1. NAME
1.1. The Club will be called “Curve Ultimate”, or “Curve” (hereinafter referred to as the Club) and it will be bound by the rules of the World Flying Disc Federation, UK Ultimate and the traditional Spirit of the Game.
2. OBJECTIVES
2.1. The objectives of the Club will be to run training sessions and compete in tournaments to allow residents of North London and beyond to learn, enjoy and develop their skills in Ultimate Frisbee (hereinafter referred to as Ultimate). This will be done through open-to-all training sessions, UKU and non-UKU tournaments, meetings, social events and other activities such as the Club determines suitable (hereinafter referred to as Club events).
2.2. The Club is committed to encouraging the highest ethical and competitive standards. All individuals involved in the Club should conduct themselves with integrity, transparency and accountability, in keeping with the Spirit of the Game that traditionally has guided players in the sport of Ultimate.
2.3. The Club strives to create a welcoming environment for anyone interested in playing ultimate. We believe gender equity is essential to this goal and to growing the sport of ultimate in London and the UK. The club will support initiatives to this end, including but not limited to:
- Establishing expectations regarding gender equity with participating players at the beginning of every season
- Instilling trust in every member of the team so all players are involved in the play.
- Using non-gendered terms when describing plays and strategies.
- Including and encouraging women in leadership positions
- No tolerance of inappropriate, sexist, or other discriminatory language or behaviour
- Discussing with and encouraging other teams and the UKU to promote gender equity
In addition, we find value in training as one large group and as groups split by gender. When training as split groups however, players can participate in either group no matter their gender, gender identity, or sex.
3. MEMBERSHIP
3.1. Membership to the Club will be open to players of any skill and experience level, provided they are considered to demonstrate the qualities and behaviours outlined in [2]. In order to be considered a member of the Club in a given season, they must fulfil the UKU’s stipulated requirements for being a member of the Club (at the time of writing, this includes obtaining at least ‘Basic’ UKU membership and adding Curve as an affiliated club on the UKU website).
3.2. There will be no fee charged to be considered a member of the Club, nor will there be a fee per training session to cover the time or the expenses of the Club’s voluntary coaches. However, there may be charges associated with training sessions for which additional facilities, equipment or coaches have been paid for by the Club. In cases where a fee will be charged for a session, this will be announced before the session begins.
3.3. Membership will be open to all interested individuals who are willing to be bound by the terms of this constitution and the regulations of the bodies as listed in [1.1].
3.4. Membership will be governed by the Executive Committee. Should they have cause for concern over the conduct of any member, they will (in most circumstances) issue a warning (which may be verbal) to the member, stating the unacceptable behaviour and steps needed to improve. Should this improvement not occur within a reasonable time frame, the Executive Committee may relieve the individual of their membership and request that they do not attend Club events for a given period.
3.5. In cases of extreme misconduct, the relieving of membership may be carried out by any individual member of the Executive Committee (acting independently of the Committee) without a warning being given. However, in such cases, the individual will have the opportunity to appeal to the Executive Committee to have the decision withdrawn.
4. MANAGEMENT
4.1. The Club is a non-profit making organisation. All profits and surpluses will be used to maintain, improve or develop the Club’s facilities or equipment, to improve the quality of the training provision, or to support the objectives of the Club as stated in [2].
4.2. The Club will be managed and led by an Executive Committee. In addition, there will be a number of members who hold positions of responsibility who are not part of the Executive Committee, specified in an official communication at the start of the season from the Chair.
4.3. The Executive Committee members will be elected at the AGM each year by the attendees. The Executive Committee shall be made up of a minimum of 5 members and shall always have one or more Chair(s), Secretary/Secretaries, Treasurer(s), and a Welfare Officer(s). The newly elected Executive Committee will officially take up positions 7 days after the AGM is held. Elections shall be conducted by standard voting processes.
4.4. All Executive Committee members will need to be members of the Club or otherwise obtain membership within 6 weeks of being elected.
4.5. The Executive Committee members will also be the trustees ex officiis of the Club who will hold any property belonging to the Club in their name and will further be entitled to sue and be sued on behalf of the Club as trustees ex officiis.
4.6. The duties of Executive Committee members will be set out in the official communication from the Chair referred to in [4.2]. However, in addition, the Executive Committee members will be held accountable for the following:
- Chair(s): The overall direction taken by, and success of, the Club against its objectives (as set out in [2]) and the decisions made at General Meetings, except in the case where Club members have acted independently to undermine the above unless there is evidence to suggest the Chair(s) knowingly took no action. All communications and relationships with external bodies and entities. More than one person may be appointed to this role. This is a mandatory role.
- Secretary/Secretaries: Maintaining and updating the list of members, taking and distributing minutes of committee meetings, maintaining spreadsheets used to track member entries to various club organised activities, including (but not limited to) tournament entries, indoors sessions, kit orders and outstanding balances. More than one person may be appointed to this role.
- Treasurer(s): The monitoring of the Club’s bank account and highlighting of any concerns as soon as they are identified. Providing regular financial status reports (including money in account, money owing, money owed and any exceptional debtors) as requested by the Chair, and at least every Executive Committee meeting. More than one person may be appointed to this role. This is a
mandatory role. - Welfare Officer(s): The Welfare Officer shall act as a point of contact for concerns and allegations and will follow-up with any reported concerns and allegations and pass them on to necessary services if needed. If the Welfare Officer has not yet completed a safeguarding course as recommended by UKU, they will do so within 2 months of being elected. More than one person may be appointed to this role. This is a mandatory role.
Other roles may be appointed to members of the committee as seen fit at the AGM. An Executive Committee member may hold more than one position on the board. However, no member can be Treasurer and Chair at the same time. All Executive Committee members may be required to carry out activities that can be reasonably be expected of them in the support of other Executive Committee members.
4.7. If the Executive Committee consider a fellow Executive Committee member to be unable or unwilling to fulfil their duties, they may remove the individual from their position by the following process. They must hold an Executive Committee meeting offering reasonable flexibility to the individual. At this meeting, the individual will have an opportunity to present reasons why they should remain in post. Following this, a private vote will be held (in which the individual may take part). If a majority vote to relieve the individual, the individual will be required to step down from their position.
5. MEETINGS
5.1. The Club will hold at least one General Meeting per year, in the form of an Annual General Meeting held at the end of the season. In addition, it may be necessary to hold Extraordinary General Meetings.
5.2. All General Meetings will be open to all individuals affiliated with the Club.
5.3. All decisions made by vote will be done by simple majority.
5.4. All changes to the Constitution will be required to be agreed by simple majority vote by the the membership at the next General Meeting (as outlined in 5.1). Any absent members may submit their votes prior to the meeting to the club Secretary. There shall be a notice period of period of two weeks before the General Meeting takes place.
6. FINANCE AND ACCOUNTS
6.1. The club will have its own bank account, on which two individuals will be signatories. One of these will always be the current Treasurer. The other signatory will be another Executive Committee member (unless there are two Treasurers, in which case both shall be signatories) as announced by the Chair at the first formal meeting of the incoming Executive Committee at the start of each new season.
6.2. All members of the Club will be jointly responsible for the financial liabilities of the Club, unless such liabilities are the result of the actions of an individual acting independent of the decisions made by the Club at either a General or Executive meeting.
7. SAFEGUARDING AND CHILD PROTECTION
7.1 The club welcomes members under 18, but recognises that additional safeguarding processes may be necessary to ensure the emotional and physical well-being of younger members.
7.2 Members U18 are allowed to join any Curve activities provided their legal guardian(s) is present during the activity.
7.3 If U18 members wish to join activities without their legal guardian(s) present, explicit permission from the legal guardians must be obtained and UK Ultimate’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy will be followed.
8. DISSOLUTION
8.1. No profit or surplus will be distributed other than to another non-profit making body on a winding-up or dissolution of the Club.
8.2. If, upon the winding up or dissolution of the Club there remains after the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities any property whatsoever, it will be transferred to another organisation or organisations having objectives similar to the objectives of the Club.
8.3. The bodies and organisations referred to in [7.1-7.2] will be identified and selected by the remaining members of the Executive Committee or, in the absence of a Committee, by the most senior member of the Club (Executive Committee members (in the order listed in [4.6]), then members (in order of time with the Club)).
Amended 19/09/2024