USA Ultimate

Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sept. 17, 2015) – USA Ultimate is pleased to announce the assistant coaches selected to help lead the U-20 National Teams that will represent the United States at the 2016 World Junior Ultimate Championships. 

DeAnna Ball (Columbus, Ohio) and Alyssa Weatherford (Seattle, Wash.) will join head coach Jamie Nuwer on the girls’ team coaching staff. Sam O’Brien (Minneapolis, Minn.) and George Stubbs (Somerville, Mass.) will assist open team head coach Chase Sparling-Beckley.       

	DeAnna Ball Assistant Coach U20 Girls		Alyssa Weatherford Assistant Coach U20 Girls		Sam O'Brien Assistant Coach U20 Open		George Stubbs Assistant Coach U20 Open

Ball has been active in the ultimate community as a player and coach for more than 20 years. She is the current head coach of Ohio State Fever; she led the team to their first-ever national title at the 2014 College Championships. Weatherford has been playing ultimate since middle school and is a current member of elite women’s team Seattle Riot. She has coached the women’s team at her alma mater, Western Washington University, for the past five years, as well as a multiple girls’ high school teams in the Seattle area over the last four years.

"I am so excited to welcome DeAnna Ball and Alyssa Weatherford to the coaching staff for WJUC 2016," said girls’ team head coach Jamie Nuwer. "They both bring extensive coaching experience and strengths to the team. Though I haven't had the chance to coach with either of them before, I have always admired their coaching styles and strategy. We are going to make a great coaching team!"

2016 will mark Stubbs’ third coaching appearance at WJUC, after winning gold medals as a player with the 2006 and 2008 U.S. WJUC teams. He has also since won gold at the World Games and was the recipient of the 2011 Callahan Award while playing at Harvard. Since, he has been a fixture on the club and international levels. O’Brien competed with the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 1998 World Junior Ultimate Championships before continuing his international experience at the club level. He was also part of the team that helped design the USA Ultimate Coaching Certification Program. Next year’s WJUC will be his second trip as a national team coach. 

"I am pleased to have the opportunity to work again with George and Sam as my assistant coaches in 2016," said Chase Sparling-Beckley, the open team’s head coach. "We have built a rapport and trust in each other through our shared experiences that I believe lays the strongest possible foundation for the 2016 team's success."

All coaches were selected after an application and interview process conducted by the USA Ultimate Coaching Committee. The 2016 U-20 coaches have each competed and/or coached at the highest levels of the sport and bring extensive experience to their respective teams. Ball and Weatherford will each be making their first appearances as national team coaches. With the return of O’Brien and Stubbs, the coaching staff that led the 2014 U.S. open team to a silver medal at WJUC remains intact. 

The head coaches for both U-20 national teams were selected and announced earlier this summer. All members of the coaching staffs will travel to tryout camps early next year to evaluate the athletes selected to attend the camps and select rosters the 2016 World Junior Ultimate Championships. 

WJUC 2016 is set to be held July 31-Aug. 6 in Wroclaw, Poland, the same site where the 2017 World Games will take place. The event will be hosted by the World Flying Disc Federation and the Polish Ultimate Players Association. 

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.