1 of 19

GURLS Year II Research project

2 of 19

Who we are

2

3 of 19

Background

The number of instances of participation in frisbee by female matching players have decreased nearly 30% since 2019, most of the change occurring after one year of participation.

3

4 of 19

Given that there has been a decrease in high school aged female matching players in Bay Area ultimate over the last three years, how might we help female matching who are at risk of leaving the sport to find, have access to, and maintain interest in ultimate in order to build community?

5 of 19

Creating Big Questions

  • Guest speaker Jen Pashley talked about current low numbers of female matching players in ultimate
  • Brainstormed the who/what of the problem on post-its in order to create our big question
  • Synthesized our ideas into one question

6 of 19

6

7 of 19

7

8 of 19

Creating specific questions

  • Using our big questions, we wrote on postcards what we thought would be good to ask in interviews.
  • We wanted to focus on making our big question easier to answer.
  • Once we had all the postcards laid out, we grouped them and put them into a Google Doc.

​

8

9 of 19

Questions we asked during interviews

“Why did you start playing Ultimate?”

“What kept you in Ultimate?”

“Do you feel comfortable taking a leadership role on your team?”

“Tell me about a time you wanted to quit or doubted your commitment in some way”

“If you could give advice to a coach of a mixed team, what would you say?”

​

  • The interviews we conducted were semi structured
  • We had the big and specific quetions that we knew we were going to ask and then we asked follow up questions to get thorough answers

10 of 19

10

11 of 19

11

12 of 19

What we found

Drawing people in

  • Community
  • Family members or friends played
  • Strong and kind leadership from coaches
  • Seeing yourself in your teammates

Driving people out

  • Feeling out of place or not in sync with the team
  • Transportation
  • Numbers low because of COVID
  • Gender equity is not being clearly and directly addressed by leadership
  • Social gender split

12

13 of 19

What we found: Leadership

  • There is a lack of female representation in leadership on teams.
  • Female matching players feel uncomfortable taking on a leadership role due to feeling like they have less experience.
  • Experience level is a big factor in players’ comfortability on a team.

13

14 of 19

What we found from coaches

  • Exposing girls to high level and competitive ultimate helps them get better and stay in the sport -- especially when they can see role models who play at a higher level
  • Using intentional language around gender and not drawing attention to gender differences is really important to give girls more power.

14

15 of 19

Next year

15

1

Review

We will review our findings from last year and talk about big ideas.

2

Find solutions

Using our findings, we will communicate to brainstorm solutions.

3

Organize

This is where we actually get out and DO IT! Working with BADA leadership to set up lasting solutions.

16 of 19

Thank You

16

17 of 19

17

Graduation Presentation Slides Outline

​

  • Create slide deck and format - Julia Link to Slides
  • Question - Lila
  • Who are We? - Everyone
  • Questions asked during Process - Lauryn
  • Making Big Questions - Ally, Sanam
  • Making Little Questions - Lila, Julia
  • Questions Asked During Interviews - Ally
  • What we Found - Julia, Sanam
  • Background - Lila
  • Next Year - Julia

18 of 19

Photos

GURLS Year 2 2022 Photos

18

19 of 19

19

Next Steps: Due by Saturday Dec 3rd at 3pm

  • Graduation Slide deck: each person completes as much of their section as possible
  • Conduct Interviews:
    • Ally: Interview Julie, Kaila, and at least 2 other people from GO, get started on the slides
    • Lauryn: 2 interviews: brother, Maya, Caitlin
    • Julia: Interview Mia and Isa, Uma, and possibly Miriam/Amelia
    • Sanam:
    • Lila: Interview Zach, first draft of my slides, maybe interview Rosie
  • Input all Interview Notes into Mural: If you were a notetaker, your job is to input the interview notes into the Mural Board
  • Prepare agenda for Dec 3rd session for Synthesis: Simone