Last month, incoming Affton High School senior Nick Haunold laced up his rollerblades for the State Wars Roller Hockey Championships. The 2026 United States Roller Hockey Championships took place from July 21 to Aug. 3 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For the third time in his roller hockey career, Haunold went to the competition to represent Team Missouri.
“It felt good. I knew a lot of the kids on the team, so it was a lot better than going in there by myself,” Nick said about returning to State Wars.
Nick has played roller hockey since he was 11 years old. He was playing on a floor hockey team at his school when the coach asked if he would be interested in joining the roller hockey team — he’s played the sport ever since.
“We just jumped into it, not knowing anything about it,” Nick’s mother, Jessica Haunold, said.
Since Affton High School does not have a roller hockey team, Nick plays for Washington High School each spring season through the Missouri Inline Hockey Association. Nick also plays All-American Inline Hockey year-round.
“It’s a little Saturday thing that a lot of the hockey players in St. Louis do,” Jessica said.
To make the team for State Wars at the championships, Nick had to try out in the spring. According to Nick and Jessica, approximately 50 people tried out, and not all of them made it onto a team.
In July, Team Missouri went head-to-head with teams from across the country and around the world, including teams from Mexico, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. Nick played four games in the first round before losing to Great Britain in the playoffs.
“It’s pretty cool,” Nick said about playing teams from other countries. “You don’t get to really do anything like that unless you’re a pro against other countries, so that’s kind of cool.”
Nick is heading into his last year of high school, where he will continue playing roller hockey for Washington High School. The athlete also plays soccer and football and runs track at Affton, so as he looks toward post-graduate plans, he is considering what sport to pursue and where.
“I’ll probably continue (playing roller hockey) in the future, but I don’t know where that’s going to be at,” Nick said.