Next Level Ultimate is a new ultimate camp located in Madison, Wisconsin, and will kick off this summer with a session from July 25 through July 30th.

The camp is being directed and run by Cultimate co-founder Matthew Sewell, Cultimate organizer Cyle Van Auken, and University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Ben Feldman.

Sewell hopes that Next Level Ultimate can begin to turn into the success that Amherst coach Tiina Booth has made with the National Ultimate Training Camp.

“It's fantastic that high school players now have options to choose from in an ultimate camp,” Sewell said. “Tiina Booth certainly pioneered the movement with NUTC and that's, of course, the standard by which other camps are judged. DiscNW and PADA built have their day-camps off of local talent, and for kids getting started in ultimate, I couldn't recommend a better experience.”

Sewell said that despite the success of the other camps in the United States, Next Level Ultimate will be the camp that can take players to the next level.

“Our counselors and staff have an unparalleled history of success with the game as players, and the coaching experience to impart that knowledge to campers,” Sewell said. “The Next Level session is geared toward advancing and refining every aspect of a players game, from physical skills such as throwing, cutting, and defending to more ephemeral qualities of mental toughness and team chemistry.”

Ron Kubalanza and Sam Harkness from Seattle Sockeye, Hector Valdiva and Dan Miller from Minnesota SubZero, and Jolian Dahl from Johnny Bravo will all be counselors for the July camp. More information on the councelors can be found here.

A major difference between other camps and Next Level Ultimate is that the Madison, WI, camp will only cater to males. According to Sewell, there was only enough room and the directors wanted to focus on the division that the staff new best.

“We will put every effort into expanding Next Level to host both divisions in 2010,” Sewell said. “Women's ultimate, as evidenced by the most recent coverage in The New York Times is on a steeper upward trajectory than its male counterpart, and having a high school camp dedicated to training young women at the vanguard of that movement is good for both the sport and the community.”

The article Sewell referred to can be found here.

Sewell also said that despite himself and Van Auken being involved with Cultimate, Next Level Ultimate is not a Cultimate project.

“Cyle [Van Auken], and I discussed the idea for Next Level while collaborating on the No Wisconsequences ultimate tournament last fall,” Sewell said. “Ben [Feldman] had had an incredible experience at the now-defunct JEM camp in Colorado in 2005, and felt there was an opportunity that was now missing the high school ultimate community.”

“Both Cyle and I have had a wonderful experience instructing at DiscNW's youth camps and wanted to find a way to expand on that with advanced high school players. We do, of course, bring year's of organizational know-how from Cultimate, but Next Level is and will be it's own entity.”

More information can be found on the Next Level Ultimate website.