Travis Carpenter
#37 Indianapolis Alleycats, #27 Machine (Club)
Travis Carpenter, born in 1993, was a competitive soccer player since the age of seven. At 15 years old, he tried out for his high school soccer team but found himself lacking in skill due to the lack of competition in his local church league. In order to reach the heights needed to make the varsity, he put in a dedication and work ethic like no other.
The liquid portion of his diet only consisted of water for six months of the year. He ran and jogged outside his weekly team conditioning sessions, began lifting four to five times a week, and practicing his foot skills outside practice twice a week. This rigorous regimen continued almost every day, all in the hopes of making the varsity team.
In his senior year (2010), Carpenter ranked top 3 for the 40-yard dash, mile times (of 5:10 min), and had the highest combined lifting numbers after combining bench, squat, and clean.
The hard worked paid off. Carpenter made varsity, but felt under utilized being on the bench 90% of every game during his senior year. In the meantime, he was introduced to ultimate and began playing it serious in the off-season since his school had just started a competitive team.
Halfway through the soccer season, Carpenter realized this is what he loved more. Travis quit the soccer team that same year and devoted his time co-captaining the ultimate team with two of his best friends. Senior year, they won State Championship, defeating their opponents 15-1. He also won a high school state championship in track in 2011.
Since then in 2011, Carpenter played as an unsanctioned player for Ball State where he took his game to the next level, learning from Luke Broderick, Dana Granholm and Hans Rassmussen; two of whom became Alleycats later on. Carpenter attended a local college in Indianapolis as a part-time student before heading to Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU). In 2012, at the age of 18, Carpenter tried out for the Alleycats that spring, AUDL’s first year of operation, and made the team as one of the last three chosen players. Travis Carpenter became the youngest player in the AUDL at the age of 18 in the year of 2012. Since then, the league has increased the minimum age to 19.
“In the first day ever of the AUDL, I found myself on the bench as a young player that had less experience than my teammates. We played the Columbus Cranes (a.k.a. Madcow) and I stood on the sideline the whole game and had a great time cheering on my teammates. In the 4th quarter in the last 5 minutes, I finally got my chance.”
With several Alleycats at college regionals and other injured or fatigued, Carpenter had a chance to play on the defensive line, laying out a huge block on the first pass to his opponent, leading to a quick point that tied the game.
“The game went on to overtime and I continued to play and showed lockdown defense to the coach. After that game, he came up in the locker room and said "Hey, that was all I needed to see, kid. You are going to start playing a lot more."”
Carpenter was thereon tasked with the responsibility of taking some of the rival team’s toughest players for the rest of the season.
After the summer of playing for the Alleycats, he created a club team called INfamous (now known as Brickyard). He found that training players in the IWU ultimate team, with his best friends, resulted in one of the most incredible experiences in his life.
Since then, Carpenter continued to play for the Alleycats, played for the U23 World’s team in the London 2015 world tournament. He was also invited as a guest player for Malaki, the #1 ranked club team in Mexico (2015). Together, Carpenter won gold for both teams, and was named the Ultiworld DIII College Defensive Player of the Year in 2014, and Player of the Year in 2015.
“Now I continue my journey with my final year of IWU, another year of Alleycats, and a few undecided options for club in 2016! I love the game of Ultimate and I have no intentions of slowing down now. I have important personal and team goals in this sport and I have yet to reach the Ultimate player that I want to be.”
- Travis Carpenter
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