Rocco Essex-Linehan knocked on USA Ultimate’s door multiple times before the U-24 mixed national team finally let him in.
The Norwich product and his teammates will compete at the World Flying Disc Federation’s world championships, set for July 13-20 in Heidelberg, Germany.
“It was the third time I’d actually applied to the team,” Essex-Linehan said during a recent phone interview. “And being able to get a tryout spot alone was huge for me.”
The Hanover High and University of New Hampshire graduate was named to the mixed team in March after a fall tryout in North Carolina that he described as “just ultimate nonstop for Saturday and Sunday.”
Essex-Linehan initially sought a spot on the men’s team but ended up widening his scope.
“There was a paper application that I had to submit, and originally I chose men’s on that,” he said. “And then I got to the tryout and loved the mixed team and asked to be considered for that team as well. … It’s just a different culture. It’s a lot more social. Mixed ultimate as compared to single-gender, it seems like a different sport.
“Not necessarily more relaxed; it’s just there’s different strategy involved. Having to have men and women on the field, it’s just different. In a good way, absolutely.”
The national teams convened outside Denver in mid-June for a four-day training camp and will meet again in Germany for a week of preparation prior to worlds.
“It was amazing,” Essex-Linehan said of his Colorado trip. “It was the first time I met most of my team. (There was) a very packed schedule for every minute we were there. … All three teams were there: men’s, women’s and mixed. (There were) whole delegation meetings, individual team meetings and then just a lot of actual playing.”
Essex-Linehan, who played soccer and basketball along with ultimate at Hanover High School, left Durham this spring with a degree in nutrition and wellness.
“I just sort of got lucky with UNH that they actually had an established (ultimate) program and just the community,” he said. “They’re a great community there. … I was actually supposed to play soccer there and decided to stick with ultimate.”
The local disc standout has kept on top of his game since graduation by playing for Boston Dig, a men’s club team comprised of collegiate players and recent grads from around the Northeast.
Essex-Linehan’s path resembles the one of Sam Greenwood, his predecessor at Hanover and on the national mixed team. Greenwood, who helped his U-23 squad to a 2015 world championship in London, recalled facing Essex-Linehan at a club tournament in New York.
“Basically, whenever he was on the field, I was expecting him to go long, to cut deep, and then someone would just huck it to him,” Greenwood said. “The Boston team has a bunch of really good huckers, guys who can throw it 70 or 80 yards pretty consistently. … He definitely did that to us. That seems to be like his predominant style now. (He) likes to cut deep and just get a lot of yards and maybe jump over some people if he has to.
“In high school, he was just this scrappy, athletic kid. He would just dive for everything — on defense, on offense, right on the sideline, whatever. And he could lay out and be like at someone’s chest height.”
Colby Clarkson is the men’s ultimate coach at Dartmouth and has played both with and against Essex-Linehan. Clarkson described him as a lead-by-example type of competitor.
“I know he has a great work ethic and he’s a really strong player, but he’s not the person who’s going to be yelling a lot or losing his cool,” Clarkson said. “He just, he plays really hard. He can jump very high, he reads the disc really well and he uses his quickness extremely effectively.”
Notes: The Dartmouth women’s ultimate team — national collegiate champions in 2017 and ’18 and runners-up this spring — will be represented on the U-24 women’s team in Heidelberg by rising junior Claire Trop along with alums Caitlyn Lee, Julianna Werffeli and Angela Zhu. … Minnesota’s Carleton College has the largest collegiate representation with 10 players or graduates across the three U-24 national teams. … North Carolina and Oregon are tied for second with six apiece. … During the summers of 2017 and ‘18, Essex-Linehan coached at the Youth Club Championships, traveling with a New Hampshire team to tournaments in Minnesota.