Spring Hill Intermediate School students received a lesson Thursday from a champion in a sport that “everyone can do.”

A classroom of about 43 fifth-graders took part in a lesson by 2018 Professional Disc Golf world champion Gregg Barsby.

The students then put their skills to the test at Panther Stadium, where the played in groups of five led by Barsby.

Chris Peurifoy, a coach at Spring Hill Intermediate, is an active disc golfer. He said he enjoys it so much that he wanted to bring it to his students.

“My family and I play a lot of disc golf, and last year I wrote a grant through the PTA at Spring Hill … for all of the disc golf stuff. I wanted to bring something I really enjoyed playing outside of school to our students here in P.E.,” he said.

Peurifoy said he has encountered Barsby during several tournaments and decided to reach out to ask him to visit in order to get students interested in the sport.

Barsby, who lives in Tyler, has been playing for 19 years.

He said the sport is getting bigger and enjoys coming to schools in East Texas to shine a light on the game he loves.

“The sport is getting a lot bigger. The disc pro tour is in full swing, and there’s tournament coverage on ESPN2 now,” he said. “The game is very easy to get into. There’s a lot of local parks here, Hinsley Park and Guthrie Park, that have disc golf. And the sport is relatively inexpensive to get started. Everyone can do it. It’s a family sport.”

As students played Thursday, Barsby rotated among groups and cheered them on as they attempted to land the disc inside the basket.

“I just try to bring a positive attitude and bring a fun-loving attitude when I work with the kids. I think that’s the most important thing,” he said. “I’m very fortunate to make this my job. It feels really special.”

Peurifoy compares disc golf with regular golf but instead with a disc or a frisbee. Players attend to throw the disc into a basket with the fewest number of throws.

He said the reaction of the students playing disc golf has been amazing, and he’s excited for them to learn the different things the sport teaches.

“It teaches fair play, to get outside, to cheer each other on whenever they do great things. It helps them know how better their body works as far as the mechanics, and we talked about science and how the wind plays a factor in physics,” he said. “There’s a lot of things that the game helps kids with and just getting outside instead of being on video games all the time.

“It’s a game that anybody can play. You don’t have to be necessarily strong or tall, big or whatever. No matter your size, you can play disc golf. They’ve truly really loved playing.”

Kinsley Cox, 11, said the playing disc golf Thursday was “awesome” adding that the experience with Barsby was “very cool”.

“I wasn’t expecting that. It’s really cool to have him here,” Kinsley said. “I’ve learned how to hold the disc correctly and how to hold it with the nose down.”

Disc golf fans can keep up with Barsby at the upcoming Disc Golf 2022 Pro Tour for the Texas State Championship at greggbarsby.com.