USA Ultimate

Team USA consists of the top 22 boys and 21 girls under the age of 20 from across the country. They will be competing against 22 teams from North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Oceana August 3-7 2010.

Every team the U.S. has sent since the inaugural squad in 1994 has medaled in this biannual event. At the last WJUC in 2008 in Vancouver, the junior boys won the gold medal over Canada and Germany, while the girls won bronze behind Japan and Australia.

The boy’s head coach, Ben Van Heuvelen, comments about team USA’s prevailing strategy by saying, "in 2008 we never said W-I-N, our goal was always to play the best
youth Ultimate that had ever been played." This year he hopes to again downplay the focus on the results and emphasize the process as a whole in an attempt to bring home the gold once again.

Girl’s head coach John Sandhal is excited about the opportunity to lead his squad against the world’s best young Ultimate players, saying "I am thrilled to bring this team of amazing athletes to the world stage as representatives of the best that U.S. Ultimate has to offer."

Out of 203 boys and 106 girls that applied for consideration for the team, only 80 of each were invited to tryouts in March. Players must be under the age of 20 for the entire year the WJUC takes place in order to be eligible.

Selection for the team started a year in advance with the boys’ and girls’ head coaches, Ben Van Heuvelen and John Sandahl, attending the 2009 Youth Club Championships to scout players. They looked primarily for degree of technical skills, Spirit of the Game, athleticism, and amount of teamwork displayed by individuals.

There is a philosophy of selection as noted by Meredith Tosta, the Director of Coach and Youth Development at the Ultimate Players Association’s national headquarters in Boulder, Colo. She comments, "throughout the selection process, we received a tremendous amount of interest from youth players across the country. This collection of athletes represents not only a talented squad that will be competitive, but also a relatively geographically diverse pool of Ultimate players that exemplifies sportsmanship and the future of our sport."

Under-20 US National Junior Boys Team – 2010 WJUC