By Jezalyn Hyzer

After 12 years with the AlleyCats, Travis Carpenter has made the decision to retire. Travis started his career with the AlleyCats the first year that the team made their debut as a professional team in the UFA (Ultimate Frisbee Association). He joined the team at the young age of 18 and started making waves immediately.

When the UFA became an established organization, they had an age requirement of 19 years old. Travis was only 18, so rules had to be changed. The UFA changed their age requirement rule to 18 years old and Travis officially became part of the team nicknamed “The Kid”. “The Kid” became the name that his teammates and coaching staff would refer to him as, even as the years passed.

Looking back on his time in the league, Travis recalled his favorite memory being in 2019 when the AlleyCats won the central division title. It was championship weekend and the AlleyCats made it to the final four. The team had worked incredibly hard to achieve this goal and were incredibly proud of themselves. The team that had all worked together to make each other better had been together for 5 years at that point and it felt like their dedication to their craft had paid off.

With there being multiple members of the team that are retiring, there is a new round of recruitment that is happening. Travis has a few players that our fans should definitely be on the lookout for to keep the game of Ultimate Frisbee growing. Locally, Travis said to look out for Cole Hyzer, Jake Wahl, and Joel Close. Hyzer and Wahl are both young, have good potential, and their physique is perfect for the game of Ultimate. Travis stated that Close has this uncanny ability to throw his body around to make great defensive plays. Looking further from Indianapolis, Travis pointed out Jack Havey. Havey is fast and clever with the disc. Overall, there are some great guys that are up and coming within the AlleyCats team.

Turning over a new leaf in retirement, Travis plans to use his time to focus more on his faith and his family. He looks forward to attending church on Sundays and getting to spend more quality time with his wife and new baby. Travis also explained that while he is looking forward to expanding his faith and watching his family grow, he is going to miss spending time with his teammates and having frisbee as his driving factor to keep himself in top shape.

As he reflected on his career, one thing that he would have liked to learn sooner is how to use empathy as a motivating emotion for the teams where he was a leader. Encouraging teammates when they perform well and using constructive criticism to help teach others worked better for

Travis to become such a good leader for the AlleyCats team.