Andrea Del Balso

Andrea currently lives and works in Boston, but she originally grew up in Coldwater, MS, where there were more cows than people! Despite her small town roots, she has always had a passion for learning about and experiencing the world around her, as well as educating and empowering others. She has worked for a number of U.S. universities in both student affairs and international education, and it was during her first university job after grad school that she encountered Ultimate Frisbee. Wanting to play intramurals with her students, she found herself signed up for the only co-ed sport – Ultimate. After playing recreationally for a couple of years and increasingly falling more and more in love with the sport, she started playing competitively on the club level in 2011 with mixed teams out of Jackson, MS, and Albany, NY. In addition to playing, Andrea has captained competitive and recreational teams and volunteered with the youth division of AUDA (Albany Ultimate Disc Association), where she organized an inaugural youth skills clinic and hat tournament. She first heard about Ultimate Peace in spring 2014, and she immediately knew she wanted to be part of the UP community. This summer marks her first summer as a UP coach, and she could not be more honored, or excited, to spend part of her summer investing in the lives of youth in the Middle East!