Kristie Svejda

President

Kristie first stepped onto a disc golf course in 1998. After forming an immediate addiction to the sport she traveled throughout the United States playing in tournaments along the way. She returned from her travels with a strong spirit for Women’s disc golf and thus organized a group of women together to play ‘Ladies League’ at Rosedale Park. As both a former and now current board member of the KCFDC she has enjoyed working closely with the club in various capacities over the years. As our newest member Kristie is excited to rekindle her love for working behind the scenes of this amazing and quickly growing sport.

John Theiss

Vice-president-missouri

John has always enjoyed throwing the Frisbee© around as a kid. He has been playing disc golf since 2003. John first discovered disc golf while attending the University of Missouri, playing at Albert Oakland. After college he decided to try Ultimate and signed up to play here in KC with a summer league -KCUSL. That summer, he also started playing disc golf about every day and soon became hooked. John is an elementary physical education teacher, who started implementing the game of Disc Golf and Ultimate into his curriculum with in his first year. Since then John has had the opportunity to design 2 courses at 2 different schools (William Yates Elementary, and Wilbur Young Park located next to Blue Springs South). John always tries to be a good ambassador for the game. He has been a course coordinator for three years and looks forward to the continued growth not only to our sport, but also the Kansas City Flying Disc Club.

Jim Sherwood

Vice-president-kansas

Jim started playing disc golf in 2003. Since that time he has become an avid player having played nearly 100 courses in more than twenty states. He was the course coordinator for Rosedale (upper course) for two years prior to being elected the to KCFDC Board of Directors. Currently Jim serves as is the vice president of Kansas. He is originally from central Indiana and can often be identified by his conspicuous display of Indianapolis Colts apparel.

Tom Verstraete

Secretary

Tom started playing disc golf in 2008, when it was added to the Kansas City Corporate Challenge. He was just trying to make sure the participation points were earned and got bit by the disc golf bug. Since then, he has become active in league and tournament disc golf, playing on over 50 courses in 12 states (and still counting). As an “east-sider”, Tom can usually be found at Young’s, Legacy or Pleasant Hill, while making an occasional trip to Water Works or Prairie Center. He looks forward to helping “grow” the sport in and around Kansas City.

Chris Timko

Treasurer

Chris began playing disc golf in 2003 while in college at the University of Arkansas. Since a course was 2 blocks from his house, he figured it was a good hobby to pick up. He didn’t get serious about the game until 2005 when he moved to Iowa City for graduate school. It was in Iowa where he saw a real energy present in the competitive disc golf scene, as well as the stewardship of courses. Disc golf factored into his decision to move to Kansas City in 2007 to become a software engineer at Cerner. Chris has been a member of the executive board for the KCFDC, acting as secretary and the course coordinator for Swope Park. While a Missourian, he considers Rosdale Park just over the border his home course. Just listen for the short young man with the booming voice.

Ken Franks

Sargent-of-arms

Ken started playing disc golf in the summer of 2000, while living in Omaha, Nebraska. 3 months later he moved back to Charlotte, North Carolina where he would hone in his skills. He started playing smaller events and found out he was better than the average bear with a disc in his hand, so he started touring and competing in tournaments all over the country. in 2005 he became great friends with Avery Jenkins and David Feldberg and decided to be the 3rd guy in the motor home and go out on the road, full time. After almost 80 Open wins (30 PDGA) and cashing in 98% of events he entered, He climbed out of the Tioga, in 2009 worlds, where he met a wonderful woman and decided to give up the life on the road and move to Kansas City. He started a small painting business and plays disc golf more on a smaller level these days.

“I have been privileged to have wonderful support from Sponsors (Innova champion discs, Long tee disc golf, Proflight Disc Golf and Grip Eq) and friends through my time of the road, I want to give back to the greatest individual sport we all love.” Since moving to Kansas City, he’s explored those other options by Directing tourneys, raising money and finding new sponsors to help expand disc golf in our area. “With my wealth of knowledge about disc golf from experiencing hundreds of other markets and clubs, I want to bring the best of them all to Kansas City and be a new voice to our Beloved and Proud members!”

Rhonda Crosby

Chief Technology Officer

Rhonda has been playing disc golf since 1999 when she was introduced to it here in KC at Swope. She and her husband Ben have been club members for the past 10 years. Rhonda was part of the ‘original’ KC Ladies league back in the day and has remained a supporter of womens disc golf. You’ll find her playing with a group of ladies every week in the spring and summer at Rosedale. Rhonda is an online design and marketing consultant by trade and is excited to be giving back and supporting the club by managing the KCFDC website.

Eric Kolkmeier

AT-LARGE MEMBER

Eric has been active in KC disc golf since 2005, though he joined the club back in 1998 before moving abroad. He has played disc sports such as ultimate, golf, and freestyle since 1997. Upon returning to Kansas City, he immediately got involved with disc golf again and has run a few local events and always focuses on the player experience and giving back to the community. He came to the Board to help define the club’s goals and mission for the future. He works full-time as an ESL instructor at a local college, and you can find him at Swope on Tuesday evenings all year round and at Water Works league in the summer.

Hal Kurz

AT-LARGE MEMBER