Should their be a Junior rim width limit?

[Dingus]

Originally Posted by DavidSauls

Maybe.

But currently, younger kids play with the same size discs, but can play with much lighter ones (lightest I've seen was 95g). They throw at the same size targets, but at the juniors tournaments I've seen, much shorter holes.

Is that enough, or do they need smaller diameters too? I don't know. I've seen kids doing fine with those, and am not sure they'd do much better, or get hooked much more, with smaller discs.

Then there's a chicken/egg question: Are there enough kids playing to justify smaller legal discs? Would there be more kids playing, if the discs were available, thus justifying the change? I don't know, either.

These are valid points. I do not know if smaller diameter is the silver bullet, I think it deserves experimenting. I just know that the options currently available leave a lot to be desired. I also don’t know if terrible disc flight is limiting youth participation, or if it is just the phase the sport is in where not a lot of kids want to play regardless of their ability to throw the disc.

Time to buy a 3D printer and just find out.

[foxdawg10]

Originally Posted by Dingus

These are valid points. I do not know if smaller diameter is the silver bullet, I think it deserves experimenting. I just know that the options currently available leave a lot to be desired. I also don’t know if terrible disc flight is limiting youth participation, or if it is just the phase the sport is in where not a lot of kids want to play regardless of their ability to throw the disc.

Time to buy a 3D printer and just find out.

Many of the current top players started when they were young with current equipment standards. How young? I don't know. Maybe there is an optimal age for kids to start playing, as well as playing other games / sports to develop other skills which transfer over to disc golf if and when they start playing a little more seriously.

There is nothing preventing kids from throwing a macro mini at a tree or playing object golf until the are ready to move on up.

[DavidSauls]

Originally Posted by Dingus

These are valid points. I do not know if smaller diameter is the silver bullet, I think it deserves experimenting. I just know that the options currently available leave a lot to be desired. I also don’t know if terrible disc flight is limiting youth participation, or if it is just the phase the sport is in where not a lot of kids want to play regardless of their ability to throw the disc.

Time to buy a 3D printer and just find out.

Just anecdotal. My nephew has grown up on a private course. He's been throwing since he was 3 (ace when he was 3 1/2, on a 65' hole at an elementary school). But.....he never really got into in, just throwing occasionally, having fun throwing minis, big minis, and superlight discs. When he was about 10, he and I laid out an easy course and played a few times.

........then, about 12, he caught the bug and got really serious about it. He just turned 14, has a backpack, and I see him out playing solo rounds sometimes, and with us whenever invited.

But he's an athlete, playing baseball and soccer all these years.

I got the feeling that maybe something about disc golf isn't going to fire up many younger kids. That they may have fun, but they're no likely to get serious. A high ratio of walking to actually throwing? Slow pace? Not a team activity? I don't know. Maybe mine is just a really small sample size, and meaningless.

Which isn't to say don't try. Just that maybe smaller discs won't move the needle much. But maybe you can try with big minis, and see if those generate much more enthusiasm, before manufacturing an entire new line.

[biscoe]

Originally Posted by DavidSauls

Just anecdotal. My nephew has grown up on a private course. He's been throwing since he was 3 (ace when he was 3 1/2, on a 65' hole at an elementary school). But.....he never really got into in, just throwing occasionally, having fun throwing minis, big minis, and superlight discs. When he was about 10, he and I laid out an easy course and played a few times.

........then, about 12, he caught the bug and got really serious about it. He just turned 14, has a backpack, and I see him out playing solo rounds sometimes, and with us whenever invited.

But he's an athlete, playing baseball and soccer all these years.

I got the feeling that maybe something about disc golf isn't going to fire up many younger kids. That they may have fun, but they're no likely to get serious. A high ratio of walking to actually throwing? Slow pace? Not a team activity? I don't know. Maybe mine is just a really small sample size, and meaningless.

Which isn't to say don't try. Just that maybe smaller discs won't move the needle much. But maybe you can try with big minis, and see if those generate much more enthusiasm, before manufacturing an entire new line.

IMO the thing that can contribute most to holding kids interest is (drum roll)... other kids.

[chris deitzel]

Genius Biscoe. And of course, always have frisbees around the house growing up.

[Muddyboots]

Originally Posted by Dingus

My opinion does mean more than yours, because unlike you I am not here as a pundit. I am here as a parent of young children. I have tried to give my children full diameter discs and the result is sub optimal both in performance and how it produces interest in the game. I have given discs to other people’s children with the same result.

My request is that disc golf be more accommodating to children. This is not my desire as a disc golfer, it is my request as a parent with money to spend on youth sports. No, I don’t care what your opinion as an elderly childless man is about what kids should be forced to throw in order to build character. The alternative is that my parent dollars and my kids time gets spent at one of the other dozens of sporting opportunities that actually do cater to children.

Tell me to quit reading in 7 words or less...........