Local heads BC Disc Golf

A Keremeos local and accessible disc golf planner is now the president of BC Disc Golf Association.

In his new role, Dion Eden is hoping to expand his vision for accessible and diverse disc golf games for people of all abilities.

"It's about the accessibility, inclusion, and I felt like I could bring that to a bigger platform [...] The goals I want to have for the year — make courses more accessible and inclusive for everybody, so that way, it creates more diversity, and more people are able to play the sport."

BC Disc Golf recently saw the former president Chad Smoliak stepping down. Eden was asked to run for president and ended up filling the role as the sole candidate in late October.

Now, Eden aims to unite BC Disc Golf clubs and players to grow the sport locally and abroad. He will be continuing to build new courses with accessibility in mind.

Earlier in May, the Keremeos local founded the accessible disc golf challenge Playing in My Shoes across 29 B.C. disc golf courses, with the flagship event taking place in Keremeos' Pine Park.

Since then, he's created the non-profit Playing in my Shoes Foundation with hopes of starting "Disc Golf Dreams," which would similar to Make-A-Wish for the sport.

Plans are already in the works to make Playing in My Shoes a Canada-wide and global-wide event in coming years.

Additionally, with virtual disc distributer DigiDisc, Eden is working to install simple and cost-effective courses in First Nations and remote communities.

In this latest role as BC Disc Golf president, the avid disc golfer will oversee the group's affiliate clubs. Inclusion will always be at the forefront of Eden's vision, following a car crash injury that saw him relearn the game he played for over a decade.

"I want that to be forefront. I want people to treat each other with respect and dignity, and have a great relationship in our community, where everybody's supporting each other," he said.

Eden will be working on expanding BC Disc Golf's online presence and reach by sharing information about the sport across platforms.

However, when it comes to accessible events such as Playing in My Shoes, he said Keremeos will always be where it all started as an all-accessible wheelchair course, which he helped design.

"Pine Park will always be, no matter how big it gets, event central. That is where it started in 2024," Eden said.

"From that beginning and making things more accessible [...] This is a perfect opportunity that BC Disc Golf has done by considering me to be their president.

"It's an awesome opportunity to bring us to a higher platform and show people that, 'Hey, we can all work together. We can do a better job, and we can make things more accessible and inclusive for everybody.'"