2010 Year in Review -- Top Players, Female

[matthewbourland]

2010 is near its end, and while World and USA Ultimate champions have been crowned, the best players aren't always on the winning teams. Looking back at 2010, who are the players who really stood out in 2010 as being the best of the best? Who are the top female players in Ultimate right now (regardless of competition division or geography), and what about those players makes them so effective?

(Note - for this category we've split the discussion into separate threads for each gender.)



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As a part of a 2010 Year in Review, each day between now and New Year's Day USA Ultimate will be pose a new discussion topic asking your input on what was the best for 2010 in that category. We hope you'll enjoy this opportunity to reflect back and discuss all the bests for this past Ultimate year.


2010 Year in Review Discussion Categories:
- 12/23/10 -- Top Players, Male / Top Players, Female
- 12/24/10 -- Best Game
- 12/25/10 -- Best Moments
- 12/26/10 -- Comeback Players
- 12/27/10 -- Breakthrough Players
- 12/28/10 -- Biggest Upset/Collapse
- 12/29/10 -- Best Team Name
- 12/30/10 -- Best Play
- 12/31/10 -- Most Improved Teams
- 1/1/11 -- Ultimate Resolutions

2010 Year in Review Videos:
- Part 1, Worlds
- Part 2, USAU

[matthewbourland]

Here are some links that may aid in discussion:
- 2010 WUCC statistics
- 2010 USA Ultimate College Awards
- 2010 USA Ultimate GM/MW Statistics
- 2010 USA Ultimate YCC Statistics
- 2010 USA Ultimate Club Championships Results (Masters, Mixed, Open, Womens)

Feel free to post links to videos/photos of your choices for Top Players.

[kyle.weisbrod]

I'll go with:

Alicia White
Alyson Walker

[luket]

I'd like to offer my extremely biased opinion of #21, Kelly (Marshall) Johnson of Nemesis (Chicago, IL). In her first club season last year (2009), Kelly helped build a challenging defensive team. Her relentless pursuit of her defender and annoyance on the mark were key aspects that other teams will remember of this redhead, but mostly they will remember her for her throw and go approach to offensive once her opposition turned the disc. This year, Kelly stepped up to become a dominate D line handler and her influence could be traced to nearly every break-point Nemesis scored.

Kelly is one of the top players in the womens division and will continue to be a coaches dream with her insatiable desire to win and push herself and teammates to be the best they can be.

[dlkarlinsky]

Sarah 'Surge' Griffith of Seattle's Riot can only be described as incredible. Her top speed, scoring ability, and IQ are phenomenal, and she was also an unbelievably honest and spirited player. Her skills were almost Steve Nash like, as she made everyone on the line that much better through her innate ability to open up the field and befuddle defenders. Her drive and energy fired up her teammates and the overall level of play when she was on the field was visibly heightened.

[morrillperformance]

I'm impressed with Sandy Jorgenson, with both College and Club. She also holds some
records with our performance testing. She has been training in the weight room her whole
career and it shows in the testing numbers as well as her on field play and lack of injury.

[ambler]

One of the top players, Manu Argilli, somehow rarely gets the hype or recognition she deserves. She's been with Fury through the full 5-peat and has consistently been an impact player. At WUCC, she lead Fury in combined goals and assists according to the tournament stats (17 goals thrown, 13 goals caught in 10 games). As I mentioned in a previous post, she was also clutch in the finals against UNO, being involved in 4 goals and getting a number of Ds. At the USAU Club Championships, she again made huge contributions and (according to the stats in the most recent magazine) again lead Fury in combined goals and assists in their game against the Capitals.

There are a lot of amazing players on Fury, but I just wanted to give a shout out to the Italian who does is all with incredible and understated grace.

To see her in action, check out this UltiVillage COTD to see her making a great layout catch for a goal in the 2009 finals.

[maggardr]

Robyn Fennig of Drag`n Thrust for Club & Sol (Eau Claire, WI) for College.