USA Ultimate

London, U.K. (June 19, 2016) – By any measure, the first day of competition at the 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championships was a successful one for the United States delegation. The five U.S. National Teams put together a dominant 6-0 record on day one, compiling a 90-12 point differential across those games.

Heading into this week’s event, the U.S. teams have been one of the biggest conversation topics for ultimate fans around the world. 2016 is the first year the U.S. has assembled select national teams to represent the country at WUGC in the men’s, mixed and women’s divisions, instead of sending the respective reigning national club champions. The rest of the world has compiled tryout teams for years, but no one else in the world can assemble the quality and depth of highly talked about talent the U.S. can field. So in the lead up to this afternoon’s first pull, much has been made of what the U.S. might accomplish in London this week.

So far, the talk seems warranted.

The U.S. men’s team defeated their first opponent, Mexico, 15-2. The mixed team used the first half of their first game against Slovakia to work out a couple kinks and get on the same page before rolling through the second half to a final score of 15-2. The men’s and women’s masters teams each defeated France in their first games of the week – the men finished out their game 15-7, while the women came away with a 15-0 win.

The women’s team was the only U.S. team with two games on day one. They tallied impressive 15-0 and 15-1 victories over South Africa and India, respectively.

Wins like that, particularly when they aren’t really surprising to anyone who has been paying attention, make you think about the wide range of expectations of the countries competing at WUGC. Nations like the U.S. want to compete for the gold in every division, while nations like South Africa and India – nations much newer to the world ultimate stage, particularly in the women’s division – are more focused on the experience and how they can use it to grow women’s ultimate back home.

I asked a friend from the South African women’s team about their mindset and goals heading into a game like their opener against the U.S. – a game they realistically knew they had next to zero chance of winning where they would be competing against the Opi Paynes, Kaela Jorgensens, Rohre Titcombs, etc., of the world.

When you Google ultimate, especially women’s ultimate, to look for videos or game film, what you’ll find is a slew of games and players from the United States. Coverage from the National Championships, U.S. Open, Pro Flight Finale, College Championships, etc., dominates the footage available on YouTube. So players in countries like South Africa, where women’s ultimate is really just developing, end up fan-girling (their word) over the very players they got to compete against today.

So heading into the game (and the week overall), South Africa was looking to be as competitive as possible and enjoy the experience. Which is what they did against the U.S. this morning. Aside from working through the nerves of representing their country at Worlds and some small freak outs (good ones) about being guarded by a particular player they have been idolizing, they soaked in what they could from their game against the star-studded American roster.

In the end, the most important thing they took away was inspiration.

Playing the U.S. women’s team gave them a real-life perspective on what is possible – what they can achieve if they really work at it. It will take some time, but they can become a quicker cutter like Opi or a more solid handler like Alex Snyder, a tougher defender like Katy Craley or a better receiver like Claire Desmond. They know they’re not there yet, but it gave them something to aim for.

That’s the beauty of tournaments like WUGC. They bring together teams of all types, and every team can get out of them what they’re looking for.

Georgia Bosscher told the South Africans after the game that they did a good job of continuing to run their system and sticking to what they wanted to do, even after some errors and despite the pressure of the U.S. defense. South Africa took that with them and will remember the things they do well as they move into the week. And then they’ll take their experiences home to help develop the women’s program in South Africa, hopefully into something like what they saw is possible during their match up with the U.S. this morning.

While their games today may not have been full of fireworks, the U.S. women’s national team still made a splash, just in a slightly different way than they may have expected.

USA Sunday Results

Men def. Mexico 15-2
Mixed def. Slovakia 15-2
Women def. South Africa 15-0
Women def. India 15-1
Men’s Masters def. France 15-7
Women’s Masters def. France 15-0

USA Monday Schedule

9:30 a.m. –     Women v. Netherlands, Mixed v. Belgium

11:30 a.m. –     Women’s Masters v. New Zealand

1:30 p.m. –     Men v. Singapore, Women v. France, Men’s Masters v. Finland

3:30 p.m. –     Mixed v. United Arab Emirates

Follow Along!

@USAUltimateLive
@UKWorlds
#wugc2016
wugc2016.com

Live Schedule and Score Updates

U.S. National Teams’ Social Media

Have any questions or comments? We welcome community feedback and discussion made in a respectful manner. Please refrain from profanity or personal attacks, as such public comments negatively reflect on our sport and community.