CHS welding student Ryley Pethick will be among those who will help craft a Frisbee golf course for Lions Park.
by Phil Ambroziak
The Meadow Lake Lions Club has joined forces with students from Carpenter High School in an initiative they hope will score a hole-in-one for the community.
This spring, the Lions will install a Frisbee golf course at Lions Park, a feature expected to prove popular amongst visitors as well as inexpensive for the local service club.
“Instead of purchasing the holes, the Lions Club has teamed up with the Grade 11 welding class at Carpenter High School in order to fabricate the holes from scratch,” explained Lions Club member Matthew Quesnelle. “It’s something that can be used all summer long, but would normally cost about $100,000 to put in. That’s why we had the idea of bringing in the high school welding program.”
Funding is being provided by the Lions Club but, with the assistance of the students, the project will only cost somewhere in the $2,000 range.
“Mike (instructor Mike Tourigny) was more than willing to have his students help out,” Quesnelle added. “Normally, they get to do a lot of side projects, but this will be a chance for them to see their work become part of the community.”
Tourigny, who is also a member of the Lions Club, said the students are “stoked” about being involved with the project.
Frisbee golf, also known as disc golf, is a flying disc game, as well as a precision and accuracy sport, in which individual players throw a Frisbee at a target. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association, the object of the game is to traverse a course from beginning to end with the fewest number of throws of the disc. The game is played in about 40 countries around the world.
“I come from Ontario and we had a Frisbee golf course in my community that was used quite readily,” Quesnelle said. “In Saskatchewan, there are about 10 or more courses throughout the province.”
Tourigny, meanwhile, said he and Quesnelle have been discussing the idea of installing a course in Meadow Lake since the wintertime.
“We had an Ultimate Frisbee club here in the past, but it died off,” he said. “This, however, is cost-effective and a lot of people are gung-ho about building it and supporting it. It will be spread throughout the park and the posts will be removable – they will be there during the summer, but can be taken away for the winter.”
Both men assured the course would be open to the public.
“We need to get the OK in terms of mapping it all out, but there’s more than enough room at the park,” Quesnelle continued. “It will be a great addition and hopefully will encourage more people to come out who don’t normally use the park. In the future, we could even hold little tournaments.”
Tourigny agreed.
“It’s really all about having more options in terms of getting outside and being active,” he said.
