Athletes to Play in World Lacrosse Men's U20 Championship
When the 2025 World Lacrosse Men’s U20 Championship kick off Aug. 15 in Seogwipo, South Korea, two members of Kimball Union Academy’s varsity boys’ lacrosse team — and two recent graduates — will be representing both their high school and respective nations.
The tournament, held every four years in varying locations across the globe, features the next generation of elite men’s lacrosse players in a single showcase. And with the sport set to make its modern-day Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028, this year’s tournament will also feature numerous athletes who will likely vie for spots on their respective nation’s Olympic teams.
Jackson Davies ’26 of Meriden, N.H. will represent England, and Mark van der Schoot ’25 of Woodstock, V.T., will represent the Netherlands as both hold dual citizenship. Bear Martin ’26 of Pittsford, N.Y., and Bleyton Hopps-Thompson ’25 of Akwesasne, N.Y., will play for the Haudenosaunee, which represents the Six Nations Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The foursome helped lead KUA to a 11-5 season this past spring.
Davies, who has committed to play lacrosse at Middlebury College, has amassed 287 saves in 27 career starts while also tallying a single point — a rare feat for a goaltender. Martin, a Bryant University lacrosse commit, has 57 career points to his name as a midfielder, and will join Davies as a co-captain of next year’s Wildcats team. Hopps-Thompson, who will attend Lehigh University in the fall, is KUA’s all-time leading point scorer with 221 career points, and van der Schoot, who will attend Salve Regina, tallied 25 career points as a midfielder.
KUA student-athletes have previously competed internationally, including Evan Roberts ’07 (England), Kenny Speak ’15 (Australia), and Nic Mason ’20 (Bermuda), but never with multiple athletes in the same year.
“From my standpoint, this speaks to the growth of the program at KUA,” says Nick Antol, head varsity boys’ lacrosse coach. “We certainly have stronger players here now than we’ve ever had. It is also special the connection that we have with the Haudenosaunee Nation and the diversity that it represents on our campus.”
This is the tournament’s 10th year, with the United States having won gold in each of its previous nine renditions. Canada, meanwhile, has nine medals total (seven silver, two bronze), followed by the Haudenosaunee with four bronze medals. Action begins Aug. 15, with the pool play portion of the tournament, followed by the gold and bronze medal games scheduled for Aug. 24.
