From the Front Desk: A Championship Weekend
More contracts, more conversations, and one championship weekend.
Last week was a mixed bag of strategic planning, prep work, and crowning a new champion at the 2025 MLQ Championship. While the focus in Buffalo was MLQ, USQ wasn’t far from my mind.
Before making the Thursday drive, I spent the early part of the week working through event contracts and laying the groundwork for two fall fundraisers that will support both the league and our member teams. One of the fundraisers launching this fall is a reboot of the Support a College campaign I ran last year with Breakmark–but this time, USQ is officially on board. Teams (eight signed up in a matter of hours) will be able to earn up to $115 per sale, while USQ receives up to $20, creating a win-win: teams will ideally bring in enough to cover their team registration fees, and USQ can reinvest in critical day-to-day operations. The campaign will launch soon, and we’re aiming to get as many college teams involved as possible. If you missed the email or social posts, just email me at amanda.dallas@usquadball.org to get the form for your team. Our second campaign will be announced at a later date but the goal is to bring in donors from outside the community and promote USQ to groups outside of our bubble.
Also on the promotional side of things, I’ve launched a tryout submission form so teams–college and club–can have their tryout events listed on USQ’s public calendar. The hope is that when someone googles “quadball”, they’ll be able to find a local team and show up to a tryout in their own backyard without the hassle of trying to figure out how exactly to try out and where a team is actually located. Gameplay Director Sarah Kneiling has also created a form we’ll be adding to the website for people who truly have no idea where to start and want an intro to a team.
One of our other volunteers, Ashton Butler, gathered the Instagram handles for every team registered last season. This will allow us to provide spectators with a way to follow their favorite team, build bridges between teams and USQ, and connect curious rookies with the right people. If your team doesn’t have an Instagram account yet… consider this your sign. Get posting. And if you put together a good reel, feel free to invite @usquadball to collaborate. Those posts will not only help your team get some attention, but USQ, as well. Shaping USQ’s social media strategy is a key item on the agenda but it will require your faces rather than an AI turkey. 🦃
Once in Buffalo, MLQ was the priority, but fortunately, I have an incredible events director in Claire Tylke, so there was plenty of time for me to chat between games with players old and new about USQ’s direction. These weren’t just feel-good conversations; they were direct appeals for support. I walked away from Buffalo with several individuals ready to step into major volunteer roles, and multiple parties committed to exploring ways to make quadball more accessible and affordable (for example: more portable forms of equipment).
Now I’m back in the USQ office (RE: my house) working on volunteer listings, putting out a merchandise partner RFP, beginning direct team outreach, and finalizing our membership campaign for the upcoming season. Get ready to register on Sept. 1 so you can take advantage of discounted individual rates.
✅ Weekly Action Item
This week’s prompt is focused on information gathering: How did your college team get started? I’m not talking about how you came up with the idea. I’m talking logistically. Did you pitch the idea to your campus rec department? Did someone start playing with brooms in the quad and then eventually you asked an advisor how to go official? Did club sports come to you first? Did you just ask USQ what do I do? Drop your current or former college teams’ story in the comments–your experience might help the next generation of teams get off the ground.
Amanda Dallas
CEO, US Quadball
PS: Please don’t call me Amanda.