The disc golf capital of the world is now hosting a collegiate disc golf event.
The brand-new Emporia State disc golf program will have its first-ever meet today at Peter Pan Park, the Collegiate Kickoff Sponsored by Dynamic Discs.
Emporia native and PDGA world champion Eric McCabe will be the team’s coach, and he’s super excited to get things going.
“I am very excited to get the season started,” McCabe said. “Having home-field advantage is going to be huge for our team. It means everything to have the disc golf capital of the world host a collegiate event. To kick off what Emporia State has been doing for the disc golf community, there’s no better place than Emporia to have this first event.”
Emporia State will host Fort Hays State, Kansas State, Wichita State, Oklahoma State, Hesston, Southwest Baptist and Oklahoma Christian in the inaugural event, which will be Emporia’s only home event of the season.
McCabe is glad his team will be at home for the first meet as his players know Peter Pan Park very well.
“There are colleges coming to town that have probably never played this course,” McCabe said. “The course has a lot of unique holes and you need to know where the out-of-bounds are. Our guys know that it’s an obvious advantage and we hope they can use that to their benefit.”
McCabe noted collegiate competition is a unique format. The teams will play an individual first round before an alternate shot doubles in round two. But at the end of the day, it is the same game they have been playing for a long time.
“It’s pretty much the same game they have been playing their whole lives, except for the formats,” McCabe said. “That’s the only thing a little bit different. But for the most part, they’re going to go out there, throw the shots that they knew how to do and it’s going to be another walk in the park.”
Freshman and Emporia native Alexis Chaparro was excited McCabe reached out as he was putting together the team. It was definitely something he wanted to be a part of.
“This means a lot,” Chaparro said. “To have Eric reach out to all of us and be a part of this team is a dream come true. He’s a world champion and we’re all excited to get going.”
McCane noted the team has practiced a few times leading up to the tournament, and he feels the team is ready to go.