Six women from the Whitman Sweets Ultimate Frisbee team have received invitations to try out for the 2015 U-23 national team held this November. Juniors Arianne Lozano, Elissa Picozzi, and sophomores Claire Revere, Margo Heffron and Nina Finley will try out Nov. 15-16 in Dublin, Calif. this year. Senior Julia Bladin will try out in Orlando, Fla. Nov. 22-23.
The six players submitted applications to try out for the team and were among the 104 women selected to try out for the elite squad. The Whitman Sweets will be disproportionately represented at the tryout, as they are tied for first in the country with DI-schools Oregon and Colorado for most women accepted to try out.
Three of the girls, Finley, Revere and Heffron, have already had a chance to represent the United States on the junior national team.
“That was an amazing experience. I really improved during that year on my mental toughness and my skills,” said Heffron.
Making the team is a particularly challenging task. In 2012, the U-20 team received 120 applications from females. Of those, 80 were invited to try out and just 20 women made the team.
Despite the intensity of her past national team tryouts, Heffron speculated that this tryout will be even more competitive.
“Compared to the junior level, it is a big step up, because there are some big names that I’ve already played with. We have a really strong region, especially on the women’s side,” said Heffron. “At the junior level, it was more about improvement and learning new things and meeting new people than it was about making a team.”
To prepare for the competitiveness of the competition, the six players have begun training physically and mentally prepared for the tryout. During the offseason, the team has focused on lifting in preparation for the season. As they approach the season, they will shift their focus towards gaining endurance. Because both their strength and endurance will be tested in November, the six have already begun training to be in top shape for the tryout.
“Usually tryouts are during the season, which is spring, so I’ve been in shape just by virtue of training for tournaments, but this year it is in the off season. That makes it a little more difficult and I’ll definitely be at a lower level of preparedness. What it comes down to is adding to the practices that we are already having to include sprints and being certain that I’m mentally focused” said Finley.
Senior Whitman Sweets player senior Emily Ford noticed such focus and observed the girls’ team-oriented nature.
“During practices you can see their focus,” said Ford. “They’re there to help the team, not only to work hard for themselves, but to push others.”
Ford also noted that six players being invited to the national tryouts is part of a trend for the Whitman Sweets.
“The last couple of years we’ve gotten a lot more competitive. The standards keep on rising,” said Ford.
With the standards bar continuing to rise, the players look towards the season with ambitious goals.
“We could win division one nationals. We are very capable of competing neck to neck with the top teams,” said Ford.
