From the Desk of the CEO: Giving Back
Let’s kick this off with a belated but huge thank you to everyone who liked, commented on, shared, and donated to USQ’s Giving Tuesday campaign. The last USQ fundraiser in 2023 raised around $400. While numbers are still coming in from offline matches, we’re projected to have raised over $4,500—smashing the $500 goal we initially set.
For those who follow my posts or see my internal updates, you’ve probably noticed I’ve been pushing a consistent message: donations need to come from outside the community, but it’s players and volunteers who make that possible by sharing campaigns. One of my biggest goals is to get quadball in front of people who have never encountered the sport before. I’m excited to say, for this campaign, the majority of donors were not active players or volunteers. We even received a $500 donation from someone on Threads who had never heard of quadball before Giving Tuesday. That only happened because people were willing to branch out. Another high point of the campaign was the reactivation of several donors who last gave in 2020 or earlier, including the return of a recurring $100 annual donor.
These changes are small on their own, but they add up.
Speaking of small efforts adding up, I want to extend a thank you to everyone who volunteered or officiated at the USQ Winter Classic. Due to a delay in the delivery of a hoop set, the tournament fell two hours behind schedule immediately. Thanks to a multitude of volunteers and officials—particularly Jack Levy, who played a key logistical role onsite—we were able to adjust games and ultimately finish just 37 minutes behind our projected end time.
To be clear: I don’t consider being 37 minutes late, or moving games around, an acceptable outcome or an achievement. My goal is to bring USQ to a place where schedules are reliable and spectators can show up or turn on a stream and see the game they expect at the time they expect it. For this particular event, that wasn’t something I felt confident promising in advance, which is why projected streams were kept internal and not listed publicly. But this is a goal we’re working toward deliberately and incrementally.
What was encouraging, and worth reiterating, was how we got through the delay. I’ve directed many tournaments over the years, and there have always been individuals willing to step up and help. But this was the first USQ in-season tournament in a long time where it felt like nearly every team wanted to contribute in meaningful ways to make the tournament tick. That’s how this community used to function at every event, and that’s the culture we need to revive if we want to achieve bigger goals.
With that in mind, I want to challenge each of you during this mid-season break to think about how you can contribute to quadball in a meaningful way. I’m not asking you to regularly volunteer for USQ, start a team, or run a tournament (unless you can, in which case, please do). I’m simply asking you to do something beyond playing—something that leaves the sport better than you found it. If you’re not sure where to start or who to talk to, email me at Amanda.Dallas@usquadball.org. Start the email with what you like to do or what you’d want to do—even if it’s not directly with USQ. I’ll connect you with a team, conference, organization, or quadball content creator that aligns with your interests. I’ll tell you exactly what role you could fill at a qualifier.
Every player should aim to give at least one hour a month back to quadball in a way that doesn’t exclusively benefit themselves. If everyone did that, I promise we would see growth across every facet of the sport.
If you need a place to start, the USQ Collegiate Growth and Youth Departments are both still seeking year-round and short-term and project-based volunteers.
On the collegiate side, we’ve begun crunching numbers and reaching out to schools. Recruitment Manager Jack Levy is inviting advisers from local colleges to qualifiers and USQ Cup so they can see the sport firsthand. At Cup, we’ll also offer a Q&A with relevant USQ staff to discuss how quadball can expand to more campuses. But to make it all work, we need people on the ground tabling, demoing, flyering, and talking to interested students and staff in each city. If you’re interested in the on-the-ground, short-term volunteer opportunities, fill out this form.
On the youth side, we’re actively rethinking how youth quadball shows up at events. It needs to be more than just a side activity. It needs to have a meaningful, visible presence. However, Youth Director Michael Rodriguez needs significantly more support to make that vision a reality.
And before anyone asks the age-old question, “How does this benefit me or my team?”, here’s the answer: Teams are dying out. Even if your team is surviving—or thriving—what does that matter if there are no teams left to play? What happens when your recruitment pipeline dries up? When nearby club teams fold, and you’re suddenly required to fly just to meet minimum requirements? Every one of us has invested significant time, money, and effort into quadball. Don’t you want others to have the same opportunity to play one day?
I’ll leave you with the TL;DR for this post: give me 12 volunteer hours—one hour a month—of your time in 2026. In return, USQ will give you a sport that is more stable, more visible, more financially solvent, and still here for the next generation to fall in love with…just like you did.
✅ Weekly Action Item
Follow @US.Quadball on TikTok. Whitney Ho of Texas State Quadball will be taking over the platform, and we are so excited about the content she’s cooking up. Yes, you’ll have to look at Texas State even more (sorry not sorry to the David Avila haters), but if you follow and DM our page, maybe she’ll let you film a TikTok too.