Colorado Springs, Colo. (May 29, 2017)—After announcing the initial 20-person U.S. National Team roster for the 2017 World Games in March, USA Ultimate confirmed today the 14-person squad that will travel to Wroclaw, Poland in July to represent the United States.
The final team features four returnees from the gold-medal winning 2013 squad: Georgia Bosscher (Madison, Wis.), Sarah Griffith (Seattle, Wash.), Beau Kittredge (San Francisco, Calif.) and George Stubbs (San Rafael, Calif.).
Sandy Jorgensen (Washington, D.C.) and Anna Nazarov (San Francisco, Calif.), who missed the final cut in 2013, were selected this year.
The other eight confirmed athletes are Claire Desmond (San Francisco, Calif.), Carolyn Finney (Goleta, Calif.), Dylan Freechild (Portland, Ore.), Liên Hoffmann (Somerville, Mass.), Chris Kocher (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Grant Lindsley (Oakland, Calif.), Jimmy Mickle (Golden, Colo.) and Nick Stuart (Minneapolis, Minn.).
After selecting an initial 20 athletes from a pool of 64 tryout attendees, head coach Alexander Ghesquiere (Washington, D.C.) and assistant coach Matty Tsang (Oakland, Calif.) made the final six cuts Thursday, following a two-day training camp in Colorado Springs and the TEP tournament in Colombia last month.
Athletes not selected to the final roster were 2013 World Games gold medalists Ashlin Joye (Albany, Calif.) and Octavia Payne (Washington, D.C.), 2013 alternate Nicky Spiva (Washington, D.C.), Claire Chastain (Denver, Colo.), Kami Groom (Boston, Mass.) and Joel Schlachet (Berkeley, Calif.).
“Sometimes the story of the World Games team selection for the U.S. team is more about who isn’t selected,” explained Ghesquiere, who also oversaw the team’s selection in 2013. “While the quality of players who are not on the traveling team is staggering, Matty and I believe that our selection process has resulted in a phenomenal group of 14 athletes. The selection is not a repudiation of the players in reserve, rather a reflection of the team’s needs for specific roles, flexibility and the most effective implementation of our strategy.”
The six athletes who were cut remain on the U.S. National Team roster as alternates for the World Games and will continue to practice alongside their teammates at two more training camps: June 10-11 in San Francisco and July 1-3 in Seattle.
“The United States has always had great depth,” continued Ghesquiere, “and this team will show that depth is not our only strength. The travel team hopes to play with great skill, teamwork and spirit in defense of our World Games gold medals.”
Occurring every four years, the World Games is an international multisport event organized by the International World Games Association (IWGA) and recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The World Games is considered the pinnacle for non-Olympic, amateur sports like ultimate.
The 2017 World Games takes place from July 20 through July 30. Ultimate will be contested over a three-day period, July 21-23, with the United States competing against five other countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Japan and Poland.
