Brian Dobyns

Brian Dobyns played a major role since the late 1970s in organizing local leagues and in coaching young people in ultimate. His focus on building a strong local ultimate scene and developing a youth coaching program is an integral part of that.

The concept of accessible, local league play, with a strong emphasis on youth development and gender equity, has provided a template for other local organizations around the U.S. This is implicitly the European city club sports model, where the sport is pursued by players of all levels and ages, and where the strong community fosters the support of elite competitive clubs with a local identity.

Brian’s contributions have been felt in two major ways. First was on the local communities he served in New York and North Carolina, where the impact of the local leagues cannot be understated, and his success as a coach of the girls’ programs is evidenced in championship success. Second is the bigger picture, where USA Ultimate is now highlighting the need for strong local and state programs, and his template for the approach is being duplicated around the country.

Brian loves the game of ultimate. He loved playing and he loved getting others to play, and to play well. He was a strategic player and coach, and his passion was felt by all those around him.

Brian helped organize the New York High School Ultimate league in 1977, with Andy Borinstein; now four decades later boasts 23 schools. Together he, and his brother Ken, started the New York Summer Ultimate League at Flushing Meadow Park in Queens in 1982, which incubated the player pool that fueled New York’s ascendance as an ultimate powerhouse for the following decade. After moving to North Carolina in 1987, Brian formed the North Carolina Winter Ultimate League, which continues to be the backbone for ultimate activity in the area. Brian’s coaching education started as a captain on many teams he played for, and those skills were first used when he was invited to coach N.C. State men in 1996 as a co-coach with Charles Kerr. His history includes coaching 11 different teams in eight different divisions, with nine of the teams being mixed, girls, or women and five of those teams being youth teams.

Brian participated in the first Certified Observer Pool in 1990 and participated in the test of the original COP procedures manual. He has also written about, taken photos of and made t-shirts for ultimate.

There are many great players and contributors who have made ultimate what it is. Brian developed the element of the local community of the sport as a means to not only broaden access to the sport, but also to develop the talent pool so as to foster competitive excellence that could go on to the national and international levels.