so while looking for the rosters of the other nations competing in WJUC this year i came upon this page from the UK Ultimate Association website, and also this page on the WFDF website.
there are a few very interesting things about the WJUC that you might want to know, and thus the following is a brief historical rundown of the Wordl Juniors Ultimate Championships. (feel free to add your own accounts in the comments)
from what i can gather the Juniors division of the World Ultimate Championships has been in existence since 1983
Finland won the first Championship (source), after that the championships switched to a two year format.
Sweden won the next 4 Championships according to the WFDF site - '84, '86, '88, and '90.
In 1992 there were only two Juniors teams competing, the games which were held in Japan only drew Chinese Taipei who won, and the host team Japan.
1994 saw an increase in competition with 5 teams competing in the games, held in Colchester, UK. 1994 also saw Sweden reclaim their title, which led to back to back championships in '94, and '96.
This brought the Swedes' total tally up to 6 out of the 8 world championships, quite a statement.
In 1998, though USA answered. The americans, who could have been consistently found within the top 3 for 4 of the previous championships, were now in the championship game against Sweden, a rematch of the 1994 world champs title game. The boys from the land of Lincoln came out on top.
However, the unseating was short lived, again in 2000 Sweden reclaimed their title against Canada in the finals.
In 2002 it was a grudge match - Canada vs. Sweden - again in the finals. This time Canada came out on top, remaining undefeated in the entire tournament - finishing 8-0.
The last games on record, 2004 in Turku, Finland witnessed the drop off of the Swedish dynasty. USA claimed victory in an all North American championship game, defeating Canada.
Final tallies tell a very interesting story: of the 12 world juniors ultimate championships Sweden has won 7, USA 2, Canada 1, Finland 1, Chinese Taipei 1.
Will Sweden return to dominance this year on american soil? Will Canada upset their North American rivals? Or will one of the other teams come from anonymity to infamy unseating all of the "favorites"?
Friday, April 14, 2006
WJUC Historical Rundown: Swedish Dominance
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4 comments:
Note that the US did not send a team in 2002, I believe because of September 11th.
Also, 2004 marked the first time there was a US tryout camp. In the past, players sent a video or indicated interest and were watched throughout the season by coaches.
The fact that the UPA only started holding tryouts in '04 doesn't hold much significance.
The '98 US Team, picked under the "old" method, destroyed their competition. I believe Sweden Juniors scored 11 to the U.S.'s total of 19 in the '98 final.
I would like to second McCabe's recognition of the Swedes' dominance. They were so good that they even had high schoolers playing on their Open national team in the same tournament. Just imagine if those same players were made to play on their Jrs team.
I wonder when there will also be a U-18 and U-16 world championships.
-Mike
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