The 2016 Discmania Combine Tour is a unique new concept within Disc Golf that focuses on testing players in a series of skills events in order to earn themselves a roster spot on the sponsored team. These top level, professional events will create a competitive experience and assist in showcasing the player’s overall skill and golf ability throughout the one-day events. The player will demonstrate their proficiencies in Putting, Approaching, Driving and their capability of putting that all together on the Disc Golf Course for one round of total score to determine the best individual performers. The term “combine” stands for combined skills event which is used for testing athletes in other major sports. These Combine skills challenges will provide a quality assessment process in order to recruit the very best up-and-coming players for Team Discmania.

Check out our Combine videos by watching this playlist!

Discmania on YouTube

Of course, it’s critical to score well, but it’s also very important to the team management that all players conduct themselves in a professional manner and display ultimate sportsmanship throughout the entire competition. Although, we are looking for the best overall players, we are also looking for players that represent themselves well as that’s very crucial in making the team. Being a solid and well-rounded individual is essential to being a player for Team Discmania. It’s that once in a lifetime chance for the players to earn sponsorship from a major disc manufacturer and an opportunity to take their possible career in Disc Golf to the next level.

We set out to organize the spring tour based on the availability of the Discmania Motorhome and its touring players, as it turns out the state of Texas was a great place to start. Our first stop was in Fort Worth, TX and we were pleasantly surprised by the impressive turnout of local talent along with some players from Oklahoma and even one player that made the trip from South Carolina. It’s great to display the passion and dedication in order to have an opportunity for something greater within the sport. It’s the players that show this type of devotion that we want to be on our squad.

The Combine Day in Fort Worth offered us mild temperatures with gusty winds and the threat of rain for a majority of the day. The players showed great patience while waiting their turns at each station, it’s a test within in itself as that’s also part of waiting during tournament rounds of Disc Golf. The approaching and putting stations provided some great challenge with the ever changing Texas winds and the players had to deal with that along with some rain for the driving portions of the event. The competitors were really tested when the round of the Disc Golf started and also tested with the rain factor, this demonstrated the true competitors that could survive the elements.

All in all, the Fort Worth Event ran smoothly and in the end we advanced 6 skillful competitors to the next round of Combine Qualifications:

Top 6 qualified from Fort Worth Combine:

1. Brandon Cawthorne

2. Taylor Buddin

3. Chase Wood

4. Nicholas Rowton

5. Trent Hadaway

6. Rudy DelaCruz

Thanks to Ideal Discs for hosting an autograph signing and helping us promote the Discmania Combine event throughout Dallas/Fort Worth and the surrounding areas.

Next day, the 2nd Combine in Austin was a bit warmer but still provided those consistent winds that we typically have in Texas. We had a concentrated and very solid field of competitors and even one competitor from the Fort Worth Combine that drove down the following day because he wanted another chance at these skills events. The field events seemed to run much smoother with the smaller field of players plus were had some great volunteers that came out to assist us. The players had a consistent tail wind for most of the day which made the approaching and putting slightly easier but really helped with the distance driving, it’s all on how the competitors adapt to the conditions.

The players were really tested at the very difficult Roy G. Guerrero Disc Golf Course which is claimed to be the best course in Austin, this round of golf proved to be the deciding factor in who eventually made the Top 5. It was very entertaining to witness the competiveness of these players when it came down to the wire but the players that advanced truly deserved it.

Top 5 qualified from Austin Combine:

1. Chris Harris

2. Bonner Butler

3. Dylan Frye

4. Dylan Marez

5. Kyle Barnhouse

 

Thanks to Disc Nation for their support hosting the event.

These Discmania Combine Events were a lot of fun to coach and manage during the very entertaining weekend in Texas. All of the competitors displayed a high level of sportsmanship throughout these events, and I’m extremely proud of all of the players that took part in these Combines. Everyone that I saw seemed to have good time being challenged in every facet of our skill events as they were in total control of their overall performance. We are not only looking for the best players but the best overall individuals, so everyone has a chance to qualify for the many levels of Team Discmania.

Congrats to all of the players that advanced to the next round of qualification! I truly believe that these events are providing a catalyst for these competitors to achieve something much greater. To inspire these players and hopefully tap into their true athletic potential. These events are focused on finding those players that don’t always have a chance to get out of their local city or region to compete with the best, so it’s our job to search for them.

And who knows…this could be the start of something really special by giving qualified players a chance at progressing their career in Disc Golf. For the best players, there’s a very strong possibility of touring the world with Simon, Eagle and Eagle to potentially ascending to the top and be considered one of the best players in the world! Everyone who attends the event, will have a special role with Team Discmania. But we’ll tell you more about this later this season! This is what the Discmania Combine is all about…Do you have what it takes to earn a spot on Team Discmania?

During this 2016 season, we’ll concentrate on fine-tuning the concept in the United States, but as internationality is our core value, we have plans to bring Combine to Europe and other continents as well.

Coach Avery Jenkins

There are still a few spots for the next event:

Sat 5/14/2016 Santa Cruz Combine

Harbor High School
300 La Fonda Ave, Santa Cruz, CA  95062, United States

9am – 5pm with a lunch break. Player meeting at 9am.