EDGA’s latest film which highlights a brilliant group of emerging golfers with a disability has been premiered on Sky Sports Golf, with more showings throughout this week.
‘Living Our Best Life’ charts the stories of 12 leading golfers with a disability at a five-day EDGA Player Development Camp in Quinta do Lago in Portugal this January. The film, shown by Sky Sports Golf for the first time yesterday evening (May 7) was created by EDGA in partnership with Big Bounce Productions. It can be watched for the rest of the week on Sky Sports Golf: May 8: 19:30hrs; May 9: 11:00hrs; May 13: 17hrs. (These times for UK – international broadcasters plan to pick up this content.)
The film explains how a group of talented golfers came from 10 countries and four continents to the first-of-its-kind Player Development Camp, supported by the European Tour Group.
In an intense week of learning, professional specialists in their field, including coaches, nutritionists, performance experts and marketeers, offered training and advice to the promising players, who all qualified to take part via the World Ranking for Golfers with Disability (WR4GD).
The players proved that with the right encouragement they were prepared to work their hardest and give their best to improve their physical and mental approach to everything about the game.
All 12 of the golfers featured are hoping to qualify to play at the top level of G4D (golf for the disabled) on the G4D Tour, which is staged by the European Tour Group and supported by EDGA.
The following players were welcomed by the EDGA team to the excellent venue of Quinta do Lago: Russell Aide (aged 16, Canada), Thomas Colombel (aged 21, France), Heather Gilks (aged 18, England), Casper Holst-Christensen (aged 27, Denmark), Mehmet Kazan (aged 42, Turkey), Tycho Kuiper (aged 14, The Netherlands), Rene Schwenk (aged 24, Germany), Daniel Slabbert (aged 32, South Africa), Natasha Stasiuk (aged 25, Canada), Gustav Stigsson-Andersson (aged 18, Sweden), Natascha Tennent (aged 16, Australia), and Chris Willis (aged 43, Canada).
The inspirational nature of the film records the joy of learning, and the poignant stories of a unique group of individuals who have each faced challenges but remain determined – through golf – to ‘live their best lives’.
One of the wise heads among the players, Canada’s Chris Willis, finishes the film by saying: “I’ve enjoyed the whole week, it’s a 10 out of 10. The whole resort has been amazing; the instruction has been amazing; the company of the other golfers has been amazing. There is no other word to describe it.”
Dr Tony Bennett, EDGA President, said: “With the emergence of The G4D Tour, The G4D Open, The US Adaptive Open and several other noteworthy championships, the players are faced with increasingly challenging tournaments. Such events are a real test, and that should be the case, but when we add in to this, factors like detailed preparation, international travel, and media commitments, the next raft of players who qualify to play in these events need to have the necessary skills. Our specialist trainers and advisers helped the players to take their game to the next level and become the best they can be.”
The EDGA team offers special thanks to all at the European Tour Group and also the excellent team at the Quinta do Lago golf resort on Portugal’s Algarve for their help.
This film will follows previous EDGA media such as the documentary ‘Mulligan’, which was released a couple of years ago. Specific to awareness, EDGA has a strong focus on creating media assets including film, book, and poster campaigns while producing a regular podcast and player profile that reaches people across the globe. The film Mulligan was shown in ten countries and reached 130 million homes.
Learn more about G4D (golf for the disabled) at www.edgagolf.com
