Olympic speed skaters Jackson, Bowe bring an edge to a Utah rec kickball league

When the team captain came around with the signup sheet for the kickball league, the premise was simple: It would be a fun, no-pressure way to let off some steam in the middle of a long work week.

With a roster full of current, former and aspiring Olympic speed skaters — including the likes of Olympic gold medalist Erin Jackson and bronze medalist Brittany Bowe — of course it couldn’t stay that way.

“It started as something fun to do,” said McKenzie Browne, who competes for Team USA on the World Cup speed skating circuit. “And then we’re all just so competitive, it became like we need to win — which is not surprising at all.”

Team Kicktators has been kicking around the Beehive Sports and Social Club leagues for about three years now. In addition to Jackson and Bowe, it counts Cooper McLeod among its players competing in the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Also on the roster are Olympic veterans Austin Kleba, Lana Gehring and Kimi Goetz, as well as a handful of national team speedskaters, various partners and the team nutritionist for the Utah Mammoth.

They actually started out as a dodgeball team, Browne said. Then they realized that sport included a skill set they didn’t have.

“We can’t throw very well,” she said, “so it made it a little bit harder for us to play.”

Kickball had its own challenges. When they switched, Jackson didn’t know anything about running the bases, Browne said. Yet, ever the diligent scholar — Jackson holds an honors degree in materials science and engineering and has been pursuing associate degrees in computer science and kinesiology in addition to Olympic glory — she crammed the rules before their opening game.

“She knows everything within, like, a day,” Browne said. “That’s just how she is. The way that she plays is smart.”

Browne is the women’s pitcher on the 10-person coed team. Two other long-track skaters, Tanner Worley and Brett Perry, trade off pitching to the men. Most of their opponents don’t know they’re professional athletes when they first square off, Browne said. But it doesn’t take long for them to figure it out. If their muscled legs don’t give them away, the numerous Olympic rings tattoos will.

“They’re fast,” said Chris Zaccone, who played on the rival Anacondas team. “I mean, their legs, they can kick pretty far, probably farther than anyone in the league.”

The athletes do have some disadvantages on the field, though. They usually show up to their games having already gone through at least two workouts that day. Plus, they don’t practice.

And as any Olympic athlete knows, in practice is where championships are won. Perhaps that’s why the Kicktators lost their most recent title tilt to the Anacondas — a team that has matching jerseys, a camera person, a coach and, according to Zaccone, a 45-game win streak.

“Our competitors, they’re really serious about it,” Jackson said. “They come in with their clipboards and their fancy jerseys and everything. So, yeah, we just come in to have fun.”

Part of the fun, though, is the competitiveness. Plus, unlike in speedskating, in kickball they get to compete together.

“You would think we’re on the line for an Olympic gold medal, just the way everybody gets into it,” Browne said. “And I think it’s so funny but also just so cool to do a team sport, because we don’t get to do that.”

Jackson, Bowe and McLeod all have at least one race left in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games. Bowe and McLeod are scheduled to race Saturday in the women’s team pursuit quarterfinals and the men’s 500 meters, respectively. On Sunday, Jackson will attempt to win her second straight gold medal in the women’s 500 meters.

Bowe, who has said she will retire at the end of this season, is also expected to race in the women’s 1,500 meters on Friday.