U.S. Ultimate Frisbee Team Includes 3 Latter-day Saint Teens

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By Mary Richards, Church News

Three teenage members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are on the United States Ultimate Frisbee team and playing in the World Junior Ultimate Championships in Birmingham, England, from July 21 to July 27.

The tournament occurs every two years and features the world’s best ultimate players under the age of 20.

Eva Hayes, 17, from the Plano Texas Stake; and Breesen Hoehne, 18, and Sam Nichols, 18, both from the Hyde Park Utah Stake, spoke to the Church News from the airport in Atlanta, Georgia, before flying to England on July 18.

All three were excited and hopeful. Eva talked about all the preparation: “Now that I am in the airport with my ticket, it is starting to hit. I’d describe it as a surreal feeling.” And Breesen said, “It’s rewarding to get to this point.”

The three teens had been training in Atlanta with the other members of Team USA, after Sam was selected for the men’s team and Eva and Breesen for the women’s team about nine months before. All have been playing ultimate for several years.

The team physician, Dr. Jared Anderson, from Lake Stevens, Washington, is also a member of the Church.

The game is played with a flying disc Frisbee and is a noncontact, self-refereed team sport played on a field about the same length as a football field but narrower. Goals are scored when a player catches the disc in the opposite end zone.

Sam — who will be leaving about a month after the tournament to serve in the Peru Lima East Mission — said one of his favorite things about the sport is that it is self-officiated. There are no referees at any level.

“You have to be super honest while you are playing. Integrity is a huge thing, and ‘spirit of the game’ is a huge part of the sport,” he said, which places the responsibility for fair play on every player.

Eva and Breesen had played each other before at a national competition. In Atlanta during the last week of training before England, the two were roommates, which Breesen called a tender mercy.

“We were able to find each other and live our faith in the same dorm room,” she said. “It was such a huge blessing. We were grateful to compete at this high level and we are grounded in this strong faith.”

Eva said she and Breesen often talked in their dorm room about how grateful they each were. They have put in a lot of hard work and dedication into the sport — Eva will play for Brigham Young University next year — but she said, “We wouldn’t be here without God. It has been God who has guided us to be where we are today.”

Breesen agreed. “We have gone this far because of Jesus Christ and God. We were so grateful to that and we have this in our lives.”

Sam said the experience of being on the national team has helped him learn how to live his faith even more. Training, traveling and meeting new people have gotten him out of his comfort zone and taught him how to do hard things, which is all preparation for his upcoming missionary service.

Breesen is planning to go to Utah State University in the fall and then go on a mission at age 19. “I have never been this far from home,” she said, adding that the experience being away from her parents during training has shown her how to choose on her own to pray, read scriptures and do things they taught her.

Family members for all three teens will also be flying to England to watch them play in the tournament. The teens talked about the hours of running, drills, scrimmages, practices and hard work they have put into the sport — and how rewarding it has been for them.

Eva said putting in the work was worth it to get to where she is. But she also would like to tell people that no matter what level of athleticism they have, they can still try the sport.

“I would tell people if you are able to find ultimate, just go and try it out. It’s super fun and inviting,” she said. “I have had many memories made with my family because of it.”

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