Students participate in a Uplay clinic in Guatemala. Photo: Uplay Disc Golf

Over 500 people were taught the sport of disc golf this past week as Uplay Disc Golf went south to Guatemala for five days of clinics as well as the Monte Maria Open, the first PDGA-sanctioned tournament held in the country.

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Students participate in a Uplay clinic in Guatemala. Photo: Uplay Disc Golf

Here's the Community Impact Report from Uplay Disc Golf Executive Director, Zoe AnDykē:

• 21 Students, 3 Adults at Chispas of Change and Casacito
• 146 Students, 3 Teachers, 3 Volunteers at the American International School
• 124 Students and 18 Teachers/Staff at Push the Rock
• 171 Students and 5 Teachers at Xela-International American School
• 11 Community Members at the Monte Maria Open
  • Total: 473 Students and 32 Teachers/Adult Staff

These  numbers represent the children, the teachers, and the community members that helped volunteer teach & learn.

I would also like to add to this that this was our first training with Raul Barcelo, and with him came a bonus addition of volunteers Diego Perez and Brandon Mendez. They were all a huge addition to our staff and enhanced the teaching by helping us provide individual coaching and feedback to each student. It is this kind of hands-on learning that makes Uplay's presentation so effective. It also helped motivate the teachers and staff members to experience the energy that our staff put into each class/clinic, and they couldn't help but participate and become excited to offer more disc golf to their students. 

At the Monte Maria Open, there were also many wins to celebrate. When arranging the hole assignments, Dustin Keegan suggested that we do the "Cali-shuffle" (also known as mixing all divisions for the first round) in order to provide the maximum experience for the newer players. This made it possible for the experienced players to be "card leaders", help the tournament flow, and ensured that no single card would have a player that did not know how to navigate the course. The second round was carded by scores within their proper divisions, and both rounds were successful with excellent flow. 

Personally, I was able to play with the newer women that had signed up. This was incredibly special for me, as I learned that Cindy, a community member from Santa Maria de Jesus- the local and closest town located next to the course, just started playing disc golf one month ago! She told us that she comes to the course twice weekly for a way to exercise and be in nature with a purpose. She also explained that she had no idea about many of the rules, but felt very happy to challenge herself even more after she learned so much from the event. 

My other card mate, Pam Abreau, is local to Guatemala City where she works as a Golf Pro at her local course, and also for an environmental non-profit. She found disc golf at the Monte Maria course only three months ago, and drives to play the course at least once a week when possible. She shared that, due to the distance, she will play two rounds back to back before going home, and that she has big goals to compete as a Female Pro in disc golf too.

There are many more stories that will come from this trip, but I wanted to highlight the numbers and a couple of special stores from our new female players. Raul and I are planning to commentate a post-produced round coverage of the 2nd round top card MPO, just like we are used to seeing from companies such as Jomez or GK Pro... the difference is that we will have the opportunity to add in special facts and stories from the trip. This will no-doubt be heart warming for all of our donors, supporters, and the general public to be educated about all of this great work. — Zoē AnDyke

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