2018 will be remembered in disc golf for many big events, both on the player and manufacturer's side. For Discmania, the single biggest thing has been a really successful "Year of the Shield." Starting from the early January Boot camp that changed how pros look at their off-season to the Mystery Box campaign bonanza in December, it’s been a wild ride as Discmania's CEO Jussi Meresmaa sees it.
“2018 been the biggest year for Discmania,” Meresmaa says. “Our North American sales doubled in 2018 and the growth has been strong in other market areas too. Simon Lizotte and Eagle McMahon showed the world what it means when you prepare during the off-season. All our team members, staff, and dealers have been awesome and active during the whole year. I want to thank you all for the support. Year of the Shield was real deal.”
Recap
Looking back to the Year of the Shield announcement in January Meresmaa laid out three challenges for Discmania:
- Make disc golf bigger
- Compete against yourself
- Communicate more
Looking the growth aspect, the year has been nothing but growth. Discmania's disc golf course division created almost 200 projects around the world. Highlights were opening the world-class Disc Golf Center in Tampere, Finland and introducing the first DiscGolfParks to countries including Italy, Romania, Portugal, and Slovenia.
Discmania challenged each of its employees to be more active. That brought some great results and according to social media stats, Discmania was the fastest growing disc golf company in social space this year.
We did multiple video series, such off-season training with Simon and Eagle, The Shield Live show hosted by Avery Jenkins and Behind the Shield show by Meresmaa. 
Fastest Growing Disc Golf Company?
While Discmania could very well be the fastest growing disc golf company right now, there are still many areas to make bigger and better.
Our recent move from California to Colorado opens up new growth opportunities to the company. The more central location will help with delivery times to customers.
Plus, long agreements with sports two most likable stars (Simon and Eagle) will help us to build a long-term plan growing the company together.
Recognizing the People Behind the Movement
Meresmaa wants to give a credit to the people behind the scenes who have made The Year of the Shield a success.
"There are so many great, hard-working individuals who need to be recognized,” Meresmaa continues. “Without them this would not be possible. Thank you Austin, Chris, and the rest of the Discmania USA staff, Erno, Janne, Hannu and Juho and rest of the staff from our European offices. Thank you also Zach, Dana, Steve and Avery for your hard work.”
We Have Just Begun
"We have had a great 2018,” Meresmaa says. “It will be remembered as the Year of the Shield, but also a testament of hard work, dedication and execution. We are still the challenger in the market and I like that position. Next year we will challenge the top position of being the most desired and discussed disc golf brand out there. We want to be the evolution of disc golf. We have just started.”
Many doubted us at the start of the year, which we expected. Looking back, we feel we backed it up. In fact, we’re showing no signs of slowing down. Join us, you’ll be glad you did.