Reinvent Your Game- Chris Brubeck Interview

Innovativeness, Internationality, Perseverance, and Openness. These are the core values of Discmania Disc Golf and I think they follow these values pretty closely. As a disc golfer myself, I want to be able to broaden my knowledge of various disc golf companies and what they have to offer. So, with that in mind, I reached out and had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Brubeck the Store Manager for Discmania discs.

Discmania is a relatively young company in terms of how long the sport has been around. Chris explained to me that “the “brand” has been around for 11 years while the store in the US has been here for about 6 years.” 11 years is a short time period for a company to be as big as they are. They have grown quickly and impressively since their inception. An unknown to me, which Chris informed me of was that “the company originally got its start in Finland.” Then, the company made a store inside the United States and continues to grow from there. The fact that a company that originated in Europe can become a known entity inside the united states is remarkable and praise worthy.

Along with discmania being such a young company, they are revolutionizing the way the game is played and how sponsorship works. The biggest revolution they have is doing a Disc Golf combine across the United States and one in Finaland. He told me that the combine “is Discmanias sole way of sponsoring team members, unless someone wins a world championship or many major tournaments.”. For those of you who don’t know, a combine is essentially a series of trials and tests where people perform against others for a spot on a team. Discmanias combine has a putting challenge, Distance throws, Approach shots, and a speedometer test. All gaining points for a spot on the team. Now, rather than just trying to get good players Chris explained to me that “we want good people as well, we need well rounded individuals.” They consider more than just the game itself when looking for team members. Which to me is what I like to see when it comes to a Disc Golf community. If you are looking to compete at one of these combines Chris gave me some great advice for new competitors; “Learn how to control your temper on the course, be positive, make sure people remember you for the right reasons and be able to learn and teach others, be professional, and have a ton of fun while you are doing it.”

Now, for those of you who do not know, Eagle McMahon and Simon Lizotte are two of many disc golf stars that are on Discmanias team. Along with others like Hannah Crocke and Dylan Lhotak who are young but up and coming. So, I asked Chris about how he felt the team members did at the recent World Championships and European Open and he said that they were fantastic and that “It was good to see Simon be healthy and Eagle do great things as well. Although, Eagle needs to grow and string an entire tournament together.” But, both players are young and have a lot of time to strengthen and perfect their game as time goes on. Nate Sexton likes to call them the smash brothers because they can both crush drives if need be. It is only a matter of time before they are fighting for one and two at each tournament.

With all of these great players and great reputation, there has to be great discs behind it. If you are like me, you may not know a ton about Discmanias disc selection or what you may want. Naturally I had to ask Chris about what I should be on the lookout for if I want to make a purchase for any new discs. Chris informed me that for people new to Discmania they should get the “P2 for putter, FD which is a do it all fairway driver, CD2 which is a little faster for all around distance, or the MD3 which is the go to mid range that is straight flying and durable.” The plastics can vary and are totally up to preference. Chris’ favorite disc is the “metal flake MD3 or the new color glow MD3 which is Eagles new signature line.” It is nice to know that there are beginner discs out there for Discmania players.

To conclude the interview, I wanted to know if there is anything that the public should know about Discmania that they may already not know. Chris had to think about it but came up with “we take pride in the fact that we are the only international disc golf brand. We are Innova Europe in Europe and were the first disc golf brand in Europe.” Which is a cool title and something to hang their hat on for sure.

Before my conversation with Chris ended he asked me a simple question, “When you hear ‘Discmania’ what is one word that comes to your mind?” That question took me a second to answer but I came up with it. Change, change is what I came up with. Discmania is trying to change the sport for the better and trying to revolutionize how things are done. They want to have good people and good players with them. They strive to be professional and carry themselves in a way to show that idea.

If you want to check out discmania, you can visit discmania.net for information about the company and where to buy discs or where other events are going on. They also pride themselves on being open to calls for advice or information, so if you need that, call them and they will happily answer any questions or concerns you may have.