Team USA Roster for 2025 World Games Announced

Colorado Springs, Colo. (March 12, 2024)—USA Ultimate, the national governing body for the sport of ultimate in the United States and member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, announced today the roster for the U.S. National Team that will represent the United States at the 2025 World Games.   

Following a pair of tryouts that hosted 78 of the nation’s top ultimate players from around the country, Team USA coaches settled on a final roster of 20 athletes, including six alternates, that will prepare and train for the world’s most prestigious ultimate competition. As a mixed-gender sport, Team USA’s roster is evenly split between men and women.  

With a substantial presence of veteran players, this year’s squad features nine athletes with ties to previous World Games rosters, including four players who have represented the United States at the past two editions.

Carolyn Finney (Oakland, Calif.), Dylan Freechild (Portland, Ore.), Chris Kocher (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Grant Lindsley (Ogden, Utah) return for their third trip to the World Games after previously playing for Team USA at the 2017 and 2022 events. They are joined by fellow returnees Claire Chastain (Denver, Colo.), who played at the 2022 World Games and served as an alternate on the 2017 team, as well as Kaela Helton (Coronado, Calif.) and Claire Trop (Washington, D.C.), who competed in the 2022 edition.

Kami Groom (Durham, N.C.) and Raphy Hayes (Portland, Ore.) are also included on the 14-person roster that will travel to Chengdu, China this summer. Groom has twice served as an alternate (2017, ’22) and Hayes was a replacement player in 2022.

The balance of the roster that will make the trip overseas includes first-time World Games participants Marques Brownlee (Closter, N.J.), Dawn Culton (Chapel Hill, N.C.), Henry Ing (Portland, Ore.), Michael Ing (San Francisco, Calif.) and Anna Thompson (San Francisco, Calif.).

Coaches also named six alternates who will travel with the team to various training camps leading up to the World Games, as well as an early-season prep tournament, the London Invite. Those players include: Christian Boxley (Washington, D.C.), Brett Hulsmeyer (Madison, Ala.), Kirstin Johnson (Oakland, Calif.), Jonny Malks (Arlington, Va.), Lindsay McKenna (Malvern, Pa.) and Olivia Player (Cambridge, Mass.).

Most recently, 16 of the 20 athletes named to the World Games team represented Team USA at the 2024 WFDF World Ultimate Championships in Brisbane, Australia, where the open, mixed and women’s teams all won world titles.

“I appreciate the time, effort and preparation by all the athletes involved in this process,” said head coach Matty Tsang, who returns to the sidelines for his fourth World Games. “The competition was high at these tryouts, and so was the camaraderie and commitment to building a team that we can all be proud of. The collective work by the athletes in the tryout pool set a great foundation for these 20 athletes to build upon in preparation for China.”

Occurring every four years, the World Games is an international, multisport event that features sports and disciplines that are not included on the Olympic program. They are managed by the International World Games Association (IWGA) and operate under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

This year’s iteration will be the 12th edition since the inaugural event in 1981. Ultimate was added to the World Games program in 2001 and the United States has won the gold medal in each of the last five editions (2022, ’17, ’13, ’09, ’05), recording a record of 25-3 during that span.

The 2025 World Games take place from August 7-17 with the sport of ultimate scheduled for August 12-16. Competing countries include the host nation, China, as well as six other qualifiers: Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany and Japan.

Team USA will be led by head coach Matty Tsang and assistants Miranda Knowles and Nancy Sun.

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