This past March, Discmania CEO Jussi Meresmaa put out a challenge to the disc golf community. Meresmaa put forth $1,000 to invest in an idea to help promote women’s disc golf. The response from disc golfers everywhere was promising. Over 200 entries came through and Meresmaa reviewed each and every one himself.
In order to rise to the top of the list, the idea needed to be a concrete concept. Something that can be scalable from the local level to be executed anywhere in the world. The local levels can be a proof of concept to help test new ideas.
After reviewing the entries, three main themes appeared:
- Women’s only event
- Lighter weight discs are important
- Not about the competition
Winner is Olli Arola from Finland. Arola’s idea hit on all three concepts. This can start at the local level and be scaled to any local club.
His club hosts a women’s-only entry-level event. They invite local women to participate, but the invites goes beyond the disc golf club.
There is a follow up plan in place to continue to work with those who arrive and include a starter pack of discs. No one leaves empty handed. It’s working locally and we are working to help scale this around the world.
Even if your idea didn’t win, Discmania encourages you to commit to working together to promote women’s disc golf. We can learn from each other and need to continue to spread what is working so everyone can succeed.
Thanks to all who entered. The work is just beginning.