The following piece is part of a series of profiles prepared for the World Flying Disc Federation.
WORLD GAMES CHALLENGES and OPPORTUNITIES
Like most teams, the United States is looking forward to the opportunities The World Games provides to showcase the sport of ultimate to the world. “The challenge and opportunity to win is awesome and the level of competition is fantastic,” says Coach Alex Ghesquiere.
In particular, Ghesquiere noted the challenges of the heat, humidity and altitude in Cali as well as the difficulties playing ultimate in a stadium with shifting winds and changing “wind zones” on the field.
MORE ABOUT ULTIMATE IN THE UNITED STATES
Ultimate as we know it began in the U.S. in 1968 and has spread around the world since. A host of firsts are credited to the United States when it comes to ultimate and lately the sport has been experiencing something of a boom that includes two professional ultimate leagues (both which include Canada) and televised coverage of USA Ultimate’s major tournaments like the College and Club Championships on ESPN.
There are competitive touring ultimate teams in most divisions in nearly every major U.S. city and recreational leagues (summer, fall, spring and winter) are plentiful across the country.
About 4.8 million people play ultimate recreationally in the United States and over 40,000 competitive ultimate players register with the non-profit governing body, USA Ultimate (USAU).
The “Spirit of the Game” was put into the rules of the game in the late 1970s in the United States and Spirit rankings and Spirit scores were brought to prominence along with the creation of the Mixed division in the late 1990s under the guidance of the Ultimate Player’s Association.
ROSTER
| First Name | Last Name |
No. # |
Gen. |
Height | Exp. | Position | Club Teams |
| George | STUBBS |
3 |
M |
5’11” (180cm) |
12 yrs | Handler/Cutter | Ironside |
| Cara | CROUCH |
5 |
F |
5’8” (172cm) |
12 yrs | Handler/Cutter | Showdown |
| Sarah | GRIFFITH |
6 |
F |
5’5” (165 cm) |
9 yrs | Cutter | Riot |
| Octavia | PAYNE |
9 |
F |
5’5” (165cm) |
6 yrs | Handler/Cutter r | Scandal |
| Cree | HOWARD |
13 |
F |
5’7” (170cm) |
9 yrs | Cutter | Fury |
| Ryan | FARRELL |
16 |
M |
5’10” (178 cm) |
12 yrs | Handler/Cutter | Johnny Bravo |
| Michael | NATENBERG |
18 |
M |
6’1” (185 cm) |
13 yrs | Handler | Doublewide |
| Georgia | BOSSCHER |
19 |
F |
5’7” (170 cm) |
13 yrs | Cutter | Heist |
| Alex | SNYDER |
24 |
F |
5’8” (172 cm) |
13 yrs | Handler | Fury |
| Ashlin | JOYE |
27 |
M |
6’0” (183 cm) |
5 yrs | Handler/Cutter | Revolver |
| Mac | TAYLOR |
40 |
M |
6’3” (191 cm) |
10 yrs | Cutter | Revolver |
| Beau | KITTREDGE |
50 |
M |
6’4” (193 cm) |
15 yrs | Cutter | Revolver |
| Dylan | TUNNELL |
78 |
M |
6’4” (193 cm) |
14 yrs | Handler/Cutter | Chain Lightning |
Team Colors: RED, WHITE & BLUE
CLUB & COUNTRY EXPERIENCE:
This team carries some international and national experience at elite levels. Three players (Crouch, Kittredge and Tunnell) won gold at The World Games in 2009. Five players competed in Sakai in 2012 for Team USA. Head coach Alex Ghesquiere has won the competitive USAU Championships as both a player and coach for Revolver.
RECENT TEAM USA INTERNATIONAL RESULTS:
2012 WFDF World Championships, Sakai, Japan
Open: Gold Women: Silver Mixed: 4th place
2009 The World Games, Kaoshing City, Taiwan — Gold
2008 WFDF World Championships, Vancouver, Canada
Open: Silver Women: Gold Mixed: Bronze
2005 The World Games, Duisburg, Germany — Gold
2004 WFDF World Championships, Turku, Finland
Open: Silver Women: Bronze Mixed: Gold
2001 The World Games, Akita, Japan — Silver
OFFENSIVE SETS:
“The challenge of Team USA is that everyone is coming from different systems so we have to get them all on the same page in time for the tournament,” says Head Coach Alex “Dutchy” Ghesquiere.
Like most teams another challenge is converting players that have been competing in elite Men’s and Women’s to the specifics of playing Mixed. “It’s been a learning process for all of us at practices,” says Ghesquiere. “Playing an all-women handler line or an all-male handler line didn’t work as well as creating balance everywhere, independent of gender. And to avoid floating deep shots to women [where male poachers may interfere.]”
Look for USA to:
— generate space on the field for their cutters and utilize one-on-one situations.
— play loose-enough offensive sets to take advantage of the position of defenders.
— expect the principle of “creating space” to be primary, whether the starting position is a horizontal, vertical or side stack.
DEFENSIVE SETS:
Look for USA to:
— keep opposing offenses from gaining rhythm
— expect them to change defenses to provide different matchups and different looks during games
— their most reliable defense is person-to-person
— defense can alter based on changing marks on throwers, changing defensive looks on throwers and also changing large-scale sets like man, zone and junk
TOP DEFENDERS
- #19 Georgia Bosscher – big air on layout Ds, strong powerful defender downfield
- #6 Sarah “Surge” Griffith – very fast and light defender for speed
- #40 Mac Taylor – tall and fast and big in the air against downfield cutters
- #16 Ryan Farrell – possbly the team’s top defender, shut-down capability, quick and fast
TOP THROWERS
- #3 George Stubbs – extremely good thrower, can hit anyone on target.
- #24 Alex Snyder – the right throw at the right time. known for breaking the mark and has no problem in the wind.
TOP RECEIVERS
- #50 Beau Kittredge – “Everyone knows him.” One of the biggest verticals in the game, quick and muscular and has developed a strong under game that initiates action.
- #78 Dylan Tunnell – big body, savvy in the air, hard to get around. Veteran.
- #13 Cree Howard – tall and speedy, known as an endzone goal scorer but can also come under
- #5 Cara Crouch – another veteran from 2009. tall and versatile with handling skills.
TEAM COACHES and CAPTAINS:
- Coach: Alex Ghesquiere
- Assistant Coach: Matty Tsang
- Team Manager: Byron “BMOC” Hicks
- Captains: Alex Snyder, George Stubbs
Both coaches Ghesquiere and Tsang have coached USAU championship-winning teams: Ghesquiere in 2011 for Revolver and Tsang famously as a seven-time USAU Champion, three-time USAU Spirit-of-the-Game champion and two-time Worlds champion with San Francisco Fury. Even before Team USA came together Ghesquiere and Tsang coached Kittredge, Joye, Bosscher, Payne, Howard, Taylor and Snyder — seven of the thirteen on the roster. Most recently Ghesquiere and Tsang coached against each other in the Women’s finals at the 2013 U.S. Open: Ghesquiere with Washington DC’s Scandal and Tsang with Fury.
PICK ONE WORLD GAMES SPORT TO WATCH AFTER ULTIMATE
“I’m really interested to see what Korfball is.” says Ghesquiere.
FOLLOW TEAM USA
Twitter: @USAUltimateWG
Facebook: USAUltimate
Web: USAUltimate.org
Feature photo by Adam Shapiro – biddingforgold.com
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