N TAN cene in 2016
rs coming out of Toronto’s program, Bretton Tan e at the World Juniors ships in Wroclaw, Poland. big lefty throws, Tan has s junior, professional, and ent years, and is ready to rance on the world stage
nly started playing here he began at York Crediting his junior ities encouraged by Derek ng, these two coaches picking up at league t for Toro, the Toronto e he met coaches Evan Melville.
athletes who fall into t have an extensive port background. Aside y and the sports offered d grew up practicing he says has taught him ce, and symmetry. Perhaps sport he excels in now,
Feature By Naomi Redmond
it taught him respect and how to conduct Spirit of the Game. Eventually, he made the decision to stop practicing and teaching martial arts in order to focus on Ultimate.
Tan has been shouldering impressively different roles this summer. Beginning with his debut on the Toronto Rush, he will have to adjust from the American Ultimate Disc League’s field dimensions to the considerably smaller USA Ultimate and World Flying Disc Federation’s sizes for the rest of the season. Across these leagues, there are also notably different rules and methods of officiating. Tan broke onto Toronto GOAT’s roster this spring as well, with whom he has already won his first tournament; the Triple Crown Tour’s Elite-Select Flight Tournament. Here, he boasted an impressive nine goals and one assist--claiming the third highest goals scored on GOAT behind stalwarts, Andrew Carroll and Mark Lloyd. On the Rush and GOAT, Tan is mainly cutting on the defensive lines, looking to cause turns and then using his explosive speed to strike to the end zone. Playing with the poise of a veteran, he will be faced with a very different role when he joins U20 Team Canada.
Tan will go from being one of the newest faces on Toronto’s rosters to being one of the most veteran players on Team Canada. Instead of taking his spot on the defensive
line, he’ll be playing offense at Worlds.
When asked whether he found there would be more pressure playing for Canada’s offensive attack, he put it simply: “No. I’m used to playing defense on some of the best players in the world. I know if we turn it over, I can get it back”.
He’s been working on his defensive instinct by studying field anticipation with some of Toronto’s greats, notably Toly Vasilyev. In Poland, however, expect to see Tan doing much more than just striking, where he might spend more time in the initiator’s lane to set up deep options with those wily throws he has in his arsenal.
With grounded confidence and an air of hard work and determination, Bretton Tan will undoubtedly help bring Canada success at WJUC 2016, as well as with the rest of GOAT’s season in the American circuit. To put it lightly, it is unlikely that this is the last we will see of him. His youth, composure, and humility are all only building blocks for an already impressive player on his way to greatness.
Editorial Note: This article was submitted before the WJUC in Poland. Full coverage of WJUC will be featured in our Winter edtion of the UCM.
Ultimate Canada Magazine -
www.canadianultimate.com
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