“We’re on Christmas break right now, so we’re just kind of going to as many tournaments as we can during the week, so like two or three” This is how Gavin Hamann and the rest of the cornhole team prepared for the National Cornhole High School Championship that lasted from December 29th - January 1st.

Four ThunderRidge High School students, Juniors: Cooper Bingham and Jacob Thayer, and Sophomores: Jaxson Remmick and Gavin Hamann, traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from December 29th - January 1st for the National Cornhole High School championships. This idea came up when the group started playing at a local club eight months ago and progressively got better and better. The players first started to win against other players at the local club, then in smaller local tournaments, and placed 3rd at the regional tournament.ore against players at their local club, then took their skills around Colorado and eventually around the country. The team also started to gain more skill and improve not only their mental game but keeping focus as well.

The TRHS cornhole team started just like anyone else, struggling to hit the board, but the team kept practicing and practicing and improving their game. The players got to the high point of constantly throwing 10 point average (3 in the hole and 1 on) which helped them realize they are good enough to compete. According to Browning of The Lone Tree Voice (2021) “The ThunderRidge team was deemed eligible for the championships after winning a qualifying tournament hosted by an ACL director” (para.5). They competed in three events from Dec. 30th to Jan. 1st at the tournament. The team's top finishers were Jaxson Remmick taking third in singles. Gavin Hamann and Jaxson Remmick took second in doubles. ThunderRidge (All four students) won First place in the Team Event. The team event was two singles games and one doubles game. The school that took two of the three games moved onto the next round in the single elimination bracket. They ended up going home with $8.2 Thousand for their school to create a cornhole club and spread knowledge of the sport of cornhole.

While the four students are friends inside and outside of cornhole. With Cooper and Jaxson meeting at a very young age and growing their friendship through cornhole. They then met Jacob going to school at Roxborough Intermediate school. All three of them then proceeded to meet Gavin playing cornhole at the Waterton Tavern in Roxborough. The players started to see each other more and more each week at cornhole and slowly started to hangout outside of cornhole and grow their friendship. The team decided to start playing more and traveling to Colorado Springs for Pikes Peak Cornhole Club, Denver for Mile High Cornhole, and Myrtle Beach South Carolina for the National High School Championship. They started to play in more and more tournaments and at more and more places. They also started to meet more people and gain even more knowledge of the game. So much of sports is meeting new people and being social and cornhole is no exception. Browning (2021) quotes Cooper Bingham for saying “Everybody’s super friendly. It's nice to be able to see the same people every week and hang out with everybody” (para. 9).

The ThunderRidge High School cornhole team succeeded in an unexpected way and surprised everyone at the school. Starting from their basements and local tournaments to coming home with 8.2 thousand dollars to grow the sport of cornhole and make a club at their highschool. The team's hope is to involve more and more students and make a new generation of cornhole players. Students can compete and find tournaments at school and on the Scoreholio iphone app. Talk to Cooper Bingham, Jacob Thayer, Jaxson Remmick, Gavin Hamann for more help or more information.