History
The Berkeley High Coup Ultimate team was established in 2006 by Jordan Rose, a dedicated Ultimate club player in the San Francisco Bay Area. The team was named the Berkeley High Coup, which is a play on “haiku.” A traditional haiku is a poem that consists of three lines or phrases, with 5, 7, and 5 syllables, respectively. The play on High Coup/haiku is taken seriously, as the Ultimate team recites a spirited “good game” haiku at the end of each game to its opponent.
By 2014, the team had grown to 60+ players, and it had won the 2013 and 2014 State Championships, and finished runner-up at the Western Regional High School Championships for both years. The team continues to grow and succeed at a high level in high school league and at tournaments. While primarily played by boys, the number of girls continued to grow over the years. By 2016, the team expanded to almost 90 players, with over a dozen girls, and adding a freshman boys only team. In 2018, the Berkeley High Ultimate team fielded a full mixed (girls and boys) team in the fall and its first all-girls team in the spring. 2019 saw a national ranking (#13 in the country) by Ultiworld and an invitation to the National High School Invite... where Red took 1st place in the Boys Division!
Players on the team have gone on to play Ultimate in college and on club teams. Some of the colleges boasting Berkeley High Coup Ultimate players include Cal, Harvard, Tufts, Columbia, NYU, UVM, UC Davis, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Brown, UCLA, Carleton, Washington University, University of Minnesota, and many others.
