Ella is an ultimate player and pro disc golfer who has played for the University of Oregon Fugue, Portland Schwa, a women’s club team, and two Team USA U-24 women’s teams. She played on Fugue from 2015 to 2019 and was a captain from 2017 to 2019. With Fugue, she won a championship in 2015, finished 3rdin 2016, and finished 5th in 2017 and 2018 making Nationals in every year of her college career. With Portland Schwa, Ella helped the team finish 3rdat the 2019 USA Ultimate National Championships taking down #2 seed Molly Brown in the quarterfinals leading them to their best finish at nationals. She has made the national championship every year of her club career. With Team USA, she has won two gold medals with the U-24 women’s team in both 2018 in Australia and 2019 in Germany. Ella has now become a professional disc golf player and has even secured a sponsorship with Discmania.
In this interview, Ella shares about her college career and the importance of mental resilience, and we discuss her transition into professional disc golf. We reflect on Schwa’s quarterfinal upset over Denver Molly Brown at the 2019 USA Ultimate National Championships, and we discuss the main differences between professional disc golf and competitive ultimate.
Segment #1: Ella’s journey (3:41)
Segment #2: Daily life in disc golf(29:50)
Segment #3: Ella’s memorable games (44:04)
Segment #4: Rapid fire questions (48:56)
Ella’s social media contacts: Instagram (@onethrowella), & Twitter (@bagelpowered)
2019 USA Ultimate National Championships Women’s Quarterfinal Denver Molly Brown vs Portland Schwa: (https://video.ultiworld.com/club-championships-2019-women-s-mixed-men-s/videos/10-schwa-vs-2-molly-brown-w-quarter-2019-club-championships)
2015 USA Ultimate College National Championships Women’s Final Oregon Fugue vs Stanford Superfly: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wecIWxkL1aw)
Hallie’s Dad YouTube Channel with lots of Portland Schwa games: (https://www.youtube.com/user/HallieDad/featured)
Fulcrum Media’s Playlist with Oregon Fugue games: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMzRu2RJf8w&list=PL4GFDpORsJ3uTYxsIz8oKqyztbTDjZ-9c)
Ella’s Disc Golf round at OTB Open: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC96v9uB8ZKe1TFdYzBOGnpw)
Ella Hansen’s Callahan Video: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccTSyFtps0s)
PC: Photo on left (Jon Hayduk Photography)
This episode is brought to you by Away From Keyboard. AFK is a lifestyle brand that believes in reconnecting with humanity and our planet. Whether that's tossing a disc on the weekends or hanging out by a campfire, they're dedicated to getting you to explore and grow in your own backyard. Join the adventure and check out their website at www.awayfromkeyboard.co and @get_afk on Instagram.
Keep an eye out for the next episode where I interview an ultimate legend in Robyn Fennig. Some of the teams she has played for include Madison Heist, DC Scandal, Minneapolis Drag N’Thrust, Yaka, Madison Radicals of the AUDL, Atlanta Soul of the PUL, and Team USA. She was Ultiworld’s 2019 Club Female Player of the Year, 2018 Club Female Offensive Player of the year and a 1st team All-Club selection in 2018 and 2018. In this interview, Robyn shares what led her to start ultimate, and her experiences as an elite level club player and as the president of the USA Ultimate Board of Directors.
