A group of BYU students have turned their love for disc golf into a team they hope will compete for BYU.
Jason McDonald and Adam Marshman had both been members of the BYU disc golf club when they decided a collegiate team might be something people would be interested in.
Marshman, a freshman from Augusta, Georgia, talked about the process of getting the team organized.
“The collegiate Disc Golf Association isn't the NCAA, they have their own thing. So we had to go through them, secure funding, secure players and then officially sign up as a team,” McDonald said.
The team has about 20 people who are interested and have joined, and McDonald said they would love to have anyone else who might be interested. The team isn’t an official sport sanctioned by BYU. Such a designation would open the door to additional funding. For the past 15 years, the men's hockey club has had such a sanction, but the university announced it will not renew the contract after the 2021-22 season.
Marshman and his teammate McDonald have high aspirations for what they can accomplish. “We decided that if we wanted to try to go to national (championships), we would need to do a qualifier,” McDonald said. “We put it into high gear and we’ve been practicing, figuring out who's going to be on 'A team' and who’s going to be 'B team.' ”
The team will be traveling to Arizona to a qualifying tournament on Nov. 20. Three of the teams that compete in Arizona will be able to move on to nationals, and McDonald believes they have a good shot at doing so.
“I honestly feel like we're going to be super successful when we go down to this tournament,” he said. “There's three bids, so if we get top three, we get a spot at nationals, and I think we can easily take it with the talent that we have.”
In order to help fund the team for traveling and equipment, Marshman started a GoFundMe with a goal of $1,000. As of Nov. 14, they had received $2,180.
“I was so blown away by the support we've gotten from people's families and other people in the community,” McDonald said. “It's just been really cool to see the interest and then to be able to make good relationships with this group of guys.”
More information on the team can be found on the team's Facebook page.