I quit kubb.
Okay, not entirely. I still love to play, of course. But I’ve decided to retire from competition in the U.S. at least for now. And honestly, it’s the right decision for the sport I love.
Here’s the thing about building a national movement, running a small nonprofit, and establishing a governing sports body… Well, it turns out it’s a lot of work and you can’t run one and compete in it at the same time. Who knew?
Something is happening in kubb right now that I think some people might not fully appreciate yet. The American Kubb Association and its dedicated volunteer Board of Directors have spent the last two years quietly doing the unglamorous work of building a real institution.
It’s not flashy. None of it makes for good social media content. But all of it matters enormously, because it’s the scaffolding that everything else gets built on.
And now the scaffolding is holding weight.
2026 is going to be a big year. We’ve already seen the first event of the Open Championship Series happen in South Pasadena, California with great success. The West Coast Kubb Championship had more teams, new players, sponsor investment, and the event went off without a hitch. And this was just the first of four sanctioned championship events. March through October. Pacific to Atlantic. For the first time, kubb in America has a unified national competitive structure.
That’s not a small thing. That’s the foundation of a sport.
With the Open Championship Series, it may appear that the American Kubb Association is solely focused on the competitive side of the game, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The series is but the first step in a sweeping plan to grow the sport across multiple initiatives and create more games in backyards and local parks while building the bridges that will connect the game from those moments all the way to the cage at Natty’s, all while honoring our history and culture, and maintaining the camaraderie that make this sport so special.
Check out the 5 Baseline Pillars of Our National Strategy if you want to learn more.
So back to me quitting.
When you’re the board president of the organization responsible for sanctioning tournaments, determining competitive standards, and stewarding the integrity of the sport, competing in those same tournaments creates a conflict. Even if you’d never act on it, even if your intentions are pure, the appearance matters. Governance credibility is important and I wasn’t willing to compromise it for the sake of my own personal kubb dreams.
It was an easy decision dressed up as a hard one. The truth is I believe in what we’re building more than I care about my own competitive ambitions. It’s not humility. To commit to helping build this thing, I simply had to accept that I couldn’t do both.
We are at an inflection point for kubb in the United States, and maybe globally. There is something happening, and the infrastructure being built right now will determine what kubb looks like in five, 10, and 20 years. A broadcast-ready national video sports product. A federated competitive structure. Youth and community programs. Building lasting institutional legitimacy. It’s all connected, and it’s all in motion.
Kubb matters a lot to all of us. The community built something remarkable without any of this infrastructure. So, what happens when it has it?
I think about that a lot. It keeps me focused on what’s best for kubb in America. Ultimately, it made what felt like a difficult decision a pretty easy one to make.
So, I quit.
