Kids with discs in front of Ricky Wysocki

Sockibomb Foundation – Greatly Growing the Sport!

When you hear “Grow the Sport,” what do you think of?

How do we best do that?

To me, hands down, it’s about getting the younger generations introduced to the sport and making them life-long enthusiasts.

This is no small feat, however.

You can’t just expect them to accidentally order a disc golf disc instead of a frisbee and find the game from there (shout out Gannon Buhr!)

Students showing the discs and basket donated to their school!

And, let’s be realistic, as much as we love watching on our specially curated YouTube and social media accounts, disc golf is probably not going to pop up on the typical kid’s radar.

So, with that in mind, you’re probably going to have to introduce disc golf to kids the old fashioned way. You’ll need to get discs in hands and let the kids feel the exhilaration we still get when our discs find chains.

And where do you have a lot of kids at one time? At school.

This is what the Sockibomb Foundation is all about and this is how they go about growing our great sport one school at a time!

Sockibomb Foundation – First Putt Initiative!

The Sockibomb Foundation’s First Putt Initiative is all about growing the sport by getting discs in the hands of students during school hours and letting them experience, first hand, the game we all love. They do this by sending the “First Putt Package” which includes a generous donation of discs (50 total) and a Dynamic Discs Scout Basket to each school that is accepted.

Sockibomb Foundation provides baskets and discs for each school
The Sockibomb Foundation generously donates disc golf products to schools!

The physical education teacher for that school takes it from there and incorporates disc golf into the curriculum. Now, kids are getting introduced to our great game through units taught at school.

And given the nature of how curriculum planning operates, these are not one-off lessons. They will have a unit on disc golf that can span weeks, AND that unit is usually repeated each year as the kids go through school (with the difficulty level naturally rising as the students grow).

This gives the kids time with the sport and allows them to find success with it. And we all know that once disc golf grabs ahold of you, it doesn’t let go easily.

Having it introduced to kids in such a consistent and fun way with their friends at school is a great way for them to get introduced to the game and build a strong connection with it.

I’ve watched it first hand…

Why we are Drawn to the Game…

If you asked 100 disc golfer how they got into the game, you’d probably get a lot of answers. But almost certainly, you’d hear some mention of “watching the disc fly”.

You’d also hear about “the sound the basket makes when the disc finds its home” and also about how you can quickly find success and improve in disc golf.

Well, it turns out that these variables and more make disc golf a perfect candidate to be introduced at school. Kids are drawn to it for the aforementioned reasons and they stick with it because they find that early success.

Then, from there, they seek it out.

This is what The Sockibomb Foundation understands and it’s the basis of their entire program: Get kids exposure to disc golf from qualified professionals, while amongst their friends, and let the game take care of the rest…

Watching The Sockibomb Foundation First Hand!

I’ve seen it happen with two different classes and I’m convinced it’s happening in other schools as well.

They start out with only a few kids having heard of it. “Disc What?” they ask. Then, the students watch a demonstration and they give it a shot with a bit of uncomfortable laughter thrown in. Next, after 15 minutes you see the uncomfortableness wash away and you see them lock in.

Now they are singularly focused on getting their disc in the basket.

And from there, they are off.

The next day they play, they learn a new shot and add a bit more distance away from the basket. Before you know it, the portable basket the Sockibomb Foundation provides gets moved out into the field or behind a row of trees, and the kids are playing disc golf and improving and enjoying the game.

Now, after having found success and with their newfound interest, which was brought on by positive experiences with their friends, they are going home and looking it up on their own. They are convincing their parents to get them a disc or to come out on the course with them.

And new disc golfers are born!

Disc Golf Finds All Types of People And Brings Them Together!

Kids putting Sockibomb Discs at the basket.
Students being introduced to disc golf thanks to the ample donations of The Sockibomb Foundation!

If I took a picture of the kids that ended up playing disc golf of their own volition and showed it to the previous year’s teachers, they would think it’s a put-on.

“Those kids are voluntarily hanging out with each other?” they’d ask.

Disc Golf has that power to bring people together. It also, as we well know, gets people outside and exercising in nature.

These are all foundational blocks for developing healthy, happy, people.

And we all know the world needs more people with that sort of foundation!

Not only that, but I saw disc golf start to grab the kids that were tending to drift at recess or just hang out by themselves.

Suddenly, they had found a common bond with each other and they had something they could do together. This got kids that were otherwise disconnected from their peers incorporated into the social fabric of the class and, I believe, it also translates positively to the classroom and beyond.

I’m not claiming that disc golf is the cure to all the ills of society (or maybe I am?). But it can certainly bring people together as we well know and add a lot of positivity to their lives.

This is absolutely what we want for our young people and what The Sockibomb Foundation aims to do.

How Can YOU Support?

50 Cents.

That’s how much, given support from other sponsorship programs, it takes to provide one kid with an opportunity to play disc golf. That’s it!

Donate $25 and you just paid for two entire classes of kids to start off on their disc golf journey.

You can see how far a little bit of money goes…

There are also tax write-offs for those interested as well.

They make it easy to donate. You can do so right here!

Other Ways to Support.

If you or someone you know is running a tournament, The Sockibomb Foundation has come up with some pretty seamless ways to incorporate their charity.

Whether it’s donating an ace pot that doesn’t get hit, or working with the foundation to get one of your local schools equipment to get local students started on their own disc golf journeys, there are plenty of ways to incorporate The Sockibomb Foundation into your local tournaments and make an impact.

And, not for nothing, but adding a charity component to a disc golf event can certainly add an extra layer of depth that gets more people invested in that specific tournament.

All told, working the Sockibomb Foundation into the mix is low maintenance and high impact! They’re also, by the way, completely willing to get creative. So, if you have other ideas about working with them, they are certainly open to ideas!

Learn about their Tournament Sponsorship Program here!

In addition to tournaments, there even more ways coming down the pike that you can read about here.

Nominate A School or Sponsor One!

View of a historic red brick university building surrounded by lush trees and walking paths.

If you have a specific school in mind that you think would be a great candidate for a Sockibomb Foundation starter package of a basket and discs, you can nominate a school.

It’s easy to do. Just fill in the pertinent information, tell why you think the school is a great candidate, and click submit!

Nominate a School Here!

But, if you are the type of disc golfer that sees the basket and hunts chains no matter the risk, they have a more direct way to get the school you have in mind involved. You could just sponsor that school directly.

Theirs no gray with this approach. 200 feet away. Water directly behind the basket. Let it fly. Chain Seeking.

Sponsor a School Here!

Corporate Sponsorship?

The Sockibomb Foundation has wisely made room for corporate sponsors to get involved as well.

These sponsors help keep costs low and help make your donations go further.

If you are connected to a corporation that you think is a good candidate to get involved, you can start that process here.

The Sockibomb Foundation – Making an Impact

If you are going to grow the sport of disc golf and build an enduring base that will keep the games upward trajectory for generations to come, you need to introduce disc golf to the younger generations.

The Sockibomb Foundation understands this idea and has found a way to introduce disc golf to kids that might not have otherwise have been exposed to it.

They get disc golf into the schools.

Now, with disc golf in the curriculum, kids are getting opportunities to have the experiences we all know and love. And they get to have these experiences with their friends and classmates.

After finding early success from repeated exposures at school, kids start to seek it out on their own.

And we all know the joy disc golf can bring once we go down that path.

Getting kids outside, playing a game they have grown to love and forging connections with others that share their passion is what the Sockibomb Foundation is all about.

This is how they are truly “growing the game.”

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