Christian Schramm, a Waterloo High School Class of 2022 graduate and former soccer player for the Bulldogs, will be traveling to France next month as a member of the first-ever U.S. Youth Boomerang Team.

This team is organized by the United States Boomerang Association and is being funded in part by a GoFundMe organized by Logan Broadbent, who has appeared on the popular sites Wired and Dude Perfect and has competed on American Ninja Warrior as the “Boomerang Ninja.”

The team is seeking sponsors and has a tax-deductible GoFundMe accessible by going to gofund.me/277d3681.

The World Boomerang Championship takes place Aug. 15-25 in Bordeaux, France. The U.S. youth team will compete against the best professional boomerang throwers in the world. 

In addition to teaching sportsmanship and general health, the USBA places a strong emphasis on science, technology and art. Youth are taught important principles of physics when learning how to design, make and throw their competition boomerangs.

In the U.S., the sport of modern boomerang throwing began after the publication of a 1968 Scientific American article and subsequent yearly educational workshops held by the Smithsonian Institute on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. These workshops introduced people to the art and science of making and throwing boomerangs.

This resurgence in interest led to the creation of the USBA and the birth of the World Team and Individual Boomerang Championships.

The U.S. has participated in the WBC since the first World Cup was held between the U.S. and Australia in 1987. Traditionally, the U.S. sends two national teams to the WBC, which is held every two years. The U.S. Youth Team will make three all-American teams in 2022. 

The U.S. team is vying to defend its WBC team title earned at the 2018 WBC in Albuquerque, N.M. The 2020 World Cup was postponed to 2022 due to COVID-19.