The 67th edition of the oldest Frisbee tournament in the world, the International Frisbee Tournament (first played in 1958), will go down as one of the best ever. The 2025 IFT featured fifteen teams, six of which (by most accounts) had enough firepower and defense to possibly drink from the legendary Julius T. Nachazel Cup. The stage was set at Hancock Driving Park in Michigan's Upper Peninusla for a war of attrition, where the team with the most GUTS would prevail.
Saturday started out with round robin play where the fifteen teams in attendance competed in four different pools. Once round robin concluded, the seeds were determined by performance, and the bracket was established. Two first round best-of-three matches were played and four teams remained in the winner's bracket at the conclusion of Saturday play - the defending champions UP Hardwood (Marquette), the Boomtown Saints (Lansing), Wolfpack (Marquette), and Shottle Bop (Keewanaw).
The Roaches
The day was also marked by a very special guest, as professional disc golfer and Guiness World Record holder Scott Stokely competed in his first ever GUTS event. Scott had been documenting his training in recent weeks as he prepares to represent Team USA at the World Guts Club Championship in Japan this coming September. For the IFT Scott played center for the Boomtown Saints and he was their gun on offense, as his rocket forehand proved too hot to handle for some of the best defenders in the game.
The Boomtown Saints
After a Saturday plagued by smoke from Canadian wildfires, Sunday morning featured a glorious blue sky and hot sun. Humid conditions typically equal a ton of defense, and short of some wind gusts that made defense difficult, hands were on fire. In the winnner's bracket Shottle Bop dispatched of Boomtown in two games and UP Hardwood did the same to Wolfpack. This left a Bop v. Hardwood winner's bracket final for after lunch.
The losers bracket, as always, featured some of the best GUTS of the tournament as teams fought for their lives in do-or-die single elimination games. Wally World killed the Roaches, Whiskey Disc burned Burn, Monte Carlo outshined Lahtinen's Vineyard, and Guts Free Stylers (love you guys!) were eliminated by the Misfits. Next round: Montey beat Misfits and Whiskey Disc toppled Wally World. After losing in the winner's bracket earlier, Boomtown dropped down to the losers bracket only to succumb to Whiskey Disc and Wolfpack's stay in the bracket was quick thanks to Monte Carlo. Then Whiskey Disc drowned Monte in one of the best games of the weekend to put themselves in the losers bracket final.
Monte Carlo
The winners bracket final was scheduled for a best-of-three, but that third game was not needed as Bop took two close ones to solidify their spot in the IFT Finals. Then, in a one game do-or-die losers bracket finals, Whiskey Disc put up a wall and rode their stout defense to victory in a 21-19 instant classic to advance to the finals. 
Whiskey Disc
The stage was set for Bop, winners of the Wisconsin Guts Championship a month earlier, and Whiskey Disc, the best team in the circuit just a couple of years ago, to clash for the 2025 IFT Championship. Early in game one Whiskey Disc showed the defense that made them so good in smashing their way to an 8-3 first switch thanks to the body shots taken by Rudy T. that resulted in catches for his squad. Rudy has seen a lot of the Bop shots over the years, and he has the torso welts to prove it. After that first switch though, Bop took over as they started peppering the rest of the line with greater success. In the end, Bop was just too powerful. Their high-powered offense combined with their fantastic initial contact and overall team defense proved too much and Bop took game one by a score of 21-16. Game two just picked up where game one left off as Bop was playing at a tremendously high level that was not to be denied. Bop took game two 21-14 and the celebration was on. The local boys Bop would hoist their 2nd Nachazel Cup, the Bop fan club joined in the festivities, and Steven Dudenas was named the 2025 IFT MVP. 
2x IFT Champs Shottle Bop
One more thing ... shout out to the women! For the first time since maybe the late 70s (record keeping has never been a strong strengh of GUTS players), we had TWO COMPLETE WOMEN'S TEAMS!!! The women competed against the men both days and finished Sunday competing against each other as BTE (Big Tit Energy) defeated Wooden Nickel to take win the women's division (that feels so good to type). 
Big Tit Energy
Wooden Nickel
That's the recap! We have a short turnaround now as everyone prepares for the US Nationals in Marquette, MI on the first weekend of August. Please check out our socials (@usaguts) for more pictures, videos, and announcements. All photos on this blog credited to Barb Thornton (thanks, Barb!).
Catch you all in Marquette! Honk honk!