Disk Golf and Hybrid Sports

I was walking through the park in Lethbridge, Alberta a couple of weeks ago and became fascinated by what I thought were very strange looking litter bins.

It was quickly pointed out to me that in fact they were ‘golf holes’ designed to be used with a Frisbee or a disk. Apparently ‘disk golf’ is pretty popular in USA and Canada – but I had never heard of it before. 

When I took these pictures it was a rainy day but when I drove past a few days later there were loads of people playing it on a Sunday afternoon (some people even had different colored disks designed to be thrown different distances!).

What I thought was good about it was how an activity like this could really add values to a public space. I also wondered how easy it would be to re-create this activity on school playing fields or open spaces near schools.

Courses wouldn’t need to be permanent like the one that I saw in Canada – you could easily set up temporary ones or have the children design their own course using their local surroundings. The cost to a school buying twenty Frisbees is very cheap compared to an investment in other sporting equipment.

Interestingly, there are actually a few permanent disk golf courses in the UK and Ultimate Frisbee is also a pretty popular activity at Universities.

The idea of engaging young people in ‘hybrid sports’ is one that really fascinates me. Louise Jones was telling me about ‘Cage Cricket’ a few months ago and again I think that this would be really popular with young people.

Have a look at the YouTube video below if you have not heard of Cage Cricket before.

Comments

[Juliet Robertson]

Frisbee golf is super. There's a growing trend to have these here in the UK too. With schools it makes a good game to practise mapping and angles (depending on the ability of the children). At each post I get children to map the course and measure the angles from North, using a compass. So there's prizes for this as well as completing the course.

[Ollie Bray]

Really love the idea of linking this to numeracy Juliet! Would love to see you do this with a group of children some time? Are you at the Outdoor Learning Inverness event next week? OB

[Juliet Robertson]

I'm afraid I've done my stints at the OL awareness raising events. I'd like to claim that it's the day I'm getting pampered and putting my feet up...if only, if only!

[Catherine Elliott]

I was surprised and delighted to see a post on Disc Golf on your blog Ollie, as I'm a retired ultimate player (just too hard on the joints now I'm getting on) and occasional golf player. In Sheffield we use a local park and simply use existing structures as the holes - e.g. trees and benches, so you don't need any special kit other than the discs. I'd never really thought of it as a learning opportunity, but may have to set up a course in our CLC grounds!

Ultimate Frisbee is also an excellent sport for teaching kids (and it is increasingly being taught in schools in the UK), as it is played without referees and rewards good "Spirit", i.e. sportsmanship. More information about the sport can be found at www.ukultimate.com.