Dena Elimelech (Player - University of San Diego Dragon Coalition, San Diego Wildfire & Team USA U-24) - a podcast by Theo Wan

Dena Elimelech played for the University of San Diego Dragon Coalition, San Diego Wildfire, and the USA U-24 ultimate team. With UCSD, she has won a national championship in 2019 while capturing Ultiworld’s 2019 D-1 Women’s Player of the Year. She was named the 2ndrunner-up for Ultiworld’s 2018 D-1 Women’s Offensive Player of the Year and is a two-time All-American. Dena has also played with San Diego Wildfire where she helped the team make the quarterfinals in 2018 while finishing in the pre-quarters in 2019. She was able to represent Team USA at the World U24 Ultimate Championships in Germany in 2019 winning a gold medal.

In this interview, Dena shares about the rise of the UCSD program and the beginnings of her ultimate career as well as the amazing ending to her college career when she won a national championship. We also get to learn about the team’s culture, the special heat training they did to prepare for nationals, and advice from Dena on how to prepare mentally for tryouts.

Segment #1: Dena’s journey (3:23)

Segment #2: Daily life in ultimate (27:14)

Segment #3: Dena’s memorable games as a player (34:34)

Segment #4: Rapid fire questions (41:58)

Dena’s social media contacts: Instagram (@denaeli27)

2019 USA Ultimate College Championships Women’s Final Dartmouth Ultimate Club vs UCSD Dragon Coalition

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEHfb-Nt8f8)

Dena’s College Highlights:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad2Mfl3Iti4)

Dena’s catch in the quarterfinals against Carleton:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBGWBq4L42A&ab_channel=ultiworld)

2019 Elite-Select Challenge Women’s Final Boston Siege vs San Diego Wildfire:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs-8rRvU8SU)

2019 USA Ultimate National Championships Women’s Pool Play Raleigh Phoenix vs San Diego Wildfire:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=406HPQkw0RA&ab_channel=USAUltimate)

Photos: Paul Rutherford (Ultiphotos)

This episode is brought to you by Haddock Sport Performance. Haddock Sport Performance provides a complete strength & conditioning experience for ultimate athletes. With over 5 years of experience at the elite international level and a global group of athletes, they know that training is a partnership. Their goal is to provide each athlete with a truly personal and unique training experience. Head to haddocksportperformance.ca or @haddocksportperformance on Instagram to learn more.

Keep an eye out for next week’s episode where I Interview Nathan Kolakovic. Nathan is known as Nkolakovic and is well known in the ultimate world for his coverage of the sport through photography and his sweet highlight videos. In this interview, Nathan shares some interesting stories on how he filmed and took photos of his first ultimate tournament and his journey into quitting his full-time job and being able to work full-time capturing the best moments in our sport.

Further episodes of One-on-One with Wan & Only Sports Podcast

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Website of Theo Wan