Colorado Springs, Colo. (June 5, 2018) – USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States and proud member of the U.S. Olympic Committee, announced today the head coaches for the three teams that will represent the U.S. at the World Flying Disc Federation’s (WFDF) 2019 World Under-24 Ultimate Championships.
All three coaches have extensive experience with U.S. National Teams, particularly in the under-24 division. Bob Krier (Boulder, Colo.) will lead the men’s team, Mike MacKenzie (Cambridge, Mass.) will coach the mixed team, and Nancy Sun (San Francisco, Calif.) will lead the women’s team. Krier returns to the men’s team for a fourth consecutive cycle, after three gold-medal runs at the 2013 and 2015 and 2018 U-24 Championships. MacKenzie earned a gold medal as an assistant coach for the men’s team in 2018. Sun has claimed U-24 gold twice an assistant coach, once with the mixed team (2015) and once with the women’s team (2018).
Krier has been an active member of the ultimate community for more than 20 years. He helped found the men’s team at UCLA before becoming a member of University of Colorado Mamabird. He moved on to play in the club men’s division and still competes at the masters and grand masters levels. Krier has been coaching ultimate for over a decade. In addition to his three gold medals with the U.S. U-24 men’s teams, he coached Denver Johnny Bravo from 2010-2015 and led them to their first national championship title in 2014. Krier also spent many years as an assistant for the University of Colorado men’s team as well as working with Colorado youth teams.
Mackenzie picked up ultimate during law school and Harvard and competed in the club mixed division for many years. He has coached Boston Wild Card since 2013, helping lead them to numerous appearances at the National Championships. He has also been a coach of Harvard Red Line in the men’s college division since 2011 and was previously a coach for Loyola University-Chicago’s men’s team. Before he joined the U-24 Men’s National Team, he was a selection assistant during the 2015 U-24 National Team cycle, helping build a mixed squad that went undefeated on their way to claiming a gold medal in London.
Sun has been a consistent part of the U.S. National Team coaching program for the last several years. In addition to serving as an assistant coach for the U-24 National Teams in 2015 and 2018, she was an assistant coach for the U.S. Mixed National Team that won gold at the 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championships. She also spent several years coaching at the college level. Sun has 20 years’ experience as an elite player, both domestically and internationally, beginning as a high school athlete in New Jersey. She continued competing while at MIT and with Boston Brute Squad. Now, Sun is a longtime member of San Francisco Fury, with whom she has won six National Championship titles, mostly recently last fall.
With the head coaches in place, applications for assistant coaches are now being accepted. Interested coaches should apply by June 17.
Assistant coach application: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019U24Assistant
The 2019 U-24 World Ultimate Championships will be held July 13-20, in Heidelberg, Germany. 2019 marks the fifth iteration of the U-24 Championships. The U.S.A. swept the gold medals in all three divisions in 2013 and took home the mixed division spirit award, the first event in which the U.S. participated. In 2015, in London, the U.S. won gold in the men’s and mixed divisions, while the women earned the silver medal and their division’s team spirit award. Most recently, the U.S. again swept the event’s three divisions, claiming men’s, mixed and women’s gold in Perth, Australia, in January.
