Shannon O'Malley #11

Shannon O’Malley is not only one of the most decorated female Ultimate players in the world, but a poster child for the success of the Seattle youth Ultimate scene and an active part of its continued growth. At the age of 16 Shannon made her first Worlds team, winning a silver medal with the 2004 USA Juniors. The next year she added Washington State and High School National Championships with Nathan Hale High School to her resumè. 2005 brought a Western Championship with Nathan Hale as well as a YCC Championship with the Seattle girls club team. This was also the year that Shannon broke onto the women’s club scene, helping Riot to a Club National Championship in her first year on the team. In 2006 she again made the Junior Worlds team, this time taking home a gold medal. Since then, she has exploded into College Ultimate with third and second place finishes with the University of Washington in 2008 and 2009 respectively, while wracking up three silver medal finishes in the Club Championships with Riot from 2006-2008.

With achieving such a high profile across youth, college and club Ultimate at such a young age, Shannon also goes by a number of nicknames such as “O’Media,” “Earmuffs” and the original “Weenie.” This founder of the Riot Weenie posse is known for subsisting at long practices and tournaments on a diet of mostly candy, pleading for rides at the last possible moment and being generally cared for like an adopted child of the Riot oldies. But no matter how many times Shannon makes the oldies roll their eyes off the field, she drops their jaws on it. Shannon is another of Riot’s most versatile players, ruling the skies deep and showing off elite speed and explosiveness underneath on both offense and defense. With incredible layouts, forehand and backhand hucks that sail for days, the stickiest hands in the game, and the vision and technique of a player twice her age, O’Malley is an intimidating match-up on either side of the disc.

Outside of Riot, Shannon is a Seattle youth ultimate super coach, teaching skills and strategy to hundreds of rising-star youngsters in the Mini-MoHo, Eckstein Middle School and DiscNW youth camp programs.