Coaches
Berkeley High Coup Ultimate coaches are volunteers from the local ultimate community. They play on club teams, and in some cases on national and professional teams. Coaching at Berkeley High School takes dedication to the sport and students, as it is on a volunteer basis and takes time during the week and on weekends.
James Sheridan, Head Coach
How can you tell if someone played Ultimate at Carleton? Don't worry, they'll tell you. A proud alum of the Carleton College Gods of Plastic, James started his Ultimate career in 2006. A veteran of the SF mixed scene, James most recently played for SF Polar Bears and the Dominican Republic National Team at the World Championships in 2018. But his critical claim to fame is his coaching look: barefoot, striped pajama pants, a ball cap, and proudly rocking a Coup jersey. This will be his 9th season coaching Coup, and we're so lucky to have him!
Meeri Chang
Meeri has been playing Ultimate since 2011. Although her team, Michigan Flywheel, was a national contender and made it all the way to the finals that year, Meeri spent her rookie season playing the cowbell on the sideline, her favorite team tradition even to this day. Since then, she has played mixed for SF Polar Bears, women's for the U24 national team, and currently plays women's for SF Fury. When she's not coaching, she enjoys tinkering around with other sports, like tennis, golf, basketball, snowboarding, and volleyball.
Sam Applegate
Sam has been playing Ultimate for 13 years, starting at Colorado State. She's since played on a handful of mixed teams, including SF Groove and most recently SF Polar Bears. Her favorite sideline games are spikeball and trickball, basically any games you play when you're not throwing a disc! She loves the vibrant community of Ultimate, and loves learning from other incredible people who she's met through the sport.
Mel Hassler
A veteran to Ultimate (12 years) and a newbie to coaching, Mel is the queen of glitter, bright hair dye, and positive energy. She plays for San Francisco's Classy, a mixed club team, and recently played as a member of the AUDL SF Flamethrowers professional women's team in 2018. When she's not playing Ultimate, you can find her on BHS Coup's sideline putting together everyone's favorite pump up playlist, or teaching the team how to take the perfect group selfie.
Brian Bedord
Brian has been playing 11 years now, starting at the University of Oregon in 2007. He initially started on the B team before making Ego (Oregon's A team) his sophomore year. While some of us might consider him a young gun, he was old enough to be around for the advent of the "Break Bucket" tradition at Oregon; whenever a player scores a "break" (scoring while starting the point on defense) they get a trash can over the head. Brian's second claim to fame is being one of the main video producers on the NexGen Tour in 2012 (the first live-streamed showcase tour of men's Ultimate). Beyond scoring buckets and tossing buckets (literally on people's heads), Brian loves the Ultimate community and the people he's known through his experiences playing.
Montana Roberts
Montana, not from Montana, has been playing Ultimate for 4 years and started playing with the Claremont Greenshirts, Here, she got the nickname "Noodles" and got really good at catching the disc with her arms tucked in her sleeves like a T-Rex, a popular tradition that the team would do as a fun scrimmage. This contrasted her more serious role as a captain and player/coach for the team! Since them, Montana has moved to the Bay Area and is playing with local mixed team, Mimosas.