I have been asked to put on a exibition for the 2008 Wheel Chair games here in Omaha, Nebraska for the Veterans Affairs Hospital. I have about 16 months to plan it and I would like to extend to my Disc Golf family on ideas.

I'm thinking of just setting up a portable course (5-6 holes) on a nice flat area and give a demo on how we do what we do and let them at it. As far as making this a complete success and expose our great sport to a new audience, I want to hear from YOU!

If you have any ideas or suggestions or experience with such an endeavor, please feel free to post or send me a personal IM.

Thanks for your time,
Ken Franks

Get to know the clientele. Play disc golf with an athlete that uses a wheelchair. www.wheelchairathlete.com (http://www.wheelchairathlete.com)

Use Seymour Smith holes 1, 2, 16, 17, 18 for the exhibition, instead of a made up special place.

Consider going to the 2007 wheelchair games in Milwaulkee. www.wheelchairgames.org (http://www.wheelchairgames.org) has a flyer.

Have a fundraiser to earn money to pay for discs for the participants.

Have handouts of
- terms used in disc golf
- where to find information about other courses
- include a list of courses the PDGA has marked as having ADA facilities (If you get list from Cliff, I am willing to clean it up for printing.)

Thanks Chiz, There's some good info there.

I do like the idea of using Seymour 1,2,16,17,18...

Bring 'a' chair to your next putting practice to get their perspective...

Try to determine what sort of users you can expect, as you would have different issues with paraplegics as opposed to quads, or amputees. Send out sport info through the event organizers to let them and their member base know of the opportunity.

Borrow a chair and play the proposed course to get a better sense of empathy for the challenges the course offers. Try to get a chair that is better suited than most everyday chairs for grass. You might want to add a temporary 6th hole so that you can play the layout 3x for 18 holes. Try to find some alternate teepads that are in close proximity to paved pathways, as wheeling on grass is not always fun, and it would add to the diversity of the course.

Work on getting keen tournament volunteers, as you may want to provide a scorekeeper and a coach to each foursome, remembering that the players may not be able to recover some discs (in ponds, trees, on top of taller objects, etc.) and they will all be mostly new to the game.

Check out the parking and washroom areas for accessibility.

Check out the park in the days before to re-check accessibility issues (fallen limbs on paths, temporary location of park/construction equipment, curbcuts clear of debris, etc...

Get to know the maintenance crew at the facility and let them know that you'll have some wheelchair users, and get them to understand the accessibility issues you've identified when you played there in a chair.

Contact Stork when you're done and let him know of your success stories, or what you learned that can make it better for another wheelchair disc golf tournament director.