Plys started curling in 1998, at the age of eleven. He competed at seven Junior National Championships in a row, winning five of them, including four in a row as skip to finish his junior career. This gives him more junior national titles as skip than any other junior male. As US Champion he competed at four World Junior Championships. In his first, 2006, Plys took ninth place in Jeonju, South Korea. The next year, in 2007, he took fifth place in Eveleth, Minnesota. And finally in 2008, Plys won the gold medal in Ostersund, Sweden. At his final Junior Worlds in 2009 he again medaled, taking the bronze. Plys also competed at the World University Games in 2007, in Pinerolo, Italy, playing second on John Shuster's gold medal team.