USA Ultimate

Colorado Springs, Colo. (Nov. 23, 2015) – USA Ultimate is pleased to announce the assistant coaches selected to help lead the select U.S. National Teams at the 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championships hosted by the World Flying Disc Federation.

Nancy Sun (San Francisco, Calif.) will join head coach Jake Henderson on the mixed team’s coaching staff. Ben Van Heuvelen (Brooklyn, N.Y.) will assist open team head coach Alex Ghesquiere. Andy Lovseth (Seattle, Wash.) will assist head coach Matty Tsang on the women’s team.

All coaches were selected after an extensive application and interview process conducted by the USA Ultimate Coaching Committee. The 2016 WUGC coaches have each competed and/or coached at the highest levels of the sport and bring extensive experience to their respective teams. 

Nancy Sun is a longtime member of San Francisco Fury and has won multiple national and world championships with the team. She was also an assistant coach of the 2015 U-23 Mixed National Team that won gold this summer at the World Under-23 Ultimate Championships in London. In addition she won gold with the U-20 U.S. National Team at the World Junior Ultimate Championships in 2000.

Ben Van Heuvelen has been a longstanding part of the U.S. National Team program. He won gold with the 1998 U.S. National Team at the World Junior Ultimate Championships (WJUC), was an assistant coach for the U.S. WJUC open teams in 2004 and 2006 and served as head coach in 2008, 2010, 2012. In the club division, he has competed with New York PoNY and Death or Glory, as well as several other teams from the Northeast. 

Andy Lovseth is the current head coach of Seattle Riot. In his two years as head coach, he has helped lead the team to a World Championship in 2014 and finishes in the finals and semifinals at the last two National Championships, as well as first- and second-place finishes at the 2014 and 2015 U.S. Open Championships, respectively. He has been active in the ultimate community for 20 years, having starting playing in his middle school days in Seattle. 

"Participating in the assistant coach interview process reemphasized to me the depth of talent in our current coach ranks, which bodes very well for the future of the national team program," said Dan Raabe, USA Ultimate’s Manager of Youth and Education Programs and staff representative on the USA Ultimate Coaching Committee. "These three coaches will bring passion and extensive experience to their respective teams and help the U.S. put the best and most prepared teams possible on the field at next year’s championships." 

Applicants selected to attend one of the two tryout camps will be notified in the next 24 hours, with a public list of tryout invitees to follow. 

Head coaches for each of the National Teams were selected and announced in September. All members of the coaching staffs will travel to January’s tryout camps to evaluate the athletes selected to attend the camps and select rosters for next year’s World Ultimate and Guts Championships. 

The 2016 World Ultimate and Guts Championships will be held June 18-25, 2016, in London and will be hosted by the World Flying Disc Federation and UK Ultimate. 

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