Külsheim, Germany (July 11, 2019) – Training camp for the 2019 U.S. U-24 National Teams is closing out in Külsheim, Germany. Seventy-six athletes, nine coaches and three medical staff members spent the week in residence at Aktiv Welt Germany in the lead-up to the World Under-24 Ultimate Championships.
All week long, the teams have been pulling double duty: getting to know each other as individuals and as a team and implementing their strategic schemes. For the coaches, teaching time is at a premium. They have a matter of days, plus the short time spent at the teams’ training weekend in mid-June, to create cohesion, instill trust throughout their teams and prepare everyone with their competition strategies.
After daily practices – sometimes one and more often two-a-days – evenings are filled with team meetings and bonding activities. Games – Coup is a favorite, along with Dungeons and Dragons, led by Dungeon Master Eric Taylor; scavenger hunts; full-delegation Olympics, with events ranging from human knots to gummy bear tosses; and more – keep everyone engaged well past when the sun finally sets near 10 p.m. And then everyone wakes up to do it all over again.
All three teams look strong and ready to take on the best the world has to offer. The 2019 World U-24 Ultimate Championships kick off with the opening ceremonies and showcase game between Germany and Belgium in the women’s division on Saturday afternoon, July 13. Competition for the U.S. National Teams begins on Sunday, July 14. The men’s team will take on Chinese Taipei; the mixed team will see Latvia, and the women’s team will face Switzerland to get things underway.
This afternoon, the team traveled the short distance from Külsheim to their new home in Heidelberg, making the nearly two-hour drive, as with everything else, together. The mixed and women’s teams will each scrimmage Friday morning, facing Singapore and Canada, respectively, to get some reps against other opponents before beginning the official journey to the gold-medal game on Sunday morning. The men’s team will fit in one last short practice before things are officially underway for the U.S. at the World Championships come Sunday morning.
As it sits right now, the U.S. will be streamed four times during the early rounds. The mixed and men’s teams will each be streamed live once, and the women’s team is set to have two pool play games broadcast. The games will be available from Fanseat and Ultiworld.
Follow along with all three teams at nationalteam.usaultimate.org. Find the game schedules and results, team rosters, daily recaps, photo galleries, streaming schedules and more.
