WUGC Team USA Tryouts: Day 1 Recap
Watch as over 100 players and a dozen coaches descend on Phoenix, Arizona to compete for a spot on USA's open, women's, and mixed world ultimate and guts championship teams. Coaches Alex Gaskcier, Jake Henderson, and Maddie Tang divide the tryouts into smaller pods to maximize reps, with drills focused on small-sided 3v3 competitions. The morning session features sideline starts for women and fullfield handler weaves for men, with four pass shot clocks added to create intense playmaking opportunities. As players rotate through fields during afternoon scrimmages, coaches offer guidance on general structure before leaving unit management to the teams. Despite high competition, sportsmanship remains top priority, with rivalries from Fury and Riot as well as Revolver and Sakai displaying exceptional teamwork.
Watch Day 1 highlights from WUGC Team USA tryouts, as top disc golf players face off in intense competition for coveted national team spots.
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On Saturday, over 100 players and a dozen coaches descended on Phoenix, Arizona to begin the challenging try out and selection process for USA's open, women's, and mixed world ultimate and guts championship teams to squeeze as many reps into the morning session as possible. Coaches Alex Gaskcier, Jake Henderson, and Maddie Tang divided the tryyous into larger groups that were broken into smaller pods. Just large enough to keep a drill functional, but still small enough to keep players constantly moving with very little rest time. Many of the morning's drills were small-sided 3v3 competitions. The women ran patterns from sideline starts. The men ran fullfield handler weaves. And they also played with four pass shot clocks. The coaches designed these drills to force players into isolation, providing clear comparison points and ample opportunities for playmaking. Having broken for lunch, the players returned to the try out fields for an afternoon of scrimmages. Players rotated between fields after their small groups completed shortened games. At the beginning of each scrimmage, the coaches offered a few thoughts about general structure, but they left subbing and play calling to each individual unit. Competition and intensity never compromised the level of sportsmanship on display at the tryyouts. Rivals like those on Fury and Riot or Revolver and Sakai treated each other like teammates all day long.
