After it was over—the medals were given out, the trophies lifted, and all the pictures were taken, I stood there watching the scene at the Eau Claire soccer park for what seemed like an eternity. It was an amazing scene… not one soul wanted to leave. I knew I needed to—my logical mind told me I had stayed too long and needed to head home. If I left now, I wouldn’t get back to Kalamazoo until after midnight and I had to work that next morning. There were 465 miles separating me from my return to the “real” world. What we all had just witnessed in the U.S. National Kubb Championship semi-finals and finals didn’t seem real—it seemed like a storybook ending. The hometown boys of Scott Taylor and Spencer Ollmann make good on their goal to win the National Championship! Eau Claire’s adopted son, Cody Glorioso, blastshis team past Chaska and Science and, together, the Kubb Reapers lift the Stapp King in victory.
Explaining why we love kubb to others can be tough, but those that stayed, all understood. They still may not be able to explain it to others, but they witnessed it… they felt it… they cheered for it to happen. Everyone could feel the joy, the emotion, the happiness, and the love. The Kubb Reapers win epitomized everything we love about our sport.
This team has been together for three seasons, which in kubb terms, is not a very long time. They bonded so fast and took the kubb world by storm. What they found is so very special. It has not been easy. The Sunday disappointments. The bad turns. The missed kings. The bad blasts. The seemingly endless “maybe next time.” Don’t get me wrong, they have had their successes, but they are only interested in success on a certain Sunday in Eau Claire.
They haven’t been hiding these dreams and inspirations either. Anyone that saw “Kings of Kubb” saw them put their heart on their sleeves, you saw them put their dreams out into the world, and they took a gut punch and had their dreams stomped out—all for the world to see. The hits would keep coming as news of Scott’s diagnosis hit the kubb world hard this spring. It obviously hit hardest on his kubb brothers. They didn’t let that deter them, they still had big plans for 2026. They felt that momentum building, they knew their time was coming, but now there was a bigger sense of urgency. Let’s do this for Scott and let’s do it now… and boy did they!
On my ride home, I kept thinking about the journey all three men have been on since they joined forces but my mind kept coming back to one specific Reaper. On that journey east on I-94 across Wisconsin, memories and stories of my good friend Cody Glorioso kept coming back to me. Cody is one of my longest and fondest kubb friends. I’ve known of him since my start in the game. We met because of our joint friendship with Josh “Dobbie” Feathers. The first interaction I remember with Cody was at a Kewpee Hamburgers location in Lima, Ohio on my way to the 2018 Midwest Kubb Championship in Canton.
We both separately made plans with the Feathers family to meet for lunch on our separate journeys from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Sitting in that retro dinner with all those creepy Kewpie doll decorations staring at me, I was early and the Feathers were running late. I sat there in a restaurant full of strangers when I recognized someone. It was the one familiar face in the crowd. That face was Cody’s. We finally properly introduced ourselves and started to form a friendship over the next few kubb seasons. We were a lot alike in those days. We had some friends and family that played kubb—just not regularly or super competitively. We were both blasters—the role where you throw the first batons at the group of kubbs, but we needed someone else to toss the blocks as that was a skill we were both working on. We often asked veterans of our sport to team up, and on occasion, we would team up together on two-man teams. In those early days, it was tough, especially when you are essentially the same player. Two developing inkastres that specialize in blasting isn’t a recipe for success. You need a team that is good at all three phases: drilling, blasting, 8 meters. Who will drill? Who will hit the 8 meter shots? The answer? Who cares! We had fun playing together and for two lone wolves in our sport, we were grateful to be competing for a spot on a podium and understanding that we didn’t belong at the top spot. Our brotherhood of blasters would share stories of how our training was going, what we were working on, who we were trying to play with, what teams we were trying to form along the way, hoping the other person would make it. I always hoped he would find his people, his championships, and his home in our game. Playing along side of Cody is a lot of fun. Fun is what we focused on. Riding the hot hand, not focusing on the misses, playing for the love of the game. We were always focused on winning the fun, especially if we could not win the match.
That’s why I was concerned when, after a few disappointing finishes in Eau Claire and Gotland in 2025, I felt like Cody was facing a crisis of confidence. Kubb has a way of bringing us down a level when we think we’ve figured it all out. It does not care what we think our timeline should be, it will make you wait and make you try again over and over. It has no problem humbling even the most confident of players. If you play kubb long enough, you will go through a time like this as well. Mine came in 2022 after a disastrous championship game against the Kubbsicles. Seeing my friend go through something similar, I tried to have several conversations with Cody about trying to find the parts of the game he loved and letting go of the past. Kubb players can be a fickle bunch. We hold onto and remember failures a lot longer than our triumphs. I hope it helped.
With the Kubb Reapers, Cody has found everything I ever wanted him to find. Brothers with complimenting skills, well rounded abilities, and a desire to play together at all costs. Cody is a very popular person. While it’s true that Matt Green is the most liked man in kubb, Cody is probably a close number two. I know he felt pressure to play with all his “regular” partners. Kubb players can be creatures of habit and fall into patterns of who you play with.I know he probably faced some backlash and jealousy but he was prioritizing his happiness, his future, and his team. I told him privately and publicly that I was proud of him for making this decision. It was not the easy decision—or the popular one—it was the decision that would make him a better player.
Watching my friend dominate in 2026 has been exciting to watch. He’s been playing with so much confidence, attacking piles, and taking on the challenging shots in an effort to win games, instead of playing not to lose and taking the easy shots. I tried to check in as the Saturday qualifying rounds neared completion but it always seems as if we are opposite sides of the giant field in Eau Claire. I knew they made Sunday and I knew Cody was playing well. I woke up on Sunday morning feeling as if my team would be on a collision course with Cody. If everything went our way, we would face each other in Cage in the semi-finals.
I sat down and wrote Cody a text:
“Love you brother. Throw with confidence. You are a badass! We will see you in the cage!”— Sent: Sunday, July 12th, 7:19AM
It turned out I was right! …well, except, I’d see him in the cage while I was on the outside looking in. My team didn’t live up to our end of the bargain, but my friend had accomplished the first part of his dream as the Kubb Reapers were in the Cage! I watched Cody go toe-to-toe blasting down piles with Luke Peikert. I watched his teammates take it to J.P. Larson and Trevor Bailey and find their way into the finals. I was repositioning myself to the championship pitch when I happened to cross paths with one of my favorite humans, Sara Rydzik. Cody and Sara met in March of 2019 and got married in July of 2020. It seems like they have been together forever as I cannot remember a time without Sara. There is no one that has watched more kubb or streamed more matches than her. She is Kubb On at this point. If you are watching kubb on the internet, there’s a good chance Sara is on the other side of that camera. She is an incredible force for good with our sport. She’s everyone’s biggest supporter, even at Cody’s expense. Whenever I do well at a tournament, I know I will have a text waiting from Sara. Whenever I can watch Cody and the Reapers, I’m constantly texting Sara my thoughts, my critiques, and asking her to pass on my sentiments to “the boys.”
When I crossed paths with Sara, you could tell she had been crying tears of joy and she was very nervous about what was to come. The boys were so close and the whole crowd could feel it. I hope I was able to calm her nerves in that moment as I embraced her, told her how proud of them I was, but let her know it’s not over, we’ve got one more match to go. I stood behind the bleachers, pacing back and forth as Matt Green and Ethan Forney made fun of my trail of sunflower seeds I left in my wake on the grass. I spoke words of encouragement, feedback, and strategy outloud mostly to myself and the few strangers that were around that probably thought I was insane.
Prior to the last turn, Science had gone baseline clear and Steve Dolan had just missed ending the game going 1-for-2 on the last 8 meter shot coming up one baton short of clinching victory. Now it was the Kubb Reaper’s turn. I turned to the man that I did not know and I was certain had no idea who I was, looked him dead in the eyes, and declared; “This is it. It’s now or never, Spencer. Put them in there!”
Spence had nine kubbs to put into play and the Reapers still had one baseline kubb left on their opponent’s line. Certainly doable for a top notch team, but you really need a good pile of kubbs so you have batons to spare to clear that last 8 meter shot. As the kubbs were tossed onto the grass, a pile was not forming. Spencer would have five rethrows to which he declared: “Wow, that’s a lot.” Once again, I informed the stranger next to me of my opinion: “No… this is okay, he has to not settle here. He needs to be aggressive and get them in the perfect spot!”
The stranger gave me a glance that read, “are you okay?” but I was not phased. At that moment, Scott Taylor approached Spencer and, I’d like to think, he mentioned to him the same sentiments I gave to the stranger. Spence took it all in, gathered himself for a moment, and threw five of the most brilliant, pressure-packed re-throws you will ever see. The left-to-right natural cuts jumped from the safe space out in the open grass and crashed into the blocks along the sideline, making a nice line for Cody to blast.
Spencer’s job as inkastre was finished, there was nothing more he could do. The block tosser’s job is to put the team in a position to win and you can’t win if the blocks aren’t close together. Especially with nine field kubbs in play and one baseline kubb still to get. The first part of his role was finished, now he just had to believe in his teammates.
Trusting Cody and his blasts have been a Kubb Reapers core belief over the last three years. In big games and in big time turns, onlookers put so much emphasis on that first baton. If you blow up the pile, the momentum completely turns to your favor. Bounce it off grass and over the pile? Fly it over the top? Missing shots seems to be contagious in kubb… especially in turns like this. Cody would step up to the line, go through his pre-shot routine, and treat this no differently than any of his thousands of shots he has made over his career. The baton would carry through the middle of the pile, not truly splitting it, but leaving two lines left to get. Two kubbs closer to the king and three kubbs along the sideline and the pin guarding them. Cody would take a shot that would give him a chance for the baton to move right and clear all five. He knew which two he had to get though. He would topple his main target and get the two out by the king. Cody’s batons gone, it would be his turn to trust his teammate, Scott Taylor. As we said earlier, trust is what the Reapers do.
Scott Taylor has put all the work in. He’s one of the hardest working men in kubb that we will ever see. He famously told the world he wanted to be the best and wanted everyone to fear him. Earlier this season he would receive the hardest medical news anyone could possibly imagine. The fear that must have been inside him and his family is hard to imagine. Through this journey, he never gave up on kubb. His faith in his team and his skills never wavered through any of the medical challenges. He never used it as an excuse for a bad throw, a poor inkast, or missed shot. Now Scott would step to the baseline with a chance to etch his name in immortality. Three field kubbs, on the sideline, guarded by a center pin…. they never stood a chance. With a faithful and true baton toss, it went over the guard pin and crashed into the top of the first kubb, knocking everything backward and clearing all three! The crowd exploded but the job was not done. Three batons remained for the Reapers and they had one baseline kubb and king.
The attention turns back to Spencer, the 8 meter sniper, readying himself for the most important shot of his life. After a brief celebration with Cody, Scott Taylor would return to Spencer’s side for a word of encouragement and a slap on the backside. Spence returned to the baseline, stoically pointed the baton at his intended target, and tossed it one full rotation across the pitch. It wouldn’t hit in the air, rather bounce in front of the baseline kubb. How many times have you seen a baton bounce over in that situation? Countless times! How many times has that baton “grabbed” the grass and altered its path out of the way of that baseline? But that would not happen on this day as it bounced low and true and struck the last baseline kubb right through its heart. The crowd exploded another time as everyone could now see that this was going to happen. How appropriate was it that Scott Taylor had another baton? If anyone should slay the king and win the National Championship, the rightful King Slayer would be Scott.
Once that final king fell—the celebration was on! This is where we return to the beginning of the article—back to when I’m standing there watching the crowd. It is customary for all the kubb players to amass on the field and give the winning team their rightful congratulations. Shaking of hands and hugs are commonplace. After this match, it seemed everyone was offering their congratulations. Players, family, friends, even strangers. I stood there, overwhelmed with emotion as I watched it all transpire. It reminded me of a famous ending to a famous movie. In “Rudy” (1993), the character of the groundskeeper is present to watch his longtime friend finally make it into a football game and his friend sacks the quarterback on the final play of the game! As the team lifts Rudy on their shoulders and takes him off the field in joyous celebration, the scene cuts to the groundskeeper’s character, Fortune (played by the wonderful Charles S. Dutton), looking on with immense satisfaction on his face. He stands there, admires his friend in his most successful moment, and overwhelmed with excitement and exuberance, turns and leaves the field clapping and striding out with satisfaction that his journey was fulfilled. I did the same for this Kubb Reapers team. I stood there and watched each embrace. I don’t think I stopped clapping for nearly 10 minutes. The endless stream of players and onlookers took their turns and you could tell how much all these conversations meant to each of the Kubb Reapers.
I finally found my friend, Cody, amongst the fans and approached. I gave him a big ol’ bear hug, all along laughing and smiling, I was so happy that he was finally at the top of the mountain. Just as we were about to release, he told me, “Thanks for the kind words. Thanks for the text.”
To which I replied: “You were the MVP! You proved you’re a badass! You are the best player on this field! Congratulations my friend!”
When I let go and took a step back, I could see a new look on his face. One that I had not seen on him before. It was a combination of joy, exhaustion, and satisfaction. The look was Glori-ous! Cody Glorioso. The once lone wolf, who always won the fun, found a new pack and redefined himself. He learned how to love kubb again. Through all the ups and many of the downs, Cody fell back in love with kubb after he fell in love with his new teammates, Scott and Spencer. That’s the beautiful thing about our game and our sport. We are a bunch of middle aged men and women that get together on random Saturdays across the midwest. We travel near and far to be there, to be in each other’s company. When we leave, what’s the most common thing you hear? It’s definitely, “love you brother.” There is so much love in kubb.
So it’s very appropriate that the Kubb Reapers are the 2026 U.S. National Champions. The team that shows love more than any other and showed all the kubb world the true power of love. Now it’s time to cue up Huey Lewis and the News (“The Power of Love”) and celebrate our newest National Champs!
“It don’t take money, and don’t take fame.
Don’t need no credit card to ride on this train
It’s tougher than diamond and stronger than steel
You won’t feel nothing ‘til you feel…
You feel the power?
Just feel the power of love!
That’s the power!
That’s the power of love.
Feel the power of love!”
