My Disc Golf Journey...

For many people, disc golf is a fun day out, a chance to walk around, and enjoy some outdoor activity and good friends. And all of that is true. But my story is different...

So please read on... 

 

I was born and raised in Southern California, with disc golf being a growing Mecca of activity. I went to La Mirada High School, across from La Mirada Regional Park, where several early Pro Tournaments were held. But it was much later in life I was introduced to disc golf by a youth director at a local SoCal church. He would take the youth group kids out and we played a course at night (yes, I said at night) in Anaheim CA.

I was hooked pretty quick and started playing all over California, one day hoping to play at the Pro level. Well, that did not happen and I kept playing for about ten years. Life has a way of introducing new people and challenges, and my passion and drive for the game slowed down. Somewhere around 2005 or so, I stopped playing.

My family and I (yes, I went with them) moved to Colorado. Little did I know that in 2009 and forward, Colorado, Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak Flying Disc Club would be exploding the disc golf scene in many ways. But it wasn't until a sad and unforeseen tragedy happened that brought disc golf back into focus for me. Tragic, is an understatement...

June 30^th 2012, came the news of a car accident that claimed many lives, one of those was Nick Naples, a 17 year old teenager from Woodland Park with deep ties to his family, community and church. Nick was an avid disc golf player, and he designed and installed Woodland Park's first disc golf course, The Nick Naples Soaring Eagles Disc Golf Course.

I knew Nick Naples from the church I was volunteering in, Mountain View United Methodist. We had played a few youth group band sessions together, he was a very talented guitar player and I was a hack bass player, filling in for the band from time to time. I also knew his family from the church as well, good people and good family.

The Youth Director of the Church, Carolyn Brown (not enough can be said about how Carolyn dealt with this situation and the kind of amazing person she is) had somehow found out I had played disc golf in the past and presented me with this idea... She wanted to do a “remembrance” tournament in Nick's honor on September 30^th.. I agreed...

This was the start of my return to playing disc golf. We spent a few weekends practicing with the youth group kids and on September 30^th, kicked off a round at the course after a pretty fierce rain storm came through.

And here we are... 2019

Through the last seven years, coming out of this tragic event, I have met some of the greatest men and women I have ever known. I do not have the space here to list them all, but their impact on my life, their care for others around them, their commitment to the growth of the sport has been simply unmeasurable. These are good hearted-people, regular everyday people, hard working, families, ties in the community... my kind of people.

On June 30^th, I will remember the loss of Nick Naples-and remember his life and accomplishments-and think of how through all this I gained a new family, a new love for the sport and a fiery will to compete again. The, just a few days later, on July 5^th every year, we all gather at the Nick Naples Soaring Eagles Disc Golf course, and participate in a charity tournament in Nick's honor, run by his family members. Each year, they pick a local charity to donate to from the tournament.

Life goes on. Even under the harshest of circumstances, the pain of loss and suffering, the sting of it all, life goes on. What we do with the tragedies-how we survive them-and what comes out of them-is the part of our humanity I am most proud of...

Disc Golf goes on... but I for one owe a huge debt of gratitude to Nick Naples-for having the desire and vision to place a course in Woodland Park-and forever etch his name among the City Above the Clouds