Payton Howe, a recent graduate of Marsh Valley High School, traveled abroad to represent the U.S. in basketball at the United World Games in Austria.

Howe was selected to play on the U.S. team by PhD Hoops, a training and travel organization, based on his skills and character. The UWG in which he played in Austria is the largest youth tournament in Europe.

This year’s tournament featured 15 sports and 12,000 athletes representing 35 countries from across the world. The games ran from June 11 to 21.

Howe said he was grateful for the opportunity to represent Idaho and the U.S. in Austria. The Downey native had originally been selected to play two years ago, but the tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was invited again this year and was able to play in his age bracket.

Howe was the only player from Idaho on the 10-person team. Other players on the team came from across the country, including as far east as Illinois.

The U.S. team went 2-2 in the tournament, losing to a German team and an Austrian team, Howe said. Despite the losses, he enjoyed the experience.

”It’s definitely super cool to get to represent not just myself but the whole area as well. I just wanted to go out there and do my best,” he said. “The German team we played ended up they have some professionals on it who are our age, so it was a really cool experience to get to play against some of the better athletes from Europe. Not a lot of people are getting the chance to play against that type of competition.”

Howe is known in the community as a multi-sport athlete. In fact, basketball isn’t even his best sport — it’s football, and he’s got a four-year full ride scholarship to play at Carroll College in Montana starting this fall to prove it.

Since graduating from Marsh Valley High School this spring, Howe is becoming more excited to go off to college. He plans to study nursing.

Howe is one of 98 students who graduated from Marsh Valley this year.

Marsh Valley School District 21 Board of Trustees member Jill Gunter said the graduating seniors in her district were offered more than half a million dollars in scholarship money this year from local and out-of-state institutions.

“We sit down here at this end of the county and people just kind of think, ‘Oh, Marsh Valley. No big deal,’” Gunter said. “But it’s a pretty big deal. We’ve got a good school system.”