at birth, but whose gender identity is female
- “Transgender Male” – Someone who was assigned female sex at birth, but whose gender identity is male
Gender Matching is our way of balancing respect for various gender identities with the practical requirements of mixed and women’s ultimate games. To better enable players of all gender identities to play we are adopting the terminology of “Men-Matching” instead of “Open” and “Women-Matching” instead of “Women” for roster designation. Players are asked to choose what roster designation they wish to “match up” against and are not required to specify a gender. This selection is used for game play, whereas Gender Identity is kept private and confidential. A participant’s Gender Match is based on a combination of:
o the participant’s sense of where they are comfortable playing,
o the participant’s sense of where they are most fairly-matched, and
o the participant’s gender identity.
So when selecting a gender to “match up” against, remember the question we ask is “Based on your gender-identity, who are you most comfortable matching up against?”. Players are able to choose how they participate based on their gender identity at the time. HU will rely on Spirit of the Game to avoid any abuse of this approach by a player looking to obtain a competitive advantage.
Our understanding of gender identity and how to incorporate gender identity in our sport is growing. We value feedback from our Ultimate community
Sources: Ultimate Canada
https://canadianultimate.com/en_ca/m/2020-gender-equity-policy
https://d36m266ykvepgv.cloudfront.net/uploads/media/AVfUhR5mKm/o/uc-inclusion-policy-2.pdf