Once a Royal: reaching the ultimate goal

After once being snubbed from an all-state voting ballot, Trey Taylor, 2015 HHS alumnus, will be taking his talents to Wroclaw, Poland this upcoming summer as a part of the 2016 USA Worlds Junior Ultimate Championships team.

In fourth grade, Taylor’s father took him to his coworker’s pick-up game of ultimate frisbee. It was that day he was drawn to the sport.

“When I moved to Hopkins, I found out that [Hopkins] had a really good ultimate frisbee team,” Taylor said. “That is when I joined  Hopkins Ultimate Recreational Team (HURT) in seventh grade.”

Taylor and his father were not the only family members who enjoyed ultimate frisbee. Taylor’s brother and sister played varsity ultimate.

Ultimate frisbee is a social game. Many students sign up to play a new competitive sport, but they also do so to meet other people. The sport has a growing community, which allows all players to play as long as they want. Taylor decided to continue his ultimate frisbee playing career in college and is now playing at The University of Utah.

“Ultimate is a lot more unique than any other sport because of the spirit of the game,” Taylor said.

Spirit of the game in ultimate relies upon a sportsmanship that places the responsibilities for fair play on the players. Competitive play is highly encouraged, but never at the expense of a mutual respect among competitors.

When he was a freshman, Taylor, was promoted to the varsity level mid-season despite how rare it is for freshman to be placed at the varsity level in HURT.

“Being a freshman on varsity, you really have to prove yourself,” Taylor said. “I really looked up to the big guys, especially Eli Leonard, Breck, as a young ultimate player, because he was short like I was, and he showed me what it took to be a competitor.”

But Leonard wasn’t the only huge influence on Taylor when he was on varsity.

“Being able to play with my older brother Jordan for a year was super exciting, and playing with him was so much fun,” Taylor said.

During his tenure as a Hurtem, Taylor won many tournaments, including State and Centrals three times each. He was also part of the first named team All Conference in 2015 and now is a member of the Team USA Junior Worlds team.

After the tryout, Taylor was optimistic about his chance at making the Worlds roster but was still uncertain.

“I was taking a nap, and I got cluster of texts from my dad. The first one said, ‘Trey,’ followed by, ‘Check your email right now.’ As soon as I saw the subject that said Junior National Team or something like that, my heart started pounding and I felt super warm,” Taylor said. “I got up, put down my phone, and did a huge fist pump. I was freaking out.”

At Worlds, Taylor will be on a team with many athletes he has played against at some point in his high school career. Whether it be at Paideia (an elite high school tournament hosted by The Paideia School in Atlanta, Geor.), Centrals, or even in State, he has never been on the same team as any of them before.

“Because I have played against or watched a good majority of them play, I already know how most of them play on the field. Now we just have to work on the team chemistry,” Taylor said.

Despite being an experienced player individually, Taylor credits his 2015 HURT teammates and coaches for a lot of his success.

“Last season, that being my senior season, we had many other seniors on the roster, and five or six of us had been on the team with the same coaches since sophomore year,” Taylor said. “Our chemistry was ridiculous. Winning Centrals with them last season to help cap off my high school playing career really showed me what I can do on the field and really inspired me for the rest of my life on and off the field.”