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Eugenia Garza competes at the 2024 USA Ultimate Club Championships. Photo credit: Sam Hotaling for UltiPhotos, courtesy of Eugenia Garza
At first, it wasn’t about winning championships.
Eden Prairie’s Eugenia Garza turned to ultimate frisbee for a simple reason: to boost her stamina for figure skating.
“I was starting to get more serious about figure skating and needed to do cardio outside of skating,” said Garza, a 2021 Eden Prairie High School graduate. “I didn’t really love running, so I thought, ‘I’ll just do frisbee; it’ll be fun. I’ll meet new people, and it’ll be my cardio.’”
What started as a way to stay in shape evolved into a second passion – and a place on Team USA.
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Garza, a dual-sport athlete excelling in both figure skating and ultimate frisbee, recently earned a spot on Team USA for the WFDF 2025 World Under-24 Ultimate Championships, an international tournament for athletes under 24. The competition will take place in Logroño, Spain, from June 21-28.
Now 21, Garza is raising funds to cover expenses for the tournament, including travel, accommodations, and training camps. As of Jan. 10, her GoFundMe campaign had raised $3,190 toward her $5,000 goal.
“I wouldn’t be the person and player I am today without the support of my family, friends, and community,” Garza wrote on her GoFundMe page. “I am forever thankful to my mom (Ruth) and every teammate, coach, mentor, and friend for believing in me. I hope to make everyone proud this summer and will keep you updated on my national team experience!”
The journey to ‘Yoshi’ and the frisbee field
Garza’s introduction to ultimate frisbee came unexpectedly during her high school years. She took a part-time job at a local business, where a coworker and Eden Prairie student invited her to a practice.
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“I asked why, and she told me she played frisbee and that I should come to practice,” Garza said. “So, I went to a casual practice.”
What started as a fun distraction became a serious pursuit. Early on, her teammates struggled to shout her full name across the field, and a Mario-inspired nickname emerged.
“They tried ‘Luigi,’ but I said, ‘I will quit right now if you call me Luigi,’” she said, laughing. “Someone said, ‘She’s more of a Yoshi,’ and that stuck. Now, I really love it. It feels very ‘me.’”
Garza immersed herself in Minnesota’s ultimate frisbee community, playing for teams like Minnesota Superior, the University of Minnesota’s Matrix, and Minneapolis Pop.
A surreal Team USA moment
Garza’s journey to Team USA began with an open application and a rigorous tryout process. The World U-24 Ultimate Championships are held every two years, and Garza had watched friends participate in 2023. When applications for the 2025 team opened, she decided to take a chance.
“I thought, ‘Why not? I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ll apply and see if I get a tryout,’” she said.
Out of 600 applicants, 200 were invited to try out – 100 men and 100 women. From there, only 24 women were selected for the final roster. Garza was eating dinner on Dec. 10 when the email arrived.
“Congratulations,” it read.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I called my mom immediately, crying. It was crazy. It just didn’t feel real until I saw my name on the roster a month later. The congratulations texts started pouring in, and I was just overwhelmed with emotion. It’s still surreal.”
While the honor of representing Team USA is a dream come true, it comes with a significant financial burden. Players are responsible for covering their own expenses, including travel, accommodations, training camps, and tournament fees. Garza estimates her total expenses to range from $4,470 to $5,670.
“The support from my community has been incredible,” she said. “It’s taken a whole village to raise me in this sport and otherwise, which is why I started the GoFundMe fundraiser. It seems like it’s going well so far. I’m almost there!”
Eugenia Garza, the sole athlete representing Mexico, carries her nation’s flag during the Opening Ceremony of the 2023 FISU World University Games on Jan. 12, 2023, in Lake Placid, New York. Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/FISU Games, courtesy of Eugenia Garza
Balancing skating and frisbee
Garza’s athletic journey began in Monterrey, Mexico, where she first stepped onto the ice as a young figure skater. Recognizing her potential, a coach encouraged her family to move to Minnesota for more intensive training.
By age 15, Garza was representing Mexico internationally. She won a championship and multiple other national medals, including Mexico’s first international gold in any figure skating discipline in 2023.
Eugenia Garza performs at the 2024 Mexico Cup in Querétaro, Mexico, where she earned third place. Photo credit: EgoPhoto, courtesy of Eugenia Garza
“Skating has been my core sport since I was 3,” she said. “But frisbee, I really enjoy for the community aspect. It’s a team sport, and there are so many teams and players from all sorts of backgrounds and experiences. I don’t know, that’s a tough question. It really depends on the day you ask me.”
Her training schedule reflects the distinct demands of each sport. For figure skating, she spends hours at the rink perfecting jumps, spins, and routines. Off the ice, she focuses on strength and agility training. Ultimate frisbee, by contrast, requires team practices, drills, and cardio-intensive exercises.
“If I only did one of the sports, my training plan would be tailored to that sport,” Garza said. “But my team and I have found the right mix, balancing the exercises for both. It’s much better and a lot more fun than running.”
Looking ahead
Garza’s goals in both sports are ambitious. In ultimate frisbee, she dreams of one day competing in the World Games, an elite competition for non-Olympic sports.
“Frisbee isn’t in the Olympics, but the World Games are kind of the equivalent for sports that aren’t included in the official Olympic program,” she explained. “It’s an insane goal to aim for – those rosters are really small, only 14 players. Making this U24 team was already tough with 24 spots, and for the World Games, the player pool is much bigger, so it’s really hard to make it.”
Still, Garza remains determined. “It would be amazing to go to the World Games, and I’d love to keep making national teams for frisbee,” she said. “For figure skating, the ultimate goal is the Olympics, eventually.”
Alongside her athletic pursuits, Garza shares her expertise as a coach. She works with figure skaters at rinks in Eden Prairie and Prior Lake and guides young frisbee players as a coach for Minnesota Ultimate’s youth mixed team.
“It’s fun to coach the program I came up through and help guide players, having been on the other side,” she said.
Off the field and rink, Garza hopes to combine her passion for sports with science. With a kinesiology degree from the University of Minnesota, she aspires to a career in sports performance research.
“I want to use data to help athletes improve their performance,” she said. “And I’m a huge baseball fan, so working with a team someday would be amazing.”
As she prepares for the U-24 World Championships, Garza reflects on how far she’s come.
“This opportunity is beyond anything I could have imagined, and I’m just so thankful,” she said.
Screenshot of Eugenia Garza’s GoFundMe page, where she is raising funds to represent Team USA at the 2025 World Flying Disc Federation U-24 Ultimate Championships in Spain. Click the image to visit Garza’s GoFundMe page.
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