I have always had a soft spot in my heart for kubb teams that are made up of families. Over the years, we’ve been introduced to many family teams from all over the country. The Kubb Squirrels are the three Weakland brothers from Ohio. Ragnarök has been around for a decade and at its core are the Arneson brothers from Madison, Wisconsin. My state of Michigan is home to the Hrejsa father and son team that can hang with the best of the best. The Kubb Capital has several examples, but none more prolific than the multiple generation team of The Ringers. Our 2023 U.S. National Championship team was comprised of a team of young brothers (The Klages) and a member of the Ellringer clan. Last year I wrote a commentary about how these princes of kubb were crowned as royalty. It was the tale of how Kubboom Jr was no longer Junior. Now, after the 2024 U.S. National Championship, we can say that kubb has one more royal family. Two different sets of brothers have launched the Oman name into kubb royalty.
John Oman
John and Mark Oman have been playing together for many years but John was the first Oman brother to make the podium in Eau Claire. He exploded onto the kubb scene with a silver medal in his first appearance at the 2014 U.S. National Kubb Championship. Back then, he was one of the best right-handed kubb players you would ever see. His batons were so precise. His blast angle was a thing of beauty. The intensity of his throw would blow up any pile of kubbs. Shortly after this amazing debut, things had to change. An old injury almost forced John to give up kubb. However, John had caught the kubb bug. A bug that so many of us have caught throughout the years. He envisioned himself at the top of the podium in Eau Claire and he knew had to achieve this dream. But….he was hurt and couldn’t throw with his right arm…so how can he continue to play?
John put in the work and over the course of several years, he was able to train himself to become a left-handed player. He drills lefty. He blasts lefty. He throws 8 meters as a lefty. If you tell most new players that John is actually right-handed, I don’t think they will believe you. Finally, with enough training, he was able to get back (and exceed) his skills as a righty. Now John can finally get back to his ultimate goal, winning the U.S. National Championship. John also had an Ace up his sleeve…his brother Mark.
Mark Oman
Ask anyone about Mark Oman and you will hear the same thing; he is an elite 8-meter player. But calling him only an 8-meter player does Mark an injustice. Mark is a multiple time World 1v1 Champion and he succeeds in any phase of the game he chooses to participate in. But on John’s team, Mark is going to be his 8 meter sniper. Mark is the perfect anchor on any kubb team. The anchor goes last and often is left with the most pressure and winning and losing often rests on their shoulders. Mark has come through in so many spots. Pressure clears, penalty kubb clears, going two-for-two on 8 meters, and winning so many matches that we cannot keep count. So, with the perfect partner at his side, the Oman brothers now face one more roadblock—the U.S. National Championship is a three-person tournament, not two… they need another player.
Chaska Kubb
That’s where the rest of the Chaska Kubb Club comes into play. Chaska has been the elite kubb club in the U.S. for many years. The club took six-player teams to Sweden in 2016 (losing in the quarterfinals) and 2018 (finishing fourth). The club has many great players to choose from as the brother’s searched for a candidate to be the team’s third player. However, no matter who was the third man on the team, the team didn’t achieve their ultimate goal. I know it was an item Kalamazoo Kubb debated each spring, “Is this the year the Omans win it and who would you pair them with?” To this end, in 2017 the Oman brothers even partnered with international players from Germany to help boost their effort to finally lift the Stapp King, but it resulted in a fourth place finish.
Nathan and Zach
As it turned out, the answer to the question of “Who to pair with John and Mark?” began to be answered in 2017. That year, John would partner with his young sons Nathan and Zach at the Hot Iron Days Tournament in Lamberton, Minnesota. In their first tournament, the father and sons kubb team took home a third-place finish. In 2018 they would return to the same tournament, but this time they would win it! I’m not sure back in 2018 John would have guessed that he stumbled onto the 2024 winning formula, but I know from many conversations with John that he hoped it would happen.
Phil’s 1v1
I’ve had the pleasure to discuss all things kubb (and life in general) with John Oman. These conversations mostly took place over the weekend each spring at Phil Dickinson’s home in Alanson, Michigan. Phil was invited to play with the Chaska Kubb Club when they went to Sweden in 2018 and Phil’s 1v1 kubb tournament each spring was a great way for the Chaska teammates to come out east and spend time getting to know Phil and play a lot of kubb together. For the other players that come to Phil’s each year, we ended up as a beneficiary of learning a lot from these players. I’ve always said that Phil’s tournament is more of a fantasy kubb camp than it is a tournament, and I stick by that. The amount of kubb knowledge and skills I learned from players like Chad Bevers, Evan Fitzgerald, J.R. Hrejsa, Adam Holtz, Matt Green, and many, many others will always be one of my biggest blessings I’ve received as a player. Over those years, I learned so much about the mental side of our game from John Oman. He’s been such a blessing to my kubb journey. However, I’ve enjoyed our conversations about family just as much. He knew I was a father to young kids and we discussed our kids many times. You can tell how proud he is of his kids and a few times we discussed our sons and their interest (or lack of interest) in kubb. I think all kubb players that have kids wish that someday, somehow, they could play at a high level with their children. At the time we first discussed this, I could tell his twin sons weren’t into playing all the time, or putting in the practice it would take to get better, and they just had other interests.
Flash forward a few years and I was so happy to see both Zach and Nathan at Phil’s 1v1 for the first time. That year I don’t think they really had the kubb bug yet but I could tell how happy John was that they had come, they had fun, and they could see themselves playing more competitive kubb. The next year they came back and we all had to watch out, these kids were good! Zach was the number one seed for most of the day and was upset in the playoff bracket and third place matchup, eventually finishing fourth. Nathan defeated me in the last qualification round, ending any hope that I had to finish in the Championship Bracket for the tournament. These kids were getting good! Zach returned to Alanson in 2024 and was the top seed in the tournament through qualifying and finished in third place overall. Through all this, you could tell how happy John was to be playing with family. The Chaska Kubb Club is one big family, they are all kubb brothers but playing with the actual family is different. My first kubb tournament victory was with my cousin Tyler and that will always be one of my most special moments in kubb until one day when I get to play with my son.
U.S. National Kubb Championship
I was so happy for John when in 2023, the Chaska Super Funky Badasses competed in Eau Claire as a four-person, family team. John and Mark finally found the perfect playing partners—their family. The Omans played very well that weekend, they even played on Sunday as one of the top 16 teams in the nation. But once again, the ultimate goal was unfulfilled. However, everyone could see the momentum they were creating.
The 2024 U.S. National Kubb Championship was a story of redemption for the older Oman brothers. It was also a story of how everyone has a spot in kubb no matter age or experience, as the younger Oman brothers are just 17. Age isn’t a big deal in kubb, just look to Kubboom Jr. for an example that “kids” can play! I remember telling people that no four-person team could ever win a National Championship, it was impossible. Not for these two sets of Oman brothers. No egos got in their way, no hurt feelings over misses, no arguments over who gets to throw batons. They had shared goals and one common purpose. On top of everything else, they were family. They always had each other’s back. They worked so well together and followed the team’s plan to a “T.” No need for a plan B, plan A worked all weekend. John didn’t even need to throw batons on Sunday, his baton skills weren’t even needed. I know from my relationship with John that was just fine with him. He was beaming with pride and knew his boys could take care of business. John played a critical role for the boys as a guide and mentor. He was basically the coach of the team, there to talk through the strategy and help decide who needed to throw and when. This provided Zach and Nathan the perfect environment to be successful. Zach had many awesome blasts and clutch 8 meter pickups. Nathan played his “scavenger” role perfectly, doing whatever was necessary for victory. Pick off this leftover field kubb? No problem! Clear this pesky double? I got it! Add a base kubb when Zach blows up the entire pile? I can do that! As Mark said afterward, “For the record, the boys carried us.”
John Oman found himself back up on the podium in 2024, which is a spot he is familiar with throughout the years. He collected fourth place, third place, and of course that second place in his first attempt. The gold has eluded him for so long. As the championship match in Eau Claire went on, it became clearer and clearer that this time would be different. The “almost,” “next times,” and “somedays” were about to be over. I must admit, I got a few tears in my eyes when John was drilling that last pile on their last turn. Everyone could sense this was the turn. It was about to happen. I flashed back to a few years prior when I was in that championship match and we lost. I have been chasing that unfinished dream and trying to recreate that magic. John has been doing it for 10 years! Now he was about to finish his story. I am so happy for my friends. The aftermath of their win has stuck with me for weeks. The joy, the tears, the excitement of winning with family makes this moment feel like a blockbuster movie. The one where the good guys win at the end.
The Future
When I made it back to Kalamazoo, I sat down and told my son what had happened. I explained that a father, his brother, and his two sons just won the national championship of kubb. Owen found this incredible and had a huge smile on his face. I explained that maybe one day we could do the same, if he decides he likes playing kubb. Later that evening I went out for my evening practice, throwing batons and kubbs like I do almost every night. However, right in the middle of a four baton efficiency game, I had a new visitor to the pitch. “Dad, can I play too?” Owen asked. That was my favorite practice I have ever had… and you know what… guess who has been out there every day (with me) since? He even picked out our family team name, “The Wolf Academy.” A play on the “Wolves” nickname Eric Anderson bestowed on me some years back. My son and daughter are 7 and 5 respectively, so he has some time to grow and learn about the game. But the 2023 and 2024 U.S. Champions have proven to us that youth and family can bring home the gold. The Oman’s provided us a good omen that family teams can and will succeed in kubb. Watch out for the Fraim family in about 10 years… the Wolf Academy will be gunning for you Nathan and Zach.
1 Comment
Thank you for summing up my family so beautifully! I was already a proud wife and mother, this article made it all the sweeter. Thank you for the kind words!