Santos Montoya can throw a disc from the steps in front of the Chapel on the Hill to the flagpoles at the main entrance of campus – which happens to be 634 feet.
Montoya, senior sports fitness and leisure major from Abilene, attends Hardin-Simmons University but is completing an internship at ACU with Deonna Shake’s disc golf class.
Shake, instructor in the exercise science and health department, met Montoya playing on the local disc golf courses, and she said his passion for disc golf made him stand out.
“He’s young, energetic, and he is always helping other people,” Shake said. “If you play in Abilene, you know Santos.”
Later, when Montoya needed an internship, he contacted Shake, and they worked out a plan.
During the semester, Montoya will plan the class’s day-to-day activities, drills and progressions while Shake will organize the class, teach the information on which students will be tested and set up the skills tests, Shake said.
“I have a huge heart for the game and so does Santos, but Santos also brings that technical side of things,” she said. “I may be able to say things about throwing a forehand, a backhand or cutting, but Santos will be able to demonstrate it with much better clarity and expertise.”
The class is open to all levels of disc golfers, and Shake said Montoya is very approachable and will be an asset to beginners and advanced players.
“The students who are new will love being able to learn from someone who can really demonstrate the different facets of the game far better than I can; yet the ones who are already good in the class will respect his skill,” Shake said.
Montoya said he hopes to introduce disc golf to more people by sharing his knowledge of the game. His passion for it comes from playing and teaching.
“I like to see the look on somebody’s face when they aren’t throwing it far, and then I teach them 30 seconds of something, and then they throw it 50 feet further,” Montoya said. “That awe they have in their eyes is pretty much where my passion comes from.”
Montoya said he started playing with his brother at age 13. He was skeptical at first, but the more he played and watched Abilene disc golf professionals play, the more his game improved. After playing professionally for four years, Santos is ranked 15th in Texas and sponsored by DisCrazy of Amarillo. He said other sponsors are looking at him, and he has already scheduled 20-30 events for the year in hopes of making it to the U.S. disc golf championships.
Meredith Morgan, sophomore music education major from Arlington, is in one of the classes with Montoya. She has never played disc golf but said she thinks Montoya will give students an advantage.
“I think since he’s kind of an expert at it, he will definitely be able to help us with our technique and form more than if we were just reading from a rule book,” Morgan said. “I think he will really be able to help us get better at the game and not just know how to play it.”
