Approachable

Ari Hyer is arguably one of the most notable tour managers in the world of professional disc golf. She rose to notoriety over the past few seasons as Ricky Wysocki's Tour manager. Although they have since split ways mutually, Ari still has been a pioneer in the space helping to set the standard for what a tour manger can be and do to ultimately help a touring pro succeed and win on tour. Ari has such a depth of knowlege we couldn't help but ask her to come on the show to share her story and experiences to help inspire the next generation of professional disc golf tour management.

We want to make note that this recording happened before Ari and Ricky went their own ways*

It seems we are always talking about the pro tour when discussing disc golf these days, but did you know there was a collegiate side to the sport? We wanted to dig into the topic and learn as much as possible from the man who runs the show and who is behind the big dance of the sport, the college disc golf national championships hosted at North Cove Leisure Club and Disc Golf Course in Marion, NC, John Baker. John has an amazing story and ties to the collegiate side of the sport through his days as a student athlete at Augusta University. While in college his team won the coveted national championship some years before he would eventually become the head of the organization that runs all things college disc golf.

We couldn't be more excited to share the inside scoop and are very grateful for Jonathan to spend some time with us to share the insights, stories, and goals for college disc golf.

Tournament directing is one of the most important backbone jobs in the disc golf world. All the best tournaments have people running the show behind the scenes to ensure the best quality experience for every player who registers to compete. Carrie Neal is one of those tournament directors, but what makes her so special is her journey in the sport that has helped advocate for more women to play disc golf and to develop the first women only sanctioned events in Canada. Carrie has developed the tools and tricks over the years to formulate some of the best events in all of Canada and USA at large. From tips and tricks, to stories of women in disc golf this one has it all and you will not want to miss it!

Ultimate Frisbee professionals playing on tour has become more of a commonplace over the last 5 years with names like Brodie Smith and Ella Hansen taking the DGPT by storm. So, we wanted to explore what the world of professional ultimate frisbee looks like & how it compares to professional disc golf and how in less than 1 year a player can switch over to the pro side of disc golf and play at such a high caliber. We decided there was no one better to share this knowledge with us other than Ella Hansen! Ella has won a college National Championship with the Oregon Fugue in 2015 and a Gold Medal with the U.S.A. Women’s National Team at the 2018 U-24 World Championships.

We made it to the final episode of Season 1! We wanted to start by thanking everyone who has supported us this far. This last episode Paige and Jo go over the highlights of the first season of the show and finally get the chance to answer some of questions sent by you! With the 2022 tournament season underway the girls also shed light on their goals for the season and hopefully it will help you with setting your own. Thanks again for all the support and feedback this will help us with improving the show for next season. We look forward to seeing you all for season 2!

You asked for it and we delivered! An Episode all about Tournament Directing with world class TDs Doug Bjerkaas, President of Dynamic Discs and 2022 Worlds TD Jackie Morris. Everything from tips for directing any tier tournament, how to get sponsors and volunteers, to a written guide book on TDing you won’t want to miss this episode! Not to mention we got the first scoop on this years Worlds Championships hosted in Emporia, KS Home of Dynamic Discs.

As the sport of disc golf has exploded over the last 2 years, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, the need for more courses has become more of necessity for the sport now than ever before. Jussi Meresmaa, Owner of Discmania & Disc Golf Park, saw the opportunity to help bring more courses to the world of disc golf back in 2005 and has since then developed a turn-key solution to course design that has brought over 600+ courses around the world in 17 years! Teamed up with professionals such as Simon Lizotte and Avery Jenkins, the Disc Golf Park team of designers has grown exponentially to handle the constant demand for new courses to be built all over the world. We discuss the importance of the Disc Golf Park service offering to the greater disc golf community as well as all things course design. If you are looking to get a course in your town and have been looking for answers on how to get something like that started this episode is for you! Thank you to Jussi and Simon for coming on the show to share your wisdom and enthusiasm for the sport of disc golf!

Being accepted as someone who identifies as gay can be hard. Even with the rise in awareness for the rights of people who identify under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, additional progress is still very much needed to help educate and promote positive changes to provide better representation for this community. So when Thomas Gilbert decided to come out to the disc golf world this winter, we felt it was a perfect time to have him on the show and share his story. We are so proud of Thomas for being brave enough to share his experience and shed light on a topic that is so important not for just the sport but for society at large. 

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When the DGPT merged with the PDGA we knew that meant big changes for the professional disc golf scene. We wanted to bring two of the top dogs at the DGPT, Sam Gaddes & Brian Cole, onto the show to share their knowledge and experiences working with the new official pro tour of the PDGA and what that means for the professional scene. This episode covers it all from what spectators can expect from the tour in 2022 and beyond, how the tour plans to better accommodate touring pros, and some insight about what goes on behind the scenes when trying to create a live broadcast of a pro tour event. We can't thank Sam and Brian enough for coming on the show! 

Our first interview!  In this episode we had the pleasure of interviewing Blake Shaffer of LWS Tax & Accounting. With the rise in popularity of disc golf over the past 10 years and more notably since 2020 the topic of taxes has become more important now more than ever for everyone involved in the sport, thats why we brought Blake in to shed some light on this uncomfortable topic to help the disc golf community stay on top of the pesky IRS.  From tax strategies to opening an LLC, this episode is jam packed with useful information whether you're a pro on tour or a content creator this is for everyone! 

DISCLAIMER: This information from this episode are for general information purposes only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations to any individual or on any given security or investment product.

Welcome to Approachable! In our first episode we wanted to start by letting you all get to know us better and to share the inspiration and origins of this new disc golf podcast. We can't thank Jomezpro enough for their support and resources to help us to create this original content. Not only do we discuss our backgrounds in disc golf, but we also discuss what types of guests we will be bringing on the show, topics we want to talk about, and how we want to use this show to help grow the sport of disc golf!