I follow the Garage Gym landscape since converting my garage to Training HQ starting this past spring. This is what helped spark that idea in my brain, then I played with molding the idea in different potential directions in relation to content.
They have like a Main person or 2, then it's always revolving with other creators in the space, no matter their sub count.
I know I sound whiney or whatever when I talk about it, but it's just my experience and observations from being in the youtube space for a long while coupled with my job working in the youtube space for the last 4 years as well.
I have something to base it on anyways, not just me being butthurt for no reason.
It does make me a bit jaded though that it works like that, and it's not really a good emotional fit. But it's incredibly frustrating how it works. I've been on tons of podcasts as a nobody with big subscriber count guys where no youtuber, not even simon, come close. Then all of a sudden when I'm in a space like disc golf where I know stuff, people and things, it's frustrating not even being able to get a response from creators.
A lot of the creators I've tried to work with sitting on 300-400 subs. And I'm like "lets do some content together." They just not interested. So, I unsubbed everyone, I stopped watching their video's.
It's really just not discgolf to me maybe is why I get so frustrated.
I can roll in the course, locals be there.
"yo, who wants to throw?"
And 1 or 2 people will even play with me. (I know right?)
Everyone is a community at the course.
Then this online landscape is super fractured. That just doesn't feel like disc golf.
I played a tournament yesterday. All my homies coming over, saying hi. Few people I've not even played with in 2 years. Top rated golfers in our area saying hello.
I'm not the end all of disc golf.
But fuck, some of this stems from places like foundation. Where I've been active on their discord since brodie joined in. I've done all their form checks for like 4 or 5 years now.
Everyone knows me on the server.
Cept hunter/trevor/brodie. So I can't even get on their podcast. But they have some really weird obscure mfers on there sometimes who I have no idea who they are.
Dust is the only person I know if that was/is anyone that they have on. But he has an online presence in the esports community so he's actually a good guest, he did some work for gatekeeper too and someone else.
I've given foundation 100's and 100's of free formchecks and hours upon hours of my time to help their community. Yeah.
You'd be frustrated too.
When I met brodie, I told him I was the guy who does all the form checks on the server. He almost seemed baffled by what I told him.
Like. "oh I'm sorry bro, my bad. Been doing WORK for you for a few years, you don't even know it"
Really makes me wanna quit bothering.
Then yesterday in round 2, I get carded up with one of my students. Him and a friend came and got lessons like 2 years ago. He wanted to learn to throw backhand.
I've never understood why people just get 1 lesson.
Maybe a few exchanges via text after, but that's like it.
And so I asked him, and I was like "did I just give ya'll enough info that you were good after 1 lesson?" There was more to it than that in the convo, but .. He basically said yes. He said I had no backhand before the lesson and you got me a backhand. And throughout the round, his backhand was pretty good. Some impressive distance for his skill level as well.
So with my lessons, depending on the person, a lot of times I'll do a follow up video going over what we talked about and what to work on, drills and stuff. I just make it and send it. I did one for these guys.
And.. his backhand was pretty good.
Now that's a reward to keep doing it. He kept at it practicing. And he wasn't doing any weird shit like he'd got stuck into Coach T's whatever. Or this guy or that guys stuff.
He probably did watch other video's, but it was all concepts I taught him, other than his.. really strange movement into his walk up which I've only seen a few people do. Which is basically this weird forward stutter step before moving into the walk up. The other guy form that lesson that day came up and said hello as well after they had actually figured out who I was.
Just funny. he's like "you're the sheep shearer guy arn't you?"
I didn't recognize him as it was either, but after I saw his last name I did.
I apparently didn't have a beard when I gave them lessons, so he was struggling.
Yeah, the moral of all this random 2am typing before I take my wife to the airport so she can see her grandmother who's not doing well. is.. really just..
Do stuff to be awesome and impact others positively.
And if our disc golf community would function in a manor of just always trying to do that to each other regardless of your subscriber count, or instagram this or that. We'd look like a really awesome cohesive unit. Even if we didn't teach the same things.
I'd host a podcast and talk to Coach T for an hour or 30 mins or whatever.
I bet you despite his car salesman this and weird idea of how he teaches. He's probably not to bad of a guy to be around. Because what it looks like to me is his "on camera persona."
I think if anything to host a podcast like that though, I'd set one fair rule.
Put the bar super low, but say .. 100 subscribers.
"thats still gatekeeping."
Yeah, but if you're actually "creating content" you should have 100 subs pretty easy.
If shea stevens can have like 800 subs or whatever he has with his dry ass video's and one of the most terrible intro's to every video, that I've had so many people tell me they can't stand his content, then. you can dump a few bad disc golf video's and get 100 subs. Or dont forget there are insta guy's out there. I got a guy here, .. also can't get this dude to play a round for some reason. DGwithJD. .. something like that. He puts up some great IG content. Does "lets play a hole" or whatever, and its a quick video of him playing some hole on a local course. He has some like 3k followers or whatever. I'd invite someone like that.
People you can see creating the content, doing the work.
Which also doesn't mean you can't break the rules when you can see someone putting in the work.
Doing this good and proper overall, especially if people actually pull into the channel starts subsharing people, which is what the community needs.
And this is what one of my big complaints about brodie/foundation.
They could use their actual sub count to build a good disc golf community. But they do what the other big youtubers are doing, they just look to build themselves.
They dont want low end people on their channels, because it doesn't gain them subscribers. And they are hard up in their communities about self advertising.
Which. i mean sometimes I get. cause people will join servers just to drop video's, and not participate. but... it doesn't help build communities whatsoever.