Article provided by Educational Disc Golf Experience (EDGE) through their partnership with PDGA.

2026 SHAPE America newly trained EDGE Teachers with their PDGA discs. 

A child will spend over 13,000 hours in the classroom by the time they graduate high school, making teachers an invaluable part of a child’s developmental process. The Educational Disc Golf Experience (EDGE) recognizes the importance of the educator and youth leader. We seek ways to engage and empower teachers through standardized programming, training, and awareness.

By attending state and national physical education conferences, EDGE gets to share educational disc golf to a large and varied group of educators. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, we view participation at conferences as investing in the future of disc golf. We believe that disc golf education can broaden students’ experiences outside of school, significantly boost their academic success, and equip them to apply practical solutions to everyday challenges. 

2003 EDGE’s first SHAPE convention formally AAHPRED. 

EDGE was founded in 2003. From the beginning, we established ourselves as the premier program for disc golf education to educators and youth leaders by attending and aligning our non-profit organization with SHAPE America. SHAPE, the Society of Health and Physical Educators, serves as the voice for 200,000+ health and physical education professionals across the United States. Founded in 1885, the organization has defined excellence in school-based health education and physical education.

The 2026 SHAPE America National Convention & Expo was held in Kansas City, MO this past March. The annual convention brings together the health and physical education community for five days of professional development, networking, and collaboration.

This year, like every year, EDGE was there to represent disc golf in a BIG way! We got a double booth, featuring a History of the Disc exhibit, information on disc golf, the PDGA, and UDisc demonstrations. The world champion EDGE team led a marquee training session that was packed with SHAPE America attendees. The PDGA donated discs to all the teachers that took part in EDGE’s Train the Trainer session. There was tons of disc golf fun and engagement from teachers to administrators. Our favorite part? We had grant funding to give out on behalf of our EDGE Tournament Charity Program (EDGE TCP).

2026 SHAPE America: EDGE’s Train the Trainer Program in full effect. 

EDGE TCP partners with over 300 PDGA events. The event donations remain in the state of origin. Physical education conventions help us expand our network to fulfill EDGE TCP grants and expose disc golf to a broader audience. 

SHAPE America is physical education’s biggest convention and expo. It takes a lot of time and resources to attend. For 24 years, EDGE’s philosophy is “ship it in and give it out”.

We bring in discs, minis, curriculums, bags, starter sets, informational media; all of which we grant out while in the booth. The grand giveaway is an EDGE Basic package!

Coach Gullick went home with an EDGE Basic package on behalf of the Kansas EDGE TCP disc golfers. 

This year’s EDGE package was granted to Jordon Gullick of Coffeyville, KS. Coach Gullick is a ten-year K-6 PE teacher at Community Elementary who came back to his hometown to teach after college. He plans on implementing disc golf into his curriculum for skills development, integrity, competition, and to teach a lifetime sport his students can play at the park course in town.  

Another highlight of the 2026 expo was the amount of teachers playing disc golf! The UDisc app has sparked teachers’ love of health and fitness tracking. The growing recognition of disc golf is welcomed and a long-awaited change.

Disc golf has undergone a significant shift in recognition over the decades. In the early years, the EDGE team had a prepared introduction to explain disc golf to teachers who stopped by the booth. While teachers may not have been familiar with disc golf, the sound of the chains always drew them in.

EDGE Train the Trainer session for 2023 SHAPE Attendees. 

Here’s how the hook went: “Disc golf is played similarly to golf and is one of the fastest-growing lifetime sports. From a designated tee area, a player tees off and traverses down the fairway, throwing the disc until it comes to rest in the target. The major difference is the ball is a disc, and you are the club. Most of the courses are free to play, found in parks, and all you need is one disc. That means a family of four can play a sport together with courses across the world for around $50 total. What other family activity can do that?! Disc golf is a lifetime activity that can be played from young age to golden age. Did you know, the PDGA World Championships have players ranging from 8 to 80+? If you teach your students to play disc golf, you give them an opportunity for a lifetime of health, community, and sport.”

The great truth is teachers know a good game, and when they do, they’re usually all in!

EDGE has many success stories from attending conferences. During an EDGE feature session at Texas’ state physical education expo (TAHPRED), an administrator for Katy ISD was in attendance. He was so impressed, the district immediately partnered with EDGE and established all future Katy schools would receive an EDGE Intermediate package. Katy is one of the fastest-growing suburbs of Houston, Texas. This partnership has led to six new schools over the last ten years for a total of 54 portable targets and 1000 new youth disc golfers.

Happy Teachers receiving EDGE grants. 

EDGE has worked with Teachers of the Year to help create supplemental lesson plans for our standardized cross-curriculum. In 2011, EDGE kicked off the AAHPRED conference with a four-hour instructional workshop on teaching disc golf with one hundred wellness professionals in attendance, complete with a shuttled trip to play the famous Morley Field. EDGE teamed up with Western Carolina University and Dr. Justin Menickelli #31347 to gather data for a research study on how many steps it takes to play disc golf. Check out “A Good Walk Defined”. Many of the 315 campus courses EDGE has installed are attributed to developing and fostering leads made at conferences.

There is more work to be done. Please consider supporting EDGE as we strive to empower teachers and leaders in providing more opportunities for the youth to experience disc golf. We believe healthy lifestyle choices and the next wave of disc golf growth begin with well-equipped teachers and classrooms.

Learn more about EDGE at their website>>