Freshman Jordan Monnin loves wearing jerseys from different countries’ national ultimate frisbee teams — he owns jerseys from Russia, Taiwan, New Zealand, and Canada, among others. While they are for sale across the internet and in specialty stores around the world, he did not buy them. Instead, he traded his own Team USA jerseys for others while competing against each country in the world championship ultimate frisbee tournament this summer.
From July 31 to Aug. 6, Monnin was in Wroclaw, Poland, competing with 32 other American men, all under 20 years of age, for the title of ultimate frisbee world champion. Like the Olympics, the world championship tournament awards gold, silver and bronze medals. Monnin and his teammates on Team USA won gold at the tournament, and their counterparts on the women’s team took silver.
“It was an incredible experience,” Monnin said.
Monnin began playing ultimate in eighth grade, after hearing about a local team while acting in a theater production. He said he was invited to play in part because he was athletic, and though he had never participated in an organized sport before, he fell in love with ultimate quickly.
Monnin first played with a pickup summer league, which met Monday evenings June through August. His older sister, Rachel Monnin, began playing the fall of 2012, and she and her brother have fond memories of playing together before they separated into single-ed teams.
“Rachel played very passionately, and is a very good player,” Jordan Monnin said.
Rachel Monnin usually plays as a cutter, a position in ultimate based in the backfield and in charge of backing up the other players. Because she knew her brother so well, she said she was sometimes able to use that knowledge to her advantage.
“I knew what Jordan was going to do and expected his moves,” Rachel Monnin said. “I loved playing with him; we just had great chemistry together.”
Two weeks after Jordan Monnin finished with the league, he accepted an invitation to play with the under-16 summer select team, the Cincinnati Flying Piglets, in a tournament for players in the Cincinnati area.
“I absolutely loved it,” Jordan Monnin said of the tournament, his first within the sport.
After the tournament, the team’s coach invited him to play with the team in the national championship in Blaine, Minnesota, in August, which he said was unexpected.
“I talked with my parents, they talked with the coach, and we decided to try it out,” Jordan Monnin said. “That was in 2012, and that was where it all began.”
He then played with the Holy Family Catholic Revolution, a high school team he joined as a home-schooler. He said this team introduced him to high-level ultimate, and began him on the path to a more competitive level of the sport. While playing with them for four years, three of which as captain, Jordan Monnin also spent his summers with the under-16 Flying Piglet and, after he turned 16, the under-19 Cincinnati Pig.
His sister played for Cincinnati Belle, the counterpart team for women, and then went on to play on the University of Cincinnati ultimate team, but tore her ACL and was unable to continue. She transferred to Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, and now coaches the Franciscan Fire.
In early spring of his freshman year of high school, Jordan Monnin first decided to try out for Team USA. Along with Rachel Monnin and one of his teammates, he applied for the under-20 division of the team. While Rachel Monnin and his teammate were called back for tryouts, only his teammate made the final team. Jordan Monnin said the coaches told him he was too young, and that he should try again later.
“I was disappointed, but I went with it,” Jordan Monnin said. “I made it my goal to make it next time.”
He will still be eligible during the 2016 summer season for the World Junior Ultimate Championships for those under 20. He said he worked hard to prepare for the next round of applications, and after being selected as one of 100 out of 400 overall applicants tried out in front of coaches and administrators for the team.
“After tryouts, they contacted me and told me ‘We would like you to play for the national team,’” Jordan Monnin said.
He joined the other 32 members of the men’s under-20 national team for a few weeks in July in Naperville, Ohio, to build team chemistry and prepare for the Poland championships. After competing for a week there, he took home a gold medal.
Team Manager Connor Maloney, who has been in charge of hiring coaches, scheduling tryouts, sending out applications, and other logistical and administrative duties surrounding the team for almost the past two years, said arranging the travel and managing the shipment of nearly 62 people to Poland was difficult but well worth it.
“It was awesome. Poland was really cool, and it was great to see the guys win gold,” Maloney, who won gold with the 2004 ultimate national team in Finland, said.
Having never been out of the U.S. before, Jordan Monnin said his favorite memory was watching the interactions between all the different teams.
“Seeing the different cultures and how the culture interacts with their team was incredible,” Jordan Monnin said. “Russian, for example, is a very harsh language — very angry — but the players are very kind to each other. Learning the different cultures and the body language was very interesting.”
The next level of competition for Jordan Monnin and his teammates would be at the Olympic level. Ultimate is not currently an Olympic sport, but those involved with the sport believe it has a good chance to become one at the 2024 games since rock climbing and skateboarding — sports Maloney said compete with ultimate for recognition in the mainstream athletic world — have been added for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
This gives hope to Maloney and others involved with the national ultimate team.
“It would really help build respect for the sport,” Jordan Monnin said. “It would be great to see it included.”
Although he is excited at the prospect of ultimate becoming an Olympic sport, Jordan Monnin is nervous about the competition for the Olympic team. He said it will inevitably be more difficult because his team was restricted to players under 20, but the national team will allow any age to compete.
“Another aspect is that I am not playing ultimate at the collegiate level,” Jordan Monnin said. “My skill will decrease, especially compared to those who are going to school to play.”
Maloney said he believes the national team Jordan Monnin competed with in Poland has some players who will be on the Olympic team if the sport is included in 2024. He said he and his fellow administrators have been working to prepare to transition to the Olympic level, on the chance it is included.
“It would be a pretty big accomplishment,” Maloney said. “We have a lot to work for.”
Maloney said he felt confident that the tryouts for the Olympic team would see familiar faces, especially since the sport is far more difficult than it seems.
“I would be surprised if anyone came in without having years of practice at it and made the team,” Maloney said.
Jordan Monnin considered going to a school where he could play ultimate at the level to which he has grown accustomed, but ultimately decided on Hillsdale, a DII school with no competitive ultimate team, because of the education.
“It was more important to me; I wanted to have a good education,” he said.
He plans to continue working on his ultimate game and possibly try out for the Olympic team, if the sport is included. In the meantime, he enjoys playing pickup on the quad, wearing the jerseys he traded — and earned — this summer, in Poland.
