2…4…6…8…Who do we appreciate, Josh Rosa!
We are excited to announce that TD extraordinaire Josh Rosa is again on Team Disc Revolution as our Director of Competition for the 2023 disc golf season. We are extremely appreciative of Josh’s time and dedication to helping us grow Disc Revolution and disc golf in our community. In 2022 Josh ran 18 very successful tournaments, helped run 12 indoor Soccerhaus putting nights and 4 Red Leg Putts & Pints nights. He also found time to play in 38 tournament and brought his rating up 16 points in 2022.
2023 will be Josh’s third year as a TD and he recently joined with the NADGT as a one of their newest TDs. This year with Disc Revolution, NADGT, and his own brand of J719 events Josh is already on the books to run 20 tournaments for 2023.
Below we have a brief update interview with Josh,
A year ago you said one of your goals was to “start to make Colorado Springs a destination town like Emporia, as I feel that we are a small enough big town to really bring in some national attention. Baby steps first, we are hoping to increase the amount of B-Tier tournaments in this town, along with various flexes”. Overall how do you feel about your part in growing our sport?
First off, thanks for the appreciation. It feels great to be appreciated and have a great partnership with Disc Revolution. You all are appreciated, too, for the events and services you all provide.
In regards to the question, I feel great about where I am at, and the contributions that I have made to the sport. We are seeing the Colorado Springs area become quite the active scene and it is being noticed by those around us. We are still working on building the city up and making it to "Emporia" like levels, but I hear more and more people from out of town talking about coming to the Springs and playing one of our wonderful courses.
On the local front, we are seeing more and more players come out to events, experience tournaments and become more involved in the community. This year is a building year for me in that I am actively putting on a flex once a month this year, with the exception of September and October (though that may change). Partnering up with NADGT and offering up more opportunities to the locals for them to qualify is another building block. If we wanted to qualify for NADGT, we would have to go up to Denver or some other remote location, but my focus this year is to let people sleep in their own beds and qualify. The B-Tiers are something I am going to work on adding another to the schedule once I have the NADGT and flexes sorted out. Right now, we have Aviary Fools and Clash at the Creek as both B-Tier events, but there could be a Disc Revolution Open on the horizon?
We are also looking to expand our charitable efforts, with an Alzheimer’s and Mental Health event scheduled in June, plus another Veterans for Vets in November and hopefully some more opportunity to give back to the community in general. It’s very important to me that we show to the city and the community that the disc golf community has a big heart.
What were the biggest lessons you learned running 18 extremely successful tournaments?
The main one is to try and condense information into smaller bits. As you saw in the previous answer, I can get wordy, but that can be counter productive. No one wants to read a caddy novel by some over enthusiastic hobbiest.
Keep it simple. Keep it short. Keep it safe.
That also applies to just running events in general. I’d spend a lot of time with so many moving pieces and going way above and beyond when sometimes all that was needed was letting the course play as designed.
TDing in itself is a hard job, don't over complicate it.
What are your disc golf goals for 2023. Both in your game as well as the events your are running?
Constant improvement for both playing and running. I appreciate the compliment of extremely successful but i can’t take compliments, and I always look back with a harsh eye of “could have done this better, made this clearer, etc”
I feel comfortable that I have done successful events, but in the end, I always look to make it better for the next time.
As far as playing, I got a couple wins last year, and I’d like to continue stringing something together. I’d love to rate out of MA3 but I think my current trajectory and number of events makes that a bit more difficult, but I am going to try anyway.
Any major changes to the molds and/or manufacturers in your bag for 2023? Why?
I’ve added more Discmania to my bag, specifically the Cloudbreaker and Razor Claw. I have been needing a bit more stability as I am finding that I am starting to turn things over. Only took 6 years but look at me grow. Plus, I am getting a better understanding of the wind and disc selection, so I've had to expand some of my choices.
Is there anything else your would like to share with the disc golf community?
I am very glad to be here and doing the work that I have been doing. It’s always an awesome feeling when people walk off the course and are smiling or happy. I know it doesn’t always happen with a competitive scene or crazy weather patterns, but hearing people had a good time or at least enjoyed themselves is all I am going for.
I say it in every email that I send out to players in that I appreciate every single person that comes through and I mean that. Without them, there is no reason for me to do this, so thank you all for being supporters, and helping me grow the sport in our town and beyond. I look forward to hosting more events in 2023 and beyond. Down with Pickleball, up with Disc Golf, lol