Tag: Emerging Sports as Social Movements

Emerging Sports as Social Movements: Disc Golf and the Rise of an Unknown Sport – Book Summary

by Parked, posted in Emerging Sports as Social Movements

By Joshua Woods ~

Emerging Sports as Social Movements is available on Amazon here. Photo Jesse Wright.

One of the most common hashtags used in disc golf social media is #GrowtheSport. It pops up on Twitter more often than hot takes from Brodie Smith.

To many disc golfers, “grow the sport” is an aspirational catchphrase that celebrates the grassroots of the sport and unites the volunteers who made it great. You can find it in social media posts about fundraiser tournaments, new course developments and any number of club activities and volunteer efforts.

But the hashtag can also be found in the promotional materials of private firms. #GrowtheSport appears in the Twitter bio of leading online retailer Infinite Discs, and in the advertisements of disc golf apparel companies. The major disc maker Dynamic Discs invented “Grow Disc Golf Day.” Top pro players like Ricky Wysocki use the hashtag in their social media branding.

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Chapter 3: How Destiny/Dynamic’s Bullet Got Cancelled Before Cancel Culture Was A Thing

by Parked, posted in Rise of An Unknown Sport

By Josh Woods ~

Innova’s Boss received approval from the PDGA’s Standards Committee in 2008, but Destiny/Dynamic’s Bullet was considered too dangerous and did not receive approval in the 1980s.

WATCH THE Video ESSAY HERE:

Chapter 3 Video Essay

I’d rather be hit by a Bullet than a Boss. I mean, I’d rather not get hit at all, but if I had to choose, I’d go with the Bullet.

Of course, the odds of being struck by an original Bullet, made by Destiny/Dynamic in the 1980s, are close to zero, because you just won’t find them on a disc golf course. The Bullet was not approved by the PDGA’s Technical Standards Committee.

Although, as Joe Feidt wrote, the Bullet “was one smokin’ hot golf disc” in its day, the movers and shakers of disc golf deemed it too small, too hard and oftentimes too heavy and ushered in safety standards that are still in place today.

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Chapter 2: Disc Golf’s Popularity Contest Began Well Before the Rise of Brodie Smith and It Will Shape the Future of the Sport

by Parked, posted in Rise of An Unknown Sport
Professional disc golfer and social media influencer Brodie Smith, pictured above, suggests that disc golf should be organized more like traditional golf.

Watch the Essay Here:

Chapter 2 video essay

Culture is a little like muscle memory. You can’t see it, but it does something really important.

Culture is the grease in the wheels of sports. It coordinates all the meanings and actions on the field; organizes, motivates and engages all the players, coaches, fans, businesses and media.

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Chapter 1: Disc Golf, Like Paul McBeth, Is an Underdog in the World of Sports

by Parked, posted in Rise of An Unknown Sport

By Josh Woods ~

Photo PDGA

Watch the essay here:

Chapter 1 Video Version

Back in 2017, Paul McBeth dropped a sympathy bomb on social media. He was like, check me out. I’m only five and a half feet tall and I weigh less than a panda. I’ll never be the favorite in sports. I’m the OG underdog. Send me some love.

Of course, he didn’t say it quite like that, and he had just dropped out of the Green Mountain Championship due to an injury that was only going sideways. And so, his fans did send love.

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Academic Publisher to Release Book about Disc Golf

by Parked, posted in Rise of An Unknown Sport

By Josh Woods, PhD ~

In the first two decades of the twenty-first century, several sports reached their fast-growth stages.

Skateboarding was headed to the Olympics and regularly appeared on television and in fashion magazines. Energy-drink-powered teens were pulling down big paychecks from esports megaevents. The Ultimate Fighting Championship was filling large arenas with fans and pouring mass-mediated adrenaline into mixed martial arts.

Even a few lesser-known sports were on the rise. Spikeball, the promoter of roundnet, landed deals with Shark Tank and ESPN. Cornhole was appearing on ESPN and courting moneyed sponsors like Johnsonville Sausage. Ax throwing and wood chopping were being nationally televised.

After decades of slow growth, disc golf was also on the rise.

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