Rogersville native turns hobby into scholarship

MOSHEIM — Rogersville native and Cherokee alumnus John Bernard has turned a hobby into an opportunity to return to college and further his career in education.

The West Greene Middle School teacher and football coach recently signed to compete with Milligan University’s disc golf team.

“I start this fall in Milligan’s 100% online M.Ed. curriculum and teaching program,” Bernard announced on his Facebook page. “I’m blessed to be going back to school, while still having my dream job at Mosheim/WGMS doing what I love.”

Bernard said he was first introduced to disc golf during his undergraduate studies in physical education at East Tennessee State University.

“In one of our classes, we had to learn sports to teach sports. Disc golf was one of the sports we learned. I had never heard about it until I got to college,” Bernard said.

Then, disc golf ended up being part of a COVID boom.

“A lot of people started playing because it was an outside sport, and you didn’t have to quarantine and social distance. It was something people were able to do outside and not really have to worry about COVID,” Bernard explained.

He started playing more during that time frame and continued to get better.

“You just take a couple of frisbees and throw them at a basket. Anybody can play. It’s a very simple and fun activity,” Bernard said. “It’s something you can go do with your friends. It’s not one of those things where you feel like you have to be good at it. You can just go and throw a frisbee and have fun throwing a frisbee.”

As Bernard started playing more, he started learning the ins and outs of the sport and getting better at it. At Throwmore Disc Golf store in Kingsport, he started hearing about local tournaments and decided to try his hand at competition. As it turned out, he was pretty good at it. He started traveling to tournaments, ranking up and moving into higher divisions.

“I played football and ran track at Cherokee — and disc golf is more of an individual sport than either one of those. There’s just a lot of golf there. Based on the course you’re playing, based on the division you’re playing in, based on your skill level, there’s a lot of mental factors that go into it,” Bernard said.

“The mental toughness it requires and the mental challenge of ‘what do I need to do here in this situation’ is, in my opinion, the most addictive part of it.”

When Milligan coaches Tim Barr and Zach Melton, a professional disc golfer, pitched the idea of using disc golf to help further his education, Bernard couldn’t believe his ears.

“I had never thought in a million years that I could be going to school for disc golf and furthering my education in my occupation,” Bernard said. “I definitely think it’s an opportunity people are not aware of for the most part. There are colleges across America that will give you scholarships for disc golf.

“… If there are some young kids that want to go out and start getting good at this, there’s a possibility to go to school for it,” Bernard added.

Best of all for Bernard, because disc golf is a spring sport, he’ll still get to coach the Buffs this fall, continue teaching and start his online classes at Milligan before he ever slings his first disc in collegiate competition.

“I love what I do. I work with a great group of people in Mosheim and at West Greene Middle School. I’m the football coach for the middle school, and I never had any aspirations to do anything else,” Bernard said. “I never thought I’d be 24 years old and going back to be a collegiate athlete. But here we are, and I can’t wait to get started.”