“If anyone can get it done, you can.”

Years ago, I sat down with Ben Wiggins at a Mexican restaurant in Seattle and told him my plans for Skyd Magazine. Together with Andy Lovseth, Ben had paved the way for online ultimate media when he started The Huddle in 2008. Ben had been recommended to me as someone who would have some good insight on what I had hoped to do with Skyd.

Ben didn’t really know me at the time. Although he would go on to be my coach for three seasons, as well as teammate and collaborator at clinics in Europe, at that point I was just a hardworking kid with little knowledge of the ultimate world. For whatever reason, however, Ben believed in me. He told me that Skyd could be a reality and that I could make it happen.

In running Skyd these past five years, I’ve met a lot of great, encouraging people. People like the group of passionate teammates from the University of Puget Sound who helped me found Skyd in 2010 by contacting essentially every college team in the US for team previews. People like Melissa Witmer, Tim Morrill, Jonathan Neeley and our many contributors over the years, who brought their passion, expertise and support to Skyd. People who I’ve met at tournaments that were kind enough to say something as simple as, “I really appreciate what you do.”

These interactions kept me going and reminded me that with Skyd I had the possibility of making a far larger impact on a community than I might anywhere else. And further, that I could provide a voice to others who never felt they had an outlet before.

After an amazing five years, it’s time to give someone else the responsibility of leading Skyd.

While I will remain involved as an advisor, I’m proud to announce that Liam Rosen, one of Skyd’s founders, has eagerly accepted that charge, and as of 2016, will be Skyd’s new Editor-In-Chief.

Liam has been with Skyd since the beginning, taking on any task that was asked of him, from commentating, to advising, to editing articles. From someone who quit our college team at Puget Sound in favor of mixing and drinking protein shakes, to his transformation into a high level club player who somehow racked up 17 national and international tournaments in 2015, his passion for ultimate has far surpassed my own. Liam has established himself as an ambassador for the sport internationally, playing and coaching in three different countries and speaking a growing list of six languages.

Further, Liam may or may not be the Spider-Man villain the Chameleon. The jury is still out on that one, but the evidence is compelling.

Regardless of his plans to thwart any web-slinging crusaders, Liam is the right guy for the job and I’m excited to see what he and our loyal contributors and supporters create in 2016. Liam will be sharing with some of the specific future plans for Skyd shortly. I can say now that Skyd will continue its focus on both great storytelling and serving as an outlet for voices in our community. Skyd will also continue its work providing events with live streaming and broadcasting — 2016 is already shaping up to be a great year for video. More of this will be announced in the coming weeks.

Someone once asked me what my proudest Skyd accomplishments have been. There are a lot of videos, articles and podcasts that I think are great, and I’m sure if you looked hard enough you could figure out what some of those are. But looking back, it’s not any specific accomplishment that is going to stick out for me. What I’ll carry with me are the great lessons learned, the friendships made, the experiences had all over the world, and the knowledge that great things can stem from just a few words of encouragement.