14 players will be selected to form Team USA at the upcoming World Games.
February 13, 2025 by Keith Raynor in News
The pool of players in the running to be selected for the USA National Team that will compete at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu in the People’s Republic of China is down to just 34. The second tryout is slated for March 1-2 in San Antonio, TX, the site for the first tryout.
From that group of 34, the coaching staff — returning Head Coach Matty Tsang, and assistant coaches Miranda Knowles (also returning) and Nancy Sun, and selection assistant Carlos Lopez — will select a team of 14 players to represent the United States. Here are the players that could still make the final cut:
* indicates 2024 Ultiworld All-Club First Team Selection
^ indicates 2024 Ultiworld All-Club Second Team Selection
| Name | Club Team |
|---|---|
| Abby Hecko | New York BENT |
| AJ Merriman | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Angela Zhu | Boston Brute Squad |
| Anna Nazarov | San Francisco Fury |
| Anna Thompson | San Francisco Fury |
| Antoine Davis | New York PoNY |
| Ben Dameron | Raleigh Ring of Fire |
| Brett Hulsmeyer | Atlanta Chain Lightning |
| Carolyn Finney* | San Francisco Fury |
| Carolyn Normile | Pittsburgh Parcha |
| Chris Kocher* | New York PoNY |
| Christian Boxley | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Claire Chastain^ | Denver Molly Brown |
| Claire Trop* | Washington DC Scandal |
| Dawn Culton | Raleigh Phoenix |
| Dylan Freechild | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Eli Kerns | San Francisco Revolver |
| Grant Lindsley | Denver Johnny Bravo |
| Henry Ing | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Jack Hatchett* | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Jesse Shofner | Nashville 'Shine |
| Jonny Malks^ | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Kaela Helton* | San Diego Flipside |
| Kami Groom^ | Washington DC Scandal |
| Khalif El-Salaam^ | Seattle Mixtape |
| Kirstin Johnson^ | San Francisco Fury |
| Lindsay McKenna | Philadelphia AMP |
| Marques Brownlee | New York PoNY |
| Michael Ing | San Francisco Revolver |
| Olivia Player^ | Boston Sprocket |
| Raphy Hayes* | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Rowan McDonnell | Boston DiG |
| Sarah Meckstroth | Minneapolis Drag’n Thrust |
| Shayla Harris | San Francisco Fury |
Ten of the players selected won gold for Team USA at the World Games in 2022: Trop, Normile, Meckstroth, Lindsley, Kocher, Helton, Freechild, Finney, El-Salaam, and Chastain. That’s almost every returner that tried out. Jack Williams, Nate Goff, and Eric Taylor all opted out of the tryout process. The only returning player that tried out but did not make the cut is Jimmy Mickle. The full list of alternates from that iteration that tried out — Groom, Nazarov, Shofner, Hatchett, and Hayes — also got the callback.
Finney, Freechild, Kocher, and Lindsley all have the opportunity to make their third consecutive World Games team.
As was the case in 2022, San Francisco Fury leads all club teams in number of representatives, with five. Four players from Portland Rhino Slam! got invited, with tallies of three for both Washington DC Truck Stop and New York PoNY. Five players that competed in the mixed division this past club season were invited — Khalif El-Salaam, Lindsay McKenna, Sarah Meckstroth, Olivia Player, and Jesse Shofner — with three of them being rostered or reserved in 2022.
SEE ALSO: Deep Look World Games Draft
The final tryout list was not publicly released by USA Ultimate, but here is our unofficial list of players who were invited to tryouts:
| Name | Club Team |
|---|---|
| Lukas Ambrose | Seattle BFG |
| Alex Atkins | Denver Johnny Bravo |
| Alex Barnett | Raleigh Phoenix |
| Claire Chastain | Denver Molly Brown |
| Abby Cheng | New York XIST |
| Dawn Culton | Raleigh Phoenix |
| Genny De Jesus | New York BENT |
| Khalif El-Salaam | Seattle Mixtape |
| Dena Elimelech | San Francisco Fury |
| Quinn Finer | Denver Johnny Bravo |
| Dylan Freechild | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Kami Groom | Washington DC Scandal |
| Shayla Harris | San Francisco Fury |
| Raphy Hayes | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Abby Hecko | New York BENT |
| Kaela Helton | San Diego Flipside |
| Michael Ing | San Francisco Revolver |
| Ella Juengst | New York BENT |
| Eli Kerns | San Francisco Revolver |
| Chris Kocher | New York PoNY |
| Grant Lindsley | Denver Johnny Bravo |
| Rachel Mast | Ann Arbor Hybrid |
| Rowan McDonnell | Boston DiG |
| Lindsay McKenna | Philadelphia AMP |
| AJ Merriman | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Kendra Miller | Denver Molly Brown |
| Sara Nitz | Ann Arbor Hybrid |
| Erin Rea | Boston Slow |
| Samantha Rodenberg | Seattle BFG |
| Jesse Shofner | Nashville 'Shine |
| Nick Spiva | Atlanta Chain Lightning |
| Calvin Stoughton | Boston DiG |
| Claudia Tajima | Portland Schwa |
| Claire Trop | Washington DC Scandal |
| Kaitlyn Weaver | San Diego Flipside |
| Julianna Werffeli | San Francisco Fury |
| Angela Zhu | Boston Brute Squad |
| Chloe Hakimi | Seattle Riot |
| Maketa Mattimore | Ann Arbor Hybrid |
| Sharon Lin | San Francisco Fury |
| Olivia Player | Boston Sprocket |
| Ben Jagt | New York PoNY |
| Kristen Pojunis | San Diego Flipside |
| Brett Hulsmeyer | Atlanta Chain Lightning |
| Troy Holland | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Lukas McClamrock | Atlanta Chain Lightning |
| Kirstin Johnson | San Francisco Fury |
| Ben Dameron | Raleigh Ring of Fire |
| Carolyn Finney | San Francisco Fury |
| Mica Glass | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Sadie Jezierski | Seattle BFG |
| Mac Hecht | San Francisco Revolver |
| Kaitlynne Roling | Seattle BFG |
| Alika Johnston | Denver Molly Brown |
| Jack Hatchett | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Jade McLaughlin | Fort Collins shame. |
| Trent Dillon | Seattle Sockeye |
| Anders Juengst | Raleigh Ring of Fire |
| Calvin Brown | New York PoNY |
| Julia Sherwood | Portland Schwa |
| Anna Thompson | San Francisco Fury |
| Tannor Johnson-Go | Boston Sprocket |
| Alyssa Perez | Denver Molly Brown |
| Jimmy Mickle | New York PoNY |
| Jolie Krebs | New York XIST |
| Jacques Nissen | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Christian Boxley | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Anna Nazarov | San Francisco Fury |
| Henry Ing | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| John Randolph | New York PoNY |
| Carolyn Normile | Pittsburgh Parcha |
| Daniel Lee | Portland Rhino Slam! |
| Sarah Meckstroth | Minneapolis Drag'n Thrust |
| Erynn Schroeder | Madison Heist |
| Jonny Malks | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Jasper Tom | Washington DC Truck Stop |
| Antoine Davis | New York PoNY |
| Marques Brownlee | New York PoNY |
| Ronnie Eder | Denver Molly Brown |
| Dylan DeClerck | Minneapolis Drag'n Thrust |
