Disc golf Junior World Championship features Northwest Florida teens
Meet Team Funk. The name is fitting, as the players excel at one of the more obscure sports out there, disc golf.
These four teenagers from Northwest Florida make up one of the world’s brightest foursomes, which is why they’ll be headed to Peoria, Illinois, this summer to compete in the Ledgestone Insurance Open.
Crestview’s Violet Holst, DeFuniak Springs’ Nolan Law, Live Oak’s Kaleb Skinner and Niceville’s Gavin Phillips will compete in the tournament that serves as this year’s Junior World’s Championship.
Consisting of a 14-year-old (Holst), a 15-year-old (Skinner) and two 17-year-olds (Phillips, Law), Team Funk has taken down its fair share of adults and top-rated players from around the world.
Between the four of them, they have competed in 72 Pro Disc Golf Association (PDGA) events, collecting 14 first-place finishes.
Now the group will take its talents to one of the premier disc golf events to see how they stack up against the cream of the crop. With Law and Phillips holding some Junior World’s Championship experience, Team Funk will have a chance to make some noise.
However, the opportunity to compete in this event comes at a steep cost. For each disc golfer to chase their dreams, they’ll need nearly $3,000. Neal Kelly, the president of DeFunk Disco, a non-profit company that focuses on disc golf course design, redesign and promotion, has taken it into his own hands to help them out.
“I’m just trying to get a snowball of enthusiasm going,” Kelly said. “They fire me up, I fire them up and it’s just exciting. I’m hoping that it can get the community involved by participating in our tournaments, donating the team money … the sky is the limit. These kids are awesome.”
Kelly estimates that housing for the trip will cost $1,350, gas will cost $450, food around $925, tournament registration at $109 and miscellaneous costs related to the event approximately $150.
If the players opt to fly to Peoria, roundtrip airfare is calculated to cost even more than gas.
To combat these prices, Kelly has helped to create custom stamped discs for each member, special edition team discs, shirts and other merch that is available to the public for purchase.
Team Funk will also have a fundraising tournament on April 30 at Anderson Pond in Niceville. Registration for the event opens March 18.
Registration can take place here.
Disc Golf Store:Flight Factory opens long-awaited disc golf retail store on Tippin Avenue in Pensacola
Course with WiFi?:Gulf Breeze adds free public Wi-Fi at Shoreline Park with plans to expand in future
Team Funk members
Violet Holst
The lone girl on the roster, Holst is also the youngest member of the team. Both in age and in terms of how long she’s been playing disc golf.
She’s been competing for just under two years, but has become a force in a hurry. In local competition, the eighth-grader competes in the intermediate women’s division. Additionally, Holst has competed in 10 PDGA events, winning six of them.
Holst attributes her love of disc golf to its beginner-friendly atmosphere, the great exercise you get from walking the course and her affinity for the disc golf community.
Nolan Law
The complete opposite of Holst, Law is the most experienced disc golfer on Team Funk. He’s been playing for almost five years, competing in 22 PDGA events.
The Walton High School senior also competed in last year’s junior world’s event. However, he left with more to be desired, as he finished toward the middle of the pack. Law looks forward to redemption this year.
“I plan on playing smarter than I did last year and not letting a bad shot or bad round get to me,” Law said.
His goal is to make a significant jump atop the rankings this time, finishing in the top 10.
Kaleb Skinner
Skinner is another Team Funk member with extended time playing disc golf, four years, and he’s also got familial ties on the squad.
Skinner and Law are cousins. Nolan actually first introduced the game to Kaleb, and since then, Kaleb has gone on to create a name for himself in the disc golf community.
He recently competed against the No. 8 disc golfer in the world, Matthew Orum, and found some success. In the second round of the competition, he beat Orum and shot a -9, 1016-rated round.
Kaleb ended up in third place for the day, beating out 988, 985, and 966-rated players to take that spot.
Gavin Phillips
Phillips is a first-year member of Team Funk, but this will be his second time competing at worlds.
In last year’s competition, he concluded with an impressive fourth-place finish. Phillips’ dedication to the sport is why he’s found loads of success, and has also led him to become an ambassador for it.
Phillips has had his hand in course improvement recently. Last year, he logged at least 120 hours working at Anderson Pond on Eglin AFB, where Bomber’s Run Disc Golf Course is located.
Lucas Semb can be reached at [email protected] or 850-281-7414. Follow him on Twitter at @Lucas_Semb for stories and various Pensacola area score updates.
