A former elite-level club coach provides insight on the top performances on the second day of Team USA tryouts Weekend 2. Who put themselves in a good position to make the team? Our expert weighs in.
March 4, 2025 by Guest Author in Analysis, Coverage, Opinion
This post was written by guest author Bjorn Schey
Day 2 was slightly cooler than the downright hot Day 1, but far more windy. If you’re looking for a fairy tale ending to these tryouts where the swings and continuations flowed turnover-free like the salmon of Capistrano, you’ve come to the wrong place. It was bad ultimate being played in bad ultimate weather, again. In these conditions most players/teams would’ve sucked it up and played “wind ball”, however the skill and determination of these players to play through the conditions, and be better than wind, while admirable, ended up making the points much longer. Coach Tsang joked with me on the sideline that we should make an encouraging video, “Elite Players: they’re just like us!” They do indeed put on their pants six turnovers at a time.
It wasn’t until a few points into the second block of scrimmages that something clicked and a team stormed through the wind. Did the inside breaks come to the receiver vertically? Yes. But they hit them in the chest, unlike the around breaks that so often pushed into the ground or popped straight up into the air.
At last, actual evaluation could commence.
Let’s not waste any time. Here are the people I would pick from the candidates present, based as much as possible on their performances this weekend (with a couple exceptions that I will note). Much as I handled my Oscars predictions, I think it’s a fool’s errand to try and guess what the coaches/the Academy will select1. Rather, I will say what I think with conviction and give my reasoning.
Kneecap should’ve been nominated for best International, I did love Anora though ↩
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