Lina For Callahan

Written by Miranda Roth
I am proud to announce that Melina Coogan is UW Element’s Callahan award nominee for 2007. She is deserving of this award in all the right ways.
The Callahan Award is given in honor of Henry Callahan who played for the University of Oregon with all his heart. The award has come to be something of a college ultimate MVP in recent years. However, this award is different from the heisman trophy in football and other MVP awards in that nominations are given from players on individual teams, not given by the coaches or the media. Also, all players across the country choose the winner. In this way, the award is truly an award given by the players of our sport based on talent, good sportsmanship, leadership and general contribution to our sport.

Lina is an excellent teammate – I had the pleasure of being her teammate for a year and she was always there for me, on and off the field. She plays with a tremendous amount of heart, not for herself but for the good of the team. She never questions her role on the team – she only does her best to play her role and help others play theirs.

Lina has very good sportsmanship – in a sport without referees at a level where not everyone knows the rules and not everyone has the best intentions, Lina always rises above and plays good, fair ultimate. I have never seen her be angry or condescending to an opponent. She often sucks it up and even when the opponent lays out into her with questionable intent, she simply stands up and calls a foul, typically with a genuinely friendly smile on her face. Other teams love us and want to party with us; high school girls want to come to UW. Lina embodies what Element should represent to the greater ultimate community – agreeable, welcoming and fair.

Lina is a fantastic leader – Lina has captained the team and has been an on- and off-field leader her entire career. She helps run practices when coaches and captains are absent, she welcomes rookies with open arms, she takes extra time from her busy schedule to work with people on what she and they need to take their game to the next level. She leads by example from representing Element at fall tournament parties to coming home early when the next day matters most. Lina makes good decisions and others follow her direction.

Lastly, and mostly, Lina has made an incredible contribution to our sport and the UW program in particular. Lina is the beloved coach of the Nathan Hale girls’ high school team, the Seattle YCC girls’ team and a regular coach of Seattle Moho. Before Lina took an active role in the Washington Element program, the team was lucky to qualify for regionals. Since then, the team has been 2-time sectional champions, national finalists, Seattle ultimate carnival team competition champions and competitive at tournaments across the country. In looking back on the three years I’ve spent with the program, I realize that this improvement is due, in no small part, to Lina. She has made this team what it is and will leave it a better team for those already here and those yet to come. She gets tattoos. She gets layout blocks. She makes gifts for her teammates. She is the all around Element girl and more than deserving of our 2007 Callahan nomination.

-- Miranda Roth

UW Element Coach

Element Teammate 2004-2005

2004 Callahan Award Winner