Uplay had an absolutely awesome kick off teaching event to start the 2023 year off in San Luis Potosi, Mexico! Thank you for supporting us and believing in this year's work on our tour. We are committed to helping people of all ages "Find Flight" and enjoy disc golf, while we continue to grow the excitement and sustainability of the sport for years to come.
This year Uplay is happy to report that we have added new staff to the teams running operations and programs. Uplay has also grown the professional coaching members, and will continue to do so throughout the season.
San Luis Potosi, Mexico provided a robust group of initiatives that made this particular event very successful. On Tuesday Jan. 17th, one day prior to the teaching event, local city officials organized a press release to bring attention to the positive story being told about Tangamanga Park disc golf, the educational opportunity for their local schools and teachers, and the MX disc golf championships. It was an honor to accompany the park director, the director of cultural diffusion and secretary of education of the state Government, tournament directors, and the inter-institutional coordinator of the disc golf club, during the press conference while also getting to represent Uplay alongside them.
The following day would bring 2 different school sessions of students to Tangamanga disc golf park, to learn how and where to play disc golf. Both sessions were taught by Uplay staff Dustin Keegan and myself, plus local MX disc golf / Uplay Pro's, Dr. Raul Barcelo, Diego Perez, and Alberto Gonzalez. This coaching staff was particularly special for the event due to many connections. In early 2022, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Raul, and only a few short months later, he was able to translate our entire curriculum into spanish. After Raul completed that project in Oct, he went on to join Uplay's teaching events in Guatemala, providing the majority of interpretation for speaking to groups along the trip. Raul introduced Diego and recruited him to teach with Uplay also in Guatemala. It was an instant "yes", when Raul asked for Dustin and I to come play his event in SLP, and bring Uplay along!!!
Alberto, fondly known as Beto, and Roger Shepard, founder of Tangamanga DGC, were also in Guatemala, and added to the excitement and appeal of the invitation to come to Mexico.
The First session of teaching at Tangamanga Park brought 25 local elementary school students, and 7 different local PE teachers from 7 different schools. In the second session Uplay taught 25 middle school students, and 3 different PE teachers from 3 different schools. At the end of the day, with the helpful donation from the Calgary DGC and MX disc golf, we were able to donate 5 starter sets of discs to each teacher and their school! They all committed to continue teaching, AND one teacher has already booked coach Diego and coach Beto to come back in early February to help teach!
Please enjoy looking at these precious photos taken by Uplay's Angie, Dustin, and by Tangamanga Park press, in the link below:
Help share these stories and photos with people that will be happy to learn about and support the mission of Uplay Disc Golf! Thank you again :)
