The finale of our summer Community Connect programs was one of our favorite memories teaching this season - with our greatest "collective impact" yet. Uplay was called upon to teach the community clinic for the ribbon cutting of the Paul McBeth Foundation, project 3.3 course grand opening, at Palmer Park in Detroit, Michigan on Monday August 21st.
Paul McBeth himself was there to kick off the opening ceremony and cut the ribbon, and continued to chat with community members, sign discs, offer helpful advice, and encourage the children while Uplay ran the community teaching event.
Our event was directed by Luke Humphries, and assisted by Raven Klein, Conner O'Reilly, Cynthia Ricoitti, and Randon Latta, and each ambassador stayed after the event to actually play the new course with the community members after teaching them how to throw!
There were 50 children of all different ages, among them 2 of which were wheelchair users participating the entire time! The large group was also made up of adult community support members, some parents, and locals to the park.
Take a look at the photo collection on the day, thanks to Uplay's Angie Smith:
I was able to collect direct quotes from one of the event organizers and our Pro coaches afterwards, which really finished painting a bright and vibrant picture of just how successful the day was:
"My name is Nate Barton, I am a volunteer at the Detroit Palmer Park courses and got to see your organization in action yesterday. I wanted to say thank you for what you do. It is amazing that the players donate their time and travel to help out people new to disc golf. It was awesome meeting Connor, Randon, Cynthia, Raven, Megan, Luke, and Angie. Thanks again for putting on the clinic, and please tell your players that what they did was greatly appreciated.
Thanks," - Nate Barton
Raven Klein:
"This event was great!! The "People for Palmer Parks" leaders were fantastic and excited for our involvement as well as continuing to improve the disc golfer experience in the area and adding to the course. Local organizers of the event, Sean, Todd, and Nate were welcoming and enthusiastic that everyone who came was actively participating and getting the hang of it. It was a cool event, we took the families around the course after we were done teaching and gave the kids a chance to play and get a taste! Also we set up a wheelchair friendly course alongside the short 9 hole, and I was so glad to meet Mario, a wheelchair user, and get a chance to work with him on easier ways to adapt the throw without the wheelchair getting in his way and he was excited to keep playing."
Meagan Brown, Uplay's volunteer responsible for social media collection quotes:
"Today was wonderful. There were about 50 kids/young adults from the neighborhood that showed up and they brought their best skills and attitudes. It was a very diverse group that got along well and were super appreciative of us being there and providing hands-on help.
Luke did a fantastic job at leading the group today and there were no hiccups. The kids were very good at listening, there was NO complaining, and they all really seemed to enjoy playing! Afterward we played a few holes on the new course, ate pizza, and played on the splash pad right next to the pavilion. Anyone would've loved witnessing or participating in this event!!!!"
Cynthia Riciotti, Pro coach:
"It was awesome! We had such a great turnout, and a really smooth clinic. Lots of kids of all ages and even some people in wheelchairs because the course is handicap accessible. Representatives from the community are super stoked about the discs we gave to the community and how much they loved it!"
Luke shared that having Paul McBeth there was a very special addition, as he was able to reference him as the " Michael Jordan of disc golf" which helped the crowd understand that each coach was also a touring professional in the sport - taking their time to teach and work with them.
I am incredibly proud of Uplay, our specialized team of coaches, and how smooth and effective our teaching events continue to be. City officials, politicians, and decision makers were blown away by the donation of our professionals' time as well as equipment.
