June 18th, 2024. 

I'm sitting in the orthopedic doctor's office, staring at an MRI scan of my back and thinking, "I have no idea what I'm looking at." Nothing looked wrong to me, but every other sign physically had been indicating otherwise. 

Since that prior January, I had been experiencing back tightness and felt stiff everyday, with nerve pain all the way down through my legs. I was in the middle of my senior season for college frisbee and in the process of figuring out my plans for playing that summer. Whatever was happening, it hadn't gone away and was sidelining me for what I thought was the most important frisbee I'd ever played. Our college team, the Ball State Wizardz, was advancing to regionals for the first time in 8 years and I was interested in multiple club teams, along with looking to get my professional career started. The most concerning part was the lack of answers as to what the problem was. I had visited a physical therapist, massage therapist, chiropractor, and even got an x-ray and cortisone shot in one of my hip joints. At this point, I felt like an MRI was the only thing left I hadn't done. Nothing I was doing was helping and I had to watch my college and summer seasons pass me by. It felt really embarrassing to tell my college teammates and other teams I was interested in something along the lines of "I'm hurt and can't play, but I can't tell you how because I don't know myself." 

I was also about to graduate college and start the next chapter of my life. Since the beginning of 2024, I still was unsure about what I wanted to do after graduating. I had been working at an autism center for the last 6 months, and while I had still been hurting, I was learning that I could work in the autism field for a long-term career and that there were plenty of accommodations that could be made temporarily to help with the discomfort and emotions I was feeling. Even though I was in pain every day and knowingly chasing kiddos around with severe back pain, I had a great experience working there and next thing I knew, I was admitted to the Applied Behavior Analysis Master’s program at Ball State and starting to plan how the next year was going to look academically.

That May before graduating with my undergrad, the Ball State team held their leadership elections and because of the amount of graduating members we had, there were only 9 returners. Not only were we short leadership members, but I was even unsure on if we were going to have a team. The thought of our college program disappearing after just qualifying for the next round of the postseason was disappointing, especially since I missed out on playing and could potentially have another chance of playing one more year in college. So, I was elected a captain for the following year and made the promise to myself that I was going to get the program back on its feet for a fresh start and take the chance to build something truly sustainable, even though I didn’t know when the next time I was going to see the field was going to be. 

The doctor ended up letting me know that I had a stress fracture in my L4 vertebrae and a small amount of arthritis had built up around it since it was untreated for so long. To go along with that, I was going to need about 6 more months of recovery and rest before I could resume intense physical activity again. So, if I were serious about wanting to play in the next cycle of any kind of frisbee for 2025, I was going to have to start to do what I could in the meantime to make that process feel as quick but progressive as possible. 

Right after finding out the news is when my partner, Maddy, and I started dating. I really credit her for helping out with the whole process and I seriously don’t think it would have worked out the way it did if it wasn’t for her support and encouragement. She didn’t know a single thing about ultimate, but she wanted to learn and help me out because she saw how important it was to me, especially while recovering. We had a lot of conversations about what life would look like when I was more mobile and available to start playing again and she helped me understand that it was never going to be a matter of “if” I will ever play again, but “when.” The recovery process and life felt easier and exciting with her; I could never put into words how much she means to me and how much she helped me mentally through the most difficult challenge of my life. 

That August when I got back up to Muncie to start my Master’s is when I continued the work that I had done over the summer with the newly-elected leadership and started physical therapy that September. I won’t go into detail on how much work myself and the rest of leadership did, but I would like to shout out Will, Dee, and Eli for their help as my fellow Captains and President during that process. We began the season and they took on a lot of work in troubleshooting new problems as they were learning to be leaders and try new things to help the team, especially on the field. While we were all working tirelessly, I was back in the gym at the end of October twice a day to do my physical therapy independently and start getting back in playing shape. Maddy was there by my side every time I was at the gym or working on something new for the Wizardz, whether it was a team calendar, planning social/alumni events, or just generally being so stressed about it all. I was incredibly nervous to get back into the playing portion, especially if it didn’t reflect my off-the-field-progress and preparation. I had been rehabbing for some time in-clinic along with visits to a chiropractor twice a week for months by that point, and with the support of Maddy and my team, I had never felt more prepared and in shape than I was and am. By Christmas break, I was resting one last time to make my long-awaited return to the field at the start of 2025. 

Learning to play frisbee again was like riding a bike. Something that benefited from taking so much time off was that I was only able to throw in place. While I was out and then recovering, I was stationary throwing, so my throws had still improved over that time and I was able to focus on making those better. I was practicing with the Ball State team again consistently when I decided that I wanted to try out for professional teams and make my way into the 2025 cycle. That’s when I was pointed in the direction of the Mechanix by my longtime friend and coach, Brad Kennis. He gave me the belief that I would be able to get my professional start there and that I could really have a shot with the team. He gave me Coach Steepe’s contact info and I still remember the conversation I had with him for 35 minutes while I was walking on the treadmill at the gym. I had to miss the first tryout because I was still not confident I would be prepared, but I still came and watched. The second tryout was the first time I played frisbee outside of practice in about a year. 

To get the call from Coach B about wanting to join the team was just as gratifying as all the work that I had put in just to get to feel some normalcy in everyday life again. I remember I was in the middle of a recruitment event for the Wizardz when I got the call and thought about my friends, teammates, Maddy, my family, and everyone who had gotten me to that point. Maddy drove to my house within the hour to celebrate and it meant nothing more than to do that with the person who was with me through all the good days and bad days and understood what it meant to me to get that call. It’s something I had thought about for 5 years and I was finally able to get around to it (even if it cost me a broken back lol).

Meeting and playing with the Mechanix this year was right where I was meant to be. Everyone was welcoming and came from a place of wanting to get better and prove that to everyone else. Playing with them this season was the highlight of my frisbee career (regardless of the end result) and I’m glad to have belonged to the Mechanix. I loved making memories with them and sharing my life with them for a majority of my year; I know some of them will be life-long connections and off-the-field friendships. They made me a better player and person and I will always be thankful for this season and the opportunity to make my way onto the field at a high level. 

I played some of the best frisbee of my career and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Maddy and I moved in together after the season opener, I graduate this December, and I am the first head coach for the Wizardz for the biggest team we’ve seen in program history. I learned a lot of important lessons over the course of the last year, but the most important one was that “the only person stopping you from reaching your full potential is you.” It feels great to be back and to celebrate all the success I’ve had, but there’s always more work to be done and I’m excited to see what the future brings. I’m back and gear up for the rest of 2025 and 2026. 

-#30, Trey Koch III