GNS Teacher Helps Team Canada Win Bronze in Disc Golf

September 22, 2022

Academics

GNS

Ms. Bird was in Varaždin, Croatia, where she and 10 other disc golfers from across the country represented Canada.

“It was an incredible experience,” said Ms. Bird. “We ended up winning all of the matches except for the semifinal game against Estonia, who went on to win gold.”

The format of the tournament included singles and doubles competitions—similar to the Ryder Cup golf tournament.

“I personally played two alternative shot doubles matches against Slovakia and Serbia, as well as two singles matches against Lithuania and Slovenia.,” explained Ms. Bird. “We played nine holes and kept track of the points until there were more points than holes left.”

25 international teams participated in the competition. They stayed in the same hotels and really got to create a community, even if they had to play against each other.

Ukraine was one of the countries that attended, and at the end of the tournament, other disc golf players collectively held an auction to raise money for the Ukrainian team to help support their tournament travel expenses.

Ms. Bird started playing disc golf in high school, after being introduced to it by one of her teachers. After university, she tried it again and has been hooked ever since.

“This is my eleventh year competing,” she said. “The sport is just starting to grow in Canada unlike other countries like the USA, Estonia or Finland—it’s not as big as in Estonia or Finland.”

Back in 2019, Ms. Bird also competed for Team Canada when the world championships were in Estonia. In that tournament, Team Canada came in eighth place.

Ms. Bird has been sharing her love of disc golf with students at the beach, as she has headed up a Grade 4 and Grade 5 disc golf club for the past two years.

“It’s really exciting because this year is my first year having a Kindergarten graduate that is eligible to join the club,” she added. “I am looking forward to sharing my passion with them..”

Bringing disc golf to GNS just made sense for Ms. Bird, as it helps to promote and grow the sport.

“It’s important to grow the sport because it’s so fresh in Canada,” she said. “It is a sport that can be taken as competitively or as socially as you like. I love introducing disc golf to the next generation, hopefully inspiring an interest that will help grow the sport and a love of an activity that you can enjoy in any weather out in the forest.”

She added “I am also taking part in growing the sport in the island community. During the summer I ran a tournament for Juniors and Ladies. One of our GNS families came out and.”