USA Ultimate

Colorado Springs, Colo. (Aug. 23, 2016) – 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 athletes selected to serve as team managers for the national teams that will represent the U.S. at the 2017 World Championships of Beach Ultimate (WCBU). 

The U.S. will send seven teams to WCBU, one in each division contested at the event: men’s, mixed, women’s, men’s masters, mixed masters, women’s masters and grand masters. The U.S. will also send a team to the World Great Grand Masters Beach Ultimate Championships.

The team managers are as follows:

• Men’s: Brett Matzuka (Kansas City, Mo.), Mario O’Brien (Seattle, Wash.)

• Mixed: Sally Mimms (San Francisco, Calif.), Nicky Spiva (Washington, D.C.)

• Women’s: Carolyn Finney (Goleta, Calif.), Becky Malinowski (Somerville, Mass.)

• Men’s Masters: Sandy Hartwiger (Brighton, Mass.), Tyler Kinley (Ann Arbor, Mich.)

• Mixed Masters: Kimberly Beach (Philadelphia, Pa.), Trey Katzenbach (Gladwyne, Pa.)

• Women’s Masters: Kate Kingery (Seattle, Wash.), Becky LeDonne (Madison, Wis.)

• Grand Masters: Sean McCall (Houston, Texas), John Sandahl (Minneapolis, Minn.)

• Great Grand Masters: John Hock (Naperville, Ill.), Dan Powers (Sunnyvale, Calif.) *

The team managers, with input from USA Ultimate staff, will manage the operations of, as well as compete with, their respective WCBU team. Their responsibilities include team selection, facilitating selection of team captains, scheduling team practices, and organizing communications with their team in the lead up to the event, as well as communicating with USA Ultimate and the World Flying Disc Federation regarding competition and logistical issues. 

Many of the athletes selected as team managers for the 2017 WCBU National Teams also served as team managers for the 2015 event, where the U.S. brought home six gold medals, one bronze medal and two team spirit awards. 

The application for athletes interested in being considered for next year’s Beach National Teams is now available. Final team rosters will be announced in October.

The 2017 World Championships of Beach Ultimate will take place June 18-24, at Plage de la Grande Conche in Royan, France and be hosted by the World Flying Disc Federation and the French Flying Disc Federation. More than 1,200 athletes from 30 countries are expected to compete at the event. 

* Edit (12/21/16): USA Ultimate began forming a great grand masters national team in early December, when WFDF decided to sanction the World Great Grand Masters Beach Ultimate Championships, set for June 17-21, in Praia do Meco, Portugal.

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