This weekend was the first ever Grass Roots Ultimate “retreat”. GRU runs year-round ultimate leagues in the Boulder area, and even though I’ve been a player in the leagues for more than 15 years, I hadn’t done much “behind the scenes” work until recently. In the past couple of years I’ve been running the Longmont leagues and the “big” summer league in Boulder, and finally a few months ago I took the next big step and joined the board. There are seven of us, all volunteers, who not only oversee all of the leagues but also the larger goals of bringing ultimate opportunities to the community– including a big emphasis on youth sports and involving more women.
This was my first GRU board meeting. The board usually meets about once a quarter, and in years past they’ve always gathered at someone’s house for a few hours, or met at a coffee shop, or whatever. This year, we decided to do something a little different and have a “retreat” up in the mountains. That involved renting an amazing cabin near Glenwood Springs– the cabin was 6,000 square feet, could comfortably sleep 14 (and probably less comfortably could have slept 40), and was on 40 acres of mountain hills. Wow.
We spent long hours discussing various topics related to the organization, the volunteers, the players, and even our mission. We got a lot of things done, and also realized how much more we still have to do. I’ve known all of these guys for years, but this was a cool opportunity to get to know them a little better.
When the weekend finally wound down and we headed back east over the Rockies for home, I think we all felt a combined sense of purpose and enthusiasm. Oh, and we managed to take a group picture on an old-school fire engine.
