Idlewild Open | Community Connect 2023

August 23, 2023

Welcome to the Idlewild Open in Florence, KY!

Wednesday night's ( community connect event really hit the homerun-winning play for a specialized summer event!! As you all may know, connecting with the tournament directing Team at the Idlewild event is a fantastic experience, full of well-organized, fast-communicating, and hard-working members & volunteers who want to do a better and better job every year.

Adam Jones and Jason Kerl helped Uplay coordinate the teaching event to be at Thomas More Stadium, in Florence, KY, during the flymart. Having this event in a baseball stadium with the PA system so that fans, community members, and local disc golf supporters could watch, listen and be a part of the experience was amazing. There were 101 kids participating in the event, ranging from toddlers to middle school-aged children, with plenty of parents on the field to assist their young ones. It was a very special atmosphere and a truly stellar teaching event, because not only were all of the kids and parents throwing, but also between throwing activities I was able to address the crowd members in the stadium, giving them proven concepts and teaching tips on how to introduce and teach the basics of Disc Golf!

Uplay had a big group of our pro coaches out for this special event. I was able to co-direct with Ella Hansen, by MC'ing while she directed coaches and participants. Pro coaches Raven Klein, Holyn Handley, Sarah Gilpin, Luke Humphries, & first-timer new member to our team Emerson Keith, did an incredible job working 1 on 1 with each person throwing.

Our media team included Issac Goldbladt from Gatekeeper Media helping with video and sound capture, while our photographer Angie Smith took and edited the beautiful photos you can enjoy here:

(Please take a moment to enhance your happiness levels and appreciate these priceless moments that you can always reference on our Flickr albums @uplay disc golf).

https://flickr.com/photos/193803280@N04/albums/72177720310390474

Up to this point in the 2023 season, the community connect programs have provided the following resources and equipment to the recipients at each of the 12 locations:

*Uplay Disc Golf Basics, curriculum books: 28

*Discmania Active Target Baskets: 22

*Discmania starter pack discs to schools/youth organizations: 990

*Students taught: 2,335

*Putters given to participants, powered by Udisc: 2,335

*Trash Panda minis: 1,435

After the event finished the flymart continued, the band kept playing, and many more fans flocked to the field to praise the professional disc golf coaches for our careful attention to detail in our teaching programs and the great work Uplay continues to do! There was at least another hour of photos with pros, autographs, and individual Q & A about disc golf.

"Take me out to the ball game" is a summer event theme that Uplay hopes to continue scheduling during school breaks, as it was wildly successful, and way more people benefitted from the teachings than we'll ever be able to count!