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If you're surprised by the title, please keep reading.

Andy and I started The Huddle with two major goals in mind. We wanted to bring together top coaches and players to discuss the highest levels of the sport, and to provide those opinions in a useful format to the thousands of young, developing or just addicted players worldwide.

With a lot of help from our very generous authors and their decades of work and experience, we did it. It's been fantastic, and it has great potential for new ideas and expansion in the future.

The Problem

After many hundreds of volunteer hours over the past three years, Andy and I have come to the point where we just can't keep up. Our management model of two guys working furiously in our spare time just isn't sufficient to keep The Huddle going in the long-term. We've spent the majority of this summer trying to find a next step that will allow The Huddle to be a valuable resource for our readers long after our free time has dried up completely.

The Solution

We are in the process now of handing The Huddle over to USA Ultimate. USAU has unparalleled resources (time, money, and people power) in our young sport. More importantly, they have a leadership that we think sees the unique value of our site to the community. Our talks with USAU Executive Director Dr. Tom Crawford, have us extremely optimistic about the long-term growth and exploration of new possibilities.

The Reality

I wish I could tell you exactly how this transition will play out, but I can't. The practical side is that USA Ultimate is an organization that is incredibly busy with many important tasks. It is possible that The Huddle will go silent for some span, or might not even survive the transition at all as other tasks are prioritized. Even as a singular high-level resource, The Huddle is not the only useful idea that USAU will be pursuing.

The Cost

The Huddle has always been a free resource to our worldwide audience. If you value this resource, then it is time to pay for it. We don't want your money, but this project needs your help. Wherever you are, support the future development of The Huddle in the hands of USAU right now! Pay us with your 5 minutes...

• Send an email to your board representative: Tell them how you use The Huddle, and why it is important to you. These are the people that may decide whether or not The Huddle is a priority.
• Thank an Author: By email, or handshake, shout out on Facebook or RSD...anything works. These people donate their time and expertise, and motivating them to join up with the new USAU-led effort is our best chance to keep them writing.
• Spread the word: Send your favorite Huddle article to your team, or tell your pick-up game about your favorite issue. Better yet, send this call for support to the people that you talk about Huddle articles with and ask them to give their 5 minutes of help as well!

The Future

Just like it has been since the first issue, The Huddle is for the readers. If the readers don't need it, then it will fade away...that's only natural. It will still have been a great three years — I've never lost the thrill of being the first reader of every article from great players and coaches worldwide, and I'm happy that Andy and I put as much into it as we did. But...if The Huddle still has value then the readers will demonstrate that to the staff and board of USA Ultimate, and it will be around for many years to help the growth and development of our sport.

Just like it's players and the game of Ultimate itself, I truly believe that The-Huddle is a uniquely good thing and that the best days are still to come.

Our heartfelt thanks,
Ben and Andy
The Huddle, v1.0