WUGC Team USA Tryouts: Coach Jake Henderson
Coach Jake Henderson of the USA World Ultimate and Guts Championship Mixed team shares his impressions after Day One of the tryouts in Phoenix, Arizona. He evaluates the high level of athleticism, skills, and IQ displayed by the players, noting that it's a challenging job to rank individual players and create the best team. The coach emphasizes the importance of defense and finding players who can create space for others. With a focus on creating a well-rounded team, Coach Henderson discusses the unique dynamics of selecting players for the Mixed team, including an increased number of Open and Women's players compared to traditional Club rosters. Watch as Coach Henderson shares his insights into the tryout process, highlighting the talent and potential of the USA Mixed team.
Watch top US players compete in intense tryouts for a spot on Team USA, led by Coach Jake Henderson at WUGC.
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good evening welcome to Phoenix Arizona I'm Ian toner of ultiworld I'm joined by Jake Henderson coach of the USA World ultimate and guts Championship mix team and also of the Dragon thrust National and world championship team Jake there's been a lot of hype heading into this tryy out everyone finally got all their first Jitters and nerves out what are your first impressions after day one uh it was a very impressive play um I also had a little bit of jitters and nerves okay but uh I I was very impressed with with the play uh very high level high level a athleticism as well as uh dis skills it it was it was pretty great okay and when you've I mean obviously to no secret all of these players are the ultimate IQ is high uh the skill level is high how do you go about evaluating individual players are you are you trying to rank players are you trying to figure out how they'd fit into a particular system it just seems like a really challenging job I think it is and especially uh for the Mixed team because we have to evaluate all 100 players here and then 100 players uh at the East Coast triy out uh so no we're not trying to fit players into a system sure uh but we are trying to create a a team the the best team um and we we've told the the people trying out that defense you can't go wrong with defense um and then we we're looking for players that are going to create space for others and be the best teammates sure and you know much has been made of the selection of players who were actually invited to try out you know there were a lot more open and women's players in comparison to players who are traditionally on mixed Club rosters how do you feel the mixed players represented themselves today uh I think obviously uh I think they played well mhm um it was it was high level all around it was it was great conditions and uh mixed players Open Women's players uh played really well I think when we saw a little bit more uh comfort from the mixed players when we had them playing mixed but by the end of the the rounds everybody felt a...
