Team News

Former Liberty University disc golf player Justin Rosak, who graduated in May with an M.S. in Sport Management, has an action-packed summer lined up involving one of the world’s fastest-growing sports.

On Saturday, Rosak, who is fulfilling his internship requirement this summer through Eagles Wings Disc Golf (EWDG), flew to Montenegro near the border of Serbia and Croatia off the Mediterranean Coast. Traveling as a representative of the Paul McBeth Foundation, operated through Eagles Wings, Rosak is helping install the first course in that European country and running disc golf clinics for new players this week.

“Montenegro is definitely a gorgeous place, and everything’s within walking distance, so it will be cool to experience the culture we’ll be in,” said Rosak, whose only previous adventures outside North America were to Zambia, where Liberty graduates Lance Brown and Hunter Thomas helped EWDG build that African nation’s first disc golf course in 2016. Rosak went there to help expand that course in February 2020 and host the first PDGA tournament in May 2021.

Then on Monday, June 20, he will fly back to Miami and visit Kids Ark International Ministries in Lakeland, Fla., before traveling to Honduras with two other EWDG members to participate in a camp with kids of all ages as well as a police academy, and design a new course in that even-smaller country in Central America.

“That is a large, gorgeous camp property, a big camp in the middle of a rainforest,” Rosak said, noting that a second crew will fly back to Honduras in July to install the baskets.

Rosak is thrilled to serve as a world-wide ambassador for the sport, and for the Lord.

“It’s really a dream, and I’m grateful that God gave me the opportunity to play the sport of disc golf and to take it to other countries and be able to use it as a tool to spread God’s Word,” he said.

Eagles Wings Disc Golf’s mission statement is “sharing the love of Jesus Christ by serving the disc golf community and helping people enter into a growing relationship with Him.”

Dustin Leatherman, who serves as National Director for Push the Rock, the affiliate of EWDG based in Emmaus, Pa., said Rosak is an exemplary intern who has already helped to increase Kingdom impact.

“Justin has been heavily involved in the ministry for many years and is a tremendous addition to our team,” Leatherman said. “Justin has hit the ground running and will help us move the ministry forward in a number of areas. Recently, he has visited a Christian camp and a church that has disc golf courses on its property and is interested in redesigning them or adding to them. Justin will contribute to those designs, help educate them on how to use their courses, and then will put those skills to use (in Honduras).”

Rosak, who started playing disc golf through Eagles Wings while growing up in Zionsville, Pa., just south of its headquarters, is currently helping lead many of the ministry’s sports camps and junior events that he used to participate in and will also invest in EWDG’s chapel ministry, both in the area and around the United States.

Liberty disc golf Head Coach Steve Bowman has now sent a few former players to work through the ministry and said Rosak, a two-year captain for the Flames, is a perfect fit.

“He grew up with Eagles Wings Disc Golf ministries,” Bowman said. “That’s where he’s from, and they taught him how to play, and now he’s expanding on it.”

Rosak’s sophomore and junior seasons with the Flames were cut short by COVID-19. Then, he was unable to play for Liberty at the College Disc Golf (CDG) National Championships in Marion, N.C., as a senior because he had competed in too many tournaments on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, including landing in the top 10 of the Music City Open in Nashville the week before nationals in April.

After his travels to Europe and Central America, he plans to continue competing in the rest of the season’s scheduled pro tour events, including the last two majors.

“Part of my internship will be done remotely because I’ll be on the disc golf tour playing professionally,” said Rosak, who will be traveling to play in Kentucky, Michigan, Illinois, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Kansas, where the World Championships are played from Aug. 27-Sept. 3.

Rosak aspires to make a career of the sport.

“I’ve got to put in the work and the time, and I am in talks with (Leatherwood) about being a full- or part-time staff member for Eagles Wings,” he said. “I definitely feel that this is God’s direction for my life, using this sport as a platform to share the Gospel.”

By Ted Allen/Staff Writer