Sofia Campbell, a rising 6th grader at Arts and Technology Academy in Eugene, loves to play disc golf.
She enjoys it so much that she’s a registered professional and now she’s encouraging others- adults and kids alike- to learn to play.
She and her father, Gary, also a registered pro, are holding a disc golf putting series all summer at Alton Baker Park in Eugene. Their goal is to invite new players to the game, foster community, and raise money for local youth-serving organizations.
KLCC’s Love Cross invited Sofia and her dad Gary to the KLCC studios to tell us more.
Love Cross: Let's get started with an easy question for you. Sofia, how did you first get into disc golf?
Sofia Campbell: I got into disc golf because my dad was playing and he invited me out. So we played a couple of rounds together and it was super fun. And so we continued playing and doing tournaments and stuff. My first tournament was the women's global event.
Love: Tell me more about that.
Sofia: The women's global event is an event that happens all around the world where women get together at local courses and play in a tournament, then all of their scores go together and they get final rankings for the whole world.
Love: Ok, so Sofia, then you became a professional disc golfer. Tell me what that means.
Sofia: I think my biggest tournament sort of got me to a higher level in my mind. I went to Junior Worlds Championships. I had a really fun time playing with juniors of my age and stuff and I got fourth place out of my division. So I really felt like I was improving and getting better.
Love: For people who've never played disc golf before, Gary can you break it down for us.
Gary Campbell: Yeah, it's really similar to ball golf that people are familiar with where you're starting from a tee pad. And the goal is to get your disk into the basket, which is the goal. So that's the equivalent of getting the golf ball into the hole. And the object is to do that in the fewest amount of throws. And so most golf games are all about having the lowest score. And you do that with different types of disks. So generally you're throwing a driver which is a higher speed disk, it's got a sharper edge too, it can cut through the air a little faster. You use that as your driver and then oftentimes you'll use a different disk, a midrange or a putter to go to advance down the course. And then at the very end, generally you're throwing a putter very, more similar to a typical frisbee. It's rounded edges, into the basket.
Love: And so now the two of you are organizing a putting series, you were just talking about putting there at the end. You're organizing that in Eugene to teach others how to play. What inspired you to start teaching others about disc golf.
Sofia: Well, I liked playing with more juniors and I thought getting more juniors into the sport would be really fun to have more of us playing so that when we are adults, we can be the ones all playing and getting more people into the sport. Only 6% of the PDGA, Professional Disc Golf Association is juniors and only 7% is women. And so I wanted more of those people getting out and playing, even if they've never played disc golf before. And I just wanted more people in our sport.
Love: Can either of you describe what people who come out to one of these clinics might expect?
Gary: It's an event series. So, most Tuesdays throughout the summer, we're going to be running these events. They'll come check in with us, get a scorecard and we'll explain the course for them and then them and a group of maybe other people they haven't met before. Part of this is actually forming community too. So getting people who don't necessarily know each other to play around together, They'll go walk the course and play and hopefully have some good conversation and have some fun out on the course. And this is also a fundraiser event. We're raising funds for a few different organizations. We're hoping to help those organizations as well and all of those organizations are youth serving organizations. So that's one of our, the aspects of trying to get more youth involved is to have organizations who are supporting youth, bring younger people out while also providing some funds for those organizations that are doing good work in the community.
Love: What are your future goals in disc golf, Sofia?
Sofia: I think my main goals are getting more people playing that would be really ideal and having a supportive community for everyone that wants to play even if they might not be good yet. Just being able to have people learn how to play our sport and new people in our sport.
The Tuesday clinics at Alton Baker Park in Eugene run June 25, July 2, 9, 23, 30, and August 13, 20, and 27 from 6 to 8 p.m.
Play costs $5 for adults and $3 for kids, with proceeds benefiting local organizations including Friends of the Children, Emerald Valley Ultimate, UPlay Disc Golf, Eugene Disc Golf Club, and H.O.N.E.Y.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
