The Trinity Western Spartans have been approved to become the first university athletics program in Canada to operate women's and men's varsity disc golf teams starting this Fall.
Trinity Western will be targeting a minimum of six athletes for the fall to gain varsity status within the Spartans athletic department for the 2022-23 season.
"We see disc golf as a sport for the future and are pleased to bring disc golf to TWU," said TWU Director of Athletics Jeff Gamache. "We look forward to playing a leading role in establishing the sport in other colleges and universities, and we hope to encourage its growth within Canada West and U SPORTS. The sport of disc golf is going through explosive growth as a competitive sport and mainstream recreational activity. Within TWU Athletics, we are always looking for opportunities to provide a high-performance sport environment coupled with faith integration."
The Spartans teams will be coached by disc golf professional Chris Hartmann, who has represented Canada internationally and helped Team Canada win the World Team Disc Golf Championship in 2017.
BIG NEWS!
It's official. We are set to launch Canada's first-ever varsity disc golf, team, starting this fall!
See how you can be part of history and join the Spartans!#TWUDiscGolf https://gospartans.ca/news/2022/5/3/mens-disc-golf-spartans-set-to-launch-varsity-disc-golf-team.aspx
— TWU Spartans (@TWUSpartans) May 3, 2022
As a professional disc golfer since 2014, Hartmann, who is an alum of the Spartans men's volleyball program and graduated in 1986, has competed in over 85 Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) sanctioned events across North America and in Europe. This summer, Hartmann will once again represent Canada at the World Team Disc Golf Championship in Croatia.
Hartmann is a director with the society that built and now maintains the prestigious Raptors Knoll Disc Golf Park in Aldergrove, B.C., which is ranked as the 13th best disc golf course in the world by UDisc, and will be TWU's home course. Beyond TWU training out of Raptors Knoll, the teams will also be able to practice on-campus on TWU's recreational field, where disc golf baskets will be set up.
"The sport itself continues to emerge as a mainstream sport and a recreational activity," Hartmann said. "So, to see it enter into university campuses in this way is part of the natural progression of where the sport is going. It's growing in colleges in the United States and I think it's exciting to see TWU involved with this and to be part of the opportunity to bring the sport to campuses in Canada.
"We want to give athletes an opportunity to combine their pursuit of disc golf with their university experience. I had a chance to play and coach collegiate sports and I think playing varsity sports adds a lot to the collegiate experience. It's exciting to be part of the disc golf teams being established at TWU and to promote the sport itself as a recreational pursuit for all students on campus."
Along with building the Spartans program, Hartmann and the TWU Athletics department will also be working to promote disc golf programs with other post-secondary institutions in a long-term effort to help build university and college disc golf in Canada.
See the full story on TWU Spartans.
About Trinity Western University
Founded in 1962, Trinity Western University is Canada’s premier global Christian liberal arts University. We are dedicated to equipping students to discover meaningful connections between career, life, and the needs of the world. Drawing upon the riches of the Christian tradition, seeking to unite faith and reason through teaching and scholarship, Trinity Western University is a degree-granting research institution offering liberal arts and sciences, as well as professional schools in business, nursing, education, human kinetics, graduate studies, and arts, media, and culture. It has four campuses and locations: Langley, Richmond-Lansdowne, Richmond-Minoru, and Ottawa. Learn more at www.twu.ca or follow us on Twitter @TrinityWestern, on Facebook and LinkedIn.