With a few hundred onlookers, the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) came to Santa Cruz last weekend, staging the 27th annual “Steady” Ed Headrick Memorial at DeLaveaga Golf Course.

The event is one of six tour events on the PDGA’s 2012 National Tour Elite Series, which will crown a champion based on points scored in August.

“The pros get double points for this event,” Steady Ed Memorial tournament director TJ Goodwin said. “But this tournament usually shapes up to be fun for the whole family.”

The event featured six different competitions, including an open master’s tournament for players 40-plus years of age and an open women’s tournament. The memorial took place over three days, with every day featuring the world’s best disc golfers facing off for cash prizes and points.

Santa Cruz was well represented in the tournaments. In the men’s open, UC Santa Cruz alumni Colin Chambers and Chris Edwards competed, while Santa Cruz locals and former men’s champions Nate Doss and Avery Jenkins took second and sixth place, respectively. In the women’s open, Santa Cruz locals Valarie Jenkins and Kristine King finished in second and sixth place, while three other locals finished in the top 15. PDGA tour manager Andrew Sweeton was unsurprised by Santa Cruz’s success.

“We like to think of Santa Cruz as the epicenter,” Sweeton said. “There’s so many courses in the area, and they are all fun to play.”

One of three local courses, DeLaveaga is one of the hardest disc golf courses in the world. Angles are difficult and players often roll their disc in order to find the putting green.

For UCSC intramural sports supervisor Kevin “Skippy” Givens, the event featured as much local flavor and personal interest as it did disc golf. Givens recounted stories of disc golf glory, while providing the reasoning why DeLaveaga is famous in the disc golf community. Givens mentioned “the kitchen,” or DeLaveaga’s twelfth hole, as having particular lore among athletes.

“Golfers used to keep an old fridge and a six-pack of beer in it,” Givens said. “If you miss the throw and hit the fridge, a golfer will ask you to get them a beer. It’s an old joke the golfers play on each other and the guy who hits the fridge absolutely hates it.”

Disc golf is a rapidly growing sport. Last year’s world championships, which took place at DeLaveaga, featured 432 pros, an increase of over 100 players from 2010. The disc golf team has been at UCSC for six years and has seen interest grow every year. Earlier this year, the team set up a temporary course around Stevenson College, where 60 students were able to learn the game for the first time. Givens, who also advises the disc golf club team, explained that a more permanent course for UCSC is in the works.

“We’d need to map out a course design that minimizes crossing pedestrian pathways and impacting visual corridors,” Givens said. “It will likely be set up as a temporary course, working toward a permanent course status later in time.”

Givens said UCSC is ready for a disc golf community of its own.

“There is a long history of college students throwing frisbees around,” Givens said. “There is a growing trend of disc golf teams being formed at college campuses. Couple that with the rich history of disc sports being played here at UCSC, and you have a natural fit for a student club.”

Ian Kitrick shows off his disc golf technique on the East Field. Disc golfers are equipped with a bag of different discs that include drivers and putters. The distance of the throw depends greatly on the disc used and the type of throw. Photo by Nick Paris.

As the sun gains strength for the day on an early morning in January, two athletes emerge from the shadows that low light has cut upon the East Field. These UC Santa Cruz students are throwing what look like petite Frisbees hundreds of feet across the field. The discs cut the clear air for a few moments before skidding to a stop across the grass, still dotted with dew. One of the students, Ian Kitrick, comments on the beauty of the gliding discs as he leans back and admires his 400-foot throw.

Kitrick is the captain of the disc golf club team. He, along with Colin Chambers, the club’s president, are avid disc golfers.

“I began playing when I was four years old,” Chambers said, peering out at the field through his glasses. “My mom took me to play so I could burn off some energy. In high school I played occasionally with friends, and last summer I played pretty much every day.”

Although Kitrick has not played disc golf for as long, his enthusiasm for the sport is evident.

“Some friends got me into disc golf about a year ago and now I’m hooked,” Kitrick said.

Disc golf is very similar to regular golf. The goal of both is to complete the course in the fewest attempts possible. Players use discs of varying size depending on the distance of each shot, just as golfers use specific clubs depending on distance and terrain. And disc golf courses are sprawling grass fields, just like golf courses — though disc golfers throw toward large chain baskets rather than putting toward holes.

On disc golf courses, there are mandatories, known as “mandos,” which are specific obstacles that everyone must follow, such as having to throw a disc to the right of a particular tree. There are also one stroke penalties added to players’ score if they lose a disc or throw one out of bounds, in water or too high up in a tree.

The discs are composed of a hard, somewhat thick plastic and vary in size and width of rim. There are different styles of throwing the discs: the tomahawk, thumber, backhand, or sidearm, to name a few.

“There is a basic form to learn,” Chambers said, “but everyone ends up tweaking it to find their own style.”

Kevin “Skippy” Givens is the UCSC sports club supervisor and former coach of the disc golf club. The game has been around since the late ’60s, Givens said, and it is a natural progression from the game of Frisbee.

“In 1976, the first official disc golf course was created at the Oak Grove Course in Southern California,” Givens said. “Prior to that, people would throw Frisbees at lamp posts and objects of the like, creating a kind of course by themselves. It was only a matter of time until this game became official.”

The team is fortunate to have a world-class champion, Avery Jenkins, training them. Jenkins was gone fall quarter, but the club eagerly awaits his return this quarter.

For world-class champions like Jenkins and college-age enthusiasts alike, there are few better locations to practice disc golf than the world-renowned DeLaveaga Golf Course, located in Santa Cruz. Known as “DeLa” to the club, this course is known for the challenging shots its terrain imposes. When not at DeLa, however, the club sometimes works on distance throws down at the East Field.

Now that the UCSC team has a great coach and a location for practice, there is just one piece missing.

“We’d love to grow enough support to hopefully get a consistent group out playing,” Chambers said.

Kitrick and Chambers both said that though the team is a tight niche of friends, it has no problem including newcomers into the group. This is evident in its motto: “The most fun wins.”

As the two friends saunter out to collect their discs, the crispness of the morning fades. Hidden among the grass, the discs will eventually be found and packed away until the next cold winter morning when the team will throw them again.

Illustration by Rachel Edelstein.

Change is good. The UC Santa Cruz disc golf team hopes to prove this adage true, as new head coach and world disc golf champion Avery Jenkins leads the team’s rebuilding process going into the new season.

“I’m trying to lead a revival of disc golf in the area,” Jenkins said. “There are a lot of college and high school kids that play around here, and I’m just trying to get more organization and competition going.”

Christopher Johnston is a previous player, former president, and now the assistant coach of the team. Though it means he is giving up the head coaching position, Johnston is excited about Jenkins taking over.

“Coach Avery is the reigning world distance champion, is proficient in all kinds of throws and techniques, and is willing to teach them to everyone,” Johnston said in an e-mail to City on a Hill Press (CHP). “He also has a lot of important connections throughout the disc golf world.”

Senior Clark Knutdson is in his last year on the team, but knows that the addition of Coach Avery is a great step for the team in this upcoming season and years to come.

“I think this is a spectacular step for the disc golf team,” Knutdson said in an e-mail to CHP. “I’ve only been to one practice with Avery, but there is no doubt that he is going to make us loads better. Not that we aren’t pretty good now.”

Jenkins will continue his traveling as a professional disc golfer on the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) during his time as coach.

“This is my first year coaching a team, but I’m going to have a lot of help thanks to the team captain and Johnston,” Jenkins said.

At the same time, however, assistant coach Johnston acknowledges that this will likely be a rebuilding year due to the loss of several key players.

“We lost most of last year’s team and are in the process of rebuilding, so we are very fortunate to have Coach Avery there to help us,” Johnston said. “We are trying to seek out the students at UCSC who play disc golf but have no idea the school has a team. … Now is the time for them to shine.”

One way that the team hopes to improve recruitment in the coming years is by getting schools in the region to start offering disc golf on their campuses.

“Right now we are in the process of starting up a high-school disc golf league that will feature Santa Cruz High School, Soquel High School, Aptos, Harbor, and Scotts Valley High,” Jenkins said. “It’s going to be cool, being able to have a whole new set of local players coming out of the area looking to play disc golf at the college level, and a huge advantage for the UCSC team.”

At the same time, Jenkins also hopes to recruit current college students for this year’s team.

“Right now we have between eight and 10 people on the team, and we are definitely looking to add more,” he said.

Knutdson thinks that the appeal of the game lies in its simplicity.

“I think people just need to come out and play with us once,” he said, “because that’s all it usually takes to get hooked.”

The modern game of disc golf (also called Frisbee golf in some circles) originated in 1960s Southern California. Largely due to its simple rules and short, inexpensive list of necessary equipment, the sport sport quickly expanded from there. Today, there are nearly 6,000 public disc-golf courses worldwide, half of which are in the United States alone.

It’s no surprise, then, that the unique sport has taken root in Santa Cruz in the form of the De LaVeaga Disc Golf Course, one of the highest-rated and most beautiful courses in the world.

The course, originally established in 1984, is located on Upper Park Road, off Banciforte Drive in the east side of Santa Cruz. It features 27-holes accented by steep ravines, open meadows, towering redwoods and sweeping panoramic views of the Monterey Bay. A breathtaking and picturesque locale to let off some steam and learn a knew game, the De LaVeaga course is free to the public (though donations are appreciated, since they help keep the place up and running) and is open every day from sun-up to sun-down.

Archery

Also located within 1,200-acre De LaVeaga Park, situated among lush greenery and worlds away form the bustle of Santa Cruz proper, is an archery range founded and run by local organization the Santa Cruz Archers (SCA). The range, open to the public every Saturday and Sunday from noon to four, features a variety of outdoor and indoor activities, an expansive collection of three-dimensional animal targets and holds a regular stump competition in which archers must survive a marksmanship gauntlet that bares striking resemblance to the basketball game of “H-O-R-S-E”.

The list of notable archers to grace the range with their skills is long — it even includes former world longbow champion Larry Yien. But keeping with its mission of building and continuing the practices of field and target archery while maintaining a spirit of camaraderie among all archers at all levels, the SCA provides various opportunities throughout the year for newbies to learn and practice archery in free-shoots and classes.

Set within a peaceful environment, surrounded by soaring oaks and redwoods, the range is also a great place to reconnect with a different, simpler time, or as Henry Bertram, who teaches an archery class for Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation, put it, “the range lets you hook up with what it’s like to be a more primitive human being.”

Paddleboarding

At Steamer Lane, Pleasure Point, Moss Landing and just about everywhere in between, local paddleboarders can be seen gracefully rowing along the coast. Pulling from elements of surfing, rowing and even yoga, paddleboarders stand on fiberglass boards, ranging from ten to fifteen feet long and propel themselves through the water, usually using a single oar-like paddle.

Some paddleboards stay near the shore and, seemingly without effort, skim serenely atop gentle ocean waves. Others patrol the Monterey Bay with eyes peeled hoping to catch a glimpse of famed Santa Cruz sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters. Still others take an aggressive approach, intrepidly charging massive waves and cutting through the surf with sharp turns and twists.

Kayak Connection, a Santa Cruz company that offers tours of the Monterey Bay and lessons in a variety of water sports, touts paddleboarding for its multiplicity: it can serve as a powerful core workout, a strength training mechanism for everyone from surfers to marathoners, a vehicle to coastlines and wildlife that are inaccessible by any other means, or simply as a calming and meditative way to connect with and enjoy the Santa Cruz surf.

Roller Derby

Grab your roller-skates, pads and helmets and get ready for a rumble!

A sports staple founded in 1920s east-coast cities like Baltimore, Chicago and Boston, the roller derbies of old, which involved both male or female participants, featured professional athletes roller skating around a rink and trying to score before being knocked down (or out) by members of the other team. The game itself involved two teams of skaters, each with a “jammer” who could score, and four other players who would block, hit and try to stop the other team from scoring by nearly any means necessary.

Though the object of the game remains, some aspects of the sport have changed a bit since way-back-when. Today, the sport is dominated by amateur (read: unpaid) females who combine tenacity, athleticism and attitude, resulting in an showman sport that spans the globe — from Australia to the United Arab Emirates — and is truly like no other.

Not the type of place to shy away from this brand of intensity, Santa Cruz has embraced local roller derby leagues with cult favoritism. Notable teams include the Harbor Hellcats, Boardwalk Bombshells, Santa Cruz Roller Girls and Santa Cruz Derby Groms (a daring team of young Derby Girls in-the-making). Our local Santa Cruz derby chicks participate in frequent competitions, or “bouts,” versus any team that dares to meet them and, for those with enough gusto, the Santa Cruz Derby Girls league challenges locals to join their “Fresh Meat” team and see if they can hack it with the high “rollers.”