The 2018 World Under 24 Ultimate Championships are underway in Perth, Australia! Take some time to get to know members of your U-24 National Teams a little better as they embark on their quest for gold.

Jin-Mi Matsunaga
2018 U.S. Mixed U-24 National Team

Years Playing Ultimate: 5, coming up on 6

College Team: Vanderbilt VUDU

Club Team: Atlanta Ozone

Worlds Experience: First Worlds

Most Looking Forward to Playing With: I’m most excited to play with Anna [Thompson]. We stayed together at tryouts, and then she had a huge Nationals appearance. So it was really cool to watch her be a baller and then to have her as a teammate.

Team You’re Most Excited to Face: I’m really hoping we get to play Japan. They’re not in our pool, but I’m really hoping we get a chance to play Japan, just because that’s what my national heritage is. And I hear they play really intensely, so I’m excited. I hope we get to play them this tournament.

Favorite Ultimate Memory: My favorite ultimate memory was probably winning Hootenanny, which is a Southeast tournament hosted by Auburn University. We won that my senior year, so it was really fun to captain that year and also win a tournament.

Hobbies Outside Ultimate: I really like cooking. Any sort of vegetables are my favorites.

Fun Fact: My first name is Korean, and my last name is Japanese, but I’m full Japanese.